Chapter 349
Chapter Title: The Necromancer's Test
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349
Watching the monster corpses begin to rise, Angre and Eclair flinched, their shoulders trembling.
The phenomenon of corpses rising and moving.
They had studied this countless times in class.
The dark magic of the necromancers under Tartaros's Legion Commander, the Necromancer King.
A product of necromancy, considered the most malevolent of Tartaros's vicious spells.
‘Undead…!’
The first-years taking the exam wore looks of surprise at the appearance of the undead.
The sudden emergence of undead in an exam meant for fighting monsters was bound to be disconcerting.
The first-years, in particular, had combat experience against monsters, but none whatsoever against the undead.
However, befitting their status as hero candidates, the first-years responded quickly.
“Hmph, mere low-level undead.”
A female student from the advanced class stepped forward and scoffed.
She shot a glare at the basic class students and gritted her teeth.
‘As if I’d lose to the likes of the basic class?!’
The advanced class.
And among them, the immense pride of being in Class 1.
But that pride had been brutally shattered.
In this exam, the advanced class was boasting an overwhelming score.
But that was entirely due to Leah's power.
Not a single member of the advanced class had performed more impressively than the students from the basic class.
The female student wasn’t the only one; others steeled their resolve.
The pressure on them was particularly immense.
They could feel the cold, questioning gazes of the upperclassmen they admired and looked up to like the sky itself.
‘I’ll prove it! I’ll prove why I’m in Advanced Class 1!’
Vwoom—!
A spell was cast.
Boom—!
A powerful explosion and shockwave swept through the area.
The flesh of the undead scattered in all directions.
Seeing this, the advanced class side cheered.
“These low-level undead are nothing! They aren’t the slightest threat!”
“That’s right!”
The advanced class students shouted triumphantly.
Watching them, Leah narrowed her eyes.
“Conserve your magic. When fighting undead, you have to be prepared for a long battle.”
“Leah, this is just an exam, not a real fight. Besides, we’re in the heart of Seirun.”
A male student grinned.
“Without a supply of dark magic, there’s no way the undead can revive indefinitely…”
Twitch—twitch—
The pieces of flesh scattered everywhere began to squirm and clump together.
The advanced class students looked slightly flustered as the monsters returned to their original forms in an instant.
“The undead are as persistent as ever.”
But soon, they cast their spells again as if it were all a trifle.
They unleashed a barrage of magic on the endlessly regenerating undead.
However, after repeating this several times, the advanced class students also began to tire.
“Why! Why is there no end to them!”
“A-at this rate, we’ll be overrun!”
Bewilderment colored the faces of the advanced class students.
“We have to ask for help. This is an unexpected situation!”
One of the male students said urgently.
He was right.
This was an unforeseen emergency.
But the first-years weren't the least bit worried.
This was the heart of Seirun.
They believed there was no way the school would allow students to be in danger.
“Kigigigik!”
The undead let out unsettling noises as they charged the first-years.
Even monsters have a fear of death.
But the dead have no fear of death.
That was one of the most terrifying aspects of the undead.
Stab—!
“Gah?!”
A crude goblin’s blade pierced the shoulder of an advanced class student.
Clutching his shoulder, he fell to the ground and rolled around.
“M-my arm!”
A scream of pain erupted.
The pain was amplified by the unique corpse poison of the undead.
“W-what was that?”
“Professor! We have an injured student here!”
The advanced class students shouted desperately.
But the Seirun professors showed no sign of intervening.
It wasn't just the professors.
The other upperclassmen were also watching the first-years with cold eyes.
The immortal legion, regenerating endlessly, pushed forward without pause.
“H-help me!”
“Get me out of here!”
Thrown into a real battle so suddenly, the students began to panic and scream.
***
“Sh-shouldn’t we help them?”
“Professors! Upperclassmen! They’ll be in serious trouble at this rate!”
Urgent shouts erupted from the first-years watching from outside the exam area.
But no one reacted.
“Pathetic fools! If you’re in a crisis because you can’t handle a single undead, can you even call yourselves students of Seirun?!”
Geras shouted, the veins on his neck bulging.
“Don’t you dare tarnish the pride of Seirun!”
The first-years’ faces twisted at Geras’s shout.
The basic class students looked at Laura with bewildered eyes.
“Professor Laura! We have to save them…”
“Everyone. This is an exam you are taking as students of Seirun.”
The basic class students flinched at Laura’s stern voice.
“It is true that you are still inexperienced first-years. But before that… you are hero candidates.”
Laura said emphatically.
“You are people who must boldly face trials and earn the right to be called heroes.”
The basic class students clenched their fists at Laura’s resolute words.
“You don’t need to worry too much.”
Leo said, gazing at the exam area.
