Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

“Begin the duel!”

Simon immediately pulled on the imaginary lever. Three skeletons with weapons jumped out of the subspace.

Haren drew a magic circle with jet-black behind his back. After a while, with the sound of a splatter, the demon’s arm made of jet-black soared.

It was his specialty, ‘Black Hand’.

‘Simon Polentia, I’ve prepared the perfect strategy for you.’

Haren smirked while moving the Black Hand to respond in any kind of situation.

‘He’s a Summoning aspirant, but his most threatening skill is Combat Magic. I just have to avoid approaching him.’

Simon was a slightly different case from the general notion of a Summoner. The most common strategy would be to avoid the skeletons and directly target the caster, but Simon was also good at Combat Magic.

It’d be dangerous to recklessly go into close combat.

‘He’ll probably attack me with a skeleton and induce me to charge. I won’t let that happen easily.’

Haren kept the distance and didn’t move an inch. It was Simon who made the first move.

‘He’s coming……!’

Haren was watching him with a tense face, but Simon wasn’t coming forward. Rather, he was stepping backward.

Tap. Tap.

He continued to step backward. The same went for the skeletons guarding him. While maintaining their formation, they backed off so far that the front of the formation now stood where the back was.

‘……What is he trying to do now?’

Haren’s eyebrow twitched.

Haren kept on watching him to see how far he would retreat, and Simon went all the way to the end of the Stadium.

The wall was now at his back. It was as if he had cornered himself.

‘I don’t know what kind of strategy you’ve prepared, but… I can use ranged attacks too.’

Haren floated the jet-black magic circles in the air. Four jet-black arrows were rapidly being formed, nearing completion.

“Huh? What? What’s going on?!”

Rick, who was watching the match from the audience seat, jumped up.

“He shouldn’t be able to use other dark spells while maintaining the Black Hand, though?”

However, Haren, who proudly completed the magic circle, shot out the jet-black arrows.

Simon reacted quickly too. Three shields came out of the subspace of the floor, and the skeletons threw away their swords, grabbing a shield with both hands.

‘Block it!’

Skeletons ran towards the jet-black arrows while putting their shields in front.

Clonk! Clonk! Cloooonk! 

A sound of the impact rang out. The skeletons were pushed back, but they managed to guard it stably.

‘Look at this bastard now, hm?’

The corners of Haren’s lips went up. His gaze was directed towards the weapons the skeletons had thrown to the floor.

‘He has no intention of attacking at all now. Is that it?’

Simon stepped back, and the skeletons threw their weapons.

Haren, feeling puzzled, thoroughly observed Simon’s appearance.

A dark-blue jet-black was rising from Simon’s right arm, and although it wasn’t a magic circle, it seemed like he was preparing something. Or even this could have just been an act…

‘If you have no intentions of attacking, then……!’

Haren spread his palms out. The jet-black that flowed from the bottom of his hand began to draw a Curse magic circle.

Originally, it was a curse that couldn’t be used at Haren’s level, but it became possible with Bahil’s surgery.

Bahil’s hidden technique, which allowed you to recreate a magic circle using jet-black’s property of recreating magic circles without needing knowledge or proficiency.

Haren stretched out his hand as the magic circle was completed.

‘Sickness!’

A black curse flew like lightning from the magic circle.

The skeletons jumped in front of Simon to block the curse, but it easily passed through the undeads’ bodies and pierced Simon's chest.

“……Kugh!”

His vision spun. Simon knelt down to a knee as nausea welled up.

A Sickness curse. It was known to be pretty effective when dealing with Combat Magic aspirants.

‘S-Something like this is a sickness?’

Simon’s head spun, and the world split into three, rocking back and forth.

Simon clenched his teeth and got a grip on himself.

“Oh.”

Haren smiled.

“Usually, you’d lose your fighting will after getting hit by that, but by the looks of it… You’re going to continue?”

Simon, sweating profusely, raised the corner of his lips instead of answering him.

While thinking that it was a very annoying smile, Haren moved the Black Hand.

Wooooosh!

The devil’s arm extending out from his back swung like a whip. Simon sent skeletons with shields in front of him.

Pooow!

Two skeletons were flung away with ease. The hand changed its direction again in mid-air and swung toward Simon.

Despite feeling a terrible sickness, Simon formed jet-black on his right foot and jumped into the air.

‘Th-This is crazy, for real!’

He dodged the attack, but his sickness and nausea got worse when he jumped. Simon wiped his lips while landing on the floor.

‘You paltry bastard……!’

Haren moved the Black Hand again. Simon frantically rolled around the floor to dodge the attack that bent freely and swung like a whip.

Haren’s one-sided offense continued.

“What are you doing?! Simon!” 

Meilyn stood from her seat and shouted,

“Attack! You should fight back!”

“Hey, you, the student in front. Please remain silent!”

Meilyn blushed at the voice she heard from the back seat and bowed her head. It was a rare opportunity where Rick could make fun of Meilyn, but Rick was sweating profusely while watching Simon’s battle.

“……Something’s off. Something’s really off.”

“Hey, Rick.”

Meilyn glanced at him.

“The information you got, none of it was correct! You said he can’t use any other dark spells while using Black Hand, didn't you? And you said that the maximum length of Black Hand is around 2 meters, right? None of that was correct!”

Rick scratched his head.

“I don’t know, I don’t get it! Did he hide his powers? Is he actually a geek who concealed his power?”

“What the hell do you mean?!”

“I don’t know either!”

Shouted Rick.

“What’s certain is that Haren Cork right now is many times stronger than as he’s known to the public!”

Slaaam!

Simon covered his mouth while avoiding the Black Hand that swung like a whip. 

“……Dammit, you’re hella good at dodging.”

Said Haren Cork while huffing. Before Simon knew it, a new Sickness magic circle was being prepared in Haren’s left hand.

“But it’s all over once this gets completed. Let’s see if you can still stand on 2 stacks.”

“……”

A clear taunt.

Haren came closer and closer while needling Simon’s nerves.

He deliberately swung the Black Hand at a wide-angle to appear that his guard was down and to trick Simon into rushing in, but Simon didn’t use Combat Magic to the very end.

He just silently brought out new skeletons to replace the shattered skeletons.

It was strange. It was clearly Haren himself who was taking the lead.

The first curse had hit, and the next curse was almost complete.

However…

‘What in the world are you preparing?!’

It was Haren who was feeling pressed.

Thummp!

Baaang!

‘……’

On the other hand, Bahil was in the audience stands, watching silently with his arms crossed.

As he expected, the match was one-sided. 

“Interesting.”

Bahil turned his head and murmured,

“Isn’t this the first time you’ve come to see a first-year’s duel, Senior?”

Aaron in a shirt and shorts came up into the audience stand from the stairs. He tried to pass by Bahil without saying a word. 

“A sense of guilt.”

Aaron stopped.

“Isn’t that the reason why you aren’t taking any direct disciples, Senior? Since you know exactly what kind of hardship you’ll go through if you choose Summoning. Most of your disciples also changed their major without overcoming those hardships, so you shouldn’t be able to take it any longer.”

Bahil shrugged his shoulders.

“And you’re feeling greedy after all that?”

“………”

Aaron looked back at Bahil with a cold gaze.

Bahil smiled without avoiding his gaze.

“Take a look.”

Bahil spread his hand out.

“See what kind of situation our disciple is facing now.”

Now, Haren was actively closing his distance and wielding his Black Hand.

Simon was focused on blocking and dodging, devoting himself only to defending.

The shield that the skeletons were holding eventually got destroyed. With Haren’s follow-up, the skeleton was broken, but Simon persistently revived it with Restoration.

“When Haren’s second Sickness is complete, this match will be over.”

“……”

“Am I wrong, Senior?”

Aaron silently looked down at the match between Simon and Haren. Then, he turned his back and went down the stairs he had come up earlier.

“Senior, where are you going?”

“The match is already over.”

Aaron turned to Bahil and added another sentence.

“I came here just in case, but there’s no need for me to watch anymore.”

“……?”

Bahil looked at the back of the leaving Aaron, puzzled.

* * *

* * *

Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!

The stadium was covered with dust from Haren’s attack. Haren gasped heavily, his face red.

“You……!”

He couldn’t understand Simon’s strategy at all. Jet-black continued to rise on Simon’s right arm, but that wasn’t a magic circle or anything.

‘Nah, it wouldn’t be necessary for me to know that. Now it’ll be over!’

Haren stretched out his right hand.

The second Sickness hit Simon as he lost his balance while dodging the Black Hand.

‘Ooof!’

Simon felt like his surroundings were being terribly twisted. The feeling of dizziness and vomiting pushed him to his limit.

He wasn’t in a state where he could fight at all.

“How is it? Doesn’t it feel like shit, Special Admission No.1?”

Haren smiled with his teeth.

“You obviously came here to completely beat me up, but it’s not that easy, right? You're crawling on the floor. That’s the reality.”

“There’s nothing obvious in this world.”

Simon stood up slowly, resting his left hand on his forehead.

“Phewww.”

The jet-black that was lingering in Simon’s right hand disappeared. Haren’s smile deepened.

“You gave up. Planning to surrender?”

“No.”

Simon slowly brought his hand to his neck, relaxing his muscles. You could hear bones popping.

“It’s now complete. Time for me to fight back.”

“……?!”

Was it the one that he'd been preparing for all this time?

Haren hurriedly turned his head and looked around the stadium.

