Reincarnated as a Sword Vol. 2

by Yuu Tanaka

  The situation escalated even as I was searching for the source of the voice.

  Vooom.

  A gigantic pentagram had appeared on the place we were only seconds ago.

  Crap, Danger Sense was sounding the alarm!

  Fran, Jet!

  I tried to draw their attention to the impending danger but didn’t make it in time. The pentagram on the floor shot a sudden burst of light which filled the entire corridor. Fran tried her best to get away from it but the mystery voice cackled again as if to mock her attempt at escape.

  “How long do you plan on making me wait? Allow me to invite you personally to my quarters! Kukakaka!”

  The light faded and we found ourselves in a large hall. It was several times larger than the boss rooms we had been in up to now. I had no time to look around however, as my eyes were fixed on the thing that was before us.

  I couldn’t avert my gaze from the creature if I had wanted to.

  “Kukakaka! Welcome, intruders!”

  What was this thing? Its mana was overwhelming. Its presence was overbearing, and it was absolutely repulsive. I found no words to describe it. “Horror” and “repugnance” were the best I could come up with as a menacing fear took hold of me. If not for my sword body, I would’ve either puked or lost control of my bowels.

  Ah…

  I wanted to get out of here as fast as I could.

  Fran squeezed my hilt, as if for hanging on for dear life. Was she shaking? Fran, who stood her own against a daemon? Blood was draining away from her face as she went pale.

  Fran… It’s alright.

  I was brought back to my senses the moment I felt Fran shiver. What was I thinking? I didn’t have time to be afraid, I had to protect Fran. That was my duty.

  We might have to run away now. We still had time to use our Teleport Feathers.

  Fran, we’re leaving.

  Okay.

  Jean, we gotta go.

  “Hm? Wait—”

  I made sure Fran was holding on to Jean’s arm and immediately used a Teleport Feather. We couldn’t face such a powerful enemy in our current beat-up state. Survival was of the utmost.

  However—

  The Teleport Feather didn’t respond. Not even a blip or a click. It should have mana inside it!

  What the hell?!

  “Kukakaka! This room prevents anyone who enters from teleporting out of it! There is no escape. Give up, and let us have a battle to the death! Kukakaka! Kukakakaka—”

  It was a Lich.

  King of the Evil Spirits. The worst and strongest of the undead.

  The most reviled of creatures cackled as he told us the ruthless truth.

  Name: Lich

  Race: Undead

  Status: Vengeful Spirit

  Level: 23

  HP: 863; Magic: 2467; Strength: 134; Agility: 366

  Skills: Speedcast 7; Panic 4; Fear 4; Regeneration 6; Control Undead 10; Necromancy 10; Nether Magic 4; Mana Manipulation

  Title: Dungeon Master

  Equipment: Tattered Robes

  The Lich was the most notorious of the undead. I wanted to scratch my “head” in confusion as I checked its stats. Was it really supposed to be that strong? I had heard that there were huge differences in power between individual undead, but still.

  Between its intimidating presence and overwhelming terror, its threat level could easily pass as A-Rank, or B-Rank at minimum.

  “Overload Undead Summoning.”

  The Lich summoned his undead minions as we were still flustered by our inability to teleport out.

  “These shall be your playmates for now. Try not to die. Kukakaka!”

  “Oooorgh.”

  “Uaaaa.”

  “Grroowl!”

  He summoned ten undead all at once, each of them a strong C-Rank threat. The entire mob of them made for a solid B-Rank threat. They were as strong as the Skeleton Knight we were barely able to beat.

  Fran!

  “Yeah. I’ll have to get serious right out of the gate.”

  We started putting all our efforts into blasting them away with magic. There were no other options open to us. We would thin them out with our opening flurry then go for the Lich if there was an opening. That was the best we could do.

  But Jean held us back, and stepped forward himself.

  “Leave this to me.”

  …Are you sure?

  “Indeed, for I have the power of this staff.”

  Jean had his usual cocky grin. It had a slightly sad look to it, though, as if he was prepared for the worst. We were fighting against a Lich, after all, but that didn’t seem to be the only reason.

