With my new objective in mind, I made my way through the corridors of an ancient warehouse. There were ghouls hunting there, forcing me to go around them, slowing me down. Those were far more watchful than lesser undeads and would likely notice my presence even with stealth.

The warehouse was the harder part, most of the other large rooms could be avoided and higher undeads rarely went out of them. I kept walking around zombies and skeletons for a few hours before reaching the shrine's entrance. If the priest is somwhere it's got to be here. The problem is that place is also the most dangerous, some of the cultist turned into higher undeads, I even found traces of a lich. If it was the old me, I would have pulverized it without problem, but my current feline disposition didn't hold as much power.

I thanked the gods for the existence of stealth and crept inside the shrine. It was a gigantic room filled with stone benches and candelabras filled with blue candles that kept burning even after centuries. In the middle a large altar covered in dried blood stood under the inquisitive stare of a gigantic stone statue. The being it depicted was one of the evil gods, i didn't learn it's name but could still remember he was the god of curses, decline and regrets. He appeared as a large humanoid with three large eyes, the extra one being in the middle of the others, five arms with long claws and a crown too large for it's head that levitated above it.

Appart from the questionable furniture, legions of undead roamed the place, skeleton mages in red robes, ghouls in tabards depicting their god, haunted armors and a few flesh golems. Most of them were aimlessly walking around. Most.

In the middle of the room, a few rows of benches away from the altar, was a large hooded figure wielding some kind of black priest staff in one hand and illuminating the surroundings with conjured green flames in it's other hand. A lich. The apex of undead casters. And considering the size and equipement, it wasn't a weak one.

My hopes started to fade, the priest's guards wouldn't have been enough to face such a strong lich. Were they already dead? Was I pursuing a lost hope?

And just as I though about going back, a loud crash echoed through the place. It was followed by a shout :"RUN FOR IT! WE WILL DIE IF WE GET SURROUNDED!".

The good thing was that they weren't dead.

Yet

The blood covering their armor and clothes wasn't theirs, but the heavy panting and sluggish movement proved they were exhausted. Fighting a lich in that state would have been nothing short of suicide. Wich is something the priest probably thought too, considering his eyes widened to a point where they would pop out with a slight push.

His guards reacted faster, one of them grabbed him and ran for the exit while the others blocked the ghouls pursuers. He snapped back to reality just in time to cast a wall of light, blocking the lich's cursed firebolt. When the two guards behind regrouped with them,the lich was already casting another spell. It unleashed a torrent of green flames on the intruders, which was blocked by yet another wall of light. The golden robes of the priest shone as if they were a wall too.

Wait, golden robes? If i remember well, this priest is part of the church of order. In this church golden robes are reserved to high ranked VIP. Which mean this guy isn't your average priest. He's probably at least a high priest, maybe even more. And just to prove me right he casted the high tier spell "Light domain". The ground in a radius of five meter around him shone gently as the undeads on it started melting. The wounds of the crusaders slowly healed, their eyes filled with a new determination. They pushed back the undead as best as they could, waiting for an opening to make a run for it. The lich seem to have understanded that as it sent all the lesser undeads around to block their escape. After a few minutes , the circle faded. The undead mage took the opportunity and threw a volleey of green flame bolts at the priest. He casted another wall of light. The living's situation started to look dire. The priest couldn't heal his men and block the oncoming projectiles at the same time, which lead to his guards slowly but surely losing their stamina and pile up small wounds. The fight became a battle of attrition where either the lower undeads would be wiped or the crusaders would run out of energy. And considering the number of roaming undeads here, the lich had the advantage.

And my left paw is already all bones! I need to get that priest out of here!

But what do i do ? How can i help them face legions of undeads while i'm just a cat?

The priest casted another light domain. Wait... if he can melt the mass of lower zombies and skeletons, couldn't he deal damage to the lich? If so, he'd only need an opening. That i can do!

I started making my way through the legions of undeads, none of them even paying attention to me. Their perception was already pretty low, but now that they are focused on the crusaders, i could take a leak on their face and they still wouldn't notice me. There are three meters left between me and the lich. The next one will be a gamble, will it be to focused on the fight or will it see me ? My stealth is triggering, I can hear my heart beat faster at every step. I'm in range now. I only have one chance. He started casting.

3 2 1 Go!

My back legs pushed me with all the strenght my body could muster. I flew right in the lich's face, distrupting the spell and clawing brutally at it's face.

A clear hit! Your target suffer 28 sharp damage. Your target's spell was disrupted.

The flames in the lich's hand dissipated as it turned it's angered gaze on me.

Black cat's curse and lich's curse reduced your opponent luck under the minimum amount, great misfortune will befal them.

What? Wait negative luck? I knew turning into a lich cursed your charisma, but also your luck? Immortality really is expensive!

Now one might wonder what "great misfortune" means. Well a good exemple would be hiting yourself with a spell or triggering a destructive entropy. It could also be walking on a long forgotten landmine during a stroll in the woods. But it can also be simpler like what happened to the lich. It tripped. And fell down the stairs, receiving a small amount of blunt damage at each step. Finnaly when came the last stair, it tried to get up, completely unaware that a skeleton in plated armor was in front of it, and smashed it's skull on one of it's pauldrons. It then reeled randomly trying to grab onto something. And it did. It grabbed the shield of one of the crusaders. Which slamed it into it's face. The lich fell again, and during all that chaos couldn't notice the chant.

On the other hand, the priest used the opportunity and casted a fully charged holly smite on the lich.

Your target has been smited! Your opponent suffers 1756 holy damage. Your opponent is dead.

Congratulations, you are now a lvl 28 Black cat STR +6 END +7 VIT +5 AGI +18 DEX +9 PER +8 INT +2 CHR +2 LCK +6

You have unlocked new skills: Natural weapons(Specie: Cat), Stalk(Specie: Cat), Curse perception(Specie: Black Cat).

You have unlocked new perks: Curse affinity(low)(Specie: Black Cat)

That's unfair! I had to summon demons and bargain with them to get curse affinity in my previous life. And now you tell me that a black cat get it by leveling. That's too much!

Wait, I wasn't there to level up. I need to go ask the priest for help. And he is still surrounded by undeads.