76. OutMission (15)
"-ke up"
"Wake up"
"Nn~" Lex finally waken up after being called a few times. Usually, he won't sleep that deep in the wild like this. (it seems yesterday's incident took a toll on my body. But, with Aria being here, I can rest without caring about my safety too). "I'm sorry, I'm awake now."
"good, here," Aria replied as she gave him water and another ration for breakfast.
"Thanks," Lex replied. He used a little water to wipe his face. It was then he realized his surrounding "fog?" he uttered
Their surroundings were filled with thick fog. So it's hard to see. More than 5 meters, they could not see anything.
"yes," Aria confirmed, "it works better for us. We can avoid an unnecessary fight and go straight to the Lich. Can you find them?"
Lex nodded "let's see, here was the cave, so we should have come from that direction…." Lex moved around while eating his breakfast, "yea, I think I can find them if we were closer to the Lich."
"good, we'll attack them right at sunrise," Aria said
***
The time was right before the sunrise, following physically and magically tracing the Skeleton King and his Undead. Lex and Aria were right on the Power-Spot, the Mountain forest edge. "I can feel it. There is so many Undead up ahead" it was the place where Lex and the others ambushed. The Undead made a blockade for them to get back to the village.
"can you track the Lich?"
Lex fell silent for a moment to focus on his perception…
"yes," he replied, "I can. There's only the Lich who got a strong Mana while the rest was only a normal Undead."
"good, lead the way."
Then Lex and Aria started to invade the Undead camp, they passed many Undeads under cover of thick fog, then suddenly Lex stopped moving, and he whispered to Aria, "something's wrong" he said
"?? What happened?" Aria replied in a whisper too
"it's too smooth. I'm afraid there's a trap ahead. We easily invaded the center of their camp. I can't help but feel we're being lured into a trap." a normal Undeads intelligent hoping for a tight formation would be stupid. There's must be some hole somewhere. However, Lex still can't throw away the thought that they were deliberately being guided into here.
Aria fell into thought for a moment "what you want to say is our moves were predicted, and they orchestrate us to make this move. we only being played above their hand?"
"I won't go that far, but close, will we retreat?"
"mm…" Aria fell to silence again "no, it's okay, we're going"
"… alright" while a bit discontented, Lex still followed her word. He knew Aria wasn't stupid to send themselves to die. She must have some plan
They continued sneaking around the camp till Lex stopped once again
"what's wrong?" Aria asked
"no, we can't get near more than this," Lex whispered back. "The Lich were not far from here, but Undead circling the Lich, there's no hole to pass through."
"…, okay, we'll split up here, I'll gather their attention, and you ambushed the Lich."
"What!?" Lex was shocked that he almost yelled out loud, "suu~ haa~" he took a deep breath to calm down. "are you crazy?!" he whispered. Then he held Aria's shoulder, "once they find you, you will be surrounded by Undeads!"
Aria gently released Lex's hand. "I know, and I'm not crazy," she replied. "I just need to buy a bit of time for you to ambush the Lich."
"but-" before Lex can protest her.
"it's okay. I believe you can do it, and we can't exchange roles. I didn't know the exact location of the Lich like you, and we can't stay here for long too. Who knows when the fog will subside."
"Kgh!" Lex gritted his teeth, "haa~" he sighed. He was unable to refute her. What Aria said was correct.
"it's okay. I can hold the Undeads down for a while. Besides, I knew you wouldn't take much time," Aria said as he tapped Lex back "go! I'll start 30 seconds from now."
"Kuh! I'll publish your last word a book if you died," Lex replied
"Wha-!" Aria staggered hearing his reply, yet she couldn't reject it either Lex had already gone into the thick fog
***
A few tens of meters from Aria, Lex prepared himself for the assault. With one dagger in one hand, he counted the time while he waited for Aria to make a move
*boom
a sudden surge of Mana came from Aria's direction, followed by chunks of Ice thrown into the formation surrounding The Lich. The other Undeads from the other direction were quickly attracted by Aria, which made a hole for Lex to move through, and he sprinted toward the Lich.
Unaware of Lex, the Lich quickly prepared his Magic to strike Aria. It would be the best chance for Lex to strike after the Lich attacked (but I won't endanger Aria more than this). Lex slashed his left palm with his dagger, his dagger quickly coated by his blood. Then he activated his
(it works!) Lex was excited. He never had the chance to try it before. If Lex succeeded, there would be an increase in power. If he failed, there wouldn't be any loss of strength, that's why Lex can gamble it, and he won.
At this time, the Lich and the other Undead finally noticed Lex's presence. Once he uses Magic, there will be Mana disturbance in his surrounding. "Neutrum, flow within me, circulate the flow reach all of its ends, be my blood, be my flesh, be my bone, replaces and duplicates
But the hope and the reality were different. Just right before Lex reached the Lich, The Lich Magic activated (shield!?) Lex was shocked the activated Magic was
(he chanted defensive Magic from the start!?) Lex was blown away by the shield. At the same time, the Air Shield expanded before it disappeared, blowing away all the thick fog near them, giving them all a perfect vision. Aria was surrounded and shocked by the sudden wind that cleared the dense fog.
