Chapter 252: Elder Lich Subjugation Battle (3)

Chapter 252: Elder Lich
Subjugation Battle (3)

“Missing
persons?”

At
my questioning look, Amel Drexia explained the situation.

“I
told you before that black magicians went on an expedition to the
19th floor.”

“Yes.”

I
heard about this when Amel Drexia took my condom full of semen,
saying she would give it to a talented junior.

The
19th floor, which had been rumored to house the miracle of
resurrection since ancient times, was nothing short of a dream place
for black magicians.

To
those who had all experienced losing someone precious, the word
resurrection held a value that couldn’t be exchanged for anything
else.

That’s
why the black magic faction periodically sets out on expeditions to
the 19th floor to search every corner of it.

Throughout
countless expeditions, all places in the 19th floor had been
explored, resulting in the most detailed map among all floors of the
labyrinth.

Even
though everyone now felt that there was no such thing as a miracle of
resurrection, people didn’t let go of that thread-like hope.

So
the black magicians set out on another expedition this time too, and
that was just a month ago.

“But
they’re more than ten days late from their expected return date, and
there’s no contact through the one communication artifact they have.”

In
the dangerous labyrinth, there could only be one reason for
communication to be cut off.

“Something
must have happened. And we can’t ignore the rumors about an Elder
Lich appearing on the 19th floor.”

“So,
you want help to rescue those people?”

“Similar,
but I don’t think explorers who’ve been out of contact in the
labyrinth for over ten days are alive. I just want to collect their
bodies. As a fellow practitioner of black magic from the same
faction, we should at least give them a funeral.”

It
sounded strange for a necromancer to collect bodies, but it wasn’t
entirely wrong.

Those
who go on expeditions to the 19th floor are upper-middle rank among
intermediate explorers.

What
necromancer could ignore such attractive corpses?

“Alright.
Body collection. I’ll help.”

“Of
course, you probably wouldn’t accept it easily since you have your
own path to follow… huh?”

“I
said I’ll help. But we have our conditions too.”

I
looked at Amel Drexia’s party.

“Please
join us in hunting the Elder Lich.”

A
horse beastman warrior, an immortal slime tanker, a magician, a
necromancer, a temple paladin, and a priest, it was a party with such
good balance that it’s surprising how they gathered such a
combination.

They
show little signs of fatigue despite reaching the 18th floor, making
them quite an attractive force.

If
we could bring them in as allies, they would surely serve as an
excellent breakwater against the undead controlled by the Elder Lich.

“I
wondered why you were here, so that’s why?”

Amel
Drexia’s eyepatch sparkled as she looked at the hidden party members
while saying “you.”

Seemingly
having used some kind of detection magic, I gestured to Nuer, who was
hiding, that it was okay to come out and answered.

“Yes.
If you refuse, there’s nothing we can do.”

Amel
Drexia showed a slightly troubled expression.

Though
collecting bodies from who knows where in the swampy 19th floor would
be difficult, she seemed hesitant about whether they could handle an
Elder Lich.

“Puruk.
Amel. If it’s an Elder Lich, isn’t it an undead monster? If we do it
right, couldn’t you make their undead your own?”

“Unless
the Elder Lich is near death, even I would find it difficult to steal
control of the undead…”

“Pururuk!
Still, I think it’s a challenge worth trying. If they’re undead
created by that Elder Lich, getting lucky and collecting even two
would make targeting the lower floors possible. Their party’s
strength looks considerable too, this is rather an opportunity for
us.”

“…”

Amel
Drexia’s worry deepened at the words of Kentarina, the horse beastman
carrying her on its back.

“Alright.
We’ll help too. But we get to collect the Elder Lich’s undead.”

However
her answer that followed was one of acceptance.

I
smiled at the joining of reliable reinforcements and offered my hand.

“Good.
We don’t have a necromancer anyway. But can you help with our matter
first? I think I might have a way to help with your situation.”

“Huh?
How? We don’t even know the exact location yet, so we’ll have to go
to the 19th floor to find out…”

Amel
grabbed my hand with a slightly tense face and tilted her head.

“Among
the missing members, there’s a woman named Jeremy, right?”

