REAPER SCANS
Necromancer Academy's Genius Summoner
[Translator - Ramen]
[Proofreader - Artethrax / Valirius]
Chapter 293
A full-scale war had broken out.
Countless plant monsters arose from the root-covered city center.
From the city's outskirts, hordes of undead poured out of Simon's subspace.
The two armies clashed head-on, with the frontline falling into chaos in an instant.
'This would've been a big problem if I didn't bring the Legion.'
It would take Simon a full day to break through that many monsters on his own.
Simon’s role as Commander was to lead the undead forward while using his sword to remove the threat of the falling white apples ahead of time.
[Guurr, guuugghh.]
Hearing a noise, Simon turned back only to see a pair of villagers, all with vein-like plant stems sprouting from their bodies.
Recognition sparked in Simon’s eyes. They were the same people who had told him about Sasha in exchange for three gold.
'Mm.'
Seeing someone he knew being turned into something like that wasn't pleasant.
Simon’s expression hardened as he swung his greatsword, slashing the villagers horizontally in half. The houses and plant monsters behind them also crumbled.
'What a tragedy. Why is Figaro even killing innocent people?'
[Kuhehe! It's obvious! Look at the alley over there!]
Simon turned his head.
Tree roots had pierced the bodies of the fallen, acting as tubes. The roots were gurgling and sucking out some sort of energy, and the more they did so, the more the people’s bodies dried up and became desiccated husks.
[That bastard intends to absorb all the villagers as his nutrients.]
'Nutrients?'
[Yeah, there's no way he'll stay in that big wooden body forever. Once he gathers up enough power and controls the abilities of that girl named Sasha, he'll change his body once again. That's when the real nightmare will begin.]
Thump! Thump! Thump!
While they were at it, a monster that looked like a rotten old tree attacked Simon, but a squad of corpse spiders flew at it. They flew on webs like pendulums, bit into the tree monster with their fangs, and felled it.
Simon looked back up to the top of the central tree. Using his magnified right eye, he saw Figaro smirking with only the upper half of his body left.
Seeing that only reaffirmed Simon's decision.
'I'm definitely going to climb up there and blow that bastard's face off.'
He pulled a zombie out of the subspace and brought the pale ring on his left hand onto its chest.
"It's time to fight, Prince."
Craaaaaaaaack!
A bolt of black lightning descended from the sky and struck the zombie. It darkened, and a boy dressed like a nobleman and wearing a crown stood up.
[Man, how come every time you call me it’s at a time like this?]
Prince’s smile was bittersweet as he looked at the gigantic tree.
Simon shrugged.
"Well, an ace in the hole is only meant for important times like this, after all."
[Uh huh…]
With that, Prince's face lit up and he jumped in place.
[The thing you said! Just now! That was so cool! Ace in the hole…!! So you mean to say I'm the Legion's ace in the hole, right?]
"Yes, yes. Let's get going."
Simon, wearing Pier's as Bone Armor, took off running with his cape fluttering behind him. Prince and the undead followed close behind.
[Here comes the ace in the hole!]
Prince seemed excited as he leaped off the ground and slammed his fist into the trunk of a large tree monster.
Pow!
The monster went flying, smashing into the other plant monsters.
Prince whistled and looked at his fist.
[The power’s become stronger! Your jet-black seems to be stronger than when you were in the Holy Federation!]
"Of course!"
Said Simon, cutting down the next wave of falling white apples with his Greatsword of Destruction.
"How can I not become stronger when I'm trying to survive in that school?"
Centered around Simon and Prince, the Legion charged forward in a spearhead formation.
The plant monsters and zombified corpses were all products of Sasha's innate abilities rather than the power of the Saintess. Ranking them on the monster danger level scale, they ranged between levels 1-3, and the Legion's power was far greater.
The Legion charged forward in a flood.
Crrrrrumble!
[We made it through!]
Said Prince, blasting plants into gooey nothingness with his fist. Now, there was only the giant tree directly in front of them.
'It’s so tall.'
Simon looked up from the ground. He had to almost completely tilt his head back to be able to see the top.
[Simon! Are you going to climb up?]
"Hold on."
Simon took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the Greatsword of Destruction, and slashed the tree with all his might.
Shhhhhhhk!
A large sword mark appeared on the tree, but it was impossible for him to cut it in half with a single strike.
A moment later, a white flame burst from the sword mark on the tree, and it returned to its original form.
'The tree is Sasha's main body. The power of a Saintess is being applied.'
As far as Simon remembered from the 1st semester’s Saintess incident, when he had his encounter with Flema, she was able to repeatedly resurrect with those white flames even if torn to shreds.
In other words, it was impossible to directly cut the tree down. The only way left was to climb up the tree, defeat Figaro, and rescue Sasha.
He was confident, having been through a similar experience once before during the island survival assessment.
