Ch.136Undead King Elder Lich – 4

“What’s with that guy?”

Could it be that he was a woman in his past life? More importantly, I was puzzled why he suddenly appeared in this form instead of his usual skeletal figure wrapped in a cloak and robe.

As I stood there blinking in confusion, the Chairman sent a gentle, almost smiling voice into my mind.

—Think about it. Isn’t the Life Vessel essentially an organ that is the source of life? What would happen if one were to hold it inside their body rather than outside?

“…Are you saying that even an Elder Lich could gain life?”

—Only in appearance, my dear. That body would still be no different from a corpse. It’s not about resurrecting a dead being, but rather packaging a dead being to appear alive. I can’t even guarantee that’s what they truly looked like when alive.

“Meligor…! You traitor who betrayed the demon race and fled to the human world… what brings you here…!”

‘So that’s why the voice remains the same?’

Though the appearance had changed, the voice was the same as when there was nothing but bones. The content of what was said was still just as shameless. If Durahan had heard those words just now, wouldn’t he have gone berserk at such audacity?

—Can’t you see? I’ve come with this child to destroy your Life Vessel. You must have been quite desperate? Judging by how you failed to escape in such an unsightly form. It suits you perfectly.

“Shut your mouth…!”

The Elder Lich raised his orb. The orb glowed with an ominous pitch-black light. Nearby undead began to collectively emit horrifying screams. Thousands of hands burst forth from the already burned ground all at once.

—My, my. You should be careful, demon woman. What if you carelessly use your power and contaminate the Life Vessel you’re carrying? Shouldn’t you behave more modestly?

“I said shut up…!”

His expression twisted grotesquely. The color flowing from the orb grew larger, and undead poured out from within it in droves. Each one was comparable to or even superior to a knight by human standards.

If creatures like these had appeared on the frontlines against humans, it wouldn’t have been strange if humanity had been wiped out long ago, except for the Sword Saints.

—Judging by that reaction, it seems that really is your true form from when you were alive. Use that to provoke him. It should be quite effective.

I never expected that he was actually a female demon, which was quite surprising.

—Since he’s carrying a Life Vessel, he’ll certainly fight to shake us off and escape somehow. Pouring out such an exaggerated number is probably just a distraction. For him, the Life Vessel is worth more than his own life.

“Can we still not use the dimensional gate?”

He used dimensional gates just fine during the previous Academy invasion.

—He could use it, but he can’t because he’d have to leave the arrival coordinates to chance. That’s because I’m interfering. For an undead body, it wouldn’t matter what happens at the arrival point, but as long as he’s carrying a Life Vessel, he absolutely won’t take such a risk, so rest assured.

The Chairman sneered as if making sure the Elder Lich could hear everything.

—That demon woman is a coward.

“What did you just say…!”

—See? He’s already showing his emotions. That’s what it means to possess life.

“Kill them…! Tear those cursed things to pieces and kill them…!”

The Elder Lich, filled with rage, crushed the armrest of the throne as he issued the attack order. Undead numbering easily in the hundreds of thousands charged toward me with roars.

The same was happening in the sky. All kinds of flying undead were approaching, covering one side of the sky in dense numbers. The Chairman spread his wings wide, preparing to take flight.

—I’ll handle the sky. Don’t get hurt, child. Absolutely not.

“Be careful too, Chairman.”

—Hehe. Thank you.

The dragon soared up. The wind pressure from the flapping wings alone caused part of the undead legion charging at me to collapse. Soon after, light and fire began to flash.

What was happening in the sky wasn’t a battle but more like a one-sided massacre. The Chairman slaughtered the undead rushing at him without suffering even a slight wound. He looked down at the Elder Lich.

“Mira Crate…! I shouldn’t have listened to you back then…! Astaroth was a traitor…? Such nonsense…!”

‘Has he been found out?’

According to Elysier, the Elder Lich was the commander who most actively argued that Astaroth should be captured and interrogated.

Either there had been a change of heart, or he seemed to have found evidence that made him think my words were wrong.

