Previously, on "My Little Barbarian Unicorn Centaur Princess"...
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Kel'Caldor waited until the glow from his spell faded. Of the centauress-unicorn, nothing was left behind. He allowed a single chuckle to escape his undead jaw. She was dead, a pity. But the accursed System gave him no kill message. As his master used to say, "It ain't dead until you get the Exp!"
Wary, he floated ahead The floor of the catacomb was glowing orange for hundreds of meters where the massive ray of Light magic passed. She'd vanished. He made the beam wide enough to cover the whole tunnel and it did so until it hit the far wall. Where did she go? She pulled surprise after surprise. His pride wounded, Kel'Caldor seethed as he remembered her countering his magic.
He replaced the single-use concussive ring. They were expensive but he needed the respite, because of that attack. He examined the notification from the single attack of hers that landed and ground his teeth as he remembered how that accursed unicorn spear went from ridiculously easy to dodge from something menacing. He still had a gash across his ulna where the spear grazed him.
Where it GRAZED him for almost a million damage as a dozen special abilities triggered with the attack. He focused to control his hatred. He needed information. The attack dealt MP damage as well, and the ability was called {Ethereal Rend}. That was another name for the astral plane. Was it where the missing portion of his arm bone went? She had the freaking ability to banish parts of him to the astral?
That centaur must die, Kel'Caldor decided. He cast a spell. "Astral gate," and stepped through. Truly enough, the unicorn was there, already healed of most of the damage he caused and... taking a nap?
"You are full of surprises and secrets, my little unicorn," the lich gloated. "And all of them will be mine!"
Round two of their fight was just about to start.
The centauress rose back on her hooves. She nodded. "I would like you to share some of yours too," she cheekily replied. "But I'm afraid our fight will end now. Enough playing around, undead!" She became menacing. Was this some sort of trick?
She gathered some magical energy. That a savage from the plains could control magic to such a degree of precision was astonishing. Curious, he let her charge her attack. She was clearly not that skilled if she needed that much time to manipulate such a small amount of magic...
"Joestar secret technique!" She shouted. Stupid Adventurers and this custom to shout ability names. Kel'Caldor braced himself, eager to learn new magic. Then she finished whatever she was doing and shouted, "逃げる!" [1]
She vanished.
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When I saw the ring back in his bony finger, I knew I had to get away from there. He had copies of his enchanted items and clearly was willing to burn those precious treasures on me. I wasn't fully healed and fighting in the Ethereal was a disadvantage for me as {Ethereal Rend} didn't work there.
I ran over the boiling corridors of the catacombs, courtesy of the {Solar Ray}, and started to explore this place left and right, mapping it in my mind. Dead bodies of the undead made out of the inhabitants of the plains littered the corridors we didn't destroy with our fight. Or those he didn't destroy with his magic, to be clear. I just stabbed him. He must've harvested the surface for centuries to gather this many creatures. Ahead of me and in the tunnels to the sides, the whole map of the place became known to me because there was so many undead crowding the place.
I cleared all the debris. Bones, rusty weapons, armor. All that was within reach of my item box was taken into it. Was this some sort of invasion force? He had tens of thousands of minions here. They all died to the {Manastorm}. The way he shrugged my auras hurt my pride. Damn, I should be the ultimate undead killer. That was so unfair!
He came back to the material world several minutes after me. I bet that gateway spell of his had some serious cooldown. I slowed down and stealthed. Not that it would help much because he probably could tell where I destroyed his minions and follow the bubble to find me. However, moving at half speed for me was still fifteen times faster than a centaur walking at a relaxed pace. To throw a wrench in his tracking abilities, I took shortcuts through the stone.
I picked some hints of treasure and made a literal beeline for it. What awaited me were ridiculously intricate wards overlayed by the dozen. Someone had been very paranoid about keeping their sanctum protected. These wards even extended into the Ethereal and blocked access from there. The lich was far away but I only needed to mess up once to reveal to him where I was. I could try to bypass the wards but it would take too much time. He probably would find me before I did.
There was only one way to go around this. It was to literally go around it. The lich's sanctum was a room in the catacombs, a big one measuring around thirty by twenty by five meters in size. I added a meter on each face of the gigantic brick I wanted to carve and Inserted the Force walls at those positions, sparing no MP for that. I needed to do it fast. I entered the stone and stood right next to the Force box that was forming.
The lich sensed what I was doing or my position and accelerated toward me. He didn't go around the walls but he took some secret passages that I missed. All the while, the Force magic was cutting the stone and releasing the lich's sanctum from the planet's embrace. I took some mid-level cores and drained them for more Energy. I had to keep some in the tank or I would be lich food. Or some undead minion. Neither seemed a good idea.
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He was more than a hundred meters away when it finished. I touched the stone and sent the gigantic brick to my item box, releasing the Force walls at the same time. That's when the stone above us decided to complain about the sudden open space and cave-in. The movement also damaged the tunnels and buried the lich. At least it stopped moving.
Inside the bedrock next to the cave-in, I wasn't affected. Note to self. Keep a living creature inside my secret lair so dimensional storage thieves can't make it whole. I should also spend the rest of my Abilities in [Evasion].
* Master Dodge: (Proficiency/5)% to evasion rate.
* Disarm Traps: Add (Proficiency/5) to Dexterity to disarm traps. Requires tools.
* Ward Unraveler: Add (Proficiency/10) to Willpower to unravel magical wards. Spends MP.
* Fast Ward Unraveling: You unravel wards (Proficiency/5)% faster.
* Grandmaster Stealth: Add (Proficiency/5) to stealth tests.
