It was dark. Pitch black surrounding inside the cave. It took some time for his eyes to adjust. He was standing in front of a throne on which sat a skeleton—Lich King, he thought. Lich King had a huge body, biggest lich Kadyn had ever seen. His eye sockets burned with blue fire, peering at him. His right hand’s ring finger wore a red shining gem, and he tapped on the armrest. 

“What do you want?” Kadyn said in a calm voice. Though he was feeling anxious inside as he could not teleport back, he forced himself to look unafraid.

Lich King peered at him with his glittering eyes, then ten skeletons appeared out of nowhere, surrounding him.

“Defeat them if you want to live,” said the Lich King from his throne.

Kadyn eyed him and could feel the unfathomable strength hidden in the skeleton. He could not even begin to fathom the strength of his adversary. He felt depressed. Why the hell did he insist on coming here? 

Nonetheless it was no time for self-blame so he suppressed his emotions. Then, he looked at the ten skeletons, all of them carrying lances, and his expression darkened. “All of them are rank 4. How would I defeat them?”

“Defeat them if you want to live,” Lich King repeated, and before Kadyn could ask anything more, he felt a gust of wind from behind. He used teleportation and appeared a few meters away. 

“Swish!”

He turned and found that one of the skeletons had arrived behind him, and if he was late, even a bit, he would have died. Kadyn looked angry, but no one gave a shit about what he felt. 

Ten skeletons attacked him simultaneously.

“Wind Blade!” he shouted and a blade discharged from his hand. His spell hit the target. However, it only destroyed one hand of the skeleton. Other parts of its body were completely safe. 

Furthemore, after two seconds, the broken bones of a hand were also attached to the skeleton. Kadyn cursed and used his teleportation to evade their attacks. There was no other way. Even wind elemental mage won’t be able to do it. He could do so because of the space element. 

However, as the time passed, he started to feel tired. His mana was limited. ‘If this continues, I will die here.’ He thought. Then his hand turned into a branch of a tree. 

The wood element was quite effective against the skeletons, as they were formed due to the excessive death energy in Death Valley. He teleported behind one of the skeletons and attacked. However, the skeleton wasn’t someone like Kadyn had faced in the past. It dodged!

Kadyn was stunned, but he didn’t remain in that state for too long. He again teleported and dodged the attack. After that he tried to use the same attack many more times, but the skeletons evaded his attacks easily. They were faster and stronger. Though they could not cast spells; they were not something any ordinary mage would be able to defeat. Kadyn started to sweat, pant, and his speed to cast spells became slow.

“Boom!”

He failed the teleportation spell and so he was caught by two skeletons. However, he used the earth spell, and a wall appeared in front of him. The spell was rank 2, due to the limited time, he couldn’t cast rank 3 spell. It was easily destroyed, passing through the wall, their lances piercing Kadyn’s right hand. He screamed miserably and tumbled back, clutching his blood dripping hand.

The skeletons, however, didn’t slow down. They once more surrounded him. Kadyn looked at them, his entire face and body covered in sweat. Kadyn didn’t have speed boots either so he could not use them to increase his speed. They weren’t too much use to him. He was already rank 3 mage, while Hot Rod, the best artisan in his shop, was still at the peak of the rank 2; he could not forge rank 3 artifacts.

Kadyn took out a potion from his space ring and gulped it down; only then the color recovered on his face. As their attacks arrived, he again teleported. His hand, still transformed in wood. He suddenly changed the spell. 

“Fire Pit!” The fire burst under the feet of the skeletons.

However, when the fire vanished, he grunted in frustration. The skeletons were still standing, completely safe. He used water spells; he used wind; he used all the spells he had, but he could not take them down. Not even one.

Kadyn panted heavily. As he continued to evade the attacks, he realized it was just a matter of time before their lances would find the way through his chest, or neck, or heart. Many times the thought of giving up came to his mind, but every time he forced himself to remain standing. 

  He remembered the time he spent with everyone in the shop. He felt blessed; he felt happy, and when he turned towards his enemies his expression changed, he would not let them—anyone—take his happiness away from him, he would not die.

“Boom!”

“Ahhh!!”

However, the reality was harsh, before he could do anything the deluge of attacks made him soaked in blood. He laid on the ground, crawling, panting, whimpering, and trying to stand up and falling again and again. Ten rank 4 liches. Previously, he thought that there might be a chance to win, that’s why Lich King gave him such a task. Only now did he realize that he was just being delusional. There was no way he could defeat so many strong enemies. Even a single of them would become a tough battle for him. 

He looked at the skeletons walking towards him as their eyes glittered and then turned towards Lich King who was grinning. As if enjoying the game, he had set, like some kind of god. Kadyn felt furious and helpless at the same time. He wanted to tear this bastard limb by limb. However, he had no strength; he felt tired; he wanted to sleep. He laid down, resigning himself.

“Brother!”

However, a shout brought him back to his senses.