Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Ancient Lich, Skeval (4)
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I’ve lived for hundreds of years.
It was a life built on discarding countless things.
The human body was too frail for pursuing truth. So I cast it aside. Once I shed my flesh, all that remained were bones woven from mana.
It was satisfying.
I discarded even more unnecessary things. The more I let go, the closer truth felt within reach. The further I strayed from humanity, the nearer I drew to the stars.
Yet I could never quite touch it.
No matter how much I discarded, truth remained elusive.
At that point, I looked around.
I saw obstacles blocking my path.
This time, I decided to clear them away.
The magecraft I had amassed over centuries in pursuit of truth, I now turned to destruction.
A kingdom fell.
In the ruins of what was once my homeland, reduced to ashes overnight, I burst into laughter. Toppling the kingdom where I was born and raised had been that easy.
So easy.
Nothing could have been simpler.
Mages who hadn’t even lived a full century were never my equals to begin with. My true foes were always the warriors. The superhumans called masters of the sword—they were the threats.
Threatening, yes.
But not unbeatable.
After facing them a few times, I learned the knack. I mastered how to deal with warriors. And at that moment, I thought:
‘No one can stop me.’
It was the truth.
The ancient dragon’s mages were bound by contracts, unable to touch those aligned with the shadows. My only rivals might be the black dragon, the heretic, or the blade of death... but...
They already belonged to the same shadowed domain as I.
What remained was simple.
Just sweep away everything blocking the path to truth.
That should have been it.
-Creeeak!
My skull rattled.
Skeval’s dark gaze wavered.
‘Why.’
Why did it keep appearing?
Every time truth seemed within grasp, every time the stars drew near, it always showed up.
As if maintaining balance on a scale.
Something always blocked the way to level the field.
-The path you walk is wrong, Skeval.
-What do you know of me, of my anything?
-I respect your pursuit of truth. But mages have taboos. Do not cross them, Skeval.
Voices echoed in my ears.
I recalled the mage with ash-gray hair and beastly yellow eyes looking down at me.
-I warn you, Skeval.
-If you cross that line...
The ash-gray elf spoke.
-Everything of yours will turn to ash.
Skeval’s black eyes fixed straight ahead.
At the end of that gaze stood a mage. Skeval saw the mana rising from the mage’s body.
It was ash-gray.
The mage approached, trailing gray dust.
‘Ash-gray.’
The detestable ash-gray blocked my path once more.
2.
Ancient Lich Skeval.
This legendary ancient scholar of magecraft knew how to handle warriors. The famed warriors he had buried on battlefields could form mountains and fill seas.
‘Dealing with warriors isn’t hard.’
True, they were dangerous up close. But Skeval never let them get close in the first place.
He upheaved the earth.
He lined up spells to lay traps.
No matter how skilled the warrior, none could break through dozens of Skeval’s spells barehanded.
‘Warriors’ resistances aren’t that high to begin with.’
Resistance to spells couldn’t be boosted by tempering the body. Unless they had a “special” physique like the Hero, warriors’ defenses against Skeval were paper-thin.
‘They can slash away external spells, counter them.’
But what about spells that gripped from within?
Unlike Skeval, who had forsaken flesh, the human body was bound by frailties.
No heart, no life.
Burst eyes, no sight.
Skeval knew how to counter warriors too. Save for the blade of death, Ganikalt, no warrior could beat him one-on-one.
‘...That should be the case.’
Skeval swung his hand.
A spell completed in an instant.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Bone-Grave Bone shards erupted from the ground in a frenzy!
The surging bone spears blocked the path.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Rebuild The ground sank deep. Trees were uprooted wholesale. The terrain itself was rebuilt to deny approach.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Swamp The rebuilt ground turned to mire. No proper leap was possible. With this setup, no warrior could approach.
If the foe was a pure warrior, that is.
But this opponent wasn’t.
She was a mage, like him.
“...”
Thud. Ash-gray kicked off the ground. The moment her foot touched the swampy surface, her stocked spells released in sequence.
⚙ SPELL COUNTER ⚙ Rebuild The ground reverted to normal. The swamp had burned away the instant her foot landed, hardening solid.
The bone spears?
A mere swing of her fist shattered them with a deafening crash. They couldn’t hold for even a second.
She closed in again.
As ash-gray approached right before his eyes, Skeval reached out. He unleashed the spell that had buried countless warriors.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Grasp The mana spell lunged for her heart.
Spotting it, ash-gray reached out. She seized Skeval’s Grasp and snapped it aside.
The spell unraveled.
Bones screamed in agony.
He rebuilt the spell from scratch amid the onslaught. Skeval’s protective barrier groaned under the blows. Cracks began to form.
‘...My ways against warriors don’t work.’
