REAPER SCANS
Necromancer Academy's Genius Summoner
[Translator - Ramen]
[Proofreader - Artethrax]
Chapter 394
Claaaaaaaaaaang!
Claaaaaaaang!
Silage's and Simon's swords clashed repeatedly, sending sparks flying in the world of sand. The ground beneath their feet cracked under the pressure.
After exchanging ten strikes, both of them jumped back simultaneously, and a moment later, the sandy ground they were fighting on erupted like a fountain.
"Go!"
At Simon's shout, the army of mummies charged at Silage like a pack of wild beasts.
"The power of a Commander is truly hard to believe, even now seeing it for myself."
Silage deactivated the blood sword he was holding and drew a new magic circle. It came down to the ground and turned into two mirrors.
"Allow me to show you the true use of blood zombies."
As the blood zombies passed through these mirrors, their dull eyes became deathly sharp, and the blood in their bodies started to boil.
[Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!]
Breaking through with speeds hard to believe from zombies, they took down the mummies with single strikes, penetrating deep into the formation.
The more the blood zombies fought, the redder and redder they grew, until…
Ka-boom!
They triggered a Corpse Explosion, or rather, a Blood Explosion.
The mummies caught in the explosion were reduced to nothing, not even a scrap of a bandage remaining.
As the blood zombies continued to charge through the mirrors in a straight line and exploded one after another, even the overwhelming numbers of the huge mummy army fell apart without a chance to do anything.
Simon's expression hardened.
'As expected from a strong opponent at the level of a Kizen professor. But still…'
Seeing Silage clutching his chest, it was clear he was also strained. The fact that he wasn't fighting directly but relying on blood zombies only supported that conclusion.
'Of course, I'm also running out of time.'
Connected to Herseva by their thoughts, Simon could tell she was reaching her limit.
Before Silage's heart stopped, Herseva's dungeon would deactivate.
In that case, he had to create a variable, some unknown, no matter what it cost him.
While the blood zombies and mummies clashed head-on, Simon quietly circled around, hiding behind a sand dune and moving to Silage's flank.
"It's no use."
Silage's voice echoed over the dune.
"Centuries of time… I have seen more and experienced more than you."
Silage continued in a cold and chilling tone,
"Even if you were lucky enough to gain the power of a Commander, you are still a mere first-year. You stand no chance of defeating me."
Crush!
Simon charged in, kicking off strongly on the ground.
"That's not for you to decide!"
With all his might, he swung his greatsword in the air. The dark-blue slash cut through everything in its path, but Silage dodged it by stepping to the side.
Tap!
As Silage was dodging, Simon landed and dashed right up to the man. The face of the old fox wearing the young Walter's face was right in front of him.
'If only I could cut him down with the Greatsword of Destruction!'
Just as Simon was about to swing his greatsword, he narrowed his eyes and pushed down hard with his heels to retreat, not sparing a moment's hesitation. Blood Explosions consumed the empty space that he had barely escaped.
"As to be expected, your instincts are sharp."
Silage grinned grimly. Around him, blood droplets, now reduced to even smaller particles, were floating in the air like landmines.
"Why, just die already."
Silage stirred up a wind of blood, sending a wall of droplets flying toward Simon.
In response, Simon put his weight on his right foot, stomping it hard against the ground as he clenched his teeth tight.
Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!
Blood droplets exploded the moment before the sword slash rose to meet them. However, Silage skillfully controlled the remaining blood droplets to gather them in the air.
Gathering up, the blood droplets coalesced into a massive, ten-meter-wide blood sphere and dropped it down on Simon.
Gripping the handle of his greatsword with a strength so strong that it almost broke it, Simon thought,
'Again!'
Sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!
The incoming sphere of blood split in half. Simon spared no time, already bending at the waist.
'Again!! Again!!!'
A whopping three consecutive space slashes.
The blood sphere was slashed the shape of a cross, then shattered along with a Blood Explosion.
"You're constantly learning in the middle of the battle. At least your attitude as a student is commendable."
"Professor, student, whatever. Stop babbling about nonsense!"
Simon's eyes filled with madness as he charged forward.
"The one standing in front of you is a Commander!"
Clunk.
In that instant, his legs lost all their strength. The pupils in Simon's eyes shook wildly.
"With such reckless usage, there is simply no way your jet-black could last."
Silage stepped back and flicked his hand. Hidden drops of blood in the sand rose into the air, dyeing the area around Simon a deep crimson.
"This is what you call a difference in experience."
All the droplets exploded.
A deafening noise.
And an ensuing aftershock.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!
Witnessing the desert night painted red by the spectacle of explosions, Silage closed his eyes.
A zero percent chance of survival.
