I left Sylvia to recover while we made our way to the prepared Gryphons. The plan was simple. Those who signed up for the assault would hop onto available Gryphons and be deployed directly onto the front lines to hunt any Liches. Gryphon Knights would circle above, giving air support. We had more volunteers than Gryphons so those who stayed behind were part of a force that was going to push the undead off the western gate of the city in case anyone had to fall back on foot.

Within minutes, we were airborne and heading straight into the undead horde. The wind whipped around me as Cerila held onto me tightly. Now that the entire air space was devoid of incoming enemy magic or monsters, the Gryphons were flying at blinding speeds.

Lord Vasquez pulled his Gryphon beside me and yelled over the wind, “Where do you see them?!”

I hesitated to activate my Soul Sight, fearing the aftermath of the dungeon item usage, but I had no choice. I had to find the Liches before they retreated further into their ranks. When I fed mana into my eye, I was left looking at a hazy scene resembling static interference. All the visible mana was distorted; even the Gryphon I was riding on looked warped and disfigured despite my being directly on top of it.

It almost looks like some kind of toxic fallout but in the form of magical radiation. Whatever that dungeon item did, it can’t be good to remain in this place for long.

I pushed those thoughts to the side and focused my sight on the surviving mass of the undead. Shambling corpses were toppling over each other and falling into the fresh crater. Due to the interference, I could no longer see the thin mana line that connected them to the Liches, but I could still see the glowing mass of mana that outshone all the undead combined.

“One of them must have been blasted away by the dungeon item as I only see two Liches! One is far past the northern edge of the crater retreating, and the other is close to the western edge!” I shouted.

“Point me to the northern one! I’ll lead my teams over—”

Woosh.

Our Gryphons suddenly dipped as a Fireball soared over us and off into the distance. A small barrage of spells came our way courtesy of the northern Lich, but we were far enough away that our Gryphons had time to react.

Lord Vasquez took a horn that was around his neck and blew into it, signaling for his strike squad to follow. He shouted good luck at me before his Gryphon broke away, followed by half of the attackers.

I gave the hand motion, and Ms. Taurus blew into hers. The rest of the Gryphons fell into line and dived toward the other Lich. We were approaching a landing point that was above the crater, but it needed to be cleared of immediate undead. I launched a handful of Fireballs, packing an extra explosive punch, into the horde.

The shockwave blasted away the undead as a hail of other spells impacted the horde, ripping them to shreds or blowing them away. Gryphon Knights that maintained their altitude gave the area a final strafing run of fire magic, clearing away any leftover undead.

We landed with a thud as the Gryphon slid to a halt and lowered itself so we could dismount. Disembarking was quick, and the Gryphons were even faster, getting back up into the air where they could be called upon with the horns to evacuate us. The undead was already moving toward us, albeit slowly.

“Garrison and Shadowheart, take half and hold this position! Everyone else is with me!” Ms.Taurus ordered.

Half of the assault team held the evacuation zone with Mom and Professor Garrison, while the rest followed Ms.Taurus. I led everyone straight to the Lich, and now that I was out of the magical interference zone, I could clearly see the Lich’s bright mana.

We rushed into the first wave of undead and began cutting them all down. The initial pack was just Zombies and Skeletons. With quick strikes from my fire-clad spear, I leaped from one Zombie to another, easily separating their heads from their bodies. Their rotted corpses piled on the ground as we continued to mow through them.

Bursts of spells ripped into the horde, and Cerila and Ms. Taurus efficiently handled anything that came their way. I watched Ms. Taurus swipe three Skeletons into bone meal, and Cerila froze an entire wave in a block of ice. Just as we were nearing the Lich, something sprang out from swathes of undead, and I brought my spear up to block the strike.

I felt the impact in my bones and quickly backed off, only for the tall creature to remain hot on my heels. The swing of its massive club had considerable weight behind it, and it was as agile as it was strong. It was Humanoid in shape and wore dirty rags for clothes, but the creature was far too big and muscular to be a regular person.

Even so, it had clear signs of rot and decay, as if it were an undead. The flesh was missing all the way to the bone. Its face lacked anything and was just a skeleton in the shape of some kind of monstrous species with a strong jaw and tusks. Its skin was also blackened; whether that be through rot or its natural color, I couldn’t tell. I dodged its heavy club strike as it destroyed the ground underneath me and noticed that Cerila and Ms. Taurus were also fighting these creatures off.

What the hell is this thing? Its eyes aren’t glowing, so it’s not a high-level Undead. Just some suped-up Zombie? Could this be…an Orc?

