Chapter 4 – A Lich
It's been two weeks since we became an official party.
Hunting Giant Toads whenever there's a quest available, even taking up jobs in the city, as well as helping people in need. Well in that part it was mostly me.
Two days ago, we were hunting this Rookie Killers. They were a large black feline-like monsters that usually herds and protects a group of goblins. They were actually quite cunning because they use the goblins to lure newbie adventurers. However, not for me.
BUT the three idiots were always messing up the plan. There was that one time when Darkness just charged in without warning with a cherry-red face. Aqua, who was supposed to be a support, was also being brainless, buffing the monsters instead. Oh right, don't even forget the glass cannon who was casting Explosion on me fighting the herd prior to almost killing me in the process.
I hate this world.
Although even though they were dull, the quest was always a success. Apparently, we're famous on Axel now. Or maybe kind of infamous. Some of it is because of the panty incident.
They were calling me rude nicknames like Scum Stalker or Litter Parker. For some reason, I don't mind the latter. Some of them are also wary of me because of my job being a Dark Stalker. You see, Dark Stalkers are supposed to be a rare class. However, due to its rarity category, most of the Demon King's loyalists are Dark Stalkers. So I have a bad reputation because of that reason. However, they were also people who were praising me though given that almost all of the quests we took were almost successful.
Aqua was famous for party tricks and Darkness for being a human shield no pun intended. Megumin, on the other hand, was called Crazy Mage and I couldn't agree more.
Anyway, I really spent the last two weeks in this world with hardly two sets of clothing. Even the adventurers in the guild were gossiping about me that I was a clown back in my hometown, well technically they're not wrong. Now that I have lots of money to amend that, I asked Darkness' suggestions for a tailor shop. Now don't get me wrong, it's a bad idea to ask Darkness' advice but she's a noble for a reason so she must have any pointers for this.
"Wow, I never thought I'd say this but you're so cool, Peter-san!" Megumin emphasized.
"Oh come on, I've always been cool…." I replied with a sigh.
"That mask of yours….the way they leer at me is so….intense!" Here goes Darkness again with a red face.
"Don't ever say that again please." I replied with a discouraging stare.
"So you're wearing your mask again huh?" Aqua asked with a surprised expression.
"Of course, maybe I'm gonna have to try the secret identity routine again here in this new world but obviously that's not gonna happen…"
Now, I'm wearing red long sleeved jacket under the blue cape, a pair of fingerless dark red gloves, an assassin-like black cargo pants and short dark gray boots. Oh and my mask is back. Well kinda since it's a new mask that I knitted in this new world. It's just the same mask with the same lenses minus the web pattern. I just missed the mask that's all. I also have a few daggers in my cross belt daggersheath.
Now, I actually look like a legit Adventurer.
In the past days, I've now learn a few skills of the Phantom series. The Quad Shadow and the Phantom Projectiles.
Quad Shadows were useful being distractions and tricks for the monsters, leaving phantoms in every direction while finishing them off guard. Phantom Projectiles, on the other hand, was also functional since it's a skill that helps me save up daggers so I don't need to buy more to refill after the quests operations.
After buying clothes at the tailor ship, I've also made a deal to a blacksmith to make me some armors and equipment. I thought I was gonna be measured again but the blacksmith simply shrugged and said that he'll take care of the rest. I'll have to pick them up soon as I was free.
I also suggested armors for my party but much to my dismay, they stupidly turned down the offer, saying things like "My shawl is a holy relic!" or "An elite mage doesn't need a protection!" or worse like "I already have my armor, even though I prefer that I don't have one!"
Well it's their loss…except for Darkness.
Now that I have proper equipment and learned more skills, guess it's time to take on a quest again.
"Please Peteeerr! Please no toads agaaain! I don't want to be covered in goo agaaaain!"
Aqua whined kneeling before me while pulling my shirt.
"Would you stop whining like someone's going to die? Chin up, Aqua! We're adventurers, we're supposed to kill this oversized slugs…besides, we already killed this frogs before…."
