Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Fort Polrwin (End)

I was waiting with Sierra for the lump of ice to split.

Beside me, Sierra was clicking her tongue and shaking her head.

I remembered the conversation I had shared with her on the way here.

[ You wish to resurrect the lich...? ]

“I want to cut out the root while I have the chance.”

Sierra had held enormous doubts, but she did not use physical force on me.

I did not mention anything about the complete resurrection.

After listening to the conversation between Buckland and me, Sierra had muttered things like, [ My disciple has finally lost his mind... ]

She had been in that state ever since.

—Crack! Craaack!!

The lump of ice slowly split.

At the same time, Sierra looked at me with serious eyes and opened her mouth.

[ You have not forgotten the oath you made with me, have you? ]

“I will not leave you because of something like this, Master.”

While I was having that conversation with Sierra, the lump of ice split completely, and at its center stood a skeleton.

Soon, blue fire settled into the creature’s empty eye sockets.

—Thud!

When it struck down once with the staff it held, black flames sprang up around it.

The heat emitted by the black flames began melting the chunks of ice.

“...”

The thing began walking, then stopped and looked silently at the sky.

Had it fallen into deep impressions over facing the North again after several decades?

It certainly had no eyes, but it seemed as if it only had them closed.

“Resurrection... Yes, resurrection. The faint trace of demonic energy is most unpleasant!”

Each time its mouth opened, an icy breath poured out.

Soon, it discovered me.

“Did you resurrect me?”

“...”

I silently settled into my stance.

As expected, the jewel visible on its forehead had no cracks and maintained a perfect form.

However, the atmosphere was not one in which I could smile.

If this was the case, the lich’s regeneration had to be considered stronger.

“Hmm... I cannot grasp what situation this is. Ah, there happens to be a corpse over there with some warmth still left. I can listen to its story.”

After saying that, the thing lightly tapped the ground with its staff.

Then Buckland’s corpse, nearby, began raising itself.

His joints moved bizarrely with cracking sounds, and Buckland’s torso rose from its place.

Soon, the torso groped along the ground and found its own head, which had rolled away.

The torso found the head and rammed it into its own neck.

After that grotesque process, the “completed” Buckland coughed blood.

“Cough—!! What is this, what happened...! I was definitely...”

The flustered Buckland’s eyes caught me.

He pointed at me and opened his mouth.

“You... you bastard...!!!”

—Slice.

Buckland’s head, still spewing curses, rose into the air once again.

“Oh dear...”

The lich shook its head in a sorrowful voice.

“I roughly understood the situation, so that is enough. From the looks of it, it does not seem you were the one who resurrected me... Well, even if you had resurrected me, I would have killed you on the spot. I have only just awakened, you see. There are many things I am curious about.”

The lich really was talkative.

Since I remained silent, it continued speaking.

“But why are your eyes covered with bandages? Ahh... I understand. A blind man... A blind swordsman. No, you seem to come from far away, so should I call you a blind swordmaster? You have many distinctive traits, do you not? Fascinating. You are the sort of fellow I would like to add to my army...”

As the lich muttered this, its bony hand rose from below to above.

“My loyal soldiers, who foolishly remained in this cold snowy mountain while waiting for me... now rise.”

Guided by its hand, soldiers wearing armor began digging through the snow and rising from all over the snowy mountain.

The thing was skilled in necromancy.

—Crunch!

—Stab!

Blue light settled into the eyes of the skeleton soldiers who had dug through the snow and raised their bodies from beneath the ground.

The battle had already begun.

This was the first pattern.

Now the lich would raise five elite skeleton soldiers and explain each of their traits one by one.

“The first is a fellow named Algoul. This fellow was the first one I made into a soldier...”

I lightly let its muttering flow past me and swept my fingers along the blade.

Rebellion Against Heaven, Chapter One.

The skeletons had received no particular order, so they were not moving, and their weaknesses were clearly visible.

Soon, I approached the lich and calmly swung my sword five times.

“As for the third...”

The thing did not seem to pay attention to me and continued introducing its soldiers.

Unfortunately, its kind explanation did not continue to the end.

—Craaaack—!!

—Crack—!!

Immediately, the sound of the five elite skeleton soldiers’ bones being torn apart rang out.

If it had at least ordered them to charge me before explaining, the skeletons might have been able to move a single step.

Unfortunately, it did not.

