Lith Verhen/History/Volume 6

## Chapters 487 - 618

### City of Maekosh

Solus has a breakthrough halfway through a green core. Lith resumes his duty neutralizing bandits while spending time with Solus. He is dealing with the Lost City of Kush when he receives a summons to Maekosh from its ruler Baroness Enja about an impending attack from a tribe of wargs. At Maekosh, Lith is treated with disrespect and hatred by the northerners, especially with winter drawing near and supplies running low without Warp Gates in the city. A lone warg finally attacks at sunset, and when Lith tries to follow it back to its lair it sacrifices itself by recalling all the wounds its tribe members had sustained.

Lith hears from Kamila that monster tribes are appearing all over the three Great Countries with some being more powerful, intelligent, or both, than normal. Returning to Maekosh he is informed that several guards' deaths from wargs have been covered up by traitors. Lith performs an autopsy on the warg warrior corpse, discovering an extra space near the mana core and learns from the merchants who had spotted the wargs that the wargs were performing Silverwing's Hexagram (and thus able to use every element instead of two). He tracks the warg's scent to their lair in a cave a few kilometers from Maekosh, though observes that their behavior goes from smart to stupid frequently. Due to them having Eldritch Abomination Tezka's (one of the Master's Chosen) Abomination tissue embedded in them, the wargs are pushed to practice magic relentlessly.

Lith kills several wargs and the alpha, though the rest escape through hidden tunnels. Lith notices Solus' gauntlet form has a new yellow gemstone next to the green one on the back of the gauntlet. Lith reports to Kamila and her supervisor Captain Legato, voicing Ilyum Balkor as a suspect due to how he used Abomination tissues for his undead. Another family is butchered, with no attempt made to cover up the attack. Pazeol from the Kingdom's Balkor department gives Lith a receiver that tracks the tracking spell embedded in the Abomination tissues, allowing Lith to find the remaining wargs. Lith considers the possibility that the wargs could have spread the fragments to create humans hybrids and learns from the townspeople many hardships they suffered from other people's selfishness.

The wargs pillage the village of Trauros, and Lith uses the device to track down the rest of the warg tribe. When he reaches the cave, however, he witnesses the wargs consuming each other in a frenzy, with several half-converted black wargs attacking the others who try to protect the females and cubs. To Solus' anguish, the non-converted wargs throw themselves at Lith to be killed instead of being forced to kill their own. Tezka assimilates the remaining converted wargs and battles Lith, though he underestimates Lith's relationship with Solus and is killed by a cave-in that the duo trigger. Making his way back to Maekosh, he tracks down a family that had taken in Tezka's Abomination cells. The wife and child are dead due to the clone's death, and the farmer curses Lith for having massacred the wargs that treated him better than his fellow humans.

### Birthday Gala

Lith recounts the events to Kamila, who explains his feeling of discomfort as him having killed for the first time those fighting to protect their family. She gives him keys to her apartment, showing her willingness to deepen their relationship. Lith gives Solus her first communication amulet, giving her the first opportunity to be her own person, and also slowly practices being less dependent on her for self control and control over his emotions. Lith reconsiders becoming an undead or a cursed object, turning to possibly developing his own version of Arthan's Madness. He invites Kamila to be his date to Jirni's birthday gala in the Ernas mansion, and she accepts after learning that Phloria will be there. He crafts camellias for his family and rejuvenates Jirni before the gala. She asks him for a memorable experience with his holograms and to keep an eye on Phloria's new boyfriend Kallion Nuragor and Quylla's new boyfriend Anathor Voross. On the day of the gala, Lith helps rejuvenate Orion to raise his worth to the Kingdom as a Healer in order to gain access to additional tomes on souls for his reincarnation problem, becoming the fourth most important Healer at the Crown's service.

