Chapter 95: Rich Apep

“This is…!”

Tera, like me, seemed to have sensed the massive flow of mana.

She jumped up from her seat and hurriedly began packing her things, prompting the rest of the party to awkwardly follow suit.

“T-Tera? What’s going on…? Even the mage?”

“Hey… what’s the rush… what’s happening?”

There was no need to answer the party members’ questions.

Even those who hadn’t sensed the mana’s movement seemed to have noticed something, their faces paling as they stared at their feet.

The direction of the movement didn’t change.

Anyone who could sense mana could tell that a massive, death-laden mana was approaching this place.

“This isn’t good… let’s move quickly.”

Alfonso took the lead and started running.

The remnants of the melted corridor stuck to the bottom of his shoes, but there was no time to worry about such trivial things.

Crrrrrr-!

The floor collapsed with the sound of dragging stones, and the ceiling caved in.

Where there had been walls, openings appeared, revealing new paths.

The straight path I had created remained unchanged, but the dungeon passages beside it began to change constantly.

Someone approaching this place was clearly manipulating the dungeon’s structure at will.

“T-This…”

As if climbing stairs, the mana that had been felt deep underground was now approaching from beneath our feet.

Reaching the end of the melted corridor, the party members’ gazes turned to me.

I could only shake my head. My mana hadn’t recovered enough to show them what they were hoping for.

This is the worst. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have wasted mana clearing the path…

As despair washed over the party members’ faces, the corridor stretching to the side began to move with a crrrrr-! sound.

Just like before, the walls lowered into the floor, revealing a new path.

From the newly revealed darkness, the sounds of skeletons and death knights mingled chaotically.

“Everyone… draw your weapons…”

Alfonso, his face pale as if he knew his end was near, drew his sword.

But he didn’t give up. Even knowing that death would claim him, he raised his sword.

Immediately after, the undead emerged from beyond the faint light of the lamp.

White bones wreathed in ominous mana, and knights clad in old armor.

There were only two death knights, but the number of skeletons was countless.

They squeezed through the narrow passage, pouring out continuously.

And then, parting the white horde of the dead, their master appeared.

The master of the horde was a white skeleton wearing a black robe.

But it was different from ordinary skeletons.

Its unrealistic appearance, floating in the air without a lower body, evoked an instinctive sense of disgust.

The black mana swirling around its body shook the air.

The ominous mana that emanated naturally gave the illusion that one’s lifespan was being shortened just by facing it.

When the black, burning light in its eyes touched me and then moved away, I noticed that it held a large grimoire and a staff emitting ominous mana in its hands.

[How did you get in here?]

A horrifying voice flowed from inside the white skull.

It was a grotesque sound, as if the voices of countless people who had fallen into hell had been combined into one.

It wasn’t a sound made by vibrating vocal cords.

It was clearly an artificial sound created by vibrating the mana covering its body.

Some of the party members began to feel nauseous.

The ominous mana and the voice created from it were clearly having a negative effect on the human body.

No one could answer the question.

They could only swallow nervously, their faces tense as they pointed their swords.

[… You don’t have to answer now. I’ll hear it after you’re dead.]

The king of the dead spoke of death.

Immediately, the horde began to move.

In a chaotic movement, countless skeletons collapsed and reassembled, creating a path.

At the same time, the king of the dead began to gesture.

When he pointed at the wall, the stuffy, blocked wall sank, and the white wave of skeletons filled the void.

The walls that had been protecting our backs disappeared completely.

The horde of the dead filled the space where the walls had been, and the completed wave of death began to surge in like a receding tide.

“Ugh, uaaaaaagh!”

At that moment, a silver-ranked swordsman began to convulse.

He wildly swung his sword at the white wave approaching from all directions.

Sharpness couldn’t be expected from his attacks, but many skeletons lost their form and began to collapse.

But that was all. The empty spaces left by the skeletons were filled by other skeletons, and they reached out to the approaching swordsman.

“Kuh, kuhaaaa!”

Hundreds of hands engulfed his body. His last sight was being dragged into the depths of the wave by the white, outstretched hands.

As his loud scream began to fade, red blood trickled out from inside the white wave.

“Tera…”

“What is it now…”

I swallowed hard and stared at the two death knights approaching from beyond the skeletons.

“Could you hold those two back for a moment?”

“For how long?”

“As long as possible.”

Tera didn’t confidently say she could. She simply wordlessly raised her greatsword high.

It might be too much for her alone, but if everyone here worked together, they could hold out for quite a while.

If Tera could clear a path by destroying the skeletons, and the rest of the party could deal with the two death knights.

“What are you going to do?”

“I have to finish that guy off.”

“Is that possible…?”

I closed my mouth at Tera’s words. To be honest, I wasn’t sure. I just had a vague feeling that I could somehow do it.

The opponent was a king with a massive horde, but the fact that its essence was a mage hadn’t changed.

There are two types of mages in this world.

