227. The '?????' of Hellfire
227. The '?????' of Hellfire
***
"...If we run into the Arch Lich, it'd be a perfect way to wrap things up."
Serin spoke calmly, but even as she walked through the temple interior, she couldn't help feeling puzzled.
She had already been hunting inside this temple for quite a long time.
Along the way, she'd encountered countless monsters that had supposedly received the Arch Lich's buff, yet there was no sign of the Arch Lich itself—the very source of that buff.
Checking the time, she saw that evening had already arrived.
7:05 p.m.
She'd been hunting for over two hours now.
Between dealing with the colorful variety of monsters throughout the temple and chatting with viewers here and there, she'd lost track of time even while streaming.
"Thirty more minutes. I'll look around for exactly thirty more minutes, and if I don't run into the Arch Lich, I'll end the stream."
Serin floated the idea as a way to start wrapping up the stream.
[Thirty minutes seems about right]
[Today's hunting was really packed]
[Watching Rin hunt, it does seem like she'd get tired fast]
[Should I say she enjoys the blade's edge? It's fun to watch, but Rin probably gets worn out]
[No way, soloing the Ancient Temple for even an hour would be exhausting lolol]
[The Arch Lich is the main point, but are we not gonna see it?]
[It's normally a hard monster to run into, but this is kinda much]
[It's basically this dungeon's boss, so it's normally hard to see]
[At this point, isn't the Arch Lich avoiding Rin lol?]
[If I were the Arch Lich, maybe I would lolololol]
[Still, no loot as eye-catching as that first Death Knight]
The chat reactions were favorable and mostly satisfied, so Serin moved with a light heart.
After two hours of constantly clashing with monsters and showing off her hidden class skills, she was feeling quite satisfied.
No special monster like the first Death Knight had appeared after that, so she hadn't been able to keep demonstrating powerful skills, but she'd still used plenty of them.
Full Moon Dance. Moon Kick, New Moon, Moonlit Threads, Moonlight Heaven-Breaking, Moonlit Mirror of All Under Heaven, and so on.
Even the viewers who'd been curious about the hidden class seemed satisfied, which made her feel proud.
......
Another twenty minutes passed like that.
Inside the temple, every step revealed a new space, and Rin, who had been quickly dispatching the monsters she encountered, suddenly let out a hollow laugh.
Checking the time, the thirty minutes she'd mentioned were approaching.
"Looks like it really isn't going to show."
By now, Serin was growing convinced that she wouldn't see the Arch Lich today.
There were days like that—days when nothing went right.
Whether in a game or in reality, days when nothing went the way you wanted.
Maybe today's Arch Lich would be the same, and it just wouldn't appear.
She felt that even if she hunted for several more hours, she'd have a hard time running into it.
"And honestly, I also messed up my pacing yesterday during the Cave of Trials. And today, knowingly or not, I prepared a lot for the stream."
Even as she spoke to build up to ending the stream, Serin smiled as if asking for a little understanding.
As tired as she'd been yesterday, she wanted to rest quickly today.
[????]
[Then let's at least do a little more Just Chatting before you go]
[fr ending the stream is too much]
[Ah, kinda sad though]
[Isn't three hours a bit short?]
[She did seem to be overdoing it yesterday]
[True, since she started early yesterday]
[Can't you turn off Another World and do a chill radio-style stream?]
Just as Serin, the corners of her lips lifting at the chat's regretful reactions, was about to add something—
Thud.
She stopped in her tracks.
Then she slowly turned her head and scanned her surroundings.
The temple interior, like a massive cavern, was too dark, with only faint light illuminating the space.
The temple ahead, shrouded in darkness, seemed to exude an eerie atmosphere.
And within it, Serin felt something.
'What incredible timing.'
She'd half given up and was picking the moment to end the stream, and only now it showed up—as if to stop her from leaving.
It was absurd.
Unlike when the Death Knight had appeared, she now sensed a different sinister energy, an incredibly thick killing intent. Serin instinctively felt that the being she'd been searching for had appeared.
Ding! Ding!
Warning notifications popped up one after another, and even the chat stirred with an ominous mood.
Then, from the darkness, an immense killing intent swallowed the space, and soon something overwhelming revealed itself.
Ding!
*
————
[Arch Lich]
—Level 80.
Damage Increase +155%
Casting Speed Increase +40%
All Physical Damage Resistance 40%. Magic Resistance 85%.
Immune to Stun and physical status effects.