Lith reunites with the Ernas sisters at the gala and greets Kallion. Phloria questions him in private about Death Vision when he reveals his Hybrid Form to her the second time. He gives her a heartfelt confession expressing his gratitude for her acceptance and assurance that he will come to her whenever she needs him. Meanwhile, Solus notes that the impurities in Phloria's body are closer to her mana core. Lith confronts Kallion about insulting Kamila, his work, and his magic, embarrassing him in front of everyone present. and prompting Phloria to break up with him. Orion brings Lith away and gifts him a cloaking ring to hide Solus' existence (as he believes she is just a rare artifact) as thanks for saving his wife and daughters multiple times in the past, and asks him to become the Ernas family Healer.

Lith gives a magnificent performance with chore magic in the ballroom by weaving 15 different spells together. He spreads a shadow from his feet in every direction that turns the Ballroom into twilight and covers the floor in a few millimeter thick layer of water and fine mist, before conjuring six different kinds of flowers, one for each element, that bloom above the water. A silvery sphere envelops each of the chandeliers, turning them into small moons while small wisps appear on the ceiling like starlight. Some of the flowers turn into small fairies that move around the room shooting stars, forming a path of lights that lead Jirni and Orion to the center of the stage where a giant reflection of the moon acts as a spotlight for their dance.

Kallion, having scoffed at the "cheap display" of chore magic, is prompted by Sylpha to do the same, but fails and leaves, humiliated. At the end of the dance, Meron promotes Jirni to Royal Archon and gives Lith the official title of Spellbreaker along with the title of Baron with its annuities despite having no fief.

### City of Jambel

Lith resumes his Ranger duty and is called to the City of Jambel that has been attacked by groups of different monsters. Kamila bugs him to talk more about his past with his White Griffon Academy group. Lith receives an unusually warm welcome and respect from the ruler of Jambel, Baron Eiros Wyalon, and his men. The Baron is an honest and forthright man who cooperates with Lith in dealing with the situation, inviting him to breakfast where he meets his wife Mirias and their twin daughters Iriel and Kotu. The Baron recounts the attacks to Lith, telling him of goblins, ogres, empowered orcs, and trolls, as well as sightings of a Balor.

Located in the Broken Spine mountain range, the dungeon turns out to be more similar to a laboratory, built over a silver mine. Lith encounters weak monsters with well made equipment with a coat of arms on their clothes (representing a black tower set ablaze with a golden crown on top of it) as well as reverted orcs and ogres such as Caliel and Draga. After defeating a couple patrols, he is met by an experimental undead called Ratpack who leads him to defeat a Balor named Trou'Bleskamuz the Fierce, and free his master Zolgrish the Lich.

Zolgrish explains his predicament and how he bonded the monsters to his phylactery until they took control of the energy going to it, making it their own. He gifts Lith one of the giant silver doors as an advance payment in return for helping him regain control of his phylactery and banish the monsters' souls. Lith informs Kamila of the Balor and orc shaman, asking her to keep a team of Wardens on standby to destroy the complex. The three of them move stealthily to the 4th floor where the phylactery amplification device is, Warping the monsters' corpses into one of the 7th floor cells to prevent their regeneration.

They enter the Forgemastering lab which possesses many silver Forges and the amplifier, which takes the form of an Adamant Forge and later a ring. Zolgrish carelessly disables the security protections to let Lith in, allowing Yozmogh, Dann'Kah and their monster allies inside. Zolgrish Warps him and Dann'Kah away to wrestle for control over his undead energies, while Lith fights the remaining reverted monsters and Yozmogh.

Yozmogh's eyes and superior physical prowess push Lith on the back foot. He uses his Eraser to render Lith's Skinwalker Armor and Gatekeeper useless, though Solus allows herself to be "stolen" in gauntlet form from Lith and remotely restores Lith's imprint. Solus wounds the Balor while attached to him, distracting him long enough for Lith to incapacitate and send him to one of the cells. Zolgrish returns after having assimilated Dann'Kah. Zolgrish destroys the amplifier which frees the monsters' souls, each one releasing a small pillar of light that shoots towards the sky. The lich gifts Lith an Adamant Forge while taking back the artifacts that Yozmogh had on him, though lets Lith keep the Eraser. He sets the underground lab to self destruct before leaving, causing the entire Broken Spine mountain range to collapse several hundred meters below ground level.