'Rather than wasting my time coming up with shallow tricks…'
Simon placed his right foot on the tree.
'Advance!'
He lifted his left foot off the ground, brought it to the tree, and sprinted straight up. Prince, the skeletons, and the corpse spiders followed after him.
[Just keep your eyes forward, Boy! I'll control the conscripted skeletons!]
"I'm counting on you!"
Simon tilted his greatsword to the side. A disgustingly huge number of plants were charging down the tree.
'Slash through space itself!'
Thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud!
A white arc was drawn in the air, slicing through any monster unlucky enough to meet it.
[Ace-in-the-hole punch!]
As Prince punched the empty air, a shockwave made of jet-black stretched out like a whirlwind, blowing all the monsters away.
"Did you like what I said that much?"
[Not really!]
Jump!
Dash!
Simon and Prince continued to clear a path with their sword and fists.
But it was tougher than they expected.
'This is so tiring!'
It wasn’t exactly perpendicular, but even so, using only one’s feet to climb up a sloping tree was hard. Using jet-black only barely made it even possible.
'There's so many!'
Moreover, an endless stream of plants came down the tree.
The moment when Simon raised his greatsword to slash them again…
[Save your energy, fool!]
Pier’s helm, which had been covering Simon’s face, moved up and assembled into the face of a skeleton before letting out a loud shout. The rest of Pier's skeleton stayed behind to help Simon fight.
At Pier's command, the skeletons and the corpse spiders following behind rushed past Simon and Prince, attacking the monsters first.
"Nice one, Pier!"
In the meantime, the two had safely left the battlefield.
[How close are we now?!]
Prince asked as he swung his fist, creating another shockwave.
"About 20% of the way up."
Simon replied, kicking away a monster.
[Agh! It's so long!]
Just then, a branch appeared in front of the two of them, twisting up as they ran, and a white apple grew on it.
"Ah."
Simon's face froze.
The fruit, which could previously only be produced from the huge branches on the barrier’s ceiling, could now be created directly from the body.
It was proof that Figaro was getting used to the power of the Saintess. Simon had to defeat him before he adapted to his power as well as Sasha’s abilities.
Ta-tap.
Tap.
Small apples fell directly toward Simon and Prince. However, the pair destroyed them before it was too late.
[Woah!]
Or so they thought.
Prince looked surprised when, as soon as they destroyed the apples, long pillars of divine explosions shot across the sky.
Struck by two of them, the first blew through Prince's left ear, and the other left a hole in his chest.
"Are you alright?"
[Woah, shit!]
Prince stumbled, coughing up blood.
[Do you have enough zombies left in your subspace?]
"I still have at least nine."
[Then there's no problem!]
Prince lunged past Simon and caught all the falling white apples. The divine explosion immediately followed, completely evaporating Prince’s body and leaving no trace.
When Prince vanished, Simon swiftly pulled out the next zombie and placed the ring on his left hand onto it.
With that, alongside some black lightning, Prince had reappeared.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - Ramen
Proofreader - Artethrax / Valirius
Join our discord for updates on releases!
* * *
[By the way, dying feels like shit!]
“…Haha."
They ran nonstop, but had only now reached 30% of the total distance.
It would take more than three times this running to reach the top, where Figaro's body was.
They had a long way to go, and Simon's legs were starting to shake.
However…
'I need to go up.'
Simon clenched his teeth.
'Don't think about anything else. I'm going to go up, no matter what!'
Simon kept running, bringing his main hand behind his back to activate a magic circle.
Finally, the time had come to use that skill.
Emerald smoke billowed out, and with his offhand, he pulled out the golem’s core from his subspace and held it.
The golem's core and the emerald smoke merged to form dark magic.
"Come forth."
The spell, 'blood golem', was finally complete, shooting into the sky.
Simon stopped running and pulled twenty skeletons out of his supersized subspace. Turquoise smoke wrapped around them.
{Simon Original - Royal Bodyguards}
Twenty summon-type skeletons emitted a turquoise glow as their cloaks fluttered behind them.
[Whoa, whoa! That's hella cool!]
Prince was thrilled.
Simon gasped for air and looked only ahead.
White apples were falling.
Jump. Leap!
The royal guards, leaving turquoise trails as they ran, shot out like bullets and swung their swords.
The apples exploded as they were slashed and Simon ran safely between them.
Shiing! Shiing! Shiing!
The twenty skeletons darted around with 'Dash', becoming impossible to hit. It was as if countless turquoise flashes of light were flickering around Simon.
They slashed down the apples, defeated the plants monsters, and even cut down branches that flew in like whips.
"Kugh!"
Just then, one of the royal guards was caught in a blast from one of the apples. Simon, connected to the royal guards via the Cloud, lost his footing from the huge sensation of pain.
[What are you doing?!]
Grab!
Coming up from behind, Prince barely managed to catch Simon's hand.
[Pull yourself together!]
