Overwhelming Firepower

The undead the Lich summoned were two trolls, several goblins, three third mantle aura users, and two mages of the third circle.

Lucen knew that this was just the opening act. In the game, once the Lich’s HP reaches a certain low point, he summons a young undead dragon. Still, since Lucen had dealt with that corpse, he was sure the Lich would have another trump card.

’Better think about that later, first we need to deal with this mess in front of us.’

Lucen did a few hand signs commanding the others. They would deal with the summoned undead while he faced the Lich.

’It’s been a while since my last boss battle, but this one is going to be different.’

Unlike the young fire dragon, which was already injured, or the shadow monster, whose corruptive power had been countered by Lucen’s skills, traits, and blessings, the being before him was completely different.

He might be in a weakened state because of the long slumber, but his overall power was greater than the injured young fire dragon’s, and his abilities were varied.

’Whatever, let’s just do what we can.’

Lucen shook off the useless thoughts as his aura mantle enveloped him and he pulled the trigger of the Crimson Lord Mk V.

The black powder mechanism inside the weapon ignited. The sound was like that of an engine.

Heat spread across the massive blade, causing its edge to glow red. Smoke escaped through the narrow openings along its surface as Lucen pushed his aura into the weapon.

Lucen took a deep breath; the stone beneath his feet cracked. Lucen then vanished from sight; he had used unbound demonic stride.

Lucen crossed the chamber before the sound of the cracking stone reached the others. The Crimson Lord Mk V cut through the cold air, its heated edge leaving a red trail behind it.

The Lich remained motionless. Only when the blade was about to reach his neck did he speak a single word in the ancient draconic language.

The mana surrounding him gathered instantly. Lucen felt his weapon strike something invisible.

The collision released a loud metallic sound even though there was no metal between them. Sparks scattered from the Crimson Lord Mk V as the invisible barrier stopped its edge only a few inches away from the Lich’s neck.

Lucen gritted his teeth and pushed harder. He then used RELEASE for a brief moment for a sudden increase of power.

His heart struck against his chest. The muscles throughout his body tightened, while both his mana and aura flowed more smoothly. Even his thoughts accelerated as the world around him seemed to slow down.

Cracks appeared across the invisible barrier. The Lich’s flaming blue eyes flickered.

Lucen released one hand from the Crimson Lord Mk V. Mana gathered within his palm, and a pistol appeared in his grip.

The Lich had seen that weapon from several people and understood its capabilities. He knew that it wasn’t enough to get through his barrier. What the Lich did not know, with Lucen’s bullet creation and elemental bullet skill, the power from his revolver was much greater.

The bullet inside the pistol was not an ordinary piece of metal. Lightning mana had been compressed within it through Elemental Bullet.

Combined with Lucen’s skills and the fact that he was firing from only a few inches away, its power was incomparable to the revolvers the Lich had observed on the surface.

Lucen pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The bullet struck the same crack created by the Crimson Lord Mk V.

Lightning spread across the invisible barrier. The cracks multiplied instantly before the entire barrier shattered like glass.

The Crimson Lord Mk V continued forward. Its heated edge was about to reach the Lich’s neck.

Then the Lich moved. One skeletal hand caught the flat side of the blade.

The heated metal burned through the ancient flesh covering his palm. Smoke rose between his fingers, but the Lich did not release the weapon.

His head turned slightly. The bullet had torn through part of his skull, destroying one of the pale flames burning inside his eye sockets. Despite that, the remaining flame continued staring directly at Lucen.

”How interesting.”

Dark mana gathered around the damaged parts of the Lich’s body. The broken pieces of his skull moved backward through the air and returned to their original places. The blue flame within his destroyed eye socket ignited again.

”Yeah, it wouldn’t be fun if you lost with just that much!”

Lucen’s Battle-Crazed trait had activated, increasing his physical abilities while filling him with an almost uncontrollable excitement toward the opponent before him.

His smile widened. At the same time, Battle Instinct continued screaming at him to escape.

The two sensations contradicted one another. One demanded that he retreat before it was too late, while the other wanted him to continue attacking until one of them stopped moving.

