CH 59

Sungmin approached the magic armor with a nervous expression. It was a full-body armor that looked glossy-black. He had memories of seeing it before. The mercenary that acquired the armor in his previous life had always worn it. Though, that mercenary didn’t even get to participate this time due to his low rank.

If he got his hands on the magic armor.

That, was one of his objectives ever since he had returned to Xenavis. This was true in his previous life as well. A low-rank mercenary with no notable skills became a peak-level expert with just this single magic armor. A life-changing opportunity – Sungmin always longed for such an opportunity in this life.

He grabbed onto the opportunity. Several times, in fact. The stone of transmigration was one of them, as well as the encounter with Wiji Hoyeon. Msh’s mountain, as well as the meeting with Baek Sogo were opportunities as well.

And now, the magic armor in front of him – was also one. Sungmin approached the magic armor with his hands.

The moment his hands touched the armor. The chestplate of the magic armor on the wall suddenly opened like a jaw and swallowed him. When Sungmin took a step back in panic, the pitch-black armor was already on him.

“…Huh….”

Sungmin looked down at the magic armor that he was wearing. It was now worn by him… but he couldn’t feel any change. Sungmin quickly checked the inner cultivation in his dantian. There was no change in that. There were no changes in the physical body either. After scanning through his body, he was confused.

(T/N: Some people were confused about ‘cultivation’ last time. ‘inner cultivation’ is training the ‘qi’ and circulating it throughout the body, while ‘external cultivation’ is tempering the body to make it as tough as… “stone” “diamonds” etc…. if you have read desolate era, ‘fiendgod body cultivation’ is like the ‘external cultivation’ here.)

Nothing had changed at all. How? Did the armor change? No, that couldn’t be confirmed right now. To check the function and name of this armor, he had no choice but to ask a professional appraiser to check.

“Do you like it?”

A low voice tickled Sungmin’s ears. Sungmin turned around in surprise.

A man clad in pitch-black robe was standing there. Sungmin voiced out in surprise and held his spear.

“Magic armor Devnack. It’s quite a decent item. Though, the rebound is quite big.”

“…What?”

The black mage muttered. He didn’t look flinched at all even though Sungmin was ready to attack at any moment and he was only standing a few steps away from him. In fact, the one flinching was Sungmin. His sixth sense trained in Mount Msh, was warning him.

To not fight whatever was in front of him.

“Do you not feel any change?”

Inside the hood of the robe was only pitch-black darkness. Although the face couldn’t be seen, the voice belonged to that of an old man.

“That’s quite strange.”

The black mage muttered. Well, that’s not the important part – uttering that, the black mage’s robe started to expand.

“I don’t like rude guests, but… fufu! So I get to meet a person like this in my life. To think I’ll meet a soul with a twisted karma….”

Sungmin’s body stiffened at the black mage’s muttering. He did not wait anymore and charged towards the black mage. His full-power Shadowless Phantom created afterimages. The few steps of distance between them instantly became nil, and a spear clad in purple qi pierced through the black mage.

Claaaang! Along with a resistance that nearly ripped apart his palms, Sungmin’s body flew backwards. His inner cultivation flowed in reverse and damaged his meridians and made him vomit black blood. Crash! After destroying a closet, he rolled around several times on the floor and groaned.

“Don’t be rash. I feel very good right now.”

The black mage laughed. It felt as though something heavy had settled on his chest. Sungmin bit his lower lip and stood up. Due to the disturbance, he could hear running footsteps from the corridor.

“What is it!?”

The mercenaries that entered through the door all became stiff. They looked at Sungmin, collapsed onto the floor in the middle of the room, and the black mage that was standing intact and quickly came to their own conclusions. Bern, who came a little late, shouted out.

“Black mage!”

“Intruders.”

The black mage muttered. The black mage slowly raised his hand to point at Bern. After looking at the black mage’s hand under the sleeves of the robe, Bern’s expression paled.

“L, lich…!”

“Shh.”

A loathing laugh-like voice came out from inside the hood. The long fingers didn’t belong to a living human – it was made of bone. A pitch black light flashed at the fingertips, and a death ray aimed for Bern.

Poof! Xeon, who was near Bern, quickly swung his fists. The Hundred Steps Divine Fist clashed with the black mage’s attack. The black mage muttered while clicking his ‘tongue’.

“It’s the Hundred Steps Divine Fist from the Shaolin. So, you’re Xeon who’s quite famous around Behengerr.”

“…You know me?”

Xeon asked with a stiff expression. The black mage did not reply, and instead took off his hood.

What appeared was not a face. It was like… a lump of darkness. Inside the spherical darkness was a pair of cold-blue light that looked like the eyes.