He then threw Simon upward with monstrous strength. Simon redoubled his jet-black again and clung to the tree.
"Thank you, Prince!"
[Shut up and keep going!]
He would be doomed if he fell from here. It’d be impossible to climb the entire tree with what was left of his stamina.
'I need to get to Figaro with this one chance!'
Thud!
Pow!
Two more royal guards were defeated.
'Kugghh!'
Simon's flesh groaned and organs screamed as pain tore into his very soul.
The only weakness of the royal guards was that, being made of the Cloud, the damage taken was transferred directly to the caster.
Simon barely held on, forcing his eyes to stay open out of sheer determination. His vision swam blue-green sword strikes coming from all directions, cutting down the falling apples.
There were now ten royal guards left.
"Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!"
He felt his vision distorting. His head spun, and it felt like his whole body was on fire.
But he ran. He ran, he ran, and he ran.
He could manage the pain without resorting to the Curse of Indolence.
In fact, his jet-black wasn't steady enough for him to even use a spell as complex as the Curse of Indolence, either.
[Hey! Get a hold of yourself!]
Every now and then, when he stopped, Prince came up behind him and pushed his back.
Thanks to that, Simon managed to get back on his feet and keep on running.
'40% now!'
At that moment, he heard Prince's shout fade into the distance.
When Simon looked back, he saw that Prince had fallen from the tree.
'Oh no!'
A branch protruding from the tree had caught Prince by the ankle and thrown him into the air. The zombie noble had managed to catch himself halfway down the tree, but Simon had no time to wait for Prince to get back to him.
Simon ran ahead. The remaining number of royal guards had fallen down to six.
"Pant! Pant! Royal guards, deactivate!"
The remaining skeletons all came to a halt, and the Cloud rose into the air and back into Simon's magic circle.
Simon gasped and swung his Greatsword of Destruction.
He was the only one left now.
He frantically swung his greatsword and slashed the white apples. Then, he finally reached the middle of the tree.
'Only half the distance left!'
Now…
Now, he was halfway there.
He only had 4% of jet-black left. He'd been abusing his core with mana breathing to create the jet-black he needed, but it was getting overloaded. The jet-black being produced was thinner and bluer than usual.
Tap.
Jet-black was consumed again with every step he took, every slash he made.
Only 2% remained in his body.
He still had half the distance to cover, and Figaro was sneering at him from above.
His vision was blurring.
The pain only grew stronger as his body whispered words of doubt into his mind.
'I've done enough if I've come this far.'
'Even if I can't save Sasha, it can't be helped.'
'She'd also think that I’ve done the best I could.'
'The others will also think I've done my best.'
'My best…'
His best… That word played over and over again in his mind.
'Is this really my best?'
'Have I really given everything I could?'
'Not yet.'
He swung his greatsword to cut down the falling apples and brought his right foot one step forward.
He had gotten 50% of the way there. There was only 50% of the distance left to Sasha.
What did he have to do to climb this remaining half?
He had to surpass the limit.
Go beyond common sense.
'Bring it out.'
Everything.
To climb the other half…
He had to bring out the other half.
'Kugh!'
His jet-black had now been completely depleted.
There was no energy left in his body, and a feeling of exhaustion washed over.
However…
He took another step forward.
'I…!'
He only needed one thing.
'Whatever it takes!'
Belief.
Absolute belief in himself.
'I can do it!'
Fwoooooooooooosh!
Watching the scene, Figaro was terrified.
Simon's eyes glowed gold, and his energy field erupted with a pure-white brilliance.
The end is also the beginning of something new.
While his jet-black was at 0%…
He was now 100% full with divinity.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!"
Now, he began to run again with divinity on his feet.
He wielded his greatsword with his right hand and clutched his chest with his left.
{Strength}
{Haste}
{Endurance}
Different colored blessings coiled around his entire body, and he ran even faster. Even further. Pressed his free hand to his wounds, he cast Heal as he sped forward.
He felt good. Great, even. Flipping from the brink of death to the prime of his life, Simon yelled,
"Follow after me, Pier!"
[Kuhahahahahahaha!]
Pier’s body, wrapped around Simon’s, also started to become enveloped in divinity and filled with brilliant light.
[Wait for me, Boy!]
The shapeless cape transformed into a dazzling white divine cape, and pure-white flames flared up in Pier's left eye socket, burning like a torch.
[You're truly insane! Just how much are you planning to insult the undead?!]
With the very same divine undead state that had slashed off the right arm of the Saintess of Purification…
Simon and Pier simultaneously swung the Greatsword of Destruction.
Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasaaaah!
Apples and monsters alike were slashed in a straight line.
[How can a necromancer—!!]
Figaro, previously assured of his victory, let out a desperate cry.
"I told you!"
Simon shot forward like an arrow, leaping off of his divinity with his right foot.
"To just wait right there!"
——
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