  “Fuhahaha! It is time for me to play my trump card!”

  “Oooorgh.”

  “Uoo.”

  Jean stood alone in front of the undead squad. He raised the staff in his hand, and shouted, “Blessing of the Nether Lord! Come forth!”

  The skull on Jean’s staff began to glow eerily. The light shone like a rainbow, making it oddly beautiful.

  The skull on the staff’s tip opened its mouth.

  OooooOooOoOO—

  Wha!

  “Uh?”

  “Arf…”

  It was speaking… or maybe singing? Could be either.

  What echoed out of the skull was a song-like groaning. The resentful cry was mysterious, haunting, and had the quality of a hymn.

  And yet, the strange song was easy to listen to.

  OoOo—

  “May the spirits bound by hate and resentment be allowed to rest in peace. Nether Lord, bestow thy blessings unto the lost.”

  A pale blue light shone out of the staff as Jean carried out his incantation.

  “Ugaaah.”

  “Aooo.”

  “No! Run away, my minions!”

  Blue light filled the room. The undead squadron tried to escape upon the Lich’s orders but there was nowhere to run.

  The light faded, and so did the undead.

  Huh?

  “Wow!”

  Not a single hint of their existence remained. They were wiped out without a trace.

  “You destroyed my slaves in an instant?! Kukakaka! What on earth is that staff?!”

  “I could ask you the same question.”

  “Oh? Go on.”

  “Fuha… Haha. This is a divine item… capable of sending any and all undead to the afterlife. So how did you… a Lich… rema—Gaah!”

  Jean!

  Jean started coughing up blood, and fell to one knee. His face was now an earthy brown. He looked like one of his undead zombies!

  “Lean on me.”

  “Thank… you.”

  “Kukakaka. You seem to have a tool which allows you to send off many undead at once! But I tell you that is not enough to fight me! Hohoho. Look at you, you are at the brink of death’s door, yourself!”

  So that was it! Casting Ascension on Andy took a lot of mana out of Jean, and now he had to purify even more, stronger undead. Was this how the spell took years off your life expectancy?

  I’ll heal you—

  “No use. I have no wounds, after all.”

  “Then take this.”

  “Thanks.”

  Fran took out a Stamina Potion, designed to recover the subject from exhaustion, and administered it to Jean. It wasn’t enough for a full recovery, but it seemed to help. Jean’s ragged breathing was now stable again.

  “So, what is your plan? Your trump card has failed against me.”

  How did the Lich get away unscathed from a spell that could purify any and all undead? Was it not an undead itself? The Lich had said he was, and his stats reflected his Undead status.

  “It does appear to be a powerful item, but it is no match for the likes of me!”

  That could be it. We were up against a Lich, the Ghost King. There was a possibility of even the most powerful item not working against him.

  But we’d come too far to lose hope now!

  Fran took me in her hand and d
ashed towards the Lich.

  “Then we’ll just have to cut you.”

  Damn straight!

  We’ll cut him down before he got another chance to summon his undead!

  “Haaa!”

  “Kukakaka! It’s no use!”

  What? My blade went right through him? He wasn’t supposed to have that kind of skill!

  “Raah!”

  Fire Arrow!

  None of our attacks landed despite Fran swinging at him with Elemental Blade and my shots of magic. I thought we were up against an illusion, but he was able to use magic… The Lich attacked us just as my blade went through him, too!

  “Ooof!”

  Middle Heal!

  The simple backhand took Fran’s health down by half.

  He wasn’t an illusion after all!

  His attack power was oddly strong, too. His strength was only at 134, definitely on the weak end of the spectrum. I didn’t see hints of him using magic and skills, either. So how did he knock down Fran’s health by half? The numbers didn’t add up.

  He must have some kind of trick.

  “Yeah, he’s strong.”

  There was something to the Lich other than his stats. Could it be that he was falsifying his status information? We would be able to see it with my level of Identify if that were the case, however.

  This is annoying.

  What do we do?

