Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 196 Ancient Lich
Duncan manipulated the robotic arm to continue digging. He had now unearthed the frame of the Soul Furnace, about fifteen meters in diameter, forged from black iron and inscribed with the sacred prayers of the Dwarf Father. However, after digging for quite some time, he still couldn't find the other hammer.

A major earthquake once struck this area, and a massive collapse buried everything. He has already dug down to the stone slabs of the temple square.

Beneath the stone slab lay buried skeletons, not those of dwarves, for their bones were very delicate.

"Look what I found?"

Just then, a bearded mercenary who was also digging nearby raised his hand, holding a gleaming gold goblet, and exclaimed excitedly, "A pure gold goblet!"

"There must be a lot of treasure buried down there."

Suddenly, everyone else nearby was drawn to it.

They ignored Duncan and focused on digging down from that spot, which should lead to a storage room or perhaps a treasure vault. After half a day, someone unearthed dozens of gleaming dwarven gold coins and various gems, mostly the size of a thumb.

Perhaps we dug too fast.

Suddenly, the ground around them trembled, and a mercenary sank into it, falling flat on his face. His figure seemed to be swallowed by quicksand, and soon only half of his foot was sticking out. Fortunately, someone next to him grabbed him, and Duncan reacted in time to extend his mechanical arm and forcefully dragged the man out.

He slumped to the ground, stunned for a long time, his gaze fixed, muttering, "I think I just saw a lot of gold..."

"There's a mountain of gold down there!..."

After he finished speaking, he opened his palm, which was filled with gold dust.

gold?

Duncan, however, remained unmoved. After all, as a former emperor, worldly gold and treasures held little appeal for him. The others, however, were excited and became increasingly eager, some impatient to continue digging.

According to legend, dwarves had a great fondness for collecting gold and jewels.

This time they were much more careful, avoiding the areas of quicksand and trying to dig a passage from the side.

"What kind of creature's bones are these?"

Duncan was examining the bones that had just been dug up. They looked somewhat like human bones, but thinner than human bones. There must have been a blood sacrifice nearby, as there were quite a few broken bones.

Just as he was about to return to the camp, a red dot seemed to flash by.

"what?"

"Enemy?"

Duncan instantly became alert, zoomed in on his God's-eye view, and swiped towards the dark area on the right side of the ruins. But the red dot that had just flashed by had disappeared, as if it were a hallucination.

That was definitely not a hallucination.

The God's-eye view has never been wrong.

Just as Duncan couldn't find the enemy, some strange changes occurred among the people digging not far behind him. Bowen, the leader of the resistance, had bloodshot eyes and his expression became increasingly fanatical and excited. This burly man, who was nearly 1.9 meters tall, gradually became thinner, but he was completely unaware of it. After digging a tunnel, he even threw himself onto the pile of gold that had flowed out.

"I'm rich!..."

"We're rich! ... Lots of gold!..."

Behind that rebel, the remaining people looked much the same; their figures gradually became hunched and emaciated, but they were completely unaware of it, as if their life force had been sucked away by something.

—Rebel Army-Bowen (Cursed) (Negative Energy Absorption) (Two-star downgraded to one-star).

——Mercenary Bardin (Cursed) (Negative Energy Absorption) (One star downgraded to unmarked).

Something is wrong!
It all happened so fast.

By the time Duncan reacted and grabbed his weapon, the mercenary named Bardin had already been drained of his life force and reduced to a skeleton. After his only white-marked character disappeared, he turned into a withered, dried-up corpse, his life force completely drained.

The others nearby remained completely oblivious. Bowen even glanced at the corpse beside him, a greedy smile spreading across his face: "Gold!..."

"They're all mine now!..."

Click.

The last star on his body disappeared, and he became emaciated. Large patches of his sparse hair fell out, and his hunched body withered away little by little. In just a few seconds, he turned into a dried-up corpse.

They're all dead!

Duncan became the sole survivor.

Projected page.

He checked his status and, confirming there were no signs of 'cursed' or 'negative energy drain,' immediately turned and retreated with his weapon in hand. Duncan had no idea what kind of monster he had encountered.

Dimensional space.

Just as Duncan retreated rapidly, the red dot marker reappeared in a flash.

Then a row of prompts appeared.

—"Unknown spell detected!...Analyzing and identifying!..."

—"The invocation of the undead has taken effect!"

In an instant.

A chilling wind swept through the dark passage, spreading in all directions. The mercenaries who had just died and turned into mummies all rose to their feet, a faint flame of soul flickering in their pupils.