“Ah,
yes. That one who seemed like a woman but not quite… Come to think
of it, we talked about that one with you before too. Anyway, why?”

At
Amel Drexia’s questioning words, I took out a cloth bundle that
Denshi had been carrying in his backpack.

-Whoosh!

As
soon as I spread the bundle, Amel narrowed her eyes at the head that
clicked and spewed blue ghost fire.

“Dullahan?”

“It’s
someone who turned into a Dullahan a few days ago. And I suspect
Jeremy raised the corpse.”

At
those words, Amel Drexia’s eyes widened.

“That’s
impossible, undead can’t be maintained unless they’re collected right
after their master dies…plus the distance…”

The
answer this phenomenon points to, which seems impossible in her eyes,
is only one.

“Still,
it might be evidence that the expedition team is alive.”

-Click.
Click.

Dullahan
Anya’s head clicked and pointed somewhere.

Perhaps
where Anya’s head is pointing, we might find the missing expedition
members.

***

Regardless
of whether the expedition team was alive or dead, since we agreed to
handle our business first, the Elder Lich hunt took priority.

Our
party headed toward the descent portal while analyzing each other.

“Thank
you so much, Mr. Balkan. To spend ten gold coins for me…”

Meanwhile,
Hope approached me.

He
was a male priest who had become a wreck after being raped by a back
alley turf clan.

He
seemed to be talking about the money I contributed when I heard that
Fusilini and Aldente were seeking unicorn tears to save him.

“Don’t
take it too much to heart. If you’re really grateful, just make sure
to cast a recovery miracle later.”

“Yes!
Absolutely!”

After
Hope, who nodded vigorously saying he would definitely save me even
if I was in mortal danger, Aldente and Fusilini came next.

“Turu-tu
para-papa!”

“Yes.
I’m glad to see you too. But how did you manage to get unicorn
tears?”

“We
got lucky. We heard some were on sale and scraped together every coin
we had. Without the gold coins you gave us, we absolutely couldn’t
have saved Hope. Thank you. Really…”

I
waved my hand and helped Fusilini up as she bowed deeply in
gratitude.

“Are
you Mr. Balkan?”

The
last to approach was the paladin of the Earth Mother Goddess Order.

“Thank
you for saving Priest Hope.”

[Lv.40
Beer]

[Current
blessings and curses Beer possesses: 4]

The
paladin who didn’t even reveal her name briefly thanked me for saving
Hope and then awkwardly lingered by Hope’s side.

“That’s
Beer. She’s a quiet person. She said he fell in love at first sight
when she saw Hope attempting suicide by hanging so she immediately
formed a party contract too. Thanks to her, Hope got proper mental
care.”

Fusilini
whispered softly to the ear part of my helmet.

“…She’s
mentally sound, right?”

“…Her
tastes are a bit unusual.”

Even
with some minor flaws, a level 40 paladin would be right below Nate
Elin, Serif’s escort, and I felt momentarily envious of them for
obtaining such combat power at a bargain price.

But
since my party members weren’t inferior anywhere either, I decided
not to be jealous.

After
assessing each other’s capabilities and establishing some trust, we
focused back on exploring the labyrinth.

There
were six from my party and six from Amel Drexia’s party.

Even
if it was the 18th floor, it couldn’t stop the advance of twelve
upper-middle rank intermediate explorers.

In
fact, there weren’t many monsters blocking our path either.

“Is
the 18th floor usually this scarce in monsters?”

“No.
Usually there are plenty of crocodiles ambushing from under the swamp
and poisonous jellyfish, and quite a few flying monsters too…”

Amel
Drexia shook her head and expressed doubt at my words.

Apparently
we weren’t the only ones who felt uncomfortable about the lack of
monsters.

Aldente
and her other party members also showed questioning expressions, but
no one knew the reason.

We
finally reached the edge of the 18th floor without finding an answer,
and crossed the descent portal without major incident.

And
so we arrived at the 19th floor.

The
floor was still hot and humid, the tropical trees grew even more
densely, and the swamp that had only gripped our ankles now rose to
our shins, making movement even more difficult.

And
the presence of monsters that was barely felt on the 18th floor
entered our detection range.

“Master.
Up ahead.”

I
nodded to Denshi, who detected it with her sharp hearing and spoke
quietly.

