Chapter 12
Chapter 12: You'll Die If You See My Undies!
The Lich Lord pulled out the dagger, drawing a line of blood through the air. Fred clutched his chest and collapsed forward—Lilu rushed to spread her arms and catch him.
"Barrier of Light!"
She swiftly erected a barrier, temporarily blocking the Lich Lord. The Lich Lord watched her through its eye sockets burning with ghostfire, turning the blood-stained dagger idly between its fingers.
"Fred, hang on just a little longer," Lilu immediately activated her Healing Arts, "I will save you—no matter what!"
Sacred radiance enveloped Fred's body. The Hero's Brand responded to the Goddess's power and emitted a crimson red glow. A red arc of lightning struck Lilu's pale little hand, sending a jolt of sharp pain through her. But she only let out a small, quiet gasp and immediately refocused, casting Healing Arts once more. Right now there was only a single voice left in Lilu's heart—save him! She had to save him!
The Lich Lord narrowed the ghostfire in its eye sockets, watching Lilu through the light barrier with detached interest. It had ten thousand ways to kill the two of them in an instant right now—but it saw no reason to rush. Under Lilu's Healing Arts, the wound on Fred's chest finally began to close—yet the very moment it sealed shut, it tore open once more, spraying blood all over Lilu.
"The blood…… why…… why did it open again?"
Lilu looked up in a complete panic. She had lost all composure by now and didn't know what to do. She had lived her whole life on Earth, and aside from one traffic accident had never seen this much blood. Fred's life was draining away fast, and in her desperation she turned her pleading gaze toward the Lich Lord. Watching the girl stare at it through brimming tears, the Lich Lord let out a cackle cackle cackle of hollow laughter.
"Young girl," it produced a scroll from beneath its tattered robes, "the dagger I used was enchanted with an 'Instant Death' curse—it operates on something similar to the law of causality. Anyone who is struck is fated to die.
No matter how many times you use your Healing Arts, it will have not even the faintest effect—because this person's fate has already been sealed, and you cannot snatch someone back from death's hands. But……" it shifted its tone, its voice turning silky and beguiling, "here is a spell—one of the last fruits of my research before my death. It can interfere with causality, though only by transferring the causal thread from one person and placing it upon another.
If you can successfully activate this scroll, you can transfer this young man's fatal wound onto yourself. However, the effect of the Instant Death curse will transfer along with it—you will absolutely die, and there will be no escaping it no matter what you do."
It extended the scroll toward her. The hand—nothing but bare bone—pierced straight through the Holy Light barrier without so much as a flicker of resistance. Lilu looked at the scroll, reached out without a moment's hesitation, and took it. Under the Lich Lord's stunned gaze, she tore it cleanly down the middle and activated the Arcane Formula within.
Crack!
In the void, one of the gears of the "Mechanism of Fate" shifted ever so slightly—but the remaining gears adjusted their positions in an instant, restoring system control almost immediately. A terrible penetrating wound suddenly appeared across Lilu's chest. A torrent of blood surged out, quickly soaking through her Vestments.
"Advanced…… Healing Arts……"
Using the very last breath she had, Lilu cast Healing Arts on Fred. As the radiance from her body washed over him completely, the expression of agony on Fred's face finally eased a fraction—his eyelids even twitched, a sign that he was beginning to stir.
Blurgh! Lilu vomited up a gush of blood. Her gaze grew steadily unfocused, the wound on her chest bleeding without pause. The Lich Lord looked at her, shook its head with a resigned air, crouched down, and used its bare-boned finger to gently tilt Lilu's chin upward.
"Congratulations—the experiment was a complete success. The Instant Death curse and the wound have both transferred onto you," its voice was hollow, entirely devoid of emotion, "but there is also some bad news. You are about to die—would you like to come work for me afterward?"
Lilu gave a faint shake of her head, and the ghost of a ferocious smile tugged at the corner of her lips—though it gave the impression of a little cat baring its claws and fangs, with not a trace of real menace.
The blue ghostfire in the Lich Lord's eye sockets shrank a little, as if it had narrowed its eyes in wariness. But the ghostfire quickly swelled back up again—it stared fixedly at Lilu's hands, because those soft, pale little hands were slowly, inch by inch, pulling the hem of the Holy Maiden's Vestments upward. When the cute pink undies came into view, the Lich Lord felt something in its bones go unexpectedly stiff.
"Little girl," it stroked its bare jawbone, "are you trying to seduce me?"
"You…… are…… finished……" Lilu spoke one word at a time.
