Maddy reached out, her Hellmouth icon flickering instinctively over the bodies. The familiar hunger stirred within her, ready to devour the remains but instead, it only made the truth clearer.
"Yes... sweetie, they are dead."
But then, the icon vanished.
"What? Why did that happen— why is Hellmouth gone? HOW? That has never happened before."
Suddenly, the bodies began to twitch. It started as a rhythmic spasm, a sickening soundsof bone hitting stone. Their limbs jerked at impossible angles.
Maddy’s eyes snapped wide open, her body instantly shifting into a battle stance.
"What the—?!"
She stumbled back a step as the corpses jerked violently, the sound of bone cracking against stone echoing through the cavern. Her skin crawled, a deep instinct screaming at her that sothing was very wrong.
"That’s not normal... dead things don’t just start moving again!"
Her gaze darted to the vanished icon, then back to the twitching bodies. A cold realization crept up her spine.
"...Don’t tell soone else is claiming them."
From the center of the pile, a figure rose. As the last traces of purple mana faded, sothing erged... draped in a tattered spectral cloak that seed to drink the light around it. It was a skeleton, its bones yellowed like old parchnt, floating inches above the ground. In its hand was a staff made from a human spine, crowned with a glowing necro-crystalline skull.
Maddy’s pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"Oh hell no."
[New Monsterpedia Entry Added: Lich]
[Lich (Alpha Form) — Habitat: Ruins / Ancient Tombs / Cursed Towers / Catacombs/ Battefields]
[A powerful undead spellcaste. Unlike mindless undead, a Lich retains its intelligence, knowledge, and magical mastery, making it one of the most dangerous undead entities. It commands lesser undead such as zombies, skeletons, and spirits, using them as servants and guardians. The air around a Lich is often saturated with death mana, causing nearby creatures to weaken while empowering the undead.]
[Magic: 800,000 | Might: 300,000]
Lucy instantly fed her more information.
[Response: This is an Alpha form undead, Maddy. It ans it is exceptionally powerful. Destroying its physical body does not guarantee victory, as the Lich can regenerate so long as its soul vessel remains intact.]
Maddy’s jaw tightened, her fingers curling into claws of violet light as a wave of tension coursed through her body.
"So... it’s not just tough. It’s smart, cunning, and killing the bones won’t even finish it. And this undead carries the highest level of magic I’ve ever encountered. Just looking at it, I can feel how imnse that power is."
Her eyes flicked to her children, wide eyed but ready, then towards the corpses and back to the floating Lich. A thin line of dark amusent mixed with steel ran across her face.
"You... I will make sure you pay for what you’ve done to these people!"
The Lich slamd its staff into the ground. A ripple of black mana surged outward, jerking the corpses into unnatural life. Their hands creaked and cracked as they gripped their weapons, then hurled them toward Maddy and her children with deadly precision.
Arach’s weaponized limbs blurred into motion.
"Mother, they’re coming!"
Sephiran’s eyes went wide.
"Sorry, Mother... we have to kill them again, even though they just died..."
Dyralfa flexed her claws, muscles coiling.
"I don’t want to tear up sothing already dead, but if it attacks my family, I’ll shred them thrice over!"
Frovian’s palms ignited, flas licking the air. His glare was fixed not on the zombies, but the Lich itself.
"Mother, that undead mage is mine. This cave is far too small for the two of us. I AM THE ONLY GENIUS HERE!"
Maddy’s expression darkened, her lips pressing into a thin line as her eyes softened.
"No... this is cruel. They were already gone... and now this..."
She clenched her fists, a pang of sorrow twisting through her chest as she watched the corpses jerk violently, forced into battle against her own children.
"They do not deserve this tornt. I won’t let them suffer like this... but I can’t let my family be hard either."
Her gaze shifted to her children, a mix of grief and resolve settling over her.
"Stay close, everyone... we’ll end this, for them."
[New Monsterpedia Entry Added: Zombie]
[Zombie — Habitat: Graveyards / Ruins / Battlefields / Caves]
[A reanimated corpse animated by lingering death mana or dark magic. Though their minds are mostly lost, zombies often retain fragnts of the strength and physical abilities they possessed in life. A fallen warrior may still swing a blade with deadly force, while forr soldiers or hunters may instinctively wield the weapons buried with them. Their rotting bodies feel little pain and continue moving even after sustaining severe injuries that would kill a living creature. Their bites and claws carry dangerous rot and infection, making even small wounds fatal over ti. Individually slow and crude, zombies beco extrely dangerous when they gather in large numbers, overwhelming prey through relentless persistence.]
"RAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Maddy didn’t even have ti to read the full description as the undead charged with feral speed and hunger. She shouted imdiately—
"Everyone! These are not just ordinary moving corpses—they are zombies! They still have the physical abilities from their previous lives! Do not treat them like normal corpses!"
She quickly appraised them, but each zombie displayed different stats.
[Magic: 300,000 | Might: 150,000]
[Magic: 250,000 | Might: 350,000]
[Magic: 200,000 | Might: 100,000]
"Wha—why do they all have different stats!? Is it because—"
[Response: Yes. These zombies are not normal monsters that spawn from natural mana. They were created. Their magic and might depend on the strength they possessed in life.]
In an instant, the battle erupted with a sickening cacophony of scraping tal and guttural moans. The ten zombies didn’t shuffle like mindless husks; they lunged with the residual muscle mory of high-ranking adventurers.
Arach was the first to engage. Two of his sword arms parried a rusted axe swung by a zombie berserker, while his other two limbs drove forward and impaled a second undead straight through the chest.
Arach imdiately felt the difference between an undead body and the other monsters he had fought before.
"Tch! They do not feel any pain at all. They are not even stopping when they get impaled!"
Dyralfa roared, eting a zombie brawler head on. She caught the undead’s fist in her palm, the sound of the impact echoing like a hamr on an anvil.
"This zombie knows how to throw a punch, but it hits like a feather!"
She spun, her heavy tail slamming into the zombie’s midsection with enough force to shatter stone, but the creature simply crawled back up, its spine snapping back into place.
"Damn, these zombies are more annoying than those ghosts!"
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