Lich Battle

A lower-level lich excelled at two spells: Dark Curtain and Rotting Art. Both were black magic with the element of "Evil."

In the game, black magic had been brought to the world by the Min'er People. The Min'er People were servants of the Twilight Dragon. During the age of chaos before the beginning of the First Era, they had lived on the frozen plateau north of Cruz.

The shamans of the Min'er People excelled at necromancy and black sorcery. Later, these two types of magic, along with all offensive spells outside the elemental, natural, and holy schools, came to be collectively known as black magic.

After the Holy War, Gilt, King of Flames, drove these dark inhabitants into the frigid east. It was said that no one had ever seen them again after that.

But the Min'er People had to exist. In the Black Codex, the Dark Lords exiled to Madara had learned the inheritance of black sorcery from these demonic subjects.

However, calling Dark Curtain black magic was somewhat inaccurate, because it was an auxiliary concealment spell. It happened to be capable of hiding the movements of a small squad of Skeleton Soldiers.

Of course, it did not make them completely invisible or cause them to disappear. You could imagine it as an illusion blending into a dark background. Yes, it did not conceal sound, scent, or anything beyond vision, and its effect was limited to a certain range.

But at night, this spell became the best cover for Madara's Undead Army. This was the main reason Madara's forces often chose to move at night.

As for Rotting Art, Freya and the others had already witnessed this terrifying black magic once before, on Josen.

It was a vicious offensive spell and the lich's primary means of attack. It relied on negative energy to erode its enemies. The more severe the enemy's negative emotions and the weaker their willpower, the greater the spell damage they suffered.

Until death.

This spell shared the same principle as most black magic, manifesting destructive force by amplifying negative energy.

Wielding mysterious black magic and commanding mindless Skeleton Soldiers—while being even stronger itself and naturally cunning and unpredictable—the lich seemed like an enemy that would be difficult to defeat.

However, Su Fei also knew a secret: liches themselves did not actually possess the ability to cast spells. Their true power came from the Bone Staff in their hands. It was a powerful magic item exclusive to each lich, and once separated from its owner, it would revert to an ordinary stick.

Once they understood this, they knew how to build their tactics around it.

As another Skeleton Soldier fell, Freya and Essen, the two strongest swordsmen among the militia, followed Su Fei's reminder and engaged the lich from both sides as it prepared a spell.

"Attack its hands. Black sorcery isn't as mysterious as you think." From behind, Su Fei immediately pointed out the undead monster's weakness. "See its hand gestures? Stop it from completing the spell and take its Bone Staff..."

The lich suddenly raised its head and met Su Fei's gaze. Vengeful light flickered within a mass of phosphorescent green flame. Su Fei froze, and his throat went dry. He knew the other side had set its sights on him—but their protagonist quickly calmed down. The walking corpse could not bypass the militia and attack him.

Still, being watched by a lifeless, cold monster was never comfortable. Su Fei had no choice but to stop and wait for Freya and Essen's attacks to take effect.

The lich gave a sinister smile and waved its Bone Staff. The darkness around it rippled like waves and swallowed it whole. When Essen's longsword stabbed in like a streak of snow, it struck nothing but air. The place where the undead monster had been was completely empty.

"Huh?" The young man was slightly stunned.

Su Fei's expression did not change. He was far too familiar with these creatures' tricks. "Essen, to your left!"

Essen failed to react in time.

But Freya, who had caught up from behind, had already brought her sword straight down. The treasured blade drew a straight silver line through the dim surroundings. It was about to reach the spot Su Fei had indicated, but the lich had already stumbled backward.

Everyone saw the shadow retreat like flowing water.

"Human, who are you? You're no militia!" a shrill voice erupted from within the shadow. The lich looked somewhat frantic.

Indeed, no militia member could have known so much. Some of what Su Fei had said was only circulated among the wizards of Madara.

