Chương 88: Chapter 85: Severing the Mind

A heavy, freezing fog rolled out from the obsidian archway of the mausoleum mouth, carrying the stench of stagnant water and old copper. Before us, the cemetery field was alive. Hundreds of hollow eyes locked onto our party as a low, rattling groan rippled through the massive horde of flesh and bone. At the center of the undead vanguard, hovering inches above the cracked earth, was the Lich Lord. His tattered robes defied the wind, and a crown of jagged bone floated above his bare, glowing skull.

[Target Assessment] Identity: Malakor the Undying (Level 45 Lich Lord) Threat Level: Calamity"Hold the line!" I shouted, drawing my recurve bow as the first wave of zombies broke into a frenzied sprint. [System Alert] You have entered an Active Desecration Zone. All healing effectiveness is reduced by 20%. Stamina regeneration slowed by 15%. The rhythmic clack-clack of charging handles clearing chambers echoed over the low groans of the advancing dead.

"Range, three hundred yards!" Zack roared, his squad of front-line soldiers leveling their AR-15's over the makeshift barricades. Beside him, Tony was already barking orders to his own unit, managing a combined force of twenty-eight stout-hearted guards.

"Conserve ammo! Short bursts, aim for the central mass to slow 'em down, but look for the head-shots!" I pulled my bowstring taut. A faint, wispy purple smoke began to bleed from my fingers, coating the arrowhead in shadow mana. [Skill Activated: Shadow-Stitched Arrow (Beginner 6)] Cost: 25 Mana Effect: Adds 30% more base damage and imbues ammunition with dark elemental damage. Successful hits snare the target and up to three adjacent enemies for 3 seconds.

"Derrick, they're bunching up on the ridge!" Erick yelled, his eyes already beginning to crackle with magical energy.

"I see them," I muttered, then released. The arrow hissed through the air, striking a bloated, armored zombie dead center. The moment it impacted, tendrils of solid shadow erupted from the wound, pinning three other ghouls to the earth.

"Open up!" Zack commanded. The line erupted. The deafening, rhythmic roar of synchronized AR-15 gunfire tore through the valley. Supersonic 5. 56 rounds ripped into the horde, tearing decaying flesh apart and shattering bones. Health bars above the zombie vanguard flashed violently from green to yellow, many instantly snapping to grey as clean headshots registered. [Party Combat Log] Guard Team 1 eliminated 'Plague Zombie (Level 22)'. Experience split applied.

[Party Combat Log] Guard Team 2 eliminated 'Rotted Shambler (Level 20)'... But the Lich Lord merely watched the wall of lead with cold amusement. He raised his staff, and a shimmering, translucent wall of bone and green light coalesced in front of him. The supersonic rounds struck the barrier, flattening into lead pancakes and dropping uselessly into the dirt. [System Warning] Malakor the Undying has deployed 'Bone Aegis'. Kinetic damage absorption: 94% remaining.

"Insignificant insects," a voice rasped directly into our minds, heavy with psychic pressure. It was a distorted, hollow version of a voice Zack, Tony, and I used to hear over the precinct radio.

"Your weapons merely create more materials for my workshop." With a wave of the Lich's hand, the fallen zombies—even those with shattered skulls—began to twitch.

"Derrick, our bullets aren't keeping them down!" Tony shouted over the gunfire, swapping out a fresh magazine with practiced speed.

"He's regenerating them faster than we can punch holes!" From the darkness of a shattered boulder, I faded completely from view, using the acoustic camouflage of the rifles to mask my movements. [Skill Activated: Sneak (Master 0)] I pulled a heavy, metallic sphere from my dimensional ring—one of my precious alchemical grenades—forcing 10 points of Mana into the core. [Item Activated: Alchemical Grenade] Time to Detonation: 5... 4... With a fluid, practiced motion, I hurled the grenade.

It arced silently through the night, landing right at the skeletal feet of the Lich. I drew my bow again, locking my eyes on the target. [Skill Activated: Hunter's Mark (Beginner 8)] Target: Malakor the Undying. Effect: Damage toward target increased by 25%. Duration: 1 Hour. A glowing, ethereal crimson reticle burned onto the Lich's forehead. The creature stiffened, suddenly sensing the threat, but I was already loading my stamina and mana into the arrow shaft.

[Skill Activated: Power Shot (Beginner 7)] Effect: Next ranged attack deals 300% Base Weapon Damage. [Passive Modifier Triggered: Ambush (Beginner 5)] Condition Met: Attacking from Concealment/Sneak. Multiplier Applied: +3X Damage. One second. DETONATION. The alchemical grenade erupted in a violent, concussive flash of azure fire. The blast caught the Lich completely off guard, the sheer force shattering his Bone Aegis barrier like glass and stumbling the towering undead lord backward. Zero. I released the string.

