"!!!" Theo instinctively used his illusion so as to make them appear like a normal tree.
After that glance, the Zombie Lich furrowed its eyebrows before turning around.
"What's that?" Theo took a deep breath and asked Ava. "I don't think there's a zombie that can see that far ahead, right? But why does… Wait, this hill doesn't have a single monster around them. Is this the Zombie Lich's work?"
Ava shook her head in confusion. "Kyu."
"I know, I know. You are like Alea, so I will do the thinking." Theo let out a long sigh while peeking at the Zombie Lich and the other zombies. "Anyway, I have downloaded all the monsters' information in my Monster Detector, so I'm going to take a look at the lich first."
Name: Zombie Lich
Level: 251-255
A peak Rare Class monster. It is said that the zombie has enough wisdom to use at least five magic or skills. The zombie requires a thousand corpses to be sacrificed to make a perfect body to advance to a General Class monster.
It was the same description as earlier, but he wanted to look at the detailed explanation, so he tapped the lich's picture, which was the same as the one he saw just now.
Description: A former Necromancer that uses its own spell to prevent its own imminent death. It's bound by a restriction that forces the Necromancer to stay in one place until it completes the perfect body to roam around.
It's advised to fight the Necromancer during the day because their skills will be enhanced during the night. There are various types of Necromancer, such as Skeleton Necromancer, Zombie Necromancer, and Soul Necromancer, depending on the previous' life mastery.
"…" Theo narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Doesn't this mean the Necromancer was a human? As he was about to die, he cast his own spell to resurrect himself?
"If that's the case, doesn't this mean I am facing a former human? It's not like I don't want to kill a human, but his skills… Does he still retain his skills? This is going to be troublesome if he can use all his former skills." Theo then looked at the hill and its surrounding before coming to a realization.
"Wait… Don't tell me. The Zombie Lich has been clearing this entire place because he wants to invite humans to come since it's like an easy path? After killing them, the lich resurrected them to their current appearances.
"It's no wonder why they fight like humans. But doesn't this mean a human can become a monster too? This doesn't make sense." Theo gritted his teeth and looked down, falling into deep thought. There were many questions in his mind, but no one could answer him.
He simply had no knowledge regarding this stuff, considering all the knowledge in his mind was mostly about fighting.
"This is the time I wish I had someone beside me. They can explain things to me." Theo shook his head in disappointment. "Or it's better if we can use Skynet here…"
"Kyu?!" Ava looked at Theo with a serious expression.
"We are going to kill that Lich. It is a Hero Rank Lich… Although it's quite powerful, I alone should be enough if we fight one on one. The problem is those zombies. If we can eliminate them first, I'm sure we can take the lich on. Hence, I'm going to make sure where that lich is resting before exterminating the rest of the zombies."
"Kyu!" Ava nodded in agreement before leaping on top of his right hand and closing her eyes.
Theo smiled and shook his head helplessly, knowing that Ava decided to sleep first because the lich was supposed to sleep during the day.
However, right before Theo moved from the spot, a loud sound alarmed him and Ava.
They opened their eyes wide and looked at the valley, finding a huge fish leaping from the water.
The fish had golden skin with a red fin and each scale seemed to be covered with a blue dot that made the fist unpleasant to be seen. The fish itself was fifteen-foot-long or four times bigger than the lich.
Still, what shocked Theo the most was the two long and sharp fangs in front of its mouth.
When the fish leaped to the air, their eyes intertwined.
The lich and the fish seemed to understand what each other wanted to do.
The fish opened its mouth as the river water began to flow to its mouth as it maintained its position in the air.
At the same time, the lich raised its right hand as a green-colored flame appeared and covered his hand.
The fish spurted out all the water inside his mouth, creating a strong spinning current that might blow the lich away.
Responding to its attack, the lich let out a small line of fire that should be extinguished in an instant by that amount of water.
Yet, the result was different from what everyone could expect. The fire penetrated the water and split it into all directions. The water splashed a few zombies around and blew them away, but none of them died from that attack.
'What? The flame is not extinguished?' Theo's body shook in surprise. 'No, the flame should be suppressed by the water, but the fire's purpose is a bit different. It's trying to deflect the water in all directions, weakening its power. Instead of destroying or blocking the attack, it's deflecting the attack. Sihan used the same technique, but this lich dispersed it to all directions… It will take less effort to do it because the area of contact is smaller, resulting in a stronger force. I see.'
Theo realized the lich's level. He perfectly understood that the lich might be a powerful human in the past because his skill was this profound.
Still, the fight wasn't over. After seeing his ineffective attack, the fish took a few seconds to glare at the lich before jumping back into the water.
Before leaving, he sent another strike by clapping its tail, generating a fifteen-foot-tall wave that should sweep the zombies.
The lich shook his head and waved his hand, creating a crescent-shaped green flame that cut the wave on the bottom, destroying the wave.
The lich also took another look at the fish that had swum to the corner of the river, preparing to climb the hill.