Chapter 85: Chapter 84: Underground Arena & the Lich

"You sure this is the place?" - Black Bone

"Positive. My Evil Hunter has never failed me." - Palug

"It didn't help you escape..." - Garami

It's been half an hour crawling through air vents, fighting off vampire-fied spider monsters that patrolled the vents, while being led by a rabbit we've just met today. Yeah, just what anyone wishes to do before dinner. 

In the end, Palug brought us to what looked like a fighting arena. Or maybe a theater? No, those bloodstains look too real to be props. It's an underground colosseum alright. One that's so fancy that it looks like a theater.

...but...

"This isn't the place they're summoning the goddess!" - Garami

While I was keeping my voice low, I made sure that its tone was sharp enough to hit the rabbit with my anger.

"P-please do not take it out on me." - Palug

"While it is refreshing not being the guy placed in the boss' line of wrath, look at those sculptures." - Black Bone

Sculptures? What...now I see them. And yes, they are suspicious. Anything that looks like a purple-red mass of rocks shaped into tentacles enveloping humans and monsters, with a huge, red-black gem, in the middle, is like the personification of the word "suspicious"!

Adding to the grim and dark package, the sculptures, numbering five in total, are placed in a pentagram shape throughout the arena/scene, with strange lines going from each statue to form a real pentagram. Said lines look like they're made from blood that seeps out from the bottom of the statue...

And in the middle is something like an altar, decorated with an even crazier-looking statue, but this one doesn't have a gem for some reason.

"It is those malefic rocks. They are the source of the ritual." - Palug

"Are you sure about it?" - Black Bone

"Maybe!" - Palug

"Hey!" - Black Bone

"Be quiet." - Garami

"Sorry..." - Black Bone & Palug

"Palug has a point though. For now, let's try to destroy those "ritual statues"." - Garami

"Destroy them, she says... Garami, you see those scary-looking old dudes down there? This is just my wild guess, but I bet they are not going to let that happen." - Black Bone

Yeah. In the middle of the arena stood two older men...rather, they're both walking corpses! Somewhat!

One is a vampire. And quite the old one at that. I can see his wrinkles even from here. And he's bald. Even a child can see that the long, silver hair is a wig. 

"I recognize that elder. He is Lord Nobilis, the head of the Nobilis clan." - Palug

"Friend of yours?" - Black Bone

"Hardly! His short fuse is the reason why you two found me in that predicament earlier." - Palug

So what? He was just trying to turn you into dinner. ...okay, I see your point.

As for the other member of the undead, he's a skeleton-face like Bones. Except the guy downstairs is radiating a literal aura of death. He looks way more frightening than our puny Skeleton Mage.

"Th-th-that's a Lich! A real Lich!" - Black Bone

"Keep it quiet." - Garami

"Don't you think I know that!?" silently shouted Bones. He's a bag of calcium with many talents.

"I do not like the sound of that. A vampire, even an old one as the Lord down below, is a D-rank monster. I am not sure what strengths a Lich has, but it cannot be good for us." - Palug

"...he's a C-rank...the Lich..." - Black Bone

Ouch. That sounds rough. Better them than me.

"Good luck," I told Bones as I pushed him out of the shadows.

"Huh? Whaaa!?" - Black Bone

Bones tumbled like a ball of bones down the "audience seats". 

"Distraction," I silently told Palug before walking around using the shadows as my cover.

"Roger!" silently replied Palug while saluting with his ear. It's so nice to have comrades that get the plan in a split second. But Echo's only gonna get hurt if she stays here, so I returned her to the Player Room.

In the meanwhile, Bones finally landed on the arena/stage part of the room. And he's greeted by the two elderly undead.

"An intruder?! Lich, destroy him!" - Lord Nobilis

"Yes, yes..." - Lich

The Lich pointed at Bones, and instantly, a magic circle appeared and formed a dark sphere that was shot toward Bones. 

...hmm!? Shouldn't you need some sorta chant if you want to use magic? It's because of those chants that I've stopped using my magic skills lately.

Bones had already started to run before the Lich started his attack, so he managed to dodge the sphere. Which created a massive explosion in the wall it hit. Damn, that's some firepower. I bet it easily exceeds the firepower of the current top-level players. 