"No, I agree with Aqua on this one. Even though I want to destroy them with my strongest explosion, I think it would be a challenge to face a stronger opponent…" Megumin chimed in while shaking, clearly shows that she's terrified of Giant Toads.
"…..Yeah, say that again while not shaking your pants off."
Well, Aqua and Megumin were, let's say, traumatized. Seemingly that every toad extermination we did, the two of them were always gulped down by the Giant Toads which prior to covering them with slime.
"Why not? I think fighting Giant Toads is good for easy money. We already killed them a thousand times before so why not do it again? Besides…I think its more…rewarding facing them…ugh!" Darkness face turned slightly red after saying that.
"….Really? That really make you thrilled?"
"Of course not."
She answered while averting her attention away from, which making me on edge.
Her hormones is raging all over the place…
"All right fine. Let's pick other quests…"
After saying that, I then point my fingers towards them.
"Why don't you guys pick a good quest for us. If you want, you can pick an easier quest…"
Both Darkness and Megumin went to the bulletin board after hearing my suggestion. Aqua, on the other hand, was still sitting on a table with an oblivious face.
"Aren't you gonna pick for yourself? If this goes undecided, I swear I'll pick Giant Toads right off the bat…"
"Hmph! It doesn't matter how difficulty the quests is, I have the Advanced Job, Archpriest. I can take those down easily!" She said with a smug face
Didn't you whined, worrying about getting covered in toad slime just earlier?
"…yeah right, even though you're an Archpriest, you're not even doing your job properly…"
After saying that, Aqua was stunned.
"W-what do you mean by that?! I've been the one carrying the team and healing you everytime you got hurt! Don't you dare say that I've been useless all this time!"
"I didn't say you're useless…I'm saying that you should do your job properly. Seriously, Aqua, do you know that every time you cast a buff it always goes for the monsters instead of your own party members? And because of your buffs, I've always had hard time killing them in the process. Also, instead of upgrading your skills, you always invest almost all of your skill points to Party Tricks, which is completely useless in combat."
"T...They're not useless! They're awesome and even bring happiness everytime! I'm pretty sure the Demon King would be distracted if I would perform Nature's Beauty! You're just jealous that I could do awesome things that you can't! Even Joe-san said so!"
"First of all, I said they're useless in combat, it is used mainly for the entertainment and amusement of people. Secondly, it's called Demon King for a reason, Aqua. I'm pretty sure he's not gonna watch your lousy performance while preparing to wipe all us of out and finally, who the hell is Joe?"
"Take it all back! They're not useless! They're not useless! They're not useless! They're not useless! They're not useless! They're not useless! They're not…" Aqua whined while violently shaking me off my shoulders.
"Would you calm down, you dumb goddess?! And no I'm not taking back what I've said and I'll say it again, THEY ARE USELESS IN COMBAT! Oh yeah let me rephrase that, YOU'RE USELESS! Always throwing a tantrum that even vegetables could make you cry! Hell your only contributions is getting us in debt and getting eaten by a toad!" My voice turned louder at the last sentence.
"Waaaaaahhh!" Aqua was crying again while hiding her face on the table.
It made me feel guilty. It's kinda my fault that she was dragged out in her home.
All the people around us glanced at our spot and began staring at me coldly again while whispering about rude, things that I don't want to hear, about me.
"Look, he made her cry again…"
"Hey, are you sure he's not part of the Demon King army?"
"Uwaah, he really is the Scum Stalker…"
"First was the panty steal, and now this?"
"Guess being a Dark Stalker got over his head…"
I sighed. I can hear all of them, saying things about me. My senses are dialed to 11, after all. After a while, Darkness and Megumin returned to our table.
"You really don't hold back, Peter-san…" Megumin muttered.
"Yeah. She's right…You really don't hold back Peter…that's why scold me instead! You can lecture me all you want! If given a choice, you can use those web of yours to-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence. There's no coming back from that if you do…"
Aqua, who was supposed to be crying on the table, was peeking at me through her fingers then goes back to cry again if I turn my head at her.