The Lich tightened his skeletal fingers around the Crimson Lord Mk V. Dark mana gathered within his burned palm.

Lucen immediately felt something strange through the weapon. The aura he had poured into the blade was being pulled away, followed by the mana inside his body.

[Drain Touch.]

The dark energy began crawling along the Crimson Lord Mk V toward his hands. Under normal circumstances, Lucen would’ve released the weapon and tried a different approach, but in his Battle-Crazed state, the very idea of retreat did not cross his mind.

Lucen made several shots aimed at the Lich’s fingers. The first bullet struck the burned flesh around the Lich’s knuckles. The second shattered one of his fingers, while the lightning contained within the third spread across the skeletal hand.

The Lich’s grip loosened for a fraction of a second. That was more than enough. Lucen twisted the Crimson Lord Mk V and tore it free. The massive blade rotated in his hands before cutting through the Lich’s forearm.

Once freed from the Lich’s grip, instead of retreating, he stepped closer. The Battle-Crazed trait demanded that he continue.

Lucen would normally control this trait, but this time he allowed himself to sink deeper into it. This was the best way to attack more aggressively as well as gain a powerful boost in his stats without using RELEASE.

Lucen released the revolver from his hand and created a trench gun. He imbued the bullets with the fire element. He once again got close using Unbound Demonic Stride and pointed the trench gun he was holding with one hand at the Lich.

The Lich created a wall of bones between him and Lucen. Lucen pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The fire-imbued pellets struck the barrier at point-blank range. Flames spread across the bones as the impact shattered the outer layer.

Lucen was actually pushed back by the powerful recoil of the shot. Still, Lucen did not stop and fired the second shot.

BOOM!

The second blast struck the same damaged section of the bone wall. The fire-imbued pellets tore through it. Burning fragments exploded toward the Lich as the barrier finally collapsed.

Lucen was quick to move as he charged forward, his white aura mantle enveloping him like snow caught in a storm.

The broken bone wall had not even touched the ground when he passed through it. The Lich raised his hand and was about to say something.

Lucen swung the Crimson Lord Mk V before another spell could leave the undead mage’s mouth. Unfortunately, the Lich did not need to use draconic language to initiate some spells, like the bone spear, which came flying towards Lucen from the ground.

The first bone spear shot toward Lucen’s chest.

Battle Instinct warned him before it left the ground. Lucen twisted aside, allowing the spear to scrape across his armor instead of piercing through him.

A second spear followed.

Lucen struck it with the Crimson Lord Mk V. The heated blade shattered the bone into burning fragments, but three more emerged from beneath his feet.

”Heh!”

Lucen took a step forward and swung, but before he noticed, a sword formed from several interlocked bones came clashing with his own sword.

The Lich, an undead dark mage, was using a sword. This was the first time Lucen had seen the mage use such a thing, in any route he played.

The two made a few exchanges when the Lich made a comment. ”Your strength and speed are incredible. Your weapons are also quite troublesome, but it would seem that your sword skills are subpar. Even I, who never held a sword and just copied the swordsmanship of those I have faced, am a much better swordsman than you.”

Lucen’s smile widened. ”Well, who said I was a swordsman? Guns are more my thing.” Lucen shrugged his shoulders. ”I just use whatever I can to achieve victory.”

”Is that so... Is that how you gained your vain title of Ever-Victorious?”

Lucen laughed. ”Who cares about such things! Come, Aleister, show me what you’ve got!”

Lucen threw Crimson Lord Mk V at the Lich. The Lich used his bone sword to deflect the incoming sword.

That was when Lucen arrived in front of the Lich holding a trench gun in each hand. He imbued lightning elements on the left trench gun and fire elements on the right trench gun. Lucen used RELEASE and fired at point-blank range.

The twin blasts erupted at once. Fire and lightning swallowed the Lich, tearing apart the stone beneath them and filling the chamber with smoke. Lucen landed several steps away, grinning as he waited for the dust to clear.

Then Battle Instinct screamed louder than ever. The Lich was already behind him, one skeletal hand silently closing around his throat.