Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner

Chapter 601: Episode 601

Early that morning.

Simon had completely passed out in the club basement. His passion to create the Manus Dullahan within the day was commendable, but it was reckless to attempt a more difficult creation after a full day of exhausting work.

Without realizing it, Simon had lain down on the floor and fallen fast asleep.

An empty silence filled the basement. On the central table lay Manus’s skull, which Simon had been studying, surrounded by a chaotic mess of undead materials. Magic circles floated in the air, some still active and crackling with energy.

A floating magic circle repeatedly gathered and discharged the surrounding mana, crackling with energy. After a few more pulses, the magic circle’s duration expired, and it disintegrated. A few remnants of it drifted into the eye sockets of Manus’s skull.

With a low hum, a light flickered to life in the pupils of Skeleton Manus, which had definitely been magically powered down. Its red, dot-like pupils stared at the sleeping Simon.

With a hiss, Manus’s head shot up into the air, spewing Jet-Black in all directions. The skeleton bones scattered indiscriminately around the room began to gather around the skull. Soon, with a clattering sound, the bones began to connect.

With a series of creaks, Manus gained a body. Parts were missing here and there, and the order of the bones was a mess, making its movements clumsy, but it could walk.

The skeleton’s body lurched forward with an eerie creak. Slowly, with a limping gait.

Slowly, but precisely. It was approaching Simon.

As it walked, it grabbed a work knife from the table with a soft scrape. When the Jet-Black flowing from its skull touched the blade, it flared and transformed into a black longsword.

It was around then that Simon woke up. A tingling sensation on his skin finally made him open his eyes.

’Ah, I must have dozed off for a bit...’

The first thing he saw was a skeleton raising a sword towards him.

"Whoa!"

Simon quickly spread his legs. The sharp blade sliced through the air with a ’shing’, leaving a long gash on the floor between his thighs. Terrified, Simon scrambled to his feet and backed away.

It should have been a clean cut. As if thinking that, Manus glanced at its own clumsy arm with dissatisfaction before walking towards Simon again.

’What is that! How is it moving?’

Simon broke into a cold sweat as he looked at Manus’s skull and the skeleton bones.

’It took control of my skeleton.’

This wasn’t a proper skeleton exerting its natural ’attraction’; it had simply wrapped the bones in Jet-Black, floated them, and forcibly fitted them to its body. The skull of the skeleton whose body had been stolen was whining from a distance as if in protest.

Manus swung its sword again. Simon quickly ducked, and a few strands of his hair were sheared off, fluttering in the air. Feeling his heart plummet, Simon stretched out his arm.

"W-Wait! Why are you attacking me?"

Simon, who had grown accustomed to living with Ancient Undead, blurted that out, but his next thought made him realize what a foolish question it was.

This was the very essence of an undead. It was being swayed by the dead’s instinct to hate the living. This wasn’t Manus; it was closer to a beast moving on pure instinct.

Manus lowered its stance with a soft thud, grabbing the sword with both hands and pulling it below its chin. Simon felt the hair on his entire body stand on end. That was the stance of a true master of swordsmanship.

’Fighting a Sword Master at this distance is suicide!’

Even in his worst condition, with his vision wavering, the sense of crisis awakened his brain and sharpened his focus.

’Cloud’

He sent out Cloud like a whip, snagged the table behind Manus, and pulled with all his might.

Manus turned and swung its sword. The table was split with a chillingly clean cut. In that instant, Simon was already running for the entrance. He could have fought, but that would have just ended with him destroying Manus, the very subject of his research. The priority was to trap Manus here and escape.

’That body is just Manus forcibly maintaining its shape! It can’t possibly run...!’

At that moment, Simon felt an icy shiver run down his spine and whipped his head around. Manus was in a stance to unleash a sword strike.

’Danger!’

While running, Simon grabbed a nearby coffin lid with a thud, reinforced it with Jet-Black, and lifted it as a makeshift shield.

With a deafening crack, the world split in two. The sword strike raged forward, and the reflected light from the lamps, struck by a slash that defied the laws of physics and nature, momentarily bleached the surroundings white before plunging them back into darkness. The coffin lid in Simon’s hand was cleanly severed.

A fountain of blood erupted from Simon’s shoulder with a sickening spray.

’It broke through the Kizen uniform’s barrier in a single strike...!’

Following that, the basement wall behind Simon split open with a loud ’crack’, as if a giant mouth had opened. A white cross-section was visible through the gap.

Simon clutched his shoulder and collapsed with a thud. The wound was deep. Blood streamed out, staining his uniform shirt crimson.

Simon’s breathing grew ragged, and his face darkened. However, the powerful attack seemed to have come at a cost; Manus’s right arm was now a tattered, distorted mess.

Still reacting as if it didn’t understand, Manus picked up the fallen sword with its remaining left arm.

With a series of grating creaks, it slowly approached to finish him off.

"Well," Simon said, clutching his bleeding shoulder with a faint smile. "I bought some time."

’KABOOM!’

[Commander!]

The seal on the door was released, and Erzebet rushed into the basement. The moment she saw the blood pouring from Simon’s shoulder, her eyes went wide with fury.

[How dare you!]

She violently thrust out her arm. It wasn’t her usual spider silk technique, but a simple, raw blast of condensed Jet-Black. The effect was absolute. The bones Manus was holding together were blown away by the immense pressure, and in an instant, Manus was reduced to just a skull, which fell to the floor with a thud.

With a crash, Erzebet immediately stomped on the skull. As if she would crush it at any moment, Jet-Black flickered on the heel of her shoe as she applied pressure.

