Chapter 254: Elder Lich Subjugation Battle (5)

Chapter 254: Elder Lich
Subjugation Battle (5)

“Di-did
you take care of it!”

I
was slightly startled by Jeremy’s mumbling and looked at him, no,
her.

‘She
saw Nuer’s binding magic and Ellie’s flare magic?’

Their
magic flew toward Elder Lich at a speed that the worthless trash
Jeremy in my memories wouldn’t even have noticed.

Indeed,
level 44.

Thanks
to the blessing of increased experience gained from losing her 2cm
clit dick, looking at just the simple level, she was higher than me.
She must have gone through a lot of growth too.

Having
just been rescued, she spoke with overflowing hope, but that monster
isn’t such an easy opponent.

“Not
yet.”

No
sooner had my words ended than the magical aftershock subsided, and
the Elder Lich moved.

As
the thick dust cleared, the lord of the 19th floor sitting on the
tombstone throne revealed himself.

“N-not
even a scratch…”

As
Jeremy said, Elder Lich’s bone fragments weren’t even singed, nor did
his skeletal body burn to ash.

Even
the high-quality robe covering his grotesque skeletal body was
intact.

Black,
sticky magical energy rose from the skeleton’s eyes and heart.

Just
before he was hit by Nuer and Ellie’s magic, I saw him barely
managing to create a barrier with that magical energy to counter it.

Indeed,
it was skill befitting a monster who had made it to the 19th floor
and built up his forces by controlling explorers like his slaves.
Along with this admiration, thoughts like ‘for a cunning monster
bastard, he’s fucking tough’ coexisted in my mind.

But
such thoughts didn’t last long.

-Kwaaang!

Opposite
from where I was, on the right side of the swamp cemetery cluster.

Along
with the thunderous sound caused by my party members and Amel’s
party, the noise of battle could be heard.

We
had to make choices and focus.

Even
though we came to the 19th floor as quickly as possible, because the
expedition members were captured and turned into undead, there
appeared to be roughly hundreds of undead near the mountain of
corpses, and we couldn’t fight all those undead.

The
answer derived from this was a feint operation.

“Kuaak!
Shit! There are so fucking many of these bastards!!!”

Jubeel
cursed from the rear while wielding her sword wrapped in sword energy
and holy power, displaying her quick sword technique.

“Flare!
One more ready!”

“Your
magic should be used when the undead are clustered! I’ll cluster the
undead first, so keep it stocked!”

Ellie
and Nuer, protected in the center of the party, each chanted magic
while repeatedly gathering and annihilating the undead.

“Denshi!
Two slipped through!”

“Kut,
already handled them! Next!”

Rubia
blocked the wave of undead with her shield at the front, and Denshi
cut down undead targeting the magicians who broke through Rubia with
holy power-wrapped daggers while occasionally shooting crossbow bolts
to assist everyone’s battle from range.

Even
though there were occasionally undead mixed in that handled magi, the
holy power engraved on party members’ equipment with Hope’s help made
even monsters handling magi no different from other undead.

Not
just my party, but Amel’s party continued to fight hard too.

“Pururururuk!”

“I
shall send you all to Earth God’s side!!! Go and regret being born
and repent for your sins!!!”

The
horse beastman Kentarina swung a huge crescent blade while wearing
undead armor made by Amel Drexia, and Paladin Beer riding on
Kentarina’s saddle also wielded holy sword energy while cutting down
enemies.

“Tteurtteu
tteurutta!”

“Hi-hiek!
Don’t come! Wind Cutter!”

The
slime Aldente neutralized enemies by enveloping them, and Fusilini,
though trembling, shot down enemies one by one with wind magic.

“Pa-Paladin
Beer! The Paladin of the Eden Temple branch!”

“Is
that Dark Elf Nuer? Why are her clothes like that…?”

“Is
that important right now?! The temple and adventurer union came to
rescue us!!”

“Since
the union has stepped up, even if it was someone behind Elder Lich,
they won’t be able to touch us!”

“We-we’re
saved! Finally saved!”

The
expressions of the expedition members, who until just now seemed to
be only waiting for their death day, brightened rapidly.

But
the situation wasn’t so optimistic.

“Jeremy.”

“Ah,
yes!”

After
I broke the collars chained to Jeremy’s arms and legs with my axe,
the quick-witted one took care of the other expedition members while
breaking their handcuffs.

“We’ll
fight too!”

“Those
bastards. I’ll kill them as many times as the number of whip marks
they carved into my body!”