  If we can just figure out the mechanism behind his evasion, we might be able to use Skill Taker to get rid of it…

  But with Identify not working, I didn’t know which skill to take.

  Jean?

  I cannot see it, either. Soul Sight does not work against undead.

  Jean was our last hope in solving the mystery of the Lich, but he was equally stumped.

  You’re oddly calm, now. Do you have a plan cooked up?

  It might not be much of a plan, but could you stall him in the meantime?

  Will it help?

  I don’t know. But I need you to trust me.

  Jean seemed to have something in mind. I wasn’t sure it would work, but I would happily grasp at straws at times like these. Let’s give it a shot.

  All right. This fight was bound to go into extra time anyway.

  Thank you.

  An hour passed.

  We had been going up against wave upon wave of undead armies.

  “What’s wrong?! You’re getting slower! Am I tiring you out?”

  “Not… yet!”

  “Woof!”

  “Yes, yes. I can’t wait to see the moment your hope turns into despair. What a delight that will be! You shall make fine slaves in your unlife! Kukakaka!”

  None of our attacks landed on the Lich. We had attempted bombarding him with spells and setting up purification barriers around it but none of it worked. All this while we had to fend off the undead hordes the Lich had summoned.

  We had only survived thus far because our enemy was toying with us. Fran could do nothing but wait to cast her next healing spell.

  It seemed that the Lich’s aim was to break Fran, Jean, and Jet’s spirits in an attempt to dominate them. These three would make for strong undead, after all. A necromancer of Jean’s caliber could be as strong as a Lich when he turned undead.

  As much as it pained me to admit it, the Lich’s toying did buy us enough time for Jean’s plan.

  “What’s wrong? You’ve stopped moving. Has my summoning magic proven too much for you?”

  “Arf!”

  Jet launched his shadow spears at the Lich but they were to no avail.

  “That’s right. Much better that you don’t stop attacking me. What plan do you have in mind next?”

  “I will cut you down.”

  “Kukakaka! I would like to see you try!”

  More than half my mana was already gone. Fran, Jean, and Jet weren’t faring much better, either.

  Jean, are you not done yet?

  A little more… Wait, here it comes!

  I exchanged some words with Jean until the moment finally came upon us.

  Kaboooom!

  The ground shook. The explosion felt like it might rattle your insides and it was a five on the Richter scale.

  What was that? Did a bomb just go off in the dungeon? The ground was shaking and dust was coming off from the ceiling. I thought it was the Lich’s doing, but he seemed just as puzzled.

  The Lich lost his arrogance, and screamed at us angrily.

  “What…! What did you bastards do?!”

  He screamed in pain.

  “It looks like… that worked.” Jean struggled to get on his feet, still not having fully recovered from using the Nether Lord’s Blessing.

  “Were you the one who caused that, Jean?”

  “My minion… to be exact.”

  When did that happen?

  Jean had sent off his undead minions on an act of sabotage. This was what he had been waiting for.

  “The mana from the Malice Furnace…! My death wish…! Disappearing…! Disappearing! Nuaaaaah!”

  The Lich screamed in agony. The facility we destroyed must have been vital to his operation.

  What about him? What did you do to him?

  “He should be weaker now. One of his sources of power is the fact that he can draw mana from the dungeon itself. I’ve destroyed that particular source.”

  You could’ve told us earlier!

  “… I apologize. But the Lich would have gotten in the way if he knew of my plot. I needed someone to be a distraction.”

  “Meaning?”

  “If you want to fool your enemy, first fool your friends. The Lich might also have the ability to read minds and shuffle through memories.”

  The Lich turned to us and screamed, “You bastards! You won’t get away with this! I won’t let you become my slaves so easily! I’ll let my minions have their way with you and crush all your limbs! I’ll make you regret ever having been born! Don’t expect to ever have death’s peaceful embrace!” It was strange how I could tell he was angry despite his skull lacking any capacity to form expressions.

  If he’s weaker we might be able to stand a chance!

  “Yeah!”