“Indeed. I shouldn’t have carelessly revealed the location of the Life Vessel to you either. If I hadn’t, I could have gone in alone, destroyed it, and left without all this trouble. What a waste.”

“You talk well…! If you had entered my dungeon, your mind would have been torn to shreds, leaving you a wreck…!”

“The only thing getting torn would be your Life Vessel.”

As my mana breathing technique was perfected, my body gradually turned blue. My body, no longer needing oxygen, spewed out refined mana.

I flicked my fingers, turning the refined mana into white flames. The undead, which would be a disaster to ordinary humans and quite challenging even for knights, burned away like dry reeds.

Setting the process of converting refined mana to white flames on automatic, I aimed Eternity at him and taunted:

“No matter how I look at you, you seem more suited to be a succubus than an Elder Lich. Why not go ask to be accepted as a subordinate? No, maybe you wouldn’t be popular because your chest is small?”

According to Nika, calling a female demon a succubus is generally considered an insult in most cases. Considering what kind of race succubi are, that’s only natural.

I tried using it, and it seemed the Elder Lich was no exception.

“You dare compare me to those loose women…?”

Black mist erupted from the orb, creating several large hands around me that came crashing down. I swung Eternity to cut one hand into pieces and dodged between them. The hands crushed innocent undead instead of me.

I accelerated by stepping on air and shot forward in one breath. I drew my left hand through the air, shooting lightning, flames, and explosive mana toward the Elder Lich. The magic was blocked by rotting flesh and exploded just in front of it.

I stepped on an axe swung by a Death Knight, crushed its head with my knee, and then kicked its falling back to close the distance further. Not just hands, but tentacles also emerged, persistently targeting me.

—Raindrops Deflection.

The mystery of the magic swordsmanship manifested from Eternity burned and cut through the tentacles, rotten walls, and clutches all at once. Nearby undead were also caught up and dismembered. I briefly touched the ground and surveyed the surroundings.

Death Knights were crowding into the empty space, and despite the amount just purified, new tentacles were sprouting like mushrooms.

I had closed the distance to the Elder Lich considerably, but something felt off.

‘Why isn’t he using magic?’

Even though I was approaching while slaughtering his subordinates, he wasn’t running away, which made sense given the situation. But the fact that he was barely using any magic was a different story.

I had heard early on that, befitting his position as an Elder Lich, he was a very powerful magician even without commanding undead. But now? At most, he had summoned a few hands and tentacles.

‘Is there some kind of scheme?’

At this rate, I would catch him in just a few seconds, but the fact that he wasn’t actively resisting suggested he had other intentions. Just like when I visited the Demon Lord’s castle and found no subordinates.

While my mind was filled with complex thoughts, my body faithfully continued the next movements. I cut, slashed, and burned the undead blocking my way, approaching right up to his face.

The Elder Lich was smiling. I wouldn’t have noticed if he still had his skeletal appearance, but thanks to his female demon form, I could see it.

For a moment, I hesitated. Should I allow myself to be caught in his plan, or was making me hesitate like this part of his plan in the first place? Once doubt begins, one inevitably questions everything.

‘It’s too late anyway.’

If I was going to back out, I should have done so earlier. I steeled my resolve and moved, utilizing body enhancement and Sword Saint acceleration to the extreme. The throne suddenly appeared right before me. So did the Elder Lich.

I grabbed his neck and twisted it. With a cracking sound, the neck bent at an angle it shouldn’t, stretching the skin. I swung my arm and slammed the Elder Lich to the floor. The throne collapsed with a crash.

Just as I was about to thrust Eternity into his head and burn him completely…

“That’s right…”

As the Elder Lich placed his hand on my body, I felt a sensation as if my consciousness was being sucked somewhere.

My vision turned completely white.

“…”

I looked down at my body. Both Eternity and the activated mana breathing technique had disappeared, returning me to my original state. I looked around, but there was nothing.

Only the Elder Lich was there, smiling from a short distance away.

