My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 911 - 912: Did You Know

Seras yanked back on the reins of her nocturnal stag, halting her progress along the tight woodland trail squeezed between massive ancient trees. This brought the entire group to a standstill.

Damon lifted his gaze from his spot behind Renata.

"What is it? Why the halt? We have to keep going."

Seras peered ahead of her. A grave look crossed her features as she drew her tachi, lifting it aloft before her.

"Reveal yourself," she roared while the noises of foliage shifting behind them intensified.

Damon detected no presence. No one lurked nearby. Emptiness filled the space. It was merely the woods.

Suddenly, motion stirred.

Upon his next blink, a figure or form appeared. He noticed Seras’s grip clench on her tachi. No matter what this creature was, its strength proved utterly dominant.

It filled him with dread.

A solitary being loomed before them. Its form gleamed white, composed entirely of bones. A spherical, crimson orb pulsed in its midsection, or the place where a stomach might exist. A phylactery. That single detail told Damon everything. This creature was a...

"Lich."

The immense pressure from its aura caused Damon’s hands to quiver uncontrollably under its profound and chilling might.

"A grand lich," Seras declared, detecting its power at the seventh class advancement. This placed it even above her own rank.

Clad in robes, it wielded a staff that screamed of superior magical craftsmanship.

This was no mindless beast.

"Damn it," Damon swore. They hadn’t ventured deep into the woods at all. How could they encounter such a primordial terror so soon?

The more time this lich had endured—or could one call this existence truly living—the greater its cunning and might became.

"May I inquire your identity, ancient one?" Seras asked, her defenses raised high. She hoped to avoid battle, for it would doom the journey. All others would perish, though she might endure, but victory or escape would demand everything she had.

"Who am I... I am no one you’d recognize. I could utter my name, but it holds no real weight."

Seras pressed her lips together tightly. He expected her to reveal hers first. She channeled a bit of mana, bracing against potential curses.

For a moment, she considered deploying the sacred artifact from the temple, but that remained her ultimate safeguard reserved for demon lord confrontations.

"I am Seras Blade. I lead this expedition group, and we seek only harmless transit."

The lich remained motionless.

"You’ve disrupted this forest’s tranquility, Seras Blade. The woods rage and crave vengeance," it intoned in a resonant, weathered tone that stayed resolute without a hint of frailty.

"The forest pulses with life. Tranquility eludes it. Am I not woven into its fabric too? Why demand vengeance? This is merely nature’s cycle," she countered.

The lich hesitated. Her reasoning held merit. The forest formed a living web, where every element belonged to its balance. Birth and demise unfolded naturally, and humans intertwined with it while dwelling within.

"I perceive your wisdom, Seras Blade. So be it. I’ll grant your passage on one condition: share knowledge unknown to me."

Seras’s brow furrowed as the lich continued speaking.

"This knowledge must captivate me and ring true without deceit. In return, I permit you three inquiries."

"What if the knowledge fails to captivate you?" Damon inquired from Renata’s rear.

The lich turned its gaze toward him. Its stare seemed to probe Damon deeply, as though peering into his core.

"You bear marks of countless horrors. Numerous dark forces cling to you. Your days are numbered."

With a thud, it slammed its staff into the earth, unleashing a surge of dark magical force that scattered all pursuing beasts.

"Should that prove true, then annihilation awaits you," the lich replied.

Damon exhaled deeply, shaking his head in frustration.

He despised enigmas and beasts that wielded them. It echoed his encounter in Lysithara with the Keeper of False Truths.

Seras inclined her head gradually.

"Very well. We agree to your conditions."

She looked toward Damon, then gave a nod.

Dismounting her stag, she approached him. He followed suit, stepping to her side. The other team heads and Renata assembled too, along with Wendy. Damon pondered calling forth Matia. He dismissed the idea with a shake of his head. She served as his secret weapon. Only in utter desperation, when survival hung by a thread, would he invoke her.

Seras surveyed the group.

"This buys us time. I doubt he’ll linger endlessly, so while we can, let’s collect our oddest insights and determine what might intrigue him."

