Liam watched as the mana the Lich was channeling suddenly winked out, making the Lich give a confused look. One that lasted for a brief moment before he whirled at Ariyana and cursed, “How dare you!”
“If you’re worried about what she did, you’re going to miss what’s coming next,” Liam commented with a glee in his voice.
“Wha…,” The Lich started as he turned to look at Liam but was cut off as Jude suddenly rammed right into the Lich’s side.
Liam channeled as much Shadow Mana as he could and smiled even more while he watched the Lich fall to his side and slide a few feet away from the raised platform. Fire lit up on the shoulder piece where Jude had ran into.
After the Lich stopped from sliding he pushed up to get back to his feet, until he felt a dark cold mana suddenly pool out from underneath him. He looked down to see his own shadow start to quiver. A feeling washed over him he hadn’t felt in a long time as he stared down into his shadow. One he thought he wouldn’t feel anymore.
Fear.
He felt fear sink into him as he recognized the nature of the magic that was being cast. He knew shadow magic was dangerous for many reasons. One reason would be the madness that it covers. Another was how powerful it could be if someone spent a long time studying it. However, the one major reason he knew Shadow magic was dangerous and the cause of the fear that was gripping him was what hid within the shadows.
He spun around and started to move up as fast as he could so he could get away, but before he could get himself back up, raven black tendrils shot out and wrapped around his limbs, torso, and neck. They pulled him down to his back, sprawling his arms and legs out across the ground.
“Everyone! Attack!” Liam shouted as everyone rushed towards him. He then yelled out orders, “All melee attackers surround him and strike hard. Buffers get those physical buffs out now! Magic dealers, if you have a spell that can do damage without hurting those in melee range then use those, if not then pull out a melee weapon and join in on attacking. I don’t want to see any spells harming allies!”
Liam watched as everyone attacked swiftly and hard. As they did this, he pulled out one of the Orange Stamina Potions Galin had gifted him and took two sips. As his stamina replenished, he watched as the Lich’s health pool started to drop rapidly.
It quickly dropped from the ten thousands then to the nine thousands. Eight, seven, six.
He wasn’t sure if the Lich’s health was dropping because his defense was so weak or if the Lich was just weak to physical damage in general. He wasn’t going to complain. He felt this fight had dragged on long enough and he would be happy to see it end now.
Liam watched the monster’s health continue to tick down until it got into the three thousand range. Once when it entered that area, Liam felt a sudden pressure build up in the air. Before he could remember where he had felt that before, the Lich let out a pained roar of frustration and sent a shockwave out from his body. This shockwave forcibly flew everyone away from the creature.
Liam fell to his back as the pulse slammed into him. After he brought his head back up to see what had happened. He noticed no one but the Lich was close by. He guessed that since he was the farthest away from the lich, before he released that shockwave, the pressure was less potent than the area the others had stood.
A cold icy blue color started to gather around him as he glared at Liam.
Liam realized he was channeling mana for another spell. He had to stop it, but he couldn’t think of anything that would be enough. If his Lunar Step was at a higher level then he would be able to cause a quick blindness when he appeared, but he knew it wouldn’t do the trick.
After thinking about that, a thought popped into his head. He had a spell that could be enough to blind the creature and thus stop him from casting. He bite his lip trying to think if he had enough time. He then shook his head and decided to try it anyways.
He readied himself and started chanting the spell.
“Moon, beautiful and radiant,” Liam started to chant as a dark orb appeared before him. A pale light started to shine down upon him and enter the black orb forming.
“Bless us with your power to lighten up the night.”
The once pitch black orb was now almost devoid of any color other than the pale white.
“Expose those which try to hide within your majestic li…”
Liam’s Danger Sense suddenly flared up as he stopped chanting.
“Shit!” Liam cursed right before he used Lunar Step to get out from the rain of sharp icicles.
As he reappeared he glared towards the Lich from the right side of the frozen area he had AOE’d upon. As soon as he peeked his head out from the side, an icicle flew towards him.
Liam went to move his head back, but heard the object hit something.
He spun his head around to see his Shadow Hand had been pierced and was starting to disappear. The dagger it was holding onto started to fly away as Liam tried to reach out for it.
Another icicle shot towards his hand causing him to retract it. He kept his eyes on the object and tried to form another Shadow Hand to grab it before it got out of reach.
A hand formed and gripped the dagger; however, it wasn’t a Shadow Hand.
Liam stared at it with a perplexed expression.
It looked almost exactly like his Shadow Hand. Albeit, It had black smoke rolling off of it, but the color of the actual hand was a pale white. As he took in this new hand he felt it looked like a moon with shadowy clouds wisping around and off of it in the shape of a hand.
Moon? Wait, Liam began to think as he turned his head to his hands.
His right hand was devoid of mana, but his left wasn’t. His left hand was covered in a pale white color.
He was confused. He was trying to summon a Shadow Hand. Normally when he summoned his Shadow Hand he would channel some of his Shadow Mana, but in the thick of it he didn’t have enough time and tried to do it without channeling any. He was thinking of trying to summon it without channeling any of it, but instead this new hand appeared. What was this mana that coated his hand? Where did it come from?
Lunar Mana? Liam thought as he stared with wide eyes at his hand. But how? When…
His thoughts then went to when he was trying to chant to use the Lunar Exposure spell. He was cut off at the end due to the Lich’s spell about to come down and had to use Lunar Step to get away.
Was I able to absorb the mana when I used Lunar Step? Allowing me to finally grasp Lunar Mana Manipulation? Liam thought to himself. But that doesn’t make sense. Why would…
His thoughts were suddenly broken when he felt his skin start to prick and sting.
“Ow. Ow!” Liam said as the pain started to rise a bit more as the seconds ticked.