Lith reports back to Baron Wyalon, who pledges his full support despite General Vorgh and the army reprimanding Lith for the loss of the lab's secrets. Lith raises Trouble's corpse as an undead, but complications with its black eye causes the body to be rendered useless.

### City of Zantia and the Church of Six

Lith is summoned to the City of Zantia by Count Cestor where he reunites with Friya and meets her Crystal Shield Guild who have been hired to protect Viscount Krame and his assets from the Church of the Six fanatics. Amidst the winter lockdown and a strange affliction called the Griever, the Count and half of the city have been converted to fanatics of the Church of the Six, while the other half aim to exploit the chaos to get rid of their competitors and seize their properties.

While investigating the church temple, Lith is ambushed by an Awakened named Kieran and poisoned by his daggers. Solus manages to cripple him by infecting him with a sample of Balkor's venom in her gauntlet form, stealing one of his daggers in the process. Another Awakened named Deraniel intervenes before Lith can kill him, and Solus Warps Lith back to his room. Lith alerts Friya to the assassin, who brings him to see the Viscount's son Duluth Krame who has the Griever. Lith diagnoses it as the work of a mage harming people with darkness magic.

Lith disguises himself as the Church of the Six's All-Father using his Hybrid Form and uses the dagger to lure Kieran. He kills Kieran and two more Awakened Pelion and Ailia arrive as backup. Lith shows his wings for the first time, and Ailia recognizes Solus' omnipocket, calling him a "Wyrmling" before retreating with Deraniel and Pelion. Lith reports Kieran and Deraniel to the Army, noting them as having "incredible magic" similar to Nalear, alerting the Royals and Tyris. High Command orders Lith to uncover any correlation between the Church of the Six and the Griever, authorizing him to act as the ruler of Zantia until the crisis is resolved.

Kamila analyzes details of the church members, discovering their locations resemble magic formations, including a containment array to contain great masses of energy and a grounding array to safely disperse mana. Protector shows up at Krame's mansion having been sent by Faluel the Hydra. General Vorgh informs Lith of the Forbidden Magic-modified Third Eye array and how the Awakened injected their own mana inside citizens to both form the arrays and use them as catalysts for dispersing excess energy.

Lith assembles all of Zantia's mages and forces them to heal the Griever "plague," eliminating the arrays' focus points and dismantling the Third Eye. The disappearance of the healers causes the worshippers to assemble in the church, where Lith pretends to be the All-Father with Protector as his steed "Fenrir" and oppresses the believers with Demons of Darkness to discredit the Church. Ailia and Pelion attempt to introduce themselves as the Sovereigns but are forced to retreat. Friya joins the fray, staging a mock fight with them while the citizens escape.

The Awakened are forced to activate the Third Eye despite lacking numbers, but with the Griever victims healed, the ritual fails. Protector kills Benyo while Friya suppresses Pelion with her Dimensional Ruler spell. Lith kills Jaren when Tyris intervenes, killing Ailia and Pelion while General Vorgh and his Spellbreakers contain the explosions their corpses create. The Constable grants Lith 20 days of leave, letting him keep Trouble's body and giving him gold and Orichalcum.

### Vacation

Lith has Solus Warp Protector back to his home several hundred kilometers from Lutia, meeting Selia again and her two hybrid children Lilia and Leran. Protector tells Lith how he sought out and apprenticed under Faluel the Hydra, recommending Lith do the same. Lith returns home, working with Zekell Proudhammer to purify the Orichalcum ore for an upgraded Skinwalker armor. Zekell makes him a WellMert hammer and chainmails while Lith experiments with his new true Forgemastering technique Necro Forge to craft the Orichalcum Necro Hammer to act as a mana booster and thus expand his Forgemastering limits.

