Volume 2 - CH 17

Chapter 17 – I Tried To Defeat The Elder Lich

The Elder Lich was located in the deepest part of this labyrinth, in other words, on the fourth level.

The battle would be fought after descending the staircase in front of us. However, there was still a small matter of concern.

The Elder Lich was a type of undead, so naturally, it must have an unlimited regenerative capacity.

It seemed to be quite strong, and there was the possibility that even Holy Lightning, the highest level purification magic of light, may not work.

What about a forced purification process using Yggdrasil branches?

However, this had only been used for defeating the skeleton soldier.

Will it really work on the Elder Lich?

[Full Assist]‘s answer to my question was as follows.

A forced purification process is prepared for each type of undead.

To execute the forced purification process for the Elder Lich, an estimated 60 seconds of construction time will be required.

It takes sixty seconds? That’s a bit too long, considering that we will be in the middle of a battle.

…When I thought that, there is more info from [Full Assist].

According to it, by performing [Appraisal] against the Elder Lich or by attacking it with Holy Lightning, you can shorten the construction time of the forced purification process twice in total.

That’s a good thing to hear.

Then, let’s make a strategy based on that.

After a brief strategy meeting, we decided to go down the stairs. The further we went, the cooler the air became.

It’s eerie…

As we reached the bottom of the stairs, I said,

“It’s about time. We’re going to stick to the plan.”

“Yes, leave it to me.”

“I’ll do my best…!”

“Take care, everyone!”

Surara will stay here for now.

I’ve asked him to stand guard in case of reinforcements from the skeleton soldiers coming from behind.

I exchanged glances with Iris and Lily. The three of us gave each other a small nod and ran down the stairs.

We arrived on the fourth floor.

It was a small chapel surrounded by rugged rock faces.

There was a large altar in the back, and a mysterious magic circle was painted on the floor in red paint. It was glowing faintly, so it might have been in the middle of some kind of ritual.

In the center of the magic circle stood a skeleton in dark-colored vestments ── the Elder Lich.

It looked up to the sky with its arms outstretched wide and its body turned up. It looked as if it was trying to summon something.

If this were a game, there would be a non-skippable cutscene or a conversation with the boss, but this was reality and time does not stop.

You have to be the first to win, and the element of surprise is always a good thing.

“Lily!”

“──Holy Lightning!”

As part of the strategy, I had Lily start chanting on the way down the stairs.

We know that Elder Lich was on the fourth floor, so there was no need to go through the trouble of chanting after the battle had begun. Just get it done first.

Lily’s tin cane shone with a silvery-white light.

The Elder Lich stopped moving for a moment as if dismayed by the sudden activation of magic but quickly came to its senses, jumped back, and mumbled something in a rapid voice.

It was in a language that should have been incomprehensible to humans, but the [Full Assist] effect translated it, and the meaning poured into my brain.

“Darkness, become the thunderbolt that corrupts all that shines ── Dark Lightning.”

A jet-black bolt of lightning shoots out from Elder Lich’s right hand.

However, Lily’s Holy Lightning, which had been activated earlier, reached the opponent first.

A flash of silvery-white struck the Elder Lich’s entire body.

“Gaaaahhhh!”

A scream echoed through the chapel.

The Elder Lich staggered and fell to the ground. However, it did not seem to be a fatal wound, and Elder Lich was still there.

In a way, this was to be expected.

Immediately afterward, a black bolt of lightning approached us.

“Iris!

“Leave it to me!”

Iris had already prepared her Dragon God Shield.

The granted effect《Dragon God Barrier EX》was activated.

A wall of light appeared to envelop us, repelling the black lightning. Then, a few seconds later, I heard a voice in my mind.

Data analysis of the use of the light magic “Holy Lightning” on Elder Lich has been completed.

The time required to build the forced purification process is reduced to twenty-four seconds.

The original time required was about sixty seconds, so the time required has been reduced to less than half.

This is a big help.

Then, let’s give it one more push.

I activate [Appraisal].

Elder Lich: The highest rank of undead created from flesh and blood of the great calamity “The Emptiness Gluttonous Dragon.” Summoned by the Ritual of the Immortal King. He is a priest of darkness who worships the Gluttonous Dragon and performs the “Gluttonous Ritual.”

An undead created from a calamity?

If so, this certainly explains its strength.

The description included ominous phrases such as “great calamity” and “gluttonous ritual,” but let’s leave that for later. Defeating the Elder Lich is our top priority right now.

The execution of the appraisal further compressed the time to build the process to less than 10 seconds.

We are very close.