He had accurately confirmed that Simon's jet-black was exhausted. With this certainty, he finally turned his back.
"Preserve your strength."
He sent a message to his followers using blood magic.
"The caster has fallen, so the domain will soon collapse, too. Begin the Apostle's resurrection plan immediat—!"
Staaab!
"…!"
His steps came to a sudden stop.
Shock spread through his mind, and his jaw hung open in a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.
A white spear was stabbed in Silage's back.
"This… is…!"
Psshhk!
Fresh blood gushed out from his mouth. Soon, he coughed out a murky glob of blood.
'Don't tell me…!'
Even if he had turned his back, the blood veil and meat armor, which he kept cast on him even when eating, had been pierced instantly.
He turned his head.
As the red explosion dissipated in the wind, he saw a boy hiding within a white barrier.
"Time, experience, and all that bullshit. Those who talk about them often face two common problems."
Even with blood dripping from his forehead, Simon was grinning.
"First, they jump to conclusions too easily."
"You!"
"Second, they lack imagination."
{Rete Original - Escrime & Divine Barrier}
"A necromancer with a core… is using divinity? What kind of trick is this?!"
"I understand it's hard to accept."
Simon deactivated the Divine Barrier and opened a divine subspace held in an artifact.
"But this is reality!"
What appeared from it was a divine beast in the form of a bear, 'Akalion'.
"Let's go, Akalion!"
[Roooaaah!]
As Simon infused divinity into Akalion, it rapidly grew in size, transforming into a monstrous bear. Simon hopped on and commanded it to charge, holding the Greatsword of Destruction like a lance.
Silage immediately tried to use dark magic, but…
Cough!
Blood kept on gushing out from his mouth as he coughed. It happened that divinity entered his entire body from the previous attack, causing his core to enter shock.
"Stop them!!"
Shouted Silage. The rampaging blood zombies fighting the mummies gathered in front of Silage.
"Akalion! Keep going!"
Simon gripped the Greatsword of Destruction, infused it with divinity, and swung.
Clang!
Clang!
Claaaaaaaaang!
Each time the Greatsword of Destruction—showered in pure white light—flashed, endless lines of undead were cleaved in half.
Simon cut down all the blood zombies before they could even explode, while Akalion cleverly dodged every attack with quick calculations. With every dodge, it swiped with its divinity-infused paws or bit down on the corpses to prevent explosions.
'Lack of imagination, you say?'
Barely stopping his bleeding, Silage let out a feigned laugh.
A first-year kid from Kizen suddenly claimed to be a Commander.
And that Commander was now using divinity.
More than anything, that Ancient Undead in the form of armor Simon was wearing…
'How could an Ancient Undead possibly use divinity???'
[Kuhehehehe!]
Ever since Simon used divinity, Pier's entire body had been glowing white. Accepting divinity into his body, he assisted Simon with using it as his source of energy.
No one could have imagined such a thing.
"There's a limit to how abnormal one can be!!"
Silage opened a subspace himself and released his reserve stockpile of blood zombies. A mass of red entities swarmed out.
"Get out of the way!"
Simon raised his left hand, the one not holding the greatsword.
A smooth, pure white spear appeared on top of his hand. Several layers of bands made of divinity flew toward it, wrapping around it to form the shape of a drill.
{Rete Original - Escrime}
Fwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!
The divine spear shot out like a white pillar, blowing the blood zombies away with just the wind.
Silage started casting another spell to block it head-on.
"Jump!"
Pow!
In that moment, Akalion leaped into the air. Simon released his grip on the greatsword and forcefully drew a line from the sky to the sand.
{Exorcism}
Craaaaaaaaack!
A white lightning bolt fell right on Silage's head, but he quickly deployed a blood shield to block it.
He, too, was a veteran who survived through countless battles. He had gotten hit because the previous situation had been unpredictable, but thinking of his opponent as a priest allowed him to adapt with appropriate tactics.
Slaaaaaash!
Akalion came down from the air, clawing at Silage's chest as it landed.
'I almost had him!'
Simon's face stiffened.
Blood splattered from Silage's chest, but the wound was shallow. Silage immediately struck Akalion in the abdomen, sending it flying away.
Ka-thu-thuud!
Akalion fell, rolling across the ground. Seeing that, Simon activated his pendant to recall Akalion and then retrieved the Greatsword of Destruction into his hand.
"Kugh!"
Simon's hand trembled violently.
His divinity was almost running out, too.
The two shots of Escrime, Rete's original skill… They consumed far more divinity than they appeared to.
‘You were really throwing these around so freely even before becoming a Saintess, Rete?'
[K-Kid!]
Just then, Herseva's voice was heard. She spoke directly to him through thoughts so that others couldn't hear.
