Chapter 110
"I'll go first."
The one who started the interview was Fitzgerald.
The undead he pulled out from his subspace was a type of monster Simon had never seen before.
Where legs should have been, there were organic wheels. The body was rectangular like a carriage, and from the chest up, it formed the shape of a human.
Its large pupils twitched and wavered in every direction, as if unfocused, and its six arms were all making different, bizarre gestures.
‘...This is an undead?’
Its form was so complex that it was difficult to define with a single word.
At a glance, it resembled an ancient statue one might find in old ruins.
Simon was confused, but the reactions of the second-years were quite different.
Dio leaned forward, showing a curious expression, and Benya shouted excitedly,
"This is a chimera, right?!"
"Yes, that’s correct."
The chimera was known as a masterpiece in undead research.
Living creatures, when altered or mutated from their original form, often suffered physiological imbalance and shortened lifespan. Conjoined twins or mutant specimens were common examples.
But undead, which were far removed from the logic of life, allowed for rather radical biological experimentation.
The result of necromancers mixing different types of undead cells to create a precisely crafted monster was this chimera.
"What’s the main monster used in this?"
Dio asked.
Here, ‘main’ referred to the core creature of the chimera.
Fitzgerald answered without hesitation.
"A Seiren."
Benya and Dio both let out small gasps of awe.
Seiren was a rare monster with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a seabird.
"First-year already using a magic-type undead, huh."
"I heard the lingering thoughts of a Seiren are so complex, just connecting with it can drive you insane!"
"Yes. I can only maintain it for five minutes."
Fitzgerald adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
"And going insane isn’t much of a problem."
Everyone, without realizing, nodded in agreement at that statement.
Benya's eyes sparkled as she observed the chimera from various angles, then turned to Fitzgerald and asked,
"Comrade! Would you be willing to give us a demonstration? Ah, of course, only if it’s not too much of a burden..."
"I’ll do it."
Fitzgerald quietly closed his eyes. The chimera, whose eyes had been closed, suddenly snapped them open.
Its six arms bent in different directions and assumed various forms, almost disturbingly so.
Vmmm! Vmmm! Vmmm!
Vmmm! Vmmm! Vmmm!
Magic circles formed, one for each arm. From them, flames of darkness and ice burst forth, slamming into the walls.
‘Amazing. A summon that can cast six black magic spells simultaneously!’
Even Simon couldn’t help but be surprised this time. If one could control just this chimera well, maintaining a top rank in Keyzen seemed easily achievable.
"…That’s all."
Fitzgerald stumbled a bit as he disconnected from the chimera.
"Awesome!"
Benya, raising both arms and hopping around, pointed her finger confidently at Fitzgerald.
"You pass! Absolutely pass!"
"Thank you."
"What do you think?"
Benya glanced sideways at Dio. Dio nodded in agreement.
"…Fits our club’s concept perfectly. I like it."
"Then one confirmed pass! Next up."
Next was Toto’s turn.
‘Toto’s special undead...’
Simon was very curious about what kind of undead Toto would summon.
Up until now, he had only used skeletons. What kind of special undead had he acquired in such a short time?
"I-I’ll begin now!"
With Benya’s expectant gaze focused on him, a visibly nervous Toto opened his subspace.
And what appeared from within was—
"…A dog?"
Three medium-sized, fluffy dogs with thick coats emerged. They were big and had sharp teeth, looking a bit like wolves.
Simon scratched the side of his head.
‘No matter how I look at it, these don’t seem like undead.’
To Simon, this looked more like a tamed monster through black magic rather than an undead summoned through Summonology.
"Interesting. Little comrade."
But Benya thought differently.
"These dogs, they’re all dead, aren’t they?"
"Yes."
"…!"
They were undead?
But with all that fur and how energetic they seemed, they looked far too healthy to be corpses.
"…It’s that, huh."
Dio also seemed to realize something and squatted down. Benya nodded and continued.
"Parasitic undead, Parasite."
Parasites were among the strangest undead in the world.
They entered the body of a specific animal and lived as a parasite. After going through hypnosis, paralysis, hallucinations, and other stages, they ultimately devoured the host’s heart and formed their own ‘Core’ there.
The host animal wouldn’t even realize it was dead or had become undead, but would gradually be taken over mentally by the parasite.
Because of their uniqueness, parasites were actively studied by necromancers interested in immortality.
"Impressive. Controlling parasites isn’t something easy."
Benya smiled with her hands on her hips. Receiving her praise, Toto looked bashful but also overjoyed.
"Can we see what they can do?"
"Y-Yes!"
"…Try fighting my skeletons."
Dio summoned his skeletons from subspace and had them charge. Toto immediately gave the infected dogs the command to attack.
Tatadadada!
The dogs closed the distance far faster than the skeletons could react.
With a single leap, they bit through a skeleton’s neck and brought it to the ground. Their paws and fangs were blackened, showing that the properties of Darkness were properly applied.
Within minutes, the skeletons were shredded by the dogs, their remains scattered across the floor.
"Come back!"
The dogs, still gnawing on the skeletons like chew toys, returned to Toto. As Toto knelt and patted their heads, the dogs wagged their tails and licked his face.