That little…
For now, I decided to ignore her and turn my attention back to the two.
"Anyway, did you guys decide for the quest?"
"Ah yes, here!" Darkness said happily while handing me a paper from the bulletin board.
It says:
Kill the Black Lightning Dragon
Difficulty: ****************************
Rewards: 1,500,000 Eris
Description: please kill the dragon up on the mountain, west of here. I want you to carve up its heart for my greatest ingredient for my wife's wedding cake.
What the hell, the difficulty's on this quest is very high. Who the hell would want to kill a dragon just for an ingredient? Also 'for my wife's wedding cake'? Isn't that kinda sad?
"Rejected. Put that back up on the bulletin board. We're not ready to kill this high of a difficulty quest yet…" I bluntly rejected it and hand it back to Darkness.
Darkness was depressed while heading back to the bulletin board for some reason…Wait did she plan to take this quest to relieve her raging hormones? She's too on fire for this.
"How about you, Megumin?"
"Sorry, I didn't pick one. I only went with Darkness on this one although you already rejected it. A shame, it would be interesting to test my explosion's might on a dragon." Megumin said while acting dramatically as she would want to.
"There's literally more than 10 skulls on that quest. I'm not planning to die while getting mauled up by a dragon…"
I knew it was a bad idea to let them pick a quest…
While thinking for a quest, I also thought a good benefit, especially for Aqua.
"How about choosing a quest that could help Aqua level?"
"Is there such thing as a quest, Peter?" Darkness, who just got back, asked with curiosity.
For Aqua, the skills she needed had been learned from the very beginning, so there wasn't any need to grind her level.
"I don't think you know this, Peter-san but It is normally hard for priest to level up. They lack offensive spell after all. They're not the type of warrior that would best monsters with brute force or defeat them with magics. If you want Aqua to help with her level, the best would be is to grind for Undead. Undead are a race that goes against the nature of god. The power of god will cause opposite reaction on them. Using healing magic will make their body break."
So apparently, healing magic is like offensive magic to undead? In that way, Aqua would need to grind for undead.
I think it would be best for Aqua to level so her stats would also increase. There's a chance that she would get smarter after leveling up.
"Alright then. Let's take a quest that involves with undead. However, Darkness your armor isn't ready yet so…"
"No, don't worry. It feels better to get hit without armor. It's fine, I'm still harder than an Adamantoise even without-" Darkness casually crossed her arms and declared while I cut her off in the process.
"Wait wait just a second. You're not just gonna zoom pass that like you didn't hear what you just said…"
"What do you mean?" Darkness asked with a pure and decent face.
"…No, it's nothing…" I replied with a sigh while rubbing the bridge of my nose.
I can't believe she said that with an innocent face. I then reached out and shook Aqua's shoulders on the table.
"Hey, come on we're talking about raising your level-"
Then in the next moment, a snore can be heard. Aqua, who got tired of crying, was actually sleeping like a 3 year old kid.
X
There was a public cemetery for poor and homeless people on the hill away from town where the dead are buried in this world. There's a hole that would be dug and they would be covered with earth. It was almost evening.
This time our quest was wiping out the undead monsters that were emerging from the cemetery. We set up a tent near the cemetery as we're waiting for the night to fall.
"Hey quit it! You've been eating since hours ago! There won't be any for us left!"
"Oh come on, Peter! I'm huuuungryyy!"
"Sometimes, I wish eating that much food would somehow increase your intelligence. Sadly, it's not gonna happen…"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"
We spent the time leisurely even though it was a hunting quest because the target was a small fry known as a Zombie Maker. They said that an evil spirit is controlling zombies while also manipulating zombies as minions.
Somehow, I felt that it wouldn't be that much of a problem since it's kind of a quest that is intended for a novice party. Well, that said, can't really let my guard down.
Now, it was late at night and the moon had risen.
