Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest

The lich's mocking cackles reverberated in the chamber as he struck the ground with his sparkling staff.

The air distorted around him, a land of eternal darkness and despair replacing the dim basement.

Labyrinths guarded by dreadful creatures and filled with traps and cruel trials rose from the ground. Within their corrosive walls, tortured individuals clawed their sickly faces in pleadings, but no one would help them.

The noise of rushing rivers followed, their cursed waters permeating the air with a vile scent of decay and promised doom.

In the dark sky, two towering divine thrones manifested. And seated on them, two figures obscured by a veil of waving darkness smirked in delight at the poor people's sufferings.

Amidst this horrible scene, the lich opened his arms wide and roared in laughter, acknowledging Hun-Came and Vucub-Came, the Mayan gods of death.

"Keep these charming gentlemen's company in advance. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay like I did before turning myself into a lich to escape them. Hahaha!"

However, where he should have seen a curling-up demon and his trembling eyes, he only saw two swirling, chaotic pools locked on him.

Then, a voice, fiery with resentment and urgency, reverberated with disturbing gurgling and spraying blood.

"Keep your sister company, bastard!"

The few hairs remaining on his scalp bristled as the wind whistled by his ears.

"How?!"

Adam didn't give him time to continue. Instead, his demonic essence flared and condensed into a fiery blade. Empowered by his Chaosbringer, it pulsed with chaotic divine energy as it drew a dark arc through the air.

CRACK

Vertebrae snapped upon impact before the blade exploded. Frozen and scalding Eastern dragons burst free from its structure, engulfing the lich in a contradicting world of ice and fire.

Divine energy scalded his soul while his bones melted and froze with the ground and walls.

"ARGH!"

He roared in agony, knowing he'd die if he didn't command the golem to save him. Yet, the purple flames burning in his eyes flickered as he saw the scarlet blade zoom in his vision.

"Wait! We can negotiate! I know how to evade death and its gods. I can share those secrets with you!"

However, Adam's icy eyes delivered him the answer before he talked.

"Evade it now, then!"

With his words, his Chaosbringer surged toward the lich's weakened neck.

Crunching noises followed as it exploded into a rain of fragments. Like a puppet seeing its string cuts, the body collapsed to the ground, the skulls strapped to its belt shattering one after another.

Simultaneously, the lich's head flew, the ancient temalacatl dropping, as disbelief raged in his mind.

Not even the bravest warrior could endure the sight of Xibalba's horror. Even when he had infiltrated the underworld to steal an amber of its flames, he grappled with insanity with each step. And that's when he was an archmage, an entity only surpassed by mythical creatures like angels and gods!

He had to know how Adam didn't bat an eye.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Tell me why my illusion didn't work!"

"Illusion?"

Adam's lips curled into a vicious smirk as he grabbed the head with his left hand before it rolled on the ground.

"Easy, really. I didn't see anything!"

Miquiztli-Ehua gasped in his grip, feeling the god-like authority coursing through Adam's veins.

"You assimilated a god's body part?!"

However, Adam coughed a mouthful of putrid blood instead of answering. Then he felt the grip tighten around his skull.

"Wait, wait, wait! I have one last question... ARGH!"

BAM

Not giving him time, Adam crushed the desecrated skull, obliterating the death runes engraved on it.

"Learn how to buy time in your next life, fool."

Adam hissed as the dark sun hovering above him stirred. Scalding arcs waltz along the sphere before it flickered in and out of existence. Slowly, it faded—and with it, the unnatural diseases assailing his body halted their ravages.

The ground trembled behind him as the free golem's risen fist crumbled into a cascade of bone fragments and powder.

Without the adrenaline keeping him standing, he collapsed on his rear as his body struggled to repair the damage.

"It hurts. Shit." His lips twisted into a crooked smile. "Never fighting undead again. I'll also ask Muramasa and Durgrim to craft an artefact to ward off their vile curses."

As he cursed the lich, he glanced at his deadly pale generals in the distance. Though shaking on their legs, they seemed fine—especially with Luna's green flames and Ondine's soothing water cleansing the diseases.

He sighed in relief and opened his notifications to check the experience earned. Since the lich claimed to be an archmage, his fingers trembled in excitement. The reward had to be worth the fight, too, so maybe an entire level?

[You have defeated the tier 5 level 80 boss: The eternal lich: Miquiztli-Ehua. You have gained 1.200.000 experience points.]

"That's it?!"

His sharp teeth almost pierced his lip as he swung his fist weakly against the ground. He needed three million and a half to reach level 72, yet he only got a third? And what was wrong with the lich? The fifth tier was only equivalent to an adept, a far cry from a tier seven archmage. Yet, the curses' potency made him frown in doubt. They really seemed like an archmage's spells.

Then, he remembered the exact wording.

"A living archmage. Did his tier drop after he died?"

It sounded right, especially considering the Aztec death god he followed and the Mayan underworld he kept mentioning.

"This bastard has lived in this realm way before the elves and humans. Still, the XP is a scam!"

"Hey! Over here!"

A sudden voice shattered his moment of complaint. He frowned, not recognising its owner.

"Who?"

"The cells."

Intrigued, he pushed himself off the ground and stumbled toward the voice's source.

A moment later, he gazed at a magical creature through rusty bars. Red dots covered its pale skin, the proof of the abuse the lich had put it through by collecting its blood.

He observed its angular face and bulging muscles before he raised his palms.

"A strange color for an orc. What do you want?"

"What does every creature want? Freedom, of course!" Chains rustled as the orc approached the bars. "But first, thank you for killing that bastard. You have no idea how many creatures got their blood drained until they died. I'm just one among many, though."

Adam nodded, sympathising with the orc.

"I see."

The orc shook his head.

"You don't. When the bastard captured me, my skin was a vibrant green. Look at me! I look like a... like a human! What a nightmare."

The orc's limbs tensed, and his jaw clenched as he continued.

"But that's none of your concern. What is, however, is that the human kingdom outside knew about the lich. They just preferred cooperation over subjugation around five thousand years ago. Cowards. We orcs fight without fear of death, even against a necromancer and his skeletal army."

Adam rolled his eyes and sat on the dusty ground.

"I'm too exhausted to hear your story, so cut to the chase."

The orc paused, then struck his muscular chest twice as his voice grew somber.

"Hum. Let me introduce myself first. I'm Vrashnak from the Skalrukh clan from the wilderness West. Many creatures are unsatisfied with the humans' rules. Since you're a powerful demonic dragon hybrid, I want you to help me overthrow them!"