by Zhuang Bifan
And amongst the 20-odd people in the room, Jason was the most overwhelmed.
As one of the best Adventurers in Doland, he had seen and heard more than the average person, and while he could not decipher what that light from before was, he knew how terrifying the power of a Humerus Wyrm was. Right… and the world covered in corpses, he was sure that it was the legendary Magical Domain…
Jason felt a chill run down his back at the thought of the word "Magical Domain"…
Think about it…
That bit of light had killed the Humerus Wyrm and tore through the Magical Domain of a Legendary-mage! What kind of strength was that? That was no strength a mortal should possess.
Jason did not dare imagine what kind of monster could hold such strength. Perhaps this monster would shake up the whole of Doland, and even Breezy Plains, soon…
He would have to report this to the Adventurers Guild when he returned. This fellow was much too dangerous. Jason even thought that he was probably more so than the nightmare of the Breezy Plains, the Ashen Warlock. While the Ashen Warlock held devastating power, he lived a solitary life and disliked contact with people—as long as nobody was dumb enough to trifle with him, they would not have to worry about his existence. The fellow in front of Jason, however, looked nothing like a solitary man…
Right, this fellow had mentioned something about Breezy Plains' Guild of Magic…
Jason had thought nothing of his words at first, but after the Humerus Wyrm was melted and the Magical Domain torn open, Jason felt like something was not quite right as he repeated it in his mind. His expression suddenly changed. My God, don't tell me that the Supreme Council has finally decided to extend their influence to the Breezy Plains?
No way, I have to report this to the Adventurers Guild soon… Jason could not keep a calm expression as he thought of the scary tales from the Dark Ages.
At this moment, however, Sienna was silently rejoicing at the side.
He could not believe that he was still alive.
One had to know that he was nowhere near friendly towards this young mage, and even though he looked respectful at times, he was always thinking of something else. Given the intelligence of this young mage, there was no way he could not tell, which was why he had suddenly turned against Jason and him just before entering the Bell Tower. Sienna could not help breaking into sweat at the thought of it—he had already drawn his machete, waiting for Weathor to grab this guy before he sliced through him…
Fortunately, Weathor had been too weak, and was hit by magic before he could even retrieve his daggers. Otherwise… Sienna would have been dead by now if he had really slashed at Lin Li with his machete…
Sienna mopped the sweat on his forehead as he silently celebrated.
The over 20 Adventurers were still deeply in shock, while Jason and Sienna were both lost in thought. At that moment, the atmosphere in the room seemed unusually strange as everything seemed to come to a standstill save for the trembling skeleton.
"Right, where is Mage Felic…?" The strange silence was broken by Jason after some time. After his enquiry, everybody suddenly realized that the person who had single-handedly killed the Humerus Wyrm and saved them all was lying in a heap on the floor, with Norfeller standing guard by him.
"Oh no…" Jason and Sienna were dumbfounded as they quickly gathered around him. Lin Li's face was pale and his breathing was weak; if not for the faint heartbeat, everybody would have thought he was dead. The scariest thing was that neither Jason nor Sienna could detect any magical wave from him—it was like the person lying on the floor was no more than a weak man instead of a powerful mage.
"What do we do?" Panic was evident on Sienna's face. They had met a Humerus Wyrm. Who knew what other scary creatures could be hidden in Syer Town? It would not be an issue if Mage Felic was around, but should anything happen to him, it would be difficult for Sienna and his men to return to Roland City alive…
While Jason said nothing, he was no less strung up than Sienna. Of course, he was not worried about whether he could return alive. In fact, he was worried about the legendary Supreme Council's reaction should anything happen to this young mage…
"There shouldn't be a problem. Mage Felic has overdrawn his mana while using magic previously…" Rotiah's voice was weak, but her words set Jason and Sienna at ease immediately.
"That's great, that's great…"
Time went by. Nobody knew how long later it was before they heard a faint whimper as the sky was just turning bright.
"Master, you're awake!" Norfeller was the first to realize that Lin Li had awoken, and a rare expression of happiness appeared on the high-ranking Vampire's face.
