Chapter 442
With the assault of the naga swarm, the Pharonna Peninsula, once in a festive mood, turned into a scene of horror.
The blue moon-flowers blooming along the streets were stained red with blood.
The marketplace, once bustling with laughter and chatter, was now filled with screams.
<Bone Armor>
Simon’s arms moved frantically. At his gesture, eight skeletons scattered, attaching with a clack-clack! to the bodies of fleeing tourists.
When Simon gestured again, their bodies floated into the air with a whoosh, carried safely behind a hill.
“Run!”
Simon shouted.
As the disoriented tourists ran, he stripped the Bone Armor off their bodies, then immediately clad the next group of townsfolk and sent them fleeing—repeating the cycle again and again.
For now, the priority was to evacuate people into the ‘Lord’s Castle’, where Maelyn was holding guard. Dick and Kamibarez would also be evacuating people from their own positions.
‘But seriously, what on earth is happening here?’
Simon loaded Darkness into his leg and kicked the abdomen of an approaching naga. The naga was flung far away, crashing into a nearby street stall with a loud crack!
Behind that same stall, he spotted several more nagas. Simon immediately braced himself, but those nagas charged forward without hesitation, ignoring whether their kin lived or died, as if possessed.
‘Their movement direction is fixed.’
The nagas were not obsessively chasing fleeing people.
It looked less like a ‘hunt’ and more like a ‘purposeful march’. Only, with the city in their path and people everywhere, they were distracted, scattering wildly and causing chaos.
‘Dick said the Naga Queen must have arrived.’
If the swarm was this large, at least twenty Naga Queens should have entered the peninsula. Yet Simon had not seen even one so far.
‘This is fishy.’
Lost in thought, Simon found himself standing before the Pharonna Deimos Museum.
He had come back here again.
Simon approached the museum’s entrance and tried the door.
Clatter! Clatter!
It was locked.
No—rather, the handles had been bound with chains, sealed with a padlock.
Clatter! Clatter!
Simon shook the door again, trying to gauge the location of the lock.
‘Around here.’
Placing his right fist against the door, he closed his eyes, channeling Darkness into his knuckles.
Then, drawing his fist back slowly, he readied his stance. It had been a long time since he used Hongpeng’s piercing technique.
<Hongpeng’s Original – Sky Calamity>
Boom!
The strike landed precisely where the lock sat behind the door.
Thunk.
The broken padlock dropped to the ground.
Simon pushed the door open with force. With a metallic clatterrrrr, the chains unraveled and the entrance swung open.
“......!”
Inside the museum, the guards lay collapsed.
Simon quickly shut the door again, tying the handles with the chain to prevent nagas from breaking in. Then, he checked the guards.
‘Not dead.’
They were all unconscious.
Each bore injuries to the back of the head, the jaw, and the abdomen. This was strange—far from the clawing, ripping wounds typical of a naga’s attack.
Simon pressed his lips into a thin line and walked deeper inside.
‘There’s definitely an intruder. But why break into the museum, and why only knock out the guards?’
Taking advantage of the chaos to steal something valuable.
If that were the case, the most priceless artifact in the museum was obvious.
—Its value is beyond measure, a paleontological treasure of unmatched rarity! The teeth, damaged, were filled in with real gold by the curator! Truly, a masterpiece you can see only here, in the Pharonna Deimos Museum!
‘The fourth floor!’
Simon dashed up the stairs two at a time, throwing open the fourth-floor door.
Clatter!
‘Good.’
Simon sighed in relief. The most precious relic, the Deimos skull, was still intact.
But relief lasted only a moment.
‘!’
A flash of silver darted toward him from the side.
Swish!
Simon instinctively bent his waist backward.
Time slowed under the peak of his concentration, his perception sharpening crystal clear.
In his vision: a sharp spear tip. Following the shaft back with his eyes, he finally saw a blond man.
Simon snatched the spear’s shaft with his left hand, twisting the spearhead just slightly.
Thunk!
The redirected spear impaled another man rushing from the left.
‘More than one opponent.’
Simon immediately kicked the wielder’s knee with his right leg, wrested the weapon from his grasp, and swung it. Two men rushing from the front were slashed down by the spearhead.
All four men looked exactly the same.
Puff! Bang!
At Simon’s strike, they vanished like scattered coal dust. At the same moment, a snap! was heard from above.
