{Wielder Fran has the last Magic Stone on standby. We can rank up at any moment.}
[Good.] Archer replied to Rani's status report. [Then I don't need to hold back.]
While the flow between him and his sword body was slightly weakened by distance, he still had 8000 units of mana at his disposal, as much mana as an E-rank Servant or about a quarter of what he had once possessed, which he could use without causing Fran any problems in the future.
"I am the Bone of My Sword." Archer said as the Legendary Undead attacked. Ten undead at once, each with a high level [Teamwork] skill and Divine-level weapon and magic skills. It was a force that even Amanda wouldn't have been able to handle by herself without going all out.
So going all out was exactly what Archer did.
In what would seem like the blink of an eye, one hundred magic swords shot out from the air around Archer's head, flying towards the Undead and disrupting the coordination in their attacks.
The front-line reeled at the shotgun blast of sharpened steel which slammed against them, each one twisting its body to protect itself with the most heavily armored and shielded parts of their body. Only the Legendary Undead Monk, who had been the last armored, had lost limb from the initial attack, but that hadn't been the objective.
The overcharged swords began to glow, as Archer weakened his grasp on their structure, Breaking them at a distance. The result was similar to a carpet bombing, which shook the entire room, knocking the front line undead around and stopping their charge.
Archer immediately closed the distance between himself and the nearest Undead Knight, prepared to take it down before his enemies could recover. However, it wouldn't be that easy. The undead wasn't taken by surprise and managed to block Archer's attacks with its shield without receiving any damage.
Three separate spells, one water, one fire, the last blast of darkness, all flew from a trio of spellcasting zombies towards Archer who rushed to the side in order to dodge. The high powered magic, which would have destroyed Archer's doppelganger body, washed over the Undead Knight, barely even phasing it through its stacked magic defense.
Archer clicked his tongue in annoyance as the seven close-quarters fighters all surrounded him and closed in, the mages in the back starting to channel their spells.
Fighting against seven fighters that were stronger than him at once while their allies pelted the field with large area effect attacks without any worry of friendly fire. There was zero chance of victory, not without some form of counter play.
Luckily, Archer had planned for such a scenario.
As the mages finished their spells and shot off three large red balls of Netherworld energy, the seven fighters prepared to attack, planning on taking advantage of any openings that Archer would make as he was forced to run.
Archer traced three copies of the same [Anti-magic Mithril Sword] that he had used in his fight against the Divine Beast Lolth, shooting them into the path of the incoming spells. As soon as the spells came in contact with the sword, the enchantments within the blades reacted and the swords dragged all the mana around them in upon themselves, destroying both the swords and the magical attacks at the same time.
The magic was taken care of, but Archer still had to contend with four spears, two swords, and a pair of open fists all coming at him. But with [Concurrent Consciousness], allowing him to multiple his thoughts ten times over, keeping track of a mean seven opponents was child's play.
Towering great shields appeared on either side of Archer, obscuring him from the vision of those on either side of him as he rushed towards the spearman before him, using [Support Magic] and [Flash Step] to suddenly increase his speed, taking the undead by surprise and letting Archer get an easy parry as he moved past the spear's attack range.
He consumed some more of his mana supply to trigger [Herculean Strength] as he pushed everything into a single slash. The edge of Shiroko glowed from a combination of [Elemental Weapon (Storm)] and [Vibration Fang] increasing its cutting power, giving Archer the strength he needed to split the spearman in half at the waist.
Archer shot a traced broad sword into the ground in front of him as he turned, the heel of his foot pressing against the flat of the blade, giving him a surface to kick off of in order to rapidly change his direction. He shot like an arrow towards the heavy swordsman on his right.
The zombie managed to turn its body around toward Archer, giving a wide swing with its large two-handed sword. But the swing was too slow and easy to read. Archer jumped up, his foot touching the sword as it passed underneath him before he went for the monster's neck.
The head spun through the air as the remaining undead attempted to reposition to once again surround Archer. Spears thrust forward and swords swung at Archer every time his back was turned, requiring some fancy footwork to dodge as he traced more [Anti-magic Mithril Swords] to intercept more magic attacks. Archer even managed to get a solid hit in on the already injured Legendary Undead Monk, bringing his number of active enemies down to seven.
"[Greater Undead Summoning]" The Lich chuckled from the far side of the room.
