A smile lingered there.
“Even if you are a lich, you won’t come out of this attack unscath—”
The smile vanished cleanly from Raymond’s face. The Fire Blast he had unleashed had vanished without a trace the moment it reached the lich.
Papapap!
Only the sparks scattering thickly through the air proved that a magical attack had taken place.
Raymond had not even sensed the slightest sign of mana being rearranged. The lich had merely swept its hand once, and the 5th Circle attack spell Fire Blast had been extinguished just like that.
“T-this is impossible.”
Raymond took a step back, his face filled with disbelief. To display such power, the opponent had to be at least beyond a 6th Circle Expert. Otherwise, there was no way it could have blocked his attack so effortlessly.
At that moment, a fierce shout rang out.
“Taaat!”
When the magical attack failed, the three knights led by Patrick did not miss the opening and launched their assault. They rushed the lich, pouring every bit of mana they could draw up into their shields. The magical letters engraved into the anti-magic shields shone dazzlingly. However—
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
Exactly three explosions rang out in succession, and the knights who had attacked were sent tumbling miserably without exception. There had been no time to think. The instant a flash of light burst forth, they felt the anti-magic shields in their hands shatter into pieces. At almost the same time, an indescribable force struck them squarely in the chest.
“Keuk. Th-this is…”
Patrick staggered to his feet, wearing a dumbfounded expression. He had discovered that the breastplate covering his chest had been completely smashed. Spencer and Adrian, who got up shortly afterward, were in the same state. Feeling a faint ache rise from their chests, they stared in shock.
“G-good heavens, it smashed anti-magic armor and shields outright…”
Looking at them, the lich spoke expressionlessly.
“Leave while I’m still asking nicely. I cannot kill you, but cutting off an arm or a leg is well within my power.”
They tried to turn around with pale faces. Judging by the situation, this was not an enemy they could handle. Considering that it had destroyed armor and shields capable of withstanding 5th Circle attack magic in a single blow, the lich’s level of magic had to be far beyond that.
In that case, this was a fight with no chance of victory. They did not know why, but it seemed wise to leave while it was willing to let them go. However, their hurried steps toward the magic circle soon came to a stop. It happened after they saw a figure emerge through the undergrowth.
“What is going on?”
A look of delight flashed across Patrick’s face.
“U-uncle.”
An ally they could not have been more reassured to see had appeared in this situation. The one who revealed himself was a middle-aged knight clad in silver armor. With sharp eyes and lips set beneath a mustache that gave him an exceedingly stern impression, he was a middle-aged man whose bulging temples made it clear he had undergone tremendous training. After looking around, he seemed to grasp the situation and drew his sword without hesitation.
Chang!
Expressions of relief also appeared on Spencer and Adrian’s faces.
“Sir Heywood.”
“All of you, fall back behind me.”
Heywood raised his sword and stared coldly at the lich.
“It has been a very long time since I last saw a lich. How welcome.”
In his blazing gaze flickered the light of someone who had found the most suitable prey. A lich was excellent prey, incomparable to an ogre or a troll. There was the prerequisite that it had to be captured alive, since it would turn to ash and scatter when killed, but if they succeeded, it was practically guaranteed that his nephew Patrick and his companions would obtain their paladin qualifications. And so Heywood quietly pushed mana into his sword.
“You really are an unlucky fellow, running into me. The guard was so strict that I couldn’t even think of breaking through, so should I consider this fortunate?”
“You mean to capture me?”
“Of course. Patrick is my only beloved nephew, you see.”
Heywood twirled his sword as he attempted to approach. A vivid Aura Blade burst forth and completely enveloped his sword. However, the lich did not seem particularly frightened.
“Foolish creature. It seems you need to taste some heat.”
As the lich leisurely unfolded its crossed arms, a strange light rose in its eyes.
“Hm?”
It was a gaze as if it had sensed something. The lich’s previously relaxed reaction suddenly became urgent.
“Damn it. Hey! I am in no position to leisurely fight, so get out of here immediately.”
Though puzzled by the opponent’s sudden reaction, Heywood was not the sort to abandon his intention because of it.
“I’ll consider it if you come along with us quietly.”
The lich’s eyes turned somewhat fierce.
“If you don’t leave right this instant, you will taste the heat…”
“You lunatic. Hrk.”
Heywood’s eyes widened in shock. Before he knew it, a ball of fire the size of a human torso had formed in the lich’s hand and was spinning round and round.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Strangely enough, the fireball was blue enough to make one’s eyes sting. In the midst of the flames, a vivid emblem of a demon king emitted a chilling glow. Even from a fair distance away, the heat could be felt scorching the skin. Judging by the situation, this was by no means ordinary magic. Immediately afterward, Raymond’s scream-like voice rang out.
“H-Hell Fire… G-good heavens, 9th Circle magic…”
With that single sentence, Heywood lost his will to fight. If it was the 9th Circle Hell Fire, then even his anti-magic armor could not withstand it. Hell Fire, a terrifying attack spell that burned away everything it touched. Its power was the greatest among anti-personnel attack spells, and even if the target were stone or iron, it could not remain intact if struck by it. Even without flammable material, it would simply burn. As such, this had to be considered magic beyond the category that humans could deploy.
