Chapter 328: Humerus Wyrm
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As the sound of the chanting gradually increased in volume, the huge ice magical element also roared deafeningly in the ruins. The town square that was previously filled with Undead creatures was now filled with snow instead. In a flash, the snow covered the sky as it slowly spread throughout the place like a monster swallowing the whole world in an instant. In the face of this doomsday blizzard, the Tide of Death seemed weaker than usual. The Skeletal Warriors were trembling in the wind, while the Vampires screamed pitifully as they spread their wings in the sky. The Liches and Vengeful Spirits hid in the black fog, refusing to take another step forward. The looming darkness dissipated suddenly, leaving only a gorgeous scene of crystal and snow…
“My God…” Jason could not believe that the one to summon this snow of death was the employer he had thought useless all along—the one who always had a smile on his face and seemed terrified of everything. Not even in his wildest dreams did Jason imagine that this seemingly useless employer would have such capability. To think that he had paid no regard to him the whole time and even wanted to fight him just now. Jason felt himself breaking into sweat at the thought…
Sienna was completely shocked as a dull, blank look filled his eyes. He even failed to dodge a flying ice shard, and if not for the quick reflexes of an Adventurer standing next to him, who knew what would have happened to his face.
“That’s… that’s amazing!” The castellan’s missus clenched her small fists as her face was flushed with excitement. Their encounters from the Dragon Mountains to Syer Town had been the most exciting string of events to have happened in her nearly two decades of life. Especially after they had entered Syer Town, the young mage named Felic had triumphed over an entire mercenary corps alone and destroyed a troop of Undead creatures in a flash. The young mage she had previously called a “scaredy-cat” was now unbelievably powerful in her mind.
Lin Li could not be bothered with anything else now as the Thousand Miles of Ice had taken up all his concentration. He was only concerned about distributing and releasing his mana as the torrential ice magical element exploded in the town square, tearing apart countless Undead creatures at once while the crystal embedded in the silver shone with gory colors.
Time seemed to have lost its meaning now as everybody was immersed in the ethereal snow. When the last snowflake fell, the Undead army that had once covered every inch of land seemed to have evaporated into thin air. There were only a few lingering Vampires and hunchbacked Liches dragging their bone magic staves around as they stuck their heads out of the black fog to look around, only to find arrows and magic awaiting them. Sienna’s men were not stupid, and knew to take advantage of the beaten Undead army. Since the young mage had single-handedly wiped out almost the whole army, they knew they should take care of the remaining few.
While none of the Adventurers were particularly highly skilled, the impact of over 20 people attacking at the same time was by no means weak. It was even more effective against the Undead creatures that had been terrified by the Thousand Miles of Ice, and it was only a moment before the Undead creatures had fallen into a heap.
The outcome of the battle had been overturned by Lin Li’s Thousand Miles of Ice. The Adventurers who had previously been on the losing end all fought valiantly now as they easily swept up the remaining Undead creatures. While many Undead continued to emerge from the dark, they were fewer in numbers and weaker compared to the Thousand Miles of Ice previously.
The 20 of them fought along the way, and it was only a moment before they closed in on the center of the town square…
The successful turn of events gave everyone hope as even the shocked Sienna brandished his machete and joined in fighting the Undead creatures. The latter fell one by one, and the Adventurers stepped over their bones as they slowly approached the bell tower on the other end of the square.
Lin Li was the only one who did not join in the fight, and in fact, he had not done anything to help after releasing the Thousand Miles of Ice. He was like a stingy miser now, unwilling to spend the energy to release even a single Wind Blade. But of course, nobody could fault him for it as after the Thousand Miles of Ice, his status had risen from a good-for-nothing fellow to a strong and mysterious mage in the eyes of the Adventurers. He had exterminated countless Undead creatures with one spell, so why couldn’t he rest? If anyone had capabilities like that, they could rest too…
Of course, Lin Li was not really resting. Ever since he set his foot in the town square, he had been walking within six dots of blood-red light. Strong and pure mana continued to flow into the Aether Staff as the Dragon’s Eye atop the staff shone blindingly. If anyone looked closer now, they would notice that the six dots of light dimmed slightly every time the Dragon’s Eye shone brighter. In the end, they became hidden in the black fog surrounding the area…
There were many ways to stop a Tide of Death, and Lin Li chose the most straightforward method of all. He was using strong and pure mana to forcefully destroy the internal configuration of the Tide of Death; when the Death Energy within it lost balance, the Legendary level-20 magic would be destroyed as well.
Seems like not every Lich’s powers are as scary as they are made out to be in legends… Lin Li secretly heaved a breath of relief after seeing the last of the blood-red lights disappear. Tide of Death was a strange spell indeed; its scale was largely tied to the mana of the person wielding it, and—to some extent—could be seen as an extension of one’s mana. The stronger the user, the larger the scale of the Tide of Death. Lin Li had chosen to use such a crude method to destroy the Tide of Death simply because he was trying to test the capabilities of the Lich in the tower.