"Wonderful, Mage Felic, you're finally awake! How do you feel?" Jason and Sienna quickly gathered around him again as they, too, sported expressions of happiness.
"Well, terrible…" Lin Li rubbed his temples as he frowned deeply. It was a terrible feeling; he had never exhausted his mana so thoroughly ever since his coming to Anril. He even had to tear at his mental strength to squeeze out the last of his mana, and after it had been released, Lin Li felt empty, like everything in him had been s.u.c.k.e.d away…
Lin Li had never understood why Andoine placed much importance on how he used every ounce of his mana, nor had he understood why all the other mages were so passionate about techniques to conserve the use of mana until today. Only after he experienced the feeling of truly exhausting his mana did he understand how pathetic a mage who had lost all his mana was—it was like turning from a god to a helpless mortal, like he had just died once…
But this should only be temporary.
After all, it was just the usual exhaustion of mana that every mage would encounter; it was only because Lin Li's mana was somewhat different that he had not encountered this before. Now that he had, he was finding it hard to adjust to it, but given his mental strength, he should be able to make a complete recovery soon.
Truth was, as Norfeller was helping him up, Lin Li could already feel that his mana was slowly coming back.
In fact… the speed of recovery was much faster than usual: it felt as though he had broken past another bottleneck, and now that he had, more and more water was gushing out of it at once…
Lin Li thought it was a misconception at first, but soon he realized that it was not the case—his mana was indeed recovering at a much faster speed than he expected, probably boasting more than 30 percent increase in speed. It was too huge an increase for Lin Li to think it false.
What's going on? Lin Li's brain was muddled. He knew that, based on his mental strength, the usual speed at which his mana recovered was already shockingly fast, but to think that such a strange thing would happen after exhausting his mana this time round. It seemed like he would have to discuss this with Andoine some time soon after they returned.
While his mana was recovering at a frightful speed, the effects of depleting his mana were still lingering. Truthfully, Lin Li felt his head throbbing ever since he had woken up. It was like somebody had knocked him out with a hammer, and there was a constant buzzing sound in his ear that resulted in him having to tilt his ear toward the person speaking in order to try and hear them. This made Lin Li look at Jason and Sienna with some suspicion. "The two of you didn't beat me up while I was unconscious, right?"
"No, no, no…" This question almost scared the two of them out of their wits as they denied repeatedly while shaking their heads, their faces turning pale. Is this a joke? No matter how brave we are, we would never do such a thing! Isn't it just like suicide?
"It was just a joke, don't be so nervous…" Lin Li had never thought that his joke would scare the two of them so much, and could not help feeling awkward all of a sudden. Fortunately, he was a shameless guy, so after laughing at it, he quickly changed the topic. "Right, where's the old Lich?"
Chapter 333 - Origins of the Lich
Only after asking did Lich realize that there was only a trembling skeleton besides the Adventurers in
this empty room, while the Lich that'd summoned the Humerus Wyrm was nowhere to be seen…
"What's going on?" Lin Li's expression was frozen, though he'd already known that the Lich would be heavily wounded after the Humerus Domain was destroyed by the debris of the stars. He might even be ousted from the Legendary-realm after the injury. However, Lin Li had never thought that the debris of the stars would cause such damage that a Lich who had reached the Legendary-realm would vanish.
That's not right, it can't be…
Soon, however, Lin Li refuted this assumption. While the debris of the stars held the power to destroy all Undead creatures, it was only when all its power had been released. Lin Li had only used a small portion of its power—a very small portion, in fact. It would suffice to kill the Humerus Wyrm as well as destroy the Humerus Domain, but it was too ridiculous to say that it could also turn a Lich into ashes…
Unless…
A trace of suspicion appeared in Lin Li's mind. When he glanced at the skeleton again, there was a hint of a smile on his face…
"Seems like he has really died. What a pity, I had a few questions for him… never mind, then. Sienna, go get a few people to tie up this skeleton, we'll bring it back to Roland City. I heard there are some Priests in Roland City who have ways to deal with Undead creatures. Perhaps we can ask them for help and see if we can find out some secrets from its soul fire."
