Possessing Nothing Novel (쥐뿔도 없는 회귀)

Chapter 60 - Heart

The lich muttered that and turned around. Bound to the wall, Sungmin glared at the lich's face. Kim Jonghyun's warning circled around his head. He was right. Sungmin shouldn't have come to this dungeon.

"Today's a good day. And also... a very lucky one. The one I saw in the past, who had the same twisted karma as you, was a freak that I couldn't do anything about...."

Sungmin's body trembled violently at the lich's words. Sungmin tried to move his lips in attempt to voice something out, but his lips did not move at all. Even voice transmission was blocked, and so his question only circled around his mouth.

"With your soul as the sacrifice, my dearest wishes will become close to completion."

Saying that, the lich raised both of his hands. The magic formation engraved on the ground emitted ominous light. The incantation that the lich was doing sounded as though it was not of this world, that is, Eria. Just listening to it made Sungmin feel dizzy and his vision blurred.

He wanted to scream out loud, but his sealed lips did not move at all.

The long incantation finished. The magic formation no longer emitted any light. Instead, a freezing cold air engulfed the room. His breath froze white. The cold air seeped into his bones and his body trembled like a leaf.

"That" was in a form that was invisible to the naked eyes. It looked as though darkness had clumped together, yet it also looked like white fog. When he thought that, "that" became a man, and then a woman. Depending on what Sungmin thought, it endlessly changed form, and Sungmin's mind shook after seeing those endless changes.

Fear.

Sungmin felt fear. He wasn't unfamiliar to fear. He had felt it several times. However, the fear he was feeling now was fundamentally different from the fear he had felt before. A mysterious something that he knew nothing about – looking at that inexplicable thing was eroding his mind with crazy fear.

"I offer this sacrifice."

Both of his hands raised, the lich slowly kneeled down. The lich, that showed extraordinary might, was not kneeling down and worshipping.

The being's gaze headed to Sungmin. When the two gazes met, Sungmin felt as though his head had exploded. The pain he felt made him wish that his head had exploded instead.

"...What?"

A moment later, the lich let out a voice of surprise.

"W, wait. What do you mean by that? Something... no, that can't be. That can't be true, right? Jus why...?"

His head ached. His breath became rough. Each and every one of his cells froze in fear, and his heart beat slowly. Death. He felt... death looming over him. Just from that gaze, Sungmin imagined death.

"That's... no way....."

The lich muttered as though everything was in vain. The gaze of the being that was looking at Sungmin, was no more. Sungmin gasped a deep breath. Thump, thump – the heart that was beating slowly until it stopped started beating again. Sungmin's body trembled.

"No... no. I shall offer another offering. Yes... so...."

The black mage struggled. He hurriedly rummaged around his sleeves and took out a large jewel. When the black mage put the jewel on the altar, the being's gaze looked down at the jewel. The darkness, the fog, swallowed up the jewel.

Then, the being blurred out and disappeared. The magic formation drawn on the ground completely disappeared. The lich looked up at the air in vain, and collapsed down on his knees.

"The offering... was refused?"

The lich muttered in a powerless voice. After staring at empty space for a while, the lich suddenly stood up, he turned around to glare at Sungmin and his shoulders trembled.

"You... just what are you?"

That was what Sungmin wanted to ask instead. He didn't understand what was happening.

"Even if your karma was twisted, you should have a value as an offering... no.... your value as an offering should rise due to your twisted karma. But why are you not accepted as an offering?"

The lich muttered in a very confused voice. He staggered towards Sungmin. The lich's palm faced Sungmin. Sungmin, who was bound to the wall, slowly levitated towards the lich.

"Show me everything!"

The lich shouted. Blue eyefire glistened in the darkness. An invisible form of magic assaulted Sungmin's mind. It was a magic that forcefully extracted memories. Although it was efficient, the side effect was that the target would literally become an idiot.

Perhaps it would feel like this if ants crawled on top of the brain. Sungmin's body trembled violently. His eyes turned white. This was a sign of his memories being forcefully read, his mind being dominated, and his psyche collapsing.

That was how it was supposed to be.

"Kaaaaaak!"

The lich suddenly screamed. He trembled as though being struck by lightning before staggering backwards and falling down. Sungmin's eyes still looked blank. The lich's trembling hands tried to grab his non-existent head. This was a 'head'ache that he had felt for the first time after becoming a lich.

"Ah... Uuuuuuh! Khhh!"

Collapsed onto the floor, the lich screamed. The lich's psyche was shaken, and the magic that bound Sungmin's body disappeared. Falling onto the ground, Sungmin's body collapsed onto the floor powerlessly. After groaning for a long while, the lich swayed his hands and distanced himself from Sungmin. Half-crazy, the lich didn't even think about what to do with Sungmin. He just wanted to run. The lich did not try to understand the emotions and impulse that he was feeling. He just fled, just as he had felt. The lich's body disappeared from the chamber.

Not long after, the light in Sungmin's eyes returned. The painful headache had disappeared. Sungmin staggered as he tried to stand up.

"...Wh... what the?"

Sungmin didn't understand what had happened. The magic that bound his body was gone. The lich was nowhere to be seen. ... Where did he go? Sungmin hurriedly looked around. The lich was not in this chamber. He combed through his memories. The lich extended his hand towards him... and then.... he couldn't remember what happened afterwards. Perhaps he had felt a strong headache and fainted.

What happened while I fainted? – thought Sungmin. He was alone in the room. No, that wasn't the important thing right now. Although he couldn't exert much strength into his body, he took a deep breath and put his hands against the wall to support himself. In a corner of a room was the spear he received from selgerus. Sungmin took his spear and headed towards the closed door.

He didn't know where the black mage was, but what was important right now was to escape this place.