Clatterrrrrrr!
The chandelier came crashing down toward Simon. Calmly, he raised his left fist overhead.
<Hongpeng’s Original – Impalement>
Clang!!!
Simon’s fist slammed dead center into the plummeting chandelier.
Crash!
The chandelier shattered, scattering glittering jewel fragments across the floor like grains of sand.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Simon lowered his fist, expression calm.
“Malcolm Randolph.”
From the shadows of the darkened exhibition hall, a muffled laugh rang out.
The boy who looked identical to the ones that attacked Simon stepped out of the darkness.
“It’s been a while, Simon Follentia.”
Simon scowled. His suspicions had been confirmed.
The unnatural naga swarm.
The museum break-in.
And Malcolm Randolph.
Which could only mean—
“This naga assault, it was all orchestrated by the Randolph gang, wasn’t it?”
Malcolm only laughed, giving no answer.
“Get a grip, Malcolm. You’re Keyzen.”
“No.”
Malcolm’s expression hardened.
“Not anymore.”
Those words set Simon’s mind racing.
“You’re quitting Keyzen?”
“I’m a man of the organization. If my performance fails, I bear the responsibility.”
Responsibility. Malcolm swept his bangs back as he spoke.
“My rank plummeted from tenth place to one hundred twenty-eighth, and the liquid bomb scandal disgraced the organization. I’m merely taking responsibility. And this whole snowball started rolling—”
His murky eyes locked onto Simon.
“—from my duel evaluation with you.”
“.......”
“Isn’t it ironic?”
At Malcolm’s words, Simon lowered his gaze slightly.
“......Hey, f**k.”
That reaction provoked Malcolm.
“What, are you pitying me?”
He certainly hadn’t said all this to be pitied.
At least, from Malcolm’s perspective.
Human behavior often follows predictable patterns. When greeted in the morning, one replies in kind. When a lady offers her hand, a gentleman kisses it.
Even without rehearsal, there are times when the next line is all but predetermined.
This was one of those times.
Simon should have said: This isn’t something you can blame others for.
That falling out of Keyzen in a meritocracy was your own failing.
A cold sneer, even mockery, would have been better.
“I—”
Simon’s lips parted.
“I don’t pity you.”
A vein bulged across Malcolm’s forehead with a snap.
“You’re really good at getting under people’s skin, huh? Huh?”
His neck throbbed with strained veins.
“I know, I know, I get it! My skills weren’t enough! My effort wasn’t enough! I screwed myself over when I overextended during our duel evaluation, that’s why I ended up like this. But human hearts, they’re damned fickle, aren’t they?”
His gaze grew dark and sinister.
“Why do I keep wanting to blame you?”
Shsssss—!
Afterimages rose from Malcolm’s body, scattering in several directions. Simon’s eyes hardened.
“Malcolm, calm down!”
“I heard what your friends were saying earlier. They called you ‘President’. Don’t tell me, you’re the Student Council President now?”
Simon remained silent.
“Oh? That face says it all. Haha! Look at you, Mr. Big Shot.”
Malcolm’s shoulders shook with laughter.
“At the start of the semester, it didn’t seem like there was such a huge gap. One guy gets treated like useless trash and ends up stealing again. Another climbs higher and higher until he’s Keyzen’s Student Council President. Damn, life sure splits apart quickly, even among teens.”
Spewing his self-deprecating words, Malcolm staggered, pressing his forehead.
“......Whatever. This is the only road left for me. If I fail, I die at the hands of the organization.”
Tat-tat!
Tat-tatat!
Twenty doppelgangers charged at Simon.
“Once again, you’ll trample me underfoot for your ambitions, right? You can’t afford casualties when the almighty Keyzen Student Council President is here, huh?”
Thud!
The leading doppelganger swung a Darkness-wreathed fist.
“Malcolm. Don’t do something you’ll regret.”
“Oh, a lecture from the Student Council President himself!”
Whoosh!
Simon dodged effortlessly, his shoulders barely shifting.
Whoosh! Whooosh!
Another flurry of punches followed, but Simon evaded with only the smallest bends of his knees and slight tilts of his head.
“Fuuu****k! Quit toying with—!”
Crack!
Simon’s leg whipped up, kicking the jaw of the shouting doppelganger.
Bam! Thud!