Even
with their exhausted bodies, they burned with intense hostility and
anger, each grabbing their stolen equipment while burning with
fighting spirit.

As
expected of explorers who made it to the 19th floor, their mental
fortitude was quite good. Their hostility quickly recovered and was
directed at the undead they had raised.

Since
there was no reason to refuse help, I nodded and gave Jeremy a look.
It meant to control them as she saw fit.

And,
I also shared words that would give strength.

“Anya.
She was resurrected as a Dullahan.”

“……!”

“So
don’t die.”

“…Becoming
an undead isn’t a complete resurrection. Until we completely revive
Anya, we can’t die!”

Jeremy
grinned and jumped into the battlefield with the expedition members
who still had strength to fight.

But
the number of undead showed no signs of decreasing at all.

Headless
siren undead, crocodile undead with severed tails, poison jellyfish
undead crawling while writhing their burst tentacles, bone wolf
undead forcibly raised with bone fragments – all sorts of numerous
monsters came flooding in like zombie hordes.

“Now
it’s your turn, Balkan.”

Amel
Drexia, who was following behind to support the expedition members by
raising her undead, spoke to me.

“Can
you do it?”

She
asked anxiously.

Originally,
I planned to face Elder Lich and the undead together with party
members, but the situation was more urgent than expected.

No
matter how superhuman adventurers are, against that much quantity,
unless you have immortal-like stamina, there’s no answer.

The
victory needs to be settled quickly.

So
how can we achieve victory?

I
answered her words in a calm voice.

“I
have to manage somehow.”

Amel
Drexia, the necromancer, guaranteed that if I cut down Elder Lich,
those countless undead would also lose their souls and disappear.

So
while my party members risk their lives buying time, I cut off Elder
Lich’s neck.

Superior
holy power vouched for by Serif, the saint of the Earth Mother cult,
and one who can handle sword energy to enhance that power.

Only
I can cut down Elder Lich.

Taking
a deep breath, I looked up at Elder Lich before me.

Still
noble but seemingly very angry, Elder Lich looked down at me while
spewing black magi in streams from his throne.

Facing
him, I instinctively felt something.

[It’s
a monster with the magi of Sloth.]

I
could tell without hearing Bunny’s words.

The
chimera monster I saw in the 16th floor relic storage had the same
magi as that one wafted from Elder Lich, and now I could feel it too.

This
Elder Lich had less magi than the chimera monster, but had power that
was qualitatively more complete.

Moreover,
unlike the chimera monster that acted on instinct like a beast, clear
intelligence could be glimpsed in the Elder Lich before my eyes.

‘Can
I kill him?’

I
struck down the doubt that suddenly rose in my chest with my axe and
buried it down in the abyss below.

What’s
needed now isn’t self-doubt but certainty.

Only
intense certainty was needed – that I would surely achieve victory
and behead him.

Every
time I saw the black magi that Elder Lich leaked, the blessing of
radiance that had become part of me by now vibrated intensely.

Feeling
a thrilling sensation similar to tension, or perhaps ecstasy, I
gripped my axe.

-Kiiiiiing!

As
the blessing of radiance and sword energy instantly wrapped around
the extra-large axe, it scattered sharp killing intent in all
directions.

-Srururuk.

Instead
of wailing and thrashing about obscenely like other monsters, the
mouthless Elder Lich reached his hand toward me with a noble hand
gesture.

At
the same time, thick magi spewed from all directions covered the
surroundings like fog.

Having
established his domain with magi, the Elder Lich began the first
attack.

-Kwak!
Kwaduk!!!

Hands
and tentacles extended from below the swamp.

Siren
undead and jellyfish undead reached out their arms and poisonous
tentacles to grab my ankles.

-Seogek!!!

The
moment Elder Lich reached out his hand, my sharp perception had
already detected the surprise attack.

After
lightly chopping down the two undead with my axe, I rushed at the
Elder Lich.

The
distance was closed in an instant, and I swung my axe wrapped in
radiant light.

-Kuduududududuk!

An
intense resistance appeared at the edge of the axe blade.

The
magi that the Elder Lich scattered in the air blocked the advance of
my axe blade as if it had physical force.

-Kiiiiiing!

Gritting
my teeth, I drew up more of the blessing of radiance.

As
my breathing became rough, the axe blade that had seemed frozen in
the air until just now gradually began to advance forward.

Noticing
the anomaly, Elder Lich widened the gap again while simultaneously
beginning to move the undead that were facing my party members to
pull them toward me.

This
cheap and sneaky bastard.

Cursing,
I pulled out my artifact axe.