Kamila tells him about her sister Zinya's situation, with Fallmug's character unpleasantly reminding Lith of his own Earth father Ezio. He agrees to heal her and they visit Zinya in the City of Xylita, intimidating Fallmug's maid Vylna. By modifying his true magic version of Chisel into Probe, he temporarily gives Zinya sight and convinces her to agree to the treatment. He asks Professor Vastor for help as well as Quylla, who is Vastor's assistant. Meanwhile, Lith experiments with his other true Forgemastering technique Bloom Forge to create a Bloom Hammer. He tries but fails to create a Skinwalker with Orichalcum.

Lith learns of Trion's disastrous visit to Elina and Raaz and how he disowned the family. Zinya summons him when Fallmug is about to beat her for Kamila visiting without his permission, and Lith brings Fallmug away to Solus' tower. Lith, seeing his own Earth father in Fallmug, viciously tears the merchant's body apart while Solus repeatedly reconstructs him using the mana geyser's energy. He finally releases Fallmug back to the mansion after promising to repeat the same beating every day. He tests his relationship with Kamila by admitting he abused his power by beating Fallmug, and she agrees to keep the secret, grateful to him for helping Zinya.

Lith manages to successfully craft his first Orichalcum Skinwalker prototype armor. He brings Zinya to White Griffon Academy where he, Quylla, and Vastor successfully grant her sight. Lith invites Zinya to stay with his family in Lutia where she learns to read, write, count, cook, and sew. She ultimately decides to stay in Lutia as the Verhen's housemaid, file for divorce, and fight for custody of her children. Lith's 20 day leave ends and he resumes his Ranger duty. He receives full access to some of the Kingdom's most important libraries, gaining a complete understanding of the basics of Higher Necromancy and all about the known undead species to help him with his research into his reincarnation.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 491: Mutation (Part 1)
2. ↑ Chapter 495: Hybrid (Part 1)
3. ↑ Chapter 498: Troubling Guests (Part 2)
4. ↑ Chapter 503: Hollow Victory (Part 1)
5. ↑ Chapter 506: The Day After (Part 2)
6. ↑ Chapter 514: Bearer of Gifts (Part 2)
7. ↑ Chapter 518: Sewed Up (Part 2)
8. ↑ Chapter 521: Unexpected Gift (Part 1)
9. ↑ Chapter 522: Unexpected Gift (Part 2)
10. ↑ Chapter 525: Leaving (Part 1)
11. ↑ Chapter 528: Virtue of the Strong (Part 2)
12. ↑ Chapter 532: Unexpected Turn (Part 4)
13. ↑ Chapter 538: Master Plan (Part 2)
14. ↑ Chapter 546: Eyes and Wings (Part 2)
15. ↑ Chapter 550: Utter Failure (Part 2)
16. ↑ Chapter 554: Troubling Dead (Part 2)
17. ↑ Chapter 558: Hostility (Part 4)
18. ↑ Chapter 563: Round Two (Part 1)
19. ↑ Chapter 566: Round Two (Part 4)
20. ↑ Chapter 574: Catching Up (Part 2)
21. ↑ Chapter 577: All the World's a Stage (Part 1)
22. ↑ Chapter 584: Punishment and Rewards (Part 2)
23. ↑ Chapter 587: Fanning the Flames (Part 1)
24. ↑ Chapter 590: Necro Forge (Part 2)
25. ↑ Chapter 594: Overlapping Images (Part 2)
26. ↑ Chapter 598: Overpowered (Part 2)
27. ↑ Chapter 604: Web of Lies (Part 2)
28. ↑ Chapter 612: End of a Struggle (Part 2)
29. ↑ Chapter 613: Travels (Part 1)
30. ↑ Chapter 618: Hybrid (Part 4)