Help Me?
"Help me? How? A dungeon isn't easy to restore. It takes a considerable fortune, real effort, and time."
Even as she said it, a faint look of expectation crossed her face. Manuela knew just how strong Yujun was.
"To start with, how many dungeons do you own?"
"Four more, in the Demon Realm alone."
"And their scale?"
"All about the same."
"All four of them are on this level?"
"Yeah."
"You're a pure-blooded witch, aren't you?"
"Huh? How'd you know that? Humans don't usually know that much."
"I heard it somewhere. You said restoring a dungeon takes time and effort, right? Then what would it take to make one like the Source of Mana?"
"The Source of Mana isn't something I can create just because I feel like it. I took terrain that formed on its own and remade it into a dungeon."
"You can't restore what was already there?"
"No……. It's already gone. Because of you."
"Sorry."
"Well, forget it. It's in the past. So how are you planning to help me?"
She seemed caught on the promise that the damage would be made right—and no wonder. When the loss was that great, anyone would want it undone.
"Use my strength. The fact that I'm human ought to help draw the demons' eyes, too."
"You're saying you'll play bait?"
"That, and I'll turn the dungeon into an impregnable fortress."
"Impregnable? How?"
"By being in the dungeon myself."
"……."
"You can't intervene in a dungeon directly, can you?"
"No. The most I can do is rearrange the layout or control the monsters. I can't step out and fight the demons myself."
"But I can."
"I know you're strong, but you're not invincible. If word gets around that this is some impregnable dungeon, every powerful fighter out there will come looking. You really think you can handle all of them?"
"Yeah."
"Even if you beat every strong one, the worse the dungeon's infamy gets, the more demons will show up. What about the aftermath?"
"I'll just stay until then."
"……For real?"
"Yeah."
Manuela's face brightened.
"Still, wouldn't it be a little strange for a human to play monster in a Demon Realm dungeon?"
"Mm. I've got a good idea for that."
"Huh?"
"Wait a moment."
Yujun rummaged through his inventory for quite a long time. At last he found an item and drew it out.
◈ Option: Consume the candy to become undead. Duration: 30 days.
An Undead Transformation Candy—an event item from the second Halloween anniversary. Eat it, and you could turn into an undead monster.
What made it peculiar was that the form you took wasn't fixed. Not quite random, either. Depending on a character's stats, skills, and traits, you became a different undead.
As he was now, it was fair to say he had reached the peak of both magic and Swordsmanship. There was no telling what kind of undead he would become.
"What's that?"
"You'll see."
Yujun swallowed the candy at once. Searing heat flooded his body, and he began to change.
"Ngh……."
It hurt far more than he had expected. Still, he could endure it. Becoming a player had given him more than physical strength; his mind had grown sturdier as well.
The Equanimity trait, most likely.
The transformation ended. Yujun lifted his arm and looked at it—a gaunt limb of nothing but bone. He felt strangely shabby. His build hadn't shrunk; his height and his skeleton were exactly as before. Everything but the bones had simply vanished.
You have temporarily become a Lich Lord!
Magic stat increased by 300%.
Physical stats decreased by 20%.
You may revive from death exactly once.
Yujun's eyes went wide.
For a mere event item, weren't the effects absurdly good? He may have become an undead whose looks left much to be desired, but gaining another life was enormous. The jump in his Magic stat was insane as well, and the drop in his physical stats didn't sting much. For a lich, it was hardly a steep fall.
"Wh-what is that?"
Do Jiyun, silent until now, cried out in shock. She wasn't the only one. Paranet, undead to his very bones, let his jaw drop.
The witch Manuela spoke.
"How did you do that?"
"An item."
"You've become a lich?"
"Yeah. Not for good, though. It's temporary. After a set time, I'll go back to how I was."
"An item like that exists? How does it even work?"
"How would I know."
"I've always prided myself on there being almost nothing I don't know…… This is incredible."
Do Jiyun came closer.
"Mr. Yujun. This……."
"Yes. That's right. An event item."
"How do you even have something like that?"
"I happened to get it."
"……Event items exist in the first place? Weren't they only in the game?"
"I thought so too. Turns out they aren't."
"……."
Do Jiyun studied him with suspicion in her eyes. Yujun looked away.
"Well? An undead monster in a Demon Realm dungeon isn't strange, is it?"
"No. Dungeons with a lich aren't exactly rare."
"Then it's settled."
"You can just stay like that, with no restrictions at all?"
"Yeah."
"But your armor disappeared."
"It's only invisible on the outside. The effects are still applied."
"How is that even possible? It's not as if there's perception-dampening magic on it……."
"I told you, I don't know."
"……Fine. For now."
"Now then—shall we recruit some adventurers? No. Some demons."
"I'm in."
Manuela nodded.
A storm swept through the Demon Realm.
