REAPER SCANS
Necromancer Academy's Genius Summoner
[Translator - Ramen]
[Proofreader - Artethrax]
Chapter 477
One hour earlier.
While most of the students had finished assembling their skeleton knights, Simon was still intensely focused on piecing his skeleton knight together.
"Now!"
Simon's skeleton knight swung its sword horizontally.
Twirl…
As it swung, its waist also spun in sync, spinning around twice. The students watching burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs.
"S-Sorry, Simon. Pfft!"
Even Toto was covering his mouth, breathless with uncontrollable laughter. The scene was nothing but comical, yet Simon alone had shining eyes and a thrilled grin.
"This is awesome!"
"…Hm?"
Toto gave Simon a weird look.
* * *
After an hour more of tinkering, Simon and Aseraz now stood on the stage with their skeleton knights.
"An undead duel. You've done this plenty of times in your first year, so I assume you know the rules. No dark magic from the summoner is allowed, and the first to make the other's undead head hit the ground wins."
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"
Simon and Aseraz replied energetically.
'Simon Polentia.'
Aaron looked at his student.
'You've always had a knack for pulling off unexpected moves.'
Even now, he shuddered every time he remembered how Simon turned a bipedal skeleton into a quadrupedal runner in the duel on his first day.
But this time, the situation was different. The undead was defective, and more importantly, it was a skeleton knight. Restoring its bones into a new form wasn't possible with the armor restricting it.
'Still, he must have a reason for stepping up and saying he'd win.'
Once Aaron confirmed both students were ready, he declared,
"Begin."
Tap.
Step.
Simon and Aseraz simultaneously assumed their stances.
"I'm sorry, but I don't intend to go easy on you."
Aseraz raised her slender arm. Her skeleton knight lifted its twin swords into a flawless combat stance.
"Good, that way you have no excuses when you lose."
Replied Simon as he prepared his skeleton knight. Seeing its stance, she frowned.
"…What's the meaning of this?"
Like Aseraz', Simon's skeleton knight also held two swords. The students began clamoring.
"Have you awakened its consciousness? Did you understand its traits before giving it those weapons? Or are you just trying to mock me?"
"None of the above."
Simon smiled faintly.
"But I'll win."
Her eyes flared with anger.
"Go ahead, try!"
Swish!
Responding to her thoughts, Aseraz' skeleton knight violently charged forward. It held its twin swords in a perfect dual-blade stance, its arms slightly spread apart.
Simon's skeleton knight, facing this, took an unusual stance.
Rattle!
Rattle!
It simply spread its sword-wielding arms wide like wings.
"Stop messing around!"
Shouted Aseraz in frustration.
The skeleton knight she was controlling arced its twin swords perfectly toward the opposing skeleton knight's neck.
'Got you!'
Swish!
However, the swords sliced through nothing but empty air.
Watching from behind, Aseraz felt as though she was struck by an illusion with how the target had vanished. It happened that Simon's skeleton knight had bent its waist at a bizarre angle to dodge.
"Using cheap tricks!"
Just when Aseraz' skeleton knight quickly adjusted to slash downward, Simon's skeleton knight sprang forward, extending its bent knees.
'The timing is perfect!'
Simon deactivated one of the magic circles linked to the skeleton knight. Then, the thin threads in its waist were severed, and the flow of jet-black twisted into the shape of a pretzel knot began to straighten out.
Twirrrrrrrl
The skeleton knight spun like a top, its arms spread wide as it held a sword in each hand. Aseraz' knight hastily brought its swords together to guard, but…
Cla-cla-cla-lang!
Sparks flew, and two swords were easily deflected.
'What the?!'
Soon, Simon's knight leaped past Aseraz' knight before landing on the floor.
Psshh…
Completing its spin, the skeleton knight knelt on one knee as it came to a stop.
At the same time, the opposing skeleton knight's head was flying high into the air.
'A spin!'
Aseraz' eyes quivered.