But Su Fei remained silent, and Freya's second sword followed close behind. Green light flickered in the lich's eye sockets as it resentfully raised its Bone Staff and knocked the girl's sword aside. The lich possessed 1.7 Energy Levels of strength, while Freya was probably no stronger than Brando.

The Ponytail Girl's attack was easily deflected. She rushed forward several steps before stopping, then instinctively clutched her left shoulder and frowned slightly.

Her earlier arrow wound seemed to have reopened—

"Big Sis, let Macmi handle it. Your injury..." Seeing this, Essen shouted while parrying the lich's attack.

Macmi and Little Finis hurried over from behind.

"Little Finis, get back!" Freya swept her sword across and blocked the reckless boy, ordering him sternly.

"But I'm a militia member too!" the boy shouted indignantly.

"Get back. Did you hear me—!"

Little Finis flushed with anger, but even so, he did not dare disobey Freya. Among these young people, Freya had always been their leader. She was kindhearted and had her own convictions, so everyone respected her as a captain.

Behind them, Su Fei shook his head. The battlefield was no place for arguments. Still, the Ponytail Girl's persistence earned his approval. Girls like her were already rare in his world.

"You four, attack together," he said from behind.

"Mr. Brando, you—!" Freya inhaled and could not help turning around. The young man lying on the rock—Roman was still beside him, gazing at them innocently and even winking at her.

That little traitor! She switched sides so quickly!

She could not help feeling stifled.

"Liches are difficult enemies. The four of you can cover one another perfectly," Su Fei replied seriously.

"But Little Finis..."

"He's a militia member too."

Freya bit her lip and looked back. Under the lich's attacks, Macmi and Essen were already retreating step by step. If the undead monster found an opportunity to cast a spell, this squad would probably suffer another casualty.

That was something she could not bear.

With that thought, she could only nod. "All right."

"Hooray! Brando, you're the best!" Little Finis shouted and immediately drew his longsword. But Freya grabbed him by the collar from behind and pulled him back, ordering him sternly, "Stay with me. Do not leave my cover range. Understood—"

"Oh..." came the disappointed reply.

Once Freya and Little Finis joined the battle, the situation immediately reversed. Freya and Essen had originally been among the finest swordsmen in Buchi's militia cohort. To everyone's surprise, Little Finis was not inferior in the slightest. In Su Fei's words, the boy had a strong attacking instinct, and his sword strikes were decisive and precise. Unlike Eluin Military Swordsmanship, which pursued a balance between offense and defense, his style resembled Cruz's aggressively offensive battlefield swordsmanship.

But from any perspective, in the eyes of a veteran warrior, that was already extremely high praise.

Su Fei thought that by the time Little Finis grew as large as Brando, his swordsmanship would probably be no weaker. Of course, he would be somewhat inferior in innate talent—because Brando was practically born for battle.

Sometimes, Su Fei wondered whether, if that young man from history had not died but had instead grown through war, his ultimate achievements might not have been any less dazzling than Freya's.

Unfortunately, the world was unpredictable, and history had no "if."

Of course, the most important factor in this battle was the young man's reminders woven throughout the fight. Su Fei seemed to see through the lich's thoughts completely. The moment it revealed even the slightest intention, he could point it out.

What was it trying to do?

Why was it doing that?

Was it preparing a spell?

When did they need to interfere?

The more the lich fought, the more alarmed it became. Undead could not feel fear, but they could still lose their composure. In the end, it practically shrieked, "Who are you? An undead wizard? Or a Black Knight?"

The answer was Freya's merciless sword strike. The claw gripping the Bone Staff flew high into the air, and the monster let out a shriek as the green flames in its sunken eye sockets dimmed.

"Damn humans..."

The battle finally ended with an ordinary sword strike from Macmi. The lich had already been exhausted from dealing with them. After both its hands and its Bone Staff were shattered, it howled unwillingly and watched helplessly as the bright blade cut into its skull.

With a crack, Soul Fire burst from its body. It was the monster's dying counterattack, but thanks to Su Fei's warning, only Essen, who had dodged a little too slowly, suffered a minor burn to his right hand.

Meanwhile, the others eliminated the remaining two Bone Frames at the cost of one more person being wounded. When the forest returned to silence, only the wind sweeping over the treetops remained, whispering softly.

Everyone could not help stopping and looking at one another.

Including Freya, every one of them wore an expression of disbelief. They had actually won—against four Skeleton Soldiers and a terrifying lich.

The sword in Macmi's hand hit the ground first with a clang, followed by a chain reaction from the others. Everyone hugged one another, shouting and cheering. Some even burst into tears to vent their emotions.

Surviving a disaster truly left people somewhat dazed.

Su Fei, however, fell silent. He raised his head and saw three points of golden light fly out of the darkness and merge into his chest. No one nearby seemed to notice this detail. Even Roman, standing beside him, did not.

The Merchant's Daughter seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief.

Huh? Could it be that only he could see this? Su Fei found it strange.

He glanced around and instinctively opened his character Attributes. Just as when he had still been in The Amber Sword, Su Fei always examined his gains and losses first after a battle.

Rows of ghostly green numbers immediately appeared on his retinas—

Strength 1.1

Agility 2.0

Constitution 1.0

Intelligence 1.1

Willpower 1.3

Perception 1.0

Absolute Strength 3.5

Elements (Unawakened)—

Brando, human male, Level 1 (Strength System: Physical, Melee; Talent: Unyielding)

XP: 4 (Commoner Level 1: —, Militia Level 2, 6/10)

Health (Weak, Near Death): 10% (Bandaged State, restores 1 Health per day)

Class (Idle Skill Experience 1)—

Commoner Basic Knowledge (Level 1), Geographical Knowledge (Level 0), Local Knowledge (Level 1)

Militia Military Swordsmanship (Level 1), Fighting Technique (Level 1), Tactical Theory (Level 0), Military Organization (Level 0)

It was easy to see that the attributes that had changed were Strength and Constitution, indicating that his physical qualities had improved through the training—or leveling—of the militia class.

Then Absolute Strength had increased by 2.5 Energy Levels. Most of that came from the one point of Agility provided by the Wind Queen Ring, while the rest came from the change in his physical qualities.

Finally, in this battle, he had obtained only four points of experience in total from four Skeleton Soldiers and one lich. Only half of the experience he should have received. Su Fei thought for a while before reluctantly reaching a conclusion: Party Penalty.

This was absurd. How could something like that exist in the real world? But as a gamer, he had no specialized knowledge with which to explain any of it. After all, compared to this, transmigration itself was even more absurd.

Wasn't it?

At first, he had wanted to figure out how the Party Penalty here was calculated. But he quickly discovered that it was futile, because it seemed to have no connection to that game at all.

"Martha above, thank goodness I'm thick-skinned..." He could not help rubbing his forehead with a headache.

But then Su Fei stared at his militia level and hesitated. To be honest, he did not really want to continue investing experience in this class. The militia class was so useless that it needed no explanation, to the point that it was always known as the NPC-exclusive class.

In his previous life, he never would have imagined that one day he would waste experience on this class.

And he had even chosen the Talent: Unyielding!

Martha above, there were so many talents suited to warriors, yet Unyielding happened to be the worst one. This skill allowed him to survive a fatal physical blow, but he had only five minutes to arrange his final affairs unless he received sufficiently powerful healing before then.

Yet so far, he had not seen any item more effective at restoring Health than a Bandage. In the game, those things were everywhere.

Still, Su Fei did not regret it that much. At least the skill had saved his life, hadn't it?

But the current situation was the same. In reality, he had yet to find a way to take up another class. Moreover, he urgently needed strength. Thus, the only remaining option was to follow the militia class all the way into darkness—

For a moment, Su Fei could not help feeling depressed.

Was he really going to go from being a veteran warrior to a veteran militiaman? Hey, wasn't being a warrior already cannon fodder enough?