**************************************************************************
The next day, Gedenhide left the lair early in the morning. As Verkis had ordered, he was going to move the newly acquired treasures to Incresia, the magical treasury managed by Zikreite.
It had already been over five hundred years since humanity had perished on the continent of Truvenia. Even so, gemstones and magical armaments were still being unearthed here and there across the land. They were, so to speak, the byproducts of plunder, born when the tombs of kings and lords were dug up by the orcs.
Those treasures were offered up to the dragons in their entirety by the orcs. For that reason, such treasures would occasionally arrive at Verkis’s lair loaded on carts. Of course, the ones escorting those carts were, without exception, orc infantrymen.
The treasures were stored in Verkis’s treasury for a certain period of time. Then, every so often, only the especially valuable items would be selected and moved by Gedenhide to Incresia, the magical treasury. Of course, if Verkis had been awake, one could say there was no being who would dare rob his treasury.
But he had fallen into a deep slumber, and there were limits to the abilities of the liches guarding the lair. Thus, Verkis had no choice but to favor Incresia, the magical treasury that could perfectly prevent theft.
In truth, Incresia had to be regarded as the shared property of all dragons. Though it was currently in the possession of the green dragon Zikreite, he was in fact no more than its custodian. The treasures within were things dragons had gathered over long ages, stored together in one place.
Verkis’s treasures, too, were securely stored in one corner of Incresia. If Gedenhide brought the treasures, Zikreite would open Incresia by the agreed-upon method and place them inside. Incresia would never open its doors to anyone except Zikreite, the master it had acknowledged.
This was something Gedenhide had already done many times, and for the sake of strict secrecy, he set out alone without taking even a single lich with him.
“I should teleport once I’m a little ways away from the lair.”
Muttering softly, Gedenhide hurried his steps. With a heavy-looking sack slung over his shoulder and a single treasured sword in his hand, his current appearance was not at all lich-like. After all, a lich using a sword was, frankly speaking, absurd. However, the treasured sword he held could be called a priceless treasure.
The sword’s name was Leherte Saber. It was a blade enchanted with permanent magic that instilled courage and fighting spirit in its wielder, and it was a masterpiece among masterpieces, one said to be capable of cutting even souls.
The true value of this sword lay in the fact that it was the sword of the Rosengart imperial family, the symbol of Ikarot. Without this sword, one could not truly assert oneself to be the emperor of Ikarot….
But the ill-fated sword Leherte Saber lost its master and was abandoned in the wilderness for a time, before eventually arriving at Verkis’s lair after many twists and turns. In the past, when Ikarot fell, Emperor Rosengart IV gave this sword to the young crown prince and had him escape the palace with a large number of knights. It was an attempt to preserve the bloodline by any means possible, but unfortunately, the crown prince’s party failed to escape Feldrian and met their end.
In the process, Leherte Saber ended up buried deep underground. After the crown prince died, a mage who had accompanied him, intending not to hand the sword over, used magic to bury it deep beneath the ground. In that state, Leherte Saber remained buried underground for nearly five hundred years—until it happened to catch the eye of an orc hunter passing by.
At the time, the orc chieftains were offering any treasures they discovered straight into the hands of the dragons. To the orcs, meat that could fill their stomachs for a meal was more precious than such treasures.
Thus Leherte Saber came to Verkis’s lair, and in the end, it was now being transported to be stored in the magical treasury Incresia…. Though it had been buried for five hundred years, Leherte Saber’s blade had not corroded in the slightest. Even its keen edge had not faded, so when Gedenhide had received this sword at the time, he had been unable to help crying out in admiration.
“What a truly fine sword.”
He placed this sword especially in Verkis’s First Treasury. It was a place where not common riches such as gold and silver were stored, but things that could truly be called treasures.
And now, all of those things were packed into the sack and slung over Gedenhide’s back.
“I must hurry.”
Because he was carrying precious items, Gedenhide quickened his pace. Of course, there should be no such incident, but he still had to consider the possibility. This was the reason he intended to teleport only after getting far away from the lair.
A little while later, having found a suitable location, Gedenhide looked around. Judging that nothing was amiss, he immediately drew a magic circle. From his hand, which had gone into and come out of his pocket, white powder suddenly scattered. It was human bone powder, brought for the purpose of drawing the magic circle. The bone powder, far lighter than dust, would surely vanish without a trace as soon as the teleportation was complete. Of course, he could have teleported with casting alone, but Gedenhide intended to draw a magic circle in order to lessen the risk.
Sssssss.
The thickly scattered bone powder soon began forming a fixed shape. Gedenhide’s magical power was acting upon it. Though a gentle breeze was blowing, the bone powder somehow maintained the form of the magic circle.
After finishing the work, Gedenhide tried to quickly step onto the magic circle. But he had never dreamed that, before he could, a chilling voice would come from behind him….
“Judging by the coordinates of the magic circle, it seems Zikreite’s lair is in the Elmarino Mountains to the south. Am I right?”
“Wh-what?”
A greatly startled Gedenhide hurriedly turned around. To think there was someone who could deceive the senses of a 9th Circle expert like him and approach so closely…. When he saw the shadow standing blankly behind him, surprise settled in his pupils. The one who had approached was someone he knew well. And on top of that, he was one of his subordinate guardians.
“Y-you’re Damon?”
Having confirmed the other party’s appearance, Gedenhide regained his composure in short order. Judging from the situation, the bastard had undoubtedly followed him. He had already given strict orders to the liches in the lair not to leave it; if he had ignored that and come here, he was surely harboring some irreverent intent. Quietly gathering mana, Gedenhide raised a murderous glare.
