Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 209

Rrrrrrrumble!

White fists the size of houses descended from the sky.

Simon was forced to swerve side to side on his golem board to slip past every attack.

'Faster! Faster!'

The golem board accelerated once more, slipping between the legs of the white monsters. As the surrounding monsters punched after him, they forced their fists through the gaps, tangling themselves up with each other and causing the tallest of them to trip.

Kathump!

Thud!

It was a risky path where getting hit even once could lead to instant death, but Simon took it regardless.

'Hill ahead.'

A few meters ahead, the terrain was more jagged. Simon grabbed the end of his board and twisted it to the side.

Bwoooom!

Just like that, the board flew up and over the hill. After a few seconds of airtime, the board landed again on the dirt.

[Ghhhhhrrrrrrrrroooooooooghhh!]

The monsters chased after him, inhuman wails shaking the ground. But there was too huge a difference in speed.

Simon grinned, clutching his windswept hair.

"Catch you later!"

After crossing the monster-infested plainlands in no time, Simon reached a familiar place.

It was the City of Students, Rochest.

'It's been so long since I've been here… Today's full of nostalgia.'

He used to sneak off here after class using a secret route.

It was a major dating spot and weekend hangout place for students. So it was a little strange to see such a vibrant city so deserted.

Still, arriving here meant that Kizen was only a short distance away.

As Simon sped further in on his golem board…

Shk!

Shk!

He saw a new batch of white arrows flying over the roof of the building in front of him.

'Divine arrows?'

Simon immediately turned the golem board to the side, and the arrows hit only ground.

'What? Why are there light spells or priests here…?'

Step step step.

The faint sound of footsteps echoed in Simon's ears. His head snapped back behind him.

Two white-robed men were coming his way.

"Death to the enemies of the Goddess!"

"Judgment to the unholy!"

Muttering with grim voices like fanatics, they drew the sign of the cross in the air and cast light spells.

Simon recognized the spell from their movements alone.

He had traveled to the Holy Federation, so there was no way he didn't recognize it.

{Exorcism}

Vwooooosh!

A pure white divine power fell like a thunderbolt from magic circles in the sky. Simon dodged by a hair's breadth after doubling the jet-black flowing into the golem's engine.

"No way! Why are you people here?!"

Shouted Simon, but the priests were in no mood to talk.

The fact that there were priests on Roke Island was very shocking. This just being a test from Kizen felt less likely for a moment, and he truly considered the possibility that Efnel had attacked Kizen.

"Death to the enemies of the Goddess."

The two priests, realizing they gave Simon too much time to react, began casting faster. Numerous magic circles were conjured in the air, and pillars of light rained down like artillery shells.

'I can't dodge all that!'

Simon immediately grabbed the front of the board.

'Come up!'

Crunch!

The board folded in half, rising to cover Simon's body. The oncoming Exorcism then slammed into the front of the board, making it tremble from the impact.

But…

'It worked!'

A satisfied smile appeared on Simon's lips.

Based on his experience in the Holy Federation, there were two main ways that priests dealt with necromancers from a distance.

The first was evil shatterers. Exorcism was the epitome of this type of magic: a bombardment of pure divinity with no physical force.

If the opponent was a necromancer or an undead, the priest could destroy their core and render them useless in a single blow.

The second one was a mixture of physical force and divinity. The recent Divine Arrows were one example of this.

Exorcism can't pierce through walls and other obstacles due to its lack of firepower.

However, light spells with the force to pierce through objects can't take down a necromancer with a single blow like the evil shatterers.

'In the end, I just have to be wary of Exorcism.'

The priests unleashed another wave of Exorcism, a form of 'instant death' skill, so Simon shifted the physical barrier in the way and successfully defended against it.

Perhaps his opponents also knew that spamming Exorcism wouldn't cut it, as they switched to launching Divine Spears.

As if expecting this, Simon lowered the golem's wall and brought it back to its faster form.

In order to add force to divinity, it needs to manifest into a form, and the traditional forms were classic weapons. This was where the overwhelming speed of the golem board was an advantage.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

He weaved through the streets of Rochest, deftly dodging flying spears. He needed to get out of this city and reach the Kizen campus as soon as possible.

[Kiiiiieeeeegggghhhh!]

A creepy voice came from the distance, and another Prima Materia monster leaped out from a nearby alley.

'So they were here, too!'

The other monsters wandering the streets saw Simon and began to charge in.

'I'm burning through jet-black faster than I anticipated!'

Despite Simon sweating profusely as his supply diminished, he sped the board up.

The closer he got to Kizen, the fewer small monsters there were, and the more the powerful medium and large ones appeared.

This was actually in Simon's favor. He poured even more jet-black into the board, easily dodging the white monsters' attacks.

Clang!

A Divine Spear hit the back of the board and bounced off.josei

Surprised, Simon saw a flurry of Divine Spears slicing through the wind.

'There were more priests?'

It wasn't the priests behind him. In the distance, priests leaped from roof to roof, hurling Divine Spears and Exorcisms. On top of that, a medium-sized monster was charging from right in front of him, swinging its clawed arms. There was an Exorcism threatening to strike at the exact same time from behind him.

