Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 178: Episode

After clearing the general passenger car, Simon and Lethe moved on. The Divine Train was a long chain of multi-purpose cars, alternating between sleeper cabins and passenger or cargo cars.

The next major battle took place in a second-class cabin. The Blood Heaven Cultists had erected barricades out of beds and were raining down ranged attacks from the secured space behind them. Simon and Lethe held up a protective barrier, but the constant barrage was draining their mental energy.

"Ugh, this is getting annoying," Lethe muttered, clicking her tongue. She wanted to just wipe them all out with a single, wide-range attack, but she was worried about the hostages they were using as human shields. They were all bound and gagged, with red collars locked around their necks.

She turned to Simon. "Any bright ideas?"

Simon thought for a moment, then turned his back. "Hold them off for five minutes."

"Five minutes? Make it two!" she yelled after him.

Simon slipped into the previous car. After making sure it was empty, he took off his clothes and turned them inside out. With a snap, they transformed into a long coat. He touched his fingertips to the fabric, and a wave of Jet-Black instantly dyed it a deep, matte black. He buttoned the coat up to his neck, pulled the hood low over his face, and finally donned the mask he’d bought at the black market.

’Knew this would come in handy.’

His disguise complete, Simon looked up and spotted a service hatch in the ceiling. He leaped, grabbed the emergency handle, and used his legs to force the hatch open.

It opened more easily than he’d expected. He pulled himself up onto the roof of the train, the wind whipping violently around him.

’Clank! Clank! Clank!’

The roar of the train was deafening out here.

’The train has definitely slowed down,’ he noted, balancing himself as he surveyed his surroundings. Worn-out tracks, overgrown trees—this was not a standard route. Someone had diverted the train.

’Time to move.’

Steeling himself, he ran, leaping across the gap to the roof of the next car.

"This should be the spot." He could hear Lethe and the cultists fighting below. He drew a magic circle on the roof, then retrieved an acid potion from his Subspace and placed it in the center.

’Been a while, Venomology. Nice to see you again.’

He activated the magic circle.

The bottle shattered, its contents spilling into the circle, which immediately turned a virulent green.

The ceiling beneath the circle melted away in an instant, opening a large hole. Through it, he could see the cultists. A few spotted him, but it was too late.

Simon leaped down.

’KABOOM!’

He landed right in their midst, crushing several cultists under his feet. As the others stared in shock at the sudden appearance of the man in black, Simon planted his left foot firmly on the floor.

’Open Gate!’

The blades of the Overlord erupted from six directions at once, scything through the cultists. A dozen of them were sent flying, either tumbling out the broken windows or slamming into the walls.

"Ugh!"

"Kill the masked one first!"

There were still plenty of them left. They fired a volley of blood-flow arrows, but the Overlord’s blades coiled around Simon’s body, forming an impenetrable shield.

"Half of you take the woman, the other half take him!"

"Keep firing! Just overwhelm him with numbers!"

From a gap in his whirling defense, the eyes of the masked Simon glinted. "Numbers, you say?"

He pulled an imaginary lever. Skeletons poured from his Subspace. After his consistent training in Leshill, Simon could now control six summon-type skeletons at once, in addition to ten legion-type skeletons. A total of sixteen undead warriors materialized, cutting down the cultists as they appeared.

’Go,’ Simon commanded them silently. He split the skeletons into two units, attacking the enemy from the front and rear simultaneously, while a smaller group secured the hostages and moved them to the safety of the previous car. ’Spear unit, advance.’

The skeletons marched forward, spears and shields raised, while the Overlord deflected ranged attacks. Having turned the tide in the blink of an eye, Simon glanced over his shoulder. A few cultists, realizing the battle was lost, were trying to escape to the next car.

’If I let them go, they’ll just call for reinforcements.’

He extended his right arm. Several skeletons dissolved into streams of bone, flying through the air like lightning before reforming as ‘Bone Armor’ around the two cultists nearest the exit.

"Wh-What is this? Argh!" the men screamed as the clattering bones fused to their bodies. Helmets forged from skulls snapped over their heads. Fully encased in the ghastly armor, the two cultists turned around.

"What are you doing? Get moving—uh!"

The two armored cultists blocked the narrow passage, their bodies now under Simon’s control, and began attacking their former comrades.

"You’re betraying us?!"

"I-It’s not me! My body is moving on its own!"

Simon’s right hand danced in the air as if pulling invisible strings. With the two puppets blocking the bottleneck, his remaining skeletons systematically suppressed the rest of the cultists from the rear. It took less than ten minutes to neutralize nearly thirty people.

It was a perfect, undeniable victory. The man in the black coat raised a clenched fist, and his undead legion let out a triumphant, rattling roar.

Simon smiled and looked back. "Alright, let’s go to the next car. Le—" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

He stopped, his heart sinking. Lethe’s face was paler than he’d ever seen it. She stood frozen, hugging her arms and trembling. He quickly pushed his mask up onto his head.

"A-Are you okay? Did I scare you that badly?" He knew she had a deep-seated trauma, having witnessed her own townspeople turned into skeletons. "I’m sorry. I’ll call them back..."

