Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Lich, Caslay
Caslay Lichmond.
Appearing around episode 50 of the main story as an early-mid villain, he was the Lich Lord who drove the protagonist and his party into crisis in Chapter 1, the Second Heaven-Demon Great War.
Caslay, who modified his body into a lich to transcend human limitations, lived for hundreds of years and managed to break through what's called the ultimate of magic, 9th Class.
And with that power recognized, he was appointed as one of the vanguard commanders on the demon realm's side, and achieved the remarkable feat of destroying a medium-sized nation in the early stages of the Second Heaven-Demon Great War, making him quite an impressive villain to readers of .
Because his early impact was so strong, readers frequently compared the power of villains appearing in the middle and late parts of the series to Caslay.
'And that's how he earned the nickname ‘Caslay the Battle Power Measurer’!'
Of course, as moves into its middle section, absurd settings like 10th Class and even 11th Class magic eventually appear.
But at least until right before the Second Heaven-Demon Great War, a 9th Class grand magician could easily be mentioned as one of the continent's strongest beings, exuding an untouchable presence.
In other words, at this moment before the main story begins, Caslay can display the majesty befitting his epithet, ‘Caslay the Battle Power Measurer’!
'Come to think of it, Adi, this bastard said the magician who created this dungeon was from about 500 years ago.'
And he didn't specifically say that the magician had died.
When I first heard those words from Adi, I naturally thought, of course, that the magician would have died long ago, and felt relieved.
'So this guy was that guy?'
To think I'd be backstabbed like this!
'Then is this Caslay's life force vessel?'
Caslay clearly said the dungeon's core, the blood magic stone, was his heart.
The only weakness of the immortal lich.
If I could destroy this, I could eliminate one of the formidable obstacles blocking the protagonist's party with my own hands, but...
'What good would that do? I'm about to die anyway!'
Death Incantation: Certain Kill.
Also known as 'Power Word Kill,' an absolute spell.
As a grand magic belonging to the 9th Class, it was a spell that lower beings couldn't even resist.
Even the protagonist Abel couldn't find a way to counter this magic and had to avoid Caslay in the early stages. It was only after obtaining a holy artifact of the God of Life that nullified instant death and curse spells that he could finally defeat Caslay.
And right now, Rudian doesn't have such a cheat item like the holy artifact of the God of Life.
'Damn, so this is how I die.'
While Rudian was giving up resistance and resigning himself to his fate...
-Huh?
Only when Caslay's dumbfounded voice echoed in his ears did Rudian realize that something strange was happening.
-H-how is my Power Word Kill...?
"...?"
-W-what are you? Are you possibly one of the divine race?
Caslay was visibly flustered.
'If I were of the divine race, I'd be doing 720-degree somersaults in the air, going crazy with joy.'
If I were of the divine race, I wouldn't have come to a place like this in the first place.
But the truth was that I wasn't dead and was perfectly fine.
"I'm... Not dead?"
Considering the incredibly intense energy erupting from the blood magic stone, the spell itself must have been successfully cast.
-Eek! Death Incantation: Certain Kill.!
Caslay gritted his teeth and deployed the word once more, but if there was no reaction the first time, why would there be one the second time?
-T-this can't be!
After observing Rudian for a while, Caslay finally realized why his spell wasn't working and was shocked.
-D-divine-grade protection spell! You must be one of the divine race!
The divine race nonsense was clearly wrong, but Rudian had a hunch.
'Was this your doing?'
Didn't Adi say he had protective abilities for his Master?
-Yes, Master.
Adi calmly bobbed his eyeball up and down in affirmation.
-When that guy dared to cast a low-grade curse on my Master, I blocked it. Even with limited functionality, I know how to do at least this much!
"......"
A 9th Class instant death spell is low-grade?
-Why are you reacting like that? I'm quite a useful artificial intelligence!
Adi wiggled his tentacles, trying to appeal his usefulness to Rudian.
It seemed Adi had misunderstood Rudian's stiff expression as thinking he could only do this much, but...
'To think he could nullify the trump card of the great Caslay Lichmond!'
A divine-grade power level was something that couldn't be ignored even in The. Chro. Seven.
This guy, how strong would he become once he regains his full functionality?
Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps.
-You! Stay right where you are! I'll open a dimensional gate and come to you right now!
While Rudian was momentarily hesitating, estimating Adi's capabilities, Caslay's angry voice emanated from the blood magic stone.
Coming to his senses, Rudian tilted his head and pouted his lips.
"...Why should I?"
I wonder if Mr. Caslay understands the concept of power dynamics?
Rudian firmly gripped the handle of his combat hammer with both hands.
"You said this blood magic stone itself is quite fragile, right?"
-Yes, you can definitely destroy it.
Sure enough, seeing Rudian raise his hammer toward the blood magic stone, Caslay's voice began to noticeably tremble.
-L-let's make a deal! If you spare my life, I'll give you everything you want!
"What do I want? Your life."
-A-anything but my life! What do you need? I'll give you all my treasures! I'll even pass on all the magical knowledge I've accumulated over hundreds of years!
Treasures and magical knowledge.
It was certainly a tempting offer.
But who would be stupid enough to take such a face-saving proposal at face value when facing a 9th Class grand magician?
"I decline. One of the things this Rudian enjoys most... Is saying 'No' to guys like you!"
At Rudian's cold rejection, Caslay began screaming like a madman and calling for his Death Knight.