There was little room to dodge, but he couldn't stop and block everything, either.

'Focus.'

* * *

* * *

In the moment of tension, the world went silent and time began to slow.

The monster's hook and the motion of the Exorcism that had been shot slowed rapidly until they were just inching forward at a snail's pace.

Simon stepped on jet-black and jumped.

He leaped off the board and soared into the air, and the monster claw and Exorcism annihilated even the dust that remained where Simon was standing less than a second ago.

After a few moments in the air, he straightened up and stretched out his legs beneath him.

Moving forward at the exact same speed, the board came under his feet as he landed.

Taaap!

The instant his feet touched the board, time went back to normal. His dodge was perfect, and he slid past the forces surrounding him.

'Phew… I can somewhat manage the monsters, but the priests are tricky.'

The physical attacks were being handled by the monsters scattered across the streets, so the priests could safely cast Exorcism from a distance.

Simon decided to fight back.

First, he went around behind a building and parked the golem board. Then, he stomped his left foot down to prepare his Overlord before pulling three zombies out of his subspace.

Tentacle blades came out from the floor and wrapped around the zombies, flexing taut like bowstrings. Simon's eyes glistened as he calmly completed his magic circles.

'Fire!'

The Overlord's tentacles flung forward and launched the zombies over the roof like a catapult. After counting seconds in his head, he clenched his fist.

'Corpse Explosion!'

Kaboom!

Kabooooooooooooooooooom!

Two separate explosions could be heard beyond the house. One of the zombies must've been shot down before it reached the target.

But the rain of Exorcisms had halted. Using the brief respite, Simon sped down the road at full speed.

* * *

"Oh, oh! He's pretty good!"

Watching everything on the mana screen, Evangelos grabbed his staff and waved it with joy.

"This is it! I've been waiting for a bastard like this!"

From the creativity of using mud golems as transportation to using a tentacle summon as a catapult to blast zombies and, to top it all off, the power of his Corpse Explosion.

Compared to the overwhelming power and ruthlessness of other years' S.A.1s, this year's was somewhat modest. But his quick thinking and wit were top-notch.

Usually, kids like that had more potential.

'Man, I'd like to try raising one. Is this why everyone is wanting to become a professor at Kizen nowadays?'

"Sir! Chatelle Maerre is closing in on Rochest."

Evangelos waved his hand dismissively at the staff's report.

"Forget it. Send all the free priests to Simon Polentia."

The staff were stunned.

"A-Are you serious right now? Student Simon already dealt with a number of prie—"

"Come one, we've got a few distinguished guests here. We need to give them a good show! Leave the directing to me."

Evangelos fixed his eyes to the screen where Simon was riding away on his golem board.

"Where's my answer?"

"…"

Suddenly, a chill swept over the room. Not from physical coldness, but pure fear.

Everyone broke out into a cold sweat as they stared at the back.

'Have these bastards gone mad?'

After muttering that, Evangelos turned around to see what the fuss was.

His eyes went as wide as everyone else's.

"…Well aren't you one motherfucking crazy bastard?"

A man in a white suit had burst into the test headquarters without tripping a single alarm. Everyone froze in place, staring.

Evangelos clicked his tongue and feigned a laugh.

"Are professors allowed to enter a test run by Kizen headquarters? Do you want someone to nag your ear off about fairness again?"

Bahil, the Professor of Curses and a member of the Crows, smiled.

"I came in as a Crow, not as a professor. And talking about fairness… Isn't what you're trying to do somewhat unfair, Senior?"

"…Hey."

Evangelos' false hospitality was replaced by a deathly glare.

"Have you gone mad?"

Shk.

A thousand needles appeared from nowhere and surrounded Bahil on all sides. He'd be pricked if he even moved his finger.

"I see you've grown a lot of nerve now that you're a Kizen professor and Nefthis is being kind to you."

"Senior."

Said Bahil, unfazed.

"Don't embarrass yourself in front of all these people. Put that stupid toy away."

Whap!

Evangelos opened his palm. The thousand needles all turned black.

"Do you wanna try it? See if it's a toy or not?"

Bahil scoffed.

"Sure. Try it, then."

Evangelos, burning with rage, suddenly froze for a second.

There was a long pause, then Evangelos burst into laughter, his shoulders heaving up and down.

"Whoa, this asshole!"

Evangelos brought his hand to his forehead, covering his eyes.

After a few seconds, he slowly lowered his hand, and he saw that his needles were surrounding empty space.

Bahil was leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed. It was almost as if he'd teleported.

"…When did you cast the curse?"

Evangelos' curse protections and even natural resistances had all been breached.

Seeing such a clean and stealthy curse operation sent chills down his spine.

Bahil shrugged nonchalantly as if this was as challenging for him as taking an evening stroll.

"I can't get enough of you… Honestly."

With a twitch of his hand, Evangelos made all his needles disappear into thin air.

He leaned back in his chair and dusted off his shoulder.

"Yeah, fuck you. What is someone like you doing here? What do you want?"

"I knew you were going to act like an attention whore."

Bahil pointed his finger at the center screen—the one with Simon on it. His voice went cold.

"Don't hurt what is mine."

——