Karnak, Monarch of Death

Four towering pillars of light stood at the center of the cliffside, their golden waves pressing against the darkness.

Damn it... Maloka hurriedly scanned his surroundings. Is this a barrier from the Goddesses Church?

This was no ordinary trap. It was a barrier erected by the divine spells of four orders: Latiel of the Sun, Alium of the Stars, Hatbox of the Earth, and Atima of the Sea. Divine spells belonging to the four orders had been intricately linked to create a multi-layered divine barrier.

Even an archlich could not simply walk out of a barrier of this magnitude. Of course, if he unleashed his full power, he might be able to shatter it. But they wouldn’t just stand by and let me do that.

The forces waiting behind the cliff were formidable. Erantel was a purple knight, Theoderic was an eight circle mage, and Alius was a high inquisitor of Hatbox. On top of that, there were twenty elite priests of the Goddess Church. It was a force specifically assembled to take down an archlich.

Alius glanced at the cliff and murmured, ”I never would have guessed such a vast space existed within these rock formations.”

Then, turning to Karnak, he asked, ”You knew about this place?”

As if it were nothing, Varos and Karnak answered in unison.

”We’ve been here before.”

”Yeah. Third time now.”

This cliffside, with its river below, was a familiar place to the two of them. They had first stumbled upon it in their previous lives while on the run from the Goddesses Church, lighting fires and sleeping in the cold.

Then, after Karnak’s return to the past, they had once again encountered it while hunting down the rogue necromancer Fred. It was no coincidence that they were so skilled at escaping. Having passed through the area twice before, they knew the terrain inside and out. Meanwhile, Serati, Leven, and Lapicel stood there with dumbfounded expressions.

We were running for our lives just a second ago...

And now, this?

Serati was the first to put the pieces together. ”Lord Karnak, did you trick us as well?”

Karnak smirked. ”Would he have fallen for it if you weren’t genuinely panicked?”

Deceive the enemy by deceiving your allies first. It was a basic principle of strategy.

—Something Lapicel used to do all the time.

—Still, you told Sir Varos but not us?

Varos quickly denied it.

—Oh, I didn’t know either. Once things started playing out, I just put two and two together.

It was true. Karnak hadn’t given Varos prior warning. But there was no way Varos wouldn’t recognize this strategy. Feigning retreat to strike the enemy’s base. Pretending to attack the base to lure the enemy into a trap.

Both were tricks Lapicel had used on him in their past lives. Maloka wasn’t the only one who had suffered at her hands.

—Ugh. Brings back bad memories...

The priests spread out, forming a complete encirclement around Maloka. Erantel drew his sword, a brilliant purple aura igniting across the blade. Theoderic raised his staff, mana surging to his fingertips. Alius firmly gripped his staff.

As Maloka glanced around, his voice lowered into a mutter. ”What did you do? If a force this large was hiding here, there’s no way I wouldn’t have sensed it.”

Even he had suspected a trap. That was why, throughout the chase, he had continuously scanned his surroundings for mana fluctuations and aura signatures. Which was precisely why this didn’t make sense.

If such a powerful barrier had been concealed here, a ninth circle master like him should have sensed it.

Karnak scoffed. ”Overestimating yourself much?”

His smirk deepened. ”Guess your magic skills have gotten rusty since you died.”

Of course, the real reason was simple. Karnak had used Circumventer of Necromancy to cloak everyone’s presence. But there was no reason to explain that to his enemy. It was better to let Maloka doubt himself.

”Between a living body and a corpse, which do you think has sharper senses?”

”Th-that’s...!”

The eerie blue flames flickering inside Maloka’s empty sockets shuddered violently. Just as expected, he was shaken. The glow of Erantel’s sword intensified, its violet aura pulsing with terrifying energy.

”You’ve done enough,” he said.

Theoderic let his mana expand across his shoulders, forming a shimmering magical field.

”Step back and regain your strength. We’ll handle it from here.”

Karnak’s group retreated behind the priests.

Alius lifted his staff high. ”Servants of the Goddess, bring divine judgment upon this unholy monster!”

Twenty priests simultaneously unleashed sacred light. A wave of pure divinity surged across the battlefield, intertwining with the radiant pillars. The land itself began to glow, purging every trace of darkness.

”Blessed Radiance, descend upon this land! Holy Ground!”

***

The battle began with Theoderic’s magic. ”A bolt of destruction cleaving the skies. Lightning Blast!”

A golden radiance distorted the air as it streaked forward. Thunder roared, and for an instant, the world was bathed in blinding light.

Maloka swiftly moved to defend himself. Flames of crimson flared to life in his skeletal right hand, while an extreme chill emanated from the staff in his left. The two opposing forces merged, forming a blazing sphere of ice. ”Frost Fire!”

The flaming ice sphere and the lightning spear collided midair, triggering a violent explosion. A deafening boom echoed as a tempest of steam spread across the cliffside and river.

It was a necromancer’s nature to scheme from the shadows. Seizing the brief moment when visibility was obscured, Maloka secretly began weaving a spell of decay. ”May the fate of ruin bloom into the flower of death...”

A sickly green energy seeped into the earth, withering grass and drying the soil. But it didn’t last long. Holy light surged in from all directions, dispelling the spell before it could fully take effect.

Damn it, the divine barrier...

Alius’s divine spell, Holy Ground, was swallowing Maloka’s magic. Even as a top-class inquisitor, Alius lacked the divine power to completely overwhelm an archlich. However, the four luminous pillars surrounding them were weakening Maloka while amplifying Alius’s authority.

