Chapter 265
Inside the Boss Room was…
“Are those Liches? The middle one looks a little different though,”
[6] The five of us were observing the Boss Room from the entrance.
There were a total of five Liches inside the room in their tattered black robes. Their bodies were thin and dried up, almost mummy-like. However, the creepiest feature had to be their eyes, which were only dents where their eyeballs should be. The middle one has long white hair and a dull gold crown on its head.
“S-surely not…? That’s- that’s a…” when Elland-san saw the Lich with the white hair and crown, his expression changed drastically.
“Hooh? Is that the Immortal Emperor Lich? My, my, there is certainly no shortage of enemies for us to fight,” said Fer with a smirk. He even licked his lips.
“N-no way, so that’s the Emperor Lich…”
[6] “E-emperor Lich?” no way! I don’t know what that is but it sounds too dangerous!
[4] “Emperor Lich has the ability to use advanced magic. It’s the highest possible form of the Lich variety,” said Elland-san stiffly.
[6] “I-is that so?” I peeked nervously into the Boss Room. The withered looking figure turned its dried-up face towards me.
Then, it smiled.
[8] “Hiiiiiii!!!!!”
My body trembled uncontrollably as I ducked away. [5]
“Oh? That thing is aware of us?” Fer leaned forward with a smirk. “Interesting.”
“I-it’s not my imagination?!” said Elland-san as he continued to stare into the room with fascination.
“No, it’s not,” said Fer. “It’s rare, normally dungeon monsters won’t notice an enemy unless we step into the rooms, but there are exceptions…”
[8] Elland-san looked appalled, “That means they would attack us as soon as we step into the room!” [5]
“It’s fine, I can cast a strong Barrier Magic on everyone. Powerful enough to withstand ten advanced magic attacks from the Emperor Lich.”
“T-ten advanced magic attacks?”
“Surely you can take down those things within that time? Or is protection against ten attacks too little?” Fer sneered.
[6] “Aaahh…” said Elland-san.
[6] “Uuuhh…” I’d like a barrier that could withstand a hundred attacks? Or better yet, just let me stay out here…
““Humph! That’s ten times too many! Those things can’t even hit me so your barrier is wasted!”” snapped Dora-chan.
““That’s right, that’s right! Sui will not lose to those things. Sui will definitely win!””
[8] Clearly, these two were more than motivated to take down the Liches.
[8] “Excellent,” Fer smiled approvingly at the zipping/bouncing little fellows. He turned to me, “Master can just stay here. You’ll just get in the way. What about you, elf?”
Hey… why are you treating me like a burden? I mean… can’t you say it a little more nicely? Huh? [5] [6] I crouched by the wall, telling myself that I don’t want to join in their dangerous game of ‘Crush the Liches’ anyway.
[8] “[5] [6] I may not look it, but my age is quite advanced. Coupled with my job as a Guild Master, I never thought I’d ever get the chance to level up anymore. However, if the opponent is an Emperor Lich, I might just gather enough experience to level up. Fer-sama, please cast the barrier spell on me as well.” [5]
“Umu, very well. Alright, I’ve put a barrier on everyone [5], let’s go!” with a shout, Fer led the charge into the Boss Room.
[6] Unable to resist the temptation, I crept over to the door and peeked in.
The Liches were all casting Fireballs. The number of Fireballs was so large that it looked like the entire room was on fire. The biggest Fireballs came from the Emperor Lich.
Naturally, Fer and the rest launched their attacks as well.
““Hah! Want to attack me with those miserable attacks? Take that!”” sharp ice pillars formed around Dora-chan and sped towards the Liches.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
“Giiiiiii——!!!”
“Giiiiiii——!!!”
Two Liches skewered by the ice pillars screamed their death knell as they collapsed miserably to the floor.
““Attacks like that can’t hurt Sui! Sui is strong!!””
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
The Acid Bullets looked more like Acid Hail in their intensity, instantly covering the Lich and melted its clothes, body and bones into a pile of goo.
“Gi-giiiiii——!!!” [5]
“It’s not over for me yet! Uwooh!”
Slash!
A Lich suddenly split into two. With its upper body going one way and lower body falling the other way. Once the two pieces collapsed to the floor, the Lich disappeared after a final-
[6] “…giiiiii….”
“So, you are my opponent, eh? Humph,”
Fer’s right paw lifted and slashed down almost lazily.
Slash…
Surprisingly, instead of falling to pieces, the attack sparked against a barrier in front of the Emperor Lich.
“Fumu, so, you can use barrier magic as well? I compliment you for blocking my Claw Slash. However, can you protect yourself against this?”
Slishy Slash! Slishy Slash! Slishy Slash!
For the first time since I met Fer, he used both forepaws and swiped rapidly against the Emperor Lich’s barrier.
[6] “Gi-gi- giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!” the Emperor Lich ended up crouching down behind his barrier, but it was no use. Fer’s attack was too powerful and too fast. Soon, the barrier shattered.
“It’s over, die,”
“Giiiiiiiiiiiii……” [5] [6] Ugh, the Emperor Lich’s death knell cry was really creepy.
I waited until all sounds disappeared before entering the Boss Room. [3] “Um, so, it’s all over?”
“Umu,”
“All that’s left are the Lich Drops,” said Elland-san as he sheathed his sword.
[8] The Lich Drops were mostly magic stones. [2] There were a few other bits and pieces, but nothing interesting. Not that I’m complaining since magic stones are valuable Drops from these A Rank monsters. So, it was not bad, overall. Just not very interesting.
“Well, as Undead things, we can’t expect organic Drops from them. [5] Oh, I think the Emperor Lich has Dropped something other than magic stones,” Elland-san hurried off to study the item.
I came up behind him and saw a dull-looking crown rolling next to a magic stone. “Hey, isn’t this the crown worn by the Emperor Lich just now?”
“I think it’s the Immortal Crown. I’ve only read about it, but apparently, it could dramatically increase the wearer’s magic power. However, if the wearer overused the crown, their soul would be consumed and eventually be Lich-tified.” [5]
“… by Lich-tified, do you mean eventually turning into a Lich?”
“Yes, but only if one overuses the crown. So I expect many people would be interested in buying this thing.”
Even with the side effects? Isn’t that too scary?
Nevertheless, I put the oversized magic stone and crown left by the Emperor Lich into the [Item Box].
Let’s not think about it for now. It’s time to challenge the final floor of this dungeon.
[Eguchi Ren-sama: We’ll escape the dungeon soon! That’s the plan at least…*sweats*]
[Gumihou: Just to illustrate why Note [5] is important. Plus a little embellishment here and there to make the sentence more natural]
That Emperor Lich, it looked at me and laughed. The monsters don’t notice us until we enter the boss room, right? It was like that until now. The enemies only tried to attack us as soon as we entered the room. This one is completely aware of our presence… [5] Gulp…. I feel like we just encountered a dangerous enemy.
““This guy is aware of us””
“Just as I thought…”
“Eh, aren’t the floor masters only aware of us when we enter the rooms?”
“That applies to these types of dungeons, but sometimes, there are a few monsters who don’t really follow that rule”
Elland-san was shocked after listening to what Fer had just said.
“So, that means we’ll be getting hit with magic as soon as we enter, right?” said Elland-san.
It’s just like how Elland-san said it, the Emperor Lich is already onto us, so it wouldn’t let such a good opportunity go by. [5]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken