Chapter 59

Sungmin approached the magic armor with a nervous expression . It was a full-body armor that looked glossy-black . He had memories of seeing it before . The mercenary that acquired the armor in his previous life had always worn it . Though, that mercenary didn’t even get to participate this time due to his low rank .

If he got his hands on the magic armor .

That, was one of his objectives ever since he had returned to Xenavis . This was true in his previous life as well . A low-rank mercenary with no notable skills became a peak-level expert with just this single magic armor . A life-changing opportunity – Sungmin always longed for such an opportunity in this life .

He grabbed onto the opportunity . Several times, in fact . The stone of transmigration was one of them, as well as the encounter with Wiji Hoyeon . Msh’s mountain, as well as the meeting with Baek Sogo were opportunities as well .

And now, the magic armor in front of him – was also one . Sungmin approached the magic armor with his hands .

The moment his hands touched the armor . The chestplate of the magic armor on the wall suddenly opened like a jaw and swallowed him . When Sungmin took a step back in panic, the pitch-black armor was already on him .

“…Huh… . ”

Sungmin looked down at the magic armor that he was wearing . It was now worn by him… but he couldn’t feel any change . Sungmin quickly checked the inner cultivation in his dantian . There was no change in that . There were no changes in the physical body either . After scanning through his body, he was confused .

(T/N: Some people were confused about ‘cultivation’ last time . ‘inner cultivation’ is training the ‘qi’ and circulating it throughout the body, while ‘external cultivation’ is tempering the body to make it as tough as… “stone” “diamonds” etc… . if you have read desolate era, ‘fiendgod body cultivation’ is like the ‘external cultivation’ here . )

Nothing had changed at all . How? Did the armor change? No, that couldn’t be confirmed right now . To check the function and name of this armor, he had no choice but to ask a professional appraiser to check .

“Do you like it?”

A low voice tickled Sungmin’s ears . Sungmin turned around in surprise .

A man clad in pitch-black robe was standing there . Sungmin voiced out in surprise and held his spear .

“Magic armor Devnack . It’s quite a decent item . Though, the rebound is quite big . ”

“…What?”

The black mage muttered . He didn’t look flinched at all even though Sungmin was ready to attack at any moment and he was only standing a few steps away from him . In fact, the one flinching was Sungmin . His sixth sense trained in Mount Msh, was warning him .

To not fight whatever was in front of him .

“Do you not feel any change?”

Inside the hood of the robe was only pitch-black darkness . Although the face couldn’t be seen, the voice belonged to that of an old man .

“That’s quite strange . ”

The black mage muttered . Well, that’s not the important part – uttering that, the black mage’s robe started to expand .

“I don’t like rude guests, but… fufu! So I get to meet a person like this in my life . To think I’ll meet a soul with a twisted karma… . ”

Sungmin’s body stiffened at the black mage’s muttering . He did not wait anymore and charged towards the black mage . His full-power Shadowless Phantom created afterimages . The few steps of distance between them instantly became nil, and a spear clad in purple qi pierced through the black mage .

Claaaang! Along with a resistance that nearly ripped apart his palms, Sungmin’s body flew backwards . His inner cultivation flowed in reverse and damaged his meridians and made him vomit black blood . Crash! After destroying a closet, he rolled around several times on the floor and groaned .

“Don’t be rash . I feel very good right now . ”

The black mage laughed . It felt as though something heavy had settled on his chest . Sungmin bit his lower lip and stood up . Due to the disturbance, he could hear running footsteps from the corridor .

“What is it!?”

The mercenaries that entered through the door all became stiff . They looked at Sungmin, collapsed onto the floor in the middle of the room, and the black mage that was standing intact and quickly came to their own conclusions . Bern, who came a little late, shouted out .

“Black mage!”

“Intruders . ”

The black mage muttered . The black mage slowly raised his hand to point at Bern . After looking at the black mage’s hand under the sleeves of the robe, Bern’s expression paled .

“L, lich…!”

“Shh . ”

A loathing laugh-like voice came out from inside the hood . The long fingers didn’t belong to a living human – it was made of bone . A pitch black light flashed at the fingertips, and a death ray aimed for Bern .

Poof! Xeon, who was near Bern, quickly swung his fists . The Hundred Steps Divine Fist clashed with the black mage’s attack . The black mage muttered while clicking his ‘tongue’ .

“It’s the Hundred Steps Divine Fist from the Shaolin . So, you’re Xeon who’s quite famous around Behengerr . ”

“…You know me?”

Xeon asked with a stiff expression . The black mage did not reply, and instead took off his hood .

What appeared was not a face . It was like… a lump of darkness . Inside the spherical darkness was a pair of cold-blue light that looked like the eyes .

