Okami Wa Nemuranai

With the activation of <Leg Bands of White Devil>'s Grace, Lecan teleported within the melee range of Carrion King.

He swung down <Sword of Toron>.

Magic doesn't work on this foe, but physical attacks will probably go through.

It should be dead once its head is crushed.

However, Carrion King vanished as Lecan's sword hit empty air futilely.

Lecan turned around.

Carrion King stood further apart from him with a mana thread connecting its fingertip to Lecan's chest.

(What?)

What is this skeleton doing anyway.

The answer quickly came to him.

(It's draining my mana!)

(This thing's even able to suck mana off humans!)

Lecan furiously moved to the left and right, but of course that did nothing to the mana thread.

(No!)

(My fighting power's gonna get reduced to a pulp without mana.)

(No way to stave off more attacks in that state!)

"<Gaspario Raaf>!"

Lecan recited a spell.

(Did it work?)

However, Carrion King only tilted its head.

Could it be <Talisman of Darkness Demon>'s Grace get sealed, that thought crossed Lecan's mind, but that was probably not the case. The Grace did activate.

The Grace which is <Living beings within 20 steps distance will stop moving for ten inner heartbeats after activation>.

This skeleton probably does not fit the 'Living Beings' condition of the Grace.

Lecan raised his sword overhead once again and attempted to recite a spell.

"<Zoruas Kurt>"

Then the Carrion King suddenly warped right in front of Lecan. Something flew out of its open left palm.

Aimed at Lecan's raised right hand. The only part that was free of his heavy armor.

Pain ran. That flying object dug into Lecan's right hand.

Carrion King's opened left palm is missing its index fingertip.

It just shot out its fingertip.

Lecan lost a bit of momentum but he continued to swing down his sword.

Right before <Sword of Toron> crushed its bizarre head, Carrion King warped away.

Back in the back of the room.

However, Lecan couldn't give a chase.

He was assaulted by an intense sense of dread, strength left his entire body as he dropped <Sword of Toron> off his hand.

Lecan involuntarily knelt down as his will to keep fighting disappeared from his mind, replaced with a welled up terror and sense of defeat. He felt as if his thought process had been bound.

But then, a moment later, the terror, sense of defeat and the sensation of being mind controlled vanished as intense fighting spirit flared up from within him once again.

Lecan instinctively understood what just occurred.

It was akin to the sensation he experienced in Dungeon Yufu.

The instance he inhaled some sort of powder a magic beast scattered around, his mind wavered and got wrapped by terror as he lost control of his body. Lecan guessed that powder was loaded with poison and mind magic.

Carrion King likely did something similar just now. That fingertip must have been charged with something ominous. However, he had no idea why the effect vanished.

Carrion King is still draining Lecan's mana even now.

That mana has formed a giant mass of free floating mana rotating above Carrion King.

Lecan quickly crouched down and step forward in attempt to pick up the dropped <Sword of Toron>. He was going to immediately cast the leg band once he got the sword, going for Carrion King.

However, Lecan's right wrist got hit by a black thunderbolt shot by the Carrion King, resulting in him losing his wrist down. He failed to dodge the enemy's attack due to target focusing at the sword. And since that section was the part without protection, it ate a direct hit.

Lecan stopped moving as if he had been turned to stone.

Then he slowly raised his face at the Carrion King.

It's enraged.

Its skeletal face looks like it's laughing with its bare teeth, but the aura around it is completely unlike before.

That fingertip shot must be this Carrion King's trump card of some sort.

And yet Lecan kept moving as normal.
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It must be shocked and enraged by this fact.

This was when the mana link was cut off, the Carrion King lowered its right hand.

It has drained away all of Lecan's mana.

Lecan was hit by an intense languidness.

Even though losing all of his mana shouldn't affect his muscle strength, getting deprived of a vast amount of your mana would still make you feel like a huge portion of your strength has been stripped off .

Carrion King raised its right hand to chest level once again and pointed its index finger above.

The enormous mass of mana above it started rotating intensely.

"<Deploy>!"

Lecan deployed <Shield of Wolkan> on his left hand at the ready.

"<Reflection>!"

And now <Magic Mirror of Ryin> is active.

Carrion King threw down its index finger ahead. Toward Lecan.

A magic attack shot out and hit <Shield of Wolkan> before it got reflected.

This reflected attack was so casually absorbed by Carrion King with its index finger.

The magic attack it shot out just now wasn't actually that powerful.

It must have been a decoy attack to ascertain what was up with Lecan with his shield ready and spell recited.

Lecan ended up using up <Magic Mirror of Ryiin>, usable only once in three days, for this decoy attack. He has lost his one and only means to turn the table.

Nevertheless, Lecan kept his <Shield of Wolkan> face ahead.

The enemy doesn't know that it can't use reflect anymore. Thus, it should prompt it to stay on guard.

Lecan was suddenly hit by a bout of dizziness.

A huge quantity of blood keeps seeping out of his cut wrist.

His life is getting drained away before his eyes.

(Dammit.)

(Is this the end of the line.)

(For my adventure.)

(But.)

(I ain't going down without a fight.)