Ch.45Chapter 45 – King of the Dead (2)

The torches in the columbarium cast shadows on the skeletal face.

Empty eye sockets stare at us.

[So you figured out that I’m a lich.]

It wasn’t the same raspy voice as before.

As if speaking directly into my mind, the voice was clear and distinct.

Everyone in our party seemed to hear it, as they all stared tensely at the lich.

“Did you think we wouldn’t recognize you with that foul stench, lich?”

[My apologies. I do try to maintain cleanliness, believe it or not.]

The lich responded calmly to Aria’s hostile tone.

His manner was like someone who had run into an old neighbor on the street.

Despite crossing his arms, he showed no signs of aggression.

That made it all the more unsettling.

“Why have you come here?”

Ludger spoke quietly, taking a stance.

“I doubt the one called the King of the Dead is just here for a casual visit.”

His intent was clear—one wrong move and he’d lunge forward to cut the lich down.

Despite Ludger’s threatening posture, the lich simply stared back without reaction.

[I already told you.]

The lich spoke.

[I’m simply here to resolve this situation.]

“Don’t be ridiculous. With all these undead and that strange corpse golem around?”

[It wasn’t me.]

The lich replied as if offended, and somewhat troubled.

[I have nothing to do with any of this.]

“How can we believe that? Anyone can claim innocence with just words.”

At my question, the lich placed a hand on his chin.

He seemed deep in thought, a familiar gesture that made me wonder if this was a habitual pose from before he became… whatever he is now.

[You’re asking for evidence, I suppose.]

“That’s right.”

[I have none.]

How frustrating.

I was considering signaling Ludger to attack when the lich raised both hands above his head.

[I surrender.]

That easily?

I stared at the lich in disbelief.

[You all find me highly suspicious, and I have no means to prove my innocence.]

“Right.”

[But I truly came only to resolve this situation. I wish to avoid unnecessary conflict.]

The lich spoke in a serious tone.

[You may not realize it, but this situation must be resolved quickly.]

“Why is that, lich?”

[Because they will get involved.]

The lich lowered his hands and continued.

[The dimensional boundaries are already riddled with holes. And the energy they despise most is emanating from this place.]

“Wait, what…?”

[In summary, it would be best to resolve this before they get involved.]

Slowly, the lich walked toward us.

As he approached, I asked:

“Who exactly are ‘they’?”

[They are…]

The lich sauntered toward us.

He stopped within striking distance of Ludger’s sword, again placing his hand on his chin, clearly demonstrating he meant no harm.

Meanwhile, our clerics remained tense, unsure how to proceed.

[None other than dr—]

The lich, who had been examining each of us in that pose, suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

If he had eyes, they would surely be wide open in shock.

Seemingly flustered, the lich hurriedly stepped forward until he was right in front of me.

“What is it?”

[You are…]

I debated whether to draw my sword and strike him down.

The lich reached out his hand, then hesitated and stopped.

[Like him…?]

“What? Why are you acting like this suddenly?”

The lich was silent.

More precisely, he seemed to have momentarily forgotten how to speak.

[No, how is this possible? Your existence, what exactly are you?]

Bewilderment colored the lich’s voice.

As if he had seen or sensed something impossible, he began backing away.

‘This bastard…’

He’s clearly sensing something about my identity.

I tensed involuntarily, while the lich muttered to himself.

[Impossible. This, this is disrespectful. It’s practically an insult to them, to him from the past… Who would do such a mad thing… Yes, that’s why the dimensional boundaries…]

“Stop talking to yourself and explain or have a proper conversation.”

As he rambled increasingly incomprehensibly, I began to wonder if he was in his right mind.

-“KYAAAAAAAH!!!!”

In the distance, the corpse golem was approaching.

No, corpse “golems.”

“Damn it, this bastard was just stalling for time!”

Aria angrily resumed her battle stance.

The lich also seemed surprised by this and began muttering.

[Ah, those were still around.]

Unlike before, his tone seemed somewhat dazed, but there was no time to dwell on that.

The already cramped columbarium quickly filled with golems.

Aria charged at the golems alone, while Ludger rushed at the lich.

“This bastard, bringing all his minions…”

[A misunderstanding. They’re not mine.]

The lich began defending himself, claiming they weren’t his.

But the timing of the golems’ arrival was too convenient to be a coincidence.

Ludger seemed to have decided he couldn’t trust the lich.

-Whoosh!

Wordlessly, Ludger swung his greatsword.

I saw the lich block it with some kind of wall and retreat backward.

Undeterred, Ludger continued his assault, changing his weapon from sword to spear to axe as he attacked the lich.

As Ludger’s weapons targeted the lich from various angles, the lich seemed to have no choice but to leap backward while creating magical circles in both hands.

