Chapter 253: Elder Lich Subjugation Battle (4)

Chapter 253: Elder Lich
Subjugation Battle (4)

Jeremy
thought blankly.

‘How
many nights have I stayed up?’

He
couldn’t remember getting proper sleep in the past few days.

Not
just him, but the other expedition members beside him were the same.

“Grrrr!”

-Slash!!
Slash!

“Ughh…!”

In
the moment he let his guard down, he rolled on the ground from the
intense heat and pain felt from behind.

It
was a sensation he had felt every day without fail for the past few
days, so he could tell who was behind it.

The
undead Acidic Troll.

The
Acidic Troll, which evolved from poison-bearing trolls in the
swamplands, was a savage monster with a massive muscular body like an
orc, and on top of that, it was a powerful revenant enhanced by the
magic wielded by the Elder Lich.

-Slash!
Slash!

Every
time the muscular arms of the undead Acidic Troll swung, the sound of
flesh tearing mixed with the crack of a whip rang out.

With
each swing of the rapidly wielded whip that appeared and disappeared,
terrible pain rose from his back.

Though
one might think he’d become numb to the pain after being beaten to
death for days, the sensation of pain never became familiar.

It
just hurt terribly.

“Ugh,
s-stop…”

With
arms, legs, and neck all bound, all he could do was utter words
begging for mercy.

It
was laughable.

A
human being whipped by an undead, and bowing his head in cowardice
asking it to stop beating him but not a single person here could
laugh.

It
wasn’t a situation to laugh at, and no one had the energy to laugh
either.

“Gr,
urgh…!”

The
undead Acidic Troll grabbed Jeremy’s hair as he lay fallen from the
whipping, lifted him up, and made crying sounds while pointing at the
mountain of corpses.

Jeremy
roughly understood the meaning of that cry.

‘Raise
all the corpses of monsters and explorers piled as high as a
mountain. If not, you’ll be whipped again.’

“……”

“……”

Though
it was a crude threat, no one resisted those words.

By
now, the expedition members’ faces showed no will to escape, only
deep despair and guilt.

It
wasn’t the undead Acidic Troll before them that they feared. The same
went for the other undead guarding this area.

Even
in their worst condition, they were explorers who had reached the
19th floor, and if they were prepared to die, they could escape from
this hell.

That
is, if it were under normal circumstances.

Jeremy
felt an enormously unpleasant presence emanating from behind his
companions, it was the master of the undead Acidic Troll.

A
being sitting majestically on a gravestone placed like a throne,
looking down at the ground below.

A
monster emanating an overwhelming presence as if announcing itself as
the ruler of this area, no, this floor.

“Elder
Lich…”

Someone
muttered that name in a voice drenched in fear.

A
skeletal monster Lich that wielded necromancy, and among them, an
individual possessing exceptional strength.

Meeting
this unique individual that scattered streams of magi all around,
distinguishing itself even from other Elder Liches, was the starting
point of all calamity.

Their
team, preparing to leave the 19th floor after completing their
expedition as usual, suddenly encountered two beings.

—Black
magicians? Perfect timing. We can use these ones too.

The
woman in the white gown said that while casually patting the Elder
Lich’s shoulder, and the Elder Lich bowed its head to the woman.

Just
as they were getting goosebumps at the sight of a human and monster
appearing like master and servant, the expedition members were
subdued by the undead controlled by the Elder Lich.

The
Undead Acidic Troll, one of the undead imbued with the Elder Lich’s
magi, cunningly beheaded the priest first.

Having
lost their most effective means of resistance, the expedition team
was instantly brought to their knees before the Elder Lich.

Even
then, the expedition team’s will to resist remained. After all,
explorers were beings who faced countless hardships.

—Sigh.
Those bastards from the Explorer Union… no, because of that bastard
who destroyed my lab, what trouble this is. You need to cause
absolute chaos until I retrieve my research materials from the lower
floors.

But
whenever they recalled the white-gowned woman who sighed and gave
orders to the Elder Lich before leaving, they felt intense discomfort
and fear.

The
sight of her commanding that powerful Elder Lich like a mere servant.

The
despair that even if they somehow escaped from the Elder Lich’s
grasp, an equally or more powerful being would reach for them.

‘Can’t
win, absolutely, absolutely can’t win…’

‘What
if they just cut our throats if we resist carelessly, are you sure
that undead monster won’t kill us and turn us into undead? Really?’

Most
of the expedition members were black magicians and necromancers.

They
knew what it meant to be unable to truly die, to have their dead
bodies forcibly raised and toyed with by mere monsters.

In
the end, they succumbed to that fear.

To
preserve their lives, they abandoned even their human dignity and
used the power they had worked so hard to build to follow the
monster’s orders.

Judging
by the white-gowned woman’s words to cause chaos, it was obvious how
the undead they were creating would be used.

The
actions they took to preserve their lives would take the lives of
other explorers.

The
Elder Lich seized control of the undead created by the expedition
members and used them as it pleased to create the “chaos”
ordered by the white-gowned woman.

It
killed nearby monsters and explorers to raise them as undead,
expanding its forces further.

Even
after those forces filled the swamp graveyard enough to be called a
colony, the Elder Lich did not stop and desired to control more
undead.

“Grrrk.”