"Alright, Mage Felic." Sienna nodded, and called a few of his men. What the young mage said was true indeed. Roland City was near the borders of the Felan Kingdom, and thus right next to the holy kingdom that was Ledin. Many Priests who took it upon themselves to spread the gospel chose Roland City as their first stop. Hence, in this border city, one could find the grandest church as well as the highest number of people doing holy work in the whole of the Felan Kingdom.
"As for the rest…" Lin Li's gaze swept around the room. "Look around and see where the young master is hidden."
"Yes."
"Hang on…" The trembling skeleton suddenly asked for mercy at this time. "Mr Mage, you can't do this to me…"
"Bloody hell…" The skeleton was talking! Everyone jumped in shock, and the Adventurers holding the rope even retreated a few steps. This was blasphemy—a skeleton was the lowest of Undead creatures, so how could it speak the language of humans? Only the highest-ranked Undead creatures like Vampires and Liches could do so. Even the Humerus Wyrm which was the strongest of all Undead creatures could not do it, much less a skeleton…
"Haha…" Lin Li calmly smiled. He was the only one who was not shocked by it; it was as though he had already guessed that it would happen. When he looked at the skeleton again, he looked directly at the flickering light in its eyes. "And why can't I do that, Mr Lich…?"
"My God…" Everyone inhaled at Lin Li's words as they all had the same expression of disbelief. H-h-how… how could this be? This frail skeleton was the Lich who'd created the Humerus Domain and summoned the Humerus Wyrm!?
When they thought back on how they had let their guard down and spent a few hours with the Lich, they could not help but feel their skin crawl. If he had done something earlier, they would probably have died a long time ago…
"Why's that, Mr Lich, don't you want to say something?" Lin Li smiled as he stared at the skeleton as a bit of silver light danced on his fingertips—it was a remnant of the power from the debris of the stars. It was only a tiny bit, but the Divine Power of the debris of the stars was so powerful that even the tiniest amount would be enough to turn any Undead creature below level-18 into ashes.
"Alright, since you're not willing to say anything, I'll help you do it…" Lin Li started without waiting for the Lich to reply. "You're surely upset about the Humerus Domain being torn apart. If I'm not wrong, you've fallen from the Legendary-realm, right? Or the Divine Power had hurt your soul fire and caused you to become very weak, so while you have knowledge of the Legendary-realm now, your strength is beneath that of a Lich; otherwise, you wouldn't have turned into a skeleton to fool us."
"…" The skeleton stood dumbly as the light in the hollows of its eyes flickered.
Lin Li gave it a glance before carrying on. "But you seem to have forgotten something important: you're of high status, and a Lich of Legendary strength. The aura you give off does not have the stench of decay that Undead creatures possess…"
"That's… that's it?" The light in the skeleton's eyes withdrew suddenly. It could not believe that that was the reason for its ploy's failure—the lack of a decaying stench!
"Yeap, that's it, haha, aren't you regretting it now, Mr Lich? Given your power, even if you have fallen from the Legendary-realm and hurt your soul fire, you would still be around level-15, am I right? If you had been bold enough and took a chance to fight it out with Jason and the rest, perhaps you would have gotten away before I woke up…
"Alright, I've said all there was to say. Now, let me ask you a few questions. I hope you can answer me truthfully…" Lin Li smiled kindly, but the silver flame on his fingertips danced lightly; the sheer Divine Power emitting from it caused the skeleton to take a few steps back. "Right, before I ask you these questions, I have to remind you of something. I'm up for discussion of any kind, but I hate it when people lie, so I'll advise you to keep any funny ideas to yourself lest I cause you a lifetime of regret by being too heavy-handed…"
"I… I understand…" The skeleton eyed the silver flame carefully. The Holy Scent it gave off was lethal to him, and even the once Legendary Lich could not help being in fear, standing before the silver flame .
"First, your name."
"U… Ujfalusi…"
"My god…" Sienna could not contain his surprise when the skeleton uttered his name. "You're Ujfalusi?"