Three more magic circles appeared and two Legendary Undead Berserkers and a Legendary Skeleton Archer appeared to replace the three enemies that Archer had just killed.
[Great.] Archer mentally grumbled as he continued to fight.
{Extra Skill: Greater Undead Summoning: a skill which allows the user to summon up to A-rank Undead Familiars.} Rani supplied as Archer focused on fighting off the undead. {The cost of summonings is roughly 500 per B-rank familiar summoned, with the cost doubling to ignore the incantation. Even as an A-rank Dungeon Master, the Lich should not be able to summon so many. Attempting to find an explanation for how the Lich can perform so many summons without running out of mana… Over three hundred possible hits. More data will be needed to figure out his method.}
[He seems content to let him struggle with his minions, but you should keep watching him. Tell me if you figure anything else out.] Archer said calmly.
They had managed to find out nothing new about the Lich, as he had a skill to disguise against their appraisal. The only thing they knew for sure was that he had a [Mind Reading] skill, something they were taking precautions again by using [Concurrent Consciousness] to hide information behind layers of thought. They merely hoped that having to listen to ten of Archer's combat focused minds playing at once would stop him from hearing anything important.
[I wonder if ten is the maximum number of Familiars he is permitted by the summoning system.] Archer wondered briefly. Archer and Fran could only hold a contract with a single C-rank Demon at once, because of the rules that governed [Summoning Magic]. Perhaps 10 B-ranks was the Lich's limit. It would explain why he would only bring his total number of allies up to 10 every time he executed a summons.
"I'll admit, I didn't expect you to last this long. Are you tiring, little girl? If you would like to rest, just let me now. I will happily let you rest for the rest of eternity. FUHAHAHA!" The Lich laughed as he watched Archer's battle from on top of his throne at the far side of the room.
Archer ignored his taunts, focusing on dealing with the enemies that surrounded him, buying Rani more time and hopefully tiring the Lich for later. [Recovery Magic] stopped him from falling to physical fatigue, his mana supply was not even a quarter of the way drained yet, and his mental stamina could keep this up for a few more hours while using [Concurrent Consciousness].
After seven minutes of fighting against the Legendary Undead, he had managed to cut down nine of them, though they were always replaced by more.
"It seems that my current undead aren't enough of a challenge for you. How about we try this? [Overload Summons: Greater Undead Summoning]! [Reinforce Undead]!" The next two sword and shield wielding undead's bones were covered in glowing runes and magic circles appeared under each one of the monsters as the Lich cast its support magic.
The previous Undead's stats all doubled from the support magic, while the new monsters had quadrupled the stats of earlier iterations, giving them stats equal to a low A rank Demonic Beast, something Archer felt as they moved faster than he could have expected. He was forced to block the sword swing, which sent him flying backwards.
"~[Lesser Heal]." Archer mumbled the heal spell as he was still flying backwards, repairing the damage to his arms from the strain of blocking the undead's attack. He then twisted his body in the air in order to land on his feet before kicking off of the ground to jump over the half a dozen attack from the undead who had all swarmed him to try to take advantage of his moment of vulnerability.
Archer tossed his copies of Kuroko and Shiroko towards a pair of bowman who were attempting to line up shots on him, before tracing another one of his weapons, the [Explosive Adamant Claymore]. The massive sword could absorb a massive amount of mana, before being destabilized at range to cause a huge explosion.
Archer pumped the blade up with a whopping 1000 units of Mana before hurling it down toward the Undead who had just surrounded him. He then traced a giant tower shield underneath him before letting the sword destabilize.
*BOOM*!
The entire room shook from the explosion and even the heavily strengthened Dungeon floor had a crater blasted into it as the sword detonated in an explosion that could rival those Archer had used to make when Breaking Hrunting.
The Legendary Undead who had been beneath him were blown to pieces by the explosion and Archer returned to the ground moments later with an almost completely cleared field, with just the two archers and a mage remaining.
"[Overload Summons: Greater Undead Summoning]. [Reinforce Undead]." The Lich declared, and seven more Legendary Undead began to appear, to take the place of their fallen brethren. "Feel free to keep trying. I am finding your futile attempts to be quite entertaining." The Lich said, lazily waving at Archer. "I wonder how much longer your stamina will last. I figured you would have been tapped out a long time ago. FUHAHA!"
