Ark the Archlich Lord
Name:Ark the Archlich Lord
Age:1
Level:300
Race:Undead (Void)
Class:Archmage
STATS
⚡ Strength:220
💨 Agility:193
❤️ Stamina:274
🛡️ Endurance:300
✨ Mana:3,000
*Adjusted downward to match the user's level.
An unbelievable mana stat.
…Or so it should have been. For all his Archmage class, his mana was still lower than mine.
The original Archlich Lord had been a level 400 monster. A being from the 70th floor range—in other words, Master rank.
Even with the lowered stats, the Archlich Lord’s inherent dignity, his countless skills, and all the equipment that came with him remained untouched. The actual drop in combat power wasn’t nearly as severe as the numbers suggested.
“Show me what you can do.”
“I shall demonstrate power worthy of my Master’s honor.”
The Archlich Lord extended a bony finger. The tip pointed directly at an elf warrior who was in the middle of nocking an arrow.
“The living are wasting air that could be put to better use.”
Eerie dark mana dyed his skeletal joints a deep, bloody crimson.
Death Finger
A death ray that evaporates the life force of any target it strikes.
-Oh? That’s a new technique I didn’t see earlier.
“Yeah. He must have been pretty shaken when the Hell Knights went down.”
The Archlich Lord’s skill hadn’t diminished at all from his living—or unliving—days. The only differences were the reduced total mana and slower rearrangement speed caused by the level adjustment.
The aura of death gathered at his fingertip was powerful enough to deserve the word “ultimate.”
A few seconds later, the red energy coiling around the Archlich Lord’s finger scattered an ominous glow and hurtled toward the elf army.
The intertwined and amplified force of death.
Grand Spirit Magic
Nature Gardener
The spirits the elves had summoned beforehand wove their powers together in perfect harmony, blocking the crimson ray.
It was an energy overflowing with the vitality of nature—the perfect counter to the deathly power the Archlich Lord commanded.
“You filthy worms. Do you honestly believe I would embarrass myself in front of my Master!”
The red light grew thinner. The death energy that had been writhing as though it would devour the elves twisted around the natural shield and continued pressing forward.
The Grand Spirit Magic adapted to the altered nature of the Death Finger, crushing the invading light of death. Yet a fragment of the crimson beam broke free and grazed part of the elf army.
The exposure lasted only an instant.
The result was chilling.
“Ughhh!”
An elf collapsed, clutching his throat. The once-vibrant pointed ears withered into dry, lifeless husks as their life force was stolen, crumbling to the ground.
“Rise and swear your loyalty to my Master.”
Abundant death energy seeped into the elf’s corpse. The body twitched, then rose once more. No—it was now a Hell Knight crafted from the corpse, its eyes burning with ghastly light.
“Loyalty to the Master!”
The Hell Knights poured explosive demonic energy into their weapons.
Roughly twenty of them. A small number compared to the elf army.
Yet the knights of hell charged straight into the elven forces without the slightest trace of fear.
“Those heaven-defying abominations!”
“Return the unclean to the proper order of nature!”
A downpour of arrows. The summoned spirits unleashed fire, water, and wind.
Attacks packed with full spirit power—strong enough to reshape the surrounding terrain.
But the Hell Knights used explosive demonic energy, a force that stood one step above dark aura, to nullify every elemental assault.
The Archlich Lord wasn’t simply watching, either.
Dark Armor
Dark Weapon
“You too shall die and serve my Master.”
Explosive demonic energy surged with ferocious momentum. Droplets of blood scattered through the air.
Each time an elf’s life was extinguished, the Archlich Lord’s jawbone rattled with glee.
Soul Possession
Create Undead
Before the soul could leave the body that had just met death, a power that defied providence bound that soul to an unclean vessel and granted it new strength.
High-ranking undead were beings formed by the perfect fusion of soul and body. Suppressing a freshly departed soul while simultaneously crafting an undead vessel was no ordinary feat.
It was delicate work that even players possessing necromancy talents would need considerable time to perform.
Yet the Archlich Lord calmly produced additional Hell Knights amid the rapidly shifting chaos of the battlefield.
-Not bad at all. That summon of yours.
“His skills haven’t died, that’s for sure.”
-Then why didn’t you use undead like these before?
“Because both a suitable soul and body are required.”
Creating powerful undead demanded three conditions: the caster’s ability, a compatible corpse, and a strong soul.
“Focusing on Hell Knights is the right call. Death energy is at a disadvantage in terms of affinity.”
“Thank you, my exalted Master.”
The number of Hell Knights kept growing. Meanwhile the elf army was steadily falling back.
Summoning the Archlich Lord with Void Projection had been the correct decision.
“M-Master, what exactly did you just summon?!”
“Ark the Archlich Lord.”
“Never mind that—look over there! Death Knights are swarming everywhere!”
“You would do well to watch your tongue and actions in front of my Master, you insolent little—”
Thwack!
I gave the back of the Archlich Lord’s skull a firm pat with my right hand. The impact made his jawbone rattle violently.
“Don’t speak rudely to my disciple.”
“I apologize, my exalted Master.”