“I have been suspicious for a long time, and now it has been proven.”
“……….”
The other party said nothing, merely staring silently at Gedenhide.
“I could not bring myself to doubt Lord Verkis’s abilities, so I left you be and watched. But now it has become clear.”
“What has?”
“Your purpose. I do not know for what reason you broke Lord Verkis’s magic, but seeing that you have come this far, I suppose I must regard it as fact that you have been released from the brainwashing magic. In that case, I cannot leave you be.”
“You mean to dispose of me?”
“Of course. First, I will annihilate your main body, then make my explanation to Lord Verkis. So that later, he may personally interrogate you.”
Having finished speaking, Gedenhide set down the sack he had been carrying. Naturally, Leherte Saber was also mercilessly thrown to the ground. Radiance rapidly rose from his hands, which he spread wide to either side.
Shurururu.
It was Horrid Wilting, the offensive magic that was his specialty. It could be regarded as a spell of terror that had already sent several Sword Masters to the afterlife. Having fully cast the spell, Gedenhide took one step forward. In his pupils flickered a light as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
“At last, I can repay the humiliation I suffered five hundred years ago. Since you followed me all the way here, there is more than enough evidence.”
“As much as you like.”
Unable to stand the other party’s leisurely attitude, Gedenhide flicked his hands. The Horrid Wilting gathered in both hands shot toward the other’s body with a terrifying sound of tearing air. A triumphant smile appeared on Gedenhide’s face as he watched.
“A 9th Circle Horrid Wilting. This should be more than enough to annihilate your body without leaving a trace. After that, I will take my time and carefully crush your remaining soul….”
The smile vanished completely from Gedenhide’s face as he continued speaking. It was after he saw the other party move slightly and deflect the Horrid Wilting.
Papapapak.
The deflected Horrid Wilting only felled innocent trees in droves before disappearing off into the distance. However, in that process, Gedenhide somehow managed to discern that four entirely different kinds of magic had been cast with the other party’s body as their axis. Those spells had acted in combination to deflect his Horrid Wilting into the air. Since that level could never be called beneath his own, Gedenhide’s mouth fell open.
“H-how…. You should be no more than 6th Circle.”
“What should I do, since I’m not the Circle you know? I’m terribly sorry.”
The instant those words ended, a terrifying stream of blue flame poured toward him.
Kwakakakakwa.
Without even time to be shocked, Gedenhide had to cast Spatial Shift (Blank) and escape from that spot. There was no need to confirm that the attack launched at him was Hell Fire, the strongest anti-personnel offensive spell.
A 9th Circle Hell Fire possessed fully twice the destructive power of Horrid Wilting, his specialty. If struck directly by it, he, too, would be unable to escape annihilation…. Appearing a short distance away, Gedenhide trembled.
“H-how can this be….”
To Gedenhide, who had known the other as a mid-level lich of around the 6th Circle, this was literally a shock. Hell Fire was a spell even he had not yet fully mastered. It was an ultimate spell that none but a 9th Circle master would dare learn. The fact that the magical skill of a subordinate lich had already surpassed his own, and that he had not noticed the slightest hint of it until now, left Gedenhide utterly unable to collect himself. Moreover, the terrifying magical attacks continued without end….
Kwakakwang.
The ground on which he had been standing firmly just moments before was mercilessly gouged out, forming an enormous pit. Seeing stone and soil simply vaporize, there was no room to doubt that the other party’s attack was truly Hell Fire.
Furthermore, the stones and soil that had been blasted away fell in showers as if they had struck an invisible wall, proving that the other party had already completely enclosed this place within some sort of barrier. Having once again avoided danger with his specialty, Blink, Gedenhide hurled Horrid Wilting with all his might.
“Eiit!”
If the other party truly was a 9th Circle master, he knew very well that nothing would work except Horrid Wilting of the same Circle. But the other party received it with his chest, as though there were no need to dodge. A blue veil of light was already covering his body without the slightest gap.
Peopeong.
Seeing his attack blocked by the veil of light and vanish in vain, Gedenhide ground his teeth.
“It is impossible to believe, but I must accept as fact that you are a 9th Circle master. How on earth did you learn magic?”
“I don’t think this is the time to be asking that so calmly….”
Sensing another tremendous force surging toward him, Gedenhide unfolded Blink once again. By now, the fact that he had to flee from the other party was deeply engraved in his mind.
‘I hate to admit it, but I am no match for him. So I must return to Lord Verkis’s lair no matter what. No matter how strong he is, Lord Verkis unquestionably possesses his Life Force Vessel. If I inform Lord Verkis of this fact, that bastard will surely have no choice but to be annihilated.’
His thoughts were long, but his judgment was made in an instant. Gedenhide decided that first, he would withdraw from this place, then mobilize the liches under his command to hold the bastard back.
If he took that chance to enter the underground, the guardians made up of golems would block the bastard’s intrusion a second time, and then he would be able to awaken Verkis from his sleep without difficulty.
If that happened, everything seemed likely to be resolved. Of course, most of the liches under his command would suffer tremendous damage, but they were beings that could be restored from the beginning. No, this was something he had to accomplish even if he lost every last one of them.
As Gedenhide appeared a short distance away, he reflexively tried to cast teleportation. The coordinates of the lair were already clearly engraved in his mind. But in the end, he could never complete the casting.
“Ugh!”
Because of the heavy impact that suddenly dug into his lower abdomen, Gedenhide’s body folded into a ㄱ shape. The instant he appeared, something had pierced into his belly as if it had been waiting.