Ch.54The Double Dungeon Is Dangerous (3)

The raid party hunters arrived at the boss room under the tense guidance of flying undead.

Heeheehing!

Kyaaaak!

Guooo.

During their journey, they encountered dungeon monsters, but as if following someone’s orders, the creatures let the hunters pass without attacking.

‘Damn it, this is insane.’

‘What the hell is going on?’

A dungeon boss inviting hunters to its location? No one in the raid party had ever experienced such a thing.

In this abnormal situation, all the hunters could do was maintain their guard and heighten their tension to the maximum.

Kikigik.

Kugugung.

Upon reaching the boss room, the door opened automatically without anyone touching it. The sight instilled an unknown fear in the hunters.

“Welcome to my sanctuary.”

A thick voice echoed through the chilly air.

Heeheehing!

Krrrrrk.

A massive figure sat like a king on an elegant chair, with undead arranged in neat rows and columns around it.

In its hand was a staff emanating extraordinary power, and it wore a robe of unusual design.

The dungeon boss was a lich.

‘A l-lich?’

‘That’s a high-rank monster I’ve only heard about!’

‘…Such terrifying magical power.’

The hunters froze in place before it.

What is a lich? A monster observed only once before, confirmed to be at least upper A-rank level.

In other words, it was an opponent these hunters couldn’t defeat no matter how hard they tried.

“D-did you summon us here?”

Through the fear-stricken hunters, one man stepped forward and spoke.

The lich answered.

“Yes. I called you.”

Then there must be a reason. Looking at the tense, silent hunters, the lich revealed its bone face and grinned.

“I want to make a contract.”

“…A contract?”

“Yes. If you fulfill it, I promise not to harm you.”

This was completely unexpected for the hunters. Feeling a glimmer of hope, they asked about the terms.

“What kind of contract?”

“Simple. Become my subordinates.”

“D-does that mean you’ll turn us into undead?”

The hunters tensed up and raised their weapons.

But the lich smiled again and said:

“No. If that was my intention, I would have killed you already. I mean to make you my subordinates as you are now. Your consciousness will remain intact, of course.”

The situation became even more incomprehensible. The hunter who had stepped forward turned to the raid party, asking everyone’s opinion.

“W-what should we do now?”

“What could he possibly gain by using us as minions?”

“This is suspicious, but what can we do against a lich…”

Amid the confusion, one man stepped forward and called out to the lich.

“…You really won’t harm us?”

“H-hey!”

The surrounding hunters tried to stop him, but the man walked right up to the lich and spoke again.

“I’ll follow your terms. I don’t want to die yet.”

“Good. A wise choice.”

With fear etched on his face, the man turned back to the raid party hunters and said:

“…You all felt it the moment you saw him. No matter what we do, we absolutely cannot win if we fight.”

That was certainly true.

Everyone knew it.

Addressing the confused raid party, the lich once again uttered sweet, tempting words.

“If you become my subordinates, I’ll take responsibility for getting you out of the dungeon.”

Though it made no logical sense, the lich truly seemed to have no intention of harming the hunters.

While everyone was at a loss, the raid leader Yoon Byeongho bit his lip hard and stepped forward.

“So, what do you plan to do after taking us as subordinates and leaving?”

“I have no intention of fighting with you. I just want to quietly live my life…”

“Nonsense.”

Yoon Byeongho cut off the lich’s seemingly gentle words.

“After the Break, you plan to use our lives as shields. Did you think we wouldn’t see through your filthy intentions?”

Then he began to admonish the raid party hunters.

“Everyone, wake up! He plans to keep us alive as hostages. If we let him out, our families and citizens outside will be in danger!”

At those words, the lich tilted its head.

“I don’t understand.”

“What do you mean?”

“Either way, if you defy me, you all die. And regardless, I will leave the dungeon. Nothing changes either way, does it?”

“We may die, but you’ll also be killed by the hunters outside.”

“Tsk tsk tsk. Humans truly are dull creatures.”

At that moment, Yoon Byeongho, who had been secretly gathering magical power, drew his sword like lightning and lunged forward.