The leader of the resistance even picked up a gun and aimed it at Duncan's position.

"What the hell is that? A ghost?!"

Duncan retaliated instantly, picking up a rifle and firing bullets that instantly blew off the heads of the few mummies who had just gotten up.

Oh oh oh!
A ghostly whisper rang out, and to Duncan's slightly surprised gaze, a hunched, desiccated corpse crawled swiftly like a ghoul. It pulled the pin on the grenade at its waist, then bit it directly into its mouth, and charged madly toward Duncan's location.

This person wanted to take him down with them. Bang!
Duncan retreated while firing, the bullets hitting the enemy's skull. Amidst the flying bone fragments, the already congealed brain matter exploded like tofu.

Before he could even catch his breath...

At the very spot where the passage had collapsed, a digging sound came from, followed by the emergence of a pale, bony hand. The people who had died at the beginning had also become undead. These undead retained their abilities from life, and could even use firearms and grenades, making them far more threatening than ordinary undead.

Duncan fought and retreated, relying on his God-like perspective to kill them one by one.

A faint light appeared and flowed into his body.

— "Firearms Proficiency: You are already proficient in using conventional firearms and can modify them to a certain extent. This greatly improves the accuracy of your firearms."

By the time Duncan had killed all the undead creatures that had surged forward, he had retreated to the entrance of the passage.

"what?"

Just then, a whisper suddenly echoed in his mind.

Immediately afterward, a white light appeared beside Duncan, and a figure draped in a tattered gray-black robe emerged. It extended a pale finger bone, moving with lightning speed, and the moment it touched Duncan, it froze him in place.

A mark indicating total paralysis appeared on the body of the third human host.

—"You have been affected by the Ghoul's Touch."

—"You have entered a state of paralysis."

hiss!
What a powerful monster.

In the dimensional space, Duncan was already on the verge of taking his hands off the keyboard, because he could no longer control the third human host.

——Ancient Lich (Undead Lord) [Six-Star Silver Gray]!
That's fucking amazing.

This was the first time Duncan had ever seen a unit marked with six stars. Although the power ceiling of World Three was higher, a unit with this level of power would be a major boss anywhere.

"It's the power of the Death Domain!..."

"wrong!"

"Very close, but not."

At this moment, a cluster of eerie blue soul fire ignited in the eye sockets of the ancient lich before him. Under its gaze, Duncan's soul felt as if it were being spied upon. The lich's expression showed a hint of shock, and it murmured, "And dragon blood?"

"The dragons should have died out long ago!..."

With a wave of the lich's hand, the paralysis on Duncan disappeared.

The lich stretched out its palm towards the distance, and soon invisible souls of the dead were extracted and absorbed directly into its body.

It looked Duncan up and down and said slowly, "You don't belong to this world."

"Humanity."

"Where are you from?"

Are we able to communicate?

Although the red hostile markers were still active, the ability to communicate undoubtedly stirred something within Duncan.

If it intended to kill itself, that would also be a matter of necromancy.

Although he stole the third human host, it's such a pity that he died so quietly.

We have to try to survive no matter what.

How could such an ancient monster exist deep underground when the Cult of Mechanics has already taken control of the entire world?

A gust of wind blew by.

The air was filled with a putrid smell, and it was impossible to tell how long it had been buried underground.

Duncan looked up expressionlessly, staring at the lich before him, and said in a low voice, "How can you be so sure that I am human?"

That's right!

He's going to play the evil god.

The current strength of the third human host is so great that it is difficult to even summon a heroic spirit. Unless the first human host is summoned as an immortal heroic spirit, he is no match for this ancient lich.

Now, the best we can do is to act mysteriously and scare it as much as possible.

Even if it fails.

It's also a good opportunity to practice my deception skills.

Sure enough, upon hearing his words, the lich before him became solemn. Several invisible flashes of light appeared on its body, as if it were casting a spell in secret. Its empty eye sockets stared at Duncan before it and said, "An otherworldly evil god?!"

It had just sensed Duncan devouring soul power, which is why it suddenly appeared.

Liches are masters of manipulating souls.

Ordinary mortals find it difficult to even detect the existence of a soul, let alone devour its power.

Duncan didn't answer the question. Instead, with a slightly arrogant expression, he looked down at the lich before him and asked, "How long have you been sleeping underground?"

"Immortal?"

At worst, the third human host will die here. We absolutely cannot show weakness at this time.

………………

(End of this chapter)