The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2: Chapter 345

Peran hurriedly ran towards Snow.

That wasn’t like him. There was a mountain of corpses in front of them, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any undead still alive.

It was even possible that Snow was used as bait to lure Peran.

“…Torkunta, keep an eye on the surroundings.”

“Don’t order me around.”

Torkunta replied in a harsh voice, but Lukas took it as a sign of acceptance and followed after Peran. He didn’t forget to look around for any traces of movement as he moved.

‘They’re all corpses.’

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That was the conclusion he eventually reached. Even if there was an undead that could miraculously hide from him, he didn’t think it would also be able to fool Torkunta’s sharp senses.

Lukas soon arrived beside Peran.

…Snow de Predickwood.

The Elf Queen’s body was half submerged.

“…”

But she didn’t look like a corpse.

Was it because her skin had always been deathly pale? Or was he having this thought simply because he refused to accept reality?

Peran was looking down at her body with a stunned expression.

This was Lukas’ first time seeing such an absentminded expression on this man who was always quite calm.

Lukas also had a hard time believing it, but it was clear that he was much calmer than Peran at the moment.

“Calm down.”

“…”

Peran remained silent, but he let out a shaky breath.

Lukas looked at him for a bit longer before turning back to Snow.

…He couldn’t feel any traces of life from her face which looked like an ice sculpture.

He checked her pulse… Her wrist was cold. It felt like he was touching a chunk of ice instead of a person’s skin. Moreover, he could not feel a pulse.

0

“…why the hell did a Swordsman like you…”

Lukas couldn’t suppress the slight hitch in his voice as he spoke.

“This can’t… be real…!”

Splash!

Peran fell to his knees. In an instant, his clothes were soaked in the rotten water, but he didn’t care. He grabbed Snow’s wrist and placed his hand under her nose.

Lukas carefully looked at Snow’s body from a step away.

What was the cause of death?

…The first thing he noticed was two holes on her abdomen,

The first hole was small, similar to a stab wound from a sword. It pierced through her clothes and skin and ripped the internal organs beneath.

The second hole was much larger than the first, and the shape of the wound was quite strange. It looked more like something had burst from her abdomen rather than stabbed into it.

This meant that something had come out from inside Snow, ripping through her intestines and skin on the way out.

Lukas narrowed his eyes.

‘An application of space magic…’

There were traces of sinister mana.

So it was probably the Blink spell mixed with black magic.

Nevertheless, in order to deceive the heightened senses of someone like Snow, it would have required a very complex and stealthy formula.

As far as Lukas knew, there was only one Warlock* who had that kind of ability. (*: I think I’ll change ‘Black Wizard’ to ‘Warlock’ since I feel like it’s a good match for ‘Witch’. ‘Black Witch’ is just Iris’ title, the rest are normal ‘Witches’.)

‘Diablo.’

It was just like Torkunta had said. The Lich had been in this forest, in this cave.

Lukas examined the other wounds.

Snow also had wounds on her upper abdomen and chest.

Including a stab wound directly above her heart.

This was probably the direct cause of Snow’s death. The first two wounds incapacitated her, and the final blow to her chest ruptured her heart.

It was at this moment that Lukas finally noticed something strange.

‘…Deukid isn’t here.’

Did Diablo take it?

Why?

Of course, Deukid was a treasured sword that was hard to find an equal of, but Diablo was, in essence, a Wizard.

No matter how amazing it was, in the end, it was still a sword. There wasn’t really any need for him to take it.

…Something… wasn’t right.

Lukas examined the sword wounds again.

At first, he thought she’d died after a fierce battle with the undead because there was such a large pile of them around her.

He believed the undead had launched attacks in waves to sap her stamina and concentration before Diablo took the chance to deal a heavy blow to the exhausted Snow.

The hundreds of undead would have used that opening and Snow, who was already exhausted, would have defended constantly until she eventually died.

While it might have been somewhat of an unfair death for a powerful being like Snow, the undead that were scattered around were by no means weak.

Every one of these undead were worthy of being called high ranking undead. If the location and timing were suitable, it was possible for this group to even destroy a small country in a week or less.

But now, it seemed that the true situation was a bit different.

There were only three major injuries on Snow’s body.

The sword wound on her abdomen, the hole from the black magic that pierced from the inside.

And the last hole in her heart.

…If she had been killed by a lot of undead, her body wouldn’t have been in such good condition. Her enemies were undead. They were a group so vile that it wouldn’t be strange if they were to consume not only their enemies’ flesh and blood but even their bones.

Nevertheless, Snow’s body was relatively clean.

‘…a small number.’

One or two at most.

Even including Diablo, their number wouldn’t have exceeded three.

They were able to fight a fierce battle with Snow with just that many. And by the wounds, it was highly likely that one of them was a Swordsman.

‘An undead swordsman, who had the ability to fight against Snow?’

He found it hard to believe, but it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.

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Diablo had confidently appeared in this forest and lured Snow over because he was confident that he would win.

In other words, the undead that he used in this fight were Diablo’s ‘trump card’.

“…”

A sigh leaked out of his lips.

Snow’s death. Although he’d had his doubts before, he still found it unbelievable.

Although it was different from the blind faith that Peran and the Swordnaz had in her, Lukas also believed in her. Because he knew what Snow had achieved. She was a talented person who shouldn’t have died in such a vain manner.

“…Lady Snow… is still alive.”

Peran’s soft murmur entered his ears.