Chapter 72: Berserker and party vs Lich
"Ryuji?"
"Oi!?"
Paul's voice, filled with complete disbelief, reverberated through the air. His eyes were wide with shock while glaring at Asura. "What in the world are you doing, Ryuji?!"
He looked back at him before turning back to the lich and his skeleton warriors. "Paul, you take care of the mages with Alicia." Ryuji grasped his axe and stepped forward. The sight of Simon, Erika, and Yumiko fighting the warriors with all they had entered his eyes. "If you are so worried about Sheila, then protect her."
Without waiting for Paul's response, Ryuji dashed forward, slamming his axe into the nearest skeleton warrior, crushing his bones and using the gap to charge through. Ryuji ignored Paul's voice, calling him and Sheila's collapsed figure on the ground outside the battlefield.
"Simon! Erika! Yumiko! Focus on killing those warriors first!" Ryuji roared before his tattoos shimmered on his chest and turned a burning scarlet colour.
He swung his axe in a large arc before breaking through and rushing towards the throne. The lich watched with his icy gaze, tapping the stone arms of his throne with a bemused smirk on his pale bony lips.
"Dear challenger, has thou come to lose your life after abandoning your allies?" His elegant voice transmitted into Ryuji's mind. But Ryuji continued dashing forward.
He grasped the handle, tensing his muscles while pouring all his power into the strike using [Ravaging Blow] along with his new skill.
"Grasp of Blood!" Ryuji's tattoos glowed before a hand formed in the air and grasped the lich by the throat before he could react. Ryuji roared, focusing on using all his rage while using the grasp of blood on the lich. [Bloodfury activated!]
Ryuji's tattoos transformed into a burning scarlet colour. Rage energy surged from his body while he used his grasp of blood to hold the Lich in place, rushing forward while using his ravaging blow, clenching his axe before lifting it into the air.
"Die!"
BOOM
Ryuji's ravaging blow, empowered by his blood fury and holding the lich in place using his Grasp of blood, slammed down upon the Lich's head, shattering it before his axe tore through the lich's entire shattered body. Ryuji roared before falling onto his knees.
[Bloodfury has ended] His tattoos turned dull black while the grasp of blood shattered, and the lich's destroyed body shuddered, shaking before regenerating its skull and then the rest of its body. The process seemed to take a while, Ryuji's sapphire eyes watching the entire process as if trying to understand it.
"Dear challenger... Thou would dare?"
Ryuji looked up, his eyes filled with excitement. Flipping his axe, she swung with an upward arc. "Grasp of Blood."
BOOM
He used the grasp to pull down the Lich's healing head into the axe. The Lich's skull shattered once more before Ryuji lifted his axe in the air. "Grasp of blood." Once again, his tattoos turned scarlet while rage energy swirled through his body. Over and over, he crushed, chopped and shattered the lich's skull.
However, Ryuji understood after the tenth smash. No matter how many times he shattered the Lich's skull, the damned thing wouldn't die.
"Dear challenger. Your rage and perpetual ignorance are no way to destroy this king's soul."
"Hahaha, but it felt good!" Ryuji's lips curled into a crescent arc, and his eyes became pitch black with eerie sapphire pupils filled with madness and enjoyment.
"Dear challenger, then thou' would DIE!"
Dark purple rays fired from the lich's restored body while Ryuji dashed backwards, swinging his axe while roaring out the rays weaker than the earlier beam, his axe deflecting several hits, but two bypassed his guard, penetrating his abdomen.
Ryuji didn't groan or show pain. Instead, his laughter became wilder, and his teeth appeared more pointed as his axe swung wildly, crushing the lich each time he suffered a hit. His axe would strike the lich twice.
****
Paul watched the madness of Ryuji's self-mutilation, his purple missiles destroying the last skeleton mage, allowing him to take a breather. "Shit, Ryuji, stop this madness!" Paul shouted before Sheila groaned and awoke, grasping his shoulder while looking at Asura in astonishment.
"Don't stop him; since Ryuji occupies the lich, we have time to destroy its hidden soul chalice. It will look like a phylactery or jar made in the past, with delicate runes and various gemstones that allow the soul to continue reviving." Though she spoke calmly, her eyes gazing at the lich burned with a rage equal to the berserker currently stomping on the Lich's head.
