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

Seras tugged sharply at the reins of the night-bound stag, bringing their journey to a halt on the cramped woodland trail hemmed in by towering ancient trees. This action forced the entire group to pause as well.

Damon lifted his gaze from his position behind Renata.

"What's going on? Why the stop? We have to keep going."

Seras peered ahead with a grave look crossing her features, drawing her tachi and lifting it aloft before her.

"Reveal yourself," she commanded loudly while the rustling noises from the trees behind them intensified.

Damon detected no presence at all. No one lurked nearby. The area felt empty, merely the wild woods around them.

Suddenly, motion caught his eye.

Upon his next blink, a figure had appeared—or perhaps a being. He noticed Seras's grip tighten fiercely on her tachi. The force emanating from this creature was utterly dominating.

It filled him with dread.

Before them loomed a solitary form, pale and skeletal, constructed entirely from bones. A spherical, crimson orb glowed in its midsection, right where a belly might once have been. A phylactery—that single detail told Damon everything. This creature was a...

"Lich."

The sheer intensity of its aura made Damon's hands quiver uncontrollably from the profound, chilling power it radiated.

"A grand lich," Seras declared, detecting its presence at the seventh class advancement level—far surpassing her own rank.

It draped itself in a robe and wielded a staff that screamed of supreme magical craftsmanship.

This was no mindless beast; it possessed sharp intellect.

"Damn it all," Damon muttered under his breath. They hadn't ventured deep into the woods yet. How had they stumbled upon such a timeless terror so soon?

The more time this lich had endured—or whatever passed for existence in its state—the greater its cunning and might became.

"May I inquire who you might be, ancient one?" Seras asked, her defenses fully raised. She desperately hoped to avoid battle, knowing it would doom the entire venture. All would perish except perhaps her, though even she might struggle to triumph or escape alive.

"Who I am... You wouldn't recognize the name. I could utter it, but it holds no real weight for you."

Seras pressed her lips together tightly. He was pressing her to reveal her identity first. She channeled a bit of her mana, bracing herself against potential curses.

For a fleeting moment, she weighed using the sacred relic from the temple, but that was reserved as a desperate measure for clashing with a demon lord.

"I am Seras Blade, commander of this scouting party. We seek only harmless passage through these lands."

The lich remained utterly still.

"You have disrupted the tranquility of this woodland, Seras Blade. The woods rage and call for justice," it intoned in a resonant, weathered tone that carried unyielding strength without a hint of frailty.

"The forest pulses with life and knows no true calm. Am I not woven into its fabric too? Why cry for vengeance? This is merely the cycle of nature unfolding," she countered.

The lich hesitated briefly. Her words rang with reason. Indeed, the forest formed a living web of balance, where every element belonged, and cycles of birth and decay played out endlessly—even for those who dwelled within it.

"You possess wisdom, Seras Blade. So be it. I grant your group passage on one condition: share with me insights unknown to my vast experience."

Seras's brow furrowed as the lich continued speaking.

"These secrets must captivate me and ring true without deceit. In return, I permit you three inquiries of your own."

"And if your interest wanes?" Damon called out from Renata's shadow.

The lich turned its gaze toward him, letting it settle on Damon as though peering into his very soul.

"You bear marks of countless shadows. Dark forces cling to you. Your days are numbered short."

With a heavy thud, it slammed its staff into the earth, unleashing a surge of shadowy magic that scattered every pursuing beast from their trail.

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

Damon let out a weary breath, shaking his head in frustration.

He loathed these enigmatic beasts and their twisted games, just like that encounter in Lysithara with the Keeper of False Truths.

Seras gave a measured nod.

"Agreed. We take your offer."

She shot a quick look at Damon before nodding once more.

Leaping down from her stag, she approached him. He followed suit, dismounting to stand at her side. The other team heads and Renata gathered close, with Wendy joining them too. Damon pondered calling forth Matia but dismissed the idea swiftly. She remained his hidden ace, reserved only for moments when survival hung by the thinnest thread.

Seras surveyed the group.

"This buys us precious time. He won't linger forever, so let's pool our odd bits of lore and figure out what might catch his fancy."

