Liam considered retreating backwards to avoid the coming onslaught but he quickly reconsidered. Distance was death in this scenario. Not only would it put him at the mercy of the undeads' overwhelming ranged advantage, but it would allow the [Greater Ghoul] he was fighting to properly position itself so that he would never be able to reach their backline. Instead, he sized up their attack and plotted how to minimise its impact.
Two spears of condensed flame had formed in front of the [Skeletal Mages], along with a massive fireball and a collection of tiny whips of fire tinged with green. The spears were slung towards him from opposite sides first, joined by one of the wisps as they began to fire one after the other towards him in a bullet-like hail. He twisted out the way of one but unfortunately could not avoid both, as they had been aimed in such a way that dodging one put him in the path of the other. It pierced into his shield, embedding itself before exploding into a deluge of fire that washed over him. Still, he remained firm by holding onto his axe, which was still embedded in the ghoul's side, and shifting his stance to absorb the force of the point blank explosion.
The wisps kept coming all of them hitting different areas all over his body and infecting his shield with little specks of green that slowly began to corroded its integrity. He didn't have time to worry about that though, as the last of the first round of attacks was hurtling his way. He used his weapon again to pull the Ghoul into the fireball's path, twisting it in such a way to keep it stuck in the creature's flesh as he did so. The ball of flames slammed into the [Greater Ghoul]'s back, knocking it forwards and scorching it.
Liam smiled, the first wave having been dealt with and his current opponent in a vulnerable position in front of him. It was a smile that quickly faltered, however, when he saw that bit only was the behemoth practically unharmed by the impact but that the runes along its skin had begun to glow as they were bathed in the fire. Its muscles swelled and its eyes gained a feral glint as the reanimated Phyris quickly regained its footing and went back on the offensive.
He barely got his axe out in time to block a particularly nasty downwards slam coming his way and moved to disengage and go past the creature, only to be blocked by it repositioning itself. Two more quick exchanges followed, with Liam forced on the defensive against his boosted foe. However, with each exchange the creature was growing slower as energy was syphoned from its runes by his axe. Then as the second wave of flaming attacks was launched towards him, he seized an opportunity.
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It was only a slight mistake on the Ghoul's part, its speed slowing right at the moment it attempted a swing, but it was enough and Liam managed to break away from the undead and move towards its closest ally. He swung, the same movement he had used dozens of times by now to obliterate the Skeletons that had stood in the way of him getting here, but this time it was intercepted by a translucent, red barrier that appeared in his way. The barrier shattered almost instantly, but it bled most of the momentum from his strike and used his axe's stores of power to do so. The resulting blow barely nicked the creature's HP and he had to scramble away to avoid the barrage that then came his way.
He locked his gaze on the [Skeletal Mage] that had summoned the barrier. It was the one that followed the [Path of Magic], and although it's firepower seemed to be less than its peers, the versatility that it showed more than made up for that. Again it was summoning its rapid fire corrupting sparks and again he was going to be unable to dodge them due to their speed and number. That left forcing the undead to switch its offense into a defence by making it summon another barrier to protect its fellow undead.
Liam ran over to the next Skeleton over, avoiding the [Greater Ghoul] that had been closing in on his position, and did his best to recreate the scenario he had just been in. His axe slammed downwards and was intercepted by a barrier but despite his inability to do much damage he succeeded in his ploy. When the Mage created a barrier, anything else it was working on fell apart. He guessed that it was too much for its non-existent brain to keep up with.
He battered the flame spear that was forming and managed to interrupt that cast through a mix of scattering the flames and absorbing what was left. Then, to avoid the rapidly approaching Ghoul, he sprinted around the far side of the ritual table. He passed the Lich as he went, locking eyes with the necromancer long enough to somehow see the disdain that was present in the flickering green flames. Clearly it thought he stood no chance against its minions and saw no need to waste the effort, time and whatever else had gone into its ritual by moving to deal with him personally. He could see where it was coming from. He has failed to inflict any significant injuries on his foes and his shield was getting thinner by the second as the energies infecting it did their job. He was new to the System and clearly had not had the time to build up many tricks otherwise the undead mastermind might've been a bit more wary of him. By all accounts he was going to die horribly.
Still, he refused to give up and continued with his plan. He might not have any hidden aces, but that didn't mean he couldn't leverage his strengths against his enemies' weakness in. He was ready for Round 2.