Chapter 411

For a moment, it felt as though the world had stopped.

My instincts reacted before my brain could process the situation.

The breathing of the people around me and the monsters’ howls receded into the distance, as if they were coming from several kilometers¹ away. My senses, sharper than ever, took in every detail around me.

Fwoooosh.

Droplets of blood, dirt, and dust drifted slowly through the air. Fog hung close enough to grasp if I reached out my hand.

And then…

Qi.

I could feel it—the immense movement of qi surrounding an area several hundred meters² in every direction. As a red alarm began blaring in my head, I kicked off the ground and shot upward.

“Get clear—!”

Kraaa-boooom!

A flash of light was followed by a tremendous roar that shook heaven and earth. From more than ten meters³ in the air, I looked down over the battlefield.

The area within a radius of several hundred meters², centered on the spot where I had been standing only a few seconds earlier, had been devastated.

Through the lingering fog and billowing dust, I could see green blood coating the ground and monster corpses blown to pieces.

A Magic Trap.

Fighting an enemy who refused to show himself meant preparing for anything.

There’s no compassion in war.

The countless wars recorded throughout human history had served as witness, prosecutor, and judge.

Even humans committed all kinds of horrific atrocities against one another during war. Expecting compassion from monsters that weren’t even human was laughable.

That was why vigilance was an essential virtue in war. It reduced the chances of falling into an enemy’s trap and minimized casualties.

Just like now.

Tap.

I landed lightly and reached out my hand.

Bang!

Compressed air burst outward, scattering the dust clouds.

Familiar faces finally emerged from among the blood and corpses covering the ground.

“Team Leader Choi.”

Team Leader Choi took a deep breath and nodded. Behind him stood more than two hundred members of the suicide squad, their faces pale with terror.

“A few people are injured…but everyone made it.”

“That’s a relief.”

“It was an unbelievably powerful trap. Without this, most of us—including me—would probably have died.”

Shk. Wooooong.

Team Leader Choi reached out and touched the transparent barrier spread out before him.

It covered every member of the suicide squad—a Barrier spell painstakingly inscribed into a scroll by one of the three greatest mages among billions of people.

“When the battle is over, I should find Mr. Johnson first. His magic saved our lives.”

“Are you planning to thank him with a kiss?”

“At this point, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”

Xiao Shen exhaled the breath he had been holding and joined in.

“I’d be willing to go even further. This is truly…”

Unable to finish, he looked around.

The explosion had been that tremendous. By even the roughest estimate, more than a thousand monsters had been killed or rendered incapable of fighting.

A trap that had not distinguished friend from foe. The Arch Lich had thrown countless subordinates into it as kindling to catch me and the suicide squad.

Look at this bastard…

I had expected as much to some extent, but the Arch Lich’s cunning and boldness went beyond anything I had imagined.

If my signal had been even slightly late, or if I had not volunteered to be bait while breaking through the path ahead, every member of the suicide squad would have been buried here.

Just like that day.

A memory I would never forget. A tragedy that could never be allowed to happen again.

I turned and spoke.

“Keep your distance and follow me. Our objective isn’t to fight the monsters. It’s to break through them.”

The suicide squad answered with a thunderous shout.

The monster army, thrown into chaos after suddenly losing so many of its own in the explosion, hesitated and began to retreat.

A crisis had become an opportunity. We couldn’t let this momentum slip away.

“Charge!”

I unleashed an azure dragon’s roar infused with internal energy and shot forward.

Slash!

The head of a retreating monster flew into the air.

The two hundred members of the suicide squad drove into the gap left in the monster army like an awl. The main force behind them surged forward like a wave.

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

A deafening roar shook the battlefield.

Green blood spread through the fog.

And far above, a flock of crows circled as they watched the battlefield below.

The being sitting atop a throne of white bones, as if asleep, suddenly opened his eyes.

Intense light flared within his empty eye sockets, and a low murmur escaped him.

“Not bad.”

The Arch Lich had hundreds of eyes and ears.

Even now, the Familiars he had stationed throughout the battlefield were taking in every detail without missing a thing.

The humans and monsters locked in fierce combat.

And the group of humans rapidly breaking through the battlefield.

The suicide squad. That was what they called them, wasn’t it?

The Arch Lich suddenly recalled something.

An ancient, long-moldering memory. One he had been unable to forget despite spending what felt like eternity submerged in the River of Death.

No. One he could never forget.

The Adversary.

How could he forget?

The single human who had stood at the center of everything. The suicide squad that had risked death to charge alongside the Adversary.

That bastard was the one who drove a sword into my body.

The Arch Lich looked down at his body of pitch-black bone.

In the past, he had not been some lowly existence like an undead. He had been a noble and mighty being, trusted by a king and commanding countless monsters.

But on the day of the final battle, he too had fallen alongside his king.

At the hands of a mere human, no less.

“But…where is the Adversary?”

The Arch Lich’s voice was filled with doubt.

He had surveyed every front through his Familiars, yet the Adversary, who should have appeared, was nowhere to be seen. He had found several humans from his memories, but that was all.

Could it be?

The Arch Lich’s eyes flared violently as he realized something.

It was impossible to believe.

But what if—what if the Adversary had died?

What if the Adversary had met the fate of a mortal?

