Chapter 216 (1/2)
Act 9
“You’re scared by a lone human?!”
Stomp, craaack-
A foot made of nothing more than bones stomped down, causing the ground below it to crack and split apart. At the same time, a vast amount of magical power spread out within the large underground void.
Several Lichs in the surroundings faltered, while a few others managed to hold their ground.
“You’ve seen that he’s not a normal human, haven’t you?”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s still just a human.”
A Lich with an inverted cross engraved in its forehead glared with its empty eye sockets. Yet another Lich with the same inverted cross was staring back at it.
“Not every human is the same. There is a definite need to be cautious.”
“Isn’t the combat strength we possess enough to easily surpass a kingdom’s army? You’re all a bunch of cowards.”
It was exactly as the Lich had said.
There were several dozens of Lichs currently gathered in the underground void. What’s more, four apostle-rank Lichs like itself were among the group, as well.
With a force of this size, swallowing a kingdom whole wouldn’t be a difficult task.
If dozens of Lichs got serious and earnestly infiltrated a kingdom, then it wouldn’t be a difficult task to take over the seats of the high-ranking nobles one by one and bring the nation down from within.
“No matter how powerful he is, at the end of the day, he’s just a single human being. More importantly, a living creature can never defeat the undead like us.”
“Billip, you were this arrogant back when you were still alive. That’s why you lost your life.”
Those two Lichs were apostle-ranks. They knew each other better than anyone. They had been friends even back when they were both still alive.
As such, they bickered often and frequently raised their voices at each other, like right now. And they also evolved alongside each other, as well.
“Ramu, you’ve always been a coward. Always far too preoccupied with running away and hiding somewhere.”
“That’s right, I used to run away and hide in order to survive. That’s why I know the truth. Now is the time to hide. As we do not know who our enemy is, we have no reason to fight him.”
“Run like a bunch of rats? Because you’re scared of one human bastard?”
“Whatever the case may be, that bastard cannot enter here. Is there a need to fight unnecessarily, then?”
“Even then…!”
Shatter-!
A loud commotion cut into the two Lichs’ conversation. Billip and Ramu shifted looked away. The noise had come from the entrance of the underground void.
<< It can’t be? >>
A warning bell chimed loudly inside Ramu’s head.
The fact that the noise could be heard even in here meant that the intruding human had managed to come very close.
Breaking past dozens upon dozens of barriers?
<< That’s impossible. >>
The magic circles installed around the void were designed to automatically regenerate the thick protective barriers. Even if the human had the ability to shatter one barrier, it’d simply regenerate back to normal in an instant unless he had the necessary power to break through every single one of them at once.
“Ramu.”
Billip’s voice, raucous and loud only until a second before, was much heavier now.
“It seems that matters will not go as you wish.”
Step, step-
Soft footsteps could be heard approaching the void—accompanied by the high concentration of magical energy densely permeating the inside of the void.
“…I know,” said Ramu with a nod of its head. At the same time, it issued orders to other Lichs in the vicinity. “Everyone, spread out. And prepare the most powerful magic you can cast.”
The ‘regular’ Lichs nodded at the new commands.
There were a total of four apostle-ranked Lichs. They slowly walked toward the lone human entering the underground void—Su-hyeun.
“And what brings you here, human? Did you lose your way?”
Ramu’s voice prompted Su-hyeun to stop walking. He took a look around him. The seemingly-empty underground void was filled with countless coffins strewn about liberally.
<< Coffins, corpses, and unknown magic circles. >>
The short-fused Billip saw Su-hyeun’s eyes shift around and loudly shouted, “Did you not hear the question?!”
“Billip.” Ramu realized that Billip was about to launch a magic attack in agitation, so it raised its bony hand to stop its comrade. “Don’t get agitated.”
“Why are you stopping me? If we’re going to fight anyway, why…”
“Look behind the human first,” Ramu spoke with a smaller voice and pointed behind Su-hyeun. Only then did Billip notice the unfolding situation there. And right away, it also felt the exact same emotion as the other apostle-ranked Lichs.
“That, that’s…”
That emotion would be pure shock, then instinctive fear.
On the passageway Su-hyeun had walked past, the magic circles’ effects were activating to regenerate the shattered barriers.
<< He didn’t disarm the magic circles before entering here?! >>
After seeing Su-hyeun reach this far, Billip naturally believed that the human had somehow disarmed the magic circles and that’s how he managed to reach the underground void.
It wouldn’t be impossible for an excellent sorcerer to analyze the principle behind the magic circles and then disarm them, after all.
Not only that, but all of the magic circles installed here were crafted with a similar basic principle. Meaning, if the human was able to disarm one, then he should also be able to disarm the rest, as well.
But then…
<< If he really managed to destroy them all… >>
For the first time after becoming a Lich, Billip felt death creeping ever so closer.
Within this pervading silence, Su-hyeun finished scanning the interior of the underground void. Then…
“So, that’s the center of it all.”
He murmured to no one in particular.
Right at that moment…
Ramu, readying its magic, loudly yelled, “Kill him!”
Piiick, piiii-eeek-
Chwa-rurururuk-
The magical powers of all the Lichs present focused on one spot, and black chains and ropes flew at Su-heyun. Of course, dozens of different types of magic attacks also rained down on him simultaneously, as well.
Grip, squeeze-
Chwa-rururu-
Su-hyeun grabbed the black chains rising out from the ground with both hands, then yanked them all the way out by their roots before swinging them around.
Clang, claaaang-
All the fired magic spells collided against the chains and either got deflected away or were extinguished outright. The Lichs were flustered by how the chains were yanked out from the ground and hurriedly readied their next batch of magic spells.