“What is this... Where did you learn such swordsmanship? You even twist the flow of mana... Are you truly a living human, even after doing that...?”

The lich pondered deeply over the sudden situation.

“That is not something I want to hear from a lich.”

Even so, my steps did not stop.

The lich glanced at me, then aimed its staff at me.

“It seems soldiers alone are not enough to face you.”

Soon, a magic circle formed at the tip of its staff.

And, as expected, the lich opened its mouth.

“It is a living curse. A peculiar magic that chases the opponent no matter how they dodge. If it even brushes your skin, your whole body will burn away. Kuhuhu, since you cannot see, dodging may be impossible.”

Then countless black flames burst from the thing’s magic circle and flew toward me.

“The second pattern, is it.”

So far, the pattern matched the lich from the game.

Only, there were far more flames.

Still, I could see the weaknesses of this magic too.

—Fwoosh!

—Flare!

Without stopping my steps, I split apart the flames flying toward me and walked forward.

“You... what are you...?”

Only after I cut down all the black flames in a single stroke did the lich finally grow flustered.

However, the distance between me and the thing had already narrowed enough.

I infused mana into the necklace.

Then light began seeping into the cursed blade “Sierra.”

“...”

Watching this sight, the thing could no longer open its mouth.

It too seemed to have realized what the light pouring from my sword meant.

“Two minutes fifty-seven seconds.”

I counted the necklace’s time limit inwardly and began running.

“I end it within three minutes.”

When the thing swung its staff, sharp and enormous bones rose from the ground following that direction and charged toward me.

I infused mana into my legs and leapt high.

Even while rising into the air, I did not forget to sweep down the blade.

“Foolish creature! How do you intend to dodge in midair—!!”

As if it had been aiming for me to jump, the thing swung its staff, and once again, a massive bone thrust toward me, floating in the air.

“One second.”

—Vwoooom.

Suddenly, my ears felt muffled.

Even the surrounding sounds that should have been heard had slowed.

The bone surging toward me also slowed sharply, seeming as though it no longer moved.

However, my body defied the flow of time and naturally fell under the influence of gravity.

The bone had been aimed at where I had been, so it passed by without touching me.

Then I fell above the thing.

[ Your application is rather good. ]

Sierra’s voice rang in my head.

Then, as I accurately struck downward with the cursed blade held in reverse grip toward the lich below...

...that long one second ended.

—Claaang!!!

However, my sword was blocked by the thing’s invisible barrier.

“What a sly bastard.”

It had already set up a barrier.

It was a cautious one, despite being so talkative.

However, from the moment I activated the “Necklace Containing the Hero’s Protection,” my strike had not been an ordinary physical attack, but one converted to the light attribute, which had good compatibility against its black magic. Because of that, its barrier immediately shattered.

“What kind of nonsense...”

The lich muttered that as it cast another barrier while the first one broke.

Its voice contained bewilderment.

In the middle of that, when I saw the thing snap its fingers, I immediately kicked off the barrier and put distance between it and me.

—Crunch!!

Soon, a spiked lump of iron that had formed near the thing in an instant swallowed its body whole.

“Iron Maiden...”

Originally, it should have been an attack that also dealt damage to the caster, but perhaps because it was a lich, it seemed able to use it without penalty.

Close combat was troublesome enough, but...

...perhaps because it was a lich.

Unlike the skeletons from before, I could not see any weaknesses on the body I had just confirmed up close.

“Two minutes thirty seconds...”

Time continued flowing.

I considered using Chapter One to touch and break the Iron Maiden’s weakness, but I still had time to spare.

—Clank!

After a short while, the Iron Maiden opened, revealing the thing.

“I do not wish to use the power of those damned demons... but to face you, it seems I have no choice...”

With those words, black energy began swirling from the lich’s body.

The evil mana used by demons.

It was demonic energy.

Soon, the thing threw the staff it held onto the snow-covered ground and spread both arms.

Demonic energy began gathering more and more around its palms.

“Since my attacks do not work, did it move straight into its final pattern?”

A terrain collapse would happen soon.

When the thing lowered its raised palms, the ground trembled.

—Rumble!!

The ground began slowly splitting from in front of the thing, then the earth suddenly turned fluid like liquid and rose into the air.

—Craaaaaash!!!

The ground I had been standing on was the same.

“Two minutes ten seconds.”

Having been lifted into the air along with the entire mass of earth in an instant, I steadied myself and began sweeping down the blade.

