“Che, it was a double trap? So evil. But you saw through it.”
“It was a hunch. No, to be precise, I simply chose the known over unknown. Plus, that door was at a position where it would keep taking negative energy bursts. Non-living objects like doors would take less damage from the bursts, but I wondered why they would make a door down there. Now, let’s move…”
Greenham closed his mouth in middle of a sentence. The rogue who had been talking so much just now raised a finger to his lips and was focusing on listening.
When Greenham listened, he could hear an irregular clacking sound, like something tapping the floor.
Everyone turned towards the tunnel where the sound was coming from.
“Probably an enemy… right? I was hoping they would let us take a break.”
“Yea, and there’s only one. No signs of trying to conceal itself either. It would be good if this was the last one…”
Everyone slowly raised their weapon. The warrior standing in the front received his shield and hid half his body behind it. The magic caster readied his glowing staff to launch an attack at any moment towards the direction sound was coming from. The cleric readied his holy icon and the rogue aimed his bow.
Clack, clack. The sound gradually became louder and the opponent showed itself.
Old, but luxurious robes covered the limbs, which were as thin as a young girl’s, and it held a staff in one hand. This was the source of the sound.
With only a thin layer of decomposing skin, the face had a look of fiendish wisdom and negative aura surrounded the body like a fog.
It was an undead magic caster. Its name was—
“—Elder Lich!”
The magic caster who identified the monster first shouted.
That was right. A monster that spawns when the corpse of an evil magic caster gained unholy life. It was that kind of fiendish monster.
Greenham’s comrades immediately changed formation when they heard “Elder Lich”. No one stood in a single file and they kept their distance from each other in case of an area of effect magic.
An Elder Lich was a strong opponent. It would be challenging for a platinum-ranked adventurer, and relatively winnable for a mithril-ranked adventurer. For Greenham’s team, if one disregarded their fatigue, it was an opponent they could easily win against. Fortunately, they also had a member who was especially potent against undead, so they were confident.
Plus if the opponent was extremely far away, it would have been dangerous, but the distance between them was advantageous.
“You must be the master of this tomb.”
Greenham had come to that conclusion. Elder Liches were rulers. Sometimes they ruled over an undead horde and occasionally traded with living beings.
There were plenty of infamous Elder Liches such as the captain of a ghost ship which glided across the fog of Kattse Plains, or an Elder Lich which ruled over an abandoned castle. If it was an Elder Lich, then it wasn’t strange to think it would be the master of the tomb.
“We’ve got the right address. Lucky.”
“Although killing the owner of this tomb wasn't the request.”
“Let’s show him the power of “Heavy Masher”.”
“Kneel before the blessing of god!”
All his comrades shouted together. It was to shake off the fear of facing against a strong opponent like an Elder Lich.
“Defense magic—”
Greenham tried to shout orders to his comrades filled with resolve, but was surrounded with a feeling of dread. The source of this dread was the powerful opponent standing before them, the Elder Lich.
“…What’s he doing?”
“Is he planning… for a sneak attack?”
The Elder Lich showed no sign of movement against Greenham’s team. It did not raise its staff, nor did it chant any spell, but simply watched them.
Greenham’s companions could not hide their surprise at this. Their expectations of an immediate battle had been shattered. But they also hesitated to strike first.
The undead harboured hatred for all living beings. But certain sentient undead were capable of suppressing their hatred to negotiate. If the living were to offer negotiation, it would usually end up as a bad trade, but if the undead made the first offer, there had been instances of people obtaining ancient items that had been made with now-forgotten knowledge.
It would be the best-case scenario if they didn’t have to fight a strong opponent like an Elder Lich.
Perhaps it was anxious because it couldn’t finish them off with traps or perhaps it recognized their skills and was looking for a way to settle things peacefully.
Considering all these factors, it would have been foolish to attack first since it would destroy any chance of negotiation. A hard battle without an established escape route carried huge risks.
Greenham’s companions looked at each other as if they had all arrived at the same conclusion.
It was the leader’s job to talk as the representative.
“Excuse me, we believe you are the owner of this tomb. We are—”
The Elder Lich turned its grotesque face to Greenham and raised its bony finger to its lips.
Meaning: be quiet.
It was not an action fitting an Elder Lich, but nobody was brave enough, no, nobody was stupid enough to say something like that to such a strong opponent.
Greenham closed his mouth obediently. In the hallway filled with silence, he doubted his ears when he heard “that sound” again.
The clacking noise he heard not too long ago. The noise of something knocking on the floor. And six of them.
Greenham’s team looked at each other. They could not believe their ears.
And everybody descended into panic.
“Who was it! Who said that Elder Lich was the master of this tomb?”
“I’m sorry! It was me!”
“What the hell is this? How does this make any sense?”
“Oiiiiiii, how are we supposed to win against this!”
“Even god’s blessing has its limits!”
Behind the first Elder Lich, similar monsters had showed themselves. Six of them.
There were total of seven extremely strong undead magic casters.
As long as they were of the same type of monster, they had similar methods of attack. In other word, if one had a way of neutralizing their attacks, it was theoretically possible to defeat all of them.
However, none of them possessed the method to do so, nor was it possible to possess such methods.
In this hopeless situation, Greenham and his comrades lost all will to fight.
“Then, let’s begin.”
Following the voice of the Elder Lich that did not show even a hint of wanting to negotiate, seven staves rose slowly. At the same time, Greenham’s shout echoed.
“Run!”
As if waiting for that command, all of them ran with all their strength in the opposite direction from the Elder Liches. Of course they had no time to think about what would be beyond the tunnel. They only sought to improve their chances of survival against the onslaught of Elder Liches.