Avoid Yandere Constellation

Wait, how did they get here so early?

Even though he had been delayed by killing the other adventurers, it was still surprising that they had arrived before him.

‘No matter what, this is unexpected.’

How could they arrive before him when he was leisurely strolling? Moreover, they must have been fighting zombies along the way.

‘How are they not even tired?’

Well, considering Jenny and Eileen’s skills, it was only natural.

As he was wondering about this, the Lich, standing next to the Bone Dragon, folded his arms and spoke arrogantly.

‘So, they were waiting for us.’

The boss monster was unnecessarily friendly. In the game, the Lich was trapped in this place, longing for a worthy opponent to fight.

Otherwise, there was no reason for them not to engage in battle with the Lich.

Kaine ignored the Lich and asked his companions, “By the way, when did you guys get here? I thought I was pretty fast myself.”

“We just arrived a while ago, Kaine.”

“We did too. We just got here.”

“But you’re still the last one.”

If only he hadn’t mentioned being the last one. Jenny smirked, but Kaine ignored her.

“You there.”

The Lich pointed at Kaine. Kaine turned his head from side to side and then pointed at himself.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. I have a question for you.”

“Hmm?”

Did the Lich really want to have a conversation before the fight? Kaine stared at him, indicating that he should go ahead and ask.

“How did you control my minions, the zombies? No one has ever been able to do that before.”

“Oh, so that’s what you wanted to know.”

I thought it was something else. Well, it was only natural for the Lich to be curious. After all, throughout his long life, from ancient times to the present, he had never encountered a power that could steal his minions.

‘But how do I explain this?’

To be honest, it was a cash shop item! But there was no way the Lich would understand that. In fact, there was no reason to tell him at all.

“Wow, and you’re the last one to arrive?”

“As I thought, you got information about this place from Ange. Now I understand why I was paired with Jenny.”

“What? When did you learn that magic, Kaine? Teach me too.”

At that moment, Jenny, Eileen, and Skaya suddenly joined the conversation. The atmosphere was so casual that it seemed like they were here to have fun rather than conquer the dungeon.

Kaine tried to ignore their comments and answered the Lich’s question.

“It’s a trade secret, you bastard.”

“Well, I can always torture you to find out.”

As the Lich snapped his fingers, a complex-looking magic circle appeared in the air.

“Wow, is this a coincidence?”

Skaya, slightly surprised, snapped her fingers as well.

“Woong!”

The same magic circle that the Lich had used appeared. The next moment…

“Boom!”

The two lightning bolts collided as if they were trying to match each other. They canceled each other out.

“I’ve never seen anyone else use non-verbal magic except for you.”

“I’ve never seen it either.”

The two of them looked at each other in surprise. This reaction was understandable. Unlike other traits, non-verbal magic was rarely possessed by anyone.

‘In the game, only those two and the constellations and dukes had it.’

Skaya and the Lich glared at each other. Then…

“Boom! Boom!”

They started casting the same magic repeatedly, as if they were having a magic duel.

‘Should I help?’

As expected, Skaya seemed to be at a disadvantage. Unlike her, the Lich had lived for a very long time.

However…

‘That’s only in the game.’

This was not a game; it was reality. The Skaya in the game and the real Skaya were completely different.

In the game, Skaya should have been expelled for harassing Rain, but in reality, she had received magic teachings from the grand wizard.

So, it was too early to make assumptions.

‘If she’s at a disadvantage, I can help and we can use couple magic.’

As he was thinking this, the Bone Dragon suddenly charged towards him.

“What? Why is this guy coming towards me?”

There were two other people in front of him, yet the Bone Dragon ignored them and focused solely on Kaine. Even the Lich seemed puzzled.

“Why are you doing this, Kaisel?!”

The Lich, who was in the middle of a magic duel with Skaya, couldn’t hide his surprise, even with his distorted face.

Skaya didn’t miss this opportunity.

“Do you think I’m easy prey?”

She quickly cast a spell, taking advantage of the brief opening.

“Kreeee!”

The Lich was slightly pushed back by Skaya’s magic.

“Kaine, dodge it!”

“Hey, why are you spacing out?!”

At that moment, the Bone Dragon swung its bony arm down. Kaine casually dodged by kicking back.

“Boom!”

The floor was shattered by the Bone Dragon’s arm.

‘So, dragons are dragons after all.’

The Bone Dragon was using only a fraction of its power from its previous life. Nonetheless, the attack was formidable.

‘But it’s too slow.’Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Why was the Bone Dragon persistently targeting him? As he wondered about this, dodging the Bone Dragon’s attacks, a vibration came from his Space ring.

‘Ah… is that the reason?’

He understood why the Bone Dragon was acting this way. It was because of the Dragon Heart.