Damon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Everyday facts won't sway a being like that. Magic theories might fall flat since our spells would seem trivial to him. History could work, but from his garb, I'd wager he hails from the first epoch—he's likely witnessed every twist of it."

Seras folded her arms across her chest.

"Fine. Let's pool our thoughts. Renata, collect ideas from the team, and we'll sift through to pick the strongest."

Renata acknowledged with a nod and departed. The team leaders scattered to do the same.

Minutes ticked by before they reconvened, armed with tales of intricate spells, ancient events, and even trivial curiosities. After deep deliberation...

Not a single one stood out as promising.

Seras exhaled heavily as dusk painted the sky. She strode toward the lich.

"The expanse of knowledge is endless, and we can't predict your tastes. Grant us until first light to present what we offer."

The lich had stood motionless through the hours, rooted like a sentinel.

"So it shall be. I endure eternally. One night fades like a breath in my timeless vigil."

Seras breathed a quiet relief as they pitched camp. No beasts dared draw near, though she felt their distant eyes. A silver lining—the lich warded off any ambushes.

All through the dark hours, Seras, Damon, and Renata racked their brains fruitlessly. Their efforts yielded nothing substantial.

As dawn broke, Seras confronted the lich once more. The party had packed up, tense and weary from a night of shallow rest.

She produced an aged scroll and extended it toward him.

Yellowed and frayed, it bore the cryptic script of forgotten eras, a treasure beyond measure that Seras had claimed from a dragon's lair after a fierce slaying.

"Behold, a shard of wisdom from the esteemed sage Athor of the second epoch. It details a rite to summon life back from the grave."

The lich examined it briefly before flinging it disdainfully at Seras's boots like worthless scraps.

"Ah, Athor—the youth. Long ago, he sought me out bearing the complete tomes of my own creation. Why crave echoes of what I penned in ages past?"

Seras's fingers shook with disbelief. What cruel twist of fate had led her to the very scribe of this long-guarded fragment? He dismissed the legendary Athor as a mere lad. Naturally, a lich would grasp such forbidden arts.

No spur-of-the-moment idea could sway him now. Her hand drifted to her tachi's hilt. It came down to the final resort: clash of blades and spells.

Crunch.

Damon crushed dry twigs underfoot, positioning himself squarely between the two.

From his shadow, he drew a simple chair and set it down amid them. His outward demeanor stayed composed as he seated himself. Deep inside, panic raged and self-reproach boiled, yet his Remorseless skill anchored him firm amid the peril.

Damon sighed once more, tilting his head.

"Alas, the era of divine beings slipped away far too soon. Pity you never tasted it. So youthful you seem. You never traded words with deities who strode the earth like us."

Seras masked her tension with a steady face. Falsehoods would not escape the lich's notice. A single untruth from Damon meant defeat—and utter ruin for them all.

"I suspect you have," the lich replied evenly.

Damon inclined his head gradually, his look distant and reflective.

"Indeed I have. I even felled a god once. The secrets I hold could be tales beyond your hearing."

He chose "could" with care, as it skirted the edge of truth without crossing into deceit.

The lich eyed this audacious youth, who barely seemed old enough for the fourth class advancement.

"Then reveal it. What 'could' you know that eludes me?"

It echoed his cautious phrasing.

Damon held his poise, though in truth, he improvised wildly.

"Were you aware the Unknown God existed before his own birth?"

Damon delivered the line smoothly, reclining further while summoning a small table from his shadow stores, complete with a lavish wine bottle.

With a snap, he beckoned Renata, who approached hesitantly to fill his glass. He raised it to his lips, then gestured casually at the lich, unmoved by the claim. Inwardly, Damon railed against the creature's bottomless well of lore.

"Enough, enough. Dull stuff. You'd dismiss it anyway. Never mind."

"Hold," the lich interjected, its voice steady and intrigued.

"Explain—how could he precede his own being?"

Damon fought back a grin but couldn't quite hide it. He savored a swallow of the vintage.

He simply had to press on.

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

The lich advanced a single step, drawn in by Damon's words. Damon sensed that a lackluster answer would spell his gruesome end.