His fists blurred, striking the philtrum and shoulder of two more, which shattered into dust.
Grab! Grab!
Then, from behind, doppelgangers clutched at Simon’s legs.
“Khhhaaaaap!”
Four more lunged in, hidden spears thrust forward.
“Open Gate.”
Simon whispered softly, and six subspaces ripped open around him.
Shrrrrrk!
Shrrrk!
Overlord legs of bone and metal burst out, their blades slashing through the doppelgangers, rising in a flower-bud pattern that encircled Simon.
The doppelgangers vanished, leaving only the abandoned spears clattering to the floor.
“Knew you’d pull those out eventually.”
Malcolm’s real body scowled as he watched.
Hissss—
Through the writhing, snake-like blades, Simon stood unharmed.
“Malcolm. Even now, you can give this up. Call off the nagas.”
“I told you before! I’ve got no other road left!”
Malcolm spawned more doppelgangers.
“If you want something, trample and seize it! That’s the Keyzen way!”
Malcolm clearly had no intention of stopping.
There was no choice. Simon recalled the Overlord back into subspace, then traced a magic circle onto his palm, keeping it pressed to his side as he continued casting, while summoning new undead.
“Come forth.”
Six ordinary skeletons appeared, along with a Skeleton Archer and a Skeleton Mage.
Clack!
When Simon lowered his palm, the skeletons collapsed, connections severed. Raising his hand again, hundreds of bone fragments shot into the air.
<Bone Nail>
The shards scattered, driving themselves into the bodies of the charging doppelgangers.
Every piece obeyed Simon’s will, skewering the doppelgangers until they vanished.
‘The weakness of doppelgangers is durability.’
No need for massive power; even a few effective strikes could destroy them.
While preparing higher black magic, Bone Nail alone was enough for defense.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Faster even than when using Overlord, twenty doppelgangers were erased.
Malcolm clenched his teeth and conjured twenty more.
‘And their second weakness.’
Simon stretched his hand behind him.
Snap!
As though waiting, the Skeleton Archer’s bow dropped into Simon’s grasp. In his other hand, an arrow.
In one swift motion, he nocked and drew.
Whizz!
The enchanted arrow flew. Malcolm, focused on controlling his doppelgangers, jerked his head down in panic to evade.
Thunk!
The arrow quivered in the wall, vibrating before going still.
‘If he moves his feet, he can’t control the doppelgangers. His evasions will be sloppy.’
“You bastard!”
Leaving defense to Bone Nail, Simon fired arrow after arrow in light, relentless harassment.
Simon’s archery was no joke, every shot aimed straight for the head.
“Tch!”
At last, Malcolm shifted his tactics. From subspace, he drew a potion and hurled it, the doppelgangers catching it mid-run.
‘Liquid bombs?’
Even while skewered by Bone Nails, the doppelgangers tossed the potions into the air.
Clink! Clink!
They shattered themselves midair, splattering liquid onto the floating bone fragments.
The shards trembled weakly, then dropped uselessly to the ground.
‘This—!’
“It’s Kabara’s poison!”
Malcolm shouted while casting black magic again.
“It neutralizes the lingering Darkness within bones, making them impossible to restore for a time! You think I wouldn’t prepare counters for a Summonology major?!”
With Bone Nail neutralized, Malcolm clapped his palms together and thrust them forward.
It was a technique he had reserved for the second-year duel evaluations, a so-called secret move.
<Malcolm’s Original – Decoupled Doppelganger>
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Ten doppelgangers merged into a grotesque, writhing chimera, its limbs scuttling like a centipede, rushing at Simon with terrifying speed.
‘I win!’
Malcolm’s lips trembled with excitement.
‘Even if he slashes it with Overlord, it’ll just scatter into smaller bodies!’
Booooooom!
But what struck wasn’t a blade.
Black fireballs slammed into the doppelganger chimera one after another, exploding, incinerating it whole.
Fwoosh.
Calm-faced, Simon raised his index finger.
Four Skeleton Mage skulls rose into the air, emerald smoke coiling around them until they formed miniature suns.
<Simon’s Original – Skull Drone>
The higher black magic Simon had been preparing wasn’t Chaos, nor the Royal Guard.
Against doppelgangers weak to wide-area spells, nothing was more fitting than Skull Drone, bombarding them with Darkness fire.
“Let’s end this, Malcolm.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters