Eight Arrows and One Last Shot
Once the game ended, Simon parted ways with Lorraine. The moment she stepped outside, a communication crystal reached her, and she sprinted off with her brow furrowed into knots, though not before apologizing to Simon for not being able to stay with him longer.
Piecing together the few words Simon had caught through the crystal — Serne, and trouble — it seemed Serne had stirred up mischief somewhere again, and Lorraine had gone to clean it up.
This tangled, love-hate relationship between the two of them would probably last right up until graduation.
Being the daughter of Lady Nephthys has its own hardships, huh.
Glasses back on, Simon set off to find his next card.
The second card didn't take long to locate. It sat in a drainage channel behind one of the buildings — and this time, it was yellow.
Yellow was Summoning, right?
Secretly hoping for a Summoning-themed game, Simon quickened his pace toward the card.
— Entering New Game —
Simon opened his eyes. He'd entered the card lying in the drainage ditch, and now a massive drainage channel stretched out before him.
Well, "drainage channel" wasn't quite right — the passage was wide enough that "alleyway" was the better word.
Simon was standing on the slope above that alleyway.
Hmm.
He tried easing a foot down toward it, only to meet an invisible barrier, as if to keep him out. There was no descending into that narrow lane directly.
I can't even guess what the theme is.
For now, it seemed to have nothing at all to do with Summoning.
Just as Simon was clicking his tongue in disappointment—
1 Player Entered — Simon Polentia
Starting Quota (8/8)
"S-Simon Polentia!"
"We're saved!!"
Seven students came swarming out of nowhere and surrounded him.
"You're Simon, right? Not someone with the same name?"
"It's him! I'm telling you, it's Special Admission No. 1!"
"That match where you used the Deimos — we saw it!"
Everyone was talking at once from every direction, and Simon could barely keep his head on straight.
"P-please, one at a time."
As he said this, Simon scanned their faces. Not a single one was familiar — no famous students like the Special Admission kids either. Everyone here was thoroughly, unremarkably ordinary.
"Then I'll go first!"
A girl wearing a crescent-moon headband pushed to the front.
"Are you really Simon Polentia, Special Admission No. 1?"
"Th-that's me."
"It's him! It's him!"
"Waaaah!"
They high-fived each other and bounced around in a frenzy. By now they'd gone past hospitality and were looking at Simon as if he were a savior.
"B-but wait, guys. What's the theme here?"
"Summoning!"
The girl answered immediately.
"You use summoned creatures to hunt the monsters passing through the lane down there! You can only attack with summons — nothing else counts."
A Summoning theme!
The moment he heard the rules, Simon's eyes lit up. He wanted to play it right now.
"We almost had a real disaster on our hands," the girl went on. "We were waiting around and chatting, and it turned out not one of us is a Summoning-track student!"
"I'm… sorry, what?"
Simon's eyes went wide.
"And right at that moment, you showed up! A Summoning-track student who's Special Admission No. 1, no less! Haha!"
"Hold on, wait."
Simon finally grasped how dire the situation was and pressed them urgently.
"Seriously, not one person?"
"Nope!"
"But didn't you all come in through yellow cards? Wouldn't that mean you're at least somewhat confident in Summoning?"
At that question, all seven of them suddenly averted their eyes with sheepish expressions. The girl with the moon headband answered in a voice like ants crawling across the floor.
"W-well, the thing is… we were all attempting the full seven-color set."
…Good grief.
Meilin's voice echoed through Simon's memory.
— After the first test, there's going to be a huge wave of people trying to collect every color of the rainbow, just like you, Simon.
Meilin's prediction had proven exactly right.
After the first game, word spread like wildfire among the students that the odds of getting a theme tied to your own major weren't very high. So chasing the highest-scoring "full rainbow" combination became the trend — everyone just wandered around hunting for cards of any color they didn't already hold.
And that was how this mess had come about.
"Still, Simon! Thank goodness the pinnacle of Summoning himself showed up!"
It is absolutely not thank goodness.
These kids were clearly planning to lean on him for nearly everything.
When he came back to himself, Simon found someone had seated him in a chair pulled out of subspace. Students were kneading his shoulders from behind and massaging his arms.
Simon snapped out of it and spoke up.
"…F-first, explain the detailed rules to me."
"Got it!"
The rules they laid out for him went roughly like this.
A wicked necromancer is sending monsters to ravage a village, where innocent people live. The students become a militia and must destroy every last monster without exception to protect the village's peace — a straightforward, cookie-cutter story.
The monsters emerge from a magic circle at the starting point and pass only through that one narrow lane. They never retaliate against the students on the hill; they simply charge straight toward the village.
In exchange, the students face their own restriction: they may only attack the monsters with summoned creatures. Curses are out, as is any other dark magic.
…If there really isn't a single Summoning-track student, this could be rough.
Simon let out a quiet sigh. At the sight, the students flinched and began anxiously reading his face.
"S-so clearing it really is impossible?"
"Should we just prep for the next game?"
