Ch.73Immortal Mage

Standing before the ancient ruins, the undead mage, the Lich, held a long staff adorned with a skull and a crystal orb.

I couldn’t tell what power or value these items possessed, but since they were wielded by a top-tier undead, they certainly weren’t ordinary objects. Considering the enemy’s nature as a mage, allowing them to attack first would be far too risky.

Seti seemed to instinctively sense this as well, rushing forward to engage the Lich before anyone could give tactical instructions.

“Hyaaah!”

*CLANG!*

A full-force thrusting attack imbued with earth-attribute enhancement magic.

The strike, powerful enough to send even a rhinoceros flying, was blocked by a spherical barrier that appeared around the Lich’s body.

I hadn’t expected to defeat it easily, but seeing how effortlessly it blocked that attack was disheartening.

*BANG!*

*RAT-TAT-TAT!*

*BANG!*

“Flame Lance!”

Magic bullets from rifles, revolvers, and single-shot pistols, along with a flame spear with powerful penetration, hammered against the Lich’s barrier, but again, the enemy took no damage.

After withstanding each of our attacks, the Lich extended the staff in its right hand forward as if asking “Is that all?” and assumed an offensive stance.

“~~~~”

An incomprehensible incantation with eerie pronunciation that conveyed nothing except its malevolence.

Perhaps it wasn’t an incantation but words like “I’ll destroy you” or “Die,” but as soon as it finished speaking, the skull at the end of the staff opened its mouth wide, and a crimson fireball began swirling inside.

“Here it comes! Everyone be careful!”

The fireball, launched right after Seti leaped away to create distance, passed through where Seti had been standing and flew toward Mina.

At that moment, my danger detection skill sounded an alarm.

A strong warning that the fireball passing by my side wouldn’t end with just injuring Mina.

That fireball would—

“It’s going to explode! Scatter!”

*BOOM!*

Everyone dispersed upon hearing my urgent shout, and even Ancestor jumped away from the impact point just before the fireball collided with the ground and exploded with a tremendous noise.

Though its usage and appearance differed, its essence was identical to Phyllis’s fireball—an “exploding ball of fire.”

Despite the loud noise, the explosion radius was only about 2-3 meters in diameter.

However, watching it swirl upward like a pillar of flame, I couldn’t think it was any weaker than Phyllis’s magic.

“Look ahead! Here comes another one!”

“What?!”

At Mina’s urgent cry, I looked toward the Lich, who continued firing fireballs while holding its staff forward.

This was on an incomparable level to Phyllis, who needed several minutes of interval after using one shot. Even Jessica couldn’t fire attack magic at such a rate.

*BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!*

“Waaahh~”

“Keep moving! If you stop, you’ll get hit directly!”

“Ugh…! To think it can use attack magic of this level consecutively!”

The barrage of explosion magic flying every second could only be described as pure terror, but fortunately, compared to Phyllis’s fireballs, these moved much slower.

If one observed carefully and moved quickly, dodging was possible. With the reflexes of a beastfolk, it would even be possible to aim for a counterattack in between.

Not disappointing that expectation, Seti zigzagged through the explosion magic and charged in, targeting the Lich’s staff.

*CLANG!*

The widely swung spear blade was blocked by the pale barrier just like before, but it succeeded in making the Lich withdraw its staff.

The Lich, apparently judging Seti to be the greatest threat after breaking through the magical barrage to counterattack, raised the crystal orb in its left hand and once again uttered incomprehensible, unpleasant sounds.

“~~~!!”

“Huh…?”

The moment I noticed something like sparkling particles of light appearing around Seti’s body, the Lich’s magic struck.

*CRASH!!*

“KYAAAH!!”

“Seti?!”

A bolt of lightning struck Seti directly from the sky, and the next moment, she collapsed limply like a marionette with cut strings.

“You bastard!”

*RAT-TAT-TAT!*

After firing the three magic bullets in my magazine, I quickly reloaded while checking Seti’s condition.

Seeing her fingertips and cat ears twitching, she wasn’t dead, but lying defenseless right in front of the enemy was dangerous.

I needed to at least drag her away so Jessica could heal her. As I was about to rush toward the Lich, it aimed its skull staff again, preparing to fire another fireball.

“Damn, at this rate…!”

“Lightning Bolt {Accelerated Thunder Bullet}!!”