Regardless of what the creature was, I had to kill it so we could keep moving. As the beast tried to free its club from the ground, I thrust my spear into its exposed ribcage and released my spell core. There was a bright flash followed by an explosion that tore the undead’s chest apart, sending its flesh and bone everywhere. The smell was horrendous, but despite nearly being ripped in half from the inside, the creature still managed to free its weapon and come at me with similar speed and ferocity.

How annoying. The strength and speed of an Orc with the durability of an Undead. What an unfortunate combination…

I dodged one swing, and as the undead twisted its mangled body for another, I coated my spear in flames and aimed directly at its weapon. The monster itself may have been tricky, but in the end, its weapon was a glorified, oversized stick.

My spear sliced clean through the club and sent half of it flying off somewhere else. The undead had no face, but I’m sure it was slightly surprised as the opposite end of my spear was sent through its lower jaw into its hollow skull. With another direct explosion but this time in the head, I watched the body fall lifelessly to the ground.

I killed a group of encroaching Zombies with a torrent of flames just as Cerila dispatched her monster. Ms. Taurus was already giving another group orders to maintain a defensive line as she pushed toward the Lich.

Cerila and I caught up with her, and Ms. Taurus asked, “Kaladin, how close now?!”

“Close, we should be able to see it after we clear some of these undead away!” I yelled back.

Cerila and I stopped, and we sent a shower of ice and fire into the grouped-up undead. As my flames reduced them to ash, and Cerila’s ice turned them into frozen chunks, we cleared an entire section of them. And at the center was an oddly placed wall of earth.

“Earth magic! Watch—”

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Ms. Taurus’s words were cut short as the three of us scattered the instant we felt a spell core. The ground around us was moving. Spikes were suddenly popping out from the dirt. Earthen walls sprang up and tried to surround us. I broke through some and dodged others. It was like we had suddenly found ourselves in a field of traps.

Even the dirt at our feet was warping into soft sand, and it was impossible to tell if it would try to hinder our movement or kill us with an attack. I broke apart a wall that skated across the ground only for a handful of stone spikes to launch themselves at me. The Lich was incessant, and its magic was activated quickly. Even a single slip-up would cost us.

“It’s trying to keep us away from itself! We must push into it before it escapes into the horde or summons its guards!” Ms. Taurus yelled as she burst through a stone spike that erupted from the ground.

I agreed with Ms. Taurus, and through my Soulsight, it appeared that the Lich was trying to retreat into its allies rather than fight us directly. But we were on the defense with little breathing room. I could try to use a powerful spell to blast it away, but I may be left too vulnerable.

In that case…can I try to go toe-to-toe with it?

I had only fought one Lich, which was a weird experience I could hardly count on. This Lich seemed like it had no intention of allowing us to slay it. I had no idea if I could keep up with it, but it was worth trying. I used my Dragon eye and tracked the multiple spell cores that were moving through the ground.

I broke apart a stone spear with a sweep of my own that was launched at me and began to form my own spell cores. I sent them out on the same trajectory, and I was able to counter them successfully. My spells collided with the Lich’s, and the ground shook and exploded into dirt and rock fragments.

I launched smaller and faster Stone Bullets at the incoming projectiles. Those spells overpowered the Lich’s, and my bullets ripped through the spell and any undead on the other side. For the time being, I had successfully countered the Lich, freeing Cerila and Ms. Taurus to push forward.

But as I was countering the spells from the Lich, the attack group that landed with us were defending me from the undead in the rear. However, in an instant my heart sank momentarily. An enormous spell was cast, and its speed and strength were far too much for me to counter on such short notice. The ground shook violently as huge, thick stone walls erupted from the ground, towering over us and separating me from the other two and those at my back. The undead were pouring in from the sides, and I burnt them to their bones with a rush of flames. I tried to break down the stone walls, but they immediately regenerated back when I did.

Earthen spikes protruded from the walls, trying to impale me on their sharpened ends. I spun around and cut them into chunks before they reached me, but for every step I took, another three sprang out.

Did…the Lich trick me? Was it purposely hiding its full ability only to spring a trap?

I shook any doubts away as it hardly mattered. I fought the undead that continued to pour in and destroyed any sudden traps that tried to hit me, but I felt a spell core to my right. I thought it was another trap, but when I preemptively thrust my spear at it, I instead pierced the skull of a rotting farmer that lunged at me. The stone wall gave away, and another path opened only for more undead to flow behind the first. It was nothing more than Zombies and Skeletons, but the sheer amount of them was starting to become overwhelming.

That was when the ground shook again, but the sounds of familiar screeching could be heard above. Gryphon Knights were strafing the area again with magic, slaying the undead with each strike and opening numerous holes in the walls.

I see…if I focus on one section, then the walls regenerate quickly…but the Lich can’t fix a wide area at that speed. So I need to make a bigger mess of things.