Archer's mouth twitched in annoyance. He was starting to get fed up with this Lich's attitude. So he traced a few dozen swords and sent them all flying towards the Lich.
He had no delusion that they would actually be enough to injure the monster, but maybe they would get him to shut up for five minutes. He's laugh was really starting to grate. But the Lich didn't even more as the sword flew at him like arrows. Instead, it was the swords themselves that moved.
Archer blinked as the swords seemed to bend and then straighten as they changed directions in mid flight before rocketing off in random directions. [What was that?]
{Time/Space Magic: Lv5 spell: Turn Arrow: a spell which bends space in order to stop attacks.}
[Time/Space Magic]? The Lich could actually bend time and space?
[Do you think that this is enough?] Archer asked Rani as he did his best to avoid the super charged undead that surrounded them.
{It should be.} Rani replied as she observed the battle field.
[Then I will leave the rest to you.] Archer declared before pulling out all the stops.
Archer cast as much speed enhancing magic on himself as he could and Rani spent 37 self-evolution points in order to upgrade [Flash Step] to [Instantaneous Movement] and max its level out.
Archer sank 500 points of mana into increasing his speed, causing him to shoot forward like a bullet fired from a gun, rushing past the undead and towards the Lich. Jumping forward, Archer traced a Kuroko and Shiroko and enhanced them as much as he could, as if he was going in for the kill.
With a shot, he swung the blades towards the Lich… only for them to go through nothing but air, cutting the Lich's chair into pieces.
"Fufufu, did you really think it would be that easy?" The Lich said from where he teleported to, a few meters away. Archer crumpled to the ground, his swords disappearing. "Oh, was that a last ditch effort? Has your body failed you?" The Lich taunted as Archer just continued to pant, as if struggling for breath. "Well, you did at least entertain me, so I suppose I could grace you by killing you with my own hands."
A twisted black and red ball of miasma formed around the Lich's hand which he then pointed towards Archer.
"Goodbye, Faker. I hope your original provides me with just as much of a show." The massive ball of energy flew towards Archer, ready to blow him to shreds.
The light and noise it made stopped the Lich from seeing the grin on Archer's face, or hearing as he activated his final skill. "[Dungeon Core Manipulation]."
Right as the attack hit, Archer quickly transferred his soul into the Dungeon Core which was exactly 10 meters away, the maximum distances with which he could use the [Dungeon Core Manipulation] skill.
Archer opened his eyes to find himself standing inside of the same dungeon as before, only with hundreds of strange glowing lines on every visible surface.
He was back in the Between World, only this time, Rani was not there with him.
"I don't have time to waste." Archer said before dashing over to the console, his mind struggling to remember all of the inputs that Rani had been teaching him for the hours before they had entered the final set of floors. "I just have to remove Stephon from the registry."
He had to hurry, before the Lich or something else noticed him.
He was not going to abandon Stephon. He was never going to let anyone get sacrificed like that again.
Jean was preparing for the final battle when Fran and Art both shot up, looks of panic entering their expressions.
"Archer?" "Mom?" The pair said at the same time.
"What is it?" Jean asked, though he was already pretty sure he knew the answer.
"We can't sense mom anymore." "Archer: vanished." Art and Fran said as Fran took the sword from her back and started to shake it lightly. "Archer. Answer me. Archer."
Jean's expression twitched slightly. He had already figured that Archer had gone on ahead alone in order to try to remove Stephon from being classified as a Dungeon Monster. He had lied to the children and hid his intentions so that their minds could not be read and his plans revealed.
But the pair of young girls, who had been relaxed while listening to the aftershocks of the battle waging above them, were now freaking out as their invisible guardian suddenly cut off all contact with them.
"I don't understand. It was just a doppelganger body. Even if it was destroyed nothing should have happened to him." Art said, shaking her head in panic. "Come on mom, this isn't funny you know!? Answer us!"
{The Lich possesses the ability to support 10 B-rank Undead servants at a time. He also has access to Time/Space magic.} Rani reported from within the sword. {Take this time to plan how you will make use of this informat...}
"Rani! Where's mom!? What happened to mom!?" Art interrupted Rani, tried to demand answers from the sword's other personality.
"Archer: okay?" Fran asked.