Of course, this couldn’t be the Bone Dragon’s actual heart. It was most likely that the Lich had already used it.

‘There’s no way he would have left it untouched.’

Anyway, the reason the Bone Dragon was chasing him was due to its instinct. It wanted to absorb the power of the living Dragon Heart and be reborn. In other words, it was trying to steal someone else’s possession.

“You’re poorly educated.”

Kaine punched the Bone Dragon’s jaw with all his might.

“Boom!”

The punch seemed to have some effect, as the Bone Dragon’s jaw cracked.

Jenny and Eileen, witnessing this, raised one corner of their mouths in amusement.

“Is it possible to do that with just a punch?”

“It wouldn’t work on most people, but it’s different with you.”

“Forget about watching and help me now.”

At Kaine’s words, both Jenny and Eileen nodded.

“Hyaaa!”

In that moment, they slashed at the Bone Dragon, who was lying on the ground, its body enhanced with aura. The Lich, who witnessed this, was startled.

“Kaisel!”

He shouted with a worried tone, as if he were a dog owner seeing his pet being bullied by other dogs.

“You should have trained him better.”

Skaya, with a mocking tone, continued to fire spells without giving the Lich a chance to recover. Normally, the Lich would have been able to defend against such spells.

“Kreeee!”

The Lich’s attention was elsewhere, worried about his pet dragon being bullied. As a result, Skaya’s spells kept pushing the ancient Lich back.

For the Lich, this was quite humiliating. He was being outmatched in a magic duel by a girl who was probably in her early twenties.

‘Well, Skaya is a magical genius, unlike the Lich.’

And aside from that, the two of them were fundamentally different. While Skaya specialized in offensive magic, the Lich was more focused on research.

‘His strength lies more in research.’

Of course, if Skaya studied research, she would probably learn faster than the Lich. But in the game’s setting, the Lich was a researcher who had been cooped up in this temple, conducting research day and night.

In other words, what I’m trying to say is…

“I haven’t perfected my research yet, and I didn’t want to do this, damn it!”

This marked the beginning of the second phase. The Lich pushed Skaya’s spells away with a barrier. At the same time…

“Hyaaa!”

Light began to emanate from the Lich’s heart.

“Woong!”

Kaine’s Space ring vibrated faster than before. The reaction indicated that it was resonating with the Lich’s heart.

‘So, that’s why he wanted the Dragon Heart.’

In the game, the heart just glowed, so Kaine didn’t pay much attention to it. But now, he understood why the second phase looked the way it did.

It made sense. The Lich continued, “This temple was built by humans for Kaisel. At that time, many people revered dragons as gods. Of course, even dragons couldn’t withstand the passage of time and eventually died.”

What? Why is this guy suddenly acting like a know-it-all? Kaine was momentarily surprised by this new information that he hadn’t encountered in the game.

“In other words, don’t let your guard down just because you stabbed the heart of a dragon that was once revered as a god!”

“Woong!”

The Lich turned towards Kaine as he spoke. Kaine felt a chill run down his spine, and an alarm bell rang in his head. He needed to run away right now. He kicked back to create some distance between himself and the Lich.

“Get lost, human.”

Breath, powerful enough to surprise anyone, was released from the transformed Lich, who had taken on the form of a dragonkin.

“Hyaaa!”

Despite being weakened by the damage to its heart, the Breath was still formidable. Seeing it up close, rather than through a screen, would make anyone’s hair stand on end.

‘Damn it. This is the only way.’

The Breath was right in front of him. The next moment…

“Kaboom!”

The ground behind Kaine was completely blown apart, even though it wasn’t in direct contact with the iron door. The Breath was so powerful that white steam rose from the ground.

For a moment, Jenny, Eileen, and Skaya looked at the spot where Kaine had been standing.

“Kaine?”

“Hey, are you alive?”

“Are you okay?”

However, contrary to their expectations…

“…”

There was no trace of Kaine, not even the melted ground where he had been standing. It was as if he had never been there in the first place. The dragonkin, formerly the Lich, smirked.

“Finally, one of them is dead.”

But perhaps Kaine’s ambush had worked…

“Kreeee!”

The dragonkin wrapped his arms around his heart and examined his body, his forehead furrowed in concentration.

“Damn that guy. If it weren’t for that ambush, I would have succeeded.”

At that moment…

“Hyaaa!”

“Woong!”

Eileen enhanced her body with aura, and Skaya channeled her magical power.

“I’ll tear this lizard bastard to shreds.”

“I won’t make it easy for you.”

“Interesting opponents have arrived.”

The dragonkin smirked, seeing the fierce determination in the two women. It seemed like he had found some entertaining opponents after a long time.