“If it were truly a level they couldn’t handle, the professors or the upperclassmen would have intervened long ago.”
Leo spoke as he watched the basic class students confront the undead.
‘I can feel the Necromancer King’s magic, but he isn’t the one pulling the strings.’
Leo’s eyes narrowed.
‘The magic is too crude.’
He knew more about the Necromancer King’s magic than anyone.
He was sick and tired of it, in fact.
‘It’s merely borrowing the Necromancer King’s dark magic.’
Leo’s face became expressionless.
‘Then why was the magic suddenly activated?’
The monsters procured by Seirun for the exam were the kind one could encounter in the wild.
They were most likely captured from elven territory.
‘If someone had tampered with the monsters beforehand, Seirun would have surely known.’
It was also unlikely that a demon had infiltrated Seirun.
The barriers of a hero academy were powerful.
Moreover, after the Demon Queen’s attack last year, Seirun had thoroughly inspected and reinforced its defenses.
No matter how powerful a demon was, infiltrating would be difficult.
And yet, dark magic using the Necromancer King’s power had been activated.
‘There’s someone inside Seirun dealing with the Necromancer King.’
A glint flashed in Leo’s eyes.
Murderous intent flickered within them.
During the Age of Calamity.
He had buried countless traitors in the darkness.
A rage far greater than anything in the past now boiled within him.
Back then, Erebos was a world hurtling toward destruction.
The will to live is the instinct of the living.
It was an era where the emergence of traitors was inevitable.
But now was different.
This was an age of peace; there was no reason to betray.
‘And of all people! Those who claim to follow Luna!’
He wanted to find the traitor and tear them to shreds right this instant.
‘But unless they’re a fool, they wouldn’t have left any traces.’
Leo’s mind raced.
‘The important thing now is why they pulled something like this all of a sudden.’
To suddenly use undead in an exam.
The undead legion before them, though composed of low-level undead, were corpses revived through the Necromancer King’s magic.
It wasn't impossible for the first-years to handle, but they were not easy opponents.
If Leo were to step in, it would be over in an instant.
But Leo watched.
‘If you truly wish to follow in Luna’s footsteps… if you claim to inherit the will of Seirun.’
Leo’s expression turned cold.
‘Prove now that you are the seeds of heroes, not hothouse flowers.’
***
The undead legion surged forward like a tidal wave.
It wasn't just the advanced class that was overwhelmed by their momentum.
“We can’t hold on any longer!”
A male student from Angre’s group shouted urgently.
Hearing his cry, Angre, who had been casting spells, took a deep breath.
“Let’s use it.”
“Use what?”
“Aura.”
The male student’s face grew frantic at Angre’s words.
“Hey! If we use any other power besides magic during the exam, we’ll fail!”
To that, Angre replied.
“So what, we just keep using magic like this? That’s not our true strength, is it?”
Angre extended his hand.
A silver spear materialized from his subspace.
“My family has been a line of lancers for generations, and I’ve always been proud of that fact.”
Angre said with a smile.
“I came to Seirun to become a hero, not a mage.”
“Angre.”
“This is me. Me as a hero candidate.”
Gwoooo—!
Aura swirled from Angre’s body.
“If what I’m proud of, the path I walk, isn’t acknowledged.”
Hwung—! Thwack—
Angre readjusted his grip on the spear and lowered his stance.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for me to be at Seirun.”
Seeing Angre display such fierce determination, the frontline students of the basic class looked at each other, then burst into laughter and drew their weapons.
Their weapons became imbued with Aura.
“Yeah, you’re right!”
“Just using magic is suffocating! I’m a knight!”
The eyes of the basic class students, their faces now looking relieved, shone with a sharp light.
The timid, cautious demeanor they always wore was gone.
Kwagagagak—!
As Angre swung his spear, a cold wind raged.
Wreathed in a blizzard, Angre charged into the undead without hesitation.
Kwagagagak—!
The unleashed Aura sent the undead flying.
Seeing this, someone from the advanced class shouted.
“He used Aura!”
“That’s cheating! He’ll fail the exam!”
As the advanced class students cheered, Leah spoke coldly.
“Is that really what you should be saying right now?”
The advanced class students flinched at her words.
After glancing at her pathetic classmates, Leah looked toward the center of the undead legion.
Crunch! Crunch! Crack!
Lumps of corpse flesh began to fuse together.
With it, a massive pile of corpses emitting a foul stench and malevolence rose to its feet.
“A Corpse Golem?”
The faces of the advanced class students turned white at the appearance of a high-level undead.
“H-help us!”
“There’s no way we can beat an undead like that with our current strength!”
The advanced class students cried out desperately.
‘It’s probably pointless to ask them to be the vanguard.’
Leah sighed and began to move.
The panicked advanced class students didn’t even notice Leah moving to the front lines.