I planted my feet on the ground and used the breathing room provided by the knights to form some spells. The first spells I formed sent globs of flame into the air. The balls floated into the sky and burst apart into streaks. When they hit the ground, they detonated and destroyed undead and the rear alike.

I had to trust that Cerila and Ms. Taurus were skilled enough to avoid my magic, as I couldn’t keep track of them and the Lich simultaneously. The two of them were moving quickly through the maze of undead and walls, so they were unlikely to get caught up in it. I thrust my spear into the ground and gathered my mana into a new spell.

I had moved earth and caused a similar phenomenon but never at this scale. The ground wobbled, and the undead that had begun to file in was knocked to the ground as the earth shook violently. I continued to gather more mana until I felt I had enough and released it. What could only be considered to be an earthquake roared as the earth split apart.

An enormous fissure spread apart, undead fell into the pits, and the stone walls of the Lich came tumbling down into the abyss alongside them. Dust clouds consumed the area, but within a few seconds, they scattered, and the entire area in front of me had been utterly destroyed. The ground was uneven, deep fissures ran across and trapped Zombies and Skeletons, and the maze of walls had been reduced to rubble.

That was quite a bit of mana, but I still have over half in the tank. This Lich isn’t long for this world.

I could now see Cerila and Ms. Taurus again. They were fighting Death Knights, but with nothing holding them back anymore, it would only take a few moments before they dispatched them. I could also see the Lich now, exposed and in the open. It used its magic to stabilize the area around it, leaving its friends to fall into the chasms.

Now that I could see the Lich clearly, I was surprised. I had expected it to be a skeleton just like the first one, but this Lich still had some of its flesh. It wore black and red robes and held a long wooden staff with a blue dungeon core shard at the end. Although it was a rotting corpse, it was evident it was a Beastman of some type as it had a tail.

Its face was disfigured, with parts of the white bone showing. Its eyes were hollow, and a pale blue, glowing light socketed into them. It must have been a recently risen Lich, probably one of the border guards, because the robes had the Gryphon symbol of Luminar on them.

Either way, whoever it was, they were already dead. I put mana into my limbs and, using gravity magic, I hopped across the chasms and headed straight for the Lich. The creature sent spells of earth and rock my way, but I dodged or cut them down at ease. I even retaliated, and with loud cracks, my Stone Bullets raced toward their target.

The Lich tried to bring up barriers, and although it succeeded, it didn’t anticipate the damage, and the bullets went straight through its barriers and pierced the Lich. The undead shuffled back from the force, but of course, it was ineffective, considering I was shooting a corpse. All I needed was to buy some time to get closer.

Just as I was about to cross the final chasm, an undead jumped straight out of the hole and directly into my path. It had the same glowing eyes as the Lich but wore rusted, tattered armor with no markings and wielded a broken sword. I was forced to fight back, parrying its blows before striking back at it.

My spear went straight through the rusted armor but found no purchase for lack of flesh. It swept its sword across, but rather than dodging, I relied on my armor. The broken blade hit my armor, and although the force was immense, that was all it was. The blade shattered into pieces, and I thrust my spear into the upper chest, cutting straight through the armor.

I didn’t have to do anything else as a beautiful blue icicle crushed the creature’s head into dust. The headless Skeleton sunk to the ground as the other two caught up to me. It was just us a few feet away from the lone Lich.

The undead continued to launch spells at us. Thick boulders hurled at blinding speeds, while spikes of stone burst from the ground. All the spells were dangerous, and they came quickly, but it still wasn’t enough to stop us. I let lightning course through my lower body, which increased my speed even more, and with a sudden burst, I was directly in front of the Lich.

I thrust my spear out, but the Lich had taken a step back with shocking speed for a mage. But that was fine, as I had somewhat anticipated that. I grinned as the tip of my spear was engulfed in bright white flames. A concentrated burst of magic left the tip, and although the Lich was fast in creating a wall to block it, my spell still reached its target.

The small beam of fire hit the Lich directly in the chest, and the creature was engulfed in a white-hot inferno. However, there was no way that had defeated it. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone. Ms. Taurus’s spear shattered the stone wall, and she swept her spear across the Lich, separating its burning head from its shoulders.

Finally, a Lich—

Even though we had burned and cut the head off the Lich, I watched the headless corpse raise its staff. The blue dungeon core shone lightly as rocks rose from the ground, and with tremendous force hit Ms. Taurus directly in the chest, denting her armor and knocking her back. The Lich was still moving; it was even regenerating.

I used Soulsight, and from the bright blob of mana that was the Lich, I saw a thin string going off in another direction. It seemed that our worst fear had come to fruition.

Liches can revive each other.