"You idiot! Watch where you fire that thing! Are you planning on ruining my plan completely!?" - Lord Nobilis

"Sorry-my-master. It-will-not-happen-again." - Lich

Wh-what a monotonous answer.

"Relax, Lord Bones! I am coming to your rescue!" - Palug

"Another...the rabbit!? Lich, destroy him too!" - Lord Nobilis

"As you wish." - Lich

"...do NOT destroy the equipment! That's an order!" - Lord Nobilis

"Tch." - Lich

The Lich doesn't seem to be on a good foot with Lord Nobilis, to put it lightly. Let's hope he's pulling his punches.

(Okay, stay here. Wait for my signal.) - Garami

(*Silently salutes*) - Nala

I summoned and left Nala behind close to one of the Key Pillars and went for the next one. Please don't get spotted now. 

"[Rabbit Leap]!" - Palug

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"Ghost's Grab." - Lich

Palug used some sort of jumping skill to attack the Lich with his sword horn, but the Lich simply used another insta-cast spell to create ghostly hands from the ground and had them grab Palug. The poor rabbit's leap got turned into a head-first dive into the ground. 

"[Create Skeleton]: Sharpbone Fish!" - Black Bone

"[Necromancy]: Skeleton Warlord." - Lich

Bones tried to assist Palug with his razor-sharp fish skeletons, but the Lich used some higher-tier-sounding skill and brought out an Ashura of a skeleton warrior! Four arms, armed to the teeth! Looks kinda cool. I should look into some similar demons when I have the time.

Ah, and the fish skeletons got turned into undead sashimi. That skeleton Ashura is handy with those sabers. 

(Be ready.) - Garami

(*Gives a thumb up*) - Nyx

"[Smoke Bomb]!" - Palug

Palug created a smokescreen with what sounds like a..."Smoke" element skill. That's a new one.

"Fool. Do you think that the undead's sight can be disturbed by some smoke?" - Lich

"[Gust Slash]!" - Palug

Several "flying sword slashes", if I should call them that (I can't come up with a better word for it), came flying out of the smoke..., no, they dragged the smoke with them and landed a direct on the Lich. The dead guy didn't bother to dodge. It's not like it's doing any damage...

"*COUGH*, *COUGH*, *COUGH*!!?" - Lich

It's doing super damage!? And how's that bone-face #2 even coughing!?

"...Palug!? You're including powdered silver in that smoke!?" - Black Bone

"Good god! Rabbit, are you crazy?! There are lines you should never cross!" - Lord Nobilis

Eh? ...oh, right. Silver is normally super-effective against the undead in some stories. Palug did say he has a larger Storage due to his class, so he could have that stored. A secret weapon? Rather, are you trying to play as a certain cat-shaped robot from the future!? You're a rabbit! Stick to your theme!

Though, all the commotion bought me enough time to position myself behind the third Key Pillar.

Thanks to Palug joining the party, I don't have enough LP to keep 3 demons summoned at the same time. Echo didn't have the raw power for this job anyway, but it still means I can only prepare for 3 Pillars.

Now or never. While the silver smoke was causing fear and confusion among the undead at the playing field (friend or enemy alike), I jumped out of the shadows with my scythe at ready and slashed the Pillar in front of me to pieces. Following my lead, Nyx and Nala attacked their Pillars at the same time.

"There are more of... NOOOOO!! Not the Key Pillars!! Woman! Have you any idea what you have done!?" - Lord Nobilis

"...not bad." - Lich

The vampire raged, while the Lich simply chuckled as he disappeared in a dark-grey light. Did this magic circle double as the Lich's contract-something? ...oh, now I get why the Lich was working with the vampire lord, despite their obvious bad relationship. He must have been forced into servitude. Guess the "bust the ritual, then return by dying" plan isn't needed then. Also, I'm never gonna treat my demons the way the Lich-

"DIIIIIEEE!!" - Lord Nobilis

The noble bloodsucker jumped at me with a fancy sable in his hands while I was busy thinking for myself, but I managed to guard myself with my scythe. I'm a talented girl-whoa!?

