Abydos was confused.
He understood that he had been ambushed from behind. He also understood that the ambush had been so fast that he couldn’t react in time.
But what he couldn’t comprehend was how the attack had pierced even the defensive magic he always kept active.
‘What is this?!’
For a moment, he suspected holy magic.
Holy magic was the natural enemy of necromancy and could easily penetrate undead magic.
But that didn’t seem to be the case. There was no trace of the distinct light unique to holy magic.
Still, it was a fact that the girl’s blade had pierced him. Though it had only damaged a portion of his bones, that damage had disrupted the chantless spell he was preparing.
“You wretch…!”
Abydos thickened his defensive barrier and released a wave of dark energy toward the long-haired girl.
It was originally a technique used by vampires, channeling a sinister spiritual wave that could drain the life force from ordinary humans just by contact.
But…
“…!”
Crack!
A shock that shook the soul itself!
He had been hit by a powerful, unidentified attack. Even though he had just reinforced his defensive magic, the spell was utterly shattered.
‘It’s not just physical damage! The very formula constructing my body is taking serious damage…!’
As he felt several bones break, Abydos hastily cast a flight spell.
He quickly retreated and put distance between them. Only then could he grasp what had happened.
“You…!”
The descendant of the necromancer order who had proven his loyalty earlier… was now using his skeletal soldier to attack Abydos.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
As Abydos screamed in disbelief, the skeletal soldier lunged forward with terrifying force.
Clutching the same blade that had just broken his defensive magic.
“You traitor?!”
Abydos shouted as he hovered in midair.
“You betrayed the necromancer order!!”
“Traitor?”
I shot back in a cold voice.
“I was never part of your cult to begin with.”
“What?!”
“I just happened to get my hands on your scriptures, that’s all.”
“…!”
I had deceived Abydos by pretending to be a devout follower of the cult and launched a surprise attack at the critical moment.
The plan I had prepared with Senia, without exchanging a single word, had worked perfectly.
“You… deceived me?!”
Abydos let out a cry of agony.
If he weren’t a lich, he might’ve been clutching his head in despair.
“The way you recited the First Prayer of Necromancy! Your mastery of necromantic spells! You were clearly a descendant of the cult! You understood the teachings deeply!”
“Just because I understand them doesn’t mean I agree with them.”
“You bastard…!”
Dark energy surged from Abydos.
If I touched that, I’d lose my life force.
But I had no intention of making contact with it.
“…!”
Flash!
Deathvice, the dragon fang soldier, jumped into the air and swung the progressive blade.
The dark energy engulfed him, but it was useless.
It’s impossible to drain life force from a creature that has none.
“Urgh…!”
Crash!
Abydos’s barrier shattered completely.
The progressive blade wielded by Deathvice had torn through the defense.
“H-How?! How could a mere dragon fang soldier destroy a lich’s magical defense?!”
Abydos was shocked.
Dragon fang soldiers were powerful undead, but compared to a high-tier undead like a lich, they were minor.
Seeing one tear through a lich’s defensive spell so effortlessly, it was only natural to panic.
“C-Could it be?! That strange sword…!”
Realization struck Abydos and he raised his voice.
“That sword—it carries the power of dispel, doesn’t it?! It nullifies magical phenomena!”
That’s right.
The progressive blade Professor Hephaestus made wasn’t just an extendable sword.
With the cooperation of my uncle Kaisel, it had been imbued with the ability to interfere with and dismantle pre-existing magical formulas.
‘I still don’t fully understand the theory—it’s far too advanced for my current knowledge…’
But watching Deathvice press Abydos back made it clear.
Every time the blade touched Abydos’s spell constructs, they shattered like glass.
‘That’s Uncle Kaisel’s specialty… Dissolution!’
Dissolution.
That is Kaisel’s spiritual origin.
A power that separates and deconstructs everything.
Hephaestus harnessed that ability to give the progressive blade the power to break down magical constructs.
That’s why any magic that comes into contact with the blade breaks apart instantly.
For beings like the undead, who rely on magical constructs to even exist… it’s the ultimate counter.
“Grrgh…!”
As Abydos raised his hand, a compressed bullet of dark energy shot toward me.
Realizing he couldn’t handle Deathvice, he aimed for the controller—me.
“Eriol!”
But it was useless.
Moving like the wind, Senia swung another progressive blade and sliced all the dark bullets out of the air.
“I’ll protect you! Eriol, focus on your spell!”
“Got it!”
If Abydos had been free to cast spells from a safe distance, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.
But now, he was too busy fending off Deathvice’s assault. All he could do were simple ranged spells at best.
And those—Senia could intercept every single one.
‘I can tell just by watching. That lich is weak in close quarters!’
Traditionally, mages were specialized in long-range combat.
Modern mages use body-enhancing spells to fight in close quarters, but in the old days, allowing enemies to approach was a death sentence.