Just as the skull staff opened its mouth again, a dazzling white light flew in with Phyllis’s voice.

The white lightning that precisely pierced the skull at the end of the staff seemed about to strike the Lich’s body, but unfortunately, it too was blocked by the spherical barrier and dispersed around it.

However, that lethal attack didn’t simply go to waste.

The skull that had been spewing intense heat rolled at the Lich’s feet, and only a charred stick remained in the Lich’s hand.

“Nice shot, Phyllis!”

“Hurry! Get Seti while we have the chance!”

Although we couldn’t damage the Lich, we succeeded in disrupting its explosion attack.

If destroying that staff could significantly affect the Lich’s ability to use magic, it would work to our advantage in the battle ahead.

That Lightning Bolt was truly a turning point.

But before pressing our advantage, we needed to rescue Seti first.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

I fired my reloaded revolver one shot at a time while rushing through the darkness.

The Lich, seemingly confused by the destruction of its staff, maintained a defensive posture without attempting to use other magic.

“Diamond Dust!”

While I reached Seti, holstered my revolver, and hoisted her up, Jessica sent consecutive Diamond Dusts, creating flowers of ice on the Lich’s barrier.

After blocking all four Diamond Dusts, the Lich threw down what remained of its staff and began to create a long ice spear in the air to launch at us, but before it could, a silhouette leaped toward the Lich, swinging a weapon.

“Bayonet Phantasm {Blade of Illusion}!”

*SWOOSH!*

The person engaging the Lich in close combat was none other than Phyllis.

A blade of light extending from beneath the rifle barrel with exposed red mana lines cut the ice spear in half, and immediately after adjusting her grip on the rifle, Phyllis thrust the white light blade toward the Lich’s chest.

*CLANG!*

Although the bayonet thrust was blocked by the barrier and did no damage to the Lich, Phyllis executed her bayonet techniques with disciplined posture, drawing the Lich’s attention.

She thrust, swung, lifted, and brought down the rifle firmly gripped with both hands.

Though lacking Seti’s intensity, her precise movements were indeed worthy of her title as captain of the Guardian Unit.

Thanks to Phyllis buying us time, we were able to retreat with Seti to a safe distance.

“Jessica, take Ancestor and withdraw temporarily to heal Seti. Ancestor, follow Jessica’s instructions.”

“Got it. I’ll be back soon.”

“Neigh~”

Jessica mounted Ancestor, holding Seti with one arm and carrying Seti’s spear on her back, then disappeared into the darkness of the night.

“~~~~!!”

The Lich, which had seemed to be on the defensive, extended the crystal orb in its left hand toward Phyllis.

It was obvious that the lightning magic that had felled Seti with one blow would now strike down on Phyllis’s head.

But Phyllis calmly corrected her posture, and as sparkling light appeared around her body, she leaped backward, with lightning striking the spot where she had been standing just a moment before.

“Eh~! She dodged the lightning!?”

“There’s a slight delay before the lightning strikes. If you know about it, dodging isn’t difficult. Seti won’t fall for it twice either.”

“Whew, I thought you were just a sniper, but you’re also skilled in close combat?”

“To be honest, it’s quite challenging. Bayonet Phantasm is a spell meant to surprise enemies who get too close, not designed for prolonged close combat. But unless someone applies pressure at close range, we can’t win a magical battle against this opponent.”

“That’s certainly true…”

Although Phyllis’s bayonet techniques and my revolver continued to pressure the Lich, we still hadn’t managed to inflict a single point of damage on its main body.

Meanwhile, a moment’s carelessness on our part could result in a literal bolt from the blue and instant retirement.

No, we couldn’t even be sure what other secret weapons it might possess beyond the three types of magic it had shown so far.

‘Unless we somehow deal with that barrier, we won’t be able to turn the tide even when Jessica and Seti return to the front line. We need to find a way…’

Just as I was barely suppressing my growing impatience and starting to reload, the Lich’s eyes flashed brightly, and the situation suddenly changed.

A few steps away from where the Lich stood, the ground split open, and a large skeletal arm emerged.

The skeleton slowly rising from the darkness was nearly twice the size of the ones we had encountered before.

“Holy Shit…”

The battle against the immortal mage, the Lich.

The second act of this desperate fight was about to begin.