The arrow broke the sound barrier with a sharp CRACK, tearing through the smoke and striking the Lich cleanly through its left eye socket. [CRITICAL HIT!] Damage Calculated: (Base x 3) + 50% Modifier Stack Malakor the Undying: -1, 845 HP A screech of pure, agonizing psychic feedback ripped through the valley. The Lich stumbled back, grabbing the shaft of the arrow buried deep in his skull. But the laugh that followed through the psychic link made my stomach drop.

"Still relying on stealth, Miller?" the Lich rasped, his remaining eye glowing with a fierce, hateful green fire.

"Always taking what you want from the shadows while everyone else pays the price." The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I froze, my hand halting as I prepared to reach for my quiver. The System's golden text above the boss warped, flickering between the monster's title and a name from a past life. [Target Assessment Update] Identity: Level 45 Lich Lord - Malakor the Undying / TJ Vance"TJ...?" I whispered.

On the left and right flanks, Zack and Tony stiffened over the receivers of their AR-15s. A couple of the newer, younger guards shrank back, their hands trembling as they recognized the name. But Zack, Tony, and I remembered that night. We remembered helping me break into the armory. We remembered the roll of heavy-duty duct tape used to secure our fellow officer to his chair so we could flee with the gear. The Lich Lord—TJ—brutally snapped the shaft of the arrow off, leaving the head buried in his skull.

He tilted his head, revealing a horrific, jagged tear in his neck—the unmistakable entry wound of a high-caliber rifle round.

"You left me taped to that precinct chair like an animal, Derrick!" TJ's psychic voice screamed into our minds.

"You took the guns. You took the ammo. And while I was suffocating in that dark station, the looters hit my house. My family died screaming because I wasn't there to pull a trigger! Because you three stole my hands!"

"TJ, the world was ending, we had to secure the armory!" Zack shouted across the line, his voice cracking as he fired a short burst into an advancing zombie.

"And then I came to your gates to demand justice, and what did I get?" TJ's gaze snapped toward the front of the dungeon team, his eyes locking onto the massive figure holding a heavy tower shield and a brutal battleaxe.

"A. 308 round to the throat from your military attack dog." Joe stepped forward, slamming the edge of his tower shield into the dirt. His face was grim, unblinking under his helmet.

"I aimed for your T-box, Vance," Joe growled, his deep voice carrying over the gunfire.

"Should've used a larger grain. Won't make that mistake twice." [Party Alert] Joe has activated 'Challenger's Defiance' (Apprentice 7). Aggro generated. TJ Vance's focus locked onto Joe.

"I crawled back from the dirt, remade by the System's true power," TJ snarled, raising his staff high. The green mist around him surged, twisting into the shapes of the very looters who had broken into his home, now resurrected as skinless thralls.

"And tonight, I collect my debt from all of you." [Warning] TJ Vance has activated 'Aura of Retribution: Broken Trust'. All damage dealt to Derrick, Zack, Tony, and Joe increased by 30%. I focused on my dimensional ring, instantly summoning my steel sword directly into my hand, seamlessly exchanging it with my bow.

"Zack! Tony! Keep that horde off our backs!" I roared, forcing my mind through the paralyzing guilt.

"Joe, get ready! We finish this here!"

"Brace!" Joe bellowed. He slammed his towering aegis shield into the earth, a faint, crystalline shimmer rippling across its surface as its high magic resistance activated. TJ screamed a curse, a torrent of chaotic green necrotic fire erupting from his staff. The dark flames washed over Joe's shield, hissing violently. Joe didn't take a single step back, his boots digging deep into the dirt.

"Sue, cleanse him! Erick, open up on the flanks!" I ordered. Sue stepped up right behind Joe, slamming the edge of her kite shield against his back armor to anchor him. She raised her short sword, its blade igniting with a brilliant, blinding white luminescence. [Skill Activated: Consecrated Ground (Apprentice 6)] Effect: Purifies all active negative status effects. Undead within the 15-meter radius take continuous Holy damage. A pulsing wave of warm, golden light burst from Sue's position.

The oppressive weight of TJ's Aura of Retribution shattered instantly, the 30% damage penalty melting away. The skinless looter-thralls rushing Joe howled in agony as the holy light singed their decaying flesh.

"On it!" Erick shouted from the back-line. His eyes flared with a molten orange light. He slammed both palms into the ground. [Skill Activated: Magma Fissure (Apprentice 5)] The earth split open in a jagged line right beneath the densest cluster of the zombie horde. A torrent of molten rock and liquid fire geysered upward, swallowing dozens of shambling corpses and melting the horde's vanguard before they could breach the barricades.

On the ridges, Zack and Tony's teams kept up a disciplined, rhythmic cadence of gunfire.

"Keep firing, damn it!" Zack roared, grabbing one panicked guard by his tactical vest and shoving him back into line.

