Bang! Stryke grunted as he skidded several feet backwards. “Damn, he’s strong!” Stryke glared at the Lich from above his smoking shield. Ahead of him, Hogosha leaped from a rock at the Lich’s exposed back.

“Hmph!” The Lich snorted. It turned its palm toward the airborne Nespian Tiger and quickly fired a massive shockwave. Vwoosh! Hogosha realized the danger and rapidly covered its body in a thin mana field.

Bang ! The air cannon did not damage Hogosha, but it sent the Nespian Tiger somersaulting backward. Psh... Hogosha landed and instantly resumed its charge. This time, however, it charged along the ground.

Blue Will o’ Wisps in the Lich’s eyes flared in anger at the Nespian Tiger’s outrageous tenacity. The Lich raised a finger, causing several mandalas to appear above it. With a flick of its finger, dozens of fireballs instantly launched toward the charging Hogosha.

Hogosha, in reply, roared, and channeled mana through its limbs to the earth. Intriguingly, mandalas began to appear wherever its paws landed. Then, Earthen Walls shot up in front of Hogosha, to take the brunt of the fireball’s attacks.

The Lich displayed its unnerving adaptability the second it saw Hogosha’s defence. With a flick of its fingers, it transformed the fireball spells, reducing each one’s firepower in return for increased speed and volume.

In essence, the Lich transformed the mandalas from bolt-action rifles to fully automatic machine guns. The new fireballs were only the size of a basketball, but Hogosha could only watch when hundreds shattered its walls in no time.

“Grrrr!!” Hogosha growled and was about to dodge, when a familiar figure charged to its front.

“Keep going!” Stryke skidded in front of Hogosha, and immediately initiated [ Charge ] . The young man shot forward like a rocket, and then called out as he infused his buckler with his ki, “[Bulwark]!” Stryke’s shield burst to life as ki circulated through it. Several runes lit up at once, and a giant glowing tower shield spread out from the buckler. The ki-construct served as an effective battering ram, smacking the fireballs away like annoying bugs on a windshield.

Aided by Stryke’s quick charge, both he and Hogosha reached three meters before the Lich’s throne in the blink of an eye. Upon reaching this point, Hogosha summoned a rock spire that shot out over Stryke’s head. It then charged up the spire and leaped toward the Lich from the air, while Stryke stabbed his sword from the ground.

The divide-and-conquer strategy was sound. By forcing the Lich to split its attention, at least one of them would score a good hit. At least that was the idea. Unfortunately, the Lich had not intentions of going by their script.

Bang!

“What!?” Stryke and Hogosha stared in shock as they both struck a transparent shield. “When did he set this up!?” That’s right. They’d hit a mana shield, but neither of them had seen the Lich set up this spell, nor did they see any mandalas.

“It can’t be. Has he had this up since the beginning? How much mana does he have!?” It had to be known that mana shield was an active spell. Aside from the initial cost to summon the shield, mages needed to constantly supply the shield with mana to either strengthen or keep it active. This fundamental cost was the major reason mages did not walk around with permanent mana shields.

“At the very least, he has had it on since we started watching him. That’s put him at fifteen minutes at the minimum,” Hogosha calculated as it narrowed its eyes. “We have to finish this quickly. I doubt our mana can outlast his.”

“True. We’ll treat this as any raid BOSS then.” Stryke’s eyes lit up amidst the sparks as he roared, “Are you ready!?”

With Stryke’s roar, both he and Hogosha instantly gathered and then channeled their ki to a single point. For Stryke, it was the tip of his sword, whereas Hogosha’s gathered at its claws. The gathered ki rapidly condensed in the blink of an eye into a tiny clump the size of a grain of sand.

“GO!” BOOM! An explosion accompanied Stryke’s roar as the compressed ki suddenly exploded. Crick! A tiny crack appeared on the shield, near the tip of Stryke’s sword. The tora did not hesitate. He immediately jammed his sword into the crack! It served to be the final straw.