Whoosh!

“Toseom!”

Slash!

Kwagagak─!

It was a truly fast and powerful strike. Even the lich seemed unable to react as its head was severed, the skull dropping to the ground.

Boom!

Clatter.

However. Despite its severed neck, the lich slowly rose from its throne.

Grrk.

Gigik.

“If I kill half, the rest will obey.”

Thump.

“Rise.”

Whoosh.

Fsssk.

“Death Knight, Caliburn.”

Fwahak!

Dense death energy filled the surroundings, and overwhelming magical power pressed down on everyone.

The lich, Gordon, who had lived for over 5,000 years, finally began to move.

#

The battle afterward was completely one-sided.

To be honest, it wasn’t even a battle. It was just a unilateral slaughter.

Slash!

Splat─!

The head of raid leader Yoon Byeongho, who had fought at the forefront, flew through the air.

Around him lay the bodies of the Hanul Guild members who had followed him.

“Damn it…”

“T-this doesn’t make any sense…”

The enemy was strong. Extremely so. To the raid hunters who struggled even with a single Durahhan, the Death Knight blocking their path seemed like an insurmountable wall.

“Rise.”

Whoosh.

Fsssk.

Yoon Byeongho and the guild members were resurrected as undead following the lich’s spell.

Seeing them, the raid party completely lost their will to fight.

Thud.

“Urgh.”

“I-it’s over. We’re all going to die.”

And I was desperately racking my brain from behind them.

‘…Acting so high and mighty when you’re barely half a lich.’

In truth, the opponent’s level wasn’t that high. If I were my old self, I would have sneered and crushed him.

But compared to my current state, he was far superior.

The Death Knight was halfway to being a high-level undead, and he showed no signs of fatigue while commanding such forces.

Honestly, he was much stronger than I had expected.

“M-master, what should we do?”

Song Hayeon whispered fearfully.

But no clear solution appeared no matter how many scenarios I considered.

In the midst of this, the lich suddenly looked in our direction and addressed us with interest.

“Come to think of it, there was a promising necromancer.”

The lich pointed at Song Hayeon, who had earlier taken control of the Durahhan and made it her subordinate.

“M-me?”

“Yes. I don’t know where you learned it, but you have useful skills. If you become my subordinate, I’ll give you special treatment.”

“Ah, well…”

“It’s a decent technique, but it has many shortcomings. If you follow me, you can get closer to the true essence of necromancy.”

At those words, I felt a surge of irritation. What is this pathetic fool saying?

“Human knowledge can only take you so far. But I possess the essence of knowledge accumulated over thousands of years.”

His boasting with such mediocre skills was ridiculous, but I couldn’t act rashly. He still didn’t know my identity. I needed to exploit that gap.

I discreetly handed Song Hayeon the medium for Jackson, who had become a Doom Warrior. Then I whispered:

“Y-you summon him.”

“…What am I supposed to do after summoning him?”

“Ugh. Target the Death Knight. If you can subdue him briefly, I have a plan for what comes next.”

Meanwhile, the lich once again made the same offer to the hunters who had lost their will to fight.

“Become my subordinates through a contract. If you do, I’ll spare your lives.”

This time, the reactions were quite divided. Some of the hesitant hunters ran forward and bowed their heads before the lich.

“I-I’ll become your subordinate.”

“…I don’t want to die yet.”

“What are you doing! Have you forgotten what the raid leader said?”

“Then what should we do? We’ll die for nothing if we just stay here!”

Once the first few made their choice, most of the remaining hunters, unable to overcome their fear of death, chose to side with the lich.

Only eleven people remained, including our party.

“Ah shit. This sucks. Damn it! Aren’t you all ashamed of yourselves?”

Kwak Minji, who couldn’t betray me due to our soul contract, shouted with indignation.

But nothing changed. Faced with an absolute numerical disadvantage, I reluctantly made up my mind.

‘…This is the only way.’

My gaze shifted slightly to the mental stabilization ring on my finger, and the soul contained within its gem.