-Aaaaagh! Simir! Kill this bastard right away! Hurry!
"I'll smash you to pieces faster than that Simir can arrive."
Rudian gripped the handle so tightly that prominent veins showed on the back of his hand.
Then, quoting the famous line of a certain hammer king, he shouted loudly:
"Caslay Lichmond! Become light!"
-N-no! My ambition! My wish!
Regardless of whatever Caslay was blabbering about, Rudian swung the hammer with all his might, ignoring any recoil.
CRACK!
With this soul-infused strike, the ominously glowing surface of the blood magic stone immediately distorted.
And simultaneously, the heavy iron mass at the hammer's end broke through the surface of the blood magic stone, giving him an incredible feeling of satisfaction.
Lion Hearts shouted with joy seeing this scene.
"W-we did it!"
"Ooooooh!"
As the blood magic stone shattered, the room was filled with mixed emotions of joy and despair.
ARGHHHH!
And the Death Knight let out an agonizing scream, clutching his bare skull.
BANG!
The Death Knight, showing signs of intense pain to the point of throwing away the holy sword in his hand, began to disintegrate following his contractor Caslay, who was starting to vanish after losing his life force vessel.
-My lord...
The Death Knight spoke these final words before disappearing.
SWOOSH!
'Huh? What's this?'
But Rudian, the very person who had smashed the blood magic stone, frowned at the strange situation that followed.
Suddenly, a sticky energy began flowing from the shattered remains of the blood magic stone.
And for some reason, instead of dispersing outward, this energy was flowing directly toward him.
At the same time, a hologram window different from the status window appeared before Rudian's eyes.
-You have acquired the essence of a superior blood magic stone.
-Your physical abilities will increase significantly.
-You have gained 20 magic.
What?
***
As I mentioned earlier.
Rudian, who had become a resident of The. Chro. Seven., had previously gone through all sorts of extreme efforts to obtain one of this world's powers known as Talent.
Magic!
The most common ability, but one that's difficult even to begin learning without talent.
Of course, all abilities depend on talent, but magic was the most conventional and orthodox power that Rudian could aim for.
But Rudian had no talent for magic.
Magic stat 0.
Essentially the main reason why Rudian had decided to seclude himself in the mountains until the ending.
Trapped in the illusion of becoming an aura user, Rudian had wasted quite a long time continuing his 'futile efforts' in the name of training, and it took him quite some time to accept the verdict that his body lacked the talent to accumulate magic.
He had experienced much frustration and despair.
But now.
-Name: Rudian
-Age: 17
-Title: Offspring of House Iskar
-Strength: 15
-Agility: 12
-Vitality: 12
-Magic: 20
-Total Combat Power: 425
'I really got magic!'
A refreshing power flowing through his veins!
Wasn't one of the reasons he endured all kinds of mistreatment by tagging along with knights' training and performing servant duties for Calline precisely to obtain this magic!
Of course, accumulating magic and utilizing it are separate issues, but compared to the dog's life he'd led all these years, this is hardly a problem.
'Just by destroying Caslay's life force vessel, I could gain magic!'
But separately, another question arose.
'But the amount of magic gained seems too small?'
This shattered blood magic stone is 500 years old.
The reason the Death Knight displayed invincible power overwhelming thirty knights was because it received nearly infinite magic from this object.
Yet this 20 magic that he gained was numerically much lower than even the average knights of Lion Hearts.
At that moment, Adi resolved Rudian's doubt.
-Hmm, as expected, the absorption rate is very low. Master, may I recover the remaining energy before it disperses?
'Huh? What do you mean by low absorption rate?'
-I filtered the negative dimensional magic dispersing from the blood magic stone and had my Master absorb it. The absorption rate is about 8% level.
'Filter? Why did you do that?'
-Obviously because this energy isn't magic but magic energy. If you had absorbed it all, the digit of magic you'd gain would be different, but I didn't think you wanted to become a demon race just to gain power, so I applied a filter at my discretion.
'Ah.'
Was it because I was too happy that I lost my reason?
Only after Adi's explanation did Rudian realize that he had missed a very basic fact.
Of course, if he had become something like a demon race in a place like this, he didn't need to imagine what kind of ending would await him.
After all, the early part of The. Chro. Seven. was all about the protagonist smashing the heads of demons spread across the continent!
'I-I almost got seriously screwed.'
Even without going as far as the protagonist, he could have been beaten to death by the knights right in front of him, including Derrick, and actually died for real.
"Rudian, you..."
"Ah, huh?"
At that moment, Rudian noticed the Lion Hearts knights who had already finished handling the situation were approaching him, and he broke out in a cold sweat.
Though he hadn't done anything wrong yet, if it weren't for Adi, those knights might have actually ended his life, so he couldn't help but feel intimidated with cold sweat.
And they could've directly seen the situation of him absorbing magic energy.
But fortunately, the situation Rudian worried about didn't happen.
THUMP!
"Well done, man."
"We survived thanks to you."
"...!"
Whether they were pretending not to see or truly didn't notice, the Lion Hearts knights began patting Rudian's shoulder lightly with bright expressions, expressing their gratitude.
'What's going on?'
Especially Derrick, the leader of the knights, seemed to highly appreciate Rudian's quick thinking, even promising to give him a great reward once they returned.
-I concealed it appropriately.
When Adi received Rudian's bewildered gaze, he proudly wiggled his tentacles and puffed up with pride.