"He's a monster now! Shoot the legs, keep 'em back!" TJ noticed his front-line melting and snarled, his skeletal hands beginning to weave a massive, high-tier spell. Green runes spiraled up his arms.

"I will flay the flesh from your—" He never finished the threat. Out of the literal shadow cast by TJ's own robes, Mike materialized. My oldest son moved like a ghost, his form flickering with a hazy, mirror-like illusion that made him look like three people at once. [Skill Activated: Spell Thief (Journeyman 4)] Mike's dagger plunged deep into the small of the Lich's back. Instead of blood, a brilliant stream of raw, green mana was ripped forcefully out of TJ and flowed directly into Mike's blade.

[System Notice] 'Spell Thief' Successful! Mike Miller has stolen 'Necrotic Grasp' from TJ Vance. Target's current cast interrupted. TJ gasped, his spell fizzling out into useless sparks.

"You... brat!"

"Hey, Uncle TJ," Mike whispered in his ear, his voice cold as ice.

"Dad sends his regards." Mike twisted the blade, triggering his rogue passives. With a violent CRACK, his off-hand dagger drove upward under the Lich's ribcage. [Ambush Modifier Applied!] [Sneak Attack Modifier Applied!] TJ Vance: -2, 120 HP (Stunned for 2 Seconds)"He's open!" Mike yelled, diving backward into an illusionary smoke cloud as TJ's staff swung wildly to smash him.

"Dad, take the shot!"

"Joe, move!" I roared, leveling my sidearm with my hand while keeping my blade ready. I squeezed the trigger. Joe didn't need to be told twice. He dropped his tower shield flat against the earth, using the momentum to spring forward. His massive battleaxe caught the reflection of Erick's fading magma fire, the heavy steel blade whistling through the air. My sidearm barked three times in rapid succession.

The supersonic handgun rounds punched directly into the glowing, emerald target of the Hunter's Mark on TJ's skull, shattering the bone face-plate into fragments. Staggered by the kinetic force, the Lich Lord reeled backward—right into the path of Joe's descending axe. With a guttural shout, Joe brought the heavy blade down in a brutal, vertical cleave, burying it deep into the jagged tear in TJ's skeletal neck. It was the exact spot where his. 308 rifle round had struck him weeks ago. [CRITICAL HIT! COMBINED STRIKE] TJ Vance: -3, 450 HP Health Bar: 0% — Target Defeated A piercing, deafening shriek of dying mana ripped outward from the Lich. The green flames in his eyes violently flared, then sputtered out. The skeletal framework of Malakor the Undying collapsed inward, his tattered robes folding over a pile of lifeless, clattering bones. Silence fell over the cemetery, broken only by the heavy breathing of our raid team and the sharp clink of the guards ejecting spent magazines onto the dirt.

The remaining zombies, suddenly severed from their master's direct psychic tether, collapsed into inanimate piles of rotting flesh.

"Is it over?" Mike breathed, lowering his daggers as his illusions faded away. [System Alert] Area Boss 'Malakor the Undying' has been temporarily destabilized. Experience points awarded. Level Up available for eligible party members. I walked forward, my sword still drawn as my eyes locked onto the word temporarily in the golden system text.

"No," I muttered, my jaw tight.

"Look at the staff." The wooden staff lay among the bones, but the large, jagged green mana gem embedded at its crown was pulsing with a violent, rhythmic light. Wisps of dark smoke were being drawn into the crystal, pulling the residual mana from the air.

"A phylactery," Erick said, his face paling as his mage lore kicked in.

"We destroyed the vessel, but his soul is anchored in that gem. He's going to rebuild, Derrick. He'll just grow a new body inside his stronghold." Suddenly, the green gem flared violently, shooting a beam of emerald light across the cemetery. The light struck the heavy, iron-reinforced doors of the massive stone mausoleum standing at the center of the graveyard. The doors groaned, swinging inward into a yawning abyss of darkness. I looked up at the stone archway of the structure.

Carved deep into the granite block above the doors was a single name: VANCE.

"He was the last one left," Tony said quietly, stepping up with his AR-15 lowered.

"When the System landed, this was his family's land. He turned his own ancestors' resting place into his lair." [Dungeon Entry Detected: The Sunken Catacombs] Floors: 10 Current Status: Depleted (Boss Horde Mobilized to Surface) Joe pulled his axe from the dirt, wiping the dark ichor on his pant leg. He looked into the dark entrance of the mausoleum.

"The System text says it's depleted. The bastard emptied the lower floors just to ambush us out here."

"Which means the path to his inner chamber is wide open," I said, my eyes hardening as I reloaded my sidearm, sent my sword back into my dimensional ring, and unslung my bow. The guilt of what we had done to TJ hadn't vanished, but the threat to my family was inside that tomb.

"He's weak right now, trying to regenerate. We don't give him the time. Teams, check your ammo, top off your mana. We're going down."