Chapter 61

EP.61 Ancient Lich, Skeval (1)

Crack, crackle!

A crack appears in the dream that had been confining Resty.

Platinum mana engulfs the disassembled circuit. Thus, the dream begins to crumble.

Rip!

Soon, the dream shatters completely.

Awakening from the dream, Resty immediately takes control of her body. Since she had already dismantled the spell, it wasn't a difficult task.

"Ugh..."

A light dizziness hits her.

Resty stumbles and lifts her head. She slowly opens her eyes, seeing the reality, not the dream.

'...Where am I?'

She couldn't tell.

Everything is tinged with gray. There are trees and bushes, but they lack the colors they should have.

The endless, colorless landscape is desolate. To understand what this place is, Resty searches her memory.

'Colorless.'

She has never seen such a landscape.

However, she has encountered it in records.

'A world of only gray, the Intermediate Dimension.'

Resty is a Summoner.

There is a dimension that must be passed through when summoning a familiar. Resty mentions it.

"The Otherworld."

The moment Resty utters these words,

"Immersing you in a dream was the least I could do."

A voice is heard.

Resty turns her head.

"If you had stayed, I would have chosen a comfortable path for you."

Her eyes focus on the source of the voice.

"Why did you wake up, child?"

In the colorless world, there is something black.

It is a shadow. The shadow's edge is connected to Resty's feet.

"Was the dream unsatisfactory?"

The shadow approaches Resty.

In the Otherworld, the only thing with color is ominous. An instinctive sense of rejection arises.

"Tell me what you want. I will start over from the beginning. What, as I said before, I am... "

"Summon."

Resty doesn't listen to the rest of the words.

There's no reason to listen, no value in it. She mutters briefly and swings her arm.

Crack!

A wolf suddenly appears and bites the shadow's neck. The shadow's voice is cut off.

"Summon."

She continues the incantation.

Every time she flicks her finger, a familiar appears and bites the shadow. The shadow is being torn apart.

Crunch, crunch!

There is no hesitation in the summoning.

Without giving any room, the familiars start tearing the shadow apart.

Multiple Casting.

"Overlapping Summon."

The wave of summoned creatures doesn't stop.

Resty recites the spell faster. With one hand, she draws circuits, with her mouth, she utters the spell, and with the other hand, she infuses mana into the circuits.

Resty does all of this simultaneously.

Familiars pour out.

Even though their number exceeds Resty's usual limit of ten, the familiars continue to be summoned. The speed is incomparable to before.

There is only one reason this is possible.

Because this place is the Otherworld.

The summoning spell is a process of bringing a summoned creature from the Otherworld to reality. Given the nature of the spell, which must pass through the Otherworld, there is definitely wasted mana and delay.

'But not here.'

The place where Resty stands is the Otherworld.

As long as she stands in the Otherworld, the entire process is skipped. Mana consumption decreases, and the delay disappears.

In other words, it allows for abilities beyond her skill.

Resty's eyes assist her.

Nearly a hundred familiars she has tamed fill the Otherworld.

Crunch, crunch!

Crack!

The sound of something being scratched, bitten, and shattered can be heard. The shadow, buried under the familiars, can't even be seen properly.

"..."

At that moment, Resty stops the spell she was casting.

It wasn't because she was confident of victory.

"...What the hell is this?"

On the contrary, it was the opposite.

Despite nearly a hundred summoned creatures biting the shadow, it stands up as if nothing happened.

Creak, creak.

The familiars are dragged along the ground as the shadow moves. The shadow casually shakes its hand as if annoyed.

Raising its hand,

it swings it down.

Crack.

That's all it took.

The familiars explode, are crushed, and some have their necks snapped. Their forms vary, but all connections to Resty are severed.

"Compared to an apostate... still disappointing, but not bad. If you can do this much even without your talent manifesting, it's not too shabby."

The shadow steps on the familiars' corpses and approaches Resty. With each step, the shadow around it collapses.

"Child."

The shadow stands in front of Resty.

The last remnants of the shadow peel away completely. Resty looks at what was hidden by the shadow.

The first thing she sees is a gaunt joint. It has no flesh, no blood. Only bones, staring at Resty.

"I will arrange a contract with you once the ritual is complete. I will do it myself. Perhaps, He will choose you directly."

It's a skull that doesn't seem human.

Black eyes gleam from inside the skull. The black eyes meet Resty's.

The moment they meet,

An instinctive fear envelops Resty.

Her eyes waver.

'Ah... '

Resty realizes what this undead is.

It wasn't hard to recall.

Numerous historical texts have mentioned this undead.

'An ancient mage.'

The nightmare of mages.

One who hates the living.

