Arc | Chapter. 91: Lord Lich

Chapter. 91: Lord Lich

Its words made Ceylon and I share a confused glance.

“Unimaginable riches?” I asked, turning to the Lord Lich. “What could that be?”

“Foolish human, he’s willing to grant you a favor in return.” His gruff voice echoed for all of us to hear. “It’s outside of your comprehension.”

“Huh…” I blinked.

On one hand, I wanted to tell it to fuck off. On the other hand, I was… curious. And the curiosity was high. I mean; the necromancer clearly was at least an S Tier individual, so what kind of reward would he be offering given the fact that he had just threatened us sometime ago.

Ceylon turned to me, and seeing my roused expression she spoke.

“If you want to agree, I won’t be against it; just know that this could be a trap⁠—”

“Silence wench,” the lich hissed. “Our lord is a man of his word. Such petty tactics are below him.”

“Right…” Ceylon trailed off.

I was… slightly ticked it had insulted Ceylon, but at the same time it was the equivalent of an and cursing you out ⁠— you could only care so much ⁠— so instead I just focused on thinking.

Realistically, if I helped the necromancer, things would go a lot more smoothly with leveling up Ceylon, and we could leave without trouble. Though at the same time I’d lose any reason to pick a fight with him.

I mean it’d be shitty to be on neutral terms and attack him for levels…

However, we kinda weren’t here for me to grow stronger but for Ceylon in the first place. And while it was probably a lot more important for me to grow stronger than for Ceylon to do so, I wasn’t planning on unnecessarily endangering her if I could help it. I did pick a fight with the necromancer, but it’s not as if we could also just turn around and leave.

So in the end, I nodded.

“Alright, I’ll help.” I turned to the old man. “You can protect Ceylon, and also stay near Faral.”

He nodded, without hesitation. Then I turned to the scared girl, Ila, the adventurer that had frozen upon seeing the lich.

“You stay here too.”

She hesitantly nodded and I turned to the lich.

“Alright, I’m ready to go.”

The lich stared at me with an indescribable expression, as he spoke in a husky tone. “Stand next to me.”

“Sure.”

I complied with his request, and then he raised his staff as it began to shine. The wind seemed to change, our surroundings darkened as a bubble of darkness wrapped around us. And then he spoke, slamming the staff down.

“[Dark Blink].”

We were encompassed in darkness, and then a moment later I found myself standing at a random spot in the Traitor’s Graveyard. There were stone tiles below us, rusted fencing lined the path as I turned to the lich in confusion.

“So what does your… lord need help with?” I asked in confusion.

The lich stared ahead in silence, while I just took the time to examine the sentient skeleton. Namely its staff, which I decided to use [Appraisal] on.

[Staff of Elements. Tier: S].

I just raised my brow, thinking it was interesting. In the end, all I could really do was look at the lich which in reality looked like a very average skeleton, except for two flaming wisps at its eyes. About five seconds had passed, and it was still looking ahead.

“You shall understand soon,” he said cryptically.

“Sure, I guess?” My confusion was evident, but it made no effort to explain.

In the end, we just sat there waiting.

What could the necromancer even need help with?

* * * * *

“Isn’t this a bit boring?” Giselle asked.

A moment later, a gigantic spider leg crushed the undead that had just reformed for the third time. Jake nodded his head somewhat tired. They were fighting three Doom Wights at once, and they were all getting effortlessly crushed by the Emera Spider.

“It is, but it’s very hard to get experience for the spider normally,” Jake explained.

“Yeah, but it’s still just…” Giselle frowned as she swiped her hand down.

Dust and bones exploded in front, leaving a dent on the ground. Jake didn’t know how many times the same thing happened, overall, but here they were just doing something.

“It’s just…?” Jake asked, raising her brow.

“Well didn’t I tell the guy to fuck off?” Giselle tilted her head, confused. “Shouldn’t he be pissed off and be trying to kill us by now? I even proclaimed my identity as a hero.”

“Right… you did.” Jake nodded.

He did think what Giselle had done was stupid, but at the same time he could understand her reasoning of; angering the other person so they would come all the way there to kill them. It was an odd thing to him, but it wasn’t as if he truly understood the unhinged Hero of Spiders after all.

“Still, don’t you think it was a dumb thing to do?” Jake asked.

“Ha? We can always run away. Don’t you have some shiny weapons or whatever?” Giselle’s tone was dismissive. “It doesn’t really matter if the man is an SS Tier Hero, or an S Tier nobody. It’s worth the bet.”

“I can’t see it.” Jake sighed.

Giselle harrumphed as the spider hit another reformed Doom Wight. This time, its bones truly shattered as they exploded like fine dust into the air⁠, leaving nothing but an empty crater on the ground.

“Oh, it’s dead.” Giselle blinked. “That took long enough. What was that like, an hour?”

“About that yeah,” Jake agreed.

“Also don’t you ever worry about me trying to kill you?” Giselle asked as the spider attacked a reformed undead. “I mean, given our situation and arrangement.”

“Not really.” Jake shrugged. “It’s not as if you can kill me.”

“Well, but I could still try to injure you out of spite,” Giselle argued.

Jake shook his head.

“Unless you have a death wish, you won’t be doing that. The only reason Arc spared you is because she trusts that I can control you. If you show that unwillingness, well⁠—”

“Okay fine, I get it.” She interrupted snorting. “No need to threaten me like that.”

“I’m just explaining.”