"KAHAHAKAHAHA," The Lich laughed, "with this much fog, do you think I wouldn't expect your move?" The Lich mocked,
From the way Skeleton King called the Lich, Lex knew the Lich was a Mana Race too, an intelligent monster. He had told Aria too, that's why both of them didn't get alarmed by the Lich suddenly talked. Still, there's something they both didn't know (('he thinks we're the one who made the fog')) was what they both thought at the same time, from The Lich way of talking, it's like Aria and Lex made the fog to ambush him, which made them a bit confused.
Even so, both Lex and Aria didn't say anything back. Both didn't need to correct the Lich "mmm, a silence? Boring," the Lich said. "Anyway, let me give you a reward for coming here to kill yourself, come!" with the Lich command. Behind the Lich, the group of Undead is divided into two to make a path, then slowly, something from much behind makes its way toward them.
""!!?"" both Lex and Aria, outraged by the scene they saw, from behind the Undead, a single Undead with an unstable way of walking, slowly walk toward them.
"YOU BASTARD!!!!" Lex roared, a single Undead walking toward them, a single corpse, a corpse of Max, it's Max's body that was slowly walking toward them.
"KAHAHAHA," Lich laughed more gleefully than before with Lex's reaction. "are you happy with my gift? Phew~ who knows I'm so kind to let you reunited before death, kakahaha."
"Damn you!" Lex bellowed in anger. Still, there's nothing he can do. They were surrounded. "Harden and became my skin
He punched the Undead in front of him. He ignored the attack from behind and slowly made his way toward the Lich, but only a little progress was made. Aria was in a similar situation, but she didn't make a stupid move like Lex.
The Lich was able to send the both of them to their death all the time he needed. He won the battle. There's no way Lex and Mio can do a thing toward him now. That kind of thought makes him let his guard down, which costs him more than ever.
"O, Mighty hero, Your story had been told. Lend me thy strength. Pave my way to your eternal glory, Claw!" from the side. A sudden burst of Mana occurred. Next, a single strike with three slashes came, obliterating the Undead on Aria and Lex toward the Lich. On the source of the strike, a single handsome blonde young man stood with a beautiful sword in his hand that he waved down. Mana's outburst came solely from that sword, "Go!!!" he shouted.
"Arthur!" Aria called, the handsome blonde young man was Arthur, while Lex didn't care about it at all, swallowed by his anger he didn't care about his surrounding anymore, once there's a path toward the Lich was made he moved instantly
"!!" the shocked Lich prepared his Magic as soon as possible too, but he was a bit too late. Once his Magic was ready to use, Lex's punch already came to his skull.
*thwack *crack
Lex's punch cracked the Lich skull. He hardened his Mana Skin without a care of the recoil. Once he punched, Lex knew it wasn't enough. He quickly tried to make the next move. But the Lich used his Magic to blow away with an explosion while pushing his position away from Lex, then Aria and Arthur from behind them. Unlike the Skeleton King, the Lich was not good at CQC, so he tried to make space to escape, yet Lex didn't let him. Lex only had one way to attack from far away. He pulled his silver gun. The last two bullets he had were Blue and Yellow. Only the Blue Bullet can be used.
*click *pan
A gunshot was heard, the bullet made its way toward the Lich body. Sadly Lex's aim was a bit wrong. The damage he got caused him to see the incorrect position of the Lich "Guuaaahh!" The Lich cried in pain. It was strange for a Lich, an Undead, to be in pain. But Lex didn't realize that simple fact.
*krssss *freeze
Still, half of the Lich body was frozen and destroyed to pieces along the Ice, but the Lich was Undead. With only half of his body, he still tried to escape. Lex quickly stood up to chase the Lich once again, but the other Undead already appeared between them like before. The other Undead blocked him. It was the same with Arthur and Aria. Aria protected Arthur, who used all of his Mana on that last attack.
Lex took a glimpse toward Arthur, and Lex knew Arthur couldn't do the same strike as before. He used all of his strength to blow away the Undead around him, but… it's not enough
Lex can only watch the slowly fleeing Lich. "YOU COWARD!!!" Lex screamed, "DON'T RUN AND FIGHT ME YOU BASTARD!!! I'LL KILL YOU!! NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE I'LL FIND AND KILL YOU!! YOU COWARD!!!" but that's all he can do. There's nothing he can do to push through the Undead. Once The Lich disappeared from his sight, Lex collapsed to his knees on the spot "Aarrghh!!!!" he punched the ground.
Then slowly, a soft hand touched his shoulder, and a soft voice came to his ear.
"Leave it to me."