Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 208: Episode

"Huff! Huff!"

"This way!"

Dick, who had landed on the northern part of Roc Island, was already taking charge, gathering the students scattered on the beach. It was a simple matter for him to use his glib tongue to unite the panicking students and become their anchor.

"It’s coming from above!" someone shouted.

Dick’s head shot up. A bird-shaped ’Prima Materia’ monster was circling overhead.

"Dodge! That one’s a ranged attacker!"

Everyone dove for cover behind a hill.

A pillar of divine light shot from a hole in the creature’s chest. As dirt and sand flew everywhere, Dick and the students huddled down. The monster fired wildly in all directions before flying off.

"I-It really shot to kill!" a male student muttered in panic.

The freckled girl next to him chimed in. "This is so weird. Even for Kizen, isn’t it too much to fire divinity with the intent to destroy a student’s core?!"

"Right? The stakes are too high for a simulation. This has to be real."

Watching them let their imaginations run wild again, Dick sighed. The island survival evaluation had been perfect. He had easily coaxed the fumbling nobles into following him. But this situation was so extreme that they kept trying to break away from his control.

"And why are we going into the forest anyway?" the male student continued. "Let’s just hide here. A boat might pass by."

"Alright, listen up!" This wouldn’t do. Dick clapped his hands sharply. It was tough leading these ordinary kids after getting used to Simon’s group, but he had no choice. They were better fighters than he was, so he had to manage them. "If you have a brain, use it! Did your professors tell you the second semester would be a quasi-wartime curriculum or not?"

"...Th-They did."

"Still, this is too much."

"Get a grip!" Dick snapped. "Your brains must have shrunk from the shock, but if you calm down and think, the examiner’s intention is clear." He raised his index finger. "To confront your trauma head-on."

While giving his speech, he surreptitiously glanced at the empty sky. "The entire first semester was a mess because of the Saintess’s terror. We had injuries, mental stress, and even started vacation early. That means the incident was never properly concluded. Do you think Kizen would just let that slide? The examiner’s intention is to recreate the terror and have us overcome our past fears!"

"B-But you saw it!" a terrified student shouted. "They’re really firing that divinity to kill! If you get hit, you’re not just failing Kizen, you’re failing as a necromancer! How could Kizen allow that...?"

"Then let me ask you something," Dick said, cutting him off. "What was the most important part of our vacation homework?"

The students’ mouths fell open. They murmured amongst themselves, exchanging glances.

"Competitiveness in a fight against a Priest!"

"R-Right! It was about how to block divinity! We were supposed to present our findings in the first class."

Dick nodded. "The presentation is a fake-out. The biggest assignment of the vacation—competitiveness against a Priest—is exactly what..." He spread his arms wide. "They’re testing in this simulation right now!"

As their wide eyes gradually regained composure, the students realized he was right. They had been worrying too much. ’If Kizen were destroyed, what would happen to us? Would the Dark Alliance fall? Would we become a vassal state of the Holy Federation?’ It wasn’t a real situation. This was just a test. The thought alone was enough to steady their wavering hearts.

"And," Dick said, casually picking up a stone and enchanting it, "I’ll show you the biggest proof right now!"

He turned and threw the stone hard. The black pebble flew in a straight line before suddenly bouncing off something in mid-air with a thwack.

"Huh?"

All the students shot to their feet. An Observer, its invisibility dispelled by the impact, shimmered into view.

"Gotcha!" Like a skilled fisherman, Dick had already cast a net. The Observer, trying to flee, was ensnared and pulled down. Dick leaped in, grabbed it, and slammed it to the ground. "Caught it!"

"It’s really an Observer!"

"It was secretly watching us!" the students shouted excitedly.

Dick picked up a sharp stone and enchanted it. "Or maybe not. It could have been sent by Efnel to observe us, right? I’ll have to break it open to be sure." He chuckled at the dumbfounded students. "Can’t hurt to be sure. I heard this is expensive equipment, but being observed by the enemy means death."

Pinning the Observer with his knees, Dick raised the stone high. The device hastily flashed a red warning light.

’Beep! Do not damage the Observer during the test.’

’Beep! Beep!’

Watching the Observer frantically beep as if begging for its life, Dick let out a sly grin. "Need any more proof?"

