Though I was in a daze above ground, for me airtime wasn't equal to free time. Stopping my drift through the air was not the ground or a tree, but a pair of jet black hands.
'What?! Is this dark magic?'
I quickly regained my wits and tried to free myself, but I was helpless to stop the hands that captured me and placed me in the care of a pair of bony hands. Faced by both magic and bones, I felt my body being crushed. No pain terrorized my mind, but I still felt uncomfortable having myself restricted like this.
'This is the perfect time for that.'
I closed my eyes and used Imbue Holy. Just the simple knowledge I had reminded me that dark magic was weak against light magic, and holy magic came under light magic.
'Yes! Next is...'
Just as I thought, the part of the black hands that touched my hands dissipated, but the rest was still tightly locked on. However, I just needed to focus to take care of that as well.
This was a technique good for close combat but it couldn't be used since I couldn't do it fast enough or maintain it for long. I spread the tingly sensation of holy attribute from my hands to the surface of my entire body. As an undead I definitely couldn't neglect the process of protecting my skin with mana, but it only took about a minute for me to complete the technique.
"Full Body Imbue: Holy."
My body shined with a gentle white light that tore apart the dark hands around me, before disappearing.
"Hoho, for you to be able to use holy attribute... I'm even more interested in capturing you."
The lich was pleasantly surprised by my technique but I didn't have the time to grumble about that leisure. Even though I had escaped the dark magic, the skeletal hands still had to be pushed back. Without the ground to stand on, I held myself in place while pushing against the bony hands trying to crush me. I also tried to break the hands with curse of decay, but that didn't help my arms that trembled while I was forced to use my full strength.
*crack* *crack*
I could tell that the curse was effective but it wasn't doing enough damage over time.
'Damn it! There's no way, I'm getting, crushed here. Grrr!!!'
I had no leeway to think about anything else so I forced all of my strength, my mana and my desperation through my arms. I felt no pain, but there was still great urgency that allowed me to drag out over 100% of my power. Even so, that only put me in a stalemate.
'Why, won't it move?! Just, a little more, just a little!'
I could look at my situation with clear objectivity but there was nothing good about calmly watching myself get crushed. I may not die from this, but who knew what would happen if I entered the hands of the lich.
'I have to do that.'
Since my clear head wasn't helping, I decided to sacrifice it. By activating Berserk, my mind was overtaken by my instincts, but in exchange I felt a burning power coursing through my body. It was hard to reign myself in after using this skill so I didn't like it, but this wasn't the time to be picky.
My vision turned red and in this red world I took a glance at the lich. Even though it was just a skull, I saw contempt in its flamy eyes. It looked down on me, it underestimated me, it was disgusted, it looked at me with pity, it scorned. It had no face but I could imagine one filled with arrogance.
'That bony bastard! I'll kill him! I'll definitely kill him! I'll make sure he suffers. He'll wish he stayed dead!'
As rage and hatred boiled inside, a sinister black glow covered my body without me realising. Somehow, Full Body Imbue: Curse had activated without me thinking about it. Furthermore, this murky glow moved from my body and ate away at the bony hands. The two white structures that used to keep me in the air, quickly crumpled like sand.
[Curse Magic has levelled up.]
Under the influence of Berserk I managed to use Boost Curse but I felt nothing about it. As my skin was covered by the black glow I pounced at the lich on four legs. The lich appeared slightly flustered that I was able to escape so this was the perfect chance to kill it.
'What?!'
It shouldn't have been able to react, but just like last time a ribcage blocked my strike. However, this time, the rib that blocked my fist shattered after making contact. I was prepared to throw another fist, but then the lich jammed me with its staff.
"Hmph, you're an unruly one aren't you."
It knocked me back but I quickly regained my balance. When I looked back at the lich, I could tell that it was finally planning on treating me like an opponent rather than a toy. This was nothing to be happy about and yet a pure wide smile surfaced on my face.
The lich tapped its staff on the ground and muttered something before skeletons suddenly came out from below our feet.
There were more than twenty of them, and they seemed stronger than the ones I had faced, but I felt no fear. Even with only my bare fists these weren't opponents I needed to worry about.
I dashed towards one and grabbed its skull with one hand before crushing it. I then threw a kick at another one but I had to swiftly bend down as the lich shot a bone lance at me. It continued shooting as I battled the skeletons, but my particularly sensitive instinct gave me the ability to dodge them without even looking. Without a single scratch I finished off the last of the skeletons and turned to the lich with a provocative grin.
