There's no real time to think before we hit the floor.

The impact with the stone knocks my breath away briefly.

I mean, that's only to be expected.

I hit the floor flat on my back.

The shield, bless its heart, didn't survive that impact.

I guess it did its best surviving the black flame, but now its split into many pieces, shattered on the floor.

The pseudo-lich thing crashes to the ground and skids in a way that's somewhat comical.

I suppose that's what happens when you don't have flesh and organs to cushion the impact.

The only sound that breaks the silence in the air is the clatter of bones and the crack of stone.

That and my heavy breathing.

I must have inhaled a bit of dust on the way down, which is no great surprise.

This cave is a dusty and dirty place, after all.

I roll onto my knees and stumble to my feet.

I can't just lay there being winded, or my trip in this world won't last very long.

The Lich flips himself over with a kick of his skeletal foot.

That's all he has to do, too.

No grunting, no wincing in pain, no sharp intakes of breath.

Just a kick.

Well. I guess we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

My sword has slid across the floor by a few feet, about midway between us.

That's not the most efficient way of getting my sword back. Not what I would have planned.

But.

Who am I to criticize it?

Nothing to do but make a sprint for it before he cuts me off, I guess.

I push myself forward, starting the mad dash.

It's only a few steps, but the suspense makes it feel like longer. I pull off a smooth slide on my knee, grabbing up my sword and lifting it up in the way before the other man can attack me.

It's just another one of those fireballs, though.

It doesn't do any more appreciable damage to me up close than far away.

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This is one lich who doesn't stand up to the reputation of his monster type very well.

It's honestly almost a disappointment.

No, it is a disappointment.

Even if it's more convenient for me that he's not a threat, if there's no danger or challenge in this fight, what's the point?

I'm half tempted to drop the fight and just leave, but...this wouldn't be the first time a boss starts out seeming extra weak and then transforms into something far more dangerous once it's hurt enough.

I can stick around for that.

One of Elara's gouts of flame splashes into his face.

Given his troops are immune to that, he's probably about as intimidated by her fire as I am by his.

What a ridiculous situation that is to think about.

I roll to my feet and run at the creature.

His head snaps around.

It's really kind of interesting the way he moves without the muscles to connect the bones. His skull tilts forward as if his neck was still intact, even though it isn't.

But...

"Worthless." The creature laughs and swings a hand, shooting a blast of blue light straight at me.

It impacts with my sword before I can dodge it.

It still doesn't hurt, but there's definitely a lot more force, and I find myself flying off of my feet backward through the air.

Not exactly the most graceful flight, either. I tumble in the air, smashing into the ground, the sword clattering from my hands again, and rolling across the rough stone.

I'm going to be scraped and bruised from this if not outright bloody.

But I guess the adrenaline is pumping hard, because I don't feel any pain right now.

Good.

It means I can still focus on fighting this guy.

He might not be doing damage to me, but he's putting up more of a fight than his skeleton army, I guess. That's worth something.

Kael holds out a hand to me when I finally stop rolling, but his gaze is on the lich. "You alright? That was pretty potent."

"I'm fine. What is it?"

I push myself up and dust off my pants, picking the sword up off the floor.

The blade is nicked in a few places but not otherwise damaged. That's good at least.

"Don't bother with trying to burn him." I say, glancing to Elara. "If his foot soldiers are immune to fire, he probably is, too."

"Of course I'm immune to flame, you imbecile." The voice sounds downright condescending. "Did you really think I was that weak?"

He's easy to provoke.

That, or annoyingly talkative.

Probably both.

"Have you considered not using a bladed weapon on a skeleton?" Kael asks, voice dry.

I squint at him. "Was good enough for his underlings."

It was.

But I don't really have many other options, do I?

"Got anything blunt instead?" I ask, squinting at him pointedly.

If he doesn't, then sword will have to do.

I'm not punching a bunch of bones to super-death.

Not at this level.

The lich laughs.

"You entertain me. Perhaps I will make you a part of the great Fayn El-Tine's army!"

Oh so he's definitely the annoying talker type.

"That's right, Master! It will be easy to take advantage of his boasting!"

Yeah.

Seems like I'm surrounded in annoying talkers.

"Enough nonsense." Kael shakes his head. "Just bring this undead scum down already."

The dark-haired rogue leaps forward and throws one of his knives toward the Proto-lich's eye-socket.

It strikes true.

But the only reaction he gets from the undead creature is a cold laugh as the knife lodges into his skull and simply falls to the ground.

"What did you think you would accomplish?" It chitters. "Fool. You are but bugs compared to my power. In the end, you can do nothing to me."

It gives a hollow chuckle.

The chuckle is cut off when Arin, who somehow got way closer than either Fayn or myself realized, clubs him in the side with an impressively large chunk of wood.

The lich lurches to the side for a moment, before backhanding the fourth member of our party and sending the healer flying.

Which is not what I want to see.

Healers are not the ones that should be getting bodyslammed into a far wall.

It makes it rather difficult to heal anyone when our healer is the one unconscious.

"ARIN!" Elara shouts, running toward his crumpled form.

Oh well. He'll probably be fine, considering I've been slammed into the wall and floor by this guy a few times now.

I charge for the stick that Arin dropped.

It's probably a better weapon than the sword, and frankly...

I do my best work solo anyway.