Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 218

"Assistant teacher, get ready."

Aaron gestured with his chin, and an assistant teacher scurried off to the track with a sword.

When the assistant teacher stopped running, he was far, far down the track.

Aaron then pulled a skeleton out of his subspace. It was just a generic island ratman skeleton.

It stood at the start of the track with a sword in hand.

'What is he planning to do?'

Simon and the other students stared at the skeleton, eyes full of doubt.

The skeleton bent its knees and leaned forward. It looked like it was preparing to charge.

Zoom!

The skeleton, standing at the starting point less than a second ago, had disappeared with a gust of wind. The students standing too close let out small screams and grabbed their skirts or ducked.

"!"

Despite having seen it with his own two eyes, Simon could scarcely believe what just happened.

The skeleton had reached the assistant teacher, who was more than twenty meters away, in a single jump.

It then swung its sword with all the momentum of the charge behind it, hitting directly into the assistant's raised sword.

Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!

An unbelievably loud sound came from a skeleton's sword of all things.

The assistant teacher who took the blow was knocked off his feet by the force of the attack and had to use Combat Dark Magic techniques just to land safely as he rolled across the floor.

Step.

The skeleton landed on the ground and pointed its sword at the fallen assistant teacher. The assistant teacher was sprawled out on the ground, shaking himself awake.

"Skeleton Dash."

Said Aaron, breaking the silence from the stunned students.

"It's a specialized dashing skill best used by skeletons."

Wooooaaaah!

The room erupted in applause.

Simon, clapping his hands, was already feeling the itch.

"Silence."

Immediately, the applause settled.

"If you thought dark magic is available only to the necromancer, you're mistaken. Necromancers can command the undead they control to use dark magic as well. If you advance, you can even control magical undead, such as the skeleton mage."

A chuckle escaped through Simon's gritted teeth, him being so worked up that his jaw was clenched shut.

Meilyn, standing next to him, flinched.

"Hey! What's with that creepy laugh?"

"I'm just excited!"

Dark magic really was so broad. There was still so much to learn!

Simon, only barely managing to avoid salivating at the idea, pulled himself together and focused on Aaron's explanation.

"It won't be easy, of course, but if you master this technique, you can use even a skeleton against priests or any other opponent. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!!"

Certainly, if a skeleton could charge like that, it was possible to preemptively strike without risking your own body, or to pressure a priest before they unleashed their divinity.

It would turn the smallfry with a sword into a deadly bullet. Everyone was eager to learn the technique.

The assistants moved fast, setting up straw bundles tied to poles all over the track. It was the kind of dummy knights used to practice their swordsmanship.

"The principle of Skeleton Dash isn't difficult. At its simplest, think of it as commanding a skeleton to do 'Jet-Black Stepping' while you're connected to its thoughts."

The magic part only involved adding a small formula next to the summoning circle on the skeleton's skull.

The necromancer would then direct the skeleton's jet-black into its feet before exploding it to shoot forward.

It certainly wasn't a difficult thing to do in theory, but putting it into practice was a whole other story.

Aaron went over the finer points of directing dark magic within undead, then lined the students up on the track to make them practice.

"I'll start!"

Meilyn was the first to step forward confidently. She had the skeleton grip its sword and ordered it to charge.

Zoom!

The skeleton stomped on jet-black and took flight. The students watching all gasped.

"As expected from an elite!"

"Is she gonna succeed on the first try?!"

However, although she successfully exploded the jet-black under the skeleton's feet, the explosion was so strong that its legs were shattered, bone fragments scattering through the air.

In the end, her skeleton landed a bit before the straw dummy, and only its upper half survived. It was a disastrous failure.

'Urk.'

Meilyn's face turned red, and the students, including Rick, burst into raucous laughter.

"Bwahahahaha!"

"Sir told us to practice, not invent an entirely new skill!"josei

"Did you discover a spell that sacrifices the skeleton's legs so it can run faster?"

That's when Rick put his hand to his mouth like speaking into a loudspeaker and shouted,

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Meilyn original, {Leg Lopper}!"

Her face a bright pink, she picked up a bone from the ground and threw it at Rick.

"Ughhh! Let's see how good you guys are, then!"

After snarling at her classmates, she glanced over at Aaron.

She expected to get scolded, but Aaron looked surprisingly nonchalant.

"Not bad for a first try. That was actually a good attempt."

"Wh-What?"

Meilyn blinked out of confusion.

"That's what happens when you're so focused on the dash that you neglect the condition of your skeleton."

Explained Aaron.

"When a great strength is applied, it's natural that a lot of strain would be placed on the joints."

He pointed to his knees and ankles.

"For a human, that might just lead to overloading the muscles, but a skeleton will simply collapse. Next time, try to be mindful of how much force the bones in your skeleton's legs can take."

"Th-Thank you!"

Meilyn bowed, then looked at Rick and the students who had teased her with their smug faces.

They had become silent.

Then, after the silence lasted so long it became awkward, the teasing students moved to try for themselves.

* * *

* * *

There was a good reason Aaron told Meilyn she did a good job. Most students couldn't even send their skeletons forward, much less get off the starting point.

In a few cases, students would destroy their entire skeletons, having to restore them again. Others would inadvertently fire a Bone Nail into the straw, using restoration skills to guide the bones instead of Jet-Black Stepping.