  We finally saw a dim ray of hope. Fran took me in her hand and glared the Lich down intently.

  “What is this? Do you think you have a chance at defeating me?! Very well, I shall show you the true terror of the Nether! You seem to have Identify, so have at me!”

  The Lich deactivated his Identify disrupting skill. His stats changed significantly.

  Name: Lich

  Race: Undead

  Status: Greater Vengeful Spirit

  Level: 71

  HP: 4863; Magic: 7467; Strength: 934; Agility: 666

  Skills: Speedcast 10; Wind Magic 7; Identify Jammer 5; Panic 8; Fear 7; Regeneration 10; Spacetime Magic 7; Curse 6; Instant Regen 4; Control Undead 10; Necromancy 10; Mental Abnormal Status Resistance 9; Life Sense 6; Life Drain 7; Ocean Magic 3; Martial Arts 7; Land Magic 3; Earth Magic 10; Mind Reading 4; Poison Magic 8; Fire Magic 6; Mana Sense 7; Mana Drain 7; Water Magic 10; Nether Magic 8; Dark Magic 5; Instacast; Abnormal Status Immunity; Enhanced Undead; Seal Immunity; Mana Manipulation

  Unique Skill: Malice Drain; Malice Conversion; Fake Identity

  Extra Skill: Essence of Filth

  Titles: Unrepentant; Dungeon Master; Avenger

  Equipment: Robe of Resentment

  … Shit. Fran, stay on your guard!

  “Hm!”

  I underestimated him! I didn’t think he would be this strong! He could kill us in an instant if he wanted to. But with his skill set revealed I finally figured out what he was using to dodge our attacks! To be fair, Jean was the one who told me.

  Teacher, I figured it out. It’s the Timespace Magic. Specifically, a spell called Dimension Shift.

  Dimension Shift allowed its user to phase shift to another dimension in order to dodge an attack. Repeated use should be impossible since its mana cost was huge, but the Lich’s Instacast an
d huge mana pool made it a non-issue.

  “Overload Undead Summoning!”

  The Lich summoned his minions. These were nothing like the undead he had summoned up until now. The ones we had been facing were strong, but these undead wore enchanted gear. He had summoned ten Legendary Skeletons. Fighting one of them was enough to bring us to the brink of death. They didn’t have Unleash Potential, but the Advanced Sword Mastery and Advanced Spear Mastery still made them a threat, not to mention their high defense values.

  “Kill them all!”

  The skeletons came at us upon the Lich’s order. Though their numbers were little, they were much more skilled and coordinated compared to the hordes that came before them.

  “High Undead Summoning.”

  A mere instant later, the Lich summoned a swarm of undead locusts. They quickly surrounded Fran, who already had her hands full fending off the skeletons.

  The screeching insect swarm was enough to cause a man to go insane.

  Damn it! Get off of her!

  They kept on coming despite our best efforts to blow them away with Wind Magic. They were beginning to inhibit Fran’s movements.

  “Kuh!”

  She couldn’t concentrate, each one of them sinking their tiny fangs into her skin.

  “Hell Blast!”

  “Venom Bullet!”

  “Gravity Pressure!”

  The Lich was now instacasting his arsenal of spells one after another!

  “Urgh!”

  We couldn’t dodge it! I focused all my mana into maintaining our Mana Barrier but it wasn’t enough.

  I saw the Lich preparing another barrage of spells.

  Fran, you have to dodge it!

  “Hm.”

  “Kakakaka.”

  I instructed Fran to dodge the hexes but the horde of undead made it impossible. Fran’s health was now down to half! I wouldn’t be able to heal her through this!

  “High Undead Summoning!”

  Jean summoned his minion to assist her.

  “Stefan, come forth!”

  The mana signature was strong, perhaps even stronger than the Legendary Skeletons! I couldn’t Identify it because it had Identity Protection but it was strong enough to be a B-Rank threat. The skeletons took notice and slowed down.

  Stefan looked completely unassuming. He looked like a human boy. If not for his hollow eye sockets, you could never tell that he was an undead under Jean’s charge.