Because his opponent was a mage like him.
...And how to fight a mage?
Nothing could be more absurd than asking Skeval that. Of course he knew. Better than anyone.
Steal their circuits.
Counter with superior spells to cancel theirs.
He put his knowledge into practice.
Skeval’s black eyes flashed. He read the circuits of the spells raging before him.
He seized the mana flow.
Tried to hijack it.
Whoosh.
But his grasp closed on empty air.
Nothing was caught.
Krunch!
Another shock rattled Skeval’s skull.
‘Can’t hijack it.’
The spell manifested before he could. No room to intervene. The activation was utterly unique.
No circuits drawn.
No mana channeled into circuits.
She simply drew forth the completed spell. Like a swordsman unsheathing from the hip, a martial artist swinging a fist—as natural as a body part.
...Then, counter with superior spells?
Skeval stared ahead.
A fist swung. The spell packed into the warping air was plain.
⚡ SMASH ⚡ ⚡ SMITE ⚡ Basic, straightforward spells.
Creeeak!
No fitting counterspell in sight.
The impact lifted his body into the air. A follow-up slammed him back down. Suddenly, a hand filled his vision.
Krunch!
His skull was gripped. Ash-gray dragged it along the ground as she ran. Dirt sprayed. Skeval reached out an arm.
⚡ SMITE ⚡ But her spell struck first.
His pulverized arm spun through the air. Ash-gray kept running, hammering spells relentlessly.
Smite, smite, smite.
Shocks wracked his body without end. His vision shook. His arm creaked, ribs snapped and tumbled across the ground.
‘It doesn’t stop.’
He couldn’t seize the rhythm.
Skeval shielded his Life Vessel within his skull as best he could. As long as it endured, his bones could regenerate.
Crack.
But even that wouldn’t last long, he knew.
⚡ SMASH ⚡ BOOM!
A roar echoed as Skeval’s body smashed into the ground and bounced. Ash-gray snatched him mid-air and slammed him down again.
Crack, craaaack!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the barrier protecting his skull.
While it held, Skeval rebuilt spells. He fired them off. But his foe was a mage like him.
She countered with superior spells.
Captured and shot his down.
Slower ones he dodged with a tilt of the head or twist of the body.
All the while, that hand gripped his skull. Her fingers pried into the barrier’s cracks.
Screeech, screeeeech.
The barrier tore.
“Ha.”
Skeval laughed.
‘Nothing.’
No countermeasures came to mind.
He knew how to fight warriors.
He knew how to fight mages.
Yet...
Against this Battle Mage who embodied both, Skeval found no answer.
What then?
Skeval assessed the situation.
‘No escaping alive from here anyway.’
He was certain.
‘Death doesn’t matter.’
Losing the Life Vessel was a huge loss. But if it was to be lost, expend it efficiently.
“Balance.”
Skeval was a mage too.
Mages always sought efficiency. Cracks formed in his joints. Black sludge oozed out.
“...!”
At the sludge, ash-gray released her grip.
Kicked his body away.
Airborne, Skeval continued.
“I trade.”
⚙ BALANCE ⚙ -The price. “My lifespan.”
⚙ BALANCE ⚙ -State your desire, mage. Skeval’s eyes gleamed.
“Waves.”
“Manifest a spell with the mana oversaturated here. I want waves to swallow this forest.”
⚙ BALANCE ⚙ -Measuring the price. Skeval’s lifespan weighed on the Balance.
It gauged the amount. Ninety percent of it rose onto the scale.
“Trade.”
Mages traded with the stars.
As needed, they placed anything on the Balance.
Even their own lifespan.
3.
“Hah...”
I paused for a moment.
Something was spreading from Skeval’s body. For a split second, I glimpsed starlight.
‘...Balance.’
Mana condensed around Skeval’s body. It didn’t take long to realize where the massive amount came from.
‘Mana spring.’
The mana saturated in this area.
I didn’t know how to wield it. Not just me—even Skeval probably didn’t.
But ignorance didn’t mean no way to use it.
‘A Balance trade.’
I didn’t know the cost. I estimated in my head.
‘Lifespan—if I used it... about a year.’
A year would let me do more than Skeval. But I knew the backlash of wagering lifespan.
‘Not keen on repeating that.’
Once was enough.
“...”
I silently watched.
A black barrier was condensing around Skeval, forming a dark hemisphere.
If that burst...
‘...Aphria’s gone, for starters.’
Even accounting for the capital’s defenses, nearby Aphria would be obliterated.
I had to stop it.
I narrowed my eyes at the black sphere engulfing Skeval.
I read the mana flow.
Calculated its intensity, the spell’s direction.
Trades with the stars allowed anything. But byproducts weren’t always perfect.
