Anna watched with apprehension as the magic missile headed straight toward the boy's disfigured face, her stomach in knots.
She didn't particularly care about his life, but if he died, she could forget about getting out of here alive.
But her thoughts stopped the very next second when she witnessed what followed.
The projectile dispersed as soon as it made contact with Victor's hand, reverting to particles as if it had never existed.
She could now see the faint green glow emanating from the boy's limb, radiating a cold and macabre aura.
From her point of view, it was as if he was holding death in his hand.
It was so impure that even she—whose hands were soaked in blood—couldn't help but feel disgusted.
If she happened to touch that thing…
« Stop daydreaming, distract it. »
Victor's shout brought her back to reality; she had no time to let her mind wander.
Anna clenched her teeth and darted once more toward the monster, whose protective barrier surrounding its body seemed to have weakened.
But it still wasn't enough—she was repelled again, though less violently.
She didn't stop, continuing her assault over and over while Victor simply avoided the creature's repeated attacks.
Eventually, a few cracks began to appear where Anna had focused her charge.
Their opponent's attention shifted to the young woman, who was starting to feel her body threaten to give out after so much effort.
Despite everything, she had achieved her goal.
Victor didn't hesitate—at the instant the creature turned its head, he rushed forward at a superhuman speed, imbuing his right hand with the element of decay.
He pressed his hand against the cracked membrane, which melted away like snow under the sun.
In the same movement, he grabbed the creature's skull, its clicking sounds intensifying.
Victor could see its bones blackening at an alarming rate, becoming as fragile as sand.
Its skull gradually disintegrated, pieces falling to the floor with an almost melodic clatter.
Victor let out a sigh of relief, eagerly waiting for the system notification that would confirm his victory.
But it never came.
Instead, a sound of clattering bones echoed behind him.
He turned around to find himself face-to-face with another creature identical to the one still collapsed at his feet.
His senses instantly sharpened, his muscles tensing to the limit.
But just as he prepared to lunge at the second one, a voice interrupted him.
« Your efforts are useless. »
Although the voice seemed to come from inside his mind, it didn't take Victor long to realize it was the creature in front of him speaking through some sort of telepathy.
« Give me the name of that magic, and I might spare you. »
The voice sounded dark, ancient, yet surprised.
It had never seen anything like this—a magic capable of dissipating another was unheard of, unknown.
« I have no interest in talking with a dead man. »
The creature's long fingers twitched in response, probably with anger or irritation.
« Very well, I'll find the answer myself. »
Before Victor could react, a ghostly hand appeared a few millimeters from his forehead.
His eyes widened.
« What— »
The next instant, his surroundings were replaced by endless darkness.
He stood in a space of indefinable proportions.
He no longer had any sense of orientation, surrounded only by infinite, unsettling gloom—he could have been on the ceiling and wouldn't have noticed.
Sight, smell, touch—none of it mattered.
It became obvious, he was once again in the place where he had met Beelzebub.
Why did he keep ending up here? What was this place?
He had no idea, but he was willing to bet the creature that forced him here knew.
He turned around, facing the unwelcome guest whose bones wouldn't stop trembling, the blue flames in its eyes flickering so rapidly they were nearly imperceptible.
« Impossible… »
Victor approached.
The sorcerer who had seemed so confident a second before stepped back.
« What… what are you? »
The boy tilted his head, puzzled.
« What do you mean? I'm human, obviously. »
« That's impossible! No creature possesses a soul like that! »
A smile pulled at the corners of Victor's mouth as he continued advancing toward the now motionless creature.
« My soul, huh? I suppose that does represent me pretty well. »
It was indeed representative of how he usually felt.
Nothing.
The void.
An absolute darkness so complete that even light would be devoured without hesitation.
That was what the soul of a sixteen-year-old boy looked like.
But was it really his fault that it looked like that?
Wasn't it because of his mother's abuse?
His father's neglect?
His sister's indifference?
So was his monstrous soul truly due to his own twisted nature… or to the people who had built this disgusting thing piece by piece?
Maybe both sides were at fault.
Maybe even if he'd had the perfect life, it wouldn't have changed the darkness inside him.
But ultimately, knowing the answer wouldn't change anything.
It was too late.
The monster was already here.
« Thanks for the information. Now you can die. »
Not a trace of emotion could be heard in his voice as Victor extended his hand toward the creature that had invaded his soul without considering the consequences.
But one couldn't blame it—how could it have guessed that the boy before it was one of the worst horrors this universe had ever produced?
The darkness beneath the skeleton rose, clinging to its bones like a heavy mass of tar, dragging it bit by bit into the depths of Victor's soul.
Its entire body was swallowed within seconds, leaving no trace behind.
Victor regained his senses almost immediately, facing the skeletal body—completely motionless.
It no longer had a soul.
It was now nothing more than an empty shell.
[You have slain a Lich (Lvl 46)]
[Level up. You gain 30 free points]
Victor's eyebrows lifted for a moment—good thing it tried to attack his soul. Otherwise, he probably would've died fighting it.
Probably.
But as expected, the risk matched the reward; the boy almost salivated seeing his level jump by six at once.
However, he wasn't done being surprised.
[Local event completed]
[Calculating performance]
[Hidden objective 'Defeat the Necromancer' completed]
[Recalculating performance]
[Generating rewards]
[Please select two rewards from the list below]
- [25 free points]
- [Mahogany Staff]
- [BlackSteel Cleaver]
- [Exoskeleton]
- [Magic+]
Victor waited a few seconds for the usual error message, but nothing came—the reward list remained as it was.
His ink-black eyes almost gleamed as he looked over the potential rewards.
He wanted to choose immediately, but restrained himself, remembering the unwanted presence that had been following him for several minutes.
He eyed Anna with suspicion.
« What, you don't trust me? I'm the reason we're alive, you know. »
« I could've won alone. »
She crossed her arms.
« Sure, sure. »
Victor wasn't lying—he genuinely believed he could've won alone; otherwise he wouldn't have gone in the first place, even before the fight, he still had nineteen unused stat points—more than enough, in his opinion, to turn the tide if necessary.
But whatever—if this woman didn't believe him, how did that concern him?
Anyway, she didn't seemed hostile for now, so he simply turned back toward the beautiful list of rewards waiting to be claimed.
Victor decided to examine them one by one.
- [Mahogany Staff]
A simple mahogany staff.
Grants +15 Magic.
- [Blacksteel scimitar]
A scimitar as solid as it is sharp.
Grants +15 Strength.
- [Exoskeleton]
Passive skill granting the user an exoskeleton in addition to the one they already own.
- [Magic +] (Upgradeable)
Passive skill increasing the [Mag] stat by 20.
Victor struggled to decide—aside from the staff he'd discarded immediately, the other four rewards were all tempting, especially the scimitar.
After all, he desperately needed a real weapon—the poor metal knife he currently used wouldn't last long, especially if he planned to fight stronger opponents.
As for the second reward, he excluded the free points; though a large amount for his current self, they would undoubtedly become useless in the long run.
If his stats eventually reached the hundreds or even thousands, what would twenty-five points even represent?
In the end, choosing the cleaver pushed him toward the exoskeleton as his second reward, which would undoubtedly offer far better protection than any armor—and more importantly, it would grow sturdier with his endurance stat.
At least, if it behaved like his human skeleton.
Meaning this skill would never become obsolete.
So, he made his choice.