Academic gathering with a lich

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It must have been something as sharp as a blade, for Lyle and Karen heard the shrill whistling of a swift blade cutting through the air, which was particularly piercing in the quiet shadows. Just as the two anxiously guarded against the unseen attack, a strange tree nearby made a sound. In an instant, a one-meter-wide gash appeared on its trunk. The speed was so swift that even after the scar was made, the tree didn’t show a hint of swaying.

"It" is invisible, carrying a blade sharp enough to decapitate us, like an experienced executioner. An intangible pressure descended upon the two, and Karen and Lyle, back to back, scanned the surrounding shadows, trying to find some clue.

Lyle reached into his sleeve and touched his tentacles with Nia’s, communicating obscurely through Nia’s telepathy.

Where is he?

Nia constructed an illusion in Lyle’s mind, a playback. Right beside the tree that was about to be slashed, a blurry figure shrouded in shadows suddenly appeared from the void at the moment of the slash and disappeared in the next second after making the mark.

"It’s a Shadow, Nia could sense it after eating so many Shadows," Nia said.

Nia was making excuses for her previous gluttonous behavior.

But what’s the use? You only see his shadow when he strikes, but by the time he does, my head would have already left my neck, right?

"Just losing a head, let’s take a hit and catch him!" Another illusion presented itself in Lyle’s mind. It was of his own head being chopped off, the exposed figure being grasped by Nia’s tentacles, while countless blood-red tentacles burst from Lyle’s severed neck, snatching back the flying head from the air and forcefully fitting it back onto his neck.

Suddenly, my neck felt sore.

"It will be fine, Nia can mend Lyle’s wounds, whether it’s severed nerves or splattered blood on the fool Karen’s face, Nia will transform it all well," reassured the voice.

With a heart unsettled by the prospect of a self-sacrificing magical experience, Lyle faced the current situation once more.

However, the invisible figure didn’t seem to want to attack again. Looking at the gash on the tree, Lyle pondered.

This seems to be just a warning. He could have decapitated us with the first strike, but he chose to damage the tree as a warning. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy.

Lyle raised his hands, thumbs pressing against the tips of his forefingers at the Ring of Andrey, and stood still, speaking in a voice just loud enough to seem raised.

"We mean no harm and did not mean to offend your territory. We simply seek to pass through," he said softly.

There was no reply, only a dead silence as if stones were sinking into the sea.

No reply meant tacit permission. Testing this, Lyle took a step forward.

With a clang, another gash appeared, this time in front of Lyle. It was another tree, even closer to him this time.

Lyle swallowed hard, looking at the mark creeping increasingly closer to his neck as if the next one would appear where it was meant to be. Having communicated with Nia in his mind, Lyle declared once more. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"We have no other choice, the way back is already blocked, and if we don’t move forward, we will starve to death in this Shadow. We must go on."

Taking a deep breath, Lyle took another step forward, subconsciously closing his eyes, perhaps not wanting to see his own back at that moment.

There was no flash of the blade, no further warnings. After Lyle’s strenuous declarations, the warning cuts disappeared as if everything experienced had been a hallucination. Yet both knew that at this very moment, a pair of eyes was watching them.

Under such surveillance, without a word, the two proceeded in silence. Besides the sparse trees and a few wandering Shadows, everything was the same as the forest before.

Lyle noticed something special; the four-legged Shadow Beasts were fewer, now replaced by hunched, monkey-like moving creatures. These Shadow Beasts were taller, and the shadowy fur that twisted on their surfaces was less, held inward in their dark forms. Lyle didn’t understand the reason for this change. Whether it was because the invisible creature kept watching them, the feeling of being watched intensified the heavy atmosphere, and even Lyle, who had grown accustomed to Andrey’s presence, could feel the change.

In front of them stood a tall Shadow Beast, its back to Lyle and Karen, and like so many times before, Lyle decided to pass by its side.

"Get down!" A deep voice appeared directly in Lyle’s mind; before he could react, Nia’s premonition showed the shadowy figure emerging again, not a blade this time, but a strangely textured palm. Four strong palms grabbed the back of Lyle’s head, ignoring the spines changing in Nia’s tentacles between the fingers, and pressed Lyle and Karen to the ground.

A fleeting perception made Lyle sure that the invisible person had a physical body. Quickly, Lyle understood their intent.

The tall Shadow Beast turned around, its blurred features unable to hide its smile brimming with malice and hostility. This Shadow Beast was sentient. The two sprawled figures avoided its gaze, listening to its chilling smiles and the agitated Shadows crawling on their bodies.

Fourth Tier, or maybe higher. A dangerous enemy.

With a strange laugh, the enemy lowered its head, its gaze centering on and meeting Lyle’s.

