Chapter 339: Lich Vickna (Backfired)

A torrent of metal swirled around Emma, and the wondrous sight made her instinctively raise her hand to block it. Sensing her fear, the metal fragments instantly fell to the ground as if they had lost their power.

"I feel like they're obeying my command?" Emma said hesitantly, then tried again to lift the hilt of her sword to order the metal fragments, but for some reason they had fallen silent.

A biting wind rushed out of the treasury in a stream, and Naimi Xisi stepped into the treasury while Emma was stunned.

This is an inner chamber covered in ice.

Emma no longer fussed over the metal fragments and hurried inside. The chill of the underground treasury iced her sword blade; she exhaled a breath of cold, shivering slightly, her eyes shining as she surveyed the surroundings.

"Wow, is this Vickna's treasury? Tell me, can we take this gold back?" Emma said, eyeing the pixel‑style golden piles—some cylindrical, some cuboid—with longing.

Unfortunately, she didn't know it was all an illusion. Otherwise, the money‑loving Juan Ce Long would have acted by now.

Naimi Xisi squinted and searched the treasury for the lich's life box; while the fake Vickna was still unaware, destroying the life box outright was the simplest way to clear the stage.

"Found it!"

The rune array in Naimi Xisi's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of a needle tip—on a stone platform three feet away, a walnut‑wood box scarred with knife marks was oozing dark red blood droplets.

"Sevenfold Soul Lock—" his fingertip hovered half an inch above the box, a rectangular purple vein pattern glowing beneath his skin, "Emma, prepare to cut—"

While speaking, he drew a completely black staff. Compared with the wooden staff at the start, the gear of a 14th‑level party was far superior; this legendary staff named "Duelist" let him freely cast Dispel Magic and use Spell Resistance once per day.

Just as he was about to use Dispel Magic to probe the box for magical traps, the lich descended.

Vickna's hoarse, piercing scream suddenly tore the air; the skeletal robe exploded from the void, and Emma's sword blade had already sliced twelve afterimages. Yet the phosphorescent fire from the bone fingertips was faster than her, and the obsidian atop Naimi Xisi's staff erupted in a flash— the clash of the two magics generated a shockwave that caused every Candlestick in the treasury to burst simultaneously.

"Insect!" the lich, hovering above the life box, showed a spine woven with golden threads beneath its rotting robe, "How dare you touch my immortal authority!"

Naimi Xisi stared expressionlessly at the spellcaster before him, the abyss‑like, oceanic mana foretelling the terrifying power of this strong opponent.

A 20th‑level mage, a being just one step away from Legendary.

In reality, a guy like that—Naimi Xisi—could take down ten.

But this is a game; at this moment he is only a 14th‑level mage, lacking powerful Eight-Circle Spell, without freely usable Power Gem, and without the aid of Divine Spell and Mana.

Silently, he opened his panel; having advanced to 14th level, his HP was now 60/60, and using a Power Gem cost 5 HP.

Ten times, he had only ten chances to cast amplified spells; after that he would fall into a near‑death state.

The floating lich suddenly moved, surging toward Emma like a wisp of black smoke, dragging a cloud of negative energy that wailed.

Naimi Xisi's staff thudded heavily, the familiar magical ripple causing Emma to instinctively lean back. Thirty‑two Spellcraft runes blossomed beneath their feet, teleporting Emma and Naimi Xisi dozens of meters away. The lich's bone claw seized the spot where she had stood; the frozen stone slab, eroded by Wither, turned into gray‑white sand.

Vickna was like a shadow hidden in darkness; the black robe, like a raven in the night sky, swooped across the heavens, each bone‑claw strike carrying lethal negative‑energy damage.

"Attack the life box quickly! Naimi Xisi!" Emma shouted while dodging the assaults.

Naimi Xisi's staff lightly tapped toward the walnut box, a green beam of Greater Dispel Magic slashing the air, but a second before reaching the box it was blocked by a multicolored rainbow light.

"As expected." Naimi Xisi squinted; the box was surrounded by powerful spell protection, likely an Eight-Circle Abjuration Spell "Rainbow Light Spell Wall"; Greater Dispel Magic's power was insufficient.

"Heh heh heh, insects, you think you can defeat me with your power?" Vickna spoke in a stiff, programmed tone, mocking.

"Tsk" Naimi Xisi admitted that being taunted by a virtual puppet did irritate him.

He raised his staff again to gather magic; this time, as his HP dropped by five points, the spell's power surged wildly, like a mutation.

"With blood as a guide, tenfold retaliation!"

The Greater Dispel Magic beam, which should have been as thin as a finger, now swelled like water‑mixed flour to the thickness of a wrist; Vickna sensed something amiss with the spell, but he had already missed the chance to intercept it.

The thick beam struck the box, and the Rainbow Light Spell Wall shattered in response.

Seeing Naimi Xisi still about to attack the box, Vickna acted swiftly; he no longer intended to toy with the intruder and had to eliminate him quickly, precisely, and ruthlessly.

Nine-Circle Transformation Spell—Time Stop!

The moment the skeletal palms clasped, the world was pressed on pause.

Emma saw Naimi Xisi's silver hair frozen mid‑rise, her own sword tip's dripping blood solidify into crimson crystal. Only the lich, within the still gray‑white realm, paced gracefully, its withered bone fingertips tapping in turn:

a strand of green light sank into the fissure at her feet— the Withering Spell that would devour flesh and blood;

yellow‑brown stone veins crawled up the lich's skeleton;

the multicolored light wall coiled around the stone platform holding the life box like a venomous snake.

When the lich's third finger bone began to bend, cloaked in an absolute black, it extended the finger enchanted with Finger of Death toward Naimi Xisi.

At the instant Time Stop ended, he would use that poisonous finger to utterly kill the audacious, sky‑covering insect.

But he didn't expect that the opponent, thought frozen by time, suddenly fixed his gaze on him; four ringed streams of magic burst from the tip of his staff, golden threads of Greater Dispel Magic ensnaring the lich's final, unformed spell.

Because of the contact between reference frames, Time Stop was broken. As the world resumed flow, Emma, using the muscle memory honed by her sword dance, vaulted and flipped, the ground where she had stood turning into a three‑foot‑deep charred pit.

"That's impossible! How could anyone withstand Time Stop's power? Are you a Legendary?" the lich exclaimed in shock.

(End of Chapter)