"Is, that, all?"
I forced out those three words as I approached it but I sensed neither panic nor worry from it. Just like before, it was laughing at me.
"Damn you!!!"
I rushed towards it but all of a sudden something pierced through both of my legs. After stumbling to my knees, I noticed that two bone lances had stabbed me. Since I was still using Full Body Imbue: Curse, the bones that had pierced me quickly degraded but before they did another one shot into my chest. At this time, while I grabbed the bone lance, I looked around and noticed the sharp bones that surrounded me like I was above a beast's open mouth that was hidden below me.
'It was, a trap.'
Right as I recognized the situation, one of the bones that surrounded me shot through my abdomen. Another pierced my thigh, the next, my arm, and finally, one went through my head. Once more, my vision was covered in pitch black darkness....
Once it was sure that the strange ghoul had been defeated, the lich took slow steps towards it.
"What a troublesome one. Even so, its corpse shall be a decent present for my lord."
The lich took its time reaching the body that was like cheddar. No blood came from the empty holes, but it was still quite the gruesome sight. Even so, it had no problem reaching for the body. But before its white hands touched the cold body, one hand latched onto its right wrist and ripped the arm off.
"Ahh!"
The lich's eye flames flickered in surprise as it tried to step back, but I wouldn't let that happen. I knew that there would be no ribcage stopping me since I took its arm so my other hand reached straight for its neck.
"What, how, you shouldn't be-"
I swiftly used Imbue Curse to petrify the lich, but I knew that it would break out of it soon so I hastily proceeded to the next step. My hand stopped glowing black and instead glowed red. Since I didn't need to worry about stability I increased the heat as swiftly as possible. In just a couple seconds there was a white blaze prepared to burn the lich to ashes, but I wasn't sure if this would be enough so I added another attribute.
"Holy White Blaze."
Along with a quick explosion that burst from my palm, the lich's head was blown to bits and it dropped to the ground. At the same time, the dome around us went down.
"Whew~, that was close."
I easily fell for that trap but since Berserk wore off at the same time, I was able to quickly order magic girl, who I had on standby, to use Devotion.
[Devotion (Special)
Your love is strong enough to overcome all difficulties. You would rather die than see your loved one die. If you see the target of your feelings fatally wounded, you can sacrifice your life to heal him. However, if he dies then soon, so shall you.]
It was quite a scary skill to see on someone who wasn't in a relationship, but thanks to this scary skill I basically had an extra life as long as one of my servants was out. Even so, if I didn't manage to figure out what those rings on its hand were, I still would have lost.
I looked at the arm that I took from the lich. On each of its fingers was a ring, and each ring was one made to store a single spell. I didn't know which one it was, but both times I was blocked by the ribcage, I noticed that the mana activating it didn't come from the lich itself but from a ring. Likely it was some kind of automatic defence. Once I figured out that, I also came up with a plan to take advantage of my fake death.
"Now then, what should I do with this?"
Normally I would go ahead and assimilate with any defeated opponent of mine, but this was a lich. A monster that was once alive but gave up its mortality to pursue magic for eternity. I didn't know how old it was but I was sure it would be older than anyone I had ever encountered.
"I guess I should head back in the forest for now."
After dragging the headless robed skeleton into the forest, I sat down in front of it and contemplated. Thinking up reasons to use Assimilation was as effortless as breathing, but the one reason not to do it was enough to negate the benefits.
'If I'm lucky it will just fail. If I'm unlucky, I could die or even worse, lose my body to it.'
I knew that the longer I took to use my unique skill, the less memories I could get, but since learning about the circumstances outside the forest was one of the things I was interested in, I was reluctant to wait. Especially since I didn't know how quickly the memories would decrease.
'Hmm...., maybe I should try.'
Yeah, there have been some close calls, but I was confident enough to take the risk. I couldn't deny that I was tempted by the power I would get but it was true that I thought I would be able to handle it.
"Let's go."
I summoned magic girl, buff boy and #1 to protect me, before touching the skeleton and pouring my mana into it.
"Assimilation."
[Assimilation successful]
The very next moment I was dragged into an abyss of memories.
...
Eventually, his eyes opened but there was something different about them. Somehow, the same eyes didn't look like they belonged in the same body.