With a stiff, determined expression, she walked forward. She passed by the horde of skeletons that filled the car and came to stand at his side.

"Don’t look down on me," she said, her voice tight.

"...Lethe."

"You said it yourself, didn’t you?" she continued, walking past him toward the next car. "That you would try to change my perception."

"...Huh? Oh, yeah."

"Let’s go."

Simon let out a quiet sigh of relief and pulled his mask back down.

They moved on. The third-class cabin was empty, the cult’s forces having been concentrated in the previous car. They passed through it quickly.

"Damn," Simon muttered as they entered the next car. This one was a slaughterhouse.

It was covered in blood, littered with the bodies of passengers, priests, and even Blood Heaven cultists. Large, savage bite marks were visible on all of them.

"A third party?" Lethe wondered aloud. "Or something that killed indiscriminately, friend and foe alike."

"The blood trail leads to the car up ahead," Simon said, pointing. "Let’s go."

"Right."

They moved cautiously through the narrow passage connecting the cars and stepped into the next one.

And then they saw it.

A monster so large its head brushed the ceiling stood before them. It was a grotesque mass of raw, red muscle, with no skin to cover it. It had the protruding snout of a canine, and clutched in its forepaw was the body of a priest, his last breath having just left him. The creature tossed the body aside like a rag doll and fixed its glistening eyes on them.

’A type of chimera. This won’t be easy,’ Simon thought, his body tensing.

"I’ve heard rumors," Lethe said, her voice low. "The Blood Heaven Cult’s secret weapon. A patchwork monster made from the flesh of countless people and beasts. We call it the Hellhound."

The Hellhound started toward them. Simon issued an absolute command.

His skeletons charged, weapons raised. The Hellhound lifted its foreleg, and a massive axe blade of bone shot out from its paw. It swung the axe in a wide, horizontal arc.

A single blow shattered three skeletons, sending fragments of bone flying through the air. As they scattered, Simon thrust his right arm forward.

Simon Original—‘Bone Nail’

The airborne bone fragments froze for a moment, then shot toward the Hellhound, embedding themselves in its muscular body. But most of them couldn’t pierce its thick hide and simply bounced off. The Hellhound didn’t even seem to notice.

It swung its paw in a vicious counterattack. Lethe leaped forward, deploying a divine barrier.

Her famously sturdy barrier cracked under the single blow. They abandoned defense and scrambled back as a second strike shattered the shield completely.

"Small attacks won’t do a thing!" Lethe yelled. "We have to end this with one decisive blow!"

"Then show me what you’ve got!"

Her hands became a blur, weaving a new, complex magic circle in the air. From it rose a thick, drill-shaped spear of pure silver light.

’La Escrim!’

The silver spear began to rotate, whining with power. Lethe made the sign of the cross and clenched her fist, casting a direct blessing upon the spear. Colorful ribbons of materialized magic fluttered around the spinning drill.

"Die!" she screamed.

The divine spear launched with a deafening roar and struck the Hellhound square in the chest. The monster’s massive body was thrown back, crashing into the wall.

But even with the spear embedded where its heart should be, it was already pushing itself back up. This was no ordinary creature.

"Ah, I overdid it," Lethe panted, the massive spell having taken its toll. While Divinity allowed for the rapid deployment of magic, it consumed a considerable amount of mental energy.

"Step back, Lethe. I’ll handle it."

"...And what are you going to do?"

"You have to fight a monster with a monster," he said confidently. He opened his Subspace and pulled out a single, ordinary-looking zombie, setting it on the floor. Then, he brought the gray ring on his left hand to his lips. "Prince, get ready."

"Huh?" Lethe stared, utterly baffled as he spoke to the ring.

"Bring the crown and come over here."

Finished, Simon touched the ring to the zombie’s body. Nothing happened.

"Hey, what are you doing?! This is no time for jokes!" Lethe snapped.

"It’s not a joke! This is how the summoning works!"

"Don’t lie to me, you bastard! You think I’m an idiot just because I don’t know black magic?"

The Hellhound charged, swinging its massive paw.

"Agh!" Lethe leaped in front of Simon again, her hands outstretched. Layers of protective barriers materialized in the air, only to be shattered one by one by the Hellhound’s relentless assault. "I was a fool to trust you! Get back, now!"

Despite her frantic shouts, Simon remained motionless, his ring still pressed against the zombie. As if one Hellhound wasn’t enough, Blood Zombies, drawn by the commotion, began swarming in from the car ahead.

"Lethe."

"What?!"

"It’s done. Now, step back."

’Bam!’

Her last barrier shattered. Lethe dove aside, and the Hellhound’s paw descended upon Simon.

A bolt of black lightning crashed down from the ceiling, striking the zombie. The axe, hurtling forward on its deadly trajectory, was stopped cold by a hand wreathed in black lightning.

[Ugh, you always call when I’m trying to rest.]

Lethe’s eyes widened. The zombie’s body rippled and shrank. In its place stood a young boy in noble’s attire, wearing a golden crown and rubbing his tired eyes. But that wasn’t what shocked her.

’I... I can’t breathe. I’ve never seen an undead like this.’

Prince yawned lazily and glanced at Simon.

[So, do I just start by beating up that dog?]