Awakening The Only SSS-Rank Class! Now Even Dragons Obey Me
Chapter 117: One-Step Away From Death

Chapter 117: One-Step Away From Death

Daniel instantly activated his defensive skills the moment he sensed the wave of death coming at him. He even channeled mana essence throughout his body, forming a temporary armor.

The wave passed through the defensive skill and hit his body. It entered just like a radioactive pulse, releasing a deathly aura.

[Vitality is decreasing]

Suddenly, deep wrinkles appeared on Daniel’s face, and his skin began to age rapidly. His vitality was dropping every second, weakening him further.

"Damn it!" It didn’t take long before even his bones began to crack. A horrifying pain overwhelmed his mind.

Before he could react, his internal organs started drying out. His kidneys were shutting down, his heart wasn’t pumping blood properly, and his lungs couldn’t regulate his breathing anymore.

The only luck he had was that, even if his body was destroyed, he wouldn’t actually die—and it seemed the attack hadn’t damaged his soul. Understandable, really—his soul could match that of a Rank B Awakened. There was no way a lich could harm it.

But the problem was, he didn’t want to lose one of his Fallen Ones.

Immediately, he borrowed the power of his Fallen Ones. A massive amount of vitality surged into his body and started to fight off the death aura.

Not just that—he began using the Mana Healing skill to repair his organs and cracked bones.

However, the death aura didn’t give up. It gathered strength again and launched another attack on his bones and organs.

"What the hell is this crap?" Daniel snapped, his mana reserves slowly running dry.

He realized this death aura was probably a small fragment of the same death aura that leaked from the depths of the mountain—the same aura the undead fed on.

Now he understood what kind of horror it really was. If just this stray beam could do all this to him, who knows what would happen if he were exposed to the original source?

If this continued, his body really would be destroyed. He forced his mind to think, looking for any way to stop the death aura.

"Think, think, think!" he started putting pressure on his brain.

Luckily, he came up with something. He sat cross-legged on the ground and rallied the mana essence in his body, sending it toward the aura.

The only idea he had was to fight the aura head-on. The mana essence clashed with the death aura.

But it didn’t take long before the death aura overwhelmed the mana. Daniel frowned, but he didn’t accept defeat. He immediately mobilized his massive soul power and sent it toward the aura.

Thankfully, with both the mana essence and soul power working together, they managed to reach a stalemate—but it still wasn’t enough to destroy the aura completely.

Using the combined strength of his mana essence and soul power, he dragged the death aura into his spiritual sea and sealed it there.

He then quickly used Mana Healing again to repair his organs and bones.

A few minutes later, once his body was fully healed, he stood up and let out a deep breath.

"I need to get rid of this thing as fast as possible." Daniel glanced at his spiritual sea—the death aura wasn’t sitting quietly there either. It had started to erode his spiritual sea.

At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before the entire sea was destroyed and abandoned. And worse, to keep the death aura sealed there, he had to constantly apply soul power.

That meant, until he found a solution, he wouldn’t be able to properly use either his soul power or mana essence.

"Is anyone there?! Please help us!"

"Damn it, why is no one answering?! What happened?!"

Daniel looked at the humans not too far away. Even though now wasn’t the time, he chose to ignore them for the moment.

He walked over to the ashes of the lich. Honestly, that bastard’s final attack had pissed him off badly.

It was rare for him to end up in such a messed-up situation. But he had to admit—the lich had some real talent.

Especially that final attack—Daniel doubted even Azrak could survive something like that. No Awakened below Rank B could possibly endure it.

It was a shame to lose such a capable Fallen One. He cut his fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the lich’s ashes.

[Creating new Fallen...]

[Process successful]

[You have successfully created a new Fallen]

Suddenly, a light beamed down from the sky and enveloped the lich’s ashes. His skeletal body was fully rebuilt.

Even better—his build grew larger. Instead of a normal bony body, he now had a ghost-like figure resembling a human skeleton, shaded in black and purple.

"All hail the Lord," the light vanished, and the lich dropped to one knee.

[Please choose a name for the new Fallen]

"Velmord," Daniel thought for a moment and then picked a random name.

[Confirmed]

[You have obtained 10% of your Fallen’s stats]

[You may copy one skill or 10% of his EXP]

Daniel decided to check Velmord’s panel later. There were more urgent things to handle now.

"You almost killed me, you know."

"I was wrong, my Lord! Please punish this worthless servant!" Velmord immediately slammed his head to the ground.

"Get up. No need for punishment. Tell me—do you undead collect jewels and gold or not?" Daniel changed the subject.

"No, my Lord. But there is a place where we store all the equipment taken from captured humans," Velmord respectfully answered.

"Oh? Take me there," Daniel replied. He was almost disappointed after the first part of Velmord’s sentence—but luckily, there was still hope.

Velmord started walking ahead, and Daniel followed him. Along the way, he also picked up the skull head he’d set aside earlier to avoid interference during battle.

The skull looked at Velmord in shock. The mighty lich had so easily become this human’s servant? Maybe there really was no hope for a free future.

He decided to follow this human too—maybe then he wouldn’t have to worry about finding a place to live.

"By the way, that ritual you were trying to perform—what was it for?" Daniel suddenly asked as they walked.

"My Lord, it was a way for me to regain flesh and blood, to become a living being again."

"Oh? That’s even possible?" Daniel raised his eyebrows. He’d never heard of undead turning back into the living.

"Yes, my Lord. In fact, becoming an undead was my own decision. Back then, I was heavily wounded in a battle and had no way to survive—so I chose to become undead instead."

"In the past, this mountain was known as the Mountain of the Dead. The death aura here would turn dying beings into undead. That’s why I came here—to become undead. Over the years, I’ve always searched for a way to turn back into a human."

"That ritual I was performing was the result of all my research. Unfortunately, over the past decades and centuries, very few beings have come here—so it took me a long time to complete my research," Velmord explained.

Daniel looked at him with a hint of admiration.

The fact that he hadn’t given up on his goal after centuries, and kept researching all that time—was truly respectable.

"How did you do your research? What was your source?"

"My books. I brought a storage ring with me that contained many books and legends about undead. I spent years studying them until I finally found a method."

Soon, they entered the bone fortress and descended to the underground level. Daniel was honestly amazed that the undead had built something like this.

But on second thought, they’d been living here for centuries. It made sense that they’d eventually build a fortress like this.

"Here you go, my Lord. This is the room where we keep the equipment taken from humans," Velmord said.