Episode 313
Episode 313
As if. It would. Be over. That easily.
A roar burst forth from the depths of the abyss, cutting off abruptly.
The Ghoul King, who had naturally assumed all living beings would tremble at his descent, suffered a massive blow to both his pride and his very existence.
Some brat of a mage—still green behind the ears—was audaciously preparing to attack him.
And what was most humiliating was the sheer scale of the damage.
With his possessed body destroyed, his true form couldn't escape unscathed.
Because of. One. Stupid. Fool. I've lost. Too much. Very well.
The Ghoul King gathered his strength while sneering at the now-dead mercenary.
Had that greedy mercenary just done his job properly, he could've possessed the body at his leisure.
But because of the mercenary's mistake, he'd been forced to rush the possession—and now he was paying the price.
A swirling mass of dark energy began taking shape where Buldahak had once stood.
"Strike forth, Perkuntra's Lightning!"
Do you. Really think. The same. Attack. Will work. Twice. Arrogant. Mage.
The Ghoul King dispersed his form, evading the lightning.
Then, in a voice laced with icy fury—a grating, staticky noise—he spoke.
As the. Ghoul King. I shall. Graciously. Grant you. One last. Chance. Submit. To me. Kneel. And pledge. Your loyalty. As my. Vassal. Do this. And I shall. Spare your. Life.
"Don't fall for it, Wardanaz! With his possessed body destroyed, he'll soon be forcibly recalled to his own dimension!"
Raphael drew his sword and shouted.
Unlike the swords of other knights, those of the Gral Family were forged with True Silver and Luminous Ore—a testament to their long history of battling the undead.
"Begone, undead!"
Insolent. Insect. Begging. To be crushed.
Raphael's sword strike did inflict damage. Where the blade met the Ghoul King's form, the sound of burning echoed.
But the damage was pitifully insignificant.
Unfazed, the Ghoul King backhanded Raphael with brutal force.
BOOM!
A thunderous impact sent Raphael flying.
"Unfurl!"
Lee Han manipulated the water to catch Raphael midair before drawing his own sword.
Black Magnetite blade—Morning Star.
A sword that absorbed mana was perfectly suited for battling an incorporeal being from the Otherworld.
'Lightning magic won't work!'
From their brief exchange, Lee Han instinctively understood.
His opponent could read the precursors of magic.
Moreover, as a being that could disperse its form at will, projectile or beam-type spells would be near impossible to land cleanly.
'In that case...'
WHOOSH!
Lee Han shot forward.
With <Gonadaltes' Agile Footsteps> enhancing his physique and mana detonating from his toes, "launched" was a more fitting descriptor than "ran."
Even the Ghoul King hadn't anticipated that speed. Morning Star cleaved cleanly through his form.
GRUNT!
'The damage registered...!'
There was no doubt—the energy radiating from the Ghoul King's form had diminished.
Yet the remaining power was still overwhelming.
Even after losing his possessed body and having his mana siphoned by Morning Star, he was still this strong?
It defied belief.
This strength reminded Lee Han of the Frost Giant King he'd encountered in Einrogard's upper floors—forcing him to immediately revise his strategy.
"Deurgu. We're retreating. Get ready!"
"...Don't you dare sacrifice yourself alone, Lee Han!"
"Wasn't planning to—now move!"
Where. Do you. Think. You're. Going.
The Ghoul King's voice grew colder, sharper. The cave's temperature plummeted until their breaths became visible.
And from all directions, ghouls began rising.
Even if. It delays. My plans. By decades. Today. These insects. Will be. Crushed.
"Shut your mouth, undead! How dare you act so arrogantly before the name of Wardanaz!"
"......"
Lee Han, still weighing their options, could only stare at his friends' defiance in disbelief.
These lunatics—who exactly did they think they were provoking right now...?
Summoned beings from other dimensions—especially malevolent ones—always sought to remain in this world for as long as possible.
For creatures of darkness, the desires and suffering of mortals were the sweetest of wines.
