Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 201

"Wow! Ohhh!"

Rick screamed in excitement as birds flew in unison at Wichasha's command.

"Sick! So that's the power of druids, huh?!"

Meilyn was on the verge of tears.

Not because she was scared of being kidnapped, but because she was annoyed and saddened that she was caught alongside such an imbecile.

Ignoring Meilyn's pathetic view of him, Rick enthusiastically chatted with Hoopa Clan grunts.

Rick's demeanor definitely wasn't that of someone being held hostage, tied to a chair, with their safety threatened.

"Whoa, this is the first time I realized that each druid controls different animals!"

No matter where Rick was, his friendliness would shine through.

"Oh, by the way, that 'Belya' person y'all are after? She controls rats and bugs, right? If so, it should be a piece of cake for her to find us in a city, shouldn't it?"

Meilyn turned to him with an exasperated look on her face.

'Why would you say that?!!'

"It's impossible she locate us with her power."

Firmly stated Wichasha.

"We place two hundred totems throughout the city. It's secret art of druids which disable power to control animals. Unless she personally goes around and destroys all hidden totem by end of day, she willn't be able to find our location."

"Wooaah~ You've been so thorough, bro!"

"Of course, we do not care if she find us. We'll just fight her."

Wichasha's fist tightened.

"But issue may arise if we attack a future Kizen professor. We'll kill cleanly after she give up the position."

"Aha, so that's how it is!"

Nodded Rick, eagerly buttering them up. Meilyn had no option but to sigh heavily.

"Chief!"

A man with the Hoopa Clan's mark rushed in and whispered something to Wichasha. Wichasha's expression stiffened, and he turned to stare at Rick, daggers in his eyes.

"Using silly tricks…"

Rick was still smiling brightly.

"We change hiding places right now!"

One of the Hoopa Clan men hoisted Rick off his chair, holding him upside down.

"Ugh!"

Despite grunting in pain, Rick laughed,

"Ah! The blood is rushing to my face, bro!"

"You why we move!"

Another man approached Meilyn. She ducked down slightly and glared at the man.

"Hey, I'm warning you, if you touch as much as a hair on my head—!"

But he didn't seem to be in the mood to argue. He ignored Meilyn's warning and grabbed her by the shoulders.

'Ouch, that hurt!'

Just as he was about to lift Meilyn along with her chair…

Kabooooooooooooom!

With that deafening roar, the ceiling burst open.

Debris crashed down, leaving a cloud of smoke and dust in the explosion's wake.

"Wh-What's going on!"

As members of the Hoopa Clan were muttering to each other in confusion, someone came down from above.josei

Fwwwiiiiiiip!

Shiiiiiiing!

Silver, bladed tentacles swung in all directions from the dust cloud, sending Hoopa Clan lackeys flying. The man grabbing Meilyn was also blown away.

Her eyes widened, and she shouted,

"Simon!"

After landing on the ground, Simon glared at the men still standing, fury in his eyes. However, those eyes soon softened when he looked at Meilyn.

"That's a relief. Are you hurt?"

* * *

30 minutes ago.

At the tavern on Harlem Street.

"Oh, that's annoying."

Belya was scratching her head in irritation. It seemed like something wasn't working out.

"What's wrong, Professor?"

Quicky asked Simon.

"I can't control my children properly. The Hoopa Clan musta installed some totems."

She rose from her seat. The smell of dangerous chemicals stabbed Simon's nostrils.

"I'm going to go look for them myself. Leave your friends to me, and you go to a guardhouse or something so you don't get caught, too."

With those words, she disappeared through the open ceiling of the tavern.

Left alone, Simon sighed.

'Let's try looking for them again.'

Just when Simon was about to head out of the tavern…

[Kiieeeeeeeeegh!]

A tearing scream could be heard in the distance.

'That's…!'

It was the sound of Rick's new product, the music box. It was a sign that Camibarez had found something.

Simon immediately rushed out of the tavern and toward the sound.

'The lantern! The lantern! Where is it?'

It didn't take long for Simon to find it. It was still before the Thousand Lights, so he could see the lone lantern rising through the night sky.

Simon ran frantically toward it.

"Cami! Where are y—?!"

"Simon!"

She raised a finger to her lips, beckoning Simon closer with her other hand.

After quickly approaching, Simon whispered,

"You found them?"

"Yeah, I think so."

She pointed to the ground with the finger that she raised to her lips. A red droplet of blood had dried on the ground.

"Blood drops?"

"Yes. It reeks of Rick."

As expected from a vampire, Camibarez was sensitive to the smell of blood. It wasn't hard for her to identify people by the scent of their blood alone.

"I suppose Rick intentionally cut the back of his finger while he was being kidnapped and squeezed out as many drops of blood as he could! When I followed the stench of his blood, I found some suspicious men."

"That sure sounds like a Rick thing to do."

Simon grinned. No one could match Rick in using dirty tricks.

"Please, take me to where you found the suspicious men."

"Okay!"

The two walked slowly down the darkened street.

"Over there."

Pressing her back against the wall to not be seen, Camibarez pointed forward with two fingers. Two men in robes were loitering in front of a run-down building.

They were tall, broad-shouldered, and muscley. They weren't just standing guard as newbies being hazed. They were skillful warriors.

If Simon and Camibarez couldn't take them down immediately, a guard could escape and alert their comrades inside.