The students quickly shook their heads. Dick got up and brushed the dirt from his uniform as the Observer hastily fled and vanished again.

"Now! I know a lot more about this test. You want to survive, right? You’d rather die than go home without even setting foot on campus, right? How would you face the parents you just said goodbye to?"

As the students nodded with grim faces, the corners of Dick’s mouth turned up. "So from now on, just trust me."

’Welcome to being my pawns.’

---

At the Exam Execution Headquarters, the exam’s director, Evangellos, laughed out loud as he watched the scene unfold.

"Heh, that bastard. His skills are mediocre, but his cunning mind is spinning fast. Finding the Observer and using it to his advantage? A necromancer should have that much guts! Keep an eye on that one, too."

"Yes, sir!"

Evangellos rolled his wheeled chair back to the center. The situation was progressing as expected. Some students were still in a panic, but a few standouts were already heading toward the center of the island. Their quick judgment was impressive. Serne, Special Admission No. 2, had created a guard unit of feathers and was reigning like a queen. Chatel, Special Admission No. 3, was annihilating every monster in his path, trudging forward like a tank. Elisa, Special Admission No. 7, was using an aerial route with her ghost ship.

’The special admission students are a given. Their starting line is different.’

Beyond them, Meirin was using an ice boat to travel the river, and Kamibarez was using her keen sense of smell to find injured students and form a large cooperative group. Fitzgerald was avoiding combat by mesmerizing the island’s creatures with his chimera. The progress of some regular students was actually faster than that of the special admissions students. As the semester progressed, the gap between them would surely narrow.

’But still.’ Evangellos’s gaze fixed on one screen. ’The one who stands out the most is someone else.’

Staring at Simon’s image, Evangellos turned his head. "Prepare the next trial for the first five to arrive, including Simon Polentia."

"Yes, sir!"

Evangellos clasped his hands, a sly grin spreading across his face.

’Now, let’s see what you do this time.’

---

Atop a hill, Simon surveyed the scene below. The closer he got to Kizen, the larger and more numerous the monsters became. The terrain wasn’t helping either; ahead lay a wide-open grassland with no cover. It was impossible to face enemies of that scale one by one.

’Time to get ready.’ This was no time to conserve Jet-black. He took an item from his Subspace and placed it on the ground. His trump card for this anti-Priest battle.

"It’s been a while," he said, addressing the Mud Golem’s core.

The core pulsed with a happy ’ting!’ sound. Simon gently stroked it, then dug a small pit and placed the core inside.

’Now, focus.’

Kizen’s vacation homework: a countermeasure against Priests. Simon had thought about it a lot. It was a difficult problem for a Summoning major, whose main force was undead, to deal with their polar opposite. And besides...

’Why do I even need a countermeasure?’

After his battle with Flema, Simon’s body had gained a degree of immunity to holy attacks. He could take a direct hit from a spell like Exorcism, which was normally fatal to necromancers, and be fine. But he couldn’t very well announce to Professor Jane, "I’m fine because divinity doesn’t work on me." So, as a Summoning major, he had to research a new solution.

’And this was the answer.’

Simon stroked the golem’s core, his concentration sharpening. Golems were a unique type of summon. The core was treated as an undead that could connect to his thoughts, but strictly speaking, it was closer to a chimera. Its body was made of natural materials, not flesh, so it wasn’t fatally weak to divinity.

Simon stepped back, closed his eyes, and slowly raised his arms.

’Summon Golem’

The Jet-black he injected into the core ran wild. The surrounding sand, mud, and rocks began to cling to it, drawn by the dark energy.

’I’ll construct it in a different form from a normal Mud Golem.’ It had to be specialized for speed and evasion, not combat. He abandoned the golem’s usual humanoid shape.

’Simple and mobile.’ A flat, surfboard-like shape formed around the core. He omitted arms and legs, instead attaching wheels and creating an engine at the rear powered by Jet-black. From above, it looked like a streamlined mud board. Simon hopped on.

This was his Mud Golem Board Style, inspired by the wheels of the Divine Train.

"Let’s go!"

The engine roared to life, the golem’s wheels began to spin, and the board shot forward, kicking up a spray of sand as it went.