Of course, mortals didn't simply leave the evil beings summoned from other dimensions alone either.
The moment news of such beings spread, they would dispatch their full strength to reverse-summon them, or at the very least, succeed in sealing them away if that proved difficult.
The Ghoul King was an evil entity sealed away in ancient times, long before the Empire.
Under normal circumstances, it should have remained sealed forever, never to emerge—but over the long years, capricious fortune had destroyed the artifact's seal and awakened the Ghoul King.
Though it had barely escaped its seal, the Ghoul King gnashed its teeth at the enemies who had captured it in the past, though it knew full well the futility of such rage.
Mortals had short lifespans, and its adversaries had long since turned to dust.
So the Ghoul King focused on recovery.
Though the seal had broken, its prime strength had all but vanished, leaving it in a pitiful state where it had to rely on the very artifact that had once sealed it away.
If this artifact were to be destroyed, it would be reverse-summoned back to its original dimension in an instant.
With the meager remnants of its dwindling power, the Ghoul King summoned ghouls and sent them out under the cover of night to drain the life force of travelers.
But it was far from enough.
To manifest itself fully, it required an enormous amount of power—dozens of travelers barely made a dent in what it needed.
Realizing this would never end, the Ghoul King changed its strategy.
It would let a few escape to spread rumors.
If word spread of treasure, wouldn't greedy adventurers come flocking?
If it could coax and possess their bodies, it wouldn't even need to fully recover its strength to escape this cave.
But then...
A far stronger mage than expected had arrived.
Wardanaz, was it?
"Indeed. That is a name you should fear!"
Bizdek, who had been sweating cold bullets at the White Tiger Tower student's shout, finally realized.
The Wardanaz family!
The Empire's greatest magical lineage!
"...Why are they here!?"
"What are you saying, Bizdek?! Pull yourself together!"
Gubon grabbed Bizdek by the shoulders and shook him.
As a veteran, if he couldn't step up when an unexpected situation arose, what was the point of joining the party?
They had to find an opening somehow.
"R-right. Sorry."
False. Pride. Means. Nothing. To me.
The Ghoul King was resolved to wipe out every last intruder today, even if it meant exhausting all the power it had gathered.
If left unchecked, there was no telling what reinforcements they might call—and above all, the mage's strength was far too tempting.
If it could seize that body, it would be a far better vessel than those worthless adventurers from before.
Seize them.
Chaotic melee.
The most frantic and intense battle of the day erupted.
Every last ghoul in the cave seemed to be swarming toward them.
"Will you not compromise, Ghoul King?! If you let us leave, we won't attack any further!"
Lee Han shouted as he frantically unleashed attacks to clear a path.
The Ghoul King responded with a scornful laugh.
You. Dare. Lie. To a king. Do you think. That will work.
'Damn it. How did it know?'
Lee Han clicked his tongue inwardly.
He had been prepared to stake his family name and honor if necessary, but the Ghoul King outright refused any compromise.
"Steel for reconciliation, O cloak!"
Slicing through an oncoming ghoul with his cloak, Lee Han shouted again.
"One last warning, Ghoul King! If you refuse to compromise, we have our own methods!"
-■■! ■■!
-■■!
-■■■!
Bluffing. Are we?
The Ghoul King paid no heed.
The artifact housing its true body was hidden elsewhere, and it could read the opponent's magic before it was even cast.
The longer the battle dragged on, the more the Ghoul King's power would wane—but its enemies would collapse first.
The absolute limits of a mortal's flesh were just that unforgiving.
"Fine."
Lee Han steeled himself.
He hadn't wanted to resort to this unless absolutely necessary, but given the enemy's strength, retreating would only increase the danger.
Even if it was risky, he had to bluff.
"Burn!"
What. Is this?
The Ghoul King was dumbfounded when Lee Han chanted the spell.
After all that bravado, the best he could muster was a low-circle fire spell?
Moreover, it was pure flame conjuration—no additional attributes like form, speed, or anything else.
Having already read and dodged lightning-based attacks, there was no way he'd get hit by something like this.