The jaws of the spectating students dropped. Aseraz' skeleton knight head hit the floor with a thud, the skull rolling across the ground.
Aaron cut down with his right arm and shouted,
"Simon Polentia wins!"
Woooooooaaaaaaah!
It was an unexpected turn of events. The students spoke frantically, their mouths still hanging open.
"What… What was that? Did you see that??"
"How did he do that? The skeleton was spinning like crazy!"
Aseraz lowered her arms in dejection.
Simon's skeleton knight took a triumphant pose with its swords raised high, only for its wobbling waist to bend backward, diminishing its dignity.
"Explain to your peers what happened, Simon Polentia."
Simon nodded.
"The knight I bought had a defective waist. So, I just separated the upper and lower halves."
"Separated them?"
"Yes."
Simon pulled a blue, artificial cartilage-like joint from his pocket. When he stretched it with his fingers, it warped like elastic.
"I used this, a joint typically made for skeleton archers, to connect the upper and lower halves. Manually twisting it like a spinning top, I then sealed it with a magic circle to keep it from coming loose. The activation mechanism is simple. When I release the seal from the magic circle remotely, the twisted cartilage springs back into place, causing the sword-wielding skeleton knight to spin rapidly for roughly ten seconds."
Simon drew a circular motion with his finger in the air.
"It was defective, but I was lucky to figure out this kind of gimmick! Wouldn't it be great if you could directly spin the knights after taking them out from a subspace? I'm thinking of refining it and applying for a patent in Pentamonium."
"…"
Aaron only placed his hand on his forehead.
Even as his head throbbed, the ends of his lips were curled up.
"You crazy bastard."
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - Ramen
Proofreader - Artethrax
Join our discord for updates on releases!
* * *
In the end, Simon successfully earned an A+ on his first performance assessment, 'Skeleton Knight Creation'.
Whistling cheerfully, he carefully stored his spinning knight in his subspace and left the classroom.
He wanted to relax and take a lunch break, but with his next 'major' class coming up immediately, he grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria and moved on.
Other students were also carrying easy-to-eat food as they walked to their next destinations.
"The next class is Material Studies, but the lecture room is a bit far!"
Said Toto as he checked his notebook.
"How far is it?"
"Look."
Toto unfolded the second-year campus map tucked inside his notebook and pointed at it.
"Woah, that's pretty far."
"Yeah. It's about as far as Professor Hong Feng's outdoor class."
And unfortunately, that class was beginning in only an hour, so the students from the Summoning department had to move quickly. Luckily, Kizen's vast second-year campus had carriages running for free within it.
After crossing a bridge and passing through a forest by carriage, the place they arrived was…
Whiiiiish…
The entrance to an enormous cave.
"We're having class here?"
"I'd believe it if someone told me this was a dungeon."
As the students whispered to each other, someone suddenly appeared from the cave's darkness. Toto, standing beside Simon, yelped.
"Greetings."
A man in strange clothing.
He wore an unknown martial arts uniform and his shaved head was wrapped with some band. Strange tattoos covered his face and under his eyes, and his gaze seemed unfocused.
He pressed his hands together and bowed to the students.
"I am the assistant teacher in charge of guiding you all for this class. Please follow me."
With that, the assistant teacher turned and walked into the cave's darkness. The students, still clamoring, quickly followed after him.
Drop. Drop.
The sound of dripping water echoed loudly in the cave. There were sounds of waves crashing in the distance and rocks scraping.
Simon looked around curiously.
'I wonder how deep down this place is?'
After walking for about twenty minutes, they saw tracks laid into the cave.
"Please wear your helmets and board the train."
Toto nervously looked around.
"My goodness, really? We're going even deeper?"
Flap flap!
Gasp!
Kyaaaah!
Students screamed and ducked. A swarm of bats suddenly flew over the students' heads.
'That was surprising.'
Simon looked up as well. However, the assistant teacher remained calm as if they was nothing more than passing birds.
"Now, please board."
The train had cabins that fit three people each. Simon grabbed a helmet from the wall for Toto, who was shorter, and handed it to him before putting on his own.
Grab!
But there was someone who grabbed Simon's wrist and pulled it.
"Hurry up~ Simon!"
"S-Serene?"
She winked at him.
"It's scary in the dark, so you have to stay with me. What are you doing?"
"What are you even talking abou—?"
In the end, Simon was dragged by Serene to the front of the train.
It would be easy to think the carriage wasn't meant for carrying people, as the entire place was covered in dark soot.
"Hm…"
Displeased with the sight, Serene grabbed her skirt and hopped in place.
No matter how many times he saw that supernatural ability, it always amazed him.
White feathers poured out of her body, sparkling as they spread across the train cabin and transformed into luxurious feather blankets and carpets.
Everywhere else was dirty, whereas their cabin now looked like a place of luxury.
"Come on, let's sit together, Simon."
But then, darkness gently descended over the luxurious cabin, and a black-haired girl appeared inside as if she had always been there.
Serene frowned.
"Why are you here?"
Lorain replied coldly without even looking at them.
"You've already got a record, right? I can't leave you and Simon alone together."
"Ugh, seriously~? You're always getting in the way!"
Since the train was going to depart soon, there was no choice.
Grumbling, Serene boarded the train, and just as Simon was entering the cabin…
"Train no.1 will depart first."
An assistant teacher suddenly appeared, stepping into the last cabin. As the assistant teacher moved, he bumped into Simon's back, pushing him away from the train door.
Clank!
And the train departed immediately. The assistant teacher put his fists together and bowed deeply. Serene's furious screams echoed from the car where she and Lorain were left without Simon.
"…"
Clatter clatter!
Then, train no.2 arrived on the track next to Simon. From the darkness, a new assistant teacher wearing the exact same uniform as the previous one appeared.
"Students, please board the next train."
* * *
Clatter, clatter!
Train no.2 departed. Simon was looking up at the cave with an awkward smile.
'How did it end up like this?'
He had thought he'd be riding with Lorain and Serene, but when he came to his senses, he was surrounded by guys.
"H-Huhu!"
On his right was Toto, who had followed Simon. Extremely frightened, Toto clung tightly to Simon's arm while shaking.
And on his left…
"…"
Hector.
He looked extremely displeased from being separated from the friends he was supposed to ride with. On top of that, he had a huge physique, so Simon was cramped in the already small train car.
Simon and Hector maintained an uncomfortable silence while the terrified Toto kept letting out sharp gasps, making a great deal of noise from even the smallest spooks.
"Shut your mouth."
Hector demanded.
"Yap yap yap! You're noisy, midget."
Flinching back as he became the target of Hector's ire, Toto hiccuped and shut his mouth. However, whenever something in the cave scared him, he still made small noises and tightened his grip on Simon's arm.
Simon looked at Hector for a moment before saying,
"Hector—"
"Don't talk to me."
Spat Hector, but Simon decided to attempt a conversation rather than let things remain awkward.
Since the end of their first year, he felt like he hadn't had a proper conversation with Hector yet.
"Didn't you get in trouble with the third-year seniors last time? You let me leave even before the department welcome party started."
"Don't talk nonsense."
Hector opened his eyes sharply.
"Besides, by regulation, a department representative can only make suggestions and can't interfere with student council affairs. That's the only reason I didn't stop you."
"Ah."
"But the opposite is also true. Even if you're part of the student council, you have no right to meddle in department matters. That would be overstepping your bounds."
Simon smiled slightly.
"Still, if they cross the line like last time, our student council won't just stand by."
"…You bastard."
Sparks fired as the two boys' eyes locked together with burning intensity.
After glaring at Simon for a moment longer, Hector suddenly let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.
"Of course, I do personally appreciate you stopping that hazing last time."
Simon's eyes widened.
Did he just say that?
"But there won't be a second time."
After saying that, Hector didn't say another word until the train arrived at its destination.
——
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