Chapter 13: The Event (2/2)
He survived the poke.
The lich survived the poke.
“How dare you survive the poke!” Vainqueur complained, raising two fingers. “Now I will have to use half my hand to destroy you!”
“Your Majesty, powerful undead are immune to critical hits...” Minion Victor warned, regaining enough strength to speak up normally. “Use your breath!”
“[Magic Up],” the lich rasped, shining with a crimson aura. “[Greater Fire Res—”
Vainqueur just blasted him with a quick fireball, vaporizing him at once.
He instantly regretted it.
The crown!
Congratulations! For taking a powerful lich by surprise and temporarily destroying it before your fans, you have earned a level in [Gladiator]!
+30 HP, +2 STR, +1 SKI, +1 AGI, +1 CHA, +1 LCK!
“Vainqueur, best dragon!” his minions congratulated him. “Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur!”
“Where is the treasure?” Vainqueur asked, once the smoke settled to reveal nothing but dust. “He should have dropped a treasure.”
“That’s because he’s not dead, Your Majesty,” Manling Victor said, as he rose back to his feet.
“Of course he is. He is an undead, he was dead before I killed him.”
“Your Majesty, first, Furibon is a lich. Their souls are held by a container which will allow them to revive within a few days if not destroyed.”
Before Vainqueur could argue further, the lich materialized right back in front of them, powerful sorcery surrounding him. “[Greater Fire Resistance], [Magic Ward], [Stone Ward], [Accelerate], [Greater Evasion].”
”Already?” Victor squinted at the sight. ”Shouldn't it take you days to recover?”
”I have a special Perk which accelerates the process. As for you, Vainqueur, I will teach you why your kind is—” The lich dodged Vainqueur’s attempt to poke him by flying out of the way. “Stop this at onc—” Again, he avoided a poke. “Stop this! [Crimson Barrier].”
A shining sphere of red magical surrounded the lich, blocking Vainqueur’s frustrated attempts at poking him with two fingers. “Better. King Vainqueur, I thought you would be an entertaining victim, but now I cannot wait to make a bag out of your skin.”
“As if,” Vainqueur replied with smug disdain. “A dragon has no weakness!”
“Is that so?” The lich flew to get a direct line of sight of Vainqueur's gold, on the ship's bridge. “Is that your hoard, King Vainqueur?”
No… “Do you not dare throw my hoard in the lava!”
“Throw that wealth in the lava?” The lich chuckled. “Do you take me for an animal, Vainqueur Knightsbane? What kind of wasteful monster would throw such a hard-won hoard into magma?”
Ah. Ah, thank the elder wyrm, that undead was a civilized fellow.
“I have a better idea in mind,” the lich said, raising both hands and calling upon purple sparks of lightning.
“[Transmute Gold to Lead]!”
Before Vainqueur’s mind caught on, his entire hoard turned from beautiful gold to unshiny lead with a bright flash of dark magic.
For a long, agonizing moment, the great wyrm was too shocked to compute the situation, his brain freezing inside his skull.
…
“Boss? King Vainqueur?”
…
“Your Majesty?
…
”Ohoh, I 'lived' for centuries, and I never knew dragons could make that face.”
…
“Minions, turn the ballon away. Let’s get the hell out of here now.”
“But chief—”
“Turn the damn balloon away!”
…
“Well, King Vainqueur, now that I have taken what you value most, why not make a deal? Return the Apple to me at once, and I will change your gold bac—”
Vainqueur’s sight turned bloody red.
Attack Up! Attack Up! ATTACK UP! Fire Power Up!Warning: [Berserk] ailment!
“RAAAAAAARGH!”
Vainqueur instantly blasted a giant fireball at the lich, a projectile big enough that the few manlings who witnessed the attack in the past mistook it for a meteor. “[Teleportation].” The lich blinked out of the way before the fires could destroy him, the projectile hitting the crater’s edge and causing a large span of it to fall into the magma.
The lich reappeared nearby, observing the destruction with ominous silence. ”In hindsight,” he muttered to himself, ”Maybe that was a mistake...”
In the ropes of berserk rage, Vainqueur blasted the entire area, castle and lich included, with fiery death. This time, Furibon was hit directly by a fireball, shattering his crimson shield and sending him flying through one of the castle's wall. One of the smaller towers collapsed on him.
Too angry to think, Vainqueur kept firing at the dungeon, melting the stone and blasting another tower into the magma. Immediately afterward a bright, yellow magical barrier surrounded the castle, shielding it from the dragon's repeated bombardment. The monsters in the magma cowered in fear.
Vainqueur furiously roared to the heavens, and the mountain trembled.