Meanwhile, the Elder Lich had already regained its position. A reddish-black aura rose from its entire body.

“Oooooohh! O gluttonous dragon! Give me strength!”

The next moment, crack crack crack… the entire chapel began to shake.

“Kou! This is not good!”

“I feel a tremendous evil…!”

Iris and Lily shouted at the same time. The two had a look of impatience on their faces.

The Elder Lich was now more vicious than ever.

…If this continues, something irreversible may happen.

Three seconds left to complete the analysis.

I held up the Yggdrasil branch.

With that, Iris knew what to do next.

The《Dragon God Barrier EX》was released, and the wall of light quickly disappeared.

“Let’s go!”

I kicked the ground and started running.

I instantly activated《God Speed Blessing EX》and approached Elder Lich with a single breath.

Just at that moment, I heard the voice of [Full Assist].

A forced purification process against the undead name “Elder Lich” was constructed.

Now.

“Haaaaaaaaahhh!”

I put all my strength into it and slammed the Yggdrasil branch into the Elder Lich.

A flash of green bursts out. A desperate cry echoed through the chapel.

“Guuuuuuuoooo!”

As expected, the Elder Lich’s body turned into silky particles and melted into the light, although it did not die instantly like the skeleton soldier did.

Eventually, it disappeared completely, leaving only its dark-colored vestments behind.

The subjugation is complete.

I would like to think that all is now… safely resolved.

* * *

“…Phew.”

As I was taking a breath after the battle, I heard an inorganic voice.

With the defeat of the Elder Lich, the curse of the Black Death has been lifted.

It seemed that Count Maillard’s curse had also been lifted.

That was honestly gratifying.

I am so glad that Surier did not become a dead city.

Furthermore, the voice in my brain tells me, “Your level has reached 99 with this acquisition of experience.”

The Elder Lich was quite a formidable foe, and it seems that I received a large amount of experience because of it.

My original level was 95, so I had gained four levels at once.

Would this be the end of it? Or will I hit the 100th level?

Frankly speaking, I was quite curious.

As I was thinking about this, Iris and Lily approached me.

“The plan went well, didn’t it?”

“Kou-san, that was amazing.”

“It was thanks to the cooperation of the two of you. Thank you.”

I held up my right hand and made a gut pose. Then Iris and Lily also raised their right hand in the same way. The three of us chuckled together, feeling somewhat amused.

Then, as if sensing that the battle was over, Surara comes down the stairs.

“Master-san, good work! Iris-oneesan and Lily-oneechan too, thanks for the good work!”

“Thanks for keeping an eye on things, too, Surara. Are there any enemies coming?”

“No, there was no problem!”

So, the skeleton soldiers must have been wiped out.

“Ara…?”

Iris suddenly raised her voice in wonder.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just thinking; the Elder Lich probably used this underground facility as a stronghold.”

“Perhaps it is.”

“How did it get in and out of the fourth floor?”

“…Hmm.”

It is certainly a mystery if you ask me.

I think it might have been using some kind of spatial teleportation magic, but it’s also possible that the Elder Lich, like the rest of us, was trying to conquer the labyrinth on the first floor and the traps on the second floor.

The Elder Lich was getting lost in the labyrinth.

The Elder Lich walked stealthily so as not to step on the tiles where the ceiling falls down.

The Elder Lich ran as fast as it could to avoid being burned by the magic lasers.

It’s a little funny to imagine the picture.

Putting the joke aside, speaking of Elder Lich, there was something worrisome written in the description of the [Appraisal].

──It is a dark priest who worships the “Gluttonous Dragon” and performs the Gluttonous Ritual.

When we stepped into this fourth floor, it seemed as if the Elder Lich was performing some kind of ritual.

Perhaps it was the Gluttonous Ritual.

Looking at the magic circle on the floor, it had somehow lost its light. Could this be interpreted as the ritual being interrupted…?

It worries me.

As I thought that, [Full Assist] started up and suggested something like this.

Would you like to analyze the magic circle?

To start the analysis, please touch the magic circle.

Of course, the answer is “yes.”

I have a bad feeling about this, and I should perform the analysis.

I walked up to the magic circle and got down on one knee on the ground.

“Oops…”

I touched the magic circle with the fingertip of my right hand.

The silver light spread out and enveloped the magic circle.

“…It’s beautiful.”

Iris let out a few words unintentionally.

“It’s kind of warm.”

“What are you doing, Kou-san?”

“Analyzing the magic circle. The Elder Lich was doing some kind of ritual here.”

As I answered Lily’s words, Surara, who was dancing beside her, suddenly stopped moving.