One is like the typical mages I know, who spend a long time preparing and unleashing powerful bombardments, and the other is like Leonis, who diverts all mana to enhance their bodies and engage in close combat.

The guy hiding behind the white wave was clearly the first type.

In fact, I could feel a massive movement of mana from beyond the skeletons. It was clearly preparing to use a powerful spell.

I immediately kicked off the ground and plunged into the white wave.

The death knights tried to follow my movement, but their movement was blocked by Tera’s greatsword.

The attacks of the skeletons rising from beneath my feet didn’t cause me much damage.

I trampled on the heads of the skeletons and rushed towards the king of the dead beyond them.

The moment the king of the dead appeared beyond the white wave, a jet-black arrow of mana was fired from behind him.

Pababak-!

The moment I recognized the attack, I kicked off the air and attempted a sharp change of direction.

The mana gathered beneath my feet combined with my weak mana to create a solid foothold.

Pung-!

After a brief explosion, my body, which had been floating in the air, quickly landed. I didn’t stop advancing.

The moment my feet touched the ground, I charged again.

A faint wind swirled around my body. The moment the speed of the charge increased slightly, I swung the sword in my hand wide.

Kagagagak-!

The swung sword was blocked by a long staff.

The moment a hot flame soared from the starlight mana covering the sword, the opponent’s black mana began to be shaved off.

I could feel the mana, which had been concentrated in one place as if to use a powerful spell, scattering.

Hwareureuk-!

The moment the orange flames flickered and blurred my vision, a jet-black light flashed from inside the black robe.

[… An interesting fellow. Are you a dragon hybrid or something?]

It was an tone as if it had sensed the origin of the mana I was using. I didn’t answer and continued to swing my sword.

Kang! Kaang! Kagagak-!

The flame-covered sword hammered against the black mana barrier.

The flames of destruction that burned the world greedily devoured even the ominous mana that blocked its path.

At that moment, the black light flashed, and mana began to be released.

The hem of the robe worn by the white skull fluttered violently as if caught in a storm.

Kwaaaaa-!

“Ugh…”

It was just a simple mana release, but the amount of mana pouring out was so vast that I couldn’t open my eyes.

The moment I was pushed back by the strong wind pressure, the bag on my back opened, and items poured out.

[Elder, your contractor Apep desires.]

Pararak-!

A chilling voice flowed from inside the black robe. At the same time, the ominous grimoire in his hand began to turn rapidly.

[Certain death to the target before you.]

The moment the voice flowing from inside the robe began to scatter, the mana that had been spreading in all directions began to be sucked into the grimoire.

[Decree of Death]

The grimoire that had absorbed the mana floated in the air, and Apep’s white bone finger pointed at me.

At that moment, I could sense an invisible death approaching.

Senses that transcended humans predicted a short future.

I immediately threw my body back and kicked up a wide, blue scale, one of the items that had spilled from my bag.

Formless death approached the scale that had been lifted by a small kick.

At that moment, blue coldness exploded with a great light.

Saaaaaaaak-!

The coldness that suddenly burst out froze everything around it.

Blue frost covered the corridor, engulfing Apep in the black robe and the white wave.

A silence as if even time had frozen filled the air. On the quiet corridor, the white frozen ice began to crack with a jjeojeok- sound, along with the bright blue scale.

Hudeudeuk-

The scale that had blocked death shattered into dozens of pieces and fell onto the white ice, as if it had finished its role.

“This is…”

It was only a very brief moment, but I saw it.

The moment the light burst from the scale, the figure of a huge creature vaguely appeared and disappeared before my eyes.

Jjeojeojeok-!

[T-This is…]

Apep’s voice scattered faintly through the cracking ice. It wasn’t dead.

The massive mana inside its body was protecting it.

The ice is melting. It was clear that it would wake up again soon.

The ominous light burning inside the black robe was shining brightly, as if it desired my death.

My mind flashed white. The senses that had grown closer to a monster, a dragon, instinctively began to move to escape this crisis.

“Hoo…”

The low breath that flowed out was hot.

The cold mana that filled the surroundings began to mix with the hot breath.

Like the snowy mountains of Kashpa, the entire corridor was filled with mana containing cold chill.

I can’t absorb it. The moment I accepted this mana into my body through breathing, the heat of the boiling blood would escape, and my heart would stop.

Then, how can I use the surrounding mana?

The answer was surprisingly close.

My gaze touched and then moved away from the scattered scale fragments on the floor.

Beyond the white flashing vision, an instinctive realization approached.

When the dragon’s instincts began to consume my body, I stepped hard on the floor.

Kung-!

The scale fragments scattered beneath my feet rose due to the strong impact.

When the rising fragments began to react to my mana, dozens of fragments flew behind my back and drew a huge circle.

If I can’t accept it into my body, I just need to hold it outside.

I may not be able to absorb it, but I should be able to use the mana as I please for a very short time.

When the cold ice dragon’s scales replaced the role of the heart, they began to rotate in a circular motion.

Kiiing-!