"…No, that's not it."
Simon wiped his brow with a strained smile.
"I meant that I'll manage it somehow."
The students erupted in an instant chorus of "Waaaah!!"
"So cool!"
"Yes, sir! That's a real man!"
"Let's do this!!"
And thus, the Simon cultists were born.
The battlefield was simple. One straight lane, ten paces long, running from the start point to the village. In a moment, monsters would come pouring through it.
First, the eight of them had to each claim a zone. Simon got pushed into taking the most critical spot — the final stretch in front of the exit — while the students happily snapped up whichever sections suited their taste.
Behind them stood an actual village, where he could see residents huddled inside their homes, doors bolted, trembling.
"Alright! Let's get ready!"
At Simon's shout, the students hurriedly brought out their undead.
…Oh no. Oh, this is bad.
It was worse than he'd expected. Most of them were plain skeletons or zombies, and one student could control only three undead at most.
"Sorry! I'm a Magic Combat track!"
That three-at-most student apologized on his own accord.
Then as for me…
Watching the undead the others pulled out, Simon sank into thought.
Which summons would be best to fight with? His available Jet-Black was limited. He'd have to pick the most efficient summons possible and unleash his firepower in one concentrated burst.
The straight lane was ideal terrain for the Deimos's Ocean Current Cannon, but there was no water here — bringing out the Deimos was impossible.
The Overlord was also a bit of an awkward choice. Keeping six subspace portals open at once would overheat his subspace ring in no time.
"G-guys! The monsters are coming!"
The student at the very front shouted. From the start point, armed goblins came spilling out into the narrow lane.
Green goblins. Only Grade-2 Danger monsters, but there were a staggering number of them.
Simon checked the number floating in the air.
Two hundred?
That was brutally many.
Frankly, eight proper Summoning majors could have cleared it easily — but the only ones he could rely on here were himself and maybe one or two others.
"Whew! I'm nervous!"
The first batter up was the girl with the moon headband. She plugged the narrow lane with two shield-bearing skeletons and stationed a spear-wielding skeleton behind them.
A reasonably efficient, clever arrangement, all things considered.
-Kishishishit!
The goblins flooded out and crashed into the shield skeletons.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
With the path blocked by undead, the monsters swung their weapons and attacked the obstacle head-on. The skeletons hiding behind their shields stabbed their spears with all their might, but—
Blocking them head-on won't work.
The line inevitably gave way to sheer numbers. The shield-bearers collapsed, and the rest of the skeletons shattered in a cascade.
Nine kills out of two hundred.
"Next zone, get ready!"
But the students' defenses that followed weren't much better. The infamous Magic Combat kid had his entrance breached within seconds, and the student using ghouls next was sloppy with his undead control too.
"Guys! Don't block the lane — attack from the sides!"
Simon shouted, unable to watch anymore. A few students turned around with puzzled faces.
"B-but then they'll just barrel straight through, won't they?"
"I'll handle that somehow! Right now, cutting down even one more of them matters more!"
The students quickly revised their strategy based on the earlier failures. They armed skeletons with spears to strike from the hillside, and had short-armed skeletons hurl stones instead.
It meant letting the monsters pass freely, but the kill count climbed far faster.
And then—
-Kuwaaargh!
A Kizen student was a Kizen student, no matter the class. One of them, not even a Summoning-track hopeful, had turned a Grade-4 monster — a Crimson Bear — into a zombie and commanded it. The sight of it smashing goblins apart single-handedly drew passionate cheers from everyone.
"You're holding them back!"
"Keep it up!"
His Crimson Bear zombie was undeniably good, but once again, control was the problem. A Crimson Bear zombie is so difficult to command that merely connecting to it puts extreme stress on the necromancer.
The student, complaining of a splitting headache, finally collapsed on the spot — and the Crimson Bear froze. And a stationary undead has only one fate: to be surrounded by goblins and carved to pieces.
"Gah!"
"It's all on Simon now!"
All seven had been overrun, and half the horde still remained. Every gaze turned toward Simon — their last hope, guarding the final retreat.
What will he use?
Deimos is out, obviously.
Probably that blade summon, right?
The students traded guesses as they watched him. But what he brought out was none other than—
"Skeleton Archers!"
Eight Skeleton Archers. The bow-wielding skeletons took up positions and readied their arrows.
"B-but can those really do it?"
"There are fewer arrows in their quivers than there are monsters…"
The students muttered anxiously, but Simon flashed a confident smile and raised his right hand.
Of course, these aren't just any Skeleton Archers.
In his right hand was a Golem Core sheathed entirely in Cloud. Summon Blood Golem was already complete.
Woooosh!
The Cloud enveloping the core surged upward, passed through a magic circle hanging in the air, then came back down and settled onto the Skeleton Archers, infusing them one by one.
The archers' eyes flashed with teal light. Their bows and strings shifted to emerald, and behind each of them billowed an invisible cloak woven from Cloud.
With the caster Simon pressing the final crown of Cloud onto his own head, the dark magic was complete.
