Of course things didn’t go smoothly.

A ring of energy bursted from the lich's body, pushing everything away from it. Lysander backed away begrudgingly, but just as he prepared to rush in again, the monster suddenly hovered up from the ground.

Wicked, green flames danced around its figure. Faint screams resounded from those fireballs like trapped spirits crying out in agony. The ground beneath them shook violently as the earth swallowed the corpses, only for them to rise back up, their limbs moving once more.

“He's…using undeads!” Lysander gritted his teeth as he struck the nearest target. The sword enveloped in aura cleaved the zombie clean in half, and yet it merely stumbled and kept moving. “Ugh! They're not strong, but they're hard to deal with!”

“I'm sorry but we have to ignore them!” Zeke shouted as more undeads rose from beneath the soil. Most of the revived army consisted of skeletons, which he guessed belonged to the ones who perished within the mines long ago with no way to escape. “That thing…it's trying to ascend!”

Along with the bones and corpses, green wisps had also floated up from the ground, joining the other flames with the half-lich. Zeke couldn't pinpoint exactly what they were, but he can make an educated guess that those were the residual life forces of the dead.

“Since it's been a long time since those people passed, the energy shouldn't be as strong…but what if it's enough for that half-lich to turn into its complete form?” Zeke's thoughts ran wild as he fired off Magic Missiles and Mana Blasts to hold off the ever growing horde of undead. “There's a high chance that it will be enough! Taking its current strength into consideration…I have to find a way to stop it somehow…!”

“Silas!” Even Lysander began struggling to hold off against that many enemies all at once. He tried wiping them out with a blast of sword aura, but more only came to replace the ones he put down. “I have never encountered something this strong before! What do we do!?”

His voice sounded rushed, though Zeke didn't hear an ounce of panic in Lysander's tone. He wondered if his experience on the battlefield against monsters gave him that courage, or if his panic tone naturally sounded calm. Either way, he had to think of something fast.

As he casted Zephyr's Blessing on Lysander again, Zeke responded, “...I don't know if this will work, but I need time! Don't think about anything else and attack that fire barrier!”

An intense force pushed down every enemy within sight, the restrictive movements of the undead allowed Lysander to fully focus on the real target. He dashed through the crowd and began relentlessly hacking away at the half-lich's shield. Though while the sword aura managed to cut through it, the flames would mend the wound shut in seconds.

“...Silas,” Rowena looked up at Zeke, a worried expression plastered across her face, “What are you trying to do?”

“...I can't cast anything else when the gravity field is active,” Zeke responded sternly, “However…I can still read my opponent's magic circle!”

“I expected this…But that magic looks so complicated,” Zeke intensely frowned at the multiple magic circles spinning around the lich like gears in a machine. The longer he stared at them, the more nauseous he felt. “Even if it causes a Mana Rebound…I have to do it. We're fucked anyway if it awakens as a full lich.”

“Silas!?” Lysander shouted his name, and he could see the fatigue catching up to the swordsman as his movements slowed down considerably.

“Wait! I'm trying to dispel the ritual!”

“Can you do that!?”

“I am trying!!” A throbbing pain pulsated through his eyes from gazing so intently. He barely even noticed the taste of iron on the tip of his tongue from biting his lips.

“I can't read any of the lines clearly…I'll have to gamble on my gut feeling…”

“Lysander, step back! I'll disable the gravity spell!”

And the moment he did, Zeke swiftly expanded his mana outwards. Like sticking a foreign object into the teeth of the cogs, he intercepted the spell, causing the circles to become visible. They flickered briefly before losing their brilliant lights, and the wicked flames soon faded away with them too.

However, the moment of relief was short-lived. An aftershock outbursts from the half-lich, its massive energy returned to the original sender: Silas Salvador. He didn't even have a split second to react as searing pain shot through his eyes, forcing a scream of agony from him.

“Silas!” Both siblings exclaimed in surprise as they knelt by his side, whose trembling hands covered his eyes as he hunched over in pain.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Fuck…That hurts…!” Zeke pulled his palms away, confirming that his vision had turned scarlet. He could barely see his own blood in his hands. “I destroyed the spell…but it still caused a Mana Rebound anyway…Damn it!”

[Due to ‘Mana Rebound’, you cannot use skills for a short duration.]

Now freed from Gravity's influence, the undeads could now move freely once more. Lysander rose to his feet and held out his sword, eyes darting from one target to another. Specifically, he kept his attention on the half-lich as it descended back to the ground.

“...If it's Mana Rebound…Silas probably can't cast spells for a bit,” Lysander swallowed, “I'll have to hold on until then…”

Taking out the health potion from his pocket, Lysander quickly drank the entire content before discarding the empty vial. Instantly, he felt his energy revitalize, and with it a surge of confidence rose to his chest. “I can do this.”

Lysander waited until the zombies rushed at him first, striking them down with his sword aura and keeping them at bay. He occasionally spared a glance at the lich, though it simply stood still and watched him fight without showing any signs of moving. “...Why is it just standing there?’

“Because it's suffering the same thing as me,” Zeke hissed through the pain, one hand gripping onto Rowena's as he tried to fight through it. “It was in the middle of casting, and I interrupted it, it's guaranteed that the caster would suffer a Mana Rebound when their magic circle got forcefully broken.”

“You mean it's in pain?”

“Probably not. But undeads require magic to move. Since it's got its mana sealed for a moment, that's probably why it isn't moving.”

“Then…” Lysander stabbed a zombie through the chest, swinging the blade to get the limp body off of it, “How are these still moving?”