Damon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Ordinary facts won’t sway a being like that. Magic attempts might fall flat, as he’d likely scorn our spells. History could work, but from his garb, I’d wager he hails from the first epoch, witnessing everything already."

Seras folded her arms.

"Fine. Let’s pool our ideas. Renata, collect everyone’s contributions, and we’ll review to pick the strongest."

Renata agreed and departed. The team leaders followed.

Moments later, they reconvened, bearing a mix of arcane spells, historical accounts, and even trivial anecdotes. Despite deep deliberation...

Not one appeared worthwhile.

Seras breathed a heavy sigh as the sun dipped toward evening. She advanced toward the lich.

"The expanse of knowledge is endless, and we can’t predict your tastes. Grant us until first light to present our offerings."

The lich hadn’t stirred in ages, rooted in place.

"So be it. I’ll endure the wait. Ages have passed in my unlife. One night flees like a fleeting instant."

Seras released a relieved breath as they established their encampment. No beasts drew near, despite her sensing their distant vigil. That proved fortunate. The lich warded off any assaults.

Through the endless night, Seras, Damon, and Renata racked their brains fruitlessly. Their efforts yielded nothing substantial.

As dawn broke, Seras confronted the lich once more. The expedition stood prepared to depart, having snatched uneasy rest overnight.

She produced a scroll and offered it forth.

Ancient and frayed, this parchment defied easy reading. Invaluable, it had come to her from a dragon’s lair after a fierce slaying.

"This fragment hails from a scroll penned by the esteemed sage Athor during the second epoch. It details a rite for reviving the fallen."

The lich examined it briefly, then flung it disdainfully at Seras’s feet like refuse.

"Indeed, Athor. That youth. Long ago, he sought me with the complete set of my own writings. Why crave insights I crafted eons past?"

Seras’s fingers shook. What cruel fate was this, stumbling upon the scroll’s creator after cherishing it for years? He dismissed the legendary sage Athor as a mere boy. Naturally, he’d master the ritual. As a lich, such secrets were his domain.

No spur-of-the-moment idea could dazzle him. She gripped her tachi firmly. It boiled down to the final resort. Battle.

Crunch.

Damon crushed twigs underfoot, inserting himself between the pair.

From his shadow, he extracted a chair and positioned it amid them. Composed on the surface, he settled in. Internally, panic raged and self-reproach boiled, yet his Remorseless skill anchored him amid the peril.

Damon let out a sigh, tilting his head.

"Ahhhhh. The era of divinities faded far too soon. Pity you never witnessed it. How youthful you seem. You forfeited dialogues with deities who strode our world."

Seras masked her tension with feigned serenity. The lich abhorred deception. Any falsehood from Damon spelled defeat and catastrophe.

"I imagine you have," the lich responded evenly.

Damon dipped his head deliberately, his face bearing a distant longing.

"I have. I’ve slain a deity myself. The secrets I hold could be utterly novel to you."

He chose ‘could be’ to skirt outright untruth.

The lich eyed this audacious youth who resembled a mere lad. Certainly, no child reached the fourth class advancement.

"Then reveal it. What ‘could be’ in your grasp that eludes me?"

It echoed the phrase ‘could be’.

Damon maintained his poise. In truth, he improvised wildly.

"Were you aware the Unknown God preceded his very being?"

Damon delivered the line steadily, reclining further while summoning a table from his shadow vault, accompanied by a lavish wine flask.

He clicked his fingers, and Renata advanced hesitantly to fill his goblet. He raised it to his lips, then gestured casually at the lich, unmoved by the statement. Deep down, Damon fumed at the lich’s vast erudition.

"Fine, fine. Dull stuff. You’ve no interest. Dismiss it."

"Hold," the lich uttered steadily.

"Explain: how did he precede his own existence?"

Damon fought a grin but lost. He savored a swallow of wine.

He couldn’t resist the flourish.

"Ahhh, so blind to the vast omniverse encircling you."

The lich advanced a pace, intrigue pulling it toward Damon’s revelation. Damon sensed that a lackluster account would invite swift evisceration.