Chapter 213: Source of Corruption 2
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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In the vast open area that could line up countless soldiers, stood an ornate dais, seemingly built for a speech.
Atop it, a gaunt skeleton in robes, wielding a long staff a skeletal necromancer and boss of the 40th floor, a Lich.
So, the Lich stood there alone.
-Evil, the smell of dark magic
"Could there be zombies hiding underground?"
The extravagant robes and the stark white bones beneath them were visible.
The staff in its hand had a design where human finger bones clutched a small animal's skull.
And I knew what this skeletal necromancer, this Lich, was.
That's a scenario boss monster from Heroines Chronicle.
As I recall, it was a boss monster in stories involving paladins and saints or rather, characters of holiness with revealing outfits.
Honestly, there wasn't anything distinctive about a skeleton, but the staff was memorable.
There were suspicions that the necromancer was a TS (gender-swapped) moe-fied skin because a later-released necromancer character, Eyena, had a staff identical to this one, tucked between her chest.
It turned out not to be a TS moe-fication of the skeleton mage but merely a reuse of the weapon design.
Whether it was the scantily clad saintess or the paladin in plate armor with holes revealing thighs, sides, and under-breast, the important thing was that this skeleton was a summoner.
{Ye, Yesss, Yesss-!!!}
What the, what is that?!
From the elevated dais, a loud voice echoed.
Blue flames burst forth from the empty eye sockets of the skull.
As it had no vocal cords, the voice seemed to be created through mana, emanating not from its mouth but the staff.
As the skeleton mage roared in a fit, the party, thinking the battle had started, gripped their weapons and quietly began to form a battle line.
However, the skeleton mage paid them no attention, fixating its gaze on me.
Seeing the blue flame effect, I remembered could it be related to Roland in Heroines Chronicle?
Roland was involved with the holy characters, and perhaps with this skeleton mage as well.
As I pondered, the staff pointed at me like an accusing finger.
{You ignorant creature! How could you, how could you-!!}
I dont understand what youre saying.
{Of course, you wouldnt! All you know is to move your body stupidly, you flesh bag!}
Wondering what kind of story would unfold maybe strategies for the game, reasons for my arrival in this world, or secrets about the Goddess and the Demon King I quietly waited without smashing the noisy skeleton.
Seeing me wait, the rest of the party also paused their charge, maintaining combat readiness while surrounding the creature.
An odd tension and silence settled in the underground chamber.
The skeleton on the dais, illuminated by a magic tool, strikingly displayed its white bones as it pounded the dais with its staff.
The appearance of the boss monster of the 40th floor, a superior necromancer, felt more like a child full of anger, desperately seeking a way to express it.
{If it werent for you, for you alone, my grand ambition!!!}
The shouts thrown into the air with fluctuating mana waves were filled with a surprisingly detailed story, so much so that even Manaashi, who was ready to strike, lowered his spear.
The infuriated outburst revealed the following:
Among the creatures created by the Demon King, this intelligent skeletal necromancer sought to achieve great deeds and ascend higher.
Specifically, it wanted to gain the attention of the great Demon King who created it.
But would a Demon King, invading worlds and dimensions, pay any attention to a mere superior necromancer?
No matter how desperately and reverently the necromancer adored the Demon King, the latter probably didnt even know of his existence.
Polluting the tower itself, converting divine energy into mana, disguising undead as humans to divine energy users, and insulting the Goddess all these efforts were to catch the Demon King's attention.
It seems, being a necromancer, his genius was more evident in research than in combat.
{If my army had been completed, to Him, to Hiiim-!!! How could you simply destroy that huge tree with brute force-!}
"Ah, are you talking about that large tree on the 35th floor?"
The plan was to convert divine energy into life force and mana and put it inside fake humans.
In short, to create a pseudo-human army, whitish vines inside doppelgangers, insulting the Goddess of Life with a truly immortal army.
But all his genius crumbled before one fundamental premise.
{Even after I prepared a grand magic barrier to prevent the mages from gathering, dissecting, and analyzing the tree!}
A full-force strike from a naturally born 6 character, enhanced by the temple's buff.
As the game system recognized it as a physical attack, it effortlessly bypassed the barrier designed to nullify magic attacks, destroying the tree, the alpha and omega of his plan.
{Hoo, well, it's not so bad Since youve crawled all the way here.}
"It seems like you're stalling for time with a long story Show me your hidden trick."