“Figures.”
A gap existed, as expected.
I spotted the spell’s flaw.
I walked toward Skeval. With each step, ash-gray mana scattered.
Chin.
I pressed my palm to the barrier. It sizzled against my skin. I pushed harder.
“Goddamn, this shit’s always so unfair.”
Fights with Demon King’s Army goons were always like this.
Exhausting, battling bastards who hid one ace up their sleeve.
“Some fucker sacrifices a lifespan once and spends years wheezing... meanwhile...”
These demon shits treat lifespan like a kamikaze fuel. They don’t even die proper. Always got spare lives or bodies tucked away, then offer ’em up.
“Thinking about it, it’s fucking infuriating.”
What can you do?
Not like I’m becoming a lich. Just gotta roll with it. I gave a bitter smile and raised a finger.
Sizzle.
My finger pierced the barrier’s gap, burrowing into the black mass. Half my arm shoved in, my fingertips finally found purchase.
“Hey.”
Skeval’s skull.
Gripping it, I tensed my fingers. My left hand braced my right arm. I propped my foot against the barrier.
“Lately I’ve been kinda down, realizing my class has no fucking roots?”
Rootless class.
Let’s be real—Battle Mage has no solid foundation. If they’d planned it as a proper class, it’d be more defined.
‘Fucking throws you into a class with zero heads-up.’
Should’ve asked the creator first, right?
Anyway, even as Battle Mage’s creator...
“Fuck, I’m a Wizard.”
I’m a Wizard.
The rooted class that pops first when you think mage—main attribute magic.
“A guy needs some roots, y’know.”
With that, I jammed my fingers into Skeval’s eye sockets. The barrier around his skull was already cracked from accumulated damage.
Crunch.
Shattering the barrier, thumb and middle finger plunged inside. Gripping through the skull, I opened my mouth.
“So, time to end this with some roots.”
Ash No new ash formed. The ash I’d scattered while running gathered. It coiled my arm, slipped between my fingers into Skeval’s sockets.
‘Folks misunderstand a lot.’
I was a Wizard from the roots up.
The Ashen Mage Tower even held my signature flame spell—pure Wizard stock.
Why scatter mana remnants while dashing?
All for this one spell.
Ignite Tik.
A tiny spark flew inside Skeval’s skull.
Tik, tick-tick-tick.
The spark fed on my mana remnants coating the interior and blazed. It caught on the ash. Burned.
Fwoosh.
Soon, the spark became flames.
Fierce flames licked like serpents’ tongues. The skull could no longer contain them. Fire spilled from Skeval’s sockets.
Crackle, crackle-crackle!
The overflowing flames devoured the mana Skeval had condensed. They grew larger. From a spark, it became an inferno swallowing the black barrier.
Crackle-crackle!
The flames didn’t burn my skin.
Fire consumed mana. Using it as fuel, they raged. I withdrew my hand from the barrier.
Pop!
Flames trailed from my fingertips.
Clung to thumb and middle finger like a fuse. Raising my hand, I watched.
I pressed thumb and middle together.
Fingers stocked with Ash and Ignite.
I rubbed them.
The completed spell took a wholly different form.
Snap—flicked my fingers.
The spell glowed.
"Ashes to Ashes" ⟨ Ashes to Ashes ⟩
A flash blazed.
4.
Some say it.
Before Ancient Lich Skeval, in that instant, a mage’s lifetime is denied.
It’s truly so.
Before a magecraft scholar of centuries, the lifelong works of countless mages are mere sandcastles.
Yet here stands one mage.
She walks no common path. Her foundations differ. She dismisses centuries in a heartbeat.
Such a one the world calls not genius.
‘Monster.’
Skeval beheld the monster before him.
Heat searing his skull-mind shook his gaze. Through the shimmering haze, he saw her.
She snapped her fingers.
The spell transmitted along the flames like a fuse.
No need to read it.
The result was clear.
"Ashes to Ashes" ⟨ Ashes to Ashes ⟩
A flash erupted.
The slow-burning flames exploded in an instant. Explosive heat roasted Skeval’s skull.
Flames reached the Life Vessel.
As his brain cooked in the blaze, the ancient lich thought.
Ash-gray.
Those two words filled his mind.
“Ha.”
The ancient lich felt it.
His centuries denied.
“...Goddamn ash-gray.”
Flames engulfed Skeval.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Author's Note
I tried writing a whole chapter as pure battle scene!
Packed it tight—8,000 characters including spaces!
Wonder if there was a cooler way to stage it... but...
Hope you enjoyed it :D
*Balance's price is relative.
Skeval has multiple lives. His lifespan weighs heavy on the scale... but not as precious as Raniel's would be.