Abydos had already taken damage from Senia’s ambush. Then he let Deathvice, even stronger than Senia, get close.
He had no breathing room to unleash the full extent of his magic.
“Damn it, to be bested by the likes of you…!”
Abydos suddenly soared upward.
His right leg bone had been crushed by Deathvice’s blade, but he flew regardless.
“Arise…!”
Rumble!
At his command, the previously still mummy soldiers began to move.
Countless corpses surged toward us like a wave.
But then—
BOOM!
Professor Murselt, now more than twice his original size, swung his fist—and countless mummies were instantly reduced to chunks of meat.
And he wasn’t alone. Cain, Helios, and Ingrid, who had only been pretending to fight Murselt earlier, were now fully engaged against the mummies as well.
“Eriol!”
Klein was also firing off spells in rapid succession, supporting us from afar.
He seemed eager to come to our side, but the sheer number of mummies made it impossible for him to advance.
“Eriol, there are too many mummies! At this rate…!”
“No, it’s fine.”
I replied in a calm voice to Senia, who shouted while cutting down the approaching mummies.
“I’ve already finished preparing the spell.”
“…!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Three enormous fireballs were simultaneously deployed.
With this many enemies, there was no need for precision.
All I needed was overwhelming firepower to wipe them out.
“Make sure you don’t get caught in it, Senia.”
“Understood!”
BOOOOM!
The massive fireballs engulfed the mummies.
Perhaps because their corpses had been thoroughly dried to eliminate moisture, the mummies ignited instantly, turning into flaming masses.
“How can someone so young use such powerful magic… Ugh!”
Slash!
Jumping off a wall, Deathvice severed one of Abydos’s arms.
Abydos’s body was already a wreck.
It looked like half of his skeletal structure had been shattered.
“Urgh…!”
This must have been a truly humiliating situation for Abydos.
If only he had enough distance, he could’ve wiped us all out in an instant with his powerful magic—but everything had fallen apart after being ambushed by enemies wielding weapons that dismantled magic and being forced into close combat.
“Damn it…!”
Then, suddenly, Abydos made a different move than before.
Up until now, he had been hovering in the air, trying to maintain distance from Deathvice and the others. But now, he suddenly dropped to the ground.
“Did we get him?!”
“No!”
Abydos slipped among the mummy soldiers.
The horde of mummies formed a wall of corpses to protect him.
As Deathvice swung his blade to cut through the mummies, Abydos slipped away.
“No way…! The secret exit he mentioned earlier!”
Abydos had said earlier that there was a direct passage leading to the surface from here.
He was now trying to open that door and escape outside along with the mummy soldiers.
“This place is too cramped! I’ll deal with you out there!”
“Eriol! We have to stop him from activating that switch!”
Abydos reached out his bony hand toward the air.
In response, a mummy near the switch raised its arm in sync with Abydos.
Once that switch was activated, the escape path to the surface would…
“…!”
CLANG!
A sharp, ringing sound echoed—and the mummy’s hand froze over.
Just before it could activate the switch.
“Charlotte!”
When had she rushed in?
Behind us, Charlotte was standing with her arm raised, panting heavily.
“Charlotte Strasbourg! I told you to wait up top, it’s dangerous—!”
“There’s no way I could just sit still in a situation like this!”
Shouting back at Klein, Charlotte began casting another spell.
The mummies near the switch all froze in place.
“I can’t shoot ice well… but I can freeze things solid!”
Thanks to the fire spells I had just fired off, the area around the switch was now in ideal condition for using freezing magic.
There wasn’t enough moisture to create ice from scratch, but just lowering the temperature was enough to freeze the targets.
“And what are you supposed to be now…?!”
Abydos shouted in frustration.
He had been blocked from opening the escape route because of Charlotte’s sudden appearance. And with so many frozen mummies around the switch, even going there to activate it himself wasn’t an option.
“How did it come to this?! I am the great Lich Priest of the Necromancer Order! A death priest who serves the Red Moon! And yet how am I being brought down by children—?!”
“You still don’t understand, Lich?!”
Fwoosh!
Before anyone noticed, Senia was already upon him—her Progressive Blade digging into Abydos’s neck.
His robe was shredded completely, revealing the battered skeleton underneath.
“From the moment you fell for Eriol’s deception, your defeat was sealed!”
“Urgh!”
With a clean slice, Senia’s blade severed Abydos’s neck completely.
But that wasn’t the end.
Now reduced to just a skull, Abydos shot upward into the air.
‘Move!’
At that moment, I gave the command.
To Deathvice—who had been lying in wait among the mummies for an opening.
“Ah…!”
Thud.
Deathvice leapt forward, crushing a mummy beneath his feet.
Gripping the Progressive Blade tightly with both hands, he launched himself toward Abydos, who was trying to escape into the air…
“No—!”
Abydos’s skull let out a desperate scream.
And Deathvice’s blade swung directly at him.
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