One who touched the truth through death.

And.

One of the four calamities that once burned the kingdom.

"...Ancient Lich, Skeval."

"That's the name I go by."

Skeval raises his hand.

The gaunt joint points at Resty's forehead.

"Sleep a little longer until everything is over."

Thud.

The joint touches Resty's forehead.

Skeval's black magic penetrates Resty's mind. Just as it's about to settle deep within,

Crack.

A spark flies.

Skeval's finger is repelled.

"...What?"

The ancient lich narrows his eyes.

Resty follows his gaze and looks down. Her eyes are drawn to the pocket of her school uniform. Something glowing is inside.

"Why?"

The ancient lich asks.

He stands in place, unable to approach the light. Resty reaches into her pocket.

Thud.

Her fingertips grasp something.

Resty pulls it out. It's a neatly folded note. The material is familiar; it's the circuit recording paper she used recently.

'...Why is this here?'

She is puzzled.

However, the moment she sees the circuit etched on the paper, her doubts fade. The circuit fills one side of the paper.

An incredibly intricate circuit.

A circuit that seems beautiful the moment you see it.

That incredibly intricate circuit... as far as Resty remembers, it belongs to one person.

'...Professor Lania?'

The circuit contains no mana.

The mana flowing through the circuit is Resty's. She understands the circuit at a glance.

"Immediately, that...!"

The ancient lich shouts.

His cry is like that of a beast. The strange voice shakes her eardrums. Amid the roar that shakes her mind, Resty raises the note.

"Really."

Then, she bursts into laughter, which seems out of place for the situation.

"You were watching, huh?"

Resty immediately infuses mana into the circuit.

Platinum mana fills the circuit. The circuit diagram emits light, enveloping Resty.

"Aah! Aaaaaah!"

Skeval's black eyes tremble with anger at the sight.

"Stars! Fulfill the contract! External interference will shake the contract, leading to...!"

Skeval asks the stars.

An answer returns.

-It's not external interference.

The circuit wasn't etched by Resty.

However, the one who infuses mana into the circuit and activates the spell is Resty.

-There is no abnormality in the phenomenon.

The stars assert there is no abnormality.

The gray world begins to crumble. The door from the Otherworld to reality opens.

"Gray!"

Looking at it,

"Detestable gray!"

Skeval scratches his skull.

The sharp joint scrapes against the skull, and Skeval's scream echoes.

"Is it you again! Again!"

Crack!

The dream and the Otherworld collapse.

What returns is complete reality.

"Aaaaaah!"

Skeval screams and claps his hands. He snaps his joints and drives them into the ground. The dark aura from his joints forms a barrier.

Just before the barrier encloses the forest,

someone's gaze pierces through Skeval from a distance.

"Ah."

She says.

"I found you."

2.

"Huff."

Kalt gasps and lifts his head.

His eyes are bloodshot.

"The location is pinpointed. Can you see it?"

"Yeah, thanks. Good job."

Kalt, as promised, pinpointed the location in less than ten seconds. I etched the location into the circuit.

Then, I suddenly feel a gaze.

"..."

Kalt is staring at me blankly.

"...What are you doing?"

"Do I have anything else to do?"

Anything else to do.

"You should go down and help the knights. The monsters will appear soon."

"...Will you be okay alone?"

"What would I do with you? You haven't fully recovered from the mana poisoning. You'll struggle just to cross that barrier. I don't want to fight carrying a burden."

I've fought with two burdens for the past few years.

'Are you asking me to do that again?'

I shake my head.

Just thinking about it is terrifying.

"Go down, damn it."

"...If you insist, I guess."

Kalt shrugs and crouches. It seems he's preparing to jump off the rooftop.

Then, perhaps he thinks of something to say.

"Miss Laniel."

Just before jumping, Kalt turns to look at me.

"What? If you called, say it."

"Just... come back in one piece. Let's have a drink after this is over, it's been a while."

A chuckle escapes me.

I wave my hand and say,

"Sure, see you later."

I watch Kalt jump off the rooftop and roll up my sleeves. Kalt has done his part. Resty has done more than I expected.

"What's left is..."

My role, I guess.

I bend my wrist and glare at the barrier.

The barrier continues to expand. The barrier that covered the forest extends beyond it.

Creak, creak.

The barrier is slowly approaching Aplia.

Calculating the distance to the barrier, I open my mouth.

"Release."

The circuits stockpiled on my arm light up one by one.

I plant my raised foot into the rooftop railing. The tiles of the rooftop crack with a crack, crackle sound.

Acceleration.

Muscle Enhancement.

Strength Enhancement.

I raise my arm.

I fold my fingers one by one.

Spell Boost.

Spell