Then a massive magic circle formed behind the thing visible far below.

Even though the distance was great, because of “Keen Senses,” I could hear its muttering.

“Surge forth, death.”

Just as I finished sweeping down the blade, I immediately activated Chapter Two.

Countless black spheres were pouring from the thing’s magic circle.

Even taking into account that time had slowed, the spheres had considerable speed.

I quickly stepped across the floating masses of earth and dropped downward.

Even while running between the masses of earth and avoiding the spheres, I did not forget to head downward.

“Fifty-eight seconds.”

That was the time still remaining after my feet touched the ground.

I immediately rushed toward the lich and cut into its defenseless body.

The barrier was still protecting its body, but I tried to cleave through the thing together with the barrier’s weakness.

—Craaaack—!!

The barrier cracked, and at the same time, it shattered.

Then “Sierra,” pouring out light, touched the thing’s revealed body.

I could not see a weakness, but with one strike, the thing’s bones shattered.

However, even with time slowed, the “jewel” embedded in its forehead rapidly regenerated the thing’s bones.

It was absurd regeneration.

The lich’s body, struck by my slash, lifted slightly into the air.

I did not stop. I let the sword flow and continued into the next movement.

Countless continuous strikes thrust out toward the thing, now floating in the air.

Naturally, the thing’s body and the thing’s regenerative power could not withstand the chain of attacks.

It was the power of the necklace.

Since it was a protection, one could say it was an inferior version of the Hero’s original power, but it was enough to kill a lich.

At last, when its regenerative power visibly slowed, and I saw its bones split and crumble, I ended Chapter Two.

Immediately, a heavy roar of air struck my ears.

—Boooooom!!!

At the same time, the shock continued, and the lich’s body, violently flung into the air, was thrown and thrust about.

Soon, the bones that had barely maintained their shape fell to the ground, struck it, and shattered into pieces.

—Scatter.

The lich, dropped onto the ground, had only its head and neck remaining.

I slowly approached the lich, which had only its head left.

“Why... when I was the one who attacked... why...?”

The lich had fallen into doubt.

I did not feel like resolving that doubt for it.

“You should give up now. Even if you struggle to maintain your form...”

Originally, even the thing’s head should have been turned to powder by that attack, but it was desperately maintaining its form through the power of the “jewel.”

After hearing my words, the lich laughed hollowly.

“Kuhuhu... You do not know why Aisin froze me, do you?”

“...Why?”

A magic circle was being drawn on the ground where the thing lay, after it uttered those somewhat meaningful words.

I asked back, but in truth, this was information I had already learned while speaking with the old man.

“I offer my body to erase this entire area. Is it not funny? You have eyes, yet cannot see ahead, and I have nothing one could call eyes, yet Polrwin over there lies clearly in my sight. The explosion will use me and the Tear of the Dead embedded in my forehead as fuel, then swallow Polrwin... Kah...! Kahahahaha!!”

The thing looked toward Polrwin and laughed madly.

Self-destruction magic.

Just as the lich said, the jewel embedded in its forehead, the “Tear of the Dead,” was a kind of energy source containing a vast amount of life force.

One could call it the source of power that allowed the thing to exist as a lich.

Just as the lich said, if the Tear of the Dead were used as fuel, an explosion powerful enough to swallow Polrwin would occur.

“There seems to be no way to stop this explosion... Innocent people will die because of you alone. How does that feel?”

Without answering the lich’s mockery, I thrust the cursed blade into the red circle visible on the magic circle.

—Stab.

The magic circle whose weakness had been touched cracked in the middle of forming, then vanished.

Immediately afterward, I calmly leaned my body against a mass of earth rising beside the lich.

Even if it was self-destruction magic, if one wanted to detonate the jewel as well, it would be impossible to weave the magic in an extremely meticulous structure... and because the thing had very little time left, it was impatient.

That meant it was crude magic.

A little time passed, and only then did the lich seem to notice, because its mouth creaked open.

“...What did you do?”

“...What?”

“...”

The lich, realizing that the self-destruction magic had disappeared, was left speechless and could not say a thing.

Soon, the blue light visible in its eyes slowly faded.

In the end, the thing had given up.

The lich was dead.

Sierra slipped closer to me as I leaned against the mass of earth.

Then she stroked my cheek.

[ Though you brought this trouble on yourself... you still worked hard. ]

“I am only a little tired... kgh.”

I was answering Sierra when a little blood spurted from my mouth.

