I jolted as my body was suddenly shaken.
I turned around to find Tao mouthing words at me, her expression frantic. However, no sound reached my ears. Right—I still had Sound Isolation active.
As soon as I deactivated the spell, Tao’s voice came rushing in.
"Roberto! You finally answered me!"
"Ah, sorry, sorry. I was just concentrating."
"Geez! You didn't even see me defeat the Grey Wolf, did you?"
Tao puffed out her cheeks in a pout. I felt a pang of guilt, but thanks to her fight, I’d been able to learn quite a bit about the dungeon's Barrier.
First, this boss room served as the heart of the dungeon. More specifically, the treasure room located just beyond the boss was the true core. The power source for spawning monsters and maintaining the Barriers all originated from that single point.
The concentration of mana there was staggering; the dungeon didn’t even seem to rely on complex Spell Formulas. It felt as though it was generating the Barrier and the monsters through sheer, massive quantities of raw mana.
The fuel for that mana was likely the corpses of monsters, humans, and animals that had died within these walls. Since monsters return to the dungeon upon death, it was a self-sustaining cycle. Though the efficiency was incredibly poor, the sheer volume of mana made it possible.
There were still many mysteries to unravel, but that was the gist of my findings.
"Well, whatever. Let’s hurry up and go see the treasure, you know!"
"I suppose so."
Supposedly, treasure awaited beyond the boss's chamber. It was curious that it shared the same space as the heart of the dungeon. Did that mean the treasure itself was the core? No, that didn't seem right—
"Stop, Tao!"
Sensing a sudden, dense surge of mana, I grabbed Tao's hand and pulled her back.
"Mmmh...♪ W-what is it so suddenly, Roberto? No matter how you look at it, doing it in a place like this is..."
Before Tao could finish her thought, a black blade whistled through the air right where she had been standing.
That was the Darkness System Magic, Death Blade. If I recalled correctly, it was a spell favored by high-level monsters.
"Eh... but we defeated the boss, so why is that here...?"
"It seems something else is still lurking."
As I squinted into the gloom, the figure of the attacker who had fired the Death Blade emerged from the darkness.
It was a human skull. A skeleton draped in a tattered black hood, dressed in the robes of a mage.
"T-That’s a Lich, you know!"
"Oh, a Lich... isn't that a fairly high-level monster?"
Tao nodded silently.
According to the Monster Encyclopedia, a Lich is an Undead-type monster capable of using advanced magic. The reason Tao hadn’t sensed it with her Ki was likely due to its nature as an undead. I had only noticed it because I was tracking the mana signatures in the room. That strange mana I’d been feeling for a while now... it had been this thing all along.
I remembered reading that they were dangerous, high-ranking threats to be treated with extreme caution. But what was such a creature doing here?
"...That Lich is probably a stray, you know. It must have wandered here and made this dungeon its lair. ...This is the worst."
Tao spat the words out resentfully.
A "stray" was a monster that had left its original dungeon for some reason—either because its home had vanished or of its own volition. Such monsters lived on the surface or took up residence in other dungeons. However, it was rare for a monster with such a massive level gap to appear in a young dungeon like this. For a normal adventurer, encountering one usually meant the end of the party.
"Leave this to me and run, you know! With my speed, I can dodge its magic for a while. I should be able to buy enough time for you to escape, Roberto!"
"What about you, Tao?"
"Don't worry about me, I'll find a way out somehow! Now go, quickly!"
No sooner had she spoken than Tao dashed toward the Lich.
This looked interesting. I decided to pretend to flee while actually settling in to watch the show. Ducking behind a nearby rock, I kept a close eye on the battle.
Tao fired a Ki Blast while weaving between the black blades. However, the Lich deployed a Magic Barrier, neutralizing the strike completely.
"Tch—"
Clicking her tongue, Tao charged straight at the Magic Barrier. Her breathing grew deep, and the ground trembled beneath her feet as she stepped in.
CRACK! A thunderous impact echoed through the chamber.
Looking closer, I saw a spiderweb of cracks appearing on the Magic Barrier. That was a palm strike infused with Ki. Damaging a Magic Barrier of that magnitude with bare hands was no small feat.
Without losing her momentum, Tao unleashed a fluid elbow strike. She followed up with a left hook, a backfist, a knifehand strike, and a roundhouse kick—every single blow hammering the exact same spot she had first hit.
Tao didn't stop. The cracks grew wider and deeper with every strike.
"I can't die in a place like this, you know! I've been training every single day since I was five! On rainy days, on snowy days, without a single day off! I didn't even make time for a boyfriend! I’ve put in all that effort! There's no way I’m dying in a place like this before I ever get a boyfriend—!!"
With a final, desperate flying knee, the Magic Barrier shattered into a million pieces, leaving a gaping hole in the Lich's defenses.
Ah, but that was bad. She was completely open. And the Lich hadn't been standing idly by.
The Lich’s jagged teeth rattled and shook—a magic incantation. A black flash of light suddenly enveloped Tao.
"Crap—"
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted. Tao was blown backward, skipping across the ground several times before coming to a halt. She lay there, limp and broken. This looked critical.
"Tao!"
I rushed over to her and pulled her into my arms. Tao looked up with a pained expression, her eyes fluttering open.
"Ugh... W-Why did you come back, you know...?"
I couldn't exactly tell her that I’d been hiding nearby to watch the fight, so I stayed silent.
"Could it be... for my sake...? ...Geez, you're such a dummy, you know. ...But, I guess it’s okay. If I can die with a handsome guy like Roberto, I have no regrets..."
Tao turned her face away from me, her voice fading.
"Whoa, hey, are you giving up already?"
"It's no use, you know. I can't move my body. Even if I could, I can't win against a Lich..."
"What are you talking about—"
A black flash suddenly filled the air, cutting off my words. The Lich had unleashed another spell at our backs while we were distracted.
Tao squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the end. A moment later, the shockwave should have hit us—
—But it didn't.
The Magic Barrier I’d deployed held firm, effortlessly blocking the Lich’s magic.
Tao timidly opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. I stood up, looking the Lich straight in the eye as a smirk crossed my face.
"—This is where the fun really begins, isn't it?"