He then used these to block the attacks.

[I have no choice.]

Soon, sparks and frost gathered around the lich.

[Take this and cool your head for a moment!]

The lich countered by hurling lightning and chunks of ice at Ludger.

Ludger deflected the lightning in another direction with his weapon, then began knocking away the ice chunks.

His movements were so fast they were difficult to follow.

[You can block that? You’re not even a monster!]

“That’s rich coming from you!”

Ignoring the monster calling a human a monster, I charged at the golems while Christina formed hand seals and followed behind me.

Chaos erupted in an instant.

Fists made of corpses targeted me, I slashed enemies with my sword, and Aria smashed a golem’s head with her hammer.

“Holy Light!”

As light shone forth, a golem burst into flames.

It immediately discarded the burning parts and lunged forward.

In the midst of this, I quickly pulled out the vial I had received that morning.

It was something I hadn’t been able to use before the battle began.

I applied the jelly-like substance to my sword.

“Christina!”

“…Holy Light!”

Understanding my intention, Christina directed golden light toward my sword.

The blade became infused with sacred golden energy.

Using the holy energy imbued in my sword, I closed in on the charging golem.

I lowered my body to evade its attack, then immediately sliced off its arm.

The severed area began burning as the golem started to collapse.

Without waiting to see it fall, I slashed at another golem approaching from behind.

‘I should thank Sera.’

As I cut down enemies left and right, I felt grateful to Sera.

The light was lasting longer than before.

The substance Sera had made was performing excellently.

-“KYAAAAH!”

“Shut up!”

I decapitated a screaming golem and swung my sword at another.

As the sword left a golden trail, the golem along its path caught fire and disintegrated.

Looking to the side, I saw Ludger and the lich still fighting, while Aria was decapitating golems.

The numerous golems were diminishing one by one under my and Aria’s attacks, occasionally caught in the crossfire between Ludger and the lich.

Soon only one golem remained.

“Now for the last one!”

Aria charged forward.

I rushed out as well.

Just as I was about to slash the golem with my sword—

-“KYAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

Something unexpected happened.

The golems’ scream triggered the scattered, burned, and dismembered golem parts to begin reassembling.

Arms and legs emerged from the corpses that had composed the destroyed golems and began crawling to one spot.

They started merging together.

“Damn it all!”

We couldn’t let them complete the fusion. I frantically swung my sword.

Aria also swung her hammer, and Christina cast Holy Light.

But unlike before, the golem continued to merge even as it was being destroyed.

The corpses joined hands, and the golem reconstituted itself.

The merged golems formed a much larger entity than before.

Apparently deciding legs were unnecessary, they formed a massive upper body as they fused into one.

-“KEEEYAAAAAAAH!!!!!”

If earlier it had sounded like a woman’s scream, now it was different.

The golem howled with a more chilling, deeper voice.

Then the golem brought its arm down.

-BOOM!

Dust billowed up.

Due to its larger, heavier body, the golem’s attack cracked the floor.

“Hah.”

The fusion wasn’t just for show.

As it swung its arm again, I quickly jumped up and slashed at its arm with my sword.

However, because it had grown larger, only a portion of it caught fire.

-“KEEEYAAAAH!!!”

It immediately discarded the burning part and attacked again.

“What the—?!”

[Oh, damn.]

Having been focused on their own fight, Ludger and the lich seemed to notice the swinging arm just in time to dodge.

Soon Ludger was seen retreating toward us while keeping the lich in check.

“I didn’t expect it to fuse.”

Aria, who had somehow moved to my and Christina’s side, said as she gripped her hammer again.

“Do you think you can win?”

“That remains to be seen…”

Aria frowned as she spoke.

“In this state, I’m not sure how much damage this hammer can do. It seems like it will just fuse again to minimize damage.”

I quickly checked the vials Sera had given me.

‘Two left.’

I readjusted my grip on the sword.

With Christina’s help, I could still imbue the sword with holy power.

‘But will it be enough?’

That was my concern as I looked at the golem that had grown enormous from the fusion of all remaining golems.

While Christina’s Holy Light-infused sword had been effective, things were different with such a large body.

Unlike regular golems, this larger, thicker body could simply discard damaged parts to endure.

Relying solely on this seemed somewhat risky.

And as if reading my concern, a voice spoke up.

[I have a proposal.]

It was the lich.

He had somehow moved near us and was looking at us.

[Let me help you deal with that thing.]

“What, why should we trust you?”

The lich looked at Ludger in response to his words.

[Didn’t you see that golem attack me too?]

“I saw, but that’s insufficient grounds to trust you.”

“That’s right. We can’t just trust you.”

