When A Mage Revolts

Within the gloomy forest, Miles stopped in his tracks and as he looked around, realization hit him. He was... lost?

He was still surrounded by the forest of white bones. The cold, crisp atmosphere caused the trees to resemble monsters which were baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, more dead than alive. He had escaped the home of the revenant, no doubt, and had gone along with the other mages.

However, for some reason, the mages had disappeared during the retreat. His surroundings were also suddenly somewhat unfamiliar and completely different from the path they had taken before.

He had never been here.

Having been in this part of the forest for a week, Miles was certain in his heart.

So... Only one possibility was left.

He took a deep breath and clenched his fists tightly, noticing that the unexplainable feeling was rising once again, in his heart. Yet, at the same time, he felt colder and colder. He did not know if the temperature in the forest was dropping, or if the coldness came from another source.

Boom!

The earth under his feet cracked open, and large sprawls of rotten vines sprang out. As quickly as he could, Miles dodged the attack, but he could acutely sense that his speed had decreased from his usual.

An extremely bad feeling surged up in his heart.

"You..."

He turned to look at the revenant, who had suddenly appeared not far from him, and subconsciously opened his mouth. However, he could not bring himself to speak. The glare of the revenant fell upon him, and pity, contempt... All sorts of negative emotions splashed onto him like invisible raindrops. There was no place to hide. The pressure exerted upon Miles increased.

The vines continuously attacked him, and as he dodged them, he could clearly feel that his speed was slowing down, bit by bit.

The aura of the revenant was gradually trapping him in.

"...Troublesome."

A strong sense of danger shot up in Miles’ heart. He decided not to fight the revenant, and tried to get further away. However, the revenant had cast some unknown spell, and the flames inside those eye sockets were set on him unwaveringly. No matter how he ran, he would always end up where he began.

He absolutely could not leave!

Left with no other choice, Miles could only choose to strike back. Nevertheless, no matter how many attacks he landed on the revenant, the rotting body remained as sturdy as metal. Not a single wound could be seen.

He was beginning to feel a little numb.

Relying on instinct to dodge the vines and to attack the revenant, some scenes from a long time ago suddenly began to appear before his eyes. He felt his limbs becoming ice cold, and the bloodstream in his entire body seemed to be slowly stopping. The colors of the entire world began to cool down, turning into a blurry black and white.

The vines were unable to harm him, as before, but he felt death.

However, there were no more emotions in his heart. A terrible calm had swept him up, as though the aura of death was not coming from the revenant, but rather... From himself.

It felt as though death had always been hiding in some corner of his body, and was only being released out bit by bit now.

...Was it really over?

A pandemonium of ideas flashed through his brain, and he felt somewhat confused. He did not know how long he had been fighting here, and under the influence of his emotions, his limbs were slowing down...

Suddenly, a rotten vine shot around the trees and shot towards him like a long whip! Miles, however, just stood there as though he had forgotten the need to dodge, staring blankly at the black shadow flying towards him.

Poof!

There was a muffled hit. Miles stood rooted on the spot.

"What are you staring at? Have you gone stupid? You’re completely different from the person I once knew." Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice spoke from above him, rousing him out from his despondence.

At that moment, Miles lifted his head to look at the figure which had suddenly appeared above him. He even rubbed his own eyes.

"...Benjamin?"

Benjamin let out a chuckle, nodding.

"This is..." Miles was still slightly confused.

"You have been enchanted by the magic of this lich." Benjamin turned his head to look at the revenant, which was standing not far off, and said, "Although I don’t know why its magic only works on you, but... Relax. We’ve returned to rescue you."

As he spoke, the other mages who had retreated suddenly flew out from the shadows and surrounded Miles, putting up their magic shields to block the oncoming attacks by the vines.

As for Benjamin, after he had ensured that Miles was alright, he shifted his entire attention onto the intelligent revenant.

He had called this thing a lich because it definitely resembled the liches in the legends a lot. The dried up body, the strange ability to cast spells, the magical staff made of undead material that it held in its hand... Benjamin could sense a cold and horrifying unknown energy emanating from the revenant’s body, and this was something he had not encountered from any other revenant.

Was there something special about it?

"This revenant is surrounded by a very special force field." The System spoke, "Somewhat similar to Miles’ condition, only that its force field is more complex. I am unable to analyze its composition.

"Then... How about its spiritual energy?"

"There exists a steady spiritual oscillation, but the structure of it is completely different from those of humans, and even more complicated to some extent." The System advised. "Be careful. It should be as intelligent as the average human."

Benjamin nodded.

At that moment, the focus of the lich was still upon Miles. The two flames in the eye sockets seemed to be locked in place, ignoring Benjamin and the other mages.

Was Benjamin being underestimated?

As the attacks of the vines were rendered futile by the magical shields, it quickly waved its bone staff, about to summon a few clumps of ashen white flames. The flames floated gently across and landed on the magic shields. Very soon, they were madly engulfing the various elements that made up the shields, burning them into nothingness.

Although Benjamin had heard the mages describe such a phenomenon to him when he had first arrived, he could not help but frown when he saw it with his own eyes.

These could destroy elements...

If this were corresponded to the elemental plane, was it not equal to the murder of the organisms from the higher dimensions?

"Can you analyze the composition of those flames?" He asked in his heart.

"It’s too complicated. There is too much unknown energy, and also... That thing you guys extracted from the undead remains is very frightening. My instincts tells me not to go near it."

Benjamin rubbed his chin.

Was this also an instinctive fear?

Seeing the ashen white flames sticking onto the shields again, the mages hurriedly withdrew their magic and took Miles with them to escape the attack of the flames. They did not strike the lich recklessly because they knew very clearly that the abilities they had were unable to affect the strange undead creature.

They could only dodge and hide while setting their sights on Benjamin.

Benjamin did not act hastily as well.

He had rushed over here to meet up with the few mages, before coming forward to rescue Miles. During the entire time, he had not learnt much about the revenant. It was unafraid of magic, and could even turn the elements into its own power... This meant that Benjamin might not necessarily have an advantage against it.

He must not attack it hastily, otherwise things might backfire.

He wanted to find out what the lich’s weakness was.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, there were several loud noises. Benjamin, who was observing, could not help but furrow his eyebrows. The ground, full of white bones, suddenly split open, and many more rotten vines sprang out and surged towards Miles. At the same time, there was a sudden glow around the Lich, and out of nowhere several more figures appeared.

Seeing this, the mages’ expressions turned grimmer.

"...It’s the others in the forest. They’ve rushed here too, now." The male mage’s breath was taken away, as he muttered.