CHAPTER 341: THE FORCE BEHIND

The mighty powerhouse Alric Stragoy had been cornered by the power of the three powerful undead creatures. The Ghost Specter continued to cast illusions, messing with his visual and mana senses. The Wailing Banshee continued her hideous, inhumane screech, messing with his hearing and auditory senses. The hateful sound of it was also hampering his efficient usage of mana when he was already short on energy.

Then there was the Dread Lich, the most troublesome one of all; it alone was enough to prove why Liches were among the dangerous types of undead creatures. The practical applications of its dark undead magic were truly heinous beyond common sense.

Magic that directly attacked the mind was among the most disgusting types, truly. The principal had been on the defensive ever since the start of the battle. Even with one major stage of difference in power, he had to maintain his four other clones. The pressure on him was so great that he couldn’t divert even a part of his calculation power to control his clones directly. Leaving those battles in the hands of the clones.

He was also worried about his disciple, Gareth, and all the helpless academy students. But when he used a brief moment of the window to observe those two separate battles, one in the sky and the other on the ground. He saw that both of them were going much, much better than what he had expected, with a slight relief in his heart. He engaged in the battle again.

Putting all of his focus back on the matter at hand. Of course, he wasn’t a sitting duck all this time, even if he was on the defensive. He was analyzing the arsenal of his enemies. He had directed all the computational power of his subconscious mind to the most effective method of eliminating the three enemies simultaneously, as someone privy to a wealth of high-level information.

He knew very well that as long as the High-Lich wished, he could summon these three undead creatures again, unless they were killed in a specific method, which would at least make them much, much more complicated to revive.

The principal had slowly spread his mana all over a particular area. Making small threads of energy, in the shape of the same needles but much, much smaller, so small that it was downright too hard to notice. Of course, not to the High-Lich, it was likely still visible to it. But thankfully, it had chosen not to interfere in this battle. Sticking to its word.

Alric was slowly altering the properties of his own mana, adding a spiritual component to his mana, and performing a specific type of spell that affected his very essence. As the sage aspect holder, he had mastery over all kinds of magic, which was nothing but terrifying. The Ghost Specter rushed towards him with its ethereal body, with countless deformed hands protruding out of it.

Illusions of multiple attacks had been created all around him, and even the terrain was being changed. If not for the keen sense of foreboding he possessed as a higher stage of being, it would be impossible to tell what was real or not. Neither was there a way to block the influence of the specter from affecting him.

He saw as the Dread Lich cast a giant black circle on top of him, firing a ray of black light made of powerful death energy. Then there was the banshee, which could also do physical damage, as it hurled its fist right at him. But both were fake.

Instead of believing in what he was seeing, he trusted his instincts, which turned out to be right for the umpteenth time, as it all turned out to be illusions again. He produced a burst of fire, shooting two concentrated balls of fire, and attacked in two different directions. The dark ray of Death Energy fired by the Dread Lich and the beastly rushing wailing Banshee were both burned slightly by the scorching flame and pushed backwards.

The Lich waved its hand, and the fire was extinguished, while the banshee let out another horrifying wail of despair. Then out of nowhere, black clouds formed high in the sky. The principal was finally done with his preparations. It seems in the end, the power of lightning was the only and best way.

Using the power of his sage force granted by the Sage aspect, he manipulated the lightning power in the sky, turning the color of the lightning into blinding white, infusing it with the properties of light itself. While the light element was the best counter against the Death Energy, it wasn’t effective against the three powerful creatures themselves.

Because funnily enough, the stronger undead creatures, even as beings of the most vile darkness, actually possessed a certain amount of immunity against light. The principal snapped his fingers, and countless chains made of blinding white light extended from his figure, latching onto the three undead figures.

More than 10 chains of light elements had wrapped around all three of the undead. For just a few seconds, the three undead were immobilized. The reason he took so long to make this attack was to analyze the three opponent, the best way to immobilize their movement and death energy at the same time.

And charge up the spell powerful enough to destroy all three at once. The voice of Alric Stragoy echoed thunderously high in the bright night sky, "Radiant Thunder Storm."

Booooooooooooooooooooommm!

An earth-shattering strike of radiant white thunder directly fell upon the Dread Lich, the creature that Alric labeled as the most troublesome one. Then two more equally powerful white lightning strikes fell from the heavens. Obliterating all three of the creatures into complete cinders.

Three consecutive devastating strikes of such power transformed a massive amount of air in the entire area into a state of plasma, as white radiance cleared in a few seconds. The principal remained completely on guard, ready for any unexpected ambush from the High-Lich. But to his surprise, the powerful lich did not attack. But only watched with an expression that seemed something like a dark amusement.

But Alric continued to keep all his senses alert, not believing what he was seeing; this could be another illusion, or so it seemed. But the three creatures were definitely eliminated. Even a massive amount of water far beneath had turned into considerable steam.

Alric started his meditation technique, trying to recover as much mana as possible in the few short seconds before the start of the most brutal battle in his weakest state that he had been in years.

It was at this moment that the revolting grinding voice of the High-Lich resounded again, making his skin crawl in disgust,

"Hoh, not bad, Alric Stragoy, not bad at all. As promised, you may ask one single question."

The principal looked at the High-Lich’s blue, flaming eyes, his eyes narrowed as he considered deeply about which question he should or should not ask. The biggest problem with a Lich was that they were basically immortals in a way. Especially with the High-Lich. Because High Lichs can hold their souls in a phlactery, somewhere safe, far away.

Its body was merely like a puppet, an empty vessel, controlled by the soul far away in a safe location. And the moment anything powerful tries to trace back the location of the phlactery through the body of the lich, or something harmful tries to affect the soul through this link. The connection would be cut off immediately. So, for someone of his level. It was impossible to do any significant harm to the High-Lich, truly.

But that was beside the main point; the worst part was that he couldn’t even guarantee his victory, at least not in this state. Eventually, he sighed. Yes, he was trying to waste as much time as possible. But if he did it too much, the Lich would attack him out of nowhere.

So, Alric finally asked the biggest question that had been gnawing at his mind, "Who is the one truly behind this attack? Tell me?"