“Whatever you say.”

Jake shook his head as another Doom Wight finally died. Its bones spread into air like mist. And now only one remained. The sight made him slightly happy, but at the same time he couldn’t help but worry.

Giselle had angered the necromancer on purpose, and yet aside from the Doom Wights before them, nothing had actually happened. It was… suspicious, but also odd. And perhaps, the necromancer was assembling an army of undead to dispose of them once and for all. Which Jake… didn’t know how to feel about.

On one hand he was excited, on the other he was slightly worried that they might be provoking an SS Tier being without reason.

This many S Tier undeads weren’t common at all after all.

He frowned, and at that moment the last Doom Wight died, vanishing into nothingness as the spider probably leveled up. Not even Gisele had a clue about the spider’s level, which Jake found dumb but didn’t comment on.

“Well, let’s go, at this pace maybe we’ll get an SS Tier spider in record time.” Giselle smiled. “Then I can be done with this mess.”

“What makes you think that it’s only a single spider what you have to deliver?” Jake raised his brow.

“I don’t, but I like to dream.”

With those nonchalant words, Jake watched as the Heroine of Spiders stepped forward. Even though they had been together for more than a month now, he just now felt like he was beginning to comprehend her.

Though that was a possible maybe.

Shaking his head, he followed after her, hoping that everything would be fine.

* * * * *

“So, what am I helping with?” I asked the lich again.

“Impatient fool, you shall see soon,” he said, his harrowed voice clearly indicating some form of irritation.

“Whatever you say, Mr. Lich, or Ms. I don’t know what you are.” I shrugged.

There was no reply, as I just decided to wait. I never expected to ever wait along with a sentient skeleton but I didn’t mention it. In the end, I just wanted to get things out of the way and be done with it. So that’s why I didn’t press.

A minute passed, and I finally saw a spider on the horizon.

“That, you must dispose of that and the intruders along with that thing.”

I blinked as [Appraisal] returned a result.

[Emera Spider. Tier: S].

Huh… What was an Emera Spider doing all the way here? It confused me a bit, so I decided to ask.

“What do the two intruders look like?”

He harrumphed. “Must you ask so many questions? One tall man and one short woman in a dress that calls herself the Heroine of Spiders, fight them.”

“Oh…” I blinked. “That… is complicated.”

The wisps of the lich blinked. “Are you refusing to do the request?”

“Not necessarily that, I can probably convince them to leave the place if that’s what you want.” I tilted my head. “They are my acquaintances.”

The wisps on the lich became messy for a few seconds. I stared at him with confusion before finally he spoke again.

“My lord has indicated that that is an agreeable arrangement, now go.”

“Well you will have to accompany me for the arrangement to work,” I explained.

“Fine.”

With that, I found myself walking towards the Emera Spider with a sentient undead following me. I found what was happening odd, but I decided to just go along with it. As for why Jake and Giselle were here, well I had a bit of an idea but I had to ask either way.

* * * * *

He was a Lord Lich, a Lich of the highest order within S Tier, and he had been his lord’s most faithful follower for hundreds of years now. And now, just like any other time, he was carrying his lord’s order, however unlike others, he found it troublesome. The human that his lord wanted help from was weird.

Everything about the human was weird, from her manner of speech, to clothes, to even magic power. The Lord Lich couldn’t actually perceive how strong she was, which was strange. The only other person he felt about in that way was his own lord. Though the notion of her being on par with his lord was ridiculous.

In the end, the lord was hoping to deal with multiple problems at once. Riding himself of both potential headaches for his plans. The Lord Lich couldn’t praise his lord enough for such a brilliant plan, and now he just needed to execute it perfectly. And that’s why he was walking along with the human.

It didn’t take long before they came face to face with the intruders, first was the man who blinked in confusion.

“Arc?”

Then there was the woman who shivered. “Y-You aren’t here to finish the deal right?”

“No.” The woman named Arc shook her head. “It’s about something else, you see I have this… Lord Lich.” He  stood there as Arc gestured at him. “Apparently his lord wants you two gone from the Traitor’s Graveyard, and he will give me a handsome reward or whatever, also it’s probably beneficial for me.”

“Well, we could do that I guess?” Jake thought. “We were here to level the spider, so if you have a recommendation to where to level instead, it’d be great.”

Arc nodded. “Right, I guess I can ask the old man.”

The Lord Lich didn’t know who she was talking about but it didn’t matter so long as the request was fulfilled. And it seemed to be going in a good direction.

“Or, we can join forces and kill the necromancer,” the woman in front suggested. “He’s most definitely SS Tier, and probably has enough S Tier skeletons to turn Alfina into an SS Tier Emera Spider.”

The Lord Lich paused feeling a sudden anger well within.

What kind of heinous request was that? Disrespecting his lord⁠—!?

“Right…”

The woman, Arc, was certainly taken aback. It was enough for the Lord Lich to relax, after all. Who could dare to go against his lord? It would be an incredibly dumb decision after all.

“That… but what about my companion Ceylon? Unless Jake or you protect her, then you should leave.”

The Lord Lich blinked through his wispy eyes. Had he heard that right?

“Sure I can most definitely protect Ceylon,” the man, Jake, agreed in a heartbeat. “For once I think Giselle has a good idea.”

Then, Arc turned to him, the Lord Lich.

“Sorry, the deal is off.”

What⁠—?

And she punched, all his bones shattered as his skull flew through the air.