The mana shield shattered with the sound of shattering mirrors, and Stryke immediately lunged at the unshielded Lich.

“Brilliantly done.” For the first time, the Lich deigned to speak. It seemed to appreciate Stryke’s quick adaptability. Mana shields were indeed excellent at omni-directional defense. However, due to their broad surfaces, their defense were more spread out, which rendered them susceptible to pinpoint targeted attacks.

Of course, such attacks were easier said than done. Several dozen hours of practice went into any successful strike. Furthermore, one required unshakeable confidence in themselves, because the cost of failure was far too grim.

The old Stryke might have hesitated before staking it all on one move. However, this Stryke had been tempered in the fires of leadership for many (in-game) months. The naïve, insecure child had matured into a strong, dependable if still slightly naïve leader!

“Thank you!” Stryke grinned as he burst through the shield. He felt the [Charge] coming to an end, so he stuck his heel into the ground, and then pivoted in a circle, utilizing the final momentum to fuel a devastating strike aimed at the Lich’s feet.

Refusing to be left behind, Hogosha slashed down as it descended, sending eight crisscrossed ki-scythes slicing toward the Lich’s head and torso.

Faced with these attacks, the Lich calmly tapped its bone throne. Time itself stopped. Everyone watched in shock as the bone throne exploded into a mass of floating bones. Those bones then charged toward the Lich. The majority coagulated in front of the Lich, forming a gigantic eight-foot tall tower shield. A couple of extremely sharp bones gathered in the Lich’s left hand, creating a nine-foot bastard sword that was wider than Stryke’s body.

Finally, the rest superimposed on the Lich, creating a terrifying bone armor that reeked of death and chaos. The Lich’s helmet took the form of a larger version of its original skull. As a result, everyone got a clear view as the calmly burning Will O’ Wisps suddenly flared up into red, raging infernos.

Even though it felt like eternity, in reality, the transformation only took the tenth of a second. Stryke and the others only felt that way due to a by-product of the transformation. In order to ensure every piece fit correctly, the Lich added a sensory enhancement spell to the transformation spell. That spell accelerated the mind’s ability to record phenomenon occurring at micro time scales.

Of course, the Lich could have ensured the spell only affected itself. However, maybe because it was lazy, or due to the sick desire to record the panic on its foes faces, the Lich chose to make the sensory enhancement an AoE (Area of Effect) spell. As a result, it dragged Stryke and the others into its warped perception of time.

Fortunately, the transformation spell only lasted for one second. To anyone over thirty meters away, the Lich suddenly went from being seated to standing while fully clad in bone armor.

Bang! Bang!

Both Stryke and Hogosha’s attacks bounced harmlessly off the sturdy shield. Before either could regret the missed chance, their furs stood on end! They sensed immediate danger!

The Lich gently nudged its shield forward, but that was enough to send it crashing into both Stryke and Hogosha with the force of stampeding elephants. Stryke barely blocked with his buckler, but was still sent sliding. Hogosha, unfortunately, got struck especially hard, sending it tumbling to the ground.

“Die!” The Lich’s eyes burned as searing flames wrapped around its sword which it stabbed toward the airborne Hogosha.

“Like Hell!” Stryke cursed, ignoring the pain as he stomped his foot in the ground to offset the shield bash’s momentum. He then charged to the side and slammed against the blade’s flat edge.

Crunch! Stryke winced as he sensed his left shoulder pop out of its socket. He bit his lip to stifle the pain, and quickly looked to his right, where he was relieved to find that the blade barely missed Hogosha by a hair’s breadth.

Unfortunately, Stryke’s joy was short-lived.

The blade’s flames suddenly surged toward the tora like they met their greatest enemy.

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“Argh!” Stryke could not help but cry out as he rapidly retreated.

The flames quickly burned large sections of his left arm and shoulder, leaving nasty smoldering scars behind. Thankfully, his buckler was strapped to his arm, so it spared the lower part from too much damage.

