"Return ASAP! There's a creature on the loose!" Brad's urgent voice cut through the air. Adam immediately teleported out of the dungeon, and Brad quickly relayed the grim news of a potential dungeon escape to the rest of the student council.
No one had noticed anything strange, which meant the creature shouldn't have been able to exit while they were on guard. Unless, as someone muttered, it could turn invisible.
Everyone instantly went on high alert.
Adam, using his mana vision, spotted faint traces of mana residual footprints. Taking the lead, he rushed, following the trail out of the school compound, onto the roads, and toward a nearby forest. It looked like it was heading to one of the mana locations.
Emily and Brad exchanged glances, realizing it was undoubtedly heading to the shrine. Emily quickly grabbed Adam and, unfurling her phoenix wings, flew into the sky. The others transformed into their creature forms and followed suit.
The Mythical Wolf and a New Threat
As Emily carried Adam through the air, Adam spotted a figure rushing towards the shrine. He signaled to the rest of the group that the creature was almost there. Everyone converged, surrounding the creature. As it shimmered into visibility, it was a mythical wolf. It then transformed into a human.
"You're too late," the wolf snarled. "Your mana point will soon be taken over." It unleashed a powerful howl, forcing everyone to cover their ears. The wolf instantly appeared behind Juro, slashing his back. Juro swiftly countered, a sword appearing in his hand, stabbing the wolf's shoulder.
Brad retaliated with fox fire, engulfing the wolf in flames. The wolf howled in pain, but something was off. It smirked just before it seemingly died.
Then, to their horror, the wolf was suddenly resurrected as a Death Wolf. Moments later, the entire group was surrounded by an army of dead creatures.
Tsuyu immediately protruded bones from her body, spinning rapidly as the sharp projectiles pierced through the heads of multiple undead creatures. Akemi swiftly spread her sticky webs, trapping a large area of the surrounding creatures. Brad's tails elongated and grew massive, crushing the heads of the encroaching undead. Juro sliced through multiple enemies with his sword. Emily unleashed a devastating flair blitz, incinerating many creatures at once.
Adam, unable to use mana effectively in this realm, remained hidden behind his powerful teammates, conserving his energy.
The crushing blows dealt to the undead army were undone as the creatures resurrected, once again rising from the ground. Behind the trees, a dark figure emerged: the Lich King, controller of the undead, wielding a scepter – an ancient artifact that allowed for the resurrection of his minions.
This artifact also absorbed power from the undead, channeling it back to the Lich King and empowering his resurrected forces even further. Unaware of the true depth of this formidable enemy's power, the group continued their assault on the undead.
However, the sheer speed of the resurrection soon caused them to lose ground, forcing them back into a defensive stance.
Adam quickly realized they were wasting their time fighting the endless tide of undead. He unleashed the summon from his black armor core, transforming himself into a shadowy, black figure, his eyes glowing crimson as he saw the flow of mana from the Lich King. Adam blitzed through the horde of undead, beheading them with single, precise strikes, making a direct line for the Lich King.
The Lich King blocked Adam's charge, using a wall of undead as a meat shield. A dark aura engulfed the surrounding area as more undead materialized around Adam. Adam, using the anomaly's power, phased into the Shadow Realm, reappearing directly behind the Lich King. He pierced through the Lich King with his hands, but the Lich King's head swiveled, facing Adam, cackling as spectral bones ensnared and trapped him.
Although some bones tried to pierce Adam's armor, they shattered against the anomaly's immense power. Adam then released a burst of mana, causing an explosion that engulfed everything in his radius.
He grabbed the Lich King by the neck, lifting him off the ground. With his other hand, Adam concentrated mana, aiming a powerful punch at the Lich King's head.
However, a giant undead hand suddenly grabbed Adam, pulling him into the sky. Adam swiftly cut through the hand and, still aiming for the Lich King, was then struck by a strong kick from a giant undead leg.
Adam vanished, only to reappear from the shadows beside the Lich King as his punch finally connected. The blow smashed through the Lich King's skull, causing his body and weapon to disperse into dust.
Adam watched as the Lich King's form slowly began to regenerate, the dark aura around him fading. The undead creatures momentarily froze, allowing the others to destroy them instantly with their attacks.
Observing the situation, Adam realized that defeating the Lich King here, especially without Lyra's help to identify his weaknesses, might not be possible right now.
Adam swiftly grabbed the Lich King's core and bolted towards the mana point, a relentless stream of bones pursuing him. Just as he tried to shift into the Shadow Realm, his powers abruptly cut off.
Adam reverted to his human form, shocked by the sudden loss of power from the transform black armor core. Now vulnerable, he continued running, the bones almost upon him. Reaching the mana point, Adam conjured multiple portals, absorbing the Lich King's core and all its bones into his dimension.
He ran towards the rest of undead and extended the portals to the remaining undead, absorbing all of them as well. Exhausted by the immense mana cost of opening so many portals, Adam resorted to using his own life force.
As he completed absorbing the last of the undead, he collapsed. Emily quickly caught him, and along with the others, carried Adam back to the mana point.
Adam's encounter with the Lich King pushes him to his limits, revealing both the incredible power of his black armor core and a critical weakness: his reliance on
mana.