This was the first time Sungmin saw a lich. However, he had heard of the rumors. A monster that is birthed from a mage giving up his or her own body and soul in exchange for eternal life. Yes. Liches were classified as monsters, and one of the worst ones at that. Liches possessed magical capabilities on par with an archmage, as well as immense mana that they gained through giving up their body and soul. They also possessed memories of when they were human, as well as a human-like thought process, so they were enough to be called the worst monsters.

“Originally, you wouldn’t even be able to come here.”

The lich muttered. Bern, who ended up being saved by Xeon, took steps back with a pale expression. As a mage, Bern knew what kind of horrific and fearful beings liches were.

“But not today. You saved me the trouble of getting some experimental bodies. Though, I was originally planning to use the ogre chimera….”

The lich uttered some incomprehensible things as he raised his hand. Darkness arose beneath him and wrapped around his arm. Bern quickly went into casting. Although no one knew what kind of magic that Bern was trying to cast, this was for sure.

Bern was slower than the lich.

Booom! The darkness shot out. One of the mercenaries, standing there blankly, was swept away by the darkness. An S-rank mercenary died a vain death. When the darkness faded out, only the bones were left.

“R, run!”

Bern shouted. His magic exploded towards the lich. A wave of red flames assaulted the lich. The lich made laughing sounds and made hand signs.

“You don’t know of your position.”

He didn’t even do any incantation. An instantaneous shield blocked Bern’s magic. Tang Misook turned around and ran while screaming. However, she could not. A blade shot out from the ground and cleaved her in half.

“Didn’t I say so? That you shouldn’t even be able to come here originally. I led you here.”

The lich muttered. Xeon ran forward. Rather than running, he chose to fight the lich. He judged that it would be impossible to run away without killing the lich. Xeon wasn’t the only one to think that. The surviving S-rank mercenaries all charged towards the witch; Sungmin included.

The lich did not look hurried at all. In fact, he looked as though he was enjoying the situation. It was as though a predator was watching its prey dancing on its palms. Sungmin clenched his teeth and assaulted the lich from behind. The spear in Sungmin’s hand spun around wildly. He no longer sought to hide his prowess in front of Xeon.

“You stay still.”

When his spear came into contact with the lich’s shield, the lich muttered those words. It was as though… space was being twisted. Sungmin’s spear slid on top of the shield. The trajectory of his spear was forcefully deflected away. The lich had used spatial distortion magic in such a short time to deflect his attack.

“I can not bare to injure you. I can’t lose such a valuable soul.”

Saying that, the lich changed his hand signal. Even at this moment, Xeon and the other mercenaries were struggling to penetrate the lich’s shield. The lich ignored all of their attempts. It wasn’t even worth it. The lich was more concerned about Sungmin than the rest put together.

Suddenly, pitch-black chains shot up from the ground and bound Sungmin’s limbs. His body rolled on the ground.

“Stay still like that.”

The lich spoke with a laugh. Sungmin tried to get himself back up, but the tight chains did not let him go. His expression twisted.

Bern died like this – poof. An explosion took away the top half of his body, and his legs fell down backwards. The lich’s shield was still intact, and whenever he flicked his fingers, the number of corpses increased.

Sungmin watched as all of this happened in front of him.

He saw the deaths of others in this powerless form. Time flowed very slowly as though it had stopped. Why am I lying on the ground like this. Why am I so powerless. Sungmin’s body started trembling. When he climbed down Mount Msh, Sungmin thought himself to be different from his past; that he had changed. Although he didn’t become a cicada, he thought that he was getting closer to being something else.

And the reality?

This was the reality.

Sungmin collapsed onto the cold, hard floor. He was not able to resist even if he wanted to. The lich was a freak. Sungmin now knew of the prowess that a being known as an archmage could use. The SS-rank Xeon was being played a fool, while Bern, who was also nearing SS-rank, had already died.

And then

The battle finished. The surviving ones were Xeon and three S-rank mercenaries. They were bound by black chains on the ground, just like Sungmin.

“This should be plenty. SS-rank merc, eh…. better than the ogre chimera, I guess.”

The lich spoke in a joyous tone. He did not care about the corpses rolling on the ground and moved his hands. Sungmin, Xeon, and the three mercenaries floated in the air.

“Well, let’s go.”

The lich swung his arms.

“The coming days will be a joyous one.”

The lich’s voice was very frightening as he said those words.

Thump.

Thump thump.

Deep inside the ground, the thumping sounds of the heart could be heard.

***

T/N: Wow… Anyone else think Bern and Tang Misook were going to have some real substance in the story? And they died. Just like that.. lol…

Also, I haven’t read ahead… I’ll be translating as I read. So please understand if some genders and words have to be switched to something else later on. I mean, the lich’s gender isn’t mentioned anywhere… I just assumed it was a ‘he’.