Stryke groaned as he grabbed his left shoulder, but then angrily cried out in disbelief, “Chill out, will you!?”

Why did he scream? Well, the Lich immediately raised its sword once Stryke retreated and swung down. Five flame-scythes blasted out from the swing, racing towards the Maggots battling against the other skeletons.

Stryke could not believe his eyes. What kind of BOSS ignored the tank to attack others who weren’t even attacking it? Once again, he was reminded that L.N.E’s more intelligent monsters did not follow the attack patterns of regular MMOs.

“[Flame Wall!]” Just before the burning scythes struck their targets, five three-meter tall doors appeared in each scythe’s path.

Boom! Amidst the resulting explosion, Stryke collected himself and dashed toward the Lich before it could release another attack. He did not forget to send an appreciative glance at the mage who saved so many lives. “Thanks Craig!”

Nearby, Craig softly smiled as he dodged a skeleton’s swing. He then knocked it off balance with his staff, and then stabbed his staff into its empty eye socket. “Carry on, Young Master. I shall watch our backs.” Boom! The skeleton’s head exploded, illuminating Craig’s serene profile.

Stryke nodded with a smile, and then turned his attention to the Lich. Grrr… Just then, he felt the ground slightly tremble. Stryke’s fur rose on ends as he felt a rush of danger. Without questioning his instincts, he quickly leaped three meters to his left.

Brack! Just in time it turned out, as a giant skeleton hand suddenly shot up from the ground and squeezed hard. Fortunately, Stryke was quick, and the skeleton only grasped air. The young tora leader shuddered to think about his fate if those hands caught him.

“Stryke, watch out!”

Unfortunately, it was far from over. Hogosha’s warning gave Stryke ample warning to dash off, once again barely dodging another skeletal grab.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Stryke and Hogosha skirted around the Lich as the dodged the rapidly rising skeletal hands. Fortunately, the ground’s slight tremor gave them enough warning or they would have gotten caught long ago.

However, things could not continue like this.

Stryke gritted his teeth and glared at the arrogant Lich. “Gosha! Give me a lift!” With those words, he ignored the cracks in the ground as he dashed straight at the Lich.

The Lich’s arrogantly raised its blade and pointed it at the approaching Stryke. It said no words, but its demeanor was clear. It did not view the onrushing tora as a being worth its time. It basically invited Stryke to impale himself on its sword’s edge.

Stryke snorted in reply. It was not the first time someone underestimated him. Whether it was here or in the real world, there were many people who felt he was too young for his role. Well, he would just prove them all wrong.

Stryke saw the ground cracking in his path. He could tell the skeletal hand would jut out in the next second, and with his current pace, he would be above the strike point Contrary to expectations, Stryke did not hesitate one bit.

The young tora suddenly shot to the sky as a stone column burst out of the ground, carrying him along with it. The stone column carried Stryke at least thirty meters off the ground before shattering under its own weight.

Pa! Stryke leaped off the stone pillar just before it shattered, somersaulted in the air so his head faced the ground, and then ‘kicked’ the air with all he had.

Boom! Stryke shot toward the Lich like a bullet from a sniper rifle. The young tora’s furs rustled excitedly as a recognizable madness began to spread through his eyes.

“Futile.” The Lich did not seem stumped by Stryke’s unorthodox approach. It calmly swung its sword above its head, leaving hundreds of basketball sized fireballs in its wake. With a flick of its fingers, the salvo launched at the tora missile!

Stryke, for his part, realized he could not depend on [Bulwark] as it had not yet come off cooldown.

But, did he panic?

Heck no!

All Maggots laughed in the face of danger, and Stryke was no exception! The youth’s wide grin revealed how much he had been corrupted by the abnormal guild.

“Hahaha! Bring it!” With a war cry, Styrke launched several [Air Steps] in succession. He bounced back and forth across the sky, dodging the majority of the fireballs. Those he couldn’t dodge, he either smacked with his buckler or destroyed with his sword. The resulting explosions were disorienting, but Stryke did not incur any real damage as long as he did not face more than three exploding fireballs at a time.

