The Paladin in the Abyss
Chapter 806 - 817 The Principle of Lich

"The one battling it should be a high priest of Milko..." Lancelot touched his chin, "Even such a person couldn’t completely destroy the Lich?"

"A Lich is first and foremost a high-ranking spellcaster, then an undead being. If a legendary Kobold spellcaster stood before you, would you underestimate it just because it’s a Kobold?" Cranvo reminded gently, "Also, if I’m not mistaken, that would have been during the Saint’s Cataclysm, when divine arts were lost; it was already quite an achievement for that priest to win. But for a Lich, being killed and being destroyed are not necessarily the same."

"I’ve also heard some information about Liches... When they are killed, their souls don’t leave the current plane but return to a special device to be resurrected?"

"Yes, they use a phylactery to bind their souls. If they die, the Lich’s soul returns to the phylactery instead of drifting to the outer planes. The phylactery prepares a new body for the Lich within days. In theory, any kind of body works, but undead bodies are the safest choice."

"Thank you for your explanation, my lord." Lancelot nodded politely and respectfully, then turned back to the princess, "There’s a troubling situation now. To enter this chamber, we might have inadvertently helped Peyton Derrick regain his strength. Please don’t show that expression, you are absolutely safe here because the great Lord of Death is personally overseeing... But we still need to defeat Peyton to lift the curse from this land. Do you have any suggestions or anything that might help us win?"

"Defeat Peyton..." The princess’s pale face showed a sarcastic smile, "I once thought I was his weakness, but it seems he has overcome that weakness. He even laughed and said he wanted to open the coffin and take a part of my corpse as a keepsake, right after I clearly refused to be his queen."

"I feel like I know someone with a similar perversion..." Bruto frowned, "Who was it..."

"The one who brought us here." Alamir reminded, "The Lord of the Oasis Fort, Necrophiliac Molo... I’m really sorry, madam, I mean no offense..."

"It’s alright; I am indeed a corpse."

"Nonetheless, you still look quite stunning."

"Oh? You mean beneath this cold corpse?"

"Yes, like a song of ice and fire."

"Haha, that sounds so sweet. Oh, damn you, Peyton, what have you made me miss..."

"Damn..." Tanya quietly pulled Alamir’s cloak and whispered, "Are you sure?"

"I’m a priestess of the goddess of love," Alamir winked at his companion, "and immune to many diseases."

"That’s a perk?!" The half-elf looked shocked, "But isn’t that a bit too..."

"Ahem!" Lancelot couldn’t stand it anymore and interrupted, "Princess, forgive my rudeness, but did Peyton mention which part of your body he wanted to take?"

"Of course, but it might not be what you think." The young lady threw a flirtatious glance at Lancelot, "He said he wanted a thigh bone, so part of me would always be with him, and every time he walked, he would bump... into another bone."

"Your thigh bone?" Lancelot’s voice took on a strange tone, "Do you think it’s possible that it’s his own bone that’s missing?"

"Perhaps." The princess shrugged, "Honestly, just thinking about my bones inside a skeleton makes me feel intensely nauseous. Thankfully, there’s nothing left inside me to throw up."

"Lancelot, do you know where that thigh bone is?" Cranvo suddenly spoke, "Where is it?"

"At Chadegory Town’s Wolfsbane Inn, the Baroness keeper has something that looks like it in her collection. Considering she has been recruiting adventurers to explore this tomb, it’s hard for me not to believe the bone is related to Peyton Derrick..." Lancelot frowned in thought, "Could the Lich’s missing bone be one of their weaknesses?"

"For ordinary people, no, but I’m not ordinary." Cranvo smiled, "Do you know why a Lich can resurrect infinitely?"

"Didn’t you just explain? Because their souls are bound to the phylactery..."

"Indeed, but why can the phylactery bind a Lich’s soul, preventing it from going to the Domain of the Vague after death?"

"Because of soul cohesion?" Kalalin hastily spoke, "A Lich cuts off a small part of its soul to place in the phylactery. So when they are killed, the soul is first attracted to the part in the phylactery and then returns on its own instead of heading to the outer planes..."

"Well said, worthy of someone chosen by midnight." Cranvo nodded to the scholar, "That’s exactly why. However, if I possess a part of its body, note not the corpse left after death, then when it’s killed, I can forcefully ’pull’ its soul into that bone, either destroying it directly or making it relinquish control, leaving it to face judgment in the Crystal Tower."

"That sounds... similar to how high-ranking demons revive through Essence Amulets..."

"No wonder, the two methods are of the same origin." Kalalin spoke again, "The first Lich was created by Orcus, one of the Abyss’s three titans, and the scholarly view holds that Orcus, once an archmage, invented the Essence Amulet first..."

"But dividing a soul is no simple matter, right?" Lancelot gave Cranvo a strange look, "In this multiverse, it seems only gods can separate souls."

Spiritual cultivators can also do it, Lancelot thought silently. At least at the Soul-Splitting Phase... nothing more.

"Quasi-divine power can cut a small fragment from a complete soul without utterly destroying it." Cranvo sighed lightly, "Abyssal Lords and high-ranking demons meet this criterion, but they usually demand very harsh terms of exchange. Unless your power is formidable enough to compel such beings to heed your will, even the seemingly invincible Lich is nothing more than the eternal slave of some evil entity..."

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