In the distance a lich, larger and sturdier than a normal of its kind, was standing—a piercing tip of lance glinting in his hand. His hollow sockets of eyes twinkled with red light. Behind the largest lich stood a group of his kind, waiting for his command. His toothless jaw clattered. “Dare to come back,” said the lich.

Kadyn had already heard him talking before so he didn’t feel much surprise. He looked at his companions and said, “Let’s take this ugly and arrogant thing down.”

“Yes,” Dion replied. Though his hands trembled a bit, his eyes glinted with excitement.

“Then, what’re you waiting for? Attack!” Kadyn shouted and dashed towards the strongest creature. The lich also didn’t stay idle and lunged towards him with his lance.

Kadyn grinned and used his claw to block the attack. Sparks flew in the air at the collision. Both of them took a few steps back. Kadyn, however, didn’t feel disheartened as he hadn’t used a single spell, yet. Lich couldn’t use any magic; they had only their physical bodies and their physical bodies were terribly strong. Faster than the wind mages; deadlier than the fire mages.

However, Kadyn dared to collide with him head on, just because of his mysterious claw, and it didn’t disappoint him. Last time he had to retreat due to his low rank, but this time he was going to crush this lich. 

“How did you become this powerful in such a short time?” asked the creature. Though Kadyn couldn’t see the shocked expression on his bony face, as it was impossible to make any expression, he knew the lich must be feeling confused, amazed, and fearful. After all, it’d not even been a month since he was chased by this creature in a miserable condition. Now he was already terrifyingly strong.

“You don’t need to know,” Kadyn said and then punched. The lich blocked the attack with his lance as he tumbled a few meters back.

Suddenly Kadyn vanished; when he appeared he was already in front of his target. Last time when he used this spell, the lich evaded it with no problem. Just teleporting wasn’t enough, how fast you attack after closing in to your enemy mattered the most. Teleporting won’t do any good if you couldn’t touch your enemy. This time, however, his speed and strength both increased significantly. He was like an unstoppable beast.

The lich again tried to block the attack, but Kadyn was faster; his claw found its way into the creature’s chest. The lich froze. He looked at Kadyn, muttering. “L—lich Ki—king will avenge us.”

Kadyn frowned, but then he took his hand out of the skeleton’s chest. He was holding the gem. It was bigger than others they had collected on the way. There was some kind of glyph etched on its surface. Kadyn couldn’t understand them so he threw the gem into his space ring. 

He turned around and found that his people had also finished their battles. Dion was sweating profusely, his face red, his chest heaving up and down, and he was grinning. 

“Fucking awosome!” he exclaimed.

After that the group rested for a moment and then collected the herbs. Cecelia turned towards him and asked, “Do you know what the lich’s last words mean?”

“You heard him?”

Cecelia rolled her eyes at him. “Is there anyone who didn’t?”

Kadyn eyed his companions who shrugged their shoulders. Only Dion was looking confused. He was too engrossed in his battle against the liches that he paid no attention to his surroundings.

“Well,” Kadyn said. “I think there are many strong liches living in this mountain. The strongest lich of this place must be the Lich King.”

“So what now?” Barret asked. “Should we retreat?”

“And why is that?” Kadyn said. “We can always escape, and no Lich King would be able to stop us. So why should we fear him? Let’s check out a bit deeper into this place. I might not be able to use rank 4 herbs yet, but it won’t take long for me to reach that level.”

Everyone shook their heads. Kadyn was indeed a monster. It hadn’t been much long since he had become rank 3 mage, and he was already talking about reaching rank 4. 

No one doubted his claim. After all, jus now, he had defeated the peak rank 3 lich without breaking a sweat. The monster that other peak rank 3 mages would try to avoid at all the costs. It was too hard to defeat lich of the same rank. Only a group like Kadyn’s could pull something like this. After all, they had gone through hundreds of battles. Their spells were the best of the best. Others could only dream about getting these spells.