This was the first time Sungmin saw a lich . However, he had heard of the rumors . A monster that is birthed from a mage giving up his or her own body and soul in exchange for eternal life . Yes . Liches were classified as monsters, and one of the worst ones at that . Liches possessed magical capabilities on par with an archmage, as well as immense mana that they gained through giving up their body and soul . They also possessed memories of when they were human, as well as a human-like thought process, so they were enough to be called the worst monsters .

“Originally, you wouldn’t even be able to come here . ”

The lich muttered . Bern, who ended up being saved by Xeon, took steps back with a pale expression . As a mage, Bern knew what kind of horrific and fearful beings liches were .

“But not today . You saved me the trouble of getting some experimental bodies . Though, I was originally planning to use the ogre chimera… . ”

The lich uttered some incomprehensible things as he raised his hand . Darkness arose beneath him and wrapped around his arm . Bern quickly went into casting . Although no one knew what kind of magic that Bern was trying to cast, this was for sure .

Bern was slower than the lich .

Booom! The darkness shot out . One of the mercenaries, standing there blankly, was swept away by the darkness . An S-rank mercenary died a vain death . When the darkness faded out, only the bones were left .

“R, run!”

Bern shouted . His magic exploded towards the lich . A wave of red flames assaulted the lich . The lich made laughing sounds and made hand signs .

“You don’t know of your position . ”

He didn’t even do any incantation . An instantaneous shield blocked Bern’s magic . Tang Misook turned around and ran while screaming . However, she could not . A blade shot out from the ground and cleaved her in half .

“Didn’t I say so? That you shouldn’t even be able to come here originally . I led you here . ”

The lich muttered . Xeon ran forward . Rather than running, he chose to fight the lich . He judged that it would be impossible to run away without killing the lich . Xeon wasn’t the only one to think that . The surviving S-rank mercenaries all charged towards the witch; Sungmin included .

The lich did not look hurried at all . In fact, he looked as though he was enjoying the situation . It was as though a predator was watching its prey dancing on its palms . Sungmin clenched his teeth and assaulted the lich from behind . The spear in Sungmin’s hand spun around wildly . He no longer sought to hide his prowess in front of Xeon .

“You stay still . ”

When his spear came into contact with the lich’s shield, the lich muttered those words . It was as though… space was being twisted . Sungmin’s spear slid on top of the shield . The trajectory of his spear was forcefully deflected away . The lich had used spatial distortion magic in such a short time to deflect his attack .

“I can not bare to injure you . I can’t lose such a valuable soul . ”

Saying that, the lich changed his hand signal . Even at this moment, Xeon and the other mercenaries were struggling to penetrate the lich’s shield . The lich ignored all of their attempts . It wasn’t even worth it . The lich was more concerned about Sungmin than the rest put together .

Suddenly, pitch-black chains shot up from the ground and bound Sungmin’s limbs . His body rolled on the ground .

“Stay still like that . ”

The lich spoke with a laugh . Sungmin tried to get himself back up, but the tight chains did not let him go . His expression twisted .

Bern died like this – poof . An explosion took away the top half of his body, and his legs fell down backwards . The lich’s shield was still intact, and whenever he flicked his fingers, the number of corpses increased .

Sungmin watched as all of this happened in front of him .

He saw the deaths of others in this powerless form . Time flowed very slowly as though it had stopped . Why am I lying on the ground like this . Why am I so powerless . Sungmin’s body started trembling . When he climbed down Mount Msh, Sungmin thought himself to be different from his past; that he had changed . Although he didn’t become a cicada, he thought that he was getting closer to being something else .

And the reality?

This was the reality .

Sungmin collapsed onto the cold, hard floor . He was not able to resist even if he wanted to . The lich was a freak . Sungmin now knew of the prowess that a being known as an archmage could use . The SS-rank Xeon was being played a fool, while Bern, who was also nearing SS-rank, had already died .

And then

The battle finished . The surviving ones were Xeon and three S-rank mercenaries . They were bound by black chains on the ground, just like Sungmin .

“This should be plenty . SS-rank merc, eh… . better than the ogre chimera, I guess . ”

The lich spoke in a joyous tone . He did not care about the corpses rolling on the ground and moved his hands . Sungmin, Xeon, and the three mercenaries floated in the air .

“Well, let’s go . ”

The lich swung his arms .

“The coming days will be a joyous one . ”

The lich’s voice was very frightening as he said those words .

Thump .

Thump thump .

Deep inside the ground, the thumping sounds of the heart could be heard .

***

T/N: Wow… Anyone else think Bern and Tang Misook were going to have some real substance in the story? And they died . Just like that . . lol…

Also, I haven’t read ahead… I’ll be translating as I read . So please understand if some genders and words have to be switched to something else later on . I mean, the lich’s gender isn’t mentioned anywhere… I just assumed it was a ‘he’ .