-Swish.

As
I raised my arm, my party members and Amel Drexia’s party immediately
stopped and began preparing for battle by drawing their weapons.

It
was good we had agreed on signals beforehand. Fortunately, since Amel
had handed over command authority to me, her party members also
followed my judgment.

Luckily,
our location was full of waist-high weeds, making it suitable for
hiding.

Given
the strength of our group, there wasn’t much tension, but we
absolutely couldn’t let our guard down.

With
cautious eyes, I watched the monster gradually approaching us and
blankly opened my mouth.

“…What
is that?”

Amel
Drexia behind me muttered in a surprised voice but rather, that’s
what I wanted to ask. What on earth was that thing?

I
swallowed my surprise and observed the monster before my eyes.

A
snake’s tail smoothly swimming through the sticky swamp and above it,
visible purple-skinned genitals and torso similar to a human female.

It
was clearly a Lamia, a monster that mainly appears in swamp or lake
environment floors and catches humans by constraining them with its
snake tail or seducing them to eat them but that Lamia’s shoulders
and above were horribly torn off as if smashed by a blunt weapon.

It
had no neck and no head.

Even
though it shouldn’t be able to see ahead or feel any sensation, the
Lamia kept moving somewhere.

No
matter how tenacious a monster’s vitality might be, with such a fatal
wound it should have immediately spat out its soul stone and died.

However,
the Lamia was moving and acting normally even with a body that should
have met death long ago, as if some force was forcibly leading her.

“…undead…”

Amel
Drexia barely muttered.

“Someone
has turned the dead Lamia into an undead and is controlling it.”

Who
could that someone be?

The
Elder Lich? Or another necromancer? I don’t know. Right now, just
focusing on the Lamia before us was overwhelming enough.

The
Lamia undead was holding other monster corpses in both hands.

They
were clearly the corpses of crocodiles and poisonous jellyfish,
monsters that appeared more frequently in the 18th floor than the
19th.

The
Lamia undead, unable to sense our presence due to its lack of ears
and eyes, headed somewhere.

And
that place would, with high probability, be where the one controlling
this undead was located.

“…That
direction. The swamp graveyard.”

Denshi,
who had spread out the map, informed us that the location the Lamia
undead was heading towards was exactly where the Elder Lich was.

If
so, what we needed to do was decided.

“Let’s
track it.”

Following
the enemy’s puppet to where the prey would be gathered was our job.

***

Following
the Lamia undead, we arrived at a settlement.

Tombstones
torn from the swamp were set up like a fence around it, and undead
with monster bodies were guarding the perimeter like sentries.

In
the center of the settlement protected by undead guards was a
mountain of monsters.

Not
just Lamias but Wyverns, poisonous jellyfish, crocodiles, bone
jaguars, acid trolls, and various other monsters from nearby floors,
and even explorers.

The
Lamia undead we had followed threw the monster corpses it had brought
onto the mountain of monsters, then left again somewhere.

And
there weren’t just one or two undead bringing monster or explorer
corpses. We counted over ten with our eyes alone.

On
top of the mountain of monsters emanating a disgusting rotting smell,
a giant tombstone was placed like a chair.

And
on the chair sat an Elder Lich, a skeleton-shaped being emanating
such unpleasant magical energy it gave goosebumps, like a monarch
ruling over the settlement.

And
below such an Elder Lich, black magicians were lined up with shackles
on their necks and legs like slaves, raising monsters from the
mountain of corpses.

Amel
Drexia held her breath upon confirming their faces. They were clearly
the missing expedition members.

Among
the expedition members, all with haggard appearances and terrible
guilt and deep fear etched on their faces…

We
could spot one woman who alone hadn’t despaired, with a familiar face
that seemed to be sharpening the blade of revenge.

[Lv.44
Jeremy]

[Current
blessings and curses Jeremy possesses: 3]

-Click!
Click-click-click!!!

The
Dullahan in my hand began to vibrate violently while spewing blue
ghost fire.

I
felt strangely connected in heart with Click Anya.

Even
if temporary, I couldn’t just stand by watching an old companion
being mocked by mere monster rabble.

-Shing!!

The
axe drawn with clear blue blade energy fit perfectly in my hand.