"Hey Darkness, are you sure you're gonna be all right even without your armor?" I asked
"Of course…like I said, my body is harder than an Adamantoise so expect protection from me. Well, I wouldn't…really mind…that you prompt me of my memory that…it's not my place to…" Darkness replied with hefty breaths that you could see partial smog coming out of her mouth.
"I shouldn't have asked…"
Well, what's there to worry. She's Darkness after all…
"I get the feeling that you're thinking rude things about me." Darkness declared while glaring at me that looks like a pout.
"Looks like you're spot on." I replied immediately
"I…Is it really that RUDE?!" Darkness suddenly leaned on my face again.
I'm never gonna get used to this.
As Darkness continued to prattle about perverted things, Aqua who's trying to sneak on a meat prior to her getting smacked in the head courtesy by me, and Megumin who's posing different stance and different chants, I began to noticed a change in the atmosphere as my spider sense was yelling at me.
"Shut up…I sense something…" I muttered while suddenly in a crouch stance. Three of them were obviously confused while staring at me.
"Peter? What's wro-"
Aqua was cut off as a sound of dirt suddenly crumbles behind us and a hand broke free out of the ground. Another hand broke out right next to us then another hand and more then eventually entire bodies began to rise from the ground.
It was like straight out of a horror movie.
"Waaaaaah! Peeeteeeer! Heeeeeelp!" Aqua yelled while a rotten hand was grabbing her foot.
I tensed up and braced myself as I raced through the undead that was grabbing Aqua, all while ripping it apart, separating it from the ground.
"P…Peter-san! Should I cast-" Megumin yelled, grabbing her brand new staff while shaking.
"No, obviously! We're surrounded if you cast your explosion here it might as well kill us all!" I replied while stepping on a partial finger that appeared from the ground.
"Come, you vile creatures! I'll show you…how tough…is a crusader!" Darkness declared as her face was beet red while heavily exhaling.
"Hey, you dumb crusader! There's a time and place for everything!" I shouted while webbing up the newly arise zombies.
Many controlled corpses arise from the ground as they creepily twitching. We're surrounded as they slowly approached us with rotten mouths. No choice…
"Quad Shadow!"
After chanting the skill, many shadow-like form of me suddenly appeared in the field as they became a distraction. I began to do my job as I leaped across the field, smashing their heads using my spider strength as well as using my Phantom Projectiles using my daggers as it strides through the area, zipping through their rotten bodies. Aqua on the other hand was doing a fine job, exorcising them with fine magic of hers. Darkness was being Darkness with Megumin on the back seemingly that she was useless in close combat. Oh seriously…
I shot a web line on the zombie's head that was creeping behind Megumin as I proceed to yank it violently. Due to how rotten their corpses was, the head was literally detached from its body like a figure that was disassembled.
After minutes of wiping out the last zombie, blue and white lights suddenly shone from the middle of the cemetery.
That blue light seemed evil and fantasy like. The blue light that was visible from afar was a giant magic circle. Then at the edge of the magic circle, a figure in black robes was spotted while holding a lantern.
That must be the Zombie Maker! However, for some reason my spider sense is not yelling at me always like something dangerous is going on. But, can't let my guard down.
"W…Wait a minute…" Megumin stuttered. Having heard that, I stopped in my tracks as I turned my attention back to Megumin.
What now?
"Peter-san….I don't think that's a zombie maker…." Megumin said with unassertive tone.
I thought so too for some reason. I felt a great power coming from that mysterious robed figure. So, I stopped and observed the cloaked one.
"Alright for now, let's stay here and make a plan. For some reason, this quest isn't a novi-"
Just after I've cut off by a certain someone, Aqua suddenly rose from her spot.
"No! This is my chance to prove that I'm useful! Watch me Peter!"
Aqua suddenly starts running towards the grave yard.
Dumbass! What is she doing?!
"Aqua! Stop! Don't be reckless!"
Due to how the idiotic goddess is doing, I proceed to shoot a web line towards her leg, however, much to my disappointment, the idiot goddess casually skipped through it making her miraculously dodged it.