And the last one for [Physical Mastery] too. Moar damage, moar booboos on boo-bone man.
* Mighty Grip: Add (Strength*proficiency/2000) damage to two-handed weapons. [currently: +32]
Another explosion rocked the ground and the lich started moving again. Small tremors rang through the rock as he did something to the cave-in. I skulked around and re-entered the tunnel he was in from behind. I shut off my light.
"ACCURSED UNICORN!" He screamed. "You should've remained extinct!"
He was zapping the rocks with a brown beam from his skeletal fingertips. I remembered that abject magical energy from Marlowe's final spell. Disintegration. It was time to end this. I aimed and hurled my spear.
Right before the spear struck, I tried to put a {Death Contract} but the undead spellcaster wasn't a valid target. Some automated defense activated and a sheet of Force magic appeared. The spear plowed through, losing some speed but still doing heinous damage.
> You struck lich for 11,739,875 HP and MP (arcane rend) of damage (Base 176 (-60 Force Barrier +21 Cruel Strike) x5,52 Strength x4.2 Skill x3 Mana Strike x3 Arcane Smite x2 blood sacrifice x2 favored enemy x4 Unicorn x3 Avenger Strike x2 Truesilver x2 Barrier Basher x4.6 Death Blow x3.1 Backstab x2 Size x0.5 Resilience of the Dead (reduced) x0.75 Hardened bones x0.2 Force Sheath).
>
> You destroyed Lich. <---- The kill notification with the Exp was absent. Weird.
>
> You gained 1 point of proficiency in [Combat Techinque].
>
> You gained 1 point of proficiency in [Assassination].
>
> You gained 2 points of proficiency in [Spear].
>
> You gained 10 points in [Evasion] <---- This one was still in the fast growth range from leveling.
The lich's skull exploded as the spear went through the cranium. Red flame burst out left and right and sputtered right after that. The body vanished into my item box. I teleported the spear back to my hand.
I didn't see the soul or felt the tug from [Soul Shepherd]. Was this a lich like the RPG ones with a phylactery? Where did the soul go?
I needed to find out. I couldn't let an enemy like him stay right next to my door. After sleeping for half an hour, I went back down the maze of catacomb tunnels to clear them of the undead.
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Kel'Caldor returned to his phylactery, leagues away from the plains necropolis. He could sense only a few meters out of the ornate urn. His backup equipment was all in the right place. All he needed to do was to regrow his body and enact vengeance upon that cursed unicorn. He would corrupt her and turn her into an undead minion. Then rip every single secret out of her soul. He was sure she'd looted his body, given how she was ogling his cloak. So long she kept it - he was certain she would - he could find her anywhere.
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A week later, the catacombs were clear of the last undead. They were vast and went all the way underneath the lakes for kilometers and kilometers. I had no idea who built it, but the construction was sturdy enough to perhaps predate the Gods.
I returned to the surface, exhausted. No barbarians infringed on my territory and a quick survey from above told me nobody was near it. Landing on the castle I intended to use until a proper palace could be built, I examined the lich's headless body. Eight rings, an amulet, the robes, everything was enchanted. He went barefoot for some reason but I didn't care. I removed his cloak of white feathers and stored the rest for later.
> Pegasus' Wings
>
> Value: Heirloom. Inestimable
>
> Cloak.
>
> Indestructible.
>
> Enchantable.
>
> Materials: pegasus leather and feathers.
>
> +5 to Mind, Willpower, Magic, Ego, and Soul.
>
> Generates a Force Sheath that absorbs 80% of all incoming damage.
>
> Allows the wearer to fly for 2 hours/day.
>
> Soulbound to Kel'Caldor.
Kel'Caldor must be the lich's name. I was going crazy with jealousy. I needed to have this cloak for me. It was my heritage. It was the key to my rank-up. I was sure of it and so was the spear. How could a creature so vile as a lich soul-bond with the cloak? This was intended to be mine!
Mine!
Furious, I stabbed the cloak with the spear. The feathers started to wilt and shrivel. The leather wrinkled and shrunk. The horn was greedily draining the cloak. I could sense vast amounts of power flowing from the cloak to the spear and then, once the cloak was all but dust, into my very soul.
> CONGRATULATIONS. You ranked up. All your unallocated Exp was divided by 1,000,000.
>
> Your species ranked up into Pegasus Heritor (rank 3).
>
> 1 Attribute point for each level.
>
> 1 Strength every even level.
>
> 1 Endurance and Willpower every odd level.
>
> 1 Dexterity and Magic every even level.
>
> 1 Mind every fourth level.
>
> 1 Ego, Charisma, Soul, and Luck, alternating every level.
>
> 15 Base HP and 8 Base Energy per level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level, plus one extra on each level divisible by 10 (from Human Royalty).
>
> You gained the Perk; Pegasus Wings (ultra-rare): You have pegasus wings. Your wingspan is 2.5 times your body length to each side. You can fly at a speed equal to 2 times your land speed. You must maintain at least (100 - Dexterity/2)% forward movement or you'll stall.
>
>
>
> Your Path ranked up into Centaur Gladiator (rank 3).
>
> +1 Strength every level.
>
> +1 Endurance every even level.
>
> +1 Dexterity every odd level.
>
> +1 Mind every third level.
>
> +1 Willpower every third level.
>
> +1 Charisma every fourth level.
>
> 15 Base HP and 5 Base Energy per level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level.
Finally. Too bad I didn't have Exp for even a single level, after knocking six zeroes from what I accumulated while locked.
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[1]: Romaji: Nigeru (Run away).