“Did I exceed the time a little earlier?”

In the lich’s head on the ground, the tear-shaped jewel embedded near its forehead entered my sight.

The Tear of the Dead.

Unlike the “Incomplete Tear of the Dead Fragment” I had seen in the game, it maintained a complete state without a single crack.

My thought that it would definitely be intact if the lich underwent a complete resurrection, since that could be considered the source of the thing’s power, had been correct.

“I should collect it before people arrive.”

I bent down slightly and touched the jewel embedded in the thing’s forehead.

The jewel came out easily with a clack.

[ Judging from the energy I feel, it does not seem to be an ordinary jewel... You seem to know what it is. ]

Sierra did not seem to know what the Tear of the Dead was.

That made sense, since it was not an item one could easily see.

The “Tear of the Dead” was a jewel containing an enormous amount of life force.

The astonishing regenerative power the lich had shown was also an effect of this jewel.

Unfortunately, regeneration was an effect applied only to “undead.”

Thankfully, even someone who was not undead could receive another effect.

The effect of the “Incomplete Tear of the Dead Fragment,” which should originally have been received as a reward, was that when health fell below twenty percent, it restored all health once as a one-time item.

Naturally, the effect of the “Tear of the Dead” was an upgraded version of that.

Even if one reached death, just once, one could “revive.”

In the game, saving and loading were possible, so even if one died, it was not true death.

But in a situation like now, where the game had become reality, the story was different.

A so-called “one coin” was far too important to me right now.

All of it was for the sake of reaching a good ending.

The hand gripping the jewel tightened.

Then the snowy mountain, now in chaos from the aftermath of battle, entered my sight.

I thought I had only been able to attempt such a thing because my growth had been fast in the first place.

If I had not reached this level, I probably would not even have considered a complete resurrection.

“Will I need to implant the jewel into my body or make it into an accessory...? Would an accessory be dangerous...?”

The Tear of the Dead was made in a manner similar to bloodstones, so strictly speaking, it should be considered a “dangerous item.”

Why did this lich possess such an item?

That much I could not know.

Whether the lich made it or the demons handed it to him, it was in my hands now.

Perhaps I might have to find the blacksmith “Daidros,” who had made the cursed blade “Sierra” for me.

I immediately tucked the jewel into my clothes and comfortably leaned back against the mass of earth.

Then I checked my status window.

Because I could feel that I had leveled up.

<​Zeto> Lv.33

Skills Owned

-Demon Swordsmanship Lv.16

-Sierra Style: Rebellion Against Heaven (Incomplete) Lv.4 - Effect of [Demon Swordsmanship] currently applied

-Keen Senses Lv.7

-Weakness Detection Lv.MAX - Effect of [Blindfold of Piercing Insight] currently applied

-Acupuncture Lv.3

Remaining Skill Points: 9

Items Equipped

-Blindfold of Piercing Insight [Legendary]

-Bracelet Bearing Wishes [Epic]

-Cursed Blade “Sierra” [Bound]

-Necklace Containing the Hero’s Protection [Epic]

-Curtain of Night [Unique]

I had wondered why so much strength seemed to be circling through my body... It had risen by six levels, from level 27 to 33.

I had suddenly reached a situation where skill points were overflowing.

While I was having that pleasant concern, quite some time seemed to pass.

I heard presences coming from below the snowy mountain.

“This way!”

“What on earth is this mess?”

“The lich! Where did the lich go?!”

Polrwin’s soldiers approached this way while murmuring.

“Ah, right. Buckland...”

Thinking that, I looked at where Buckland had been.

Because the terrain had collapsed, I had wondered whether he might have been blown somewhere, but fortunately, the aftermath of the collapse had narrowly avoided the place where he was.

He was only covered in dust.

Then cleaning up afterward would not be a problem either.

Priscilla was visible among the soldiers as well.

Before the soldiers discovered me, Priscilla saw me first.

“Zeto...?!”

Priscilla called me and hurriedly ran over.

Soon, after approaching me, Priscilla bent at the waist and opened her mouth.

“Why are you here...? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“...I am not hurt anywhere in particular. Sss...”

I answered Priscilla while wiping away the blood that had seeped out.

At that moment, Priscilla confirmed the lich’s head in front of my feet.

Soon, Priscilla scratched her head and let out a sigh.

“Haa... I am going to need a detailed explanation of what happened...”

“About that...”