"What is it, Sienna?"
"Nothing, nothing…" Sienna only realized that what he had done was slightly inappropriate after Lin Li questioned him, and hurried to explain himself while shaking his head. "I just didn't think that he would be Ujfalusi…"
"Why, is Ujfalusi a well-known name?"
"Pretty much!"
"Oh?" Lin Li's interest was piqued after hearing this. "Do tell."
"Well you see, Mage Felic…" Sienna gulped before his words began flowing.
Legend had it that 400 years ago, the castellan of Roland City had a head mage called Ujfalusi, who was only 36 years old, but was already at level-18. He was the closest to the Legendary-realm in the whole of the Breezy Plains, and his presence gave Roland City an important status in the Breezy Plains. He served the castellan mansion for 10 years, and had astounding achievements. The most well-known of those was the story of how he had single-handedly wiped out the three largest bandit organizations!
Everyone thought that he would surely surpass the Legendary-realm before the age of 50.
Only, who would have known that an illness would turn it all to naught.
The second year after he had wiped out the bandits, the head mage fell heavily ill, and although the castellan had called all the doctors he could, and even asked the Pharmacists Guild for help, he could not stop death from taking what its due. Thus, Ujfalusi met the end of his life and died in his own bed that winter.
Ujfalusi's death left a deep regret in the hearts of the people in Roland City, and people remembered him dearly even after 400 years. They had always thought that Roland City would have a true Legendary mage as their guardian if not for his illness.
Sienna had thought so too, only, he'd never expected to meet him personally in Syer Town after 400 years. To think that Ujfalusi would turn into an Undead creature after 400 years…
"Not bad, Mr Ujfalusi, very interesting life you had…" Lin Li only smiled after hearing the story. "Seems like the illness not only brought you death…"
"Yes…" The skeleton's voice was throaty. It did not even have the strength to lie in front of the silver flame.
"Don't be so nervous, Mr Ujfalusi. I have no interest in what happened 400 years ago. The only thing I wish to know now is thi
s: where have you hidden the young master of the castellan's family??"
"Right… right below the Bell Tower, in the bas.e.m.e.nt…"
"Very well" Lin Li nodded his head with satisfaction after finding out the young master's whereabouts and turned to Sienna. "Sienna, get a few people to go to the bas.e.m.e.nt with you and save Miss Yvonne's brother."
"Alright, Mage Felic."
After watching Sienna and his men leave, Lin Li's gaze fell upon Ujfalusi once again. "As for you…"
Chapter 334 - Loyalty
Lin Li did not hesitate for long, as Ujfalusi's presence itself was a tricky problem. He was a true Lich; while he had fallen from the Legendary-realm, his knowledge of it remained. Even though Lin Li had mentioned bringing him back to Roland City, he was only trying to scare Ujfalusi since he would never dare do that. Ujfalusi might surrender without a fight, but Lin Li still would not dare do that, as he could not guarantee that they could bear the consequences if anything happened…
Thankfully, Lin Li had always been straightforward with such matters. If he was unable to control it, he might as well destroy it.
"As for you, Mr Ujfalusi…" Lin Li drawled as he brought the silver flame in front of Ujfalusi.
In a flash, a blinding light filled the room, and the Holy Scent became almost tangible as it loomed there. Almost everyone felt pressure like nothing before, especially Ujfalusi, who was an Undead creature. He let out a terrible screech. "No… no… you can't do this to me… I can't die yet… there's so many things I have yet to do…"
"Why can't I do that to you?"
Seeing as the silver flame was slowly approaching him, Ujfalusi trembled. The fear he felt now was unlike the one he'd pretended to be in earlier—his senses of an Undead creature told him that the Divine Power in this bit of silver flame was definitely enough to cause him to perish instantaneously, and that knowledge made him collapse mentally under the immense fear he felt. "Don't kill me… don't kill me… as long as you'll let me go… I swear… I swear on my soul fire that I won't hurt you at all… I'll… I'll even become your servant!"
