Kill

"There's no need to belittle yourself," the female voice replied. "Your strength is on par with a trainee warrior's. Your technique really sucks, though."

"A trainee warrior can't even hurt an undead that's just sitting there like a punching bag?" Su Ming couldn't help complaining, frustration in his voice.

"Liches are higher undead. Though they aren't known for their toughness, it isn't low, either," the female voice explained calmly, then added, "Let me revise that. Your strength barely qualifies you as a trainee warrior. Your weapon is hard enough, though it would be better if you sharpened it. Running a simulation... Hmm, a trainee warrior would probably need fifty jumping slashes to solve the problem."

"I ******" Su Ming almost swore.

Fifty times? Su Ming was sure that if he tried that, he'd be the first to drop!

He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "How much longer until Galio's transformation is complete?"

"Two faras-about as much time as has passed since you transmigrated," the female voice replied. "I'm not quite sure how to convey units of time."

"Damn!" Su Ming grew anxious. "Hurry up and think of a way to kill him. The crowbar won't work; I can't stab him as fast as he recovers-wait, can you help?"

Though she was only a voice, her actual body should have been nearby, and by all appearances, she shouldn't have been weak.

"Sorry, but aside from verbal guidance, there's nothing I can do to help," the female voice replied mildly.

"...Then tell me what it's afraid of!"

"It's afraid of many things, but in this situation, I can't think of an easier solution than smashing him to pieces," the female voice replied.

"What about fire? Is it afraid of burning?"

"Of course. Burn it up and it'll be gone. Is your specialty fire-based power?"

"No, it isn't."

Su Ming glanced at the truck's fuel tank. There were at least two hundred liters of diesel in it.

"But this 'alchemical behemoth' specializes in it!"

Su Ming found a basin in the cab, then used a wrench to loosen the drain plug. He filled the basin and poured it over Galio.

"Will the floor burn through?" he asked, remembering that it was made of bone.

"Yes, but it doesn't matter. This is the first floor of the Tower of White Bone," the female voice replied. "There's rock underneath."

The Tower of White Bone? Amid the gurgle of flowing diesel, Su Ming looked around. Everything really was made of bone. It was certainly a straightforward name.

After pouring four basins of fuel over Galio, Su Ming stopped. He walked a few steps away, lit a scrap of cloth with his lighter, and tossed it. Flames leaped up, engulfing Galio.

The heat forced Su Ming back a few more steps. Piercing wails came from the flames, accompanied by the clanging of his pounding and struggling. The tires caught fire too, producing thick black smoke and a foul stench.

Suddenly, Su Ming thought of something and turned to sprint away. Sure enough, two explosions went bang, bang right after, and the immense blast briefly blew out the flames. Only two bare wheel rims remained. As the truck bed tilted, the rims pressed down on Galio again, even wedging into him with several crisp cracks of breaking bones.

Scattered flames spread back over the scene, and the blaze engulfed everything once more.

It took a full three minutes for the wailing to stop. The diesel fire died down, leaving only a charred humanoid shape where Galio had been.

Su Ming poked it with his crowbar. The exterior was brittle. "Burned this badly, he should be dead, right?" he asked.

"I can't be certain," the female voice replied. "There's no precedent for burning a lich in the middle of transformation. Perhaps more experiments are needed for reference?"

"Got it. Burn him again." Su Ming was already used to the female voice's way of expressing herself. He put out the remaining flames, then took the basin and poured another four basins of diesel over the remains.

Su Ming was just about to light it when the charred corpse in front of him suddenly opened its eyes, its gaze filled with almost tangible venom.

Before Su Ming could even cry out, he was enveloped by the dark aura projecting from those eyes. An icy chill gripped him in an instant, and his entire body went rigid.

"Dark Edict, a control-type curse," the female voice explained. "I still underestimated a lich's resistance to fire. I'll make a note of it."

Wait, what am I supposed to do now?! Su Ming shouted inwardly. Has Galio finished transforming?!

"No, he was well over halfway through, but he's given up now." The female voice seemed to be struggling to describe it. "A half-cooked lich-no, an unfinished lich? Not quite a lich?"

"No, don't think about that! Just tell me what's going on! What should I do?"

"You burned Galio half to death. If he'd let you light the fire again, he really would have been finished. So he gave up on transforming and barely managed to immobilize you with a curse," the female voice replied. "Of course, the backlash from interrupting a lich transformation and forcing himself to cast a spell is severe."

Su Ming had noticed that himself. After Galio cast the spell, his eyes had lost almost all their life, and he had lain there for a long while without making another move.

"What do I need to do to dispel this Dark Edict?"

"There's no need to dispel it. The spell can only last-about as long as it takes you to pour three basins of fuel," the female voice said. "But you're going to die, so there's no point struggling."

"Why?" Su Ming was puzzled. "If I understood correctly, he's at the end of his rope, isn't he?"

"That's true, but-"

In front of him, Galio's blackened form seemed to recover. His mouth began opening and closing as he spoke to the air.

A voice sounded, but Su Ming couldn't understand it. When the conversation ended, Su Ming saw a bone spear shimmering with a ghostly light begin to take shape in the air before him, followed by another.

There was another spellcaster here. Galio had just given it an order, and now that spellcaster was about to kill him! Su Ming suddenly understood the situation before him.

No wonder the female voice had said he was going to die.

A realization dawned on Su Ming.

"You're one of his people?" Su Ming asked. "You're the one killing me."

"Mm." The female voice admitted it. "Sorry, Galio is my master. I can chat with passersby, pretend I haven't seen an intruder, and slack off on the job-but I can't actively harm Galio, much less disobey his orders."

During their earlier mental connection, the female voice had never directly told Su Ming what to do-even though her hints had practically spilled out.

"Ordinary strength, no spellcasting ability, and no other abilities beyond my understanding. My observations of you were correct, weren't they, visitor from another world?"

"Every one."

"Then there's no solution." The female voice sighed. "What a pity. I thought I could take this chance to escape Galio's control. Oh, right, your name?"

"Su Ming."

"My name is White Bone. Mr. Su Ming, any last words?"

"..."

"Nothing? Then goodbye. I thought you might bring me something new." The female voice spoke her farewell.

The number of white bone spears in front of him had already grown to twenty. A feeling of dread arose in Su Ming, whose whole body was rigid. It was the spellcaster's mental lock.