Chapter 39: Tricked!

  The interior of the vast cavern was already in chaos.

  Alex was surrounded by two undead giants and a flesh golem. Oher side, Stone and Malt were teaming up against the Death Harbihe other temple knights weren't faring much better, as they were encircled by another flesh golem and a dozeon soldiers. They seemed close to their limit.

  What should he do?

  While cautiously watg the two undead giants before him, Alex thought carefully. The appearance of the Bone Duke had caught him pletely off guard. From Alex's perspective, the situation couldn't be worse.

  Stone and Malt couldn't even take down an undead creature summoned casually by the Bone Duke. In such circumstances, let alone disrupting the ritual, even self-preservation was difficult.

  The flesh golem and the undead giants were equally troublesome. The flesh golem seemed unkilble.

  Alex had torn it to pieces multiple times with Holy Storm, but it made no difference. Even as a tattered mess, it stubbornly tio attack Alex. Coupled with the two t undead giants, Alex had no choice but to keep dodging.

  Damn it… If only Stone and Malt weren't here...

  Dodging atack from the undead giant, Alex gripped his sword and swung it forward. The sword's light left a deep scar on the undead giant's head, causing it to roar and drop to one knee.

  As Alex prepared to finish it off, a strip of flesh, like minced meat from a mae, suddenly shot out from the side. A human mouth appeared on its end, screaming as it lu Alex.

  Again?

  Hearing the eerie, chilling sound, Alex's eyes narrowed, and he relutly dodged. He had almost ground this flesh golem to bits, but it still showed no signs of beiroyed and became increasingly troublesome.

  Alex had tried several padin skills, but none were effective. Perhaps he should try a five-fireball spell to ie it pletely?

  Unfortunately, Alex didn't have Jaina in his soul stone, and he doubted that psioniergy would affect the undead... He had no hope for that.

  "Ahhhhh!!!"

  The flesh golem, now in a jerky-like form, charged again. Alex raised his sword, and a golden shield appeared in front of him.

  The flesh golem collided with the shield and recoiled, screaming. Alex seized the opportunity, raised his sword, and sshed forward.

  Judgment!

  Golden holy light engulfed the flesh golem. Uhe relentless assault of divine energy, the golem let out a pierg scream, its body beginning to soften.

  Though it was a bloodless puppet, undead were naturally restrained by holy power.

  As the flesh golem softened, Alex leaped over it and swiftly decapitated the undead giant. The heavily injured giant, uo stand up in time, colpsed and died food.

  Finally took one down!

  Alex took a breath, but the giant's death brought little joy. The undead giants, flesh golems, ah Harbinger were just minor threats.

  Alex couldn't fet that a powerful lich, one of the five cilors of the cil of the Dead, the Lich Lord, Bone Duke Frank, loomed above them.

  Alex didn't know how strong Frank was, but judging by Stone and Malt's reas, he probably wasn't much weaker than Neancer Morbius.

  Though Alex could deal 250%+ holy damage to undead due to his titles and buffs, it still depended on the base value.

  Against ordinary undead, he could manage some o kills, but against these high-level, tough enemies, his low base attack would be a signifit drawback.

  What should he do ? How long must he wait?

  Alex ched his left fist, gng around. If he were alone, he would activate Arthas's soul stohout hesitation.

  The Liight be fearsome, but the Lich King... Well, it couldn't be worse.

  But now, with Malt and Stone here, the Lich King's characteristics were too distinctive. If Alex activated the soul stohe two would instantly reize him.

  At that point, all his efforts to infiltrate the Temple would be wasted. He hadn't gohrough all this trouble to escape before enjoying any bes.

  Alex repared. He had an invincibility spell ready to activate at the first sign of trouble. It was one of his trump cards, thanks to Prihas's prehensive knowledge of padin skills. Without it, he'd be in a much more precarious position.

  But if this tihey would all die.

  Frankly, Alex appreciated Stone and Malt. If it were that lunatinie, he would have activated the Lich King already, killing the madwoman and bming it on the Lich Lord.

  Alex didn't like killing, but he wouldn't hesitate to elimihose who wanted him dead.

  Although Alex hoped that Stone and Malt could survive, it wasn't just because he got along well with them. Both were iial iemple, and having friends always meant having more options.

  However, now it seemed that hope was slim. More importantly, what exactly did the Lich Lord want?

  Thinking about this, Alex felt uneasy. The oppo's strength was enough to crush them all. It had just take to heavily ione, and adding Malt to the mix wouldn't make much difference.

  A single area-of-effect attack could likely wipe them all out, so what was it waiting for? Did it enjoy watg enemies suffer before dying, like some boss characters in novels?

  As he grumbled inwardly, Alex gnced upward, then widened his eyes in surprise.

  Gohe Lich Lord, who should have been there, had disappeared!

  Alex thought he might be seeing things. He blinked and quickly looked around. It was true: while they were busy fighting these damn undead, the Lich Lord had quietly slipped away!What was going on?

  "Mentrand Knight Malt, the lich is gone!"

  "What?"

  Hearing Alex's voice, the two grand knights, who were struggling against the Death Harbinger, were stunned.

  They also looked around and were shocked to find that the Lich Lord was indeed gone! What was happening?

  The battle tinued, but everyone was fused. Like Alex, none of them thought they could scare away the Lich Lord. Even Stone and Malt were simply struggling out of a human instinct to survive.

  They khey couldn't possibly defeat the Bone Duke and uood that the enemy wouldn't let them go.

  After all, the core te of the cil of the Dead was "death is better than life," right?

  But now, the Bone Duke had left? What kind of move was this?

  "Thud!!"

  Suddenly, a dull sound echoed, causing both sides to pause. Though the sound wasn't loud, it had a peculiar attra, even making the mindless undead giants turn their heads toward the source. Alex, along with everyone else, looked in that dire.

  It was the ter of the magic circle, where a massive stone coffin y, and the sound came from within the coffin.

  "Thud!!"

  As they watched, the stone coffin trembled again. Alex then noticed that dozens of thick s bound the coffin, and these s were now crag from the impact, some even showing signs of breaking!

  Wait! Seeing this, a chill ran down Alex's spine. He suddenly remembered something.

  Grand Knight Malt had said that the lio perform some ritual here, which was why they came to stop it.

  When they arrived, everything seemed normal, so Alex hadn't paid much attention. But now, he realized something.

  What if the Lich Lord's ritual had already been pleted before they arrived? What if it was just waiting for them to arrive? Realizing this, Alex's face turned ashen. Damn it, we've been tricked!

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