[At most, you've got ten minutes! I can only maintain the dungeon for ten more minutes!]
'…Okay.'
He had managed to inflict a significant wound by catching Silage off guard, but this was the limit.
Both his jet-black and divinity were running low.
He needed decisive strength to take that monster down.
'I have no choice but to use my final card!'
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - Ramen
Proofreader - Artethrax
Join our discord for updates on releases!
* * *
"In the most desperate moment of your life, when your life is in danger and all other means are blocked, leaving you with no choice but to pray to the heavens. In such a trying time, trust me and use Compellonia."
It was now or never.
This was the moment to use the last resort, having saved it till the very end.
Simon expelled the divinity from his body, then reactivated his core to return to necromancer mode.
"Mummies!"
While Simon's defenses were down, Silage sent blood zombies to Simon. However, mummy troops soon gathered again and began attacking Silage.
Silage had no choice but to blindly splash out AoE dark magic.
While the mummies bought some time, Simon steadily prepared his card up his sleeve.
'I have practically no jet-black left. I need to make this work!'
First, he quickly drew the four curses.
He then transferred the core formulas of the four curses with his fingertips and assembled them.
It was like extracting part of an ecosystem and attaching it to another. Watching how perfectly everything matched together, Simon realized just how amazing Bahil, the spell's creator, truly was.
Once he had assembled all four formulas, he completed the curse.
{Compellonia}
Simon held the magic circle and took a deep breath.
There was no more time for hesitation.
Bravely, he activated the Compellonia magic circle on himself.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!
"…!"
It was…
An indescribable feeling.
He was leaving the realm of ordinary thought.
An overwhelming wave of information surged into his mind like a tsunami. His head was filled with countless numbers and languages.
'Ah.'
In mere seconds, Simon surpassed the amount of information he had learned from Kizen, and…
Within what he felt was minutes, he surpassed everything he had learned in his entire life.
But he couldn't have it.
He could only open his mouth at the immense flow of information, like opening a dam and letting the sea rush past him.
'!'
Simon's soul transcended its shell in an instant.
The sight of the undead and Heavenly Blood cultists fighting fiercely grew distant.
The scene of Simon's precious friends and all the first-year students becoming a 'sacrifice' also faded away.
Outside the dungeon, the professors and assistant teachers deactivating the ring of blood also grew faint.
The sight of Kizen…
The sight of his hometown, Les Hill…
The appearance of the Dark Territory and the Holy Federation…
The continent.
Soon, transcending everything, Simon crossed through the gate.
"…"
It was a pitch-black landscape made purely of thoughts.
Even now, things were moving further away. The planet where the 'continent' resided now looked like a speck of dust.
[Don't you think everything is insignificant?]
In the suffocating darkness, a voice crept into Simon's ear.
[The fact that everything you've worked so hard for, fought for, and struggled for came from that tiny little dot.]
Beside Simon was a pitch-black figure in a pitch-black space.
[So, your answer is?]
"......"
[Oh, sorry. It must be tough with all that information flooding in, right?]
The figure changed something for Simon.
Finally, Simon could ignore the information flooding into his mind and earned the right to do 'something else' for a moment.
First, he looked at the figure with his eyes.
With a head and limbs, it had the silhouette of a person, but he could easily tell that it really wasn't a human.
It seemed to have taken on a form similar to Simon's, perhaps to look friendly.
"Who are you?"
Asked Simon.
[You humans always try to define phenomena with words. Fine. I'll lower myself to your level—]
The figure smiled.
[I am everything in this world and also nothing at all. Nice to meet you!]
"......"
It wasn't an answer at all.
[Thanks for coming all the way through the gate to meet me. It gets pretty boring here by myself.]
Simon nodded at its words and looked around.
In every direction was endless darkness.
But in the infinite darkness, countless white dots were scattered across everything.
"Say…"
Simon looked back at the figure.
"I want to go back to where I came from. Could you please help me?"
[Why bother?]
The figure shrugged and wrapped its arm over Simon's shoulder.
[Take a good look.]
Then, with its fingers, it pulled one of Simon's eyes wide open.
[Look at what you've been all this time.]
It was…
A tiny, tiny dot in this vast, dark space
And when that dot was zoomed in on closer, closer, and closer…
That tiny dot was a cluster of tiny specks, and deep in a corner, there was a single speck.
And that very dot was the continent.
[Isn't it funny? All you thought was everything is actually less than a speck of dust.]
"…"
Indeed, anyone would think so when faced with such scale.
[The history you humans have is trivial. That tiny grain in a speck of dust… What is the meaning of all the blood and tears you have shed to claim that land?]
"But I—!"