Lyle felt his body screaming in alarm at that moment, panic at facing the crisis brewing wildly under the stimulation of brain hormones. The smile disappeared, its lips downturned, the entire mouth becoming a round hole as if it was about to scream.

Clang! The Shadow head shaped like a scream decoupled from its neck, falling in front of Lyle. Even before the entire head turned to sand, the filth and chaos in its eyes remained unchanged.

The invisible creature had chopped off its head.

After a brief silence, the deep voice spoke again.

"They have been disturbed, you must leave quickly."

Clearly, it had initiated this.

"Follow me." The invisible creature spoke again, and just as Lyle was about to complain about following someone unseen, another Shadow Beast’s head was severed from its neck a short distance away.

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"...Is this the special way of leading the way?" Lyle and Karen followed.

It was a path led by a severed head. A flash of a blade, a falling head, two figures chasing after the head as it rolled. Lyle and Karen had to quicken their pace, just as he had said, they had been alarmed, the shadow tendrils growing from the stationary Shadow Beasts began to squirm, pulling at the surrounding matter. Once, Lyle was almost caught, but Nia, clinging to his surface, bit through those tendrils and sneakily ate them.

After following upward of forty such animate heads, the invisible creature led the two to a winding hill. At its peak, Lyle saw the familiar altar, the kind used by Veraliz.

"That’s a device left by your people, maybe you can use it to get out of here. Hurry up and go."

"Thank you."

There was no response, as if bidding farewell to a passing breeze.

The two hurried to the altar. This altar looked the same as the one at which Lyle had been sacrificed, and the Shadow Pool on the ground was still there, as if Veraliz had also performed similar sacrifices at this spot.

Without overthinking, Lyle reached directly into the Shadow Pool.

He touched the hard stone slab; this was not the Shadow Pool used for teleporting.

The shadows began to flow along the engravings of the stone slab, and a shower of shadow rain sprinkled over the entire Shadow Forest. Listening to the howling of the Shadow Beasts rising and falling around them, Lyle realized the function of the altar.

The altar that sacrificed him served to control, while this one was to awaken and recruit the Shadow Beasts. Lyle felt as if he could see pairs of eyes watching him from the tree shadows.

The forest came alive, the wandering herds found their target, and they formed a torrent rushing towards the hill where the two of them stood.

What an apocalyptic vision it was, countless Shadow Beasts like a flood gushing from the abyss, ready to devour everything outside of the shadow, the black rain and the surging tide of beasts forming a giant mouth that swallowed the two slender young people.

Karen completely panicked, but she still burned with Holy Flame, holding the Holy Hammer in front of Lyle, her expression anxious and even desperate.

"Lord Lyle, it’s an honor to fight for you."

Lyle wasn’t paying attention to Karen’s declaration as if ready to die a noble death; he fiddled with the ring in his hand, let out a sigh of relief, and couldn’t resist making a light-hearted remark.

"Next, you will be even more honored."

"?"

In response to Karen’s confusion, Lyle pressed the ring in his hand, the golden threads set upon it becoming scalding hot.

Facing the oncoming darkness, Lyle bellowed.

"Praise the holy light!"

Ten chains tore through the shadows, pulling open the gates of holy light from the void.

Light and heat, brightness and blazing fire ripped apart all that was dark. Angelic figures sang in the air, scattering specks of light, as if opening the gates of heaven.

An illuminated, radiant figure emerged, the dark golden armor shining once again, and even the slightest contact with the brightness turned the Shadow Beasts into ash amidst their screams; the assault stopped, and the herds halted in place, watching fearfully the armored figure walking out of the light.

Mr. Raymond dimmed his radiance.

"I almost forgot this is Lokarot; it would be troublesome if I attracted that fellow."

Having said that, Mr. Raymond further receded his light and heat, and the angelic apparitions dissipated.

Looking at Lyle unharmed, Mr. Raymond let out a hearty laugh and was just about to speak.

A voice interrupted them.

"I... I’ve seen this armor before..." Karen, with a face full of surprise, laid down her hammer and, as if bewitched, approached Mr. Raymond standing next to Lyle, "In the illustrations of Crusader tales, every one preserved this style of armor as a token of respect for that man; no one in the Crusaders would dare offend him."

"Your Excellency Raymond, is it really you? Weren’t you already dead? Why are you here? Lord Lyle, who exactly is he?" Karen looked at the two men, suspicion in her eyes.

Mr. Raymond! Have you really never changed your armor over all these years?

The usually cautious Lyle didn’t know how to describe what was happening in front of him; he looked to Mr. Raymond for help.

Mr. Raymond tapped his palm, and Lyle guessed his thoughts, "I’ve got a good idea."

Thump, Mr. Raymond knelt on one knee before Lyle.

"Ethereal Holy Knight Melok Raymond, responding to the call, I shall proclaim your justice and bring you victory!"

"May I inquire, are you my master?"