“Because undeads can move independently from the necromancer,”

It wasn't Zeke that responded, but another man's voice rang out from above. Suddenly, the ceiling toppled down in front of them and crushed all the undead standing beneath it. “They're given mana the moment they're reanimated, so even when the necromancer can't use magic, his servants can still move freely.”

Zeke couldn't see properly, but he still managed to get a glimpse of the man hovering beneath the moonlight. His pure white robes fluttered with the midnight breeze, and his long hair that reached his ankle seemed to sparkle like the finest silver. In his hand gripped a staff made from wood with a large white gemstone floating above it.

He had only seen this person once or twice in the entirety of his Dungeon Regime career, though Zeke immediately recognized that man at a glance. “...Grand Mage Solren…?”

Before Solren could get another word out, something fell from the sky. It flew so fast that the moment it crashed into the half-lich, the ground shattered and shook with the intense force. And although the dust made it impossible for Zeke's ruined vision to see properly, Lysander's swift bow told him all he needed to know; he didn't even greet the Grand Mage, but instantly showed respect to that person.

There was only one he could think of that matched the current situation.

“...Father, we found Rowena.” As Lysander raised his head, Creston Salvador pulled his greatsword out of the half-lich's broken body and strode over to them.

“...” Creston's gaze swept between his children for a brief moment. Silence had never felt so suffocating before, only this man could create such a pressure. “I commend you for finding your youngest…However…what is the meaning of this, Silas?”

“I…” Zeke couldn't exactly come up with an excuse, especially when the Scholar's Cloak fit so nicely on his shoulders and the Witch's Codex still hovering obediently by his side. First, he put his two items away into his inventory before he responded. “I am sorry, Father, for hiding this from you. I was…afraid I would disappoint you for the second time.”

Creston sighed, his expression unchanging, “By lying to me, you've disappointed me plenty.”

“Wait, wait,” Solren garnered everyone's attention. He had a bright smile on his face as he lowered himself to the ground, walking towards Zeke, “C'mon Cres, can't you see your son's injured? At least show some care before you start getting all pissy.”

“The Grand Mage and the Royal Knights Commander…they both swore loyalty to the emperor, so they're practically colleagues.” Zeke thought absentmindedly as Solren bent down to look at his injured eyes. “Even though he looks younger, Solren is the same age as Creston. That's what magic does to someone, I guess.”

“...Apart from that, Cres. Do you know how extraordinary Silas is?” After only a brief inspection, Solren straightened himself. His azure and gold heterochromia eyes contrasted with Creston's frigid blue. “I'd say he's a one in a million talent. You can't find any magician in the empire—No, in the world with such a strong affinity to mana.”

“...Is that so?” Despite his indifferent tone, Creston's raised eyebrow clearly meant he showed interest.

“Why would I lie, my friend? Even if he did hurt himself in the process, he dispelled an ascension ritual,” Solren continued to speak as if boasting about his own child, “You might not know, but ascension rituals are different for each type of monster and individual monster. It's not something you can memorize and dispel on a whim.”

“...You sound excited,” Creston planted his greatsword in the ground, “If he is so great, then would you say he's better than you: the Grand Mage?”

Solren laughed, “Of course not. Not right now at least. But I guarantee you, he will surpass me when given the right training.” He shifted his attention to Zeke, “Hey kid, the Mana Rebound can't be healed by magic, you know why, right?”

“...” Zeke couldn't follow the Grand Mage's intentions at all, yet he answered anyway, “Because my mana circuit is erratic, and coming into contact with mana will make things worse?”

“Exactly.” Solren turned back to Creston, gesturing to Zeke in a dramatic manner, “See? Natural born magician. Now, if you would, let me take him in as my apprentice.”

“Uh, wait—Huh??” Zeke almost forgot he was in pain for a moment there, his eyes widened to match his dumbfounded face.

Creston pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh. Without saying a word, he walked over to Zeke and spoke, “Silas…how good are you at magic?”

Though still perplexed by the entire situation, Zeke couldn't help but feel annoyed by the question. It felt as if Creston had looked down on him. He let out a soft chuckle and glanced at Solren, “Well…Not counting the Grand Mage, I'm confident that I'm the best in the empire.”

Hearing that, Creston scoffed at him, though the smile on his lips made it clear that the answer satisfied him. He gave his son a pat on the shoulder. “It's bad to lie, but I will overlook this once,” he turned back around to sheath his greatsword on his back, “Make your own decisions, you can accept that white dog's offer if you'd like. Just remember that a Salvador must always take pride in their strength…Even if yours do not lie in swordsmanship.”

“White dog!? Will you stop with that nickname already!?” Solren pouted, though didn't receive a response from Creston as he leaped back to the surface with a single jump.

Zeke could hear Rowena squealing in excitement beside him, probably happy that their father took it better than they thought. Lysander gave him a short nod as well, and Zeke instantly felt an unknown weight lifted off his chest. “Of course, father,” he mumbled under his breath before turning to Solren, who'd been staring at him in anticipation, “And as for your offer, Grand Mage. Could we talk about it in detail after I've recovered?”

“I understand,” Solren sighed with pity, though his expression held acknowledgement, “Would you like to change your academic track? I can arrange that with my recommendation letter.”

“Oh,” Zeke didn't even think about the academy until now. He saw no issue with the offer, in fact, being in a proper class could prove useful for the future as well, “I'll gladly accept your benevolence. Thank you, Grand Mage.”

“Don't mention it!” Solren laughed, “Just…make sure to view my other offer in a more favorable light, okay?”

“...” Zeke maintained a smile, “Of course.”