"Toto Amori, sir!"

As an aspiring summoning student, Toto was somewhat the class's rising star. But even he failed.

He avoided breaking any of his skeleton's bones, but only the feet flew out into the straw.

Another round of laughter erupted around him, and the term 'Toto-Original Kick' was born.

"Well done. That was a good job."

"Th-Thank you."

Aaron had complimented him, but Toto felt a little deflated at not meeting his own expectations.

Seeing that, Aaron encouraged,

"Don't let failure dissuade you. No student has succeeded on their first tr—"

Woahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

A wild cheer erupted from further down the track. Aaron and Toto turned to look.

It was Simon's turn.

His skeleton had shot forward in a straight line and swung its sword, slicing cleanly through the straw dummy. By the time the two were watching, the top half of the dummy was toppling down.

The skeleton stopped on the track, sword still held to its side. Then it straightened up and raised its sword in celebration.

Simon, standing at the starting point of the track, pumped his fist in triumph.

"…"

As Toto turned to look at Aaron, the professor avoided Toto's gaze and cleared his throat.

"…No sane student had succeeded on their first try. Don't let him bother you."

* * *

'One more time.'

Simon's attention was focused on honing his new skill. The skeleton returned from the track and stood at the starting point.

Jet-black flowed from its skull, traveling from bone to bone and concentrating into its toes. Then, it bent its knees in preparation to jump.

'By feeling the jet-black press beneath the skeleton's feet…'

This brought back memories of his first Combat Dark Magic class.

But now, in his first Summoning class of the second semester, he wasn't the one stepping on jet-black. He was asking his skeleton to do so. It was a completely different matter.

Slowly building focus, Simon's eyes flashed open, and he issued an absolute command.

'Fly!'

Zoom!

The skeleton flew off the ground. A black plume of dust was blasted back by the ambient pressure.

After leaping ten meters, the skeleton swung its sword and sliced through the straw.

Wooaah!

The students watching in the background let out a gasp. An assistant teacher with a clipboard checked the records.

"Leap distance was ten meters. The target was also cut! Well done."

This was a really good technique! And this wasn't just him being biased toward newer ideas. Being able to close the gap between you and an opponent ten meters away while using the weakest undead soldier is ridiculous.

However…

'Something's lacking.'

Although the distance had increased from his first attempt, Simon was still unsatisfied. He walked to the target and inspected the straw he had just cut.

'It didn't cut it all the way through, just the tip.'

By using absolute command to create a dash, the speed and stability could be increased dramatically. But the problem was in the details.

When using an absolute command, the skeleton is only concerned with executing the commanded act. 'Fly'. It's so focused on executing that one move that it loses sight of the most important goal, hitting the target.

Once he identified the problem, he immediately thought of an improvement.

'Then I'll use two absolute commands this time!

Simon tried the new combo twice, one after another.

'Fly -> Slash.'

Fly in and only then slash.

Both failed. The first try, the skeleton focused on the first absolute command, 'Fly', so the 'Slash' got lost in the chaos.

The second try did some kind of mix of two absolute commands at the same time, so the skeleton got tangled up in its own limbs.

The continued failures grinded away at Simon's sanity until he became obsessed.

'I'm going to somehow break this wall before class ends today!'

As he continued to improve and outpace the rest of the class, there was one person in the class who kept looking over at him.

'I knew he'd succeed.'

The sight of Simon using Skeleton Dash fueled Hector's competitive spirit until it became a wildfire.

"Hector Moore? Please begin."

Upon being given the instruction, Hector's eyes moved back to his skeleton. The fiery look in his eyes made the assistant teacher flinch.

'There's nothing he can do that I can't do.'

Hector put his right arm out and directed the jet-black to flow and explode to create the Skeleton Dash.

Bwoooom!

The skeleton cut through the straw five meters away, and his faction behind him shouted enthusiastically.

"As expected from Hector!"

"He's on a different level, above the other— Huh?"

Suddenly, his faction went silent.

So did Hector.

His head throbbed with irritation.

"It's a failure."

Said the assistant teacher, checking a box on his clipboard.

The dash and the attack were successful, but the skeleton's feet were blown off. Even though it successfully cut through the straw, it was lying on the ground, footless.

"Please."

Demanded Hector, glaring at his assistant.

"Feedback, please."

The assistant leaned forward a little and smiled.

'This kid's got a temper.'

"It seems like the bone-to-bone bonds were working fine, but you were so enraged and overzealous that you lost control of the undead for a moment, resulting in the bonds becoming dull. Why don't you try relaxing a little more?'

After hearing that, Hector immediately pulled out a new skeleton and set it on the starting point. Closing his eyes, he slowly calmed himself.

'Clear your mind. Free yourself of useless thoughts and look only ahead.'

Hector's eyes slowly opened.

All focussed on was the straw dummy ten meters away.

'Here I g—'

"Wooooaaaah!"

"Simon, wow! eleven meters this time!"

"You're so amazing, Simon!"

Boom!

Hector's skeleton smashed into eight pieces instantly as it leapt. The sword in its hand stuck to the straw, but the skeleton itself had completely shattered.

"Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Hector's anger erupted like an active volcano.

——