{Nameless will be fine. You two must focus.} Rani said, her voice monotone.
She wasn't exactly good at dealing with the children, and didn't know what to say to calm them down without revealing what Archer was doing.
Rani was also somewhat worried about the other spirit, but understood why they had to separate.
If Rani had gone into the Between World with Archer, or if she had gone herself and left Archer behind, then Fran would have lost all of the stat bonuses and skills that they had collected. Archer would have been trapped within the sword, without any of the abilities that would permit him to interact with the outside world.
Archer was entrusting her to keep the children safe while he rescued Stephon.
The door leading up to the boss chamber started to reopen and Fran and Art nearly made a dash toward the opening. Rani used her telekinesis to lift the pair off the ground, stopping them from running in.
{We need to wait and plan.} Rani insisted to the two.
"Let us go! Mom's still up there, I know it!" Art shouted as she struggled with her wings, trying to push herself forward.
{Nameless is not up there, and he isn't in danger. You must not go yet.}
"She is right." Jean said, as he took out the secret weapon he had been planning to use against the Lich from the very beginning, 'Aidoneus' Blessing'. "We still need to wait for everything to be in position. We cannot go yet."
"But Archer…" Fran said, her eyes glued to the open gate.
"We need to stick to the plan, no matter what." Jean said calmly.
"And what plan would that be exactly?" A booming voice echoed all around them before a massive magic circle appeared under their feet.
Jean's eyes widened in shock as the group was blinded by a flash of light.
"Oh no..." Jean said as his vision cleared and he found what he had been dreading to find.
They had all been teleported into the final chamber, the Lich sitting on the far side, on a throne that looked to have been cut in half. Bodies of slain undead were scattered throughout the room, but ten of them still remained standing, five on each side of their liege, all of them glowing with the power of his miasma.
"I have grown bored of your delaying tactics, so I have decided to bring you all here to me." The Lich said before starting to cackle madly. "Do try to at least provide me with as much entertainment as that copycat from earlier."
"What did you do with Archer!?" Fran demanded.
"What did I do with them? Fufufu…! I destroyed them of course!" The Lich shouted.
Fran and Art looked shocked before they started to shake with anger. "You're lying! There is no way you could have beat mom!" "Archer: Greatest!"
"Believe what you will, but I will soon do to you what I did to that one." The Lich said, snapping his bone fingers… which didn't actually produce a sound, as such fingers could not snap.
The Legendary Undead started to rush forward and the second battle against the Lich began.
Self-Evolving:
(Rank 17 | Memory 184 | Points 152) → (Rank 18 | Magic Stone Value 15393/17100 | Memory 202 | Points 242)
ATK: 964 → 1008 MP: 7900 → 8800 Durability: 7700 → 8600 Mana Channel: S-
The moment you realize that Archer's entire battle was just staged in order to scatter as many high ranking magic stones around the battlefield as possible so that Fran/Rani won't have any fuel problems during their fight.
17 B-rank Magic Stones ~ 80,000 magic stone points or +4 ranks, bringing Archer/Rani up to Rank 22, meaning Fran is about to get a +50 in all stats (From Wielder All Stats UP (medium) turning to (large)) along with all the things that Rani can buy her without Archer's supervision. (And that is before the 10 that Jean is going to kill and all ones that Fran and Rani will be killing themselves while buying Archer time)
Power spike incoming.
By the end of this, Fran's stats are all going to be 450+. (baseline 150 minimum + 100 (Wielder All Stats UP (High)) + 100 (STR UP (High)) + 100 (normal All Stats UP (High))) Plus the multiplier skills like [Super Herculean Strength] and [Instantaneous Movement], giving 4x to the stats in exchange for a massive amount of mana, and the multiplier from Lumiose. She is monstrously strong with around a C~B-rank servant stat line at the low low cost of about 500 MP-per-sec.
The sword is going to have something like rank 25 with 1300 base attack, 14,000 MP and +750 self evolution points (Sword's scaling be busted)
That's why I don't feel like Lumiose was too OP. Because when you look at these Godblades, they just have stupid stats and abilities when at full power.
At rank 100, Archer would have something like 11,000 attack, 250,100 MP and would effectively give its wielder +300 in all stats and every skill in existence. Lumiose too OP? FUCKING THAT SWORD IS TOO OP!