Trapped Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"I want-"

"I heard you the first time, strange creature. But I like this thing and it belongs to me now." the walking dead creature spoke as it folded its arms across its chest.

The Wraith King gritted his teeth with sheer frustration before bursting out in anger.

"THEN DIE!!!" he screamed as he pointed his [Lantern of Doom] towards the creature, shooting out tens of smoky black skulls that zig-zagged in its direction with a sharp sound.

However, instead of bracing itself, the creature merely raised an eyebrow with curiosity as if it were looking at a harmless experiment.

SHEEEEEEE-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The skulls slammed into the unreactive creature, causing a dense black explosion to obscure its body.

But not even waiting for the last skull to connect, the Wraith King teleported to the undead creature and reached for his scythe with his highest possible speed. He knew that he had no chance of defeating the creature, but he was hoping that he could use his racial treasure, the Lantern of Doom, to distract it or even hurt it whilst he stole back his Scythe. After that, he would run away for the nth time.

Alas, it seemed that fate had different plans for him this time.

Just as his fingers had wrapped around the Scythe and excitement coupled with a hint of disdain was beginning to rise in his incorporeal heart, his sense of sight caught the terrifying image of the completely unharmed creature as it stared straight into his soul with an emotionless gaze.

BANG!

Before he could even react, he was sent flying with an attack that he was incapable of seeing. AGAIN!

BOOOM!

The Wraith King one again crashed into a tree, cursing the fact that he was unable to phase through the World's physical objects despite being able to do so to physical lifeforms as long as they didn't summon forth any energy-

'!!!'

The undead creature had mysteriously appeared before him once again and slammed its fist his body. Unfortunately, being flown away wasn't going to help him this time.

BANG!

His body smacked back into the Tree behind him and his mind blanked once again as pain wracked his body.

'...HOW?!!!" he inwardly screamed when he regained his bearings. 'HOW COULD HE BE SO FAS-, WAIT! Could it be that he can teleport like m-'

BANG!

The Wraith King's mind was once more sent into oblivion with a mighty blow. At this point, his body was flickering and had become transparent, looking like it was going to be snuffed out of existence with just a couple more blows.

But he was certainly not going to let that happen.

As soon as his mind regained function he immediately teleported 1000 metres away, not even caring about the Scythe that he had left behind.

'What kind of creature is that?! The Wraith King inwardly exclaimed with fear as he turned his head towards his previous location, only to catch the anxiety-inducing sight of the undead creature crouching down to the point that its backside rested on its ankles and emotionless eyes that stared right back at him.

Strangely enough, its thigh muscles seemed to be expanding like a balloon as engorged veins appeared like writhing snakes.

The Wraith King didn't trust it at all and immediately started the procedure to teleport once more.

'What is it-'

WHOOSH!

Before a quarter of a second could even tick, the undead creature had already appeared a shy 2 metres away from him with Its left arm extended out, looking like it was going to slice right through him.

BVVVT!

'This is way too much trouble! I must flee!' the Wraith King thought as he appeared another 1000 metres away, not even waiting for an initiative before teleporting once again.

He had been saved by the proverbial bell this time but who knew if the strange creature had any extra tricks. Even if his precious Armament must be left behind, there would always be other days. If he stayed behind, the only thing he would be claiming would be death.

The Wraith King's ethereal cloak flickered as rage warred with fear in his mind.

…

[North Continent, Forest of Death, Abomination Pit]

(Present Time, Year 140)

That is how he found himself in this current situation.

Even though he had been repeatedly teleporting throughout the uncanny Forest, the terrifying Undead creature had been almost neck to neck to him the entire time with raw speed alone.

There were even other similar undead creatures that had joined the chase and it was quite frightening, but for some reason, they all stopped chasing him when he reached the vicinity to this peculiar caves entrance.

He wasn't dumb and knew that whatever was preventing them from coming any closer wasn't something he could deal with. He even stopped running in hopes that if he waited long enough, his attackers would give up and he could avoid having to delve deeper.

Alas, even though the additional undead creatures that had joined the chase left after 2 boring days, his original attacker did not. He had noticed the dubious and annoyed looks the other similarly strong undead had cast at it, and he was sure that they too had been wondering why it was trying so hard to chase him. From their perspective, it must have looked like his original attacker was greedily coveting his treasures or even the essence that his body held, but he couldn't for the life of him guess why, when the others were showing clear intent that the threat of what lay within the cave outweighed the essence of another 4th Realm Being.

He had already long dispelled his lantern and there was no other treasure to be seen, so it was extremely strange to see the undead's behaviour.

After that 3 days passed, but instead of the creature looking wary, it looked even more greedy! It showed visible signs of tension and looked like it was going to spring forwards at any moment.

So, deciding that he had no more options, he ran into the cave.