Hunting The Lich (1)

“He’s an amusing human. Interesting….”

There were three people looking down at the battle between one human and a Lich through the eyes of a Familiar.

“Just like you said, he really is an incredible human, isn’t he?”

“That strength alone is reason enough to corrupt him. How could he have gained that much power when he was neither Undead nor a believer in a god?”

Bellina Crom and Trinity Abel said that while looking at Jo Yun-hui.

At that, Jo Yun-hui calmly rested her chin on her hand and evaluated the struggles of the man shown inside the crystal ball.

“Saturn died by that human’s power… Well, if he had been in his complete state, he would never have been defeated, but in the end, it was proof that the human had the power to pierce our divinity.”

“So was this environment created to corrupt him?”

At Bellina Crom’s question, Jo Yun-hui tilted her head.

“But if this goes wrong, it feels like it might make that human even stronger, to the point that it makes me uneasy.”

“I agree with that too. What should we do?”

“If we deploy Beral… even if he can’t clean up everyone there, he should be able to eliminate more than half of them. Apostles… can simply be called in again. But now that their vigilance has become serious, the same method as before may no longer work.”

“Still, there are plenty of methods if we look for them. We just need to create a Red Gate through the sea and sublimate it into a Yellow Gate. Just as we came to this land that way….”

At that, Jo Yun-hui looked at the two of them and spoke.

“There is a clear limit with the Apostles. So it would be better for us to choose the path of becoming stronger ourselves. And… just as that human said, the idea of sacrificing only 300,000 people to summon Him was ridiculous beyond belief…. So this operation is a failure.”

“What a shame…. We put quite a lot of effort into it….”

Bellina Crom expressed her regret after hearing Trinity Abel’s words, then subtly asked.

“We’ll have to move China, right?”

“Clark is already there acting, so turn your eyes elsewhere. For example, India might not be bad…?”

“That place is too filthy. Rather than a place where humans live, it’s an environment where beasts live.”

Jo Yun-hui threatened Trinity, who looked utterly disgusted.

“He is not someone who gives us many chances. So this is no time to whine. Move…?!”

At that moment, Jo Yun-hui noticed the sudden change inside the Gate and fell silent, and only then did the other two also look at the image and speak.

“I… want that human now.”

“…Me too. Is he really human?”

“He’s a vessel. We’ve wanted a vessel that can contain Him…. That human is definitely it.”

In the end, the three Saintesses of the Calamity God began to reveal their desire toward one man.

The Necronomicon was doing well.

Was that why?

I was able to draw the black mana into my body with much more composure, and along with the alien sensation, the feeling of earthworms burrowing into my entire body and rummaging through it, I lightly gritted my teeth at the stinging pain and steadied my breathing.

At the same time, I focused on manifesting my will, and there were two kinds of will I manifested here.

One was vaguely focused on pulling the black mana toward me, and the other was the work of engraving a pattern to make the black mana that had burrowed into my body mine.

This pattern engraving was quite tricky. First, I had to engrave my own unique mana flow, then push the pattern into the gaps of the two kinds of black mana derived from it.

It was an act that required considerable precision, but since I could engrave a magic circle as thin as a single strand of hair to begin with, it was not a task accompanied by great difficulty. And since I was actually moving mana inside my body, if not for the pain caused by the resulting backlash, sweeping away all the black mana was practically only a matter of time.

On top of that, I transmitted the black mana that had become mine to the Necronomicon and added an order.

“If possible, do everything you can to drive that bastard into a corner. The power he uses will keep decreasing.”

In reality, he was in a situation where he was continuously breaking Magic Stones and manifesting his power.

Even so, I was patterning the power quickly enough that the amount of power I refined and sent to the Necronomicon was even greater. Perhaps because the Necronomicon, having heard my demand, could receive power and run wild for the first time in a while, it began pouring out magic that even I did not know.

Fatal Panic! Hell Stamp! Dynamic Boom! -

“How dare you!! A mere lowly creature dares interfere with me!!”

-Let’s see if you can still call me lowly after you get completely robbed by a lowly creature, you skull bowl! -

“Shut up!! A scrap of paper dares!!”

The rampage of the two, who had begun getting worked up, grew more intense, and the mana covering the curse traps that had been placed around the area gradually began to peel away.

But the Necronomicon did something interesting here.

-There are fine materials scattered everywhere. It seems quite some time has passed. The will has disappeared! Kaha! -

Then it immediately pulled the curse in, absorbed it into the book, and released it as it was.

‘Is that kind of method possible too?’

It was a fascinating method.

Even if time passed, once installed magic became bound to the user the moment the user’s will was manifested.

In a way, that was an obvious established theory, but seeing the Necronomicon utilize it as if refuting that theory left me speechless.

But when I thought about it carefully, the method I was using now was also an act of pulling in power whose will had been cut off from that bastard and making it mine.

It meant that, in practical terms, it was of the same nature as what the Necronomicon was doing.

So I focused on the method, quickly confirmed the process of pulling it in and the way it absorbed it, and could not help but admire it.

