Silence fell in between both parties, but with another nod from the mage, the remaining two swordsmen drew their weapons and charged at Lysander with incredible speed. He easily blocked the first strike from the nearest enemy, reflecting their blade away just as another rushed past him; his aim clearly Zeke and Rowena standing in the back row.
“Silas!” Lysander shouted over while still clashing swords with his opponent.
“I know!” As he replied, his Mana Barrier defended against the attempted surprise attack. The man withdrew for a moment, then struck the shield again as if hoping it would yield better results.
By that time, Lysander had already slit the other swordsman's neck, and changed his target towards the one mindlessly bashing against the magical barrier. Zeke brushed off the feeling of Rowena pulling against his sleeve as he frowned at the man. “...Why do they not seem…human?”
“What do you mean?” Lysander inquired with a raised eyebrow, impaling his sword through the enemy's back, straight into the heart. As they watched the body fall helplessly to the ground, Lysander turned towards the last one standing; the mage. “How can they not be human, when they bleed crimson just the same as us?”
“No…” A sudden chill ran down Zeke's spine. He looked back and forth between the corpses and the mage.
At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, apart from the man's alarming calmness, until he finally noticed something wrong about the entire situation; a faint streak of light from the bodies had been trailing towards the man…and it's not mana. “What the fuck…? There's, there's actually one of these in the empire…?”
“...Silas?” Lysander didn't look back, though his expression had definitely shifted with his confused tone.
“That man…no, that ‘thing’ isn't any ordinary mage…” Zeke stood on guard, alert eyes stared daggers into the enemy before them. “That's a Lich.”
“...Kukuku,” the deep, echoey chuckle sounded from the cloaked figure, “Clever…Clever boy…”
[Warning! An unexpected event has occurred in the storyline!]
“You don't fucking say?” Zeke gritted his teeth, trying his best to ignore the flashing red screens in front of him.
[The Special Event: ‘Escape the Half-Lich’ has begun.]
As Zeke frowned at the ‘Half-Lich’ part of the message, the enemy extended his hand, revealing the bones and chunks of rotten flesh beneath his robe. A vile green flame shot forth, luckily repelled by a well-timed Mana Barrier.
“...Alright, now what do we do?” Lysander glanced back at Zeke while the relentless attack kept pushing against the magic dome. Although it held on rather easily at first, cracks soon began to form on its blue surface.
“It's not at the level of a boss monster yet,” Zeke responded calmly, turning to Rowena as he studied her expression; fear reflected in her widened blue eyes, and it broke his heart even more to see her gripping his sleeve so tightly her entire body quivered. “But it's probably on par with an Elite Monster…How did the Lendorrians even get something like that to fight for them?”
Right as he finished speaking, the Mana Barrier shattered, forcing Lysander to guard with his sword aura and blocked the flames. Fortunately, the five defense points granted when the skill broke down allowed him to fully defend unharmed.
Or at least it seemed like it at first.
Without warning, Lysander dropped to his knees, breathing heavily as he clutched at his chest. His pained expression forced a glare at the lich. “What…? I suddenly lost all my strength…”
Zeke frowned as he brought up a system window, checking for abnormalities. “Fuck, I should've known it would have something like this…”
< Character Status >
Name: Lysander Evan Salvador
Trust: 70% (Good)
Gender: Male
Age: 20
HP: 80% (Declining)
Status Condition:
[Other Info]
(Character Status is unlocked when the Player interacts with the NPC. Additional information will be revealed once the Player gains more insight into the Character)
Character Knowledge: 80%
<<>>
“Weakness reduces stats by fifty percent…and Life Drained signifies that he's getting his hit points chipped every second…The Cleansing Potion is with Circe too…”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Zeke's brows arched further down as he raised his head to the lich, watching it prepare another spell. The same wicked fire as before rushed forward and Zeke responded in kind with a strengthened Magic Blast. For a moment, they appeared evenly matched, but Zeke could feel his skill getting pushed back little by little.
“Silas…” Lysander croaked and turned towards him, “If you have a plan, better say it now quickly.”
He couldn't find a response, and only pursed his lips as anxiety crept up his throat. It wouldn't take long until he lost the contest of strength; something he never expected of his 84 Magic stat points.
“...What do I do? If I go down here, none of us are making it out alive,” he briefly glanced at Rowena, “I can't lose, not while I still have something important to do…Fuck, if only Circe is here with me…she'll know what to do!”
Until he suddenly remembered an important detail, and it brought such relief to his tensed frame that he let out an audible laugh. “Never mind, we may still have a chance after all,” Zeke grinned at Lysander, watching his confused expression melt away. “Time. We just need to buy time.”
A small vial appeared in his free hand, its blue liquid sparkled like azurites from the surrounding torches. Zeke pulled the cork with his teeth and downed the entire content. Unlike the blueberry taste of the mana potion, this one had a peculiar bubbly flavor. It reminded him of the blue hawaii cocktail.
[Consumed x1
[
Afterward, Zeke threw away the empty vial and took out the last remaining mana potion in his inventory. He drank that as well while his Magic Blast steadily pushed back the lich's column of green fire.
[Consumed x1
[Mana has been restored.]
“Now for the final touch.”
[Skill Synergy detected!]
[
[The Equipment Skill
[Mana consumption has been slightly offset by the
Magic Blast eventually overcame the lich's attack, striking it dead center in the chest. The impact drove it hurtling into the cavern wall, and frigid mist began to blanket the entire battlefield.
