Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 269: Episode

At the same time, in Kizen’s open sea exam area, four monsters were swimming. They were level-four-danger reptile monsters resembling sea crocodiles, ‘Hardadiles.’

In truth, they were being controlled by another being.

[Commence Plan A. Revenge for brother Talaje. Must be completed.]

It was none other than ‘Alaje,’ one of the Ancient Undead of the Magnus Legion. Alaje had the power to freely control any monster or undead that had eaten its flesh.

[Gwoegong’s lair discovered. Commence operation.]

The crocodile monsters headed for a large underwater cave in the deep sea. They entered the cave all at once.

’Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!’

But the entire cave began to shake violently, as if an undersea earthquake had struck.

[Stand by.]

Alaje briefly issued a standby command. From the end of the endless, pitch-black cave, something was squeezing its way out, looking like a train emerging from a dark tunnel.

A giant snout shot out from within and swallowed the sea crocodiles in one bite.

Every time the jaw muscles moved, the sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking could be heard. The monster finished its meal and retreated back into the underwater cave. All that remained in the sea was silence and a faint cloud of red blood.

---

"Now! Taking a short break, let’s once again review the rules of the third BMAT!"

In the Kizen schoolyard, where a large crowd had gathered, the announcer was shouting into a magical amplifying crystal.

"As you all have seen, the early part of the exam was a coin scramble! But from the middle to the latter half, the stage expands dramatically! That’s because the marine monster hunt and point competition are about to begin!"

He spread his arms and gave a signal, and the main screen displayed a nautical chart. In the center of the chart, a circle was drawn with a small opening on one side. Beyond that circle was an endlessly vast sea.

"The circle you see in the center is the ‘inner sea’ where the coin scramble took place! The water is shallow, so students can easily reach the bottom! And if you go outside the circle, you’ll find the real sea, the ‘open sea,’ teeming with marine monsters! You can hunt monsters there to earn points, and of course, cooperation between students is also possible!"

The main screen’s display changed. It showed students who had gone out to the open sea hunting monsters, all of them riding small wooden boats.

"Of course, there are no platforms in the open sea! However, if you pay 500 points with your Tonguepad, Kizen will drop a small, one-person wooden boat from the sky. With that, you can rest even in the open sea, allowing for better pacing! It seems Kizen has put a lot of thought into helping the students focus on the exam! Now, next, let’s take a look at the types of monsters in the open sea!"

On the screen next to the main one, the types of monsters and the points they awarded scrolled up.

"The sea area is home to a wide variety of monsters, from level-two danger to level-five danger! Ah, Professor Jane! What is that?" the announcer asked, pointing to the monster at the very top of the screen.

Jane picked up an amplifying crystal. "It’s the level-five-danger super-large monster, ‘Gwoegong.’ It only comes out of its cave for about two hours a year. You won’t see it during the exam, so you can ignore it."

Having said that, Jane let out a deep sigh. The only reason she could think of for putting a monster on the list that the students couldn’t possibly catch was that Kizen headquarters was indulging in a cruel prank. In the first place, it wasn’t even known if the Gwoegong was in this sea area at all.

"Ooh! 100,000 points? That’s incredible! Ordinary level-two and -three monsters are worth about 100 to 500 points, but 100,000! If you catch that, the top score is practically guaranteed!"

---

Meanwhile, Simon was conserving his energy in the inner sea. The exam was four hours long. Deimos’s usable time was two hours at most. He had to manage his pace carefully. He wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario of his energy being depleted, only to be swarmed by competitors aiming for his high rank.

Checking his Tonguepad, he saw that many students had already gone out to the open sea and were hunting monsters. The rankings were fluctuating wildly.

’Then, shall I get going soon?’

Finally, Simon decided to act. With about two hours left, it seemed like a good time to head out. He mounted Deimos and raced across the sea.

Activating his air magic circle and diving into the water, he saw that the area below was teeming with ’Pulpas’, the poison-spewing squids. Simon held on tight to Deimos with both legs and aimed the ‘Bone Armor-Handgun’ mounted on his right hand.

One shot, one kill. He passed by, taking down the ’Pulpas’. At 300 points per creature, it was quite profitable. Of course, their poison attacks did no damage to Simon.

’I hope this BMAT changes people’s perception of Professor Byulya a bit.’

After dealing with a few ’Pulpas’, Simon returned to the surface. The open sea was just ahead, where the monsters were worth much more.

’I can see it now!’

The color of the water in the inner sea was different from the open sea beyond. The inner sea, surrounded by Kizen’s safety net, was a clear, transparent emerald, so clear you could see the bottom. The open sea, however, was just a deep, intimidating blue. Just looking at it felt like you could be swallowed whole.

"Huh?"

But in the area connecting the inner and outer seas, a fleet of boats was floating. The students who had purchased boats with 500 points were staying put instead of advancing. Simon approached them. A few students on small wooden boats saw his skeletal whale and gave him looks full of envy. Simon slowly moved forward, checking for any familiar faces. Fortunately, there was one.

"Toto!"

Toto turned around at the sound of his name, a surprised expression on his face. "Si-Simon?! What is that?"

"Ah." Simon gave an awkward smile. "It’s a skeleton made from Deimos." Toto gasped, looking back and forth between Simon and Deimos with eyes half full of admiration and half full of envy. "Amazing! You’re pushing through with Summoning even in the sea!" he shouted, then suddenly looked dejected and hung his head.