Maloka glared at the ones who had erected those pillars, the twenty priests.

I need to take them out first.

A black gleam flickered at the tip of his golden staff. In an instant, dozens of dark arrows shot toward the priests. Yet, the priests did not evade.

”Block it!”

”Do not break formation!”

”We offer ourselves to the goddess!”

Murmuring prayers, they cast protective blessings of light. Most of the dark arrows deflected off the radiant barrier. A few managed to pierce through, but it was of little consequence.

The priests had no need to attack Maloka directly. Their sole duty was to maintain the barrier and keep him surrounded. For that reason, they wore heavy armor beneath their priestly robes. Sure it was cumbersome, but highly durable.

If evasion was impossible, then minimizing damage was the best course of action. Inside the sacred barrier, they held the advantage.

”Priests! Keep pressing him back!” With a resounding command, Alius unleashed another divine spell. ”O cursed soul, be swallowed by the celestial light and rest in peace!”

A brilliant halo of radiance descended upon the archlich, striking him from the crown of his head downward. Maloka instinctively conjured a veil of darkness to block it, but it wasn’t completely effective. The shroud shattered, sending fragments of darkness scattering in all directions.

At that moment, Erantel launched forward. ”Vile lich! I shall cut you down in the name of our king!”

A violet aura cleaved through the darkness, leaving a streak in its wake. The middle-aged knight, having closed the distance in a blink, slashed Maloka’s body with his aura-infused blade.

With his dark veil shattered, Maloka’s body was fully exposed. His ethereal, ghostly form wavered as his robes caught fire.

”Grrgh!” This time, the damage was severe. Suppressing a groan, Maloka retaliated. ”Death Hand!”

A spectral hand of darkness clashed midair against Erantel’s violet aura. As a ninth circle master, Maloka’s mana reserves were immense. The sheer force of his spell pushed against Erantel’s sword.

There’s no need to face him head-on.

Erantel fluidly shifted his stance, momentarily retreating before striking down with a sweeping motion.

”Aura Wave!”

Three razor-sharp arcs of energy raced across the ground, extending far beyond a normal sword’s range. The sheer reach of the violet-tier aura transcended ordinary limitations.

Meanwhile, Theoderic wasn’t standing idle. Having maneuvered behind Maloka, he unleashed another spell. ”The breath of frost shall bind all. Frost Breath!”

A tide of freezing energy surged forward, converging with the aura waves from the opposite side. A storm of light and frost erupted with a thunderous roar, engulfing Maloka.

Maloka staggered, groaning in pain. ”Ugh...!”

This time, he had taken a direct hit. The force had pierced through his spectral body and even reached his true form, his bones. Had he been in a living body, that single blow would have been enough to kill him instantly.

Maloka gritted his teeth as he assessed his condition. Damn it, my bones are aching...

For humans, it was the kind of sensation they might feel when rain was approaching. But for a lich, aching bones meant something far more severe. It was a sign of significant damage.

With a resentful glare, Maloka turned his gaze toward the towering pillars of light in the distance. That’s the problem...

The powerful sacred barrier was continuously gnawing away at his darkness. The longer the battle dragged on, the more his necromantic energy drained away, even if he did nothing at all. Mana, at least, was less affected by divine magic, but since his body was undead, the end result was the same.

If the depletion of necromantic energy felt like water boiling away into steam, then the depletion of mana felt like cracks forming in a vessel, causing water to leak out.

This won’t do.

He needed to take action before his strength was completely exhausted. With a fierce motion, Maloka slammed his golden staff into the ground.

He gathered every last shred of his remaining necromantic energy and converted it into an incantation. ”O despair in solitude, cross the boundaries of this world from the rift of darkness, and heed my call!”

The air turned frigid as eerie eyes materialized throughout the night sky. Five shadows coalesced, drifting through the void. Within moments, the floating darkness took form, revealing massive figures over three meters tall.

Erantel’s expression hardened. That’s...

Among all specters, they were the most fearsome beings of the underworld, Atwalads. They were the highest-ranked wraiths whose name was unknown to ordinary mortals.

He can summon something like that inside the barrier?

Theoderic stepped forward, raising his wand. ”I will handle this!”

His clear voice rang out as he chanted his spell. ”I shall become the redeemer of darkness’s sins!”

It was the spell designed specifically to counter high-level necromancy—Redeemer of Necromancy. Among the many mages who had filled Karnak’s coffers, Theoderic had been one of them. A brilliant radiance burst forth, wrapping around one of the wraiths in glowing chains. Unfortunately, it was just one. He had only managed to subjugate a single entity.

Theoderic’s face twisted. Is this really the best I can do?

He could dominate one powerful specter, but the difficulty increased exponentially as the numbers grew.

They say this spell depends more on innate talent than skill...

Maloka let out a faint scoff. ”There are still four left.”

With a chilling wail, the remaining wraiths streaked through the air.

Suddenly, a detached voice rang out. ”Kneel.”

Instantly, chains of light appeared above the wraiths’ shoulders. Mid-flight, every specter was slammed to the ground.

”What?” A stunned Maloka turned toward the source of the voice, only to hear a calm response.

”I was merely resting. I never said I was incapable of fighting.” The voice belonged to Karnak, who was now striding out from the crevice of the cliff. ”So tell me, why did you assume I’d just sit back and watch?”