Chapter 53: Lair

Charging forward at a speed that shouldn't have been possible for an awakener, Valdor ploughed through all those that stood in his path with just the armour and his charge

He didn't expect such an output when he moved as he was just trying to adjust to the armour, going for basic movements but the results was overwhelming. 

Logically speaking, low level undead (undead that are yet to reach ascendant stage) should be unable to experience any emotions, including fear, but every undead in the field where visibly shaking, but it remained a question if it was from fear or just from the sheer pressure Valdor emanated when he donned his armour.

It couldn't be called a battle, it was a one side slaughter. Valdor rampaged across the field with only his armour, it was like a Lion let loose in the midst of sheep. They were helpless as not even their numbers could put an end to his rampage.

But what was the greatest battle of their lives (or was it death) for the undead, it was merely a training session for Valdor, an avenue to take his armour and bring it under his complete control, to discover all it could do and to become one with it.

He might indulge in his new armour, but he would never let the armour dictate how he battled, no matter how strong a weapon was, it was still a weapon, you do not let it control you, instead you become one with it and you move in tandem with it. Those were the teachings he lived by, and that was what Valdor took the time to do.

And by the time he had wiped out all the undead on the field, Valdor reached a level he was pleased with.

A lone Valdor stood stood in an empty field, the stars were still in their positions and the 2 moons shone down with a brighter intensity, a beam could be seen converging from the sky towards the ground.

The beam hit the floor not too far away from Valdor and it spectral door was formed in place before the beamed vanished, leaving only the door as evidence it once existed.

The patterns on the armour glowed and the frontal part of it split apart, leaving space for Valdor to walk out. The armour still maintained form even with the path it had created. 

Valdor yawned and the inner part of the armour liquified, flowing into the the gaps of the outer armour, he then stepped, and the armour closed in on itself returning to a shape that indicated someone was in it.

"Gather the spoils"

Valdor instructed, and the suit of armour saluted before going around the field, gathering whatever was salvageable.

A dungeon differed greatly from reality. In reality, any beast or anyone who was killed obviously left behind their body and equipment and everything, but the creatures spawned by a dungeon were made of energy and were absorbed back into the dungeon when they were killed, leaving behind only a trace, if the killer was lucky, evidence had even proven that if someone was killed in a dungeon, given enough time, the.bidy would also be converted to energy and absorbed by the dungeon.

And as for the empty walking armour in the background, that was a feature that was built into the armour. It wasn't sentient or capable of following orders. It was just Valdor remotely controlling it. 

It required a lot of mental focus and energy, and the command he uttered was just a way of conditioning himself to control the armour remotely.

This was one of the hardest tasks Valdor encountered when he was designing the armour. It was one thing for the armour to be strong and durability yet flexible enough to allow free movement, any good craftsman could pull that off, but it was a difficult case to allow the armour to perform movement on its own.

(Read auxiliary chapter - A grandfather's love)

Yet he grandfather pulled it off. Valdor pulled out the note that came with the box and read it, midway through the note however he lost control of the armour and it plunged straight to the ground, falling on its face with the items it held.

"This is going to take some getting used to"

Valdor sighed as he rubbed his temples with his thumbs

"Well all this stress is piling up, might as well get some rest before seeing what's on the other side of the door"

*******************************

"Alright, I'm all good now"

Valdor exhaled as he got up from his seated position. The suit of armour, which he still hadn't named, was standing on the side. It had finished clearing out the spoils of war and Valdor had taken what he deemed useful and stored then in his bracelet.

As Valdor walked towards the spectral, the suit of armour also joined him, walking towards the same target and when the space they were in overlapped, the suit opened up, and Valdor took his place inside of it.

He placed his hand on the door handle and pushed it open, and he was sucked into it. His senses were affected by the jumbling of space but he was back to normal in no time

When he came to, he was in a cave, one that had signs of life all over it. The cave had crystals embedded into the walls at fixed intervals, and the surroundings seemed to have been altered at one point, as everything was too organised and detailed to be a natural cave.

Circulating aether through his energy channels, Valdor explored the cave, going deeper inwards. It was more appropriate to call the space he was in a network of tunnels that opened into cave like rooms at different places.

Each room had different uses as seen apparatus that remained in each room. Some were designed to look like a biological library, others had gems and minerals, some held pieces of undead. There was even a library and a lounge room in one of the many caves present in the structure.

After venturing for a while and reading a few of the books he found, Valdor had determined the location he was in. It was most likely a lich's lair.

Liches, one of the highest forms of an undead, creatures that controlled life and death with their bony fingers and had enough strength to rival high levelled ascendants. 

That would explain why the only creatures Valdor encountered in the dungeon were undead ones. They were members of the army of the lich.

But there was also inconsistencies. Liches had their reputation not only because of their strength but also because of the army under their command.

According to studies, a skeleton mage would start the process to become a lich upon ascension but would only complete it during the middle stages of ascension, so even the weakest lich would have atleast a low level ascendant in its army, but Valdor had cleared out the dungeon and had found not even a peak ascendant.

Valdor explored all the rooms he could in the structure and found no traces of the lich, he did however find a head sized, glowing purple crystal, one that had black stalks encasing it on the top and the bottom, lying on an altar. It looked very beautiful and Valdor could feel an oppressive aura surging from it, but a huge crack that ran from the top of the crystal down to its bottom ruined the aesthetics.

"Wait"

Valdor paused, going closer to the crystal, the aether in his body moved rapidly across his energy channels, preparing to make a move at the slightest hint of danger, moved closer to the crystal.

The armour helped him move faster to the alter and also served as protection but it wasn't needed as even when Valdor arrived at the altar and touched the ball that enclosed the crystal, there was no reaction.

"A broken phylactery"

Valdor muttered as he pulled out of his armour to inspect the phylactery better

"So that was why the undead were at such low levels"

The lich was in the process of reviving, but it was stuck in a loop due to the crack in it's phylactery. A huge grin could be seen across Valdor's face as his gamble had finally paid off.

He still couldn't understand how the broker had such reliable information about all he needed but this phylactery had solved the problem of the soulsource he so desperately needed.

The phylactery of a lich was filled with the life and essence of the lich and could be referred to as the soul of the lich. As long as the phylactery remained intact, regardless of how many times the body was destroyed, it would still return, the only cost being a reduction in its power and Valdor had lucked out to find a broken phylactery, one with the life essence and soul fragments he needed but not the lich as it was damaged.

Now all he needed was an energy source, which was even easier to procure, the dungeon core was perfectly suited for that. 

Valdor held unto the phylactery as it wasn't possible to put it into his storage bracelet and moved deeper into the room, where the concentration of energy was higher and eventually he stopped at a huge door.

He could feel the massive waves of energy behind the door and he knew that he had arrived at the energy core of the dungeon.

"Bingo"

He smiled as he remotely controlled the armour pushed the door open. He hadn't gotten back into the armour since he left it as it slightly dulled his senses when he was in it.

Valdor walked in and stared at the giant crystal floating in the middle of the room.