"I switched to Jet-Black Dynamics as soon as I heard it was a sea theme."

"Haha, I don’t think there’s a right answer to a problem like this. You prepared smartly, too."

Toto seemed to want to touch Deimos, but since Deimos was taking a wary stance, he just twitched his hands.

"By the way, Toto, why is everyone stopped here? What’s going on?"

"Ah, well..." Toto pointed ahead with a frightened expression. "I think there’s... something up ahead."

"What?"

Just then, a male student could be seen bravely steering his boat towards the open sea. He looked back at his teammates who were waiting in fear. "Ugh, you cowards! See? I told you it’s fine to just go—!"

’Swhoooosh!’

That was the student’s last word. His body was pulled into the sea and vanished without a trace.

"Huuuh!"

"Crazy! What the hell has been going on!"

Seeing that, a few students started turning their boats around in fright.

"It’s probably better to just gather points in the inner sea."

"R-right!"

The students began to turn and head back. Toto also turned his boat’s bow. "Simon, I think there’s something there. You should probably back off for now and come back in an hour or so..."

It was then. Below the fleeing students, a pitch-black shadow was cast upon the sea.

"Whoa!"

The silhouette was so large it covered all the students and their boats. The hair all over Simon’s body stood on end. The faces of the other students also turned deathly white with fear. They began to scream horribly and flee.

’Go, Deimos!’

Simon’s Deimos also shot forward at top speed. And then...

’Swhoooooooooooooosh!’

The sea rose like a mountain, and the maw of a giant monster shot out.

"Aaaaaaaaargh!"

"Huuuh!"

A few students went straight into the monster’s maw, and the monster snapped its mouth shut! The telltale shimmer of teleportation magic flashed from all over. Simon and Deimos dodged by a hair’s breadth, crashing into the sea before speeding across the surface to flee.

[Khahahahah! This is fun! Very interesting! This is what Kizen is all about, being this crazy!]

’I’m not having much fun!’

Just then, the monster’s head turned. The large vertical pupil of the reptile monster, reminiscent of a sea lizard or dragon, stared at Simon.

’No way.’

’Swhoooooooooooooosh!’

The monster began to chase Simon across the sea, its massive body shredding the barrier gauges of any students it collided with.

"Deimos! Into the sea."

Simon, having activated his air magic circle, stroked Deimos’s head and gave the command. Deimos immediately dove.

Seeing it from under the sea, his jaw dropped. An incredibly large mass of flesh was swimming, thrashing its limbs. To exaggerate a little, the sea seemed cramped.

’There’s no doubt.’ Simon’s eyes widened. ’That’s the 100,000-point monster at the very top of the list, Gwoegong.’

Pier’s boisterous laughter echoed in his mind. [Khahaha! Kizen must have deliberately woken that thing up and released it into the exam area!]

’Ah, no matter what, would Kizen really be that insane?’

[Why else would they give points for a creature like that? They’re telling you to try and catch it!]

Just then, a dazzling light flashed from behind. When Simon turned around, energy was gathering in its gaping maw.

’Using a breath attack is cheating!’

Simon immediately gave an absolute command to Deimos. Its direction sharply turned downwards, and almost simultaneously, the breath that flew past Simon continued on and caused a massive explosion.

’Ugh.’

Simon was dumbfounded. It was as if a hole had been punched in the sea.

’They really expect us to catch that?’

In truth, the Gwoegong only lived in the underwater cave at the bottom of the sea, so it caused almost no harm to humans. That was why humans had arbitrarily classified it as a level-five danger, but its actual strength was on a different level from other level-fives.

’For now, let’s run as far as I can.’

---

"WHOOOOAAAAA!!!’

The cheers of the spectators reached a fever pitch at the sudden, colossal event: the battle between the super-large monster Gwoegong and Simon.

"Student Simon’s Deimos is also incredibly fast! It’s about the same speed as the Gwoegong, or slightly faster! Who else could hold out against the Gwoegong like that! And what’s more!" the announcer stretched out his arm and shouted with an emotional voice. "If the Gwoegong goes into the inner sea, it will be a catastrophe! But look! Student Simon is luring that monster into the open sea all by himself! Sacrificing himself to protect the other students! This is noblesse oblige! The dignity of Special Admission No. 1!"

While the announcer was framing it however he wanted, and the audience was cheering for Simon’s supposed heroic stance, only Jane was in her right mind.

’He thinks that’s luring? It’s strange that the Gwoegong even appeared, and it’s persistently chasing only Simon.’

That was exactly right. Simon was too busy running for his life to think, and the Gwoegong was continuously firing its breath. Every time, the sea split, surged, and was a complete mess. The fish and monsters caught in the onslaught would float up, belly up. She took out a new communication crystal from her pocket.

"This is Jane."

—"Yes! This is Exam Headquarters!"

"Forget the 100,000 points. We need to kill the Gwoegong before it causes major damage to the entire exam."

—"I’ll relay that to the Director-General immediately."

Normally, Jane would have sent agents on her own authority, but since she was currently also serving as a first-year professor, she had no right to interfere with the exam. The BMAT was managed solely by the Headquarters. A moment later, a response came.

—"The Director-General says to wait and see a little longer."

"What? Are you out of your minds?"

—"Ah. Well..." The voice from the communication crystal paused for a moment before speaking. — "That student, Simon Polentia. It looks like he’s trying to fight the Gwoegong?"

"What?"

Jane hurriedly looked at the screen.