Whoooosh!
Yet the flames Lee Han unleashed surged upward like madness incarnate.
The Ghoul King finally showed surprise as the inferno, towering high enough to pierce the cavern ceiling, engulfed the area.
What in the—
Even the Ghoul King, who had felled countless mages in ancient times, was witnessing something unprecedented.
If one intended to cast a wide-area fire spell, it was only natural to use a high-Circle magic. If one lacked the skill and resorted to a low-Circle spell, they should have limited it to a narrow, controlled flame.
But here, right before his eyes, was a mage wielding a low-Circle spell to unleash a massive area-of-effect attack.
It was the epitome of inefficiency—yet undeniably effective. Lee Han swung his staff, summoning even more flames.
"Burn! Burn! BURN!"
The flames, saturated with dense mana, overlapped and amplified each other, growing fiercer by the second.
At some point, Lee Han realized the fire in the cavern was slipping beyond his control.
He had escalated the scale of the flames past the threshold of elemental mastery.
What the hell is he thinking?
"Think you can escape this inferno like before?"
You'll burn to death first.
"A mage who can't even control his own magic? More foolish than I expected."
Though frantic inside, Lee Han didn't so much as blink as he spoke.
At that moment, the flames abruptly shifted direction and lashed back at him.
Damn it!
Lee Han circulated mana throughout his body, steeling himself.
If the Ghoul King realized these flames were uncontrollable, things would spiral out of hand.
Just then, a warm energy coursed through him.
It was the power flowing from the mark left behind by the Phoenix.
"...!"
Lee Han felt the Phoenix's emblem repel and command the surrounding flames.
It was a desperately needed power—one that made him grateful to his past self for sparing (well, failing to kill) the Phoenix.
No idea how long this will last!
Before the emblem's power faded, Lee Han swung his staff again.
The flames surged like a tidal wave, sweeping aside the nearby ghouls.
"See this, you undead filth? This is Wardanaz!"
"Behold the might of the mage!"
Brandishing weapons slick with ghoul blood and fluids, the students and adventurers roared in triumph.
None of them suspected that these flames were uncontrollable.
Clear out the remaining ghouls and carve an escape route—fast!
While the Ghoul King hesitated, Lee Han swung his staff once more, sending flames roaring forward. The ghoul numbers dwindled drastically.
Though the Ghoul King saw Lee Han as a threat, Lee Han had no intention of seriously defeating him.
Turning the entire area into a sea of fire to prevent escape before a duel to the death? That was the kind of madness only Professor Voladi would attempt.
Lee Han just needed to get out alive.
If the enemy negotiated, fine. If not, he'd exploit their hesitation.
...Got it!
Lee Han nearly cheered.
While the Ghoul King was distracted by the flames, he had incinerated all the ghouls gathered behind him.
With an escape route open, all that remained was to flee.
"Wardanaz, I get it now!"
"Raphael. I don't know what you've figured out, but shut up and—"
"I know why he's acting like this! It makes no sense for something with that much power to stay trapped in this cave! And to be this strong in combat without a host?! There's only one answer—this is an avatar! His true form is bound to a separate artifact!"
Lee Han was about to reply, Yeah, yeah, you're so smart—let's talk outside.
But Raphael, electrified by his realization, turned to Durgyu and Angrago and shouted:
"Let's go! Wardanaz is buying us time at the cost of his life! We have to destroy the artifact!"
Like a madman, Raphael dashed through the flames, charging deeper into the cavern.
Angrago followed right behind.
Durgyu stood frozen like a donkey stuck in a haystack, panickedly glancing between Lee Han and Raphael.
Lee Han sighed.
This is my fault for bringing White Tiger Tower idiots along.
"Go, Sharkan. Help those damn—those guys!"
How dare—
"Would've been better if you'd just let us leave, wouldn't it? Lightning Strike!"
Gritting his teeth, Lee Han hurled the spell.
Whether it was his mood or not, the lightning that shot forth was far more violent than before.