Chapter 81
Simon was pushing his way through the thick underbrush.
Behind him, skeletons were following while carrying the wooden house they built yesterday.
‘This is exactly what I like about Summonology.’
Ever since he learned Summonology, his hands and shoulders had always been light.
Even when entering places teeming with monsters like this, he felt at ease. Before Simon could even spot the monsters, his summons would rush in and take care of them.
All Simon had to do was arrive at the aftermath and collect the Tongue Pad points.
And beyond that, there were countless advantages to having numbers on your side. It went without saying.
‘Huh?’
Simon, leading the way, stopped walking and examined a pile of monster droppings in the grass.
And next to it, he spotted footprints. It seemed they had wandered into the territory of a Grade-2 monster, the Lacquer.
“Guys, let’s move quickly.”
At Simon’s order, the skeletons carrying the house quickened their pace.
[But hey, boy,]
Feer spoke up.
[Didn’t you say you were going straight to the center in one go? What kind of method are you planning to use?]
“Oh, it’s simple.”
As Simon brushed aside large leaves and stepped out of the jungle, a wide-open view unfolded before his eyes.
Swaaahhh!
The sound of water flowing filled his ears.
“I’m going to take a boat and sail upstream on that river.”
[Take a boat? When did you… Ha!]
Feer’s projection shifted its gaze to the skeletons carrying the wooden house.
Of course! Now that he looked at it again, it didn’t look like a house at all, but clearly like a wooden boat.
“Alright, be careful coming down.”
Click-clack.
Crack.
Simon helped the skeletons carry the wooden house and cautiously descended the steep cliff. Feer continued the conversation.
[The idea itself isn’t bad, but don’t rivers usually flow from the inland to the sea?]
“I’ll explain.”
Simon used his free hand to draw in the air.
“Imagine there’s a large island in the center, surrounded closely by four smaller islands. Got it?”
[Hmm! I understand.]
“I heard from Dick, this entire area isn’t called ‘Kera Island’.”
Simon gestured toward the large landmass in the center.
“Only the central island is officially called Kera Island.”
[What?]
“The correct name for the region is the ‘Kera Islands’. The other islands are separate from Kera Island. In other words…”
Simon pointed to the waterways between the islands surrounding Kera Island. That was exactly where he was standing.
“This isn’t a river. It’s the sea.”
[Ohho!]
“If you actually taste the water, it’s salty. So instead of a river, seawater flows between the islands.”
Simon checked the time with his watch and opened a subspace.
“And the current at this time of day flows at a fixed, predictable pace.”
Raaawr! Rawr!
Grrrr!
Then came the barking-like sounds of beasts from the forest.
‘Damn!’
A pack of Lacquers, six-legged creatures, had caught Simon’s scent and were now charging at him.
“Everyone, hurry!”
Simon and the skeletons increased their speed down the cliff.
But the Lacquers were native monsters to this region. They expertly darted down the steep cliff as well.
‘At this rate, they’ll catch up.’
Fighting on this kind of cliff was extremely dangerous. Simon quickly racked his brain, then stared at the seawater flowing below.
“Stop! Let’s just drop it from here!”
Simon and the skeletons bent their knees slightly, then forcefully threw the wooden house.
Splash!
With a loud sound, the house landed in the water.
Rawr! Rawr! Rawr!
Simon retrieved all the skeletons into the Subspace and took off running.
“Huff!”
Without looking back, he kicked off from the Darkness with all his might and leapt off the cliff. A Lacquer’s claw narrowly grazed his uniform.
‘Perfect timing!’
Thud!
Simon landed squarely on the wooden house being carried by the current. The boat rocked violently, and seawater splashed up, soaking Simon completely.
‘Made it!’
Simon clenched his fist tightly. The boat wasn’t sinking, and he had successfully landed on it.
In the distance, the Lacquers who had chased him barked in frustration, like dogs that had lost their prey.
[Kahahahaha! Excellent! Just excellent!]
Feer laughed mockingly.
Soon, the wooden boat began to float away at an incredible speed.
The sense of speed was surprisingly pleasant. Water droplets kept splashing up.
“Told you, didn’t I? I’d reverse everything in one go.”
Early dawn.
While most of the Keyzen students were exhausted from building shelters, lighting fires, and hunting game and had fallen asleep, Simon was racing almost on a free pass toward his destination, the central Kera Island.
In terms of speed, there was no comparison, and because it was dawn, the risk of being attacked by other students had also dropped significantly.
[Kuhahahahahaha! This is wonderful!]
Simon and Feer rode the current forward, gliding along smoothly.
* * *
“I thought I’d check, just in case.”
Dick let out a heavy sigh. Behind him, seven Keyzen students stood with weapons in hand.
The area where one travels from the other four islands of the Kera Islands to the central Kera Island. Each island was connected by large cliff bridges.
At first glance, they looked like natural land bridges that had always existed here, but in fact, they had been built by Keyzen specifically for Island Survival. They were reinforced with black magic, making them impervious to most forms of destruction unless massive firepower was applied.
