[“This… is impossible.”]
After a long silence, the voice of the monster known as the “King of the Dead” exploded in everyone’s ears, thick with disbelief!
Yeah, yeah, yeah… Not just you, I think it’s impossible too…
In her heart, Holly echoed the sentiments of this enemy who shared her plight, marveling that even a boss-level character felt the need to share his thoughts…
At that moment, everyone’s gaze shifted to Ville, who stood at the front, frowning with a look of confusion.
To be honest, that previous strike… even Amisha, a genuine [Fifth Rank] transcendent, would have had no choice but to flee and avoid a head-on collision.
Even if Arthur wanted to block it, he couldn’t have done so with such composure.
Judging by the pile of gold coins, this was an evil spirit from at least the founding of the kingdom… several hundred years ago, right?
Its full-power strike might not equal a Transcendent, but it was infinitely close to a top-tier High Kin…
Just observing that [Life Harvest] earlier, Amisha found herself completely unable to comprehend it.
This meant the strike had far exceeded the limits of what a Fifth Rank transcendent could achieve!
In fact… it had completely surpassed the limits of humanity.
Whoosh—!!
Just as everyone fell into silence, the air within the stone gates was once again shrouded by black ripples!
The surrounding ghostly blue flames were all extinguished in an instant!
Clatter, clatter…
The sound of vibrating chains rang out, as if the monster inside the coffin wanted to emerge…
[“I know not what trickery thou hast used, but now…”]
Clatter!!
Along with the louder sound of chains, there came a soul-trembling chill even more terrifying than the previous two times…
The giant coffin wrapped in chains gradually opened, and those golden chains… actually crawled inside through the cracks of the coffin like countless golden centipedes!
Creeeak… The coffin, now devoid of chains but floating in mid-air, slowly opened.
And from within, a monster slowly drifted out.
It was a humanoid monster whose upper body was wrapped in tattered burial shrouds, yet its wrists and ankles seemed bound by golden chains. It possessed a pair of dark red eyes.
The reason it was called a monster was because its face was entirely that of a bluish-purple dried corpse; there were no lips covering its forest-white teeth, and no eyelids over its cloudy white eyes.
At this moment… the monster extended a blue, skin-and-bone finger, pointing at Ville.
[“Thou!! Hast successfully provoked this King! I shall let thee know… what is called the King of the Undead! The King of Souls!”]
“Huh…?”
Facing such a terrifying monster, Ville, who possessed zero combat power, showed not even a hint of fear.
She merely scratched her cheek.
“Though liches are all arrogant… isn’t your tone a bit too grand? You’re only Seventh Rank, yet you dare call yourself the King of the Undead… aren’t you afraid of getting a beating?”
[…]
The lich in the sky froze once more.
It didn’t even know what it was itself; it only knew that it was condensed from countless ancient grudges and the desperate aura of death… a powerful existence that could absorb souls and death!
This human girl… who exactly was she?
But no matter who she was, she… actually dared to insult it so!
The lich’s cloudy white pupils were instantly covered in pitch black! Its withered arm stretched forward… death energy condensed in its hand, transforming out of thin air into a massive black palm of mist that clawed toward Ville!
Before, it had been inside the coffin; the power it could exert now with its true body was on a completely different level!
Whoosh…
But just as it was thinking this, intending to drag her soul out to torture and devour it…
It felt clearly that its power was actually being… absorbed by the opponent!?
Furthermore… it was the kind of feeling where a single drop of water falls into the ocean… unable to stir even a single ripple!
[Absolutely impossible!!] The self-proclaimed King of Souls roared in its mind, its palms clenching the air!
This time, a black scythe that was nearly physical gathered in its hands!
Its hideous, lipless mouth opened wide, and accompanied by a piercingly sharp roar, the Giant Scythe of Death swung down once again!
Whoosh!! The power this time was several times that of the previous “Soul Harvest”!
A direct hit… surely there should be… some effect…
“I’m saying… that’s not how you play a lich~ You just swing your scythe around recklessly and use death energy so crudely. It’s such a waste… Don’t you know any frost magic?”
Under the lich’s blank stare, the girl whose neck had been directly slashed by the giant black scythe stood there perfectly fine, still scratching her face with some embarrassment.
She seemed… to be giving it pointers.
Looking back at its condensed black scythe… it was now as if it had been snapped; the front end had completely disappeared… instead of a scythe, it looked more like a black stick.
[Arghhhh!!!]
It seemed completely driven mad by Ville’s attitude, or perhaps its supposedly invincible power had been denied!
The lich roared, condensing the Giant Scythe of Death again and swinging it wildly at Ville!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
The blackness of death followed the movements of the scythe, creating countless afterimages!
It seemed intent on hacking the person before it into mincemeat!
But… it was useless, useless, useless!!
The attacks were completely futile… Ville, standing in the center of the black scythe shadows, even let out a yawn.
“Ehh~ Why don’t you save your energy… cultivate for another ten thousand years until you reach the Saint Rank before talking?”
[“This King… must kill thou…”]
The self-proclaimed King of the Dead was clearly someone with extremely high self-esteem, both in life and death.
Enraged, it no longer cared about anything else. If the scythe didn’t work!
Its figure blurred! Its palm, burning with pitch-black death energy, clawed directly toward the heart of the girl in front of it!
Whoosh!!
But that strike led to something unexpected; the lich found that its hand… just like that scythe made of death energy, had sunk directly into the opponent’s body…
Furthermore… the opponent was actually… “eating” it?!
[Eh?!] At this moment, the lich finally began to panic. Its hollow eyes, overflowing with black mist, were filled with shock and fear as it tried to pull its palm out!
But the harder it pulled… the more its body sank inside…
“Like I said…” Ville’s icy voice rang in its ear.
“A small fry like you… why work so hard…”
[Ugh… Arghhhhh—!!]
Its… hundreds of years of effort… this power that had already surpassed the human limit…
Why… why was it so pathetic…
No… this was definitely not right…
[Don’t… please no…]
Gurgle…
As the death energy surged, Ville’s body was like a swamp that could completely swallow a person!
The tangled roots of aquatic plants and the terrifying sludge formed from decaying animal carcasses… dragging anyone who dared to trespass into an abyss of eternal damnation.
To become nourishment for this boundless swamp of death, to become… insignificant nutrients.
And now…
The self-proclaimed King of the Dead finally realized.
It wasn’t just that its strongest strike was like a clay ox entering the sea when facing her…
It was that even after its entire self fell into this “swamp” of death, it couldn’t trigger even the slightest ripple.
This… what exactly was this thing…?
How could it be… this unremarkable human… could she be… a Transcendent!?
[“What… kind of… mon…ster… are you…”]
The lich’s body melted rapidly. Before it could finish its sentence, its head had already dissolved into a mass of black sludge.
It was gradually and completely absorbed by Ville’s body.
“What monster? How rude… I am the powerful and beautiful Goddess of Necromancy~”
Licking the corner of her mouth, Ville curled her lips in slight disgust.
“So small… and tastes bad~”
Sigh (~)~
I really miss the food Big Sister Jenny makes~