The Divine Wolf... or?

Back outside, the battle was raging on, and it was getting more and more desperate by the second. Atar was getting more and more injured by the second, Ephine was edging closer and closer to an untimely death, whilst the others were beginning to be pushed back as a result of the lich's unscrupulous means.

It was at this stage that a bright beam of light abruptly tore through the sky and parted the clouds overhead.

The beam came from the decrepit old house, and as it appeared, the lich had a worried expression on its face. It had gotten so engrossed in the fight that it had almost forgotten about the experiment it was currently doing down in the depths. As the lich was about to investigate, a heavy pressure seemed to descend from the sky, making the lich unable to move.

As the beam of light faded away, the pressure intensified in an instant and an earth-shattering howl came from the old house. This majestic howl seemed to contain an infinite amount of rage and killing intent, shaking all of those who heard it to their bones. As the soundwaves from the howl passed through the numerous undead, they started to quickly disintegrate, leaving nothing but ashes behind.

The expressions on Atar, Thufrat and Ephine's faces were ecstatic. The power that had been devouring Ephine from the inside had dissipated, as the lich that cast the spell was gravely injured not far away. The lich had a grim expression as always, but the soul fire in its eye sockets was flickering intensely.

That howl just now had severely injured it, or more specifically its soul, which was the source of the lich's life.

The old house had already crumbled under the intense pressure that had been exuded earlier, and from the scattered debris, a white silhouette rose into the air. The silhouette was naturally Ark, who had just been rebirthed. His body in this new form was towering at a height of a little over seven meters, overshadowing his old height by a lot.

His fur was spotless, white, and fluffy, but his eyes looked different from before. Although they were a golden colour and looked normal on the surface, if you looked into them, you would be lost in the infinite chaos they contained. If one wasn't careful, they could get lost forever, being unable to extricate themselves.

Seeing Ark's form, Ephine felt an extreme sense of relief. Although Ark looked fine on the surface, Ephine couldn't help but imagine all the torture the lich had probably put him through to trigger such a massive change. Thinking of Ark in pain, a few tears silently hit the dry ground beneath her.

Ark felt could feel his heart being consumed by anxiety and pain as he watched her silently crying, but before he went over to comfort her, he needed to deal with something. Casting a look in the lich's direction, Ark could sense the creature's fear of him. Seeing the lich scared made Ark feel somewhat satisfied, as this being had put him through torment he thought was unimaginable.

Slowly drifting over, Ark felt the newfound power coursing through his body, but he didn't have the time or leisure to look at his new attributes just yet. With a grim expression on his face, he looked over the lich and pondered for a few seconds.

The lich was suppressed to the point where it couldn't move nor communicate, it could only watch Ark as he hovered in the air in front of it, thinking to himself.

The surroundings had become completely silent at this point. Even the sound of the wind was gone, as Adam had depleted all of the wind elements in their surroundings. Although the silence was awkward, no one thought to speak, they just silently waited for what Ark was about to do. They had plenty of time to reunite with each other after Ark had gotten rid of this foul creature of darkness.

Ark soon made his move, and he used his [Mana Erosion] skill to get rid of the lich's physical body. This process didn't actually torment the lich that much, as it was a creature which could discard its physical body whenever it wanted. What was important to a lich was its soul, the source of both its strength and life.

After the lich's body was completely turned to dust, the only thing left was a dark purple ball of light hovering in the air.

This was the lich's soul, and after Ark saw it, a wicked smile appeared on his face. If a regular human were to see him right now, they would probably pass out from fear. Without wasting any time, Ark looked towards his companions in the distance and merely asked a simple question.

"Does anyone have a blank magic scroll?"

Adam, who felt the immense pressure exuding from Ark's body, quickly took out a blank scroll from his storage bag and tossed it over to Ark. Ark didn't thank him, instead, he looked to the lich, and started creating a few magic circles.

The massive magic circles of different colours condensed over and over in the air before they imprinted themselves on the blank scroll hovering in front of Ark's face.

The lich could recognise some of the magic circles, but he had no idea what Ark was up to. With some trepidation in his heart, he could only watch as Ark pulled his soul over, and then finally sealed it within the scroll he had just created. After his soul entered the scroll, the lich could feel multiple magic circles imposing their might over him as they started to operate.

An extreme pain that stemmed from his very soul assaulted the lich, as his soul was slowly eroded away by one of the magic circles. The lich didn't have any way of speaking, so it couldn't exclaim or scream in pain, it could only wait as it was slowly being eroded to death. Soon, however, the lich realised that the scroll that it had been sealed in wasn't that simple.

To counteract his soul being eroded away completely, Ark had created a magic circle to heal him periodically. This would make sure that he would be able to live out the rest of his natural life span as a lich in a state of extreme torture, a fate far worse than the mercy of death.

As the lich imagined the next few hundred years of torture it was going to experience, it felt extreme anger, but not regret.

It didn't regret what it had done to Ark, it wasn't capable of such feelings. It only felt that it was a pity, it was so close to success. If its research was completed, it would've been able to become powerful, really powerful. Powerful enough to establish a nation of undead, a legion able to take on entire kingdoms on its own.

The temptation of strength was no joke. No matter what kind of creature, whether it is a human, a demon, an undead or a beast, any creature would want absolute power. Most people and creatures have their limits, lines they will never cross, but there are also those out there that don't have such limits. They won't hesitate to throw friends under the bus or sacrifice their families for personal gain.

This lich was such a creature, but its eventual reign of terror had come to a premature end.