I managed to parry one of the blows, but the lord went into his next attack with such speed that I couldn't get an attack in myself. Nasty geezer. In that case, I'll throw in a little surprise...

My scythe started to emit a dark aura as I fended off Lord Nobilis' attacks. The royal mosquito didn't seem to be bothered by it. Come on, cut me some slack. Things are starting to look serious here...

"I'm out of here!" - Black Bone

"Lady Garami, the magic circle seems ready to explode!" - Palug

It's true. After the three Key Pillars were destroyed, the pentagram-like magic circle has been starting to glow in a pulsating fashion. Almost like a bomb. Noooot good. 

"I know. Just get those slow bones out of here. I'm right behind ya." - Garami

Bones has the lowest SPD of us all, so he should escape first. Not to mention...

"Like I would allow that!" - Lord Nobilis

I called it~.

The overgrown mosquito continued attacking, but his rage makes his attacks so monotone that they become way easier to parry even with the extra force behind each slash. And every time I parried an attack, I also invoked [Dark Drain] again to recover a little.

The scythe has an ability of its own to recover me based on the damage I inflict through attacks, and [Dark Drain] drains just by touching the guy. The action of "draining" it still counts as an attack if it works, which kicks in the scythe's ability. I'm getting doubled recovery every time I fend off an attack! I'm so loving this scythe right now.

But the old geezer is not showing any exhaustion. Stupid vampires and their limitless stamina. The sole good thing here is that he's not using any fancy vampire skills. He's strong with his sword, but that's it. Basically, he's a musclehead. Which makes me wonder why he went all this way with this secret plan of his. 

"What's your motive?" I asked him after fending off the nth attack. 

"Huh!? As if you Migrants wouldn't know that!" - Lord Nobilis

"We Migrants"? What's he going about?

"All the time, invading our territories like we are in some public garden! Attacking our Ghouls just to earn EXP! Pestering us despite not having any strength! Not having an iota of respect for the Vampire race! Thinking we are some sort of tourist attraction! Why can't you creeps just stay dead!?" - Lord Nobilis

Ah...ahh...I'm starting to pity this guy. I've had similar experiences. Mostly due to my appearance. Be it my rare hair- and skin color, or my grown-up body. People just can't respect the whole "personal space" idea. It's a bother.

Though, none of this is enough to make me stop at this point.

As I continued to fend off the vampire lord's attacks, I got closer and closer to the wall. Rather, the Lord is leading me there. He's not gone completely berserk then. 

But it seems that there's too much blood raising to the elderly vampire's head anyway. After all, it was only Bones and Palug that left the area before. 

*CRASH!*

A large attack hit Lord Nobilis in the back while his focus was preoccupied with me. The source of the attack was Nala, who had yet to be dismissed after I summoned her. Nyx then jumped at the Vampire Lord with her vile claws at ready. 

Meanwhile, I turned to the wall I was about to be led into and used [Trap Expertise] to prepare the finishing blow against the vampire aristocrat. 

Once it was ready, I gave a signal to Nyx and Nala while I threw lots of demonic webbing at the vampire, binding his arms together. The vampire almost forced himself free before Nyx and Nala gave him a good punch in the gut.

At the same time, I used [Thread Control] to throw the vampire into the wall, using the force of the two's attacks as help. 

The vampire elder crashed into the wall, which opened up like a door, and greeted the vampire lord. Then they slammed and closed themselves the second I could hear a stabbing-like sound from there. 

"New trap: Wall Maiden, is a success," I said out loud as I plastered the Iron Maiden-inspired wall trap with demonic webbing. 

"This much should keep him stuck there for a while," I said after I was satisfied with the webbed-up result. I dismissed Nyx and Nala and started to get outta this place. 

On my way, my attention got caught by the two remaining Key Pillars. I thought about destroying them...but no. The part of the magic circle around those two is the least unstable compared to the other mess. Crushing the pillars could make this place go sky-high before I can escape. 

So I left those two, and the vampire stuck in the wall, behind, hoping that the explosion would send them all to kingdom come.

...without knowing that those two Pillars would turn into a real headache for me at a later date. 

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