The
Undead Acidic Troll pulled Jeremy’s hair and jerked its chin toward
the mountain of corpses. The meaning was to quickly create undead.

Considering
that all undead in this area were being controlled to follow the
Elder Lich’s will, this was essentially the Elder Lich’s will.

“Eek…”

“Qu-quickly.
Squeeze out the magic…”

“No,
I want to stop now…please…”

Even
while uttering words mixed with despair, the expedition members tried
necromancy while wringing out their magic power that was already
consumed to its limit.

But
after days of overwork, their magic vessels had become empty like
dried-up wells.

What
more could be done with a dry well that yields no water no matter how
much you try to draw from it?

“……”

Jeremy,
glancing at the struggling expedition members, blankly stared at the
mountain of corpses while still having his hair grabbed by the undead
troll.

Jeremy
had already attempted escape once. More precisely, he had used magic
with intense desire.

Necromancy
attempted by squeezing out all his magic power.

Using
up all the materials he had saved to revive Anya, he cast necromancy
while thinking of Anya who he should be protecting.

It
was an uncertain gamble with unknown success or failure. Even now, he
doesn’t know the result.

But
why?

From
a little while ago, he kept getting the intuition that the necromancy
had succeeded because he felt as if dead Anya was somewhere nearby.

“Grrrrrk!”

The
Undead Acidic Troll roared harshly at seeing Jeremy grinning without
even attempting to use necromancy.

Monsters
don’t consider human circumstances. They just think it’s defiance and
raise their whip again.

-Slash!
Slash!!

Even
though the fiercely falling whip struck his back, Jeremy didn’t even
flinch.

Strangely,
the whipping that had been terribly painful until just moments ago
didn’t hurt now.

It
was strange that while his senses seemed much sharper than before,
pain felt duller.

The
meaningless smile on Jeremy’s lips grew deeper at that bizarre
sensation.

“Grrrk!
Grrrrrk!”

The
troll revenant understood this as mockery against itself, and by
extension, against the Elder Lich.

What
was the reason for keeping them alive like this? It was to use them
like slaves to create more undead.

But
the human before it seemed to have given up on that. Otherwise, he
wouldn’t be showing such a meaningless smile.

A
broken human has no more use.

Srrrrng—!

The
Undead Acidic Troll put down its whip and drew the sword at its
waist.

The
curved blade with a cold edge, taken from the expedition’s swordsman,
showed its presence in the monster’s hand.

“Grrrk.”

The
Undead Acidic Troll growled briefly like an executioner judging a
prisoner.

As
if asking if he had any last words, Jeremy blankly lowered his head.

‘Am
I going to die now too?’

Like
Anya whom he had loved desperately.

As
death approached, along with Anya, he suddenly thought of one man.

Brother
Balkan, who had stopped him when he was about to give up on life
after Anya’s death.

Though
their relationship was brief, he was truly a brother because he had
saved his life and showed him which direction to go.

He
had run forward with just one goal that man had reminded him of, to
revive Anya…But that too would end today.

Swoosh—

As
the blade of judgment was raised, its shadow fell over Jeremy’s head.

Jeremy
tightly closed his eyes at seeing the shadow of the quickly falling
blade.

‘Sorry.
Anya. I’m sorry. Brother—’

-Slash!!!

A
heavy sound of flesh being cut rang in his ears.

……

……

“…Huh?”

Jeremy,
who had thought it was the sound of his head falling off, opened his
eyes in confusion at the suddenly quiet surroundings and his still
clear consciousness.

-Thud.
Drip drip.

He
saw red blood falling on his shoulder belatedly. Soon after, a
stinging pain came.

The
Undead Acidic Troll’s acidic blood was falling drop by drop on his
shoulder.

The
confusion grew stronger. What exactly was this situation?

As
he tried to raise his head in bewilderment, something beside him
collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Jeremy’s
eyes took in what had fallen to the ground.

It
was a massive purple muscular body bleeding red blood.

In
the Undead Acidic Troll’s neck was an axe emanating dazzling light.

“Gr,
rk…”

In
the eyes of the Acidic Troll, whose neck was more than half torn off,
were etched confusion, doubt, and deep fear.

Perhaps
in a struggle to survive, black magic energy flowed from the troll’s
neck and pushed against the axe.

But
the massive axe, as tall as a well-built person, began to hungrily
devour the troll’s magic energy and neck as if they were delicious
food.

It
wasn’t a mistake. The axe blade really was opening up and eating the
troll.

-Clank.
Clank.

Then
came heavy footsteps walking on ice.

The
undead, gravestones, and swampland in the trajectory where the axe
had flown from were all frozen.

The
massive figure wearing dragon scale armor looked around at the crowd
frozen by the sudden intruder’s appearance, then approached the
Undead Acidic Troll.

Swoosh—

After
naturally cutting off the Undead Acidic Troll’s neck and pulling out
the axe, he rested it on his shoulder and looked down at Jeremy while
speaking.

“Why
do you keep causing trouble in the labyrinth?”

Though
there was incredulity mixed in his voice, Jeremy smiled brightly upon
hearing that voice.

How
could he forget that voice?

“Brotheeeeer!”

Balkan
smirked at that intense reaction and raised his fist high into the
sky.

-Boom!!!!

Taking
that sign as a signal flare, massive magical chains and a sun-like
heat ray struck the Elder Lich directly.