After all, even among Arcadia’s court magicians, there were almost no magicians capable of casting Hell Fire. If they were hit by Hell Fire, it was clear that every one of them would depart this world in the blink of an eye. Heywood took a step back, his face twisting.
“J-just what are you? Don’t tell me you’re a dragon?”
“That is not what matters right now. What I want to tell you is that if you waste any more time, you won’t even be able to run away. I will count to three. If you have not disappeared by then, I cannot take responsibility for what happens afterward.”
“What are you plotting?”
“One.”
In the end, Heywood had no choice but to urge the trainee knights on and run toward the magic circle. The will to fight had already vanished completely from his mind.
“Two.”
Heywood hurriedly took the trainee knights and stood atop the magic circle. He did not know why that lich was trying to let them go, but judging by the situation, withdrawing seemed a hundred times better.
First of all, if the opponent was indeed a lich of 9th Circle or higher, then fighting it would leave them with no chance of victory. No matter how much of a Sword Master he was, it would be difficult for him to handle a high-ranking 9th Circle lich. To begin with, there was no possibility that the anti-magic armor he wore could block Hell Fire.
The anti-magic spells engraved into the armor had a definite limit to the magic they could endure. If the blue sphere of light spinning in the lich’s hand was truly Hell Fire, then even he was certain to bury his bones here. For that reason, he kept urging Raymond on.
“Hurry. We have to get out of here.”
“U-understood.”
Raymond, sweating profusely, focused on activating the magic circle. He, too, was half out of his mind from the appearance of the lich and its level of magic, neither of which he had expected at all. After exerting every ounce of strength he had, the teleportation magic circle finally activated.
Ssssss.
The forms of the five people standing atop the magic circle gradually grew indistinct as they became wrapped in radiance. But the lich merely watched the sight. As if it had no interest whatsoever.
The Hell Fire that had been swirling around its hand had disappeared before anyone noticed. However, Heywood’s group, absorbed in fleeing, had no leisure to observe that.
The next instant, the Guardian hunters from Crosen vanished from that place without a trace. A low voice flowed from the lich’s mouth.
“That was fortunate. Still, this is going to become a little troublesome.”
As soon as he spoke, several shadows appeared there. They seemed to be people who had arrived through warp magic, just like Heywood’s group. Astonishingly, they too were liches. The liches, with the same appearance and attire as the one standing there blankly, scattered in all directions as soon as they appeared and began searching for something. It did not take them long to realize that the only thing left was the teleportation magic circle. After finishing their search, the liches soon gathered around the first lich.
“What happened? Where are the humans?”
The first lich replied with remarkable nonchalance.
“They got away.”
An extremely simple statement. The liches who had asked the question stared blankly at his face, as if they had been rendered speechless. But the situation did not proceed so easily.
With a flash of light, another shadow appeared in that place. When he saw that figure, the face of the lich who had quietly let Heywood’s group go distorted slightly.
“This has become a headache.”
The one who had appeared was also a lich. However, unlike the other liches, this one looked exceedingly powerful. He wore a strangely shaped crown on his head, long fangs grew from his mouth, and even his clothing was different. The liches who had appeared later immediately gathered around him.
“They say the humans escaped, Lord Gedenhide.”
“What?”
After hearing the whole story, a chilling glow surged from the lich’s eye sockets. Astonishingly, his identity was none other than Gedenhide. He was the chief Guardian of the red dragon Berkis, the one who had stormed the court of Feldrian roughly five hundred years ago to abduct the saintess, only to fail in his objective.
Eyes wide, he approached someone. The lich who had let Heywood’s group go. As soon as he arrived, he growled without preamble.
“Why did you let the humans go?”
The lich gave no answer. It merely met Gedenhide’s gaze expressionlessly. Its reaction seemed to say that if he wanted to try something, he should go ahead. At that sight, Gedenhide’s anger finally exploded. There was no commander who would not be enraged when a subordinate under his command and control showed such a defiant attitude. As if there was no need to think any further, he rearranged his mana.
“You damned bastard…”
Kwa-kwang!
The instant a flash burst from his hand, a powerful explosion erupted from the lich’s chest. The lich’s body flew away like a kite with its string cut and was driven mercilessly into the rock wall on the other side. Seeing that its chest had been completely crushed, one could readily tell just how powerful Gedenhide’s attack had been. At that sight, the surrounding liches looked at Gedenhide in great distress.
“L-Lord Gedenhide. There was no need to go this far…”
At their words, Gedenhide suddenly came to his senses. Though he had attacked without asking for the rights and wrongs of the matter, there was still something weighing on his mind. Although the other party was his subordinate, it was still a lich personally created by his master. If its main body were destroyed, that fact would surely be transmitted at once to his sleeping master, Berkis.
The attack he had used was Gedenhide’s specialty, Horrid Wilting. A 9th Circle Horrid Wilting would be difficult for even a lich’s sturdy body to withstand. When that fact came to mind, Gedenhide’s expression darkened slightly.
“I was rash.”
Of course, it was not because he feared reprimand. Gedenhide was so restless because he worried that Berkis’s sleep might be disturbed by this fact. Because he had been thoroughly brainwashed, he possessed extreme loyalty toward Berkis. Of course, this applied equally to all the liches under his command as well. However, his gaze soon changed to bewilderment.