There was no change in Simon or the stadium, or the condition of his own body. It wasn’t a curse, nor a hallucination.

‘This bastard, bluffing till the end……!’

“Did you know?”

Simon clenched his fist and punched the air in front of him.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!

“Woah!”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”

The whole stadium was shaken hard.

Screams broke loose from all over the audience seats, and people looked around in shock.

Simon pulled his fist back with an expressionless face, then punched again.

“Detailed rules for Duel Evaluation. Article 3, Section 4.”

Booooooooooooom!

“Students participating in the Duel Evaluation will be disqualified if they leave the stadium during Evaluation.”

Boooooooooooooooooooom!

Haren’s eyes widened.

A crack in the shape of a giant fist was being formed on the stadium wall behind Simon’s back.

“But no matter how much I looked at the rules, there was nothing that forbade bringing anything from outside the stadium.”

Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!

Finally, the walls of the stadium were smashed through, crumbling down.

You could see the view outside. The referee, the officials, and the spectators all opened their mouths.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Something huge from outside was breaking into the stadium. Every time that huge leg hit the floor, it created a crack in the stadium floor.

“……Hah.”

Haren let out a feigned smile.

“………Kuhugh! Hah! Hahahahah! You fucking crazy bastard!!”

A huge summon with a large body made by the agglomeration of soil and mud centering on a ‘core’ that had Summoning magic applied to it.

The symbol of a Summoner. 

Haren desperately shouted at the relaxed Simon,

“This is a first-year Duel Eval! Fucking shit! What kind of—?! Why is a golem coming out of here?!!!”

Summon Mud Golem.

It was Summoning magic that gathered soil around the golem’s core and shaped it into a form of a golem.

Woooooooaaaaaaah…!

A first-year who brought a golem to the first Duel Evaluation! The crowd was completely turned upside down.

Meilyn and Camibarez also opened their mouths. Rick feigned a laugh like Haren.

“When I went out to look for Simon. He was burying the golem’s core in the back of the stadium. Simon was thinking of creating a golem from the start.”

Meilyn turned her head.

“I mean, let’s say the skeleton archers are understandable, but is it possible for a first-year student to make a golem?!”

Rick shrugged.

“You’re looking at it right now.”

Of course, the shock that Haren received was greater than anyone else’s

“This is ridiculous! No way! Referee! Isn’t that someone else’s summon? He should be disqualified as a violation of—!”

The referee shook his head coldly.

“That summon is moving with the jet-black of student Simon. It’s his golem.”

Simon, who buried the golem’s core at the back of the stadium, headed to the place where it was buried as soon as the duel started. Of course, it would’ve seemed like Simon backing off and running away from Haren.

Then he went out on full defense and began to complete the golem beyond the wall. Since it was placed outside, there was no fear of the core being attacked.

And like that, without any visual help, he activated the core of the golem with jet-black and attacked the soil around it to create the golem.

“Now,”

Simon smiled.

“it’s my turn now, right?”

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The golem began to charge at a frightening speed when Simon gave the order. 

Contrary to its gigantic, seemingly sluggish size, it was fast, faster than he expected. While experiencing the tension of facing the giant monster alone, Haren’s fists were tightened with nerves.

‘Dammit……!’

Life was unfair.

People were born with different things.

Talent. Wealth. Rank. Flesh. Race. Nationality. He knew. So he wanted to destroy it as a commoner without talent. He wanted to prove what value he could create when given the chance.

However…!

‘A golem is too much……!’

A wall of enormous talent that was hardly imaginable.

For Haren, Simon standing behind the golem felt much higher and bigger than the golem itself.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Haren ran out while letting out a scream of desperation.

It was now do or die.

He stepped off the floor and flew into the air, spinning. He then threw out his Black Hand with all his might. The air cracked violently, and a demon’s fist slammed into the golem’s chest.

Thuud.

However, the golem’s body didn’t even move an inch. A little pile of dirt fell, and the Black Hand’s arm bent like a soft jelly.

“Straight punches are…” You could see Simon pulling his fist behind the golem. “thrown with your weight in them.”

As Simon threw a punch, the golem connected with Simon’s thoughts also threw its huge arm.

Thuuuuuuuuuuuuunk!

The world shook.

Haren’s body flew at the speed of light after being hit by the golem’s punch, reaching the other side of the stadium and crashing into a wall. The smashed walls caved in like a crater, and cracks appeared all over the stadium.

A wild wind like a runaway horse blew, and everyone in the audience seat had to curl themselves up.

“Phewwww.”

Simon slowly lowered his arm. The curse that Haren had placed on him was lifted, and his sight returned to normal.

[Simon Polentia: 76%]

[Haren Cork: 0%]

The referee, who was blanking out, belatedly came back to his senses and stretched out his hand. Sweat was glistening on his forehead.

“The winner is… Simon Polentia of Class A!”

——