There had never been peaceful days to begin with—constant contests of strength saw to that—but this time was different. Near the outskirts of the Kingdom of Pleta, a dungeon of tremendous difficulty had been discovered.
They called it the Lich Lord's Dungeon.
It had become widely known only a week ago. In that short span a great many demons challenged it and lost their lives, and with every death the dungeon's fame spread farther still.
"This the place?"
Another band of demons had come to challenge the Lich Lord's Dungeon. This time it was an expedition led by a demon who held the title of count—a level utterly removed from everyone who had tried the dungeon before.
Count Yotan had even asked his close friend, Count Ortega, to serve as a mercenary. Ortega was a powerhouse of the Demon Realm in his own right, and he loved seeking out famous dungeons so much that he readily granted the request.
"From the outside, it doesn't look like much of a dungeon."
"You're telling me. Places like this are usually a dime a dozen."
Yotan agreed with Ortega, then spoke again.
"Have you familiarized yourself with what we know about this dungeon?"
"More or less. I heard a lich lord is master of the place. And that there's a powerful Death Knight armed with fine gear?"
"There's also a lich who mainly uses fire magic."
"What? I hadn't heard that. You mean there are two liches?"
Yotan nodded.
"Two liches, yes. But one is a lich lord, and the other is a lich. You can't set the two on the same level."
"No other undead monsters?"
"That's the peculiar part. Not a single soul who made it out alive has seen any monster besides those three."
"An elite dungeon, then."
"Something like that."
Elite dungeon. It wasn't an official name. Now and then a dungeon appeared in which only a handful of elite monsters showed themselves—creatures on an entirely different plane from the ordinary kind—and demons called such places elite dungeons. Difficult as they were to clear, the rewards were especially fine.
"An elite dungeon. I like the sound of that."
"Finding a place like this isn't easy. That it still hasn't been cleared is a great stroke of luck for us."
"That's because you moved quickly."
"Keheheh. Flattery again."
Ortega and Yotan were already excited, as if they had cleared the dungeon. Small wonder. Neither of them had ever failed a clear. They were not counts for nothing.
In the Demon Realm, the grade of a noble title was as good as a measure of martial power. Two demons who held the rank of count could, in a sense, be counted among the realm's foremost strengths. And it was not only the two counts making the attempt. Most of Ortega's and Yotan's subordinate demons were high-ranking or above. There was almost nowhere a force of that caliber could not clear, and so the expedition stepped into the dungeon without much worry.
"Quieter than I expected."
"There are hardly any monsters. They say it's just the three undead."
"Then isn't this too easy?"
"If it were, a fair number of warriors wouldn't have ended up as cold corpses here. Don't let your guard down."
"Setting out on an expedition of this size is unusual in itself, so it must be dangerous."
The demons advanced, holding to a measured tension. The interior was silent—so silent that not even the ordinary cry of a monster could be heard.
About ten minutes had passed since the expedition set foot inside.
"Gyaaaaah—!"
"S-save me!"
Screams rang out from nearby. Perhaps because the dungeon took the shape of a cave, they echoed all the more wretchedly.
"What was that?"
"The demons who went in ahead of us, I'd say."
"Weren't they fairly strong? Looks like they failed."
The expedition was not greatly shaken. This was a famous dungeon, the recent talk of the realm, and earlier arrivals were nothing strange. Demons dying in the middle of a clear was hardly a rare event, and most of them took it lightly.
The two counts did not.
Ortega's face hardened.
"This mana……."
"Yes. No ordinary lich lord."
A wave of mana reached even here, and its intensity was considerable—enough to sting the flesh though it had not yet touched them. Yotan and Ortega each drew their weapons, Yotan a massive saber and Ortega an ash-gray gauntlet, and the two of them broke into a run.
Ahead, demon corpses were piled into a mountain. Those who had died in this area alone seemed to number in the hundreds—thousands, even.
"Worse than we expected, it seems."
"Then don't hold back from the start. Fight."
"He's hardly someone I'd go easy on."
Yotan let out a short laugh and poured mana into his saber.
Vwooom. Vwooom—.
The moment that immense mana filled it, the blade shuddered violently.
"Wait. How about we test his skill with our subordinates first?"
"Is there any need to be that cautious? Two counts are stepping in……."
"Even so, it's easier to face him once we know what he is. If, by some chance, the lich lord has a troublesome ability, this will become a serious nuisance."
"Hmph. Very well."
KRA-KOOM! KRAK-KOOM!
It happened in that instant. Magic cast by the lich lord swept away the demons who had arrived first and were already locked in battle—a powerful lightning spell, fierce enough to chill the spines of the two counts watching from a distance. If hundreds of lightning spells detonated all at once, would it feel like this?
The two looked at each other at the same time.
"This……."
"A dangerous one."