Before the last word had even faded, Lilu suddenly threw her skirt hem up entirely, exposing the Y-shaped—well, the Sacred Mark—blazing with sacred radiance on her lower abdomen. A light brighter than the sun swallowed the Lich Lord whole in an instant. Before being completely obliterated, it scrambled to resist with every technique at its disposal—Undead Barrier, Bone Shield, and other spells came pouring out one after another. But the ball of divine power the Goddess had casually thrown down was simply far too overwhelming, and combined with the Holy Attribute's natural suppression against Undead, it wiped out the Lich Lord's health bar in a single breath.
"Ahhhhh, underhanded humans—I refuse to go and meet that shameless Goddess! Ahhhhhh!"
A handsome gentleman of a mage emerged from the Lich Lord's remains, flailing his limbs as he struggled within the Holy Light—only to have an iron chain wrap itself around his body in an instant, binding him completely into the shape of a turtle shell. Lilu stared up into the clouds through eyes streaming with blood, and saw the Goddess smiling serenely as she pulled on the iron chain, her pretty blossom-petal eyes scanning the frantically struggling handsome gentleman up and down, the tip of her moist tongue sliding across her lips with evident satisfaction.
In that moment, Lilu's heart died completely. This Goddess really did have nothing in her head but indecency!
Blurgh! Another mouthful of blood sprayed out, and Lilu's gaze went entirely blank. Her small body went limp and crumpled softly to the ground.
(Notification: Boss has been defeated—calculating rewards!)
A red notification bar popped out from the Golden Door. Everyone, Aernis included, let out a breath of relief—everyone except Maria, whose face had gone pale with the terror of someone facing imminent ruin. She threw caution to the wind and tore a Town Return Scroll to pieces, and her figure vanished in an instant.
"That woman actually ran," Doniel said with a cold laugh. "Let her live a few more days."
"Hahahaha," Roger stroked his large beard, "that Fred kid really is something—a Hero who can clear a Boss with just a Healer in tow. Worthy of a top-tier Class, absolutely incredible! Old me wants to be a Hero too!"
"Give it up—your Class has been locked in for ages already! Even if you got your hands on a Class Reset Card it'd be useless—that thing only works on people under twenty years old."
"Damn it! There's a restriction like that too? This is absolute bull!"
The adventurers chattered with animated delight, openly singing the praises of the Hero's strength without reservation. Yet on the other side of the door, Hero Fred was kneeling beside the young girl's body, gently wiping the bloodstains from her face with a finger, his own face stricken with grief.
"Lilu," his whole body trembled, "why…… why did you die for me?"
Running his hand over the faint scar on his own chest, Fred understood completely. He didn't know what method Lilu had used—but she had traded her life for his. And then he had lived, and Lilu had become a corpse.
"Damn it…… this kind of thing…… I've had enough of it! Damn it all!"
Thud—Fred's fist smashed through the floor. At that very moment, Lilu seemed to be jolted awake by the impact. Her eyes flew wide open with a sharp, gasping breath. The wound across her chest rapidly closed, and in the end even the sprayed blood disappeared without a trace.
Fred stared at the Lilu who had returned from death with a face full of stunned disbelief, then looked at his own bloodied fist, and couldn't help sinking into deep thought—could this possibly be his new Skill? Still, his first instinct was to pull the dazed Lilu into his arms, and feeling her gradually returning warmth and the strong, steady beat of her heart, Fred's eyes welled up with hot tears.
Lilu was alive—thank the Goddess!
What he didn't see, however, was the Goddess seated on her divine throne, swinging her snow-white bare feet and throwing him a flirtatious wink. Lilu, who had caught every bit of this, snapped back to her senses in an instant. She struggled to push Fred away, and had just opened her mouth to tell him what she had just witnessed—when he pulled her back into his arms once more.
"Lilu, I want to……"
"Trust me—you don't!"
Just then, accompanied by the grinding groan of hinges, the Boss Room door swung open again. Lilu looked past Fred's broad shoulder at the stunned and speechless crowd gathered at the entrance—and her face flushed crimson all the way down to her neck!
"You idiot!"
Aernis gave Fred a firm kick and sent him flying, then reached out and snatched Lilu away, hugging her in her arms like something precious. Watching the Barbarian Tribe female warrior punt Fred across the room, Lilu felt an inexplicable wave of relief wash over her.
(MVP of this round: Lilu Serandil Windchaser.)
(Rewards have been distributed!)
A golden radiance descended from the void. Lilu extended her little hand to catch it, and it condensed in her palm into a ring of understated, ancient design. The golden orb that landed on Fred, however, transformed into a card.
"Holy crap! A Class Reset Card! Fred, you absolute legend!"
The crowd erupted into an uproar. No one paid any further attention to the ring in Lilu's hand—and so the SSS-rank Arcane Artifact, the "Spatial Ring," settled quietly and unnoticed into Lilu's possession.