Perhaps because they were clerics.

As Aria and Ludger expressed their distrust of the lich, I finally spoke up.

“What’s your proposal?”

[Are you willing to listen?]

“Whether I listen or not, what’s the proposal?”

Meanwhile, the golem swung its arm again, and everyone scattered.

I noticed Christina being carried away by Aria.

I found myself running in the same direction as Ludger and the lich.

After a moment of silence, the lich began to speak.

[First of all, that golem cannot be defeated with just a sword and holy power.]

The lich spoke slowly.

[And the force controlling this golem and causing this undead situation can be felt below us.]

“So?”

[I’ll provide the firepower you lack to deal with that golem. We can’t go below until we clear it anyway.]

The lich waved his hand once, and fiery arrows appeared and flew toward the golem.

Having no legs, the golem couldn’t move and had to take the arrows.

-“KEEEYAAAAH!!”

Of course, it minimized damage by shedding parts of its body, but it clearly took more damage than from my sword strikes.

[One of you should go down below to eliminate the source, or at least stall for time. We can’t afford to lose track of the culprit.]

“What about traps below?”

[Since I’m not the culprit, I wouldn’t know.]

Ludger looked at the lich with displeasure.

Although he had been adamant about not trusting the lich earlier, it seemed difficult to escape this situation without the lich’s help.

“Damn it, we’ll see.”

Ludger cursed lightly and then looked at me.

“I’m sorry, but could you go down first?”

“What about you?”

“Considering both this lich and that golem, Aria and I should both stay here.”

Ludger glared at the golem with displeasure.

Meanwhile, Aria approached with Christina tucked under her arm.

“If this lich helps, we can quickly deal with the golem and follow you down.”

[Finally trusting me a little?]

“Shut up. I’m only saying this because we’re in no position to be picky.”

When Ludger snapped at him, the lich was quiet for a moment before waving his arm.

The golem’s swinging arm was seen bouncing off a transparent barrier that had suddenly appeared.

“I won’t let you get away with any tricks, lich.”

[I won’t, so ease up on the threats.]

Ludger and the lich faced the golem together.

Aria also stood beside them and looked at me.

“We’ll deal with this quickly and follow you.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Then I threw the holy jelly vials to Ludger and Aria.

“What’s this?”

“Holy water. Sera made it to keep holy power on weapons longer.”

“That girl, huh.”

Ludger smiled slightly and applied the contents to his sword.

Aria also applied it to her hammer, tossed the empty vial aside, and placed her hand on her hammer.

Soon her hammer was surrounded by holy power.

“Benefactor, I too…”

“Christina, please help these people for now.”

I stood up and addressed Christina, who looked anxious.

I smiled slightly, though she might not have seen it clearly.

“I’ll go down first.”

“We’ll follow quickly!”

She also stood up and began forming hand seals.

Meanwhile, the lich, who seemed ready first, extended his hand.

Fire arrows, ice arrows, and lightning bolts flew toward the golem, striking its body, while Ludger and Aria, their weapons imbued with holy power, attacked the creature.

Behind them, I also charged forward, and as if determined not to let me escape, a massive arm targeted me.

“Holy Light!”

Christina’s Holy Light hit the golem’s arm, burning its flesh.

I leaped over the arm, which had momentarily lost momentum from the burning, and slashed it with my sword that still carried the golden energy.

-BOOM!

-“KEEEYAAH?!!”

Part of the monster’s arm burned and fell to the ground, raising dust.

It seemed to have disassembled its body to minimize damage.

Still, it couldn’t attack me immediately.

In that gap, I headed straight for the lower level.

“Please be careful!!!”

Only Christina’s voice could be heard behind me.

+

‘What an interesting friend.’

The energy he sensed, that soul.

Thinking about what a fascinating being he was, the lich rose into the air.

With each wave of his hand, flames, lightning, and ice appeared to assault the golem.

If this were outdoors, he could have used stronger magic to defeat it, but unfortunately, they were inside a columbarium. Since he had no intention of collapsing everything, he couldn’t use his most powerful spells.

Still, Ludger and Aria, who had been wary of him until just now, began using his magic to push back the golem.

At this rate, defeating the golem was clearly just a matter of time.

‘Someone’s coming.’

Friend or foe?

Either way, they were rapidly approaching.

Whatever they were, the lich decided to focus on the golem for now and ignore them.

Once they dealt with the golem, it wouldn’t matter who arrived.

‘It’s been so long, though.’

Recalling memories that suddenly surfaced in a corner of his mind, the lich spoke to himself.

‘To think I’d see a soul from another world like his again.’

As he hurled a massive fireball at the enemy, the lich was remembering a past he could never forget.