Chapter 717 Facing The Undead (5) - Trap

Passing through the now much thinner miasma, Eldrian killed off the few remaining lower undead via [Thora]. As he did, he realized how lacking his spell repertoire was. Still using a Tier 1 spell despite being Tier 5. But it was easy to use and still effective, so he saw little reason not to. Besides, it cost was basically nothing. Each cast taking him less than five seconds to recover the mana used.

Once he and Theas passed through the gate, they turned their attention to the keep, covered in a much thicker miasma, visible even to the naked eye. And to mana sense, Eldrian felt positive he could see some sort of chains within the miasma. Mentioning this to Theas, the dwarf sighed.

"It is as I thought..." He took out that strange monocle of his again observed the keep and its miasma for a moment. "If the ritual is complete, we will have to fall back. A draugr isn't something we can handle with so little preparation."

Recalling the death knight demon who had chased him in the forest long ago, Eldrian nodded. Something like that would be far past what they could handle. However, it had been a combination of revenant and draugr, a demon. Surely a draugr alone would be more manageable.

As if reading Eldrian's mind, Theas warned him. "A draugr in its home is nothing short of invincible. They tap into the local mana veins in a manner similar to magic crystals, giving them near endless supplies of mana and vitality."

Hearing this, Eldrian gulped and looked towards his map to confirm that nothing has changed. Old Sword and the other captives were still alive, and the lich and revenant were still inside the keep. But they had moved.

"I think they know we are coming."

"Would be strange if they didn't." Theas replied, "The miasma is directly linked to what they are busy with. Us entering should be like a chorus of alarm bells." Activating his armor's abilities and that of his halbert Theas shone like a walking sun to mana sense.

Upon entering the keep, the lich welcomed them, spreading out its arms as if giving them a blessing. "Welcome, welcome!" The lich's voice was high pitched, feminine perhaps. Liuva was the lich's name, and she seemed to be going on a monologue. The best outcome Eldrian and Theas could have hoped for.

She stood behind two revenants. Each had a tower shield larger than their body and a longsword sheathed at their side. The aura of death oozing from them reminded Eldrian of just how deadly they were.

"We've been waiting for you to come for weeks. I thought it would never happen! Oh, how bored I've been these last few weeks..." Liuva lamented and swayed dramatically. The doors of the keep closing with a load bang.

Eldrian did not let his focus drop. He continued to observe the lich with all he had while preparing Tempest Chase. He was to let it loose right after Theas started dueling her for control of the magic in the area.

Due to them being in the lich's nest, Theas had no illusions that he could win the duel. Their only hope was to strike fast and hard. Killing the undead wasn't even an option since revenants were undead tanks and the lich would simply retreat to her phylactery. But if they made their goal clear too early, they would never succeed.

"How bad's our situation?" Eldrian asked Theas with a whisper. The room was covered in magic—this was easy to see even without mana sense. But Eldrian could make no sense from the arrays and could not try to decipher it now. His complete focus was on trying to hide his tricks from the lich.

The dwarf's face was stern as he stared at the lich and, more specifically, what was behind her. Upon a stage of bones lay three tombs, two were filled, but the third was empty. Following the chains and analyzing the arrays, Theas broke out in a cold sweat.

"It seems you are well versed. How wonderful! We can work around you being a dwarf." The lich tried her best to sound enticing but sadly, the contrast between her voice and physical form was too great to be ever bridged. Even with her adding some spirit magic to entice the weak willed.

"Terrible... Follow plan TKO." Theas' answer came as the flaming reanimates and single ghoul positions themselves in front of the closed doors of the keep. This was no problem. They didn't plan to escape through the doors.

"How terrible?! Wanting to leave so shortly after arriving. I'm afraid we can't have that!" With a snap of her skeletal fingers, the reanimates and remaining ghoul jumped to action.

As soon as they did, Eldrian threw a crystal at them. He had heard from Pheonix of Ilmadia using his trick, but with ice, so he had no doubt it would work. He threw another at the revenant charging him and then pulled out Crystoi, already having activated the channel between his soul and body.

His mana gushed into the spear, and a tornado of flames appeared before the lich and the revenant protecting her. Liuva raised her hands and a collection of arrays around her brightened, only to be canceled as Theas shouted something in a strange language Eldrian found faintly familiar.

"Oi evlogiménoi ánemoi..."

[The language of the gods has been spoken. Do wish to activate translation feature?]

'Oh? Since when can I? Sure!' Eldrian smiled as he kept his tornado bearing down on the lich, who had become flustered thanks to Theas interfering with her magic. She managed to protect herself, summoning barrier after barrier. But they did not last long enough under Theas' words and attacks with his halbert. Deftly dancing around the tornado and placing it between himself and the revenant, so he did not need to lose any focus on it.

'He's good,' Eldrian noted as he spared some focus to listen to what was being said.

"Dioktis, the god of war, shall punish those who subvert death. No one can defy the natural ending of life without just punishment! Asteria weeps, Skepsi and Mosfaria console her. That people would turn their backs upon the gods is not their fault, it is the wicked—"

'Oh shit!' Dodging to the side hastily, Eldrian rolled on the ground as his heart beat through his chest. Only narrowly having avoided having his head separated from his shoulders. He almost lost control of the flaming tornado but regathered his focus in time as he moved to avoid the tower shield which the revenant was using like a club.

One would think the size of the tower shield would mean using it as a club would be slow. This was not the case. The revenant swung it like one would swing a twig. With ease and deftness that shocked Eldrian. When Two mentioned to him that the ghoul and reanimates were also charging his heart sank.

'Two, take control of the tornado!' Eldrian howled as he had to place all his focus on not dying immediately. He had no speed advantage against the revenant and it was the only attribute in which the two were comparable. And that was without mentioning its aura, which was constantly assaulting Eldrian's body.

Luckily, due to having infused his mana throughout his body, he had far greater resistance and wasn't immediately weakened. But the strain it placed him under wasn't something Eldrian could ignore.

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