However just when Stryke reached the ten-meter mark, he met a ten-meters wide fireball! Stryke wanted to dodge, but the Lich had timed the final fireball to perfection. The fireball was much faster than the previous ones. It would intercept him before he could switch directions.

Stryke’s gaze narrowed, but there was no panic in his eyes. Heh, he might be afraid if he fought this monster alone. But everyone knows that maggots are never alone.

Suddenly, Stryke spotted a giant earth spike stab into the heart of the fireball. Stryke did not need to look to know who did that. He instantly placed his buckler in front of him, and kicked the air, increasing the speed of his descent!

BOOM!

The massive fireball exploded from the interference, releasing vigorous winds that sent several skeletons and maggots tumbling across the clearing.

Psh!

Meanwhile, a golden light burst beneath the flames. Stryke, clad in a skintight layer of ki emerged amidst the falling embers. With a loud roar, he zipped past the Lich and struck the ground. He then quickly retreated several steps to stand beside Hogosha.

Ssss~ The Lich’s eyes burned as it turned to look at the petulant tora. A golden line spread across its helmet, and everyone watched, stunned as a large section of the section slid off due to the sharp cut.

Beneath the helmet, A deep gash burned at the Lich’s left cheekbone. The Lich temporarily stabbed its sword into the earth and then touched the scar on its cheekbone.

“AAAAHHH!” The forest trembled beneath the Lich’s overbearing rage. Its helmet shattered as flames enveloped its skull and body. The burning Lich King glared at Stryke with unbridled hatred.

How dare a mere mortal deface an immortal existence!?

The Lich decided then. No more games. It would destroy Stryke and grant him a life worse than death!

Stryke grinned beneath the Lich’s wrath. “Now we know we can hurt it.” He banged his shield with his sword as he remarked with a grin, “Square up, Gosha. This is going to be a long fight.”

Hogosha growled as it crouched into an attacking position. “I expected as much. However, do not overdo it. We just need to prevent him from interfering on the battlefield.”

“I know what I need to do.” Stryke laughed. “I’m not as crazy as Kashi, you know?”

“Is that so?” Hogosha revealed a knowing smirk as it glanced at the tora’s shining eyes. ‘You look plenty crazy to me.’

BOOM!

Unfortunately, the duo had to put any further banter on hold. The Lich had attacked with everything it had at last.

Having successfully drawn its aggro, Styrke and Hogosha reverted to defensive stances, choosing to kite around the Lich, and only occasionally using complicated maneuvers to land one or two knicks on the Lich’s sturdy armor.

This was destined to be a long battle…

***

Meanwhile, on the major battlefield, the undead army finally wised up after being ambushed from behind. Although the orcs’ numbers were not high, the berserkers’ insane strengths meant they were making short work of the undead’s rear.

Realizing they needed to change the situation quickly, the smarter undead chose to attack two of the Rosen alliances’ key forces: The orchestra located atop the skyboats and the medic station beneath it.

No one could overstate the orchestra’s importance to the battlefield. Their numerous charmed songs not only boosted morale, but also increased reaction speeds, stamina regeneration, and boosted physical stats for short periods. All of these played major roles in how the smaller alliance held back the undead army for so long.

Furthermore, the medic station led by Jade focused on providing quick healing to all injured soldiers. Jade especially, showed off her peculiar class for the first time. Almost everyone who went through her hands came out, not only healed, but rejuvenated to their peak condition. It could be seen how the undead found her existence increasingly vexing!

The undead, who had noticed these key forces only took a moment to formulate the crudest, but most effective strategy.

Tall undead monsters started grabbing other undead, and then launched them like missiles towards Lunette’s skyboat.

Atop the skyboat, Lunette softly smirked as he glared at the rapidly approaching undead. Haha, did they think she was defenseless? Very well, she would not mind showing everyone why the Chaos Order felt the need to ban music from Merriheim!