Overwhelming Firepower

As the Lich’s hand was about to reach, Lucen’s body faded; it was an afterimage. Lucen was now behind the Lich and fired his two trench guns again, but the Lich once again disappeared.

’Is it teleportation?’ Lucen thought to himself. ’If we were fighting in a different location, I would have already used a wide-area blast, but in this enclosed underground place, several of my moves are locked.’

Lucen, who was aggressively attacking without stopping, halted. He held back his Battle-Crazed state. His white aura mantle continued swirling around his body like a snowstorm. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his other senses.

Battle Instinct had been warning him constantly because of the Lich’s presence. The warning had become little more than an irritating noise in the back of his mind. However, when it suddenly intensified, Lucen knew an immediate attack was coming.

Still, it was not as effective as normal, and it was harder to discern certain attacks, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have other means.

Lucen could hear the battle taking place around him. The heavy footsteps of the trolls shook the chamber. Steel clashed against weapons covered in aura, while spells exploded against the stone walls.

He ignored all of it; there was only one thing he needed to concentrate on. Lucen slowed down his breathing.

The sounds of the battle gradually became clearer. The smell of stone, smoke, and flames entered his nose. He felt every slight movement of air against his skin.

Then he noticed it. A faint pulling sensation appeared behind him. The surrounding air was being drawn toward a single point, while the mana within the chamber gathered alongside it. Lucen turned and fired both trench guns.

BOOM!

The Lich appeared at the exact moment the shells reached him. Several barriers formed across his chest, but they were incomplete. Fire and lightning tore through them, throwing the undead mage backward.

The defensive barriers had reduced most of the damage, but they had not completely stopped the attack. Several of the Lich’s ribs had shattered, while a large portion of the ancient robes covering his chest had burned away.

Dark mana gathered around the wounds. The broken bones slowly returned to their original positions. The flames covering the Lich’s body disappeared as the dried flesh began repairing itself.

”You’re like a wild beast.”

”Heh, then allow this wild beast to bite you to death!”

Lucen released the trench guns in his hand and created a crank operated gatling gun, which he loaded with lightning-imbued bullets mixed with fire and ice elemental bullets.

The weapon was large enough that an ordinary person would have needed a stand to use it properly. Lucen instead held the rear grip with one hand while the other grasped the crank.

Seeing the new weapon in Lucen’s hands, the Lich found it familiar. In one of the towns his undead attacked, several such weapons appeared. They spewed out small metal things, flying at high speed.

The Lich knew that compared to those, the one in Lucen’s hand should be more powerful, not to mention, based on what he had seen, Lucen could imbue elemental properties on objects.

Lucen placed the rear grip against his side and began turning the crank. The barrels rotated. At first, the movement was slow, then the chamber erupted with gunfire.

A stream of elemental bullets flew toward the Lich. The Lich had already expected such a thing and quickly created several walls of bones.

The bullets struck the first wall. Lightning spread across the interlocked bones, passing through every gap and joint. Fire followed immediately afterward, burning through the dried remains, while the ice bullets rapidly cooled the heated surfaces.

Cracks appeared across the bone wall, and the next wave of bullets shattered it. The second wall lasted slightly longer, but the constant barrage began breaking it apart as well.

With the intensity of firepower, each bone wall was destroyed in a matter of seconds.

The third wall cracked.

The fourth was already forming behind it.

Lucen continued turning the crank. The barrels spun faster, filling the chamber with the deafening sound of gunfire. Empty cartridges scattered across the floor, while smoke poured from the rotating barrels.

The Lich was no longer creating barriers as quickly as before. Each new wall was thicker, but there was a small delay before another appeared.

Lucen felt wary; his gamer instincts were telling him that a big move was coming. Then Battle Instinct screamed. The warning was sharper than before.

Lucen immediately released the crank and dismissed the Gatling gun. The weapon disappeared from his hands as he used Unbound Demonic Stride.

His body vanished from where he had been standing. At that exact moment, a small opening appeared in the center of the final bone wall.

A pale green light shone through it. The light was no larger than a coin at first, but every bit of mana inside the chamber began gathering toward it.