Right now, Dick’s team, assembled with his resourcefulness, and the students on the other side of the bridge, were at a standoff.
‘Well, of course someone would be guarding this place.’
Dick scratched his head.
In order to advance to the center, there was no choice but to break through here. That’s why he had come early at dawn, while others were tired and asleep, but as expected, there were students keeping watch.
“So, what are we gonna do now, Dick?”
A male student asked holding a skeletal scythe.
The teammates here had absolute trust in Dick.
Not only could he easily navigate through dense jungle, but he also knew how to build shelters, identify edible berries, and dismantle monsters — practical survival knowledge and skills that most noble students lacked.
Within a single day, every member of the team had come to rely heavily on him.
“Hmm.”
Dick folded his arms and thought for a moment.
“This kind of terrain doesn’t leave many options. I’ll try negotiating with them first. Maybe offer some food as a trade. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to break through head-on.”
“Got it.”
“We believe in you, Dick.”
Just as Dick took a deep breath and began walking toward the bridge—
“Whoa, what’s that?”
“It’s a person!”
There were murmurs from all around. Dick also turned his head to look out toward the sea. A wide smile formed on his lips.
‘Simon!’
Swaaahhhh!
Simon was riding the current atop a wooden boat, approaching the central Kera Island.
“Wow! He actually decided to ride that rapid current?”
“......That’s bold, to say the least.”
Dick held back a grin as he watched Simon.
‘That’s Simon for you! You crazy bastard!’
Dick had once imagined the possibility of riding the sea current down, just as a vague idea. But he had concluded it was impossible in practice.
The current was just too strong, making it impossible to steer with oars. And on top of that—
“Fire! Hit that bastard!”
The students on the opposite side of the bridge weren’t going to just stand by. Darkness Arrows and all kinds of black magic began raining down on Simon’s boat.
‘I have to help him.’
These teammates were just people he had teamed up with out of necessity, whether they lived or died didn’t matter. But Simon was different. He was the one friend Dick wanted to stick with for all three years ahead.
Dick turned around and shouted,
“Guys, now’s the time! Cross the bridge!”
“......R-Right now?”
“That guy on the boat is drawing all the aggro! We have to move now!”
At Dick’s urging, the others nodded. Soon, everyone was yelling and charging across the bridge.
“They’re crossing from the other side!”
“Shoot them down first!”
The firepower that had been focused on Simon was now split and redirected toward the bridge. Simon smiled as he saw it.
‘Good, they’re moving too. Now’s my chance.’
The current was speeding up, and the boat was nearing the exact landing point Simon had hoped for.
‘Just a little closer, just a bit more and I’ll be—’
BOOOOM!
A thunderous blast rang out, enough to rupture eardrums.
As Simon looked up, a shadow was cast around him. A massive Dark Shell was falling toward the boat he was on.
Looks like there was a powerful student on the other side too. The trajectory was too precise, there was no way to dodge it.
Simon smirked and summoned Darkness to both legs. Without hesitation, he leapt from the boat.
KA-BOOM!
The boat was struck directly by the shell and shattered to pieces.
“Huff!”
Now came the important part. Simon opened his Subspace and dropped a skeleton into the water.
The skeleton’s arm bones were hugging a bundle of lily-padding, a plant that floats on water. Since the skeleton was made of bones, it floated as well.
‘Over there!’
The skeleton landed exactly where Simon intended, still clutching the lily-padding. Simon stepped on it and jumped again.
He kept dropping skeletons from the subspace and leaping from one to the next, like stepping on stones in a stream.
“Whoa!”
“......Is that even possible?”
The students watching were left speechless at Simon’s acrobatic moves. As attacks from the ground intensified, Simon laid out skeletons densely across the surface of the water and began running across them.
‘Stepping on Darkness!’
Voooom!
Simon soared several meters into the air to dodge incoming Darkness Arrows, spun once in mid-air, and landed stylishly on solid ground.
Immediately, he opened his subspace and dumped out the skeleton remains. Most were missing their lower halves.
Simon turned, extending his right arm.
‘Restoration!’
The scattered bone fragments drifting in the water floated up and zipped through the air like lightning, snapping into place on the skeleton bodies on land.
In a flash, over ten skeletons were fully restored. Only the lily-padding floated away with the current.
“Let’s go!”
Simon fled into the forest with the skeletons.
‘Kyaaah, that guy’s just……!’
Dick exclaimed in awe. Not only he, but even the students across the bridge were wide-eyed.
“Who the hell is that guy?”
“So that’s how you can use skeletons, huh?”
Then, among the students on the far side of the bridge, one suddenly turned around. He broke formation without warning.
“Hey, wait! Why are you moving on your own?”
A student beside him grabbed his shoulder. At that moment, a pitch-black demonic arm shot out from the man’s back and smacked the student away.
“Y-You’re insane!”
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Betrayal, at a time like this?! Haren Koak, who had drawn Black Hand from his back, grinned wickedly.
“Handle it yourselves. I’ve got other business to attend to.”
Leaving just those words behind, Haren took off running toward the forest where Simon had disappeared.
Superb.