“Anyone is feeling tired?” Kadyn asked. “Or should we continue?”

No one objected as the battle was over quickly. They continued and the deeper they went darker the surrounding became, and the lich started to appear more frequently. They had found quite a few rank 4 herbs, but not rank 4 lich. Kadyn looked confused. Didn’t that lich talk about the Lich King? If there was a Lich King, he should intercept him. Why was there no rank 4 lich, then?

The group was already sweating and huffing after battling against many rank 3 lich. Hayla was no longer fearful, her expression was similar to others, neutral. She even felt comical when she recalled her fear against these creatures.

Though the group started to look weary, and their clothes became haggard, no one asked to stop. This was a kind of training and they wanted to do it properly. Only in extreme conditions would they stop. Furthermore, they had all kinds of potions to replenish their energies.

After about an hour’s walk, a cave appeared in front of them. The entrance of the cave looked similar to the human skull. Almost identical to the head Kadyn had seen when he entered this Lich Mountain.

Dion looked at the eerie cave and he felt a kind of fear he had never felt before. He turned towards Kadyn and stammered, “I—I think it’s enough fo—for today. We can co—come back again.”

“Though his words sound a bit cowardly,” Cecelia said. “I think he is correct this time. I can feel terrible pressure. I don’t think we can deal with the creature inside the cave.”

Kadyn frowned because he could feel what Cecelia was talking about. Every minor level was a huge gap amongst the mages. What about the gape of an entire rank? The creature inside the cave was beyond the understanding of Kadyn. He might be even stronger than rank 4 mages. There was no way he would be able to battle such a being at his current rank.

“Alright,” Kadyn nodded. “We will come back when we are strong enough.”

The group nodded, and just when they were about to leave, Kadyn felt a powerful suction force, pulling him towards the cave. He was horrified. He turned towards his companions, but they were completely fine. He struggled, but everything turned out to be futile, and before anyone could understand what was going on, he was dragged inside the cave.. 

“What the…” everyone froze in shock and their heads went blank. But then, all of them rushed towards the entrance. Not even caring about the creature inside. However, when they tried to enter the cave, a mysterious energy pushed them away. They pounded on the entrance, but nothing helped. 

Elora’s eyes turned red, and she clenched her fist, furious at her inability to help her brother.

“What should I do? What should I do now?” she muttered, horrified at the thought of losing her brother. Her family. Her everything.

“I am sure he will be fine,” Cecelia said. “He has a way to teleport back to the shop.”

Elora looked at her friend with teary eyes and said, “Can’t you feel his mana is still inside the cave? There must be something interrupting him from teleporting away. What should I do now? What would I do if something happened to him? Nothing should happen to him.”

She grabbed her green-hair in frustration; tears falling down continuously. Her body trembled as he cried. No one knew how to console her. Similar to her they could also tell that Kadyn was still inside the cave. They could feel him.

“What is that?” Cecelia exclaimed, suddenly. Others also spotted anomalies in Elora. Her body was releasing a green light. Her clothes fluttered in the air. The green grass growing all around her. One had to know that this land was called the land of dead. No green plant grew on this forsaken land. Even trees reeked the smell of dead. So this phenomenon was beyond anyone’s understanding. Then a crown appeared on her head, a crown of—red, white, yellow and pink—flowers and leaves; it felt as if the entire world was roaming around her, and she was the ultimate ruler.

After that Elora stood up and rushed towards the cave once more. Others looked at each other in dismay, not understanding what was going on, anymore. They had already tried, and they had failed. There was no way Elora alone could… Everyone’s eyes widened in astonishment when they realized that Elora had already gone inside the cave, and without any resistance, whatsoever.

“What the hell just happened?” Dion looked at his companions in shock. Others similarly had no idea. They were staring at the cave entrance with their mouths agape.

“Maybe, the barrier has vanished?” muttered Zelie.

“Let me give it a try..” Khrom walked towards the cave, his eyes fixed on the skull-like entrance.