I became a legion lich

231 Prototype

‘Where did I put that thing? It’s been so long since I created it that I don’t know anymore.’ Lukas thought. There were dozens of chests of equipment he had crafted but deemed unworthy of displaying on the walls and refused to sell to the order.

‘Come on, attack us or try to run away at once so we can end this. There’s no point wasting time here.’ One of the twins thought, annoyed at Lukas’s stalling to start the attack.

Both had already activated the defenses of the armor they wore hidden under the cloak and were just waiting for the attack. The cloaks hid the aura of power from their armor and even Lukas was only able to dimly guess at their defensive power.

‘I finally found it, but it takes a few minutes to take effect, so it’s better to pretend I’m runesmithing something while I buy time.’ Lukas picked up an item that looked like a remote control and pressed a magic stone as if it were a button before putting it in his pocket.

The twins noticed its strange movement and narrowed their eyes suspiciously, trying to guess what it was but they didn’t recognize the strange object. One of them even used mana vision to try to detect some effect, but everything inside the room had a strong magic aura and almost blinded him.

Lukas moved to the center of the lab, where several magic circles were drawn on the floor, with lines connecting to a divine mithril anvil in the center of the table. An unenchanted mithril spear and ingredients flew onto the anvil and Lukas immediately set to work.

The magic circles activated at a thought by Lukas, filtering the world’s energy until it was in perfect balance. World energy usually had more energy of one element than others depending on the region and Lukas liked to work with them 100% balanced.

He believed that any imbalance in world energy could negatively affect the enchantments he would runesmithing. Lukas set to work once the world’s energy was perfectly balanced, various runes made of mana appearing around him and combining in different sequences.

The twins were stunned to watch Lukas work, even momentarily forgetting their duty. According to their common sense and everything they knew, runes were supposed to be created by gathering the world’s energy into metals, but Lukas was doing the exact opposite and creating them with his own mana.

.....

‘That parlor trick should leave them gaping for a while and give me the time I need to activate the device.’ Lukas thought as he held back the urge to laugh and controlled the runes made of mana.

He had diluted his own mana to the same level as a first tier mage, but the twins were unable to tell the difference because of the magic circles on the floor. The magic circles contained energy within to prevent explosions from leaving the area of effect and clouded the effects of abilities such as mana vision.

All the twins could see were glowing runes and they didn’t like that one bit.

‘I do not like it. Lukas is really a runesmith something, but he’s obviously biding his time for something and I can’t do anything until he takes the first step.’ One of the twins thought irritably and motioned for his brother to step back from him.

He intended to use himself as a first shield for whatever was to come.

“It’s finally done!” Lukas yelled impatiently and the controller in his pocket released a strong purple light. “Sorry for the stalling, we can get started now.”

Lukas turned to the guards and snapped his fingers, activating the mansion’s enchantments and sealing away all energy in the world. Even though the twins were out of their lab, all of the world’s energy became inaccessible to the mages.

The twin watchmen were shocked for half a second before their century of training kicked in and they sent out the alert. Normal magic items were unable to work without world energy, but items with teleportation crystals could work purely on mana.

“Because it does not work??” Unfortunately for the guards, Lukas pioneered crystal technology and knew how to interfere with the crystals themselves. Thersec was the creator of communication cubes and communication items, but it was just a spinoff of his work.

“It’s thanks to that toy.” Lukas took the controller out of his pocket, which continued to glow purple. “This item is capable of interfering with the signal or portals of other teleportation crystals, rendering them unusable. It is a prototype of forced teleportation enchantments.”

“I abandoned the project because it’s inefficient in terms of energy consumption, but I didn’t expect it to be useful now. And Thersec judged me as a hoarder just for hanging on to my creations and refusing to throw them away.” Lukas proudly began to explain his creation, but the watchmen would not listen.

The younger twin turned and started running up the stairs to get away, while the older twin charged like a cannonball at Lukas. Without magic, his only weapon would be his own body and the daggers he kept hidden.

“Do you really plan on fighting a runesmith inside your lab? There are less stupid ways to commit suicide, like trying to steal a phoenix’s eggs.” Lukas sneered and snapped his fingers a second time, the weapons on the walls flying towards Lukas and floating around him.

The weapons on display in his laboratory were not just ornaments or decorations, but his finest masterpieces which he refused to sell and kept for personal use. All weapons moved according to Lukas’s thoughts and didn’t need to be micromanaged, completely following his will.

All weapons received a spark of their life force, causing the mansion’s enchantments to recognize them as a Ripha and allowing them to activate their enchantments.

With a third snap of his fingers, the underground exit closed again and the stairs were filled with a green mist. The guard who fled tried to keep moving forward, but his robe started to melt and he was unable to continue breathing.

His armor was supposed to purify poison passively, but the acidic gas replaced all oxygen and prevented him from breathing. Despite all his power, he was still the human and he needed to breathe to live.

‘Thanks to my enhanced body I can keep myself without breathing for almost 10 minutes, but I won’t be able to destroy the mansion’s reinforced floor without magic and this gas will kill me.’ The twin thought, his blue cloak disappearing and exposing the god steel armor he wore underneath.

A blue barrier adhered to his body like a second skin and protected him from the gas, but he saw that he would not be able to resist much against the acidic gas. Somehow, the acid was corroding the barrier personally created by the Water Elder and it wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.

He turned around in an instant and started heading back down to the lab, his hope that the lab wasn’t affected by the gas and that together with his brother, they could defeat Lukas.

In the lab, the guard was fighting tooth and nail to try to keep up with Lukas’ attacks. The weapons floating around Lukas attacked him from different angles and with incredible force.

The different weapons activated their enchantments at random times, making their attacks unpredictable and even more deadly. His divine steel armor and blue barrier blocked everything, but the attacks quickly scraped the barrier’s energy and the attacks forced him to stop for a second, leaving him exposed to further attacks.

‘If I hadn’t previously activated the armor’s defensive enchantments, I would have already lost. The water elder hadn’t informed us of an item capable of interfering with the signal, but since it’s only a prototype, it must be something that no one else knows about.’ The guard thought as he dodged an unyielding spear aimed at his chest, only for a mace to hit him in the back of the knee.

Two sabers tried to slash him from behind, and though he managed to block both with his daggers, the spear he’d deflected earlier came back and hit him this time.

Lukas stood at a distance just watching him fight, two shields hovering around him and a wooden staff in his hands for casting spells.

The second twin arrived soon after and the fight was more or less even, at least until Lukas entered the fray. He stayed back and didn’t rush to cast his best spells.

Icy lightning rained down on the guards as a tornado of ice blades surrounded the guards. Weapons also intensified their attacks, darting in and out of tornadoes to release their enchantments and exit to avoid retaliation.

‘We will lose without a fight if this continues.’ The older twin thought and charged into the tornado, running towards Lukas. Its already faded blue barrier weakened further and cracks began to appear across its surface.

His younger brother followed without a second’s hesitation, immediately understanding the plan. The eldest was taking most of the damage, so he had the energy to fight.