“I can’t let Master-san work alone! I’ll do something too!”

What was he going to do?

Surara looked around, and then he shouted, “Ah!” and headed for the altar at the back of the chapel.

“Master-san! It looks like I can access the facility’s system from the altar! Let me see if I can’t rewrite the ownership! Pipipi!”

Does that mean he’s going to take over the facility?

Surara is quite multifunctional, isn’t he?

Perhaps I should say that as expected of a magical creature born in an ancient civilization.

Then, in about 30 seconds, the analysis of the magic circle was completed.

The analysis results and the accompanying supplementary information on [Full Assist] were installed in my mind.

The amount of information this time was unprecedentedly large.

Thanks to this, I felt dizzy for a moment.

“…I see.”

I muttered to myself as I held my right temple.

“Kou, are you okay?”

“Are you alright, Kou-san?”

Iris and Lily rushed over to me, looking worried.

“No problem. I found out more about the ritual that was taking place here.”

“Have you finished analyzing it already? As expected of you, Kou, that was quick.”

“May I ask you to tell us about it?”

“Of course. Please listen to me.”

I nodded and began to explain.

In the underground labyrinth, it seems that three rituals were being performed in sequence.

They were called “The Ritual of the Immortal Soldier,” “The Ritual of the Immortal King,” and “The Gluttonous Ritual,” respectively.

The Ritual of the Immortal Soldier summoned the skeleton soldier, while the Ritual of the Immortal King summoned the Elder Lich.

“It was the believers of the Calamity cult who performed both of these rituals.”

It seems that four thousand years ago, the believers sacrificed themselves to complete the two rituals.

Thus, more than a hundred skeleton soldiers and an Elder Lich were summoned.

The role of the skeleton soldiers was to defend the chapel. As for the Elder Lich, its role was to carry out the third ritual, the “Gluttonous Ritual,” which would take a very long time.

This was a very long process, and it was said that the Elder Lich had been going out to the surface once every few hundred years to collect sacrificial souls with the curse of the Black Death and had been preparing the “Gluttonous Ritual” all the way up to the present day.

If you were human, you’d die of exhaustion after 4,000 years of hard work. No, they would die of old age long before that.

“Anyway, the Elder Lich mentioned in the records of the Dragon-folk and the God of War religion is probably this guy.”

“That means Kou has avenged all the victims of the Elder Lich up to this point.”

“Kou-san, that’s amazing…”

Lily exclaimed in admiration.

The number of victims of the curse of the black death is said to be in the tens or hundreds of thousands at any one time, so the total number of victims may reach around 100 million.

“The problem is the “Gluttonous Ritual.” It is said to be a ritual to summon an entity known as the Great Calamity.”

“The Great Calamity? Not only a calamity?”

Iris raises her voice in wonder. On the other hand, Lily seemed to remember something and blinked a few times before saying,

“I have heard before that there is a calamity that surpasses calamities. Perhaps that is the Great Calamity?”

“Yes, that’s right. You know it well.”

I nodded.

“I heard that the ‘Gluttonous Dragon’ summoned by the Gluttonous Ritual is even more powerful than the Black Dragon.”

“I don’t understand why it’s stronger than the Black Dragon…”

Iris sighed.

“If such a thing were to appear on the surface, there would be a big problem.”

“Did the summoning stop?”

“…I wonder.”

I let my words trail off.

As a finishing touch to the ritual, the Elder Lich planted a curse of the black death on Count Maillard.

Originally, the people of Surier would have died out, and all their souls would have been sacrificed to the Gluttonous Dragon.

However, when we defeated the Elder Lich, the curse of the Black Death disappeared, and the ritual was suspended.

I would like to hope that the summoning of the Gluttonous Dragon failed… but [Full Assist] was withholding an answer on this point.

This is the first time that [Full Assist] has not given me a clear answer.

“That’s ominous.”

Just as I muttered that, the ground shook intermittently.

Sand grains were falling from the ceiling.

“…An earthquake?”

Iris turned her gaze above her head.

“There was an earthquake yesterday, too.”

“I feel a kind of uneasy feeling in my chest…”

Lily looked around anxiously.

It was then.　

Suddenly, there was a sharp metallic sound, and a magic circle appeared from my [Item Box].

From within the magic circle, a large silver sword appeared by itself.

“Gram…?”

I shouted unintentionally.

How did it come out of the [Item Box] on its own?

As if in response to that question, an inorganic voice echoed in my mind.

The resurrection of the Gluttonous Dragon has been detected. The magic sword Gram’s《Dragon Slayer S+》is activated.