The Archlich Lord bowed deeply at the waist. Even with his jawbone dislocated, he converted mental waves into sound, so conversation was unaffected.
Jiyoung picked up the fallen jawbone.
“Here you go, Mr. Skull.”
“My Master’s disciple, you possess a warm heart.”
“And stop with the cheesy lines.”
“......”
The Archlich Lord stared at me with deeply aggrieved eyes.
Still.
“I can’t keep calling you Archlich Lord forever.”
Archlich Lord was simply the name of the entity, not a personal name.
Just like with Lexy, it was better to give him a proper one. It was also too long.
“From now on, your name is Ark.”
“Oh, what a magnificent name that resonates with the very soul, my Master!”
-You literally just took the first word of his title, didn’t you?
I avoided answering.
The elves were falling faster than reinforcements could arrive.
As expected of Tower-generated NPCs, their combat ability was a step below the originals. Those pointy-eared bastards were a race that performed quite well even on the Tower’s upper floors—beyond Diamond rank.
The only reason Ark could massacre them was because they had been appropriately nerfed for the mission floor.
“This mission is boring.”
Carla planted the butt of her scythe against the ground.
“Your turn will come soon enough, so just wait quietly.”
“Yes.”
Having answered in her usual curt manner, Carla readjusted her stance and renewed her fighting spirit.
She was still difficult to deal with.
“Carla, want to do that thing this time?”
“No.”
“Awww, but it worked so well last time!”
“It’s a hassle.”
Jiyoung chattered away while Carla looked thoroughly fed up. Despite her complaints, Carla still went along with most of what Jiyoung wanted.
I couldn’t tell whether they were actually close or not.
“Isn’t the tension a little too low?”
“They are simply placing their trust in the Guild Master. They are not usually like this.”
Kim Youngsoo gently defended the immature guild members.
Somehow I had ended up leaving all these troublemakers in Youngsoo hyung’s care. Thanks to his outstanding command ability, he took charge of leading the guild members whenever I was absent.
It had been part of the plan from the moment I recruited him, but the fact that these free-spirited fellows followed hyung’s orders without complaint proved they acknowledged his talent.
Leaving the noisy group behind, I turned my attention back to the battlefield.
The elf numbers had been cut in half.
The Hell Knights had grown to a full hundred.
Their stats were weaker than they had been on the 51st floor. Just as Ark manifested through Void Projection was weaker than his original self, the Hell Knights’ specs had also fallen.
Even so, they dominated the elf army.
-At this rate it will be over quickly.
“You think so?”
-Is there another variable?
“This mission isn’t about wiping out the elf army.”
Kwaaaaaang!
The moment I finished speaking, a thunderous explosion that shook heaven and earth reverberated across the battlefield.
An extremely compressed mana shell. The blue sphere that dropped into the center of the Hell Knight formation made the earth itself tremble.
“These half-dead corpses dare rampage without knowing where they stand!”
Boom! Boom!
Footsteps that shook the ground. What emerged from the smoke were steel giants.
* * *
Titan.
A magical weapon created by mortals who longed for the power of giants. A powerful combat golem that amplified the pilot’s mana and granted strength far beyond mortal limits.
“The opponent this time was from Earth or something, right?”
“That skeleton must be a summon.”
“A summon commanding other summons? It really is the end of the world.”
Amplified voices rang out from every direction.
Ugh, my head hurts. There was only one race that spoke with voices like they had swallowed train whistles and piloted Titans.
“Our opponents are dwarves.”
“Wow, we actually got matched against another race.”
“I’m looking forward to this. Master, I wonder how effective the Seon Magic my Constellation taught me will be against them…!”
“Don’t get cocky and die, Ping Lei.”
I lightly suppressed Ping Lei’s rising fighting spirit and counted the Titans visible through the smoke. There were ten in total.
-One for every fifteen enemies, huh.
“Yeah. Our matchup luck is absolute garbage again.”
-Are they not all piloted?
“Titans are sacred treasures to the dwarves. They treat them like holy relics.”
The idea of replicating Constellation power through magical engineering. With that arrogant concept, the dwarves had created weapons that surpassed the limits of mortality.
The war golems found on floors 30 and 40 were early prototypes of the Titan. Their performance fell far short of the finished product, yet the amplification rate had still been enormous.
-Oh ho, it seems more impressive than I expected.
A steel giant thirty meters tall. One Titan leaped straight into the middle of the Hell Knight formation.
“Scrap metal, perish.”
Explosive demonic energy tore the Titan’s armor to shreds. The Titan’s leg was left in tatters.
“Hmph! Not bad for a bunch of half-dead wretches!”
The Titan detached the sword mounted on its back and gripped it with both hands.
Bzzzzzt!
Blue energy surged over the blade. It was an Aura Blade, a technique considered equal to Ganggi.
While explosive demonic energy did not lose out in terms of energy quality,
“I’ll teach you what true overwhelming output looks like.”
The moment the aura blade swept across the ground, five Hell Knights were annihilated. Even at maximum explosive demonic energy output, they could not withstand the power pouring from the Titan’s mana core.
“Actually, this is better.”
I grinned and glanced sideways at Enrique.