Paul was hesitant until Sheila looked at Ryuji, grinding her mace, and watched her party member laugh and chop the Lich without hesitation.
"A berserker's mental condition does not cause that level of madness, Paul. There is something more. Do you really think a berserker would be able to resist that much damage and magic and keep regenerating on par with the Lich?" Sheila bit her lips with a flicker of jealousy in her eyes. Her holy light and runes wrapped around her, and Paul could feel a dangerous pressure from her body.
"Berserkers would prioritise rage and endure magic like a tank. But within reason, they cannot fight like Ryuji. I have met several, and there is a reason that the class is ranked C+ at best. He is different, there is something wrong, or his class isn't a simple berserker!
Ryuji is crazier than a berserker, Paul." Sheila's holy light wrapped around her body while her eyes shone, searching the entire area.
"Paul, search the castle walls!"
"Walls? Wait, Sheila!?" Paul followed up, his runes wrapping around him, his palms pressed together, as he formed several huge red spears while Ryuji's insane laughter and the Lich's furious roars echoed through the air.
Paul charged towards the castle walls before slamming his rune spears into them. At the moment of impact, the walls exploded, and bricks, dust, and debris shot around the dungeon floor, revealing various strange items and pots. Paul then realised what she meant.
"Soul Chalice! Ryuji, buy us some more ti-"
"Paul!" Erika's scream entered Paul's ears, interrupting him while Simon's roar echoed through the air. "Paul, support Yumiko, or she will die!" In the centre of the battlefield, seven skeletal warriors attacked her, using her agile body to dodge their attacks.
They surrounded Yumiko, who used her bladed gauntlets to deflect the attacks she couldn't dodge. However, her defence was lacking against so many skeleton warriors, and Paul's eyes watched her figure stumble.
A blade cut through the air, aiming for her neck as she blocked two other swords from her sides, unable to protect herself.
Ryuji's gaze leered back, his body moving out of complete instinct and desire—lugging his massive axe, he tore through the skeleton, trying to stab Yumiko, and crushed the other two on her sides. A red energy swirled around his abdomen, enshrouding his body as his tattoos turned scarlet.
"Die, dearest challenger!"
"Ryuji--watch out!"
Simon's panicked roar entered Ryuji's ears, but Yumiko was wounded. Several wounds marred her face, and her armour was torn while bleeding profusely. It seemed as if only she entered Ryuji's eyes as his hand stroked her cheek.
"Sorry I let you get injured." Ryuji's axe slammed into another skeleton warrior, approaching him and Yumiko while his tattoos shimmered. He then felt the energy coming from the lich, turning slightly. "Don't disturb me!" Then, using his grasp of blood, he grabbed the lich and smashed his face on the floor—the strange thing is that two hands appeared this time...
Paul and Sheila continued to smash the walls and castle, searching for the phylactery and smashing any pots or jars they found. They ignored the battle while Yumiko looked at Ryuji's devilish state in awe.
"Ryuji..."
"Ignore everything; it's all right." Ryuji's sapphire pupils gazed at Yumiko. He could feel her fear, worry, and concern.
However, Ryuji ignored her emotions while desperately holding the lich down. "Yumiko, please just support Paul and Sheila. Destroy anything you see. Smash, shatter, and break everything inside those walls!" Ryuji ordered before looking at Simon.
"Hey, old man, take Erika and protect Yumiko. Don't let the skeletons harm her anymore."
Simon couldn't react to Ryuji's abrupt commands before his eyes gazed at Yumiko. "Damn him, little brat, acting cool..."
Meanwhile, the Lich broke free of Ryuji's claws, its body finally forced to stand, no longer seated. The Lich no longer spoke with an elegant voice; instead, it became angry and aggressive. "Filthy Traitor! Your foolish games have annoyed me far too much!" Ryuji's party wiped out his skeleton warriors.
Now it pulled a thin sword from the void, the skeletal arms on its body cracking before they split into four, each holding a blade. "Disgusting hybrid! I will tear you apart!"
Ryuji wiped the blood from his nose and rushed forward, holding his axe while his sapphire pupils leered at the Lich in joy. "Little bone king, will you amuse me? I will take pleasure in stealing your power and making you into a forgotten pile of bone!"
"YOU ARROGANT LITTLE BOY!" Bellowed the Lich, whose body was wrapped in a mist of black magic that seemed to empower his entire body.
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