[I’ll get rid of this thing right now!]

"Stop!" Simon shouted urgently. "...I-I’m fine. You’re too worked up, Erze."

[Commander!]

Just in case, Erzebet sealed Manus’s skull by wrapping it tightly in spider silk before rushing to Simon’s side.

[Kuhuhu! We made it just in time,] Pier’s clone said.

Simon lowered his head. "Did Pier call you?"

[Yes. You weren’t answering in your sleep, so I sent Erzebet just in case.]

"You saved my life."

Erzebet was frantic over the sword wound on Simon’s shoulder and the flowing blood.

"I’m... fine. It might be dangerous, so could you step back for a moment?"

Erzebet obediently stepped back, and Simon closed his eyes.

’I can do anything.’

With a low hum, he felt the Jet-Black in his body drain away, replaced by a sacred energy. Simon, now a priest, placed his hand on the wound.

’Healing’

A soft light emanated from his palm. He performed emergency first aid with Healing, a basic skill of Healing Arts, but it wasn’t enough. He must have lost too much blood; his head was spinning.

[Ugh! Commander! Commander! You cannot die and leave this girl behind!]

When Simon’s condition didn’t improve, Erzebet began to wail. Simon let out a weak smile.

"I’m not... going to die. M-More importantly. Professor Parahan."

[Yes?]

"Take me... to Professor Parahan."

---

As ordered, Erzebet immediately carried Simon on her back and headed for Parahan’s house. Parahan, as if he somehow knew, was waiting for them in front of his home. Erzebet quickly transformed into a pink-haired female student under the guise of ’Elizabeth Waffer’ and explained the situation to him.

Simon was immediately moved to Parahan’s bedroom, and the last thing he remembered was seeing the professor’s divine magic being cast.

And the next day.

Feeling the sensation of something furry squirming on his face, Simon opened his eyes.

’Ah.’

This was Parahan’s house. He could see Whitey playing on his chest and Blackey delivering soft kitty-cat punches to his face. When Simon opened his eyes, they both let out a "meow" and rubbed their faces against his cheek.

"Haha."

The divine cats’ affection made Simon’s face relax. A fresh breeze blew in from the window, and the peaceful chirping of birds could be heard.

"Don’t move just yet," Professor Parahan said, stroking his white beard as he walked into the room. "The wound might open up."

"...Ah."

Simon looked down and finally saw his own body. The area where Manus had wounded him was wrapped tightly in bandages.

"Thank you for your help, Professor."

"Hoho! Not at all. You’re a cherished student, so this much is a matter of course."

Below, the bear divine beast, Akalion, padded over, holding a tray and a wet towel on its head. Parahan changed the wet towel on Simon’s forehead and sat down.

"So, what happened?"

Simon explained the situation: he had dozed off while experimenting with an undead and was attacked by it when it awakened. Such accidents weren’t rare at Kizen, so Parahan simply nodded.

"What kind of undead were you making that a student of your caliber ended up in such a state?"

"...Ahaha."

Simon scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "I guess I was too careless."

Parahan silently stood up.

"It’s the weekend. Studying for exams is important, but rest is paramount. Stay and recover as long as you like."

"Thank you!"

---

Simon spent the entire morning recuperating at Parahan’s house, lost in thought.

’I tried so hard, but it wouldn’t budge...’

How did Manus wake up? More importantly, although Manus was a completely different being from when it was an Ancient Undead, the swordsmanship that resided within it remained.

The memory of the sword strike that had cut him wouldn’t leave his mind.

’Haha, have I still not come to my senses?’

To think that even after all that, the desire to revise the formula and try again was burning within him... he really had become a true necromancer. A dry laugh escaped him at the thought.

Simon spent the morning recuperating at Parahan’s house before returning to his dorm in the afternoon. The rest had cleared his head a little, giving him some breathing room. He decided to focus on his midterm exams and written studies for the time being, rather than on creating Manus. He had arranged to study with the student council members in their room on the weekend evening, so Simon grabbed his books and headed out.

The door to the student council room clicked open.

"I’m here," Simon announced as he walked in.

"Hey, you made it!"

"Hello, Simon!"

"Hey! What took you so—!"

The student council members, who had been greeting him each in their own way, stopped short, their eyes widening at the sight of the bandages wrapped around Simon’s body.

Meirin shot to her feet.

"What in the world happened to you?"

With a guilty look, Simon turned his head away.

"It’s nothing. I’m all healed up already."

"Let me see!" Kamibarez scurried over to examine Simon’s injuries. She let out a sigh of relief, confirming that they had healed very cleanly. It was an expected result, considering he’d received healing magic from Parahan, a former bishop of the Holy Federation. Moreover, unlike most necromancers, Simon had a constitution that responded exceptionally well to the healing effects of white magic. His body was so bizarre it was worthy of being a research subject.

"Hey! So are you going to tell us how you got hurt or not?" Meirin pressed, her voice laced with worry.

Simon had no choice but to tell the truth.

"While I was making a Dullahan..."

"You were attacked by that Dullahan?"

Kamibarez and Meirin stared, their expressions utterly blank.

"Hahaha! You still make mistakes like that?" Dick chuckled, lightly patting Simon’s shoulder.

"It’s kind of humanizing. I like it!"

Everyone had assumed Simon had been caught off guard by the post-mortem instinct—the tendency for newly created undead to attack the nearest living thing. The reality of the situation, however, was slightly different.

’...Manus.’

Simon had survived an attack from a former Ancient Undead. ’How can I control it?’ he wondered. He knew he needed a more fundamental breakthrough.