“Stella Via.”
A path glittering like starlight formed before Leah.
The undead swept up by the starlight melted away.
It was a spell used long ago by the Comet Mage, Seirun, to break through an army of tens of thousands of undead.
While everyone stared wide-eyed,
Leah reached Angre with an elegant stride and spoke.
“I need a reliable vanguard. Will you help me?”
With a faint smile, Leah extended her hand.
Seeing her, the basic class students wore wary expressions.
Before them stood the person they despised most, the pinnacle of the advanced class, Leah Tingel.
But after glancing at Leah’s hand a few times, Angre smiled and took it.
“Alright.”
“Eclair, support Angre.”
“Uh, yeah! Got it.”
Leah closed her eyes and began to chant.
Watching her, Angre said.
“A big spell is coming! Protect Leah Tingel!”
At Angre’s shout, the basic class students moved to guard Leah.
Eclair watched their coordinated movements with a surprised expression.
Though they had not received proper training, the effort they put in every day, training with each other to somehow improve their skills, was not in vain.
The bond they had forged without giving up on their efforts was now displaying great power.
They coordinated with just glances, holding back the undead legion’s assault.
Angre used Aura slashes to block the Corpse Golem’s advance.
The grotesque greatsword made of patched-together flesh cut through the air.
Kwang—! Kwagagagagak—!
“Keuk?!”
Angre gritted his teeth as he blocked the greatsword imbued with dark magic.
“As if…! I’d lose! Haaaah!”
With a spirited cry, he released his Aura.
The raging blizzard sent the corpse’s greatsword flying.
At that moment, Leah opened her eyes.
“Lux Strike.”
As she unleashed the spell, a powerful flash of light erupted from her staff.
Kwagagagak—!
Leah, having obliterated the Corpse Golem without a trace, let out a sigh.
Angre, having poured all his strength into the effort, collapsed to the ground.
The undead no longer revived.
Just as the first-years were sighing in relief,
Kwang—!
Gwoooooooooooar!
A giant skeleton burst through the summoning circle.
Its immense size was incomparable to the Corpse Golem.
An overwhelming pressure and dense malevolence dominated the scene.
And most of all, a potent dark magic that seemed to drain the life from living beings by its mere presence.
The first-years’ faces turned deathly pale at the sudden appearance of a supreme undead.
“A Skeleton… King?!”
Angre let out a cry of horror.
Gwoooooooooooar—! Kwang—!
The Skeleton King’s sword came crashing down toward Angre.
Angre squeezed his eyes shut without thinking.
Kagagagak! Gagagak—
He cautiously opened his eyes at the sound of scraping metal.
His eyes met those of a boy wreathed in flames, and Angre’s eyes went wide.
“R-Rail…?”
Leo grinned.
“Excellent work.”
Kwagagagak—!
Crimson flames raged from Leo’s body.
Leo, who had blocked the Skeleton King’s attack with one hand, looked at the stunned crowd in the stands and touched his neck.
“Well, I suppose anyone who needs to know has figured it out by now… No need to keep pretending to be a Seirun student.”
Tuk—!
Hwaak—!
His pointed ears became round.
Angre’s jaw dropped.
“A-a human?”
Leo gave the astonished Angre a smile, then put more strength into his hand.
Kuang—!
The Skeleton King’s arm shot up toward the sky.
“I was planning to watch until the end… but this undead is too strong for you to handle right now. So I stepped in myself.”
Leo swung his sword at the Skeleton King, whose eyes glowed with a blood-red light.
Kwagagagagagagak—!
The fierce flames of Jerdinger soared high into the sky.
Kwak—!
The Skeleton King’s body was severed by Leo’s sword strike.
Thwack—!
But it instantly recovered and took its stance again.
Seeing this, Leo narrowed his eyes, kicked off the ground, and leaped high.
Whap—!
Arriving right in front of the Skeleton King, Leo said.
“That should be enough spying, don’t you think?”
[Hoh?]
From beyond the Skeleton King’s glowing eyes,
the hateful ruler of the dead let out an amused exclamation.
“Radius.”
A brilliant light erupted from Leo’s hand.
Flash—!
Starlight swirled.
The burst of starlight pierced through the Skeleton King.
Kugugugung! Kwang—!
The massive body of the Skeleton King crumbled.
Thud—!
Landing lightly on the ground, Leo approached the Skeleton King’s eyeball, which was rolling on the floor.
[Leo Flove, what in the world is your true identity?]
From beyond the eye,
Necromancer King Hell Kaiser asked with amusement.
“Me?”
Leo curled his lips into a smirk and lifted his leg.
Stomp—! Squish—!
Then he crushed the Skeleton King’s eye underfoot and answered coldly.
“The one who will destroy you.”