“Enlargement.”

With
a small chant, the enlarged artifact hand axe transformed into an
extra-large axe comparable in size to Bunny.

Squeezing
the dragon’s heart blessing, I drew up the magic power pooled in my
heart even deeper.

As
I pumped up the well containing refined magic power, the sword energy
wrapped around the twin axes greedily absorbed the magic power and
began to increase in size.

Focusing
on that, the undead had already reached before me.

A
troll undead riding a bone wolf undead.

I
swung my axe vertically at that troll undead wearing crude magi
armor.

-Seogek!

The
troll undead cut in half along with the bone wolf was bisected at
once.

Behind
the split body separating with sticky blood and mucus stretching like
legs, countless hordes of undead could be seen, along with Elder Lich
preparing a chant while gathering magi behind them.

“Haha.”

A
laugh was heard from somewhere.

Along
with the sense of crisis recognizing that things were fucked, a voice
tinged with strange ecstasy.

While
hearing that familiar voice, I swung my axe horizontally again.

-Jjeok!
Seogek!! Jjeojjeok!!!

Each
time I swung the axe in my right hand horizontally, vertically, and
diagonally, the magic power of cold cut, froze, and shattered the
surroundings repeatedly.

Along
with thin resistance, a heavy sensation of cutting flesh and muscle
was felt at my fingertips with each swing, making my breathing
quicken and head hot.

Ah.
It’s been a while since I felt this sensation.

The
sensation of falling into selflessness, purely cutting down only my
enemies.

My
head became lighter with each swing of the axe and the reward was
certain.

As
my level started rising bit by bit, I continued the precarious
balance game while investing all the stats that followed in body
reinforcement.

Then
at that moment.

-Puuuuuk!!

Along
with a chilling sound, strength instantly drained from my body and
only my abdomen felt hot.

In
the extremely heightened concentration, I felt it without seeing.
Something had pierced through my armor.

It
was the tentacle of a poison jellyfish wrapped in magi like sword
energy.

-Wagrajak!

Immediately
opening the mouth hole of my helmet, I poured medicine and recovery
potion bottles from my waist and crushed them with my teeth.

There
was no time to suck the bottles elegantly like sucking nipples.

Along
with sharp glass shredding the inside of my mouth, thick blood scent
numbed my taste and smell.

Due
to the adrenaline already filling my head, I couldn’t feel the pain.
Without leisure to see the recovery, I moved my body again.

After
embedding its poison tentacle in my abs along with the armor, I made
eye contact with the poison jellyfish undead that was just
struggling, unable to pull out again.

-Seogek!

Thanks
to eating the antidote despite being hit by the poison tentacle, my
arm could move well enough to swing the axe.

While
keeping my eyes fixed on the enemies, I ate another potion.

The
recovery power given by the potion didn’t just apply to injuries. As
stamina was forcibly raised, it granted me untiring strength.

After
emptying two potion bottles in succession, my vision gradually turned
red.

Feeling
minor side effects, I jumped into enemy lines again to approach Elder
Lich.

I
delete unnecessary information one by one since the ability to
perceive the vast battlefield isn’t needed.

What
I need is the shortest path to cut off Elder Lich’s neck.

I
cut off the necks of the undead blocking that path forward.
Occasionally undead with explorers’ bodies approached too, but the
axe didn’t stop.

There
was no time to feel sorry, and I couldn’t stop at all.

Even
rough breathing and heartbeat disappear without a trace.

Swing
the axe countless times, and cut down countless enemies.

How
many dozens, hundreds of times had I swung the axe? At last Elder
Lich’s figure appeared.

Beyond
my reddened vision, Elder Lich who had completed a palm-sized sphere
above his left hand of only bones looked at me.

I
felt it instinctively.

If
I touch that sphere into which the Elder Lich had poured all his
magi, I won’t be able to endure it as I am now.

My
magic power had already hit bottom and I can’t create magic armor
strong enough to block that—

-Kwaduk!

That
thought was cut off right after seeing the bolt that appeared while
destroying Elder Lich’s left arm.

In
this battlefield right now, there’s only one person who could shoot a
crossbow bolt.

“Master!!!
Now!!!”

The
Elder Lich with his skull-like face showing confusion twisted his
body along with the sphere.

It
seemed like a final struggle, but it was already too late.

-Kwadudududududuk!

Because
my axe was already cutting off his neck.

The
Elder Lich’s head cut off along with his robe flew through the air.

The
black magi dwelling in Elder Lich’s eyes was swallowed by the light
of radiance.