"Very good! Little comrade, you pass too!"
"Thank you, senior!"
Toto bowed deeply.
"Now lastly…"
Benya flipped her cream-colored hair and looked at Simon.
"What kind of undead will you show us, comrade?"
It was finally Simon’s turn. After a moment of thought, he looked at Dio and said—
"Senior, could you restore that skeleton again?"
"...Huh? Oh, yeah."
At Dio's gesture, the skeleton was restored and returned to its original form.
Simon took his stance and drew in a deep breath.
What was he planning to show? Tension spread sharply across the basement.
With everyone watching wide-eyed, Simon reached for an imaginary lever and opened his subspace.
Attack.
Even at Simon’s command, it remained still. Of course, he hadn’t expected it to respond on the first try.
As Simon repeated the command several more times—
Chrrrrrrrk!
Bladed tentacles made of metal and bone shot out from the subspace, smashing the skeleton in a single blow as they passed through.
"Whoaahhhh!"
"What was that?!"
Gasps erupted from all around. At Simon’s next gesture, the tentacles slid back into the subspace.
"...That scared me."
"That was an undead?"
As everyone murmured in confusion, Benya stood frozen, speechless.
"...I’ve never seen an undead like that."
She looked utterly shocked.
Suddenly rushing forward, she grabbed Simon by the shoulders and shook him wildly.
"Comrade! What was that just now?! Don’t leave me hanging, show me now!"
"Ah, y-yes. I’ll show you."
Simon opened the subspace and carefully pulled out the Overlord. Everyone let out another round of astonished gasps.
"What even is that?"
"I’ve never heard of an undead mollusk before!"
All eyes turned to Simon, urging him for an explanation. Simon calmly began to tell the story.
That he had visited Blue Harbor during the Undead Exhibition, received this as a reward for completing a commission, and that it was an undead based on a Kraken.
"The Blue Harbor Undead Exhibition!"
Benya clapped her hands with a loud smack.
"I really wanted to go to that! I kept waiting, hoping a related request would come in!"
"I was lucky. I got to go because of a direct commission request."
"So that undead was one of the ones on display there? That makes sense now."
Benya stepped forward, clearly wanting to touch it directly, but the Overlord waved its long tentacles menacingly, still on alert, leaving her to smack her lips in disappointment.
Seeing this, Simon connected to Overlord’s lingering thoughts. Then, controlling one of the tentacles, he brought it forward and gently stroked it with his palm.
"Would you like to touch it?"
"Yes! Yes!"
Benya arrived beside Simon in an instant.
"Be careful not to cut your fingers. It’s sharp."
With a far more serious expression, she touched the Overlord’s blade.
"You mixed mithril into the bone. Right?"
"Exactly, senior."
"This balance is fantastic."
Ping.
She flicked Overlord’s leg lightly with her finger, causing a clear, ringing sound to echo.
"Of course, the creator’s skills are excellent, but to achieve this golden ratio between bone and mithril, this is a miracle born of overlapping coincidences! I don’t think we’ll see such a precisely crafted Kraken undead again anytime soon."
"...Ah."
"So, take good care of it."
She patted Simon on the back with enthusiasm, grinning brightly.
"Great! Welcome to the team, comrade!"
Even in pain, Simon didn’t forget to give his thanks.
And with that, all three had officially become members of the club Mutant.
"Feeling good! Ask anything—about the club, Keyzen life, or undead stuff, whatever you want!"
They sat on the sofa, piling up refreshments, and began to talk in earnest.
Simon hadn’t known how great it felt to share serious discussions on the same topic with like-minded people.
He was quickly drawn in, forgetting how much time had passed.
When the conversation returned to the Overlord, Benya said,
"Overlord’s raw specs are solid, but I don’t think pulling its whole body out of subspace is very practical."
Her point was spot on and aligned with what Feer had said earlier.
"Having your summon destroyed is a fate all Summonology majors must face,
but the Overlord is just too fragile on its own."
"Yes. That’s why I’ve been practicing keeping the Overlord in the subspace and attacking using its long limbs."
"But it’s not easy, is it?"
"No, not really. The thought-link is a bit of a problem..."
She paused in thought, then snapped her fingers.
"Comrade! Have you ever thought about meeting a subspace master?"
"What?"
"Try solving it through subspace itself. From what I can tell, subspace operation isn’t optional for the Overlord, it’s essential. So, create a custom subspace just for the Overlord!"
Simon’s eyes widened.
"Is… is that even possible? We’re not allowed to leave Roke Mountain during the semester."
"I’m only saying it because that person happens to be on Roke Mountain right now. Ever heard of Gellen Eclipse? He’s in a contract relationship with our Vanilla."
‘That name sounded familiar…’
Simon racked his brain to recall.
—This product hasn’t even hit the market yet. It’s the latest piece by Gellen Eclipse, one of the next-generation master craftsmen!
Simon looked down at the ring on his finger.
That’s right. Gellen Eclipse was the very creator of the subspace he was using now!
Overwhelmed with excitement, Simon sprang to his feet.
"Please tell me, senior! How can I meet him?"
Finally, the path forward had begun to appear.
Superb.