Immune to Magic Status Effects.
*Owned Traits.
- Life Force Vessel (A crystal of life exists in an unknown location. Unless it is destroyed, the Arch Lich will never die)
- Perfect Barrier (Once every 30 seconds, unconditionally nullifies any attack from the opponent)
- Authority on Magic (Manifests high-level magic reaching the 8th Circle)
- Curse of Ruin (If the opponent is afflicted with a curse, damage taken increases by 100%)
- Demonkin Summoning (Summons demonkin minions. Summons stronger demonkin in proportion to the lich's level)
————
*
As the hologram displaying the Arch Lich's detailed stats appeared, blocking her view, Serin let out a dazed laugh.
"Wow... The moment I'm about to end the stream, it shows up like this. At this rate, maybe the Arch Lich is actually one of my viewers?"
She tossed out the joke lightly, but even as she did, she was quickly scanning the Arch Lich's traits as if committing them to memory.
The traits were so absurd they reminded her of the Grim Reaper, yesterday's raid monster.
Since she was afflicted with a curse, even a graze would effectively be a critical hit, and with Life Force Vessel and Perfect Barrier alone, it already had two basic defensive measures.
And the one-man-army trait was the biggest unknown to me.
'What does it summon?'
Serin couldn't get a good sense of it.
In truth, she'd only faced the Arch Lich once before, so she didn't know a clear strategy.
[Wow insane lololol the Arch Lich is level 80]
[lolol level 80 is actually crazy]
[Level 80 is seriously messed up;]
[Ugh, look at those disgusting traits]
[Can you really solo this?]
[Since the Dancer is a physical damage class and it's Rin, maybe it's possible?]
[Every time I see those traits, wizard classes have no answer except dying. How do you beat that?]
[Even physical damage classes have a hard time against liches because of the range, so it's the same either way lolol]
[Wouldn't it be right to just run now?]
[At level 80, the demonkin variations are probably all disgusting too lolol]
The chat surged steeply like a wave, and while that was fascinating, she also took in the Arch Lich's appearance as it gradually emerged from the darkness.
The fact that it was a skeleton draped in a robe reminded her of the Grim Reaper, but the skeleton clad in a high-quality robe engraved with colorful patterns had a completely different air.
The glow in its eye sockets, set above the skull, burned with an intensely deep blood-red light, and the sight of it floating in midair, holding a staff embedded with a fist-sized ruby, radiated pressure all on its own.
Moreover, its entire body was wreathed in darkness as if it carried a sinister killing intent, making it utterly menacing.
『Who dares disturb the Ancient Temple』
The skull shifted, and the Arch Lich's characteristic thick, gloomy voice echoed through the space.
The Arch Lich tilted its skull as if looking at Serin.
Watching it, Serin felt a deep sense of regret.
"If only this were an open space..."
The special skill of Moonlight, her mythic Crescent-Moon Weight.
If she could use Moonlit Night, she could unleash a power truly fitting to cap off the finale. It was a shame she couldn't use Moonlit Night inside the temple.
『A mortal constrained even by location... How utterly insignificant』
As if it had heard Serin's voice, the Arch Lich tilted its skull mockingly and let its gloomy voice resound.
"What?"
Serin frowned as if dumbfounded.
It looked as though it had autonomously responded to her words, which just made it absurd.
Immediately after, the Arch Lich raised its ruby-studded staff high.
The Arch Lich's first skill manifested.
—Demonkin Summoning.
A dense, eerie red light gathered in the massive ruby, and in an instant, the light burst outward.
HUMMMM!
A massive circular magic circle rapidly drew itself in the air around the lich. Serin, who had been bracing herself with her Crescent-Moon Weight gripped tightly, thinking it was casting magic, suddenly saw a notification appear in her vision.
Ding!
*
————
'Hellfire Cerberus' is being summoned.
————
*
At the completely unexpected notification, Serin stared blankly, and then a massive foot suddenly burst out from the magic circle in front of the Arch Lich.
Crunch! Crunch!
The giant beast Cerberus appeared with a grotesque sound, as if shattering space itself.
The three-headed beast symbolizing hell glared with fierce red light in its eyes, and between its sharp teeth, searing heat poured from its jaws.
"It's summoning... a hellfire Cerberus, at that."
Serin muttered blankly, and a hollow laugh escaped her.
Wondering how this balance made any sense, she had no choice but to abandon her plan of fighting a preliminary skirmish.