[It's the same for you. You're just a grain moving to save another grain in that speck. What's the point of all your actions? It's all meaningless. There's nothing. That's the reason why I can do everything but decide to do nothing. Nothing is all there is.]
Simon felt his thoughts and emotions rapidly being influenced. The figure spread its arms wide.
[Let's observe.]
A figure that can do everything but does nothing.
[With me, in this place, we'll observe.]
Simon took a long breath.
Cooling his overheating mind, he regained his composure.
"Sorry, I'll refuse."
[Why?]
Perhaps it was unexpected: the figure's voice was one of surprise.
[Why? Why? Why? Even though everything is here?]
"At the same time, everything isn't here."
[…]
The figure fell silent.
"What I want…"
Simon pointed at the continent.
"…is that speck."
The figure shook its head as if it couldn't comprehend Simon.
[How come? Now you must've understood everything. That everything you want is endlessly insignificant!]
"As you said, humans are insignificant. And simple."
Said Simon.
"And as simple as they are, being able to think simply is a blessing. A stone on the road can be a mere obstacle to one person, a cherished memory to another, or an object of archaeological value to someone else. Big or small doesn't matter. The heart decides…"
Simon poked his chest with his thumb.
"…what is significant or not."
[Ha. Haha…!]
The figure burst into laughter.
[The heart you speak of is just autonomic nervous excitement and electrical signals from the brain. It's a symbol of insignificance!]
"I'm a human as well."
[No! You can now enjoy a class equal to mine! That so-called 'God' you creatures keep blabbering of…!]
"If I truly am that God now…"
Simon's voice was cold.
"I'd gladly break my wings and fall to that insignificant ground. Because everything precious to me is there."
[...]
"You'll help me, right?"
Heheh.
Hehehehe.
The figure chuckled.
[I guess it can't be helped. What a shame. It's been a while since a friend had climbed to me.]
"…"
[This is your first and last chance after crossing the gate. So I will ask one last time. Are you certain about this?]
"Yes."
Simon smiled.
"I'm sure."
[Alright.]
The figure rubbed its hands together.
[I'm sorry, but all this information will be forgotten once you return. If you remember it, your brain will burn out, after all.]
"Yeah."
[Still, you came all this way, so I should at least give you a gift before you go. What do you want?]
"Power."
Simon opened his eyes wide.
"The power to overcome the crisis I'm facing right now."
[Understood.]
The figure spread its arms wide.
[It was truly a pleasure to meet you, my friend!]
* * *
"…Gasp!"
Simon's eyes snapped open.
Sweats poured down all over his body, and he was panting frantically. His eyes shook as if he couldn't believe everything he had just seen.
[Boy!!]
Roaring noise, voices, and the sharp scent of sand.
Simon realized he was back on the battlefield.
[What are you doing?! Get a hold of yourself!!]
Pier had left his Bone Armor mode and was blocking the attacks of the Heavenly Blood cultists by himself.
"Pier, how much time has passed.?"
[A few minutes! We have about five minutes before the dungeon collapses!]
That was a relief. Things could've been worse. The battle had to be decided now.
"Step back, Pier."
[Understood, I'll return to my Bone Armor—!]
"No, step far back. Please."
The memories and sensations were still in his body and mind.
Simon walked forward.
"You seemed to be struggling to cast something."
Silage watched Simon approach.
"But it looks like it didn't go as—"
Silage stopped speaking unconsciously.
Simon's eyes weren't normal.
They were deep and gloomy, like eyes submerged in the deep sea. Silently, Simon raised both his arms.
'Jet-black on my right hand.'
Dark power whirred up fiercely from his palm.
'Divinity on my left.'
Blinding divinity rose in his left hand.
The two forces swirled, asserting their presence. Silage's face became wary.
"…What are you up to this time?"
"Well…"
Simon brought the jet-black and divinity face to face.
“Something like this."
"?!"
And then he collided the jet-black with the divinity.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!
The two powers began to intertwine. Silage's face twisted in shock.
"Are you out of your mind??!"
[Boy! If you forcefully collide those powers like tha— Huh?]
The two incompatible strengths weren't pushing against, fighting, or exploding with each other, but…
Merging.
The dark and white powers gathered in the center, forming a sphere.
"Thank you, my friend."
Muttered Simon as he looked up at the sky.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!
And with a blinding flash, something formed from the merging of jet-black and divinity.
"This is!"
A black and blue light, mixed together.
It was just like the color of Simon's jet-black.
A wriggling sphere that seemed to absorb everything around it, distorting the space, appeared in Simon's hand.
"Void."
As Simon gripped the sphere, even the very dimensions around him twisted.
“It is the power of the void that transcends this world."
——
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