Oh no, this is bad.
The rest of us could only start running after her ourselves. I sprinted after her, which I seized her after that but it was already too late. We already made a loud fuss and I noticed that the cloaked figure sensed us and now slowly approaching us.
Aqua made an exaggerated action at this time.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
I don't know what the suddenly shouting Aqua was thinking as she charged at the robed figure again.
"Hey you jackass! Calm down!"
Aqua suddenly stopped in her tracks and pointed her finger towards the robed figure.
"How dare of you to show up here, Lich! I will take care of you!"
Wait…Lich?
I heard that they're a big name when it comes to undead.
Well we are already compromised so what the hell…
I rushed at Aqua who was spouting nonsense to the Lich and stood beside her.
"So 'Lich' huh? Are you gonna suck on my blood like how typically 'Leech' are? No?"
The robed figure flinched at Aqua who was so loud as hell but proceeds to answer me.
"Eh? Who are you people?"
Came a woman's voice from the figure.
"W-what are you doing out here? N…No! I'm a Lich not a Vampire!"
Meh, no one's ever get my jokes.
Darkness suddenly tensed up and raised her sword towards the cloaked figure.
"What is the purpose of that magic circle?" Darkness asks with an intense glare.
Is that really you Darkness?
"I….I'm sending restless souls to the afterlife. Please I beg you! I….I don't want to fight, I just want to talk." The cloaked figure stammers out.
"Y…You wanna talk?" I asked with a stutter.
Somehow, I can't bring myself to kill her. It's because in my eyes, she's still human but in the inside, she's already an undead.
Aqua completely ignored us and was still babbling nonsense.
"You are noisy, shut up undead! You must be thinking of using this suspicious magic circle for devious means, I will stomp this magic circle of yours! Stomp!"
"No please stop I beg you stop! What are you doing?! Please stop!"
The so called powerful monster 'Lich' grab on to Aqua's waist in tears, attempting to stop her from stepping on the magic circle.
In my eyes, I could tell Aqua is the villain here.
Aqua claimed the person she was entangled with was a lich. But the way I see it, she was just like a pitiful homeless person that was being picked on by a hooligan.
Seriously, where's the 'Lich' here?
"How arrogant, this isn't your job! You're a Lich! Watch as a real goddess like myself purifies this entire place and you at the same time!" Aqua suddenly raised both of her hands.
"Sacred Turn Undead!"
A white light encompassed the entire cemetery with Aqua in the middle. That light seemed to be lavishing out from Aqua's body and the zombies around the Lich disappeared when they were touched by the light along with a bunch of other blue lights that I could see coming out of the ground. The cloaked woman staggered backwards. I could tell that the woman is in pain.
"Hyaaa! My, my body is fading? Stop, my body is disappearing! I will be purified! Please stop I beg you! Stooop!"
And because of that, I proceed to smack the back of Aqua's head in order to stop her.
"Ow! That hurts! Why did you stop me?!" Aqua held her head and scolded me with tearing eyes.
"She wants to talk. At this point, we look like the bad guys here…" I replied with the same lazy expression beneath my mask.
I ignored Aqua and spoke to the Lich that was trembling while curled in a ball.
"So, you want to talk?"
The woman composed herself and removed her hood revealing a beautiful face. Her eyes was darting to the three of us like crazy, I could tell that she was panicking.
"T….Thank you so much…umm my name is Wiz, and I live in Axel. Erm… and yes, I am a Lich, an overlord of the undead. Because I'm a Lich, I can hear the voices of the poor souls that was wandering here so I intend to help them every day to pass on"
Really? Was this woman actually a good person? This isn't what I thought a Lich would be like at all. I thought Lich would have a skull-like face or even uglier than Norman?
"What are you doing Peter?! You're gonna get corrupted if you talk to this trash undead! Let me exorcise her for good!" Aqua yelled.
Wiz hid behind me with a troubled and terrified expression.
