Layla was almost exhausted when she finally felt Vicente's aura near where she was running.
The 4th stage lich was still chasing her, still attacking her, making trouble appear in her path to force her to slow down and perhaps make a fatal mistake.
She had run almost the entire length of the city to get to this point and was already very worried when she saw the black-haired man appear not far from her.
Seeing Vicente had never felt so good, and of course, her face became more relaxed as she looked into his eyes.
There was a special glow in Vicente's eyes and hair now, and he seemed much stronger than before. At the same time, he seemed more handsome and less annoying than this woman usually considered him.
"Vicente!" She shouted, trying to get his attention.
The lich saw the human it had been trying to lure underground and clasped one of its hands. As much as it had searched for Vicente for hours and now stood in front of such a human, it didn't want to face Vicente.
'Shit! Why do you have to show up now?'
It had used up half of its energy to chase Layla!
Besides, its trap was underground in the city, with most of the monsters it could use against its targets there.
Finding Vicente now wasn't in this creature's plans, so it unconsciously slowed down and thought about what it should do.
The thought of taking Layla hostage and luring Vicente into the underground trap crossed the creature's mind. But capturing Layla wouldn't be easy even now, and there was no guarantee it could escape from Vice.
Vicente seemed stronger to Layla, but he really was stronger!
The lich could feel it very clearly!
So, the monster didn't go ahead with this plan, thinking that its enemy's greed might still give its group a chance to carry out their plans.
Vicente flew toward Layla while looking at the 4th-stage lich, who was alone and wouldn't be much of a threat to him now.
"You succeeded in your advance, Layla. Congratulations." He said to her as he stepped between her and the lich, satisfied that he had accomplished all his plans in this city.
"By the way, who's that on your shoulder?" He looked at the unconscious body of Bella's companion.
"I think it's the one from the Flame of Life who gave the danger signal earlier. Anyway, we'll talk more later." She said while keeping her eyes open, but she finally stopped running.
Vicente understood and soon turned his attention to the lich. "We meet again, huh? Creature, I'm giving you a chance; get out of your way now. We're leaving, and I have nothing to gain by killing you here."
"You're arrogant if you think you can kill me!" The lich said as it looked at the two of them intently.
Vicente would have a hard time killing a 4th stage lich like it. But it could happen, especially considering this young man wasn't alone.
'If he immobilizes me, this woman could help him get rid of me...' The lich thought.
But its thought wasn't enough to make it turn around and go back the way it came. Nothing could guarantee that Vicente wasn't bluffing and would attack it as soon as it turned to go back.
Vicente even seemed stronger than before, which didn't make any sense since this young man was already at the peak of the 3rd stage, and any progress would throw him out of this place.
'What happened to him?' The lich asked itself amidst the silence on both sides. 'I feel he's more threatening than before... Is it because he has a negative elemental affinity?'
He knew that Vicente had taken a pill earlier that would be very dangerous for a magician of the Light Path. But nothing had happened to Vicente, which indicated a negative elemental affinity on the part of this magician.
The lich didn't know the exact origin of Vice's affinity, but it sensed that the young man's empowerment was related to it.
Vicente broke the silence. "Since you won't listen to the voice of reason, leave your head behind."
The moment the lich changed its mood upon hearing this, Vicente moved very quickly, surprising even Layla.
"It can't be!" The skeletal creature saw the human appear right before it so fast it couldn't believe it was a mere Mage.
Vicente really couldn't be considered that!
With Torne's help, he easily raised several of his attributes to become strong enough to deal with the skeleton in front of him.
Vicente stretched out one of his arms and grabbed the lich's neck as metal quickly appeared around his hands, helping him crush the negative creature's neck.
The bones in the creature's neck shattered immediately after Vicente's movement, while the lich's evil aura weakened dizzily.
"What?" Layla shouted in astonishment, not expecting Vicente to actually be able to do such a thing.
But just as she was about to ask her questions, Vicente started to run towards the end of the city as an ominous feeling rose in the surroundings.
"Time to go!" He shouted to her after Torne told him to leave as soon as possible.
By using some of a Sovereign's powers to deal with the problem in his path, he had awakened the rules of this cursed city.
Now, the city was against him, and if he didn't leave immediately, he might have to deal with the punishment the creator of this place had left behind.
Layla had already seen Vicente become much stronger than he should have been for a moment, so she swallowed her questions and went after him to leave this place.
She had collected a lot of things and gotten a head start, so there was no reason for her to stay in this dangerous and disgusting place any longer.
But she remembered Bella and quickly told Vicente they should take a detour out of the city to take the woman with them.
Vicente told her to do so while he led the way, and soon, they reached the lower part of the canyon where the ruins of The Skull City lay.
Along the way, Vicente had to dodge a dozen curse attacks on the city, but since the city was only trying to evade him, the attacks were weaker at first and then grew stronger.
By the time he was actually threatened, he was practically on his way out of the city. So he, Layla, and Bella would soon pass through the spatial distortion in that part of the city. From there, they would arrive at the same place they had entered earlier, where Bella's group was still waiting for her and her companions.