“I thought you were plotting something, so this was it?”

“You noticed yet still fell for it… How stupid…”

“Fall for it? I let you do it. So, why did you bring me here? Want to fight bare-handed?”

I had been trying to draw up mana, but couldn’t feel anything. Fortunately, it seemed he couldn’t use magic either, but with his knowledge of this space, I was at a significant disadvantage.

As I clenched my fist and glared at him, he smiled sinisterly.

“Try if you can… This is a space where only the mind exists… Your mental strength will only weaken…”

‘He’s answering quite well.’

I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, but perhaps because he was confident of victory, he was surprisingly forthcoming with answers.

‘Is it going according to his plan?’

He would have discarded any plan that couldn’t secure victory even after being achieved. I decided to play along and see if there was anything else I could extract.

“Do you know why I told you this… Mira Crate…”

“No, I don’t. So why don’t you tell me a bit more?”

“I needed time… Time to connect your memories… with mine…”

Suddenly, the previously all-white space became colored. The sky seemed to press down, and moldy brick walls approached. The floor was covered in blood. A terrible scent of blood invaded my nostrils.

I found myself in what was clearly a torture chamber. A demon torture chamber at that, evident from the demons hanging upside down throughout the place.

I instinctively touched one of the nearest chains. With a clinking sound, I felt the cold metal on my fingertips. At least it wasn’t an illusion or hallucination.

“Kehehehe…”

The Elder Lich laughing suspiciously was just a bonus.

“You said you connected memories? Since this isn’t in my memory, it must be yours. What is this? From when you had that succubus-like body?”

“We’ll see how long you can keep wagging that impudent tongue…”

As the Elder Lich spoke, intense pain struck various parts of my body. Suddenly, my right leg lost strength, and I staggered to the floor.

At the same time, a terrible scream echoed. It wasn’t my scream. It seemed to be coming from the space itself.

“You seem accustomed to pain… not even screaming once…”

“I’ve had… certain circumstances. Whose memory is this? Yours?”

“The memories of the undead… Also the pain you’ll have to experience millions more times…”

“Ah, I get it now… You’re showing me the memories of those who died and became undead? This space was created for that purpose?”

“Oh… You’ve already deduced that much information… You have very strong mental fortitude for a human…”

He flicked his finger. Whether another memory was flowing in or not, a completely different kind of pain began to pound through my entire body. If the previous one was about being cut and torn, this one was about being burned by fire.

“But you won’t be able to endure forever… Since our minds are connected, even Meligor won’t be able to interfere… Once your mind breaks, I’ll deal with Meligor…”

After finishing his words, the Elder Lich turned and created a random bookshelf. With a sofa placed beside it, it seemed he intended to read while watching me suffer.

I quietly got up.

Despite my right leg feeling like its tendons had been severed due to the phantom pain, I moved forward, limping while keeping my footsteps as quiet as possible. Various pains were still felt throughout my body, but I could at least suppress my voice.

I approached right behind him. Perhaps unable to imagine that I would get up, the Elder Lich was still in the process of selecting a book.

—CRACK!

“Kuh, huk…?!”

“What are you doing?”

I grabbed his head and pulled it back. As his head tilted backward, our eyes met. He was filled with genuine bewilderment, as if he couldn’t understand me at all.

“What… are you…! How…!”

Ignoring him, I pressed his neck with my forearm as we rolled on the floor. With a thud, I ended up sitting on top of him. With his hair grabbed and neck pinned, the Elder Lich kicked his legs in struggle.

“Let… go…! You filthy human…!”

“You don’t actually think I’d let you go, do you?”

I applied force to my forearm. Perhaps because he could only use his own strength, his resistance was ridiculously weak. It felt more like affection or a tantrum rather than resistance or defiance.

“You know, after experiencing it myself, I think this magic is too good to keep to myself…”

I had finished interpreting the process and flow of how memories were transferred. Now, all I needed to do was reverse that process so that my memories would flow into him instead of me.

“I think it would be fair if you also looked into my memories. What do you think?”