"Well, you see… I'm a Lich, an overlord of the undying, I can hear the voices of the spirits wandering the world. Most of the spirits in this cemetery don't have money and didn't have a proper burial, so they can't move on to the afterlife and loiter the cemetery at night. Since I am an overlord, I visit periodically and send them on their way." As she finishes, an aura of love and maternal affection starts pouring off her, enveloping everyone in what feels like a hug.
Wow, she's an angel. What a good person. Apart from the counter lady, she was probably the first normal person I met since coming to this world. Well technically, she's not entirely human.
Still…
"There were many undead here as well. Are the one who was creating them?" I proceed to push her more.
Wiz was troubled by what I said.
"It wasn't intentional!"
Wiz waves her hand in front of her. "As a Lich, souls inside of intact bodies around me automatically revive. I was going to send them to the afterlife too."
I was speechless. Even though it was a risk to take, she still intend to save those poor souls. I can only sighed and scratched my head.
"Alright then, I think that is a wonderful thing to help those in need, but wouldn't it be better to leave this to the priest in this town? So that no zombies would suddenly rise from the ground again?"
In response to my question, Wiz was hesitant to speak as she was being wary of the mad Aqua.
"Because the priests in this town are capitalistic ah no I mean…"
I see…
"The ceremony for those without money would be pushed down on their motorcade….or something like that..."
Maybe she just can't say it in the face of the presence of Aqua, who is SUPRISINGLY an Archpriest.
"So basically what you're trying to say is that the priests in this town are money-grubbers and they're ignoring this public cemetery is because it's full of poor people?"
"Y…Yes…I think so…"
So that's how it was. Apparently the priests in this town worshipped 'Money' like its Chuck Norris. We all looked at Aqua who started squirming while she averted her eyes from everyone.
"Well, anyway. Just leave this to us, Aqua is an Archpriest, she can take care all of this and the town is not really that far from here."
And I can't just leave her here either. She might get attacked by someone who unknowingly what she's trying to do.
"Oh really?! Thank you! Ah wait…"
She then reaches into her pocket and pulls out a business card, which she happily hands it to me.
"Here, I run an item shop in town. If you need any help please let me know. You can find me there!"
A Lich running an item shop in town? The security in the town must be so easygoing…
"Ok no problem. Really, thank you for all your work…" I replied by accepting the card that was given to me.
"Well It was actually the least I could do." She smiles softly. "If that's all can I go now? I'd like to head back because I have to open the shop by morning."
With that, we said our good byes and she left. At the same time, we came to a consensus for the idle Aqua to purify the cemetery periodically. Fortunately, no matter how bad Aqua was, she still was a goddess. She knew that purifying the undead and wandering spirits was her job.
I then took a peek to the business card that was given to me by the innocent lich.
It had Wiz's address on it. That Lich seemed to be living life as a normal human in our town. Well why should I be surprised? I mean both of my greatest nemesis owned a resources company and the other one can't shut his mouth and runs a tabloid newspaper.
"We were lucky things turned out well in the end. Even with Aqua here, the opponent was still a Lich. If we really fought, you and I would definitely be dead."
Megumin said nonchalantly which made me raised my eyebrow in response.
"Really, are Lich really that dangerous?"
"It's much worse than that! Lich have high magic defense, nothing could harm her except enchanted weapons. All abnormal status would be suddenly triggered if you were touched by one and she could drain your life and mana, it is a legendary immortal monster. What really surprised me that Aqua's simple 'Turn Undead' spell would actually affect a powerful being."
Is it really that dangerous though? I mean I've encountered beings before who would eat planets for breakfast but…meh.
Well, a Lich is technically a 'boss' of the undead after all.
After finishing the job, we left the cemetery and was returning back to town.
After walking for a few minutes in silence, Darkness, who was been so surprisingly quiet so far, decides to ask a question.
"By the way, what about the quest to defeat the zombie maker?"
"Oh…"
After hearing that, I furiously stopped in my tracks. Quest Failed I guess.
It took a while because I was so busy. So busy that I have to follow the canon first. Chapter 5 might be out soon.