‘When it comes to handling magic, it is definitely far ahead of me….’

Han Sang-gil had once said that in order to reverse the price paid to the Necronomicon, one would have to step into the superhuman realm called the 9th Circle.

Moreover, I had also heard that because the Necronomicon knew this as well, it would never present the path toward the 9th Circle. But looking at the current battle, when I became an 8th Circle Master, I could roughly feel how I would have to cross the wall.

‘That thing is using its power unconsciously right now. If it realizes that I noticed this, the pattern will change.’

But the interesting part was that, now that it had tasted “souls,” it would never allow me to die.

I thought that if I periodically handed souls over to the Necronomicon as payment through a contract, it might lead me to the realm of the 9th Circle.

Furthermore, since the nature of the power it could handle was more unique and powerful than I had imagined, it did not seem like it would feel anxious or uncomfortable simply because its user’s realm rose to the 9th Circle.

That was because it claimed that it was on a different level from the Necronomicon Han Sang-gil possessed.

In many ways, as time passed, the process of turning black mana into my own began to become more familiar and faster. The Lich, having realized that, tried to target me, but the problem was the Necronomicon. I did not know how it noticed, but it was thoroughly Dispelling the very act of the Lich trying to use Blink to close the distance.

In a way, the sight of a Lich being helplessly troubled by something like a “book” was absurdly funny.

“Looks like things aren’t going your way?”

“Just what… is this grimoire! It is not an ordinary Necronomicon, is it!!”

-Of course not. I am a product of the Mythic Age, the remnant of an imprisoned god, a fragment, and an existence!! -

It was spouting nonsense that I could not understand at all, but it seemed I was not the only one who felt that way.

“So what!! I am the great black mage Cruscen Tripete!!”

It was an insufficient conversation between bastards with strong self-assertion, but to me, it was actually a good thing.

That was because they did not deliberately pay attention to me. The more that happened, the more difficult it would become for the Lich, and time would undoubtedly side with me in the end.

However, I realized through an explosion that only good things did not always happen.

Kwaaagwang!! Along with an enormous roar, I felt divinity and many other kinds of power blast their remaining force in every direction.

“Keuheuheu. Do you think those things can stop the Lich and Death Knight?”

“You’re saying that because you don’t know who they are.”

“At best, they’re just scraps of the Sea Sun Brigade and some remnants!”

That bastard perhaps seemed not to know that I had brought everyone with me.

“They’re a hero party, you idiot.”

“…That cannot be!”

“It can be. I have the mobile Magic Tower, you know?”

“…You damned bastard. I will kill you and make you writhe for eternity…”

“I feel like I’ve heard that hundreds of times already, but I’m still alive and well.”

There was no way my body was fine.

The black mana was currently gnawing away at my body to the point that there was not a single place in my entire body that did not hurt.

My fingers and toes had already grown dull to the terrible pain, and even my senses were becoming vague.

It was a phenomenon where my body no longer felt like my own body.

However, I calmly met that bastard’s gaze and steadied my breathing, and that bastard also began dealing with the Necronomicon calmly rather than expressing anger at my composure.

Since his words grew fewer, it became a scene where the Necronomicon chattered alone, but the tension was soaring endlessly.

‘What is he preparing?’

The vortex I felt near the Lich’s Life Vessel. Just looking at that, I could tell he was definitely preparing something tremendous.

‘It’s an unfamiliar mana pattern and engraving. Since it is power flowing inside that bastard, it is hard to grasp properly, but what is certain is… he is definitely using all his strength.’

“Necronomicon, interfere with his magic!”

-Keu, keukeuk. It seems he intends to use an interesting magic. -

I gave another order to the Necronomicon, which had clearly noticed something, but instead, it was sucked back into my hand as if it fit perfectly and spoke.

-Brace yourself for the impact. Otherwise, even you will die. -

‘Just what kind of magic is he preparing…?’

At that moment, a massive lump of mana gathered above that bastard’s head, and then it soon turned black and began swirling.

Then the Lich burst into a delighted grotesque laugh.

“Catastrophe Impact!!”

At that moment, the enormous sphere fell toward the ground.

Then it was a sphere that was sucked into the ground as though being absorbed, and at that moment, the color of the world changed as if it had been inverted. Soon, everything in all directions, with the Lich at the center, began to be ground away in an instant.

Along with the illusion that everything was being ground into pieces at the molecular level, I thought of “death,” and at that moment, the Necronomicon asked me.

-Shall I tell you the method? -

In the illusion that the world had stopped, I could tell that the magic was unfolding very, very slowly, and after confirming that the existence that had created this mental acceleration was the Necronomicon, I spoke.

‘What price do you want?’

-That bastard’s soul. Its corruption. The degree is very even, so I like it. -

I could not tell what this damned book ultimately wanted, but now was not the time to weigh the pros and cons.

‘Tell me. If it’s useless, you can get ground away with me.’

-Do not worry. Try to accept it well. If you can withstand it…. Kkekeke. -

Countless memories were transferred, and in that instant, the immense shock made me think that I might die from this alone.