*** Lich's POV ***

It was then--

'…!'

I was feeling goosebumps all over and instinctively sensed a great danger to my life.

'An attack!'

Fearing the worst, I immediately created 7-layers of mana shield around my soul-gem. It was the strongest shield that I, a former high-rank wizard, could make in a short time, but--

'…!'

The first shield broke.

Then, the second. The third. The fourth.

I panicked as I realized that if it stayed like this, he would pierce through all seven shields and my soul gem.

'No, what is this?'

An attack that ignores law and causality.

It was supposed to be a simple thrust.

A thrust without even a speck of aura in it.

'And yet, are you saying that simple thrust was able to pierce through my mana shields?!'

It was absurd, to say the least.

But I have no time to be surprised.

'If I can't block the sword thrust itself, then.'

My mana rose to the ceiling.

'I'll just stop the person!'

Then, hundreds of bony hands appeared from the ground, trying to catch the boy, who suddenly appeared like a ghost.

I expected him to evade, but he sped up instead and broke through the skeletons and even the fifth shield.

'Why is he not dodging? He could also move in a zig-zag to be more efficient.'

It was then that I widened my eyes.

'Could it be… can he only move in a straight line?'

I almost shouted in joy as I found an unexpected weakness in my enemy.

'Then, how about this!'

I bombarded him with magic and curses to slow him down while summoning the skeletons to catch his feet from the side.

'Crazy bastard!'

But he ignored my attacks like a suicidal maniac and pushed through the sixth shield. Only after he broke the last shield did the dozens of skeletons' hands barely manage to stop him.

"Ha… Haha…"

It was truly absurd.

'To think that a mere child was about to kill me.'

It was the shame of my entire life.

'In the first place, how did he know where my soul gem was located?'

It was an impossible feat unless he had been observing me for months.

But I know for sure that this is the first time he's here.

'So how?'

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Then, I think of a possibility.

'No way! Did the white dragon taught him her vision skill?!'

A legendary-grade skill that all the mages in the world would salivate at.

'And not just the vision skill…'

Didn't Bianca even teach him [Perfect Stealth]?

And that sword skill just now…

'It looks familiar, yet different to the Lord's…'

It was a sword strike that the Lord had never shown us.

'But then, how could it feels so familiar?'

I tried to remember the Lord's words.

'Come to think of it… The Lord told me that Bianca possessed a sword skill no weaker than his.'

This means it was at least a Legendary-grade skill.

"Crazy!"

I couldn't contain my surprise, so I shouted out loud.

Doesn't this mean that Bianca had taught him not just one or two, but three legendary skills?

'It was absurd to teach your disciple even one legendary skills. Especially since there is the possibility of your disciple betraying you.'

Even Lord Nicht only taught one legendary skill to each of us. And that's very generous already.

But for the white dragon to teach him all three?

'Just how much does she dote on him?!'

Is this the difference between dragons?

Or was this boy just that talented?

I once again realized just how much of a blessing being close to a white dragon can be.

I glared at the boy whose clothes were tattered and whose skin was bleeding from my bombardments.

And yet, he still looks dazzling in my eyes.

'Even his appearance is top-class... Damn it.'

I'm envious.

To receive everything I could never attain.

Talent. Appearance. And most important of all, the love and recognition from our teacher

'Why can't it be me?!'

Am I also not working my ass off?

But why can't I be like you?

'I will destroy you.'

If I can't have it, other people can't either!

Fortunately, this boy was nothing more than a child.

And now that his feet had been caught and his body afflicted with all sorts of curses, there was no way he could come out of this crisis alive.

"Hahaha! It's over now!"

The skeletons I called are now coming here in droves.

It was an amount that was no less than what I had sent above ground.

If anything, isn't the number even higher than that?

'At least 10,000.'

It was an amount that would take a normal necromancer years and even decades to raise.

But thanks to Lord Nicht's legendary-grade skill in necromancy, it barely took me a few months to raise them all.

'And if worse comes to worst.'

I could always explode them all.

'Ten thousand enemies that can explode.'

It was a disaster that no ordinary human could survive.

'Let's see how you can survive this.'

I smirked as I imagined the despair on the boy's face.

But, contrary to my imagination, I saw no despair in his face.

"Why are you smiling?"

Despite having been caught by the skeletons and were about to be surrounded by ten thousand more, I can see the hope and determination to never give up in his eyes.

“Don’t you know that it’s over?”

When I saw that, I couldn't help but grit my teeth in anger.

It was then that the boy opened his mouth.

“You’re right. It’s over.”

“What?”

He knows that and yet, he’s smiling?

Is he crazy after all?

"It’s my win, Lich."

"...!"

An ominous feeling.

But unlike before, when the distance from the boy's sword to my soul gem was far and I could do something to stop him… Right now, they were so close that they were practically touching.

"[Burst]"

A small voice.

But the result of that action was not small at all.

Suddenly, from his entire body to his sword, everything was clad in purple lightning, destroying the skeletons that clung to him.

And then, suddenly, all of that lightning gathered to the tip of his sword and was shot towards the skull.

'Ah…'

All of that happened in an instant.

When I saw the destructive power of the concentrated purple lighting that burst from the tip of the sword, I couldn't help but fall into despair.

‘He was right. It’s over.’

Before I could even launch a proper attack...

And before I could even explode the corpses…

'I had lost.’

My life was over before anything could begin.

'Really, what a shitty life this is.'

Then, my soul gem crumbled down and broke along with the throne, skeletons, and everything in its path.

That was the moment my life ended.

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