“Kha…khahahaha!”

His body, rigid as a statue, began to shake.

The laughter infused with magical power made the ground tremble and the air quiver.

Sensing the change in their master’s mood, the guards dropped to the ground and prostrated themselves.

“My lord.”

“Why do you laugh so?”

The guards were an impressive sight. Death Knights, each comparable to a Named Monster, stood alongside Liches with robes pulled low over their heads. Altogether, they numbered twenty.

They were creations made to fight the Adversary.

But now, the Arch Lich had changed his mind.

After laughing with delight, the Arch Lich finally spoke.

“Listen, my faithful servants.”

“Give us your command.”

The Arch Lich rose from his seat and looked down upon his loyal retainers. A chilling voice soon echoed through the space.

“Go to the battlefield. Trample those insignificant humans and wipe them out.”

The twenty Death Knights and Liches bowed without the slightest hesitation.

The Arch Lich was the lord of every undead present. There could be no hesitation in obeying his commands.

“We shall carry out our lord’s command.”

They answered in unison and departed in different directions.

The space was empty once more.

Still chuckling to himself, the Arch Lich sat upon his skeletal throne and focused his mind.

He was surveying the battlefield through the eyes and ears of his countless Familiars when he suddenly paused.

“But…what in the world is that human?”

The pitch-black eyes of a crow soaring overhead reflected a young human cutting through monsters amid sprays of blood.

It was a face absent from the Arch Lich’s memories of the past, though he had already seen him through his Familiars several days earlier.

“That’s the human who defeated the Death Knight Lord.”

The Death Knight Lord, created from Lei Fei, was the finest of all the Arch Lich’s creations.

Although Lei Fei’s powerful soul had prevented the Arch Lich from subjugating him completely, there could be no doubting his strength. The Arch Lich had personally bestowed a portion of his own power upon him.

And yet, because of that insignificant human, he had lost his greatest fighting force and wasted precious magical power.

“He irritates me. I should dispose of him properly while I have the chance.”

Having decided to eliminate him, the Arch Lich sent out a thought.

Half of the guards heading toward the various fronts changed direction at their lord’s order.

Kra-d-d-d-d-k!

Wind, weapons, and the bodies of monsters harder than stone.

Everything caught in the spearhead’s path was cut apart.

Heads flew into the air, and thick limbs spun through the sky.

A Troll that was still breathing was chopped to pieces before it had a chance to regenerate. An ogre that had become undead while still half-rotten staggered, only for a sword that came flying a moment later to take off its upper body.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

After cutting down three or four monsters in an instant with Hero’s Soul, Team Leader Choi shouted to me.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung! The monster assault is too strong!”

He was right. Once we broke through the front line, the number of monsters decreased, but those that remained were far stronger.

I knew it would be like this.

The monsters at the front, used as kindling for the Magic Trap meant to catch us, had mostly been mid- or low-level.

The Arch Lich had placed his elites in the rear and used the other monsters as both bait and meat shields.

To wear us down.

On top of that, the fog had grown even thicker, making the battle more difficult.

The monsters becoming stronger under its influence was bad enough, but in fog this thick, visibility was limited and sound didn’t carry properly.

That naturally favored monsters, whose senses were sharper than those of humans.

Of course…

I’m the exception.

Whoooosh! Bang!

My spear lashed out with all my strength, skewering six or seven monsters like meat on a skewer.

Xiao Shen and the Hunters in the suicide squad, having escaped the crisis, gave me grateful looks.

“Everyone, group up around me!”

“But we only have a few magic scrolls left. If another Magic Trap activates…”

“No time to explain! Stop talking and move!”

Team Leader Choi and Xiao Shen nodded at my shout and advanced with the suicide squad.

I understood their concern, but we had already survived three Magic Traps, and this was the rear where the Arch Lich had gathered his elites. The chances of another trap being triggered were slim.

“Focus on defense instead of attacking. Advance!”

The battle itself had become more difficult, but the reduced chance of suddenly stumbling into another trap took a weight off my mind.

I could get myself out of danger easily enough, but the other members of the suicide squad might not survive.

Our final destination is just ahead. Minimize casualties, then join up with Lee Jungryong and Wu Heixing.

Slash! Kra-d-d-d-d-k!

I was at the front, cutting a path through the monsters and beginning to feel fatigue build up, when—

“All. Of. You. Fall. Back!”

“Human. By my lord’s command, I shall take your life.”

The curtain of monsters split apart to the left and right like the parting of the Red Sea.

I stared blankly, my mouth hanging open, as the beings behind it revealed themselves.

System

• Lv. 120 Darkened Lich
• Lv. 115 Darkened Death Knight

There were ten of them, all hovering around Level 120.

For a moment, I could barely breathe. My hands and feet began to tremble.

Team Leader Choi shouted at me in a voice filled with despair.

“We have to retreat right now!”

“T-Team Leader Choi.”

“Get a grip, Mr. Jin Taekyung!”

“The lunchboxes are here.”

“If we keep going like this, we’ll be wiped out…huh?”

With trembling eyes, I stared at the ten monsters.

No—the ten lunchboxes.

“The lunchbox delivery is here.”

“…?”

“…?”

“…?”

Put those question marks away, you bastards.

One Annihilation, coming up.