“Woah…!” Rowena exclaimed, her widened eyes now looking up at Zeke with a mixture of awe and joy, her fear nowhere to be seen, “Why didn't you tell me you were this strong of a mage! That was amazing Silas!”
Seeing her so happy, Zeke couldn't find it in himself to dispute her words. With a small smile, he sighed and patted Rowena's head, “Thanks, but it's still too early to celebrate,” he turned to Lysander as he began rising to his feet. Zeke pulled a health potion from the inventory and gave it to him, “Drink it when you feel like you need to.”
“...What is it?” Lysander took the vial and inspected its crimson content upclose.
“It will restore your energy that the half lich took from you.”
As Lysander lowered the container, he raised an eyebrow, “Half lich?”
“Necromancers who absorb a large amount of lifeforce eventually turn into liches,” Zeke explained, “But that one's stuck between humanity and undead. It's still in its incomplete stage.”
The deep mist began to clear. Zeke stared at the creature as it rose from the ground, its robes slightly tattered and revealed the flesh and bones beneath. Now with the hood drawn back, they could see the lich's face; the left side still had flesh while the right had rotted away to the skull. Its remaining dead eye contrasted with the shining dot in its socket of the other eye, still burning with the fury of life.
[The
For a moment, Zeke almost felt pity for the guy, but reminded himself of all the lives it must've taken to turn itself into such a monster. “And that means…if it still has flesh,” Zeke’s expression darkened, shedding away any remaining shred of sympathy, “Then it can bleed.”
Threads near invisible to the naked eyes flew towards the lich at high speeds, leaving no room for it to react. They cleaved through everything they touched, even the ground they glided on was not spared from their sharpness. Zeke aimed for the limbs, severing them completely with ease.
However, the limbs simply mended themselves back into place, a familiar green flame from earlier closing the cuts completely. Zeke's demeanor remained calm as he spoke, “Lysander, go chop that thing up and don't get hit. Retreat first if needed, I can't always put up a shield for you.”
Only responding with a short nod, Lysander adjusted his hold on the sword and rushed towards the lich. It held out its hand and sent several green fireballs his way, but Lysander reflected them all with the aura around his sword. He'd increased his power output, now careful not to let even a strand of his hair touch the flames.
“Silas!” Rowena called out to Zeke, “I want to help! You have something in that spatial magic storage of yours, right? I can help you!”
“Spatial magic storage? Ah, that's probably what the inventory looks like to them.”
“I don't have any swords with me,” Zeke replied, but just as he turned away, he suddenly remembered, “Oh wait, actually I do have something you could use.”
Six papers appeared in his hand, “This is all I have, but I believe in our odds. Just keep using them while we do the rest.”
“People who can control even a little bit of mana can activate them quickly, though tearing the paper also works too so anyone can use a Magic Scroll.”
“These…these are…!” Rowena stared at the papers in her hands in shock. One of them had a red magic circle drawn on it, while the rest were blue. “Aren't Magic Scrolls really expensive? Where did you even get these?”
“Where else? I made them myself.” Zeke turned back to the battle at hand just as Lysander retreated to his side, narrowly avoiding the lich's flames.
“Of course you made them,” he commented with a sigh, “I'm not even surprised.”
“Oh, and you take this one,” Zeke handed over another paper; one with the strengthening buff, “It should increase your power for a short duration, but it will be enough for us.”
As Zeke put up a Mana Barrier to stop another one of the lich's attacks, Lysander carefully took the piece of paper from him. “...You better come with me next time I'm on an expedition. You know how mages are with these kinds of things.”
Dungeon Regime's mages hold a much higher importance than knights. Comparing a swordsman who'd mastered aura and a magician who'd mastered magic, anyone would prefer the one that can wipe out an entire army with a single flick of their hand. But that also meant that most mages hold high pride for their skills and power.
Of course, magic typically requires time to cast, and this especially holds true for powerful spells. However, the Grand Mage had demonstrated that, if done correctly, even the most destructive of spells can be casted in seconds.
“...I'll consider it.” Zeke responded with a forced smile, though none of them had the time to dwell too much on each other's reactions.
Lysander shredded the paper with his teeth, and a warm, red glow enveloped his frame. On top of it, Zeke recasted Zephyr's Blessing, adding the speed buff on top of the strengthening.
The moment Zeke let the Mana Barrier break, Lysander dashed at the lich with confidence. His sword drew a wide arch towards its neck, though it defended well with a Mana Shield of its own. Unlike Zeke's, it had a toxic green color, and radiated a frigid air of death that couldn't possibly belong to the mana he knew.
“...It's probably Lifeforce,” Zeke frowned, “Disgusting. Using other people's lives as tools for your cause. I have to kill it here so it never becomes a full lich and harms anyone else.”
Rowena threw the fireball spell first, striking the lich in the face. The temporary loss of vision allowed Lysander to sneak in an attack to the neck once more. Though just like the other limbs, it simply reconnected after a second of separation.
Now a blast of frost shot towards the lich relentlessly, the combined forces of Rowena's borrowed Magic Scrolls and Lysander's slashes left little room for the lich to recover. As ice began to creep up its legs, Zeke casted Web Weaver once again and rained down razor sharp wires onto it.
“There we go! Web Weaver finally got the poison on it!” Zeke celebrated his success silently. Now, it was only a matter of time until the half lich fell to the power of debuff stacking…Right?