The flames created by Lucen’s bullets weakened. The frost covering the broken bones disappeared. Even the lightning still crawling across the barriers was pulled toward that single point.

From behind the walls, the Lich spoke several words in the ancient draconic language. The sound was different from the short commands he had used before.

Each word felt heavier, more intense. The surrounding mana trembled as if it were screaming in agony.

A thin green ray shot through the opening. It passed through Lucen’s afterimage without slowing down.

The ray continued across the chamber and struck one of the stone pillars behind Lucen. The thick pillar vanished wherever the light touched, leaving behind a perfectly smooth hole.

Stone, metal fragments, and even one unfortunate undead goblin caught in the path of the spell turned into gray dust.

Lucen had played everything from video games to tabletop games. There was no way he would fail to recognize that spell.

’Disintegrate.’

A direct hit would not merely injure him. It would reduce his body, armor, and weapons to dust.

’That spell wasn’t something he used in the game! That’s a f*cking spell from a different game!’

Lucen stared at the perfectly smooth hole left behind in the pillar. In his previous life, Disintegrate was one of the most recognizable high-level spells used by powerful mages.

It did not cause an explosion or leave behind a burned corpse. Anything struck by it was simply reduced to dust.

’Don’t tell me this b*stard not only has his skills from this game, but also the abilities of a classic tabletop Lich?’

The thought caused Lucen’s expression to become serious. In his previous life, the Lich in the game possessed only a limited number of abilities.

He summoned undead, used dark magic, drained life, and relied on his soul vessel to return after his body was destroyed.

However, the Liches from tabletop games were different. They were once powerful mages before becoming undead. Their abilities were not restricted to necromancy.

They could use destructive spells, defensive magic, teleportation, paralysis, curses, and numerous other spells accumulated throughout their long lives.

’Was the game version simplified because it was impossible to give one boss that many abilities? Or did this new route somehow allow him to recover the spells he originally knew? Well, he is a mage from an era that used draconic language, so he should know more spells.’

Lucen clicked his tongue. That meant several of the strategies in his mind had become unusable. The difficulty had increased drastically, but despite that, Lucen showed a confident smile.

’Well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just treat this as a new boss entirely, and go for it!’ Lucen hyped himself up.

Lucen used Unbound Demonic Stride. He appeared in front of the Lich, enveloped by his snow-like aura.

If Aleister possessed the abilities of a tabletop Lich, then allowing him enough distance to cast freely would be suicide.

He knew his swordsmanship sucked. Despite all his years of training, he was still only at the novice level. On the other hand, his unarmed combat was nearing the advanced level.

His unarmed combat alongside his powerful physical stats should suffice. Lucen lowered his body and drove his fist into Aleister’s ribs.

CRACK!

Several bones shattered. Before the Lich could raise a barrier, Lucen struck again. His palm slammed against Aleister’s chest, sending the undead mage sliding backward.

Lucen followed. A knee struck the Lich’s abdomen. An elbow smashed into his jaw. Lucen twisted and drove his heel into the side of Aleister’s skull.

The Lich crashed into a stone wall. ”Heh! Magic is useless if I don’t let you cast!”

Aleister emerged from the broken stone. Half of his jaw hung loose, while dark mana repaired the fractures across his body.

”You assume words are necessary for every spell.”

Battle Instinct screamed, making Lucen step to the side quickly. Aleister’s skeletal fingers passed beside his throat, covered in a pale blue glow.

Cold air spread from the hand. Frost formed across the stone where the fingers missed him. Lucen recognized the ability.

’Paralyzing Touch.’

Aleister disappeared. Lucen sensed the mana gathering behind him and turned, but the Lich had anticipated it.

A skeletal hand caught Lucen’s wrist. Freezing energy entered his arm. His fingers stopped responding first, and the paralysis quickly spread toward his shoulder. The cold was already approaching his chest.

Lucen gnashed his teeth as he looked at the enemy before him. Aleister’s blue flames stared into his eyes.

”You wished to fight without giving me time to cast. Then we shall fight at touching distance,” The Lich whispered.