Tags: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Harem, Isekai

The Hero, The Surprise Attack and the Appearance of a Lich!

After the multiple story plots of the second volume, the latest volume of Disciple of the Lich focuses on a single large event from multiple perspectives as Manaloch faces an insurgency of unprecedented scale. Having only just recovered from an attack by one of the demon lords, Lucy, Manaloch is quickly under threat again as multiple bandit groups attack aiming to steal The Red Staff of Authority said to hold legendary powers.

I’m a reader who can be truly appreciative of a series that chooses to develop a major threat and a giant fight throughout a volume. This gives a great opportunity to showcase just how much of a threat these antagonists can be and the lengths that our protagonists must go through to stop them, which this volume does rather commendably. However, for what this volume has in threat, it tends to leave some important character development and plot movement by the wayside.

Starting with some of the positives, the author has done a great job of showing the fallibility of the levelling system. We’re given a good deal of insight into just how far only levelling can get you at several points throughout the volume. For Pomera, this comes at the hands of her first proper battle with something other than a monster. During the battle for Manaloch, Pomera comes face to face with the leader of the Black Reapers, Lovis. Whilst Pomera would be considered the winner based on levels, being 20 levels ahead of Lovis, experience has a great deal of influence over real-time prospects of battle. Given experience, Lovis has the upper hand leading to an important moment of contemplation for Pomera and what she’ll have to do to keep adventuring with Kanata. Kotone has a similar experience when she’s pitted against puppetted warriors including the leader of the Cup of Blood. Even a hero can be taken off their pedestal if they end up fighting against multiple powerful and experienced adventurers.

Lunaère continues to be the shining beacon of the series even though she’s in such a small amount of the volume. During the third instalment, her stalking tendencies reach new heights as she perceives yet another woman growing closer to her beloved Kanata. Lunaère also facilitates my favourite scene within the volume when she finally meets up with Pomera. This is quite the meeting that instantly reveals her feelings towards Kanata, her overwhelming strength and the half-truths that Kanata has been telling Pomera about his teacher. The latter gets Kanata in trouble at the end of the volume.

Lunaère isn’t the only lich in the volume, as one is the main perpetrator behind the attempted theft of the legendary staff. It’s nice to get a comparison between liches, in that, power comes from the person rather than the creature they turn into. Alice is a whole lot weaker than Lunaère but comes with her own host of problems and unique abilities. She essentially has the power to puppeteer up to three people after they’ve lost in battle. These puppets offer a good power boost as well as a way to steal their abilities giving her the perfect opportunity to unleash the true power of the staff. Even though Alice herself didn’t pose much of a threat on her own, the fact that she could unleash the powerful spirit in the staff led to new challenges for Kanata and his closest call in battle so far.

There are two big problems that I have with this volume. The first is Kotone, the hero from Japan and the supposed focal point of the volume. Kotone is a generally likeable character, a typical shy introvert who comes out of her shell when talking about a topic she loves, in this case, a four-hour rant about her favourite manga. This is all we get of her character, her loves and her feelings towards being thrust into a new world aren’t expanded upon, which is a real shame. The second problem I have with this volume rather than the series as a whole is the lack of movement in the actual plot. This attack on Manaloch feels more like a distraction rather than a continuance with the plot at large. There’s no movement on character development, Lunaère is still just stalking rather than having to confront her feelings. The God side plot hasn’t moved at all and is basically in the same place it was at the end of the second volume and as for the demon’s mirror plot, it’s completely side-tracked for the second time in a row.

Volume 3 of Disciple of the Lich is action-packed and battle heavy whilst still capturing the more charming aspects of the previous volumes. The volume’s biggest downfalls pertain to character development and plot movement that, whilst it doesn’t majorly detract from the series’ overall quality leaves a lot to focus on and improve for the fourth volume. Hopefully, that’ll give us more time spent with Kotone considering what little we did get offers glimmers of a character with Lunaère’s potential.