{As arrogant as your abilities, fleshbag.}
Watching him explain at length, the skeleton rattled its jaw.
Since it spoke through the staff, this must be its version of a smug smile.
Clearly preparing something, it finished its lengthy story and raised its staff high.
"Hey, what's this? So you weren't just a talkative one, you were preparing something? Boss monsters are talkative and sneaky."
-Just with the skeleton's rambling, there's a 10-minute video right there.
-If I upload this as the 40th floor boss gimmick on my channel, it'll be a hit strategy video
-So, this place is empty because of Roland?
-Is it Roland again? Breezing through it again? Is it Roland again? Breezing through it again?
[Chat deleted by the mod]
"Lately, whenever Roland does anything, you guys always talk about 'breezing through,' 'exploiting' and so on. Now, no more forgiveness. If you want to do it, pay up."
With Han Se-ah's grumbling breaking the mood, the skeleton forcefully slammed its staff down on the dais.
A necromancer specialized in research and summoning rather than combat.
The grand magic it meticulously prepared over more than ten minutes could be a summoning of a massive undead at the senior level, or a powerful attack spell potent enough to make me raise my shield.
Given his research background, the variety of monsters he could create should be immense.
However, the magic the creature gleefully activated was neither a summoning nor an offensive spell.
{Eh, hyahyahyahyahah! How do you like that, you primitive thing?}
What this damn skeleton unfolded was a holy barrier.
To be exact, the exceedingly wicked creature that should be called a bastard was an employee of BB Games.
After breaking through a magic nullification barrier (probably by using a troll bomb to demolish the tree) and an evolved army of doppelgangers (with probably a magic interference gimmick), you reach the boss monster.
And this boss monster had the gimmick of nullifying both holy and physical damage?
Minions immune to magic and the boss is immune to divine energy and physical attacks.
Isn't this one of the most wicked combinations imaginable in RPGs?
"Ah, damn, it regenerates too quickly."
{Hahaha! Eventually, all living things return to death! Do you believe in the Goddess of Life, fleshbag? That powerless Goddess before the Demon King of Death?}
No matter how extraordinary my 6 tank body is, I am still bound by the game system.
With nothing but brute strength through stats, I had no way to break through the gimmick.
This crazy skeleton's so-called finishing move was 'try again after you've aged and died'.
Seriously, what kind of boss monster tells you to meet again in a few hundred years and casts the ultimate frustration spell?
It's infuriating how it keeps coming back even after its head is smashed.
Fortunately, perhaps due to its confidence as a smart necromancer, it stayed in the open area after deploying the barrier that nullifies holy and physical damage.
Without any intention to flee, it remained on the dais, facing Han Se-ah's various attacks.
"Ah, seriously!"
{Your magical skills are pitiful!}
The problem was, even though it was rotting, or rather had rotted to only bones, it was still a superior mage.
A genius mage capable of creating doppelgangers with whitish vine innards and converting divine energy into magic.
Not a fake genius mage with just an inventory and a mini-map, but a real genius mage, which meant that any magic attacks that could deal damage were effectively countered and couldn't even be properly cast.
-Just a fake overshadowed by the real deal
-Thought it was a breeze, but choked at the last moment?
-If physical is ineffective, holy is ineffective, and magic below intermediate is ineffective, how the hell do we beat this?
-Maybe we missed something because of Roland again?
-Is the answer a troll bomb? Or maybe Manaashi's trident?
The best attack magic we have is just basic Magic Missiles and intermediate Gusts of Wind.
One is equivalent to the punch of an adult man, and the other is more for disrupting flight or pushing away poisonous gases than for actual attacks.
There's no way that's going to work on a mage-type boss monster.
Manaashi's trident, Grace's alchemical arrows, Katie's swordsmanship nothing works in this bizarre situation.
The funny thing is, the skeleton can't counterattack while using its invincibility barrier; it's just nullifying Han Se-ah's magic.
"Hanna? Go to the 35th floor and call for reinforcements. I'll hold this place... and keep this thing busy."
"...Okay, got it."
It felt like the invincibility gimmick, which was supposed to last for a set time, was infinitely prolonged like a bug due to the absence of minions.
And judging by its confidence, it seemed like there might be a combo following the invincibility gimmick if it remained active.
Perhaps the poisonous air that filled this underground place, which Irene's immunity couldnt penetrate, was stacking like a debuff.
---
author note: An invincibility gimmick that gets released after a certain number of minions are killed (no minions present).
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