"Let's curse them first."

"That would be great! But if we're firing from such a long distance, what if we miss?"

Simon checked the time on his wristwatch and smirked.

"I've got a great idea."

* * *

* * *

Two robed men stood guard at the hideout's entrance.

Their mission was simple: respond to any incidents and warn those inside if anything went wrong.

Aside from the occasional drunken brawl in the street, there was nothing particularly difficult.

"Here we go again."

Said the man on the right in the Hoopa Clan's language.

The Thousand Lights began, countless lanterns ascending into the night sky.

The man on the left responded in the same language,

"Brother, why do these city dwellers have such a bizarre ritual?"

"I don't know, either. Maybe because it's hard to see the stars here?"

Both of them burst into hearty laughter.

"Anyway, this place is too goddamn suffocating. I can't wait to capture and kill that witch so we can return to the grasslands."

As the two men were talking amongst themselves, a lantern that was supposed to be going up into the sky started coming down, fluttering as if it had run out of power.

"Hah."

The man scoffed as the lanterns landed near them.

"Some people can't even fly these things properly."

"It's got a hole in it. Must've snagged somewhere and ripped open."

The men continued chatting, turning their noses up at the city slickers dimwits.

Just then, the magic circle hidden in the lantern flashed.

{Sickness}

{Blood Pressure}

The curses Simon and Camibarez had prepared stretched out like smoke and seeped through their flesh.

"…!"

The men simultaneously staggered back, completely disorientated, and Simon took advantage of that slight gap to punch one of them right in the stomach.

"Kuhugh!"

As the man doubled over, Simon leaped onto his back and struck him in the back of the head with his elbow, knocking him out cold.

"Brother!!"

His ally was down in an instant. Just as the man on the left was about to respond to Simon, someone clung to him like a python, tightly gripping around his nose and mouth.

Whish!

Something was shoved into his nostrils from the attacker's hand. He began to cough and splutter, his consciousness fading as deep red blood gushed out in a vicious nosebleed.

'Intruder!'

Desperately trying to stay awake, the man moved his hand behind his back, throwing aside at the thing stuck on.

A small girl with mauve hair let out a weak moan as she fell to the side of the road.

"You little!"

Just as the man was about to trample her, his vision spun.

Simon's fist had slammed into him.

He flew several meters before crashing into the ground.

The man moved to get up, but Simon reached him first, leaping forward and kicking him in the jaw.

He was out cold, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"Cami! You alright?"

Simon rushed to her side. She nodded valiantly, taking Simon's hand and standing back up. Her knees shook for a few seconds until she steadied herself.

"Yeah. Thank you, Simon."

Having made sure she was okay, Simon yanked off the nearest man's robes and the shirt underneath.

'Wha!'

Camibarez gasped, covering her eyes. From the waist all the way up to the shoulders were strange patterns painted with natural dyes.

"It's the Hoopa Clan. I'm sure of it."

"So this is where Rick and Meilyn are being held."

"Yep. It's only a matter of time before they realize the guards have been taken down. Let's hide the bodies and get ready to barge in."

"Yeah!"

Nodding, Camibarez grabbed onto the man Simon had punched into the open and pulled with all her might.

…He wouldn't even budge.

In the end, she used Jet-Black Activation to increase her strength, then dragged the man into a corner.

Simon had already set the other man's body aside and was calculating their entry route.

'This is…!'

His eyes lit up as he scanned the ceiling of the building. A magic circle was visible on the roof.

Reading the formula, he saw 'Coldness' and 'Unity'. Since it was elemental dark magic—ice dark magic, to be precise—it had to be Meilyn's.

Sneaking out jet-black into a spell on the roof while captured so she could remotely draw a magic circle was a skill worthy of someone in the Ivory Tower.

'Then I'll go in around here.'

Simon gestured to Camibarez, who nodded and began preparing her own dark spell.

He then pulled two zombies out of his subspace and pinned them to the roof. Finally, he stepped back and prepared Corpse Explosion.

Just then, he heard voices coming from the building.

"There was a trail of blood in the hallway?"

"Yeah!"

It seemed like they had also noticed Rick's blood trail.

They were heading outside. At this rate, they'd find him and Camibarez preparing their spells.

'We'll have to go in now.'

Simon signaled for Camibarez to enter, then clenched his right fist.

'Corpse Explosion!'

Kaboooooooooooom!

The two zombies caused a massive explosion. The ceiling of the steel-reinforced building crashed down, and the rubble created a cloud of dust inside.

Simon threw himself inside.

The smoke and dust from the explosion made it hard to see around himself, but Simon could hear Hoopa Clan members shouting in panic.

Landing safely, he stomped down hard with his left foot.

'Open!'

Fwwwiiiiiiip!

Shiiiiiiing!

Silver, bladed tentacles swung in all directions from the dust cloud, sending Hoopa Clan lackeys flying.

'It worked! What about Rick and Meilyn?'

Simon looked around. Someone had lifted Rick from his chair, and he also saw a man trying to grab the tied-down Meilyn.

Fury filled his eyes as he sent the Overlord toward Meilyn, blasting the man away while opening his main subspace and pulling out a skeleton.

'Go.'

Its bones stuck to Rick's chair like a magnet then flew and locked it onto the wall.

"Simon!"

His eyes softened.

"That's a relief. Are you hurt?"

——