⟨ Simon Original — Royal Guard Archers ⟩
A royal guard composed of nothing but Skeleton Archers — Simon's personal elite.
"Whoa! That's the technique, right? That one from the BMAT!"
The students who'd watched Simon's BMAT match leapt up and down where they stood.
"Load."
At Simon's command, the Skeleton Archers drew arrows from their quivers, emerald cloaks fluttering. The moment their fingers touched the shafts, the arrows flushed teal. They nocked them, took aim at the onrushing tide of goblins—
"Fire!"
THWAAAARF!
A single arrow streaked out, trailing an emerald tail. It lightly punched through the chest of the foremost goblin — then kept its momentum and tore through the entire line of enemies lined up behind it.
"P-piercing effect!!"
Every time a teal arrow flew, monsters were slaughtered in clusters. A single shaft was dropping seven or eight goblins at a time.
Thwaaarph!
THWAAAARF!
With each release, a whole cluster of monsters toppled into corpses all at once — it was a magnificent spectacle.
Hnngh!
Sweat beaded on Simon's forehead. He gritted his teeth and swung his arms, and the archers coated their next arrows in Cloud and nocked them.
"Loose!"
The teal arrows flew one after another, sweeping the goblins away. Ninety percent of the horde was being annihilated right out of Simon's hand.
"In… incredible…"
One of the boys watching trembled from head to toe.
"…He's insane."
"He's actually going to do it!"
The spectators had all but lost their minds. The monster count was already nearly cut in half.
Amid the roaring chorus of encouragement, Simon wrung out even more strength.
Ughaaah.
But it was no ordinary burden. Unlike a standard sword-wielding Royal Guard, the Royal Guard Archers enhanced and launched their arrows, consuming Cloud directly. Little by little, the teal glow on the skeletons' bodies was fading — the cloaks vanished first, then the light in their eyes and the shimmer over their frames began to dim.
Everything else doesn't matter.
Gasping for breath, Simon raised both arms.
Somehow — somehow, just get the Cloud onto the arrows and shoot!
Once more, the emerald arrows punched through goblin after goblin in a piercing chain.
"Almost there!"
"The final boss monster is coming!"
A beat behind the main goblin horde, one truly massive goblin came barreling up the lane. The students sent their worn-down summons down the slope to stop it, but one after another they fell beneath that enormous axe.
"Whew!"
By now, Simon had finished off the last of the small fry. The Skeleton Archers had spent every arrow in their quivers — they fumbled uselessly at the empty pouches like broken machines.
All that remained was the huge goblin boss trundling up the lane. Let a single one through to the village, and it was defeat.
Simon swept his arm.
"Return."
Every last trace of Cloud still remaining in the Skeleton Archers flowed back into Simon's magic circle. The undead stripped of their Cloud — the Royal Guard reverting to ordinary Skeleton Archers — all stopped moving at once, as if switched off.
For the finish — this!
Simon collapsed the Cloud ratio in his magic circle. The emerald circle began shifting into the dark hue of Jet-Black.
He turned his head. Beside him stood one last Skeleton Archer — the single one whose connection to his consciousness he had never severed, still holding its Royal Guard state.
"I'm counting on you alone!"
Simon formed a bow and arrow of Jet-Black in his magic circle and handed it over. The Skeleton Archer took it at once and sprinted down into the lane.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Head-on, the goblin boss was charging in. The lone Skeleton Archer planted itself squarely in the lane and stood its ground.
"Only the boss left!!"
"Come on, please!"
The watching students screamed as one. Simon raised his hand.
Load.
The Skeleton Archer carefully nocked the Jet-Black arrow to the string.
Perfect unity.
Simon felt as though he himself had become that Skeleton Archer.
"Loose!"
KABOOOOOM!
The instant the archer released the string, a deafening roar and a shockwave tore through the air — and the archer's body burst apart. The arrow flying straight on from the blast slammed squarely into the goblin's chest.
-Gururuk!
The goblin boss slid backward and dropped to one knee.
"Ah!"
"The power was a little short!"
Blood streaming from its mouth, the goblin boss pushed itself upright, arrow still buried in its chest.
"No."
Simon smiled broadly and clenched his fist.
"I got you."
BOOOM-M-M-M!
The arrow exploded inside the goblin boss's body. Jet-Black fanned out in a widening cone. The goblin's frame blew apart, flesh and blood spraying in every direction.
Thud. Thud-thud. Thud.
Beyond the mountain of collapsed monster corpses, nothing remained but a thin haze of dissipating Jet-Black.
While everyone stood with their jaws hanging open, eyes rolling—
[0 / 200]
All monsters have been eliminated.
Objective achieved.
"WAAAAAAAH!"
The moment the message appeared, everyone screamed loud enough to send the sky flying and rushed at Simon. Simon sat down on the spot with a hollow laugh.
…If I play three of these games in a row, I really will die.
Soon Simon's body was completely swallowed up by the jubilant crowd of students.