From this Tide of Death, he could tell that while the one sitting inside the bell tower was a Lich, he was not devastatingly powerful, and as far as Lin Li could tell, both Aldwin and Andoine were much stronger than him…
After finding out his opponent’s capability, Lin Li became more confident in this rescue quest. He used a Gravity Spell to trap the Vampires flying in the air before launching Arcane Missiles consecutively from his Aether Staff. It was only a moment before the Vampires were all shot down.
Once the Vampires landed on the ground, the blood-hungry Adventurers all came running forth with Jason, who held the rune’s adamantine sword in his hand, in the front. All the Vampires fell under a flurry of slashes before they even had the chance to put up a fight in a flash.
By then, Lin Li had crossed the town square, and gently pushed open the door of the bell tower.
The old door creaked as it opened, and an eerie chill hit him straight in the face. It was dark inside the bell tower, and Lin Li could only make out what was inside with a great deal of effort. There was an empty hall upon entering; there were a few tables and chairs scattered around, most of which had decayed due to age, which explained the strong moldy smell. There was a flight of stairs leading up a little further away from the door. Algae covered the steps—from a distance, it looked like a python that had curled up.
“Jason, Sienna, bring your men and follow me.”
“Yes.”
The slimy stairs were narrow and eerie, and while Lin Li had a calm expression as he was climbing up, he could not help feeling slight trepidation. It was the nest of a Lich, after all, and after a hundred years, the ordinary bell tower was now filled with danger. Lin Li had even thought of some spells to use in case any Undead creature decided to attack the from the dark…
It was worse for the others. The previous fight had already left a deep enough impression on them as the scene of countless Undead creatures surging forth at once was enough to make their skin crawl. Even though a powerful mage was leading the way, who was to say that the mage would be able to look out for them the whole time?
Everyone walked carefully, and the short hundred or so meters of stairs took them close to 10 minutes to finish climbing.
Then…
The 20-odd people froze all at once.
There was a room at the end of the stairs with its door left ajar. Through the crack in the door, they could clearly see that the room was empty save for a short and slim black figure…
“W-w-what is this?” Lin Li felt his brain turn blank after seeing the black figure. He had never thought that it would be this easy to meet the Lich. They had not met any obstacles along the way, and no danger as well—besides the annoying algae on the stairs, everything had been as easy as a field trip.
It was like a punch falling through into thin air, and took Lin Li by surprise.
Just as he was wondering if this was a trap, a hoarse voice could be heard from the room. “Welcome, my guests from afar. To be honest, I’m quite shocked that you made it here…”
“Who exactly are you?” Lin Lin Li frowned as he wondered why he found this short and slim fellow somewhat familiar…
“Haha, young mage, be patient, I’ll introduce myself later… but first, allow me to introduce my pet to you…”
“Pet?” Lin Li was taken aback.
Then, he heard the growl of a dragon from above him.
“What… what is that?” Lin Li was shocked before his expression suddenly changed. “Damn it, a Humerus Wyrm?”
Lin Li was almost scared out of wits. Why hadn’t he thought that this guy’s “pet” would turn out to be a Humerus Wyrm? Damn it, does it have to be so exciting? Isn’t this just a simple kidnapping that hadn’t been violent at all? Why is there suddenly a Humerus Wyrm?
This was no joke—the Humerus Wyrm’s position amongst Undead creatures was not much lower than that of a Lich. While a Lich was powerful in Necromagic, a Humerus Wyrm represented the highest combat capabilities present among Undead creatures.
Of course, it was not a real dragon, as Undead creatures did not inherit bloodlines. The bones that made up their bodies could be from magical beasts or humans, but one thing for sure was that every Humerus Wyrm inherited a soul fire Dragon Crystal…
This inherited soul fire Dragon Crystal was the life source of the Humerus Wyrm.
The scariest part was that the Humerus Wyrm also gained the knowledge and strength that came with the Dragon Crystal, and this meant that the strength of the Humerus Wyrm was not far off from an actual Dragon…
“Damn it, we’re in huge trouble…”
“Hehe, hope you have a good time together.” Just as Lin Li wanted to bang his head against a wall, the Lich started chanting hurriedly.
Then, a strong magical wave appeared around them.
It all happened too quickly, and nobody could react to it. Lin Li had just tightened his grip on the Aether Staff when the magical wave surged towards them. Then, a strong twisting sensation appeared—it was as if an invisible hand was contorting their bodies, and Lin Li could not respond well enough to it quickly. The only thing he could do was to conjure up a Magical Barrier to protect himself and the Adventurers behind him as it wrapped around them tightly…
Luckily, the twisting only lasted for a short while, and stopped just as Lin Li conjured up the Magical Barrier. He then realized that their surroundings had been defaced—there was no Lich and no bell tower, only the dark sky and ghastly white bones. Furthermore, there seemed to be a huge bulky figure rushing down from the dark sky…
“F*ck!” Lin Li raised up his head, only to see a spread out wing made of bones. It was no doubt the Lich’s pet…
While the Humerus Wyrm was huge, it moved at an incredible speed. Just as Lin Li looked around, the huge figure had descended on top of their heads as its bone wings swept up a strong wind, making their faces ache as it blew at them. The stench of decay unique to Undead creatures started spreading from the Humerus Wyrm’s body, only adding on to the stifling fear everybody felt.