Liam! I don’t know how you did it, but you need to get rid of both of those Hands. They are causing damage to you! Eri suddenly shouted in Liam’s mind.
What is this pain? What’s going on? Liam questioned with some alarm.
Both your resistance and knowledge of Lunar and Shadow Magic is limited. Eri started back up. Because it is, you’re causing harm to yourself since both magics are opposites. And since your resistance to them is stupidly low it’s only harming you.
Liam felt a little panic start to rise as he listened to Eri. Without realizing it his Shadow Hand started getting a little closer to his Lunar Hand right in front of him. As this happened Liam’s Danger Sense flared up quicker than it had ever before.
Liam looked forward and noticed several pale white and raven black lightning like lines start to grow out from both hands. They looked like they were trying to reach each other as they formed.
Liam willed them to move away from each other as quickly as he saw this happen.
See. You barely have control over them. Eri informed. Her voice was full of worry, but also had a hint of…pride. If those lines had touched they would have sucked both hands in and the mana within would have combined and created an attack I don’t think you would have been able to handle that close.
What should I do? Liam asked.
Before Liam got an answer, he felt his danger sense lit up all over his body again. He looked up and saw icicles start to form above his head.
“Shit.” Liam cursed as he used Lunar step to get out of range again.
He reappeared backwards outside of range from the AOE spell the Lich had used and glowered.
“That stupid fucking Lich and his magic,” Liam growled. “I need to…”
His words slowly died as he felt another wave of pain ripple across his body. That wave of pain gave him an idea on how to get rid of both hands. It was a stupid plan since he didn’t know what would happen, but it was an idea, nonetheless.
Liam… Eri slowly started. I can see that smile you normally get when you have a stupid idea. What are you plan…
Liam didn’t let her finish, nor did he answer her. Instead, he felt the Lich start to channel mana again and felt it was the right moment to do what he planned.
He used Lunar Step and blinked away from where he stood.
He reappeared in front of the Lich with his arms spread out barely out of range of two certain spells he had going on.
The Lich widened his eyes in surprise when Liam had appeared in front of him not too far away. Recomposing himself, he saw the man in front of him had his arms out like he was ready to catch his spell. “What in the deity’s name are you doing? Do you plan on catching my spell?”
Liam stared at him. “I’m not catching anything. Its you who’s going to catch something.”
Taking the bait, the Lich questioned, “Pray tell, what am I catching?”
Liam grinned, glad to take the opportunity to finish saying. “You’re about to catch these hands.”
He then slammed his hands together and made a loud clap.
The Lich was about to retort, until Liam’s Lunar Hand and Shadow Hand suddenly rushed towards each other right in front of the Lich’s face.
Liam watched as the two opposite mana types collided together. As they got closer to each other he saw the same pale white and raven black lightning lines connect. Once when they did they pulled both hands together and sucked into a bead the size of a coin.
The coin size formed for only a second before it suddenly expanded into a bright explosion of raven black and pale white swirling out to the size of a small vehicle and swallowed the Lich whole.
The brightness of the explosion was enough to make Liam bring a hand up to block the light so he could try and see what was going on. However, due to the brightness of the explosion he wasn’t able to see the shockwave that rippled out.
Liam was hit hard from the force almost like someone had tackled him making fall to his back and slide backwards a bit.
The force from the shockwave also sent a ripple throughout the entire ice wall that was still standing and shattered it. The shockwave was also powerful enough to send everyone who was trying to race back towards Liam and the Lich backwards once more.
Liam got back to his feet and placed a hand out to block the brightness once more. The raven black parts circled around the bright pale light giving the explosion a flashing effect.
After a few seconds had passed the bright pale light and raven black shadows swirling around dissipated. Once when it was easier to see, Liam looked to see the Lich standing there.
Liam stared at the man dumbfounded. He thought for sure taking that so close would have destroyed him wholly. Instead, he stood there in tattered clothes. His left arm missing from the elbow down, parts of his right leg was destroyed to the bone. Many other sections throughout his body had cuts and gashes. Dark purple liquid oozed out from the open wounds. Especially from the destroyed leg and arm.
The Lich let out a cough, releasing a massive amount of dark purple liquid from his lips.
“How the fuck did you survive?” Liam muttered as he stared at the man with incredulity. He then looked at the creature’s stats.
“Hubristic Arisen Lich. 417/15,000 HP. 239/10,000 MP. Level 27 (Partially Sealed).”
He’s almost dead. Good. Now we just need to… Liam started to think until he felt something start to vibrate on his hip.
Confused, Liam looked down to see his Spectral Lantern shaking.
“What the hell,” Liam muttered as he stared with brows furrowed.
He then remembered something. Something a certain ability that evolved and retained its level twenty level at. There was a certain mention about an execute ability when a creature was at five percent health.
Not thinking it over any more or hesitating, Liam gripped the lantern as he raced over to the Lich.
As soon as he got within a fifteen foot radius of the man, he watched the Lich starring daggers at him. He went to say something but was only able to let out a gurgle as more of the dark purple liquid spewed out of his mouth.
The Lich’s eyes then widened as Liam pulled his lantern out in front of him and yelled out, “Soul Harvest!”
The Spectral Lantern shook violently before the glass panel shot open and allowed some of the ghastly green light out.
The light that shone started to circle into a swirling motion. The Lich’s mouth opened wide almost like it was trying to scream while his eyes remained wide open. As this was going on, Liam saw a ghastly light green figure slowly get pulled from the Lich’s body. The figure took the form of the Lich.
This specter of the Lich struggled as it was being pulled out from his body. Thick green lines connected the Soul shape to the body tethering them together.
Liam felt the struggle as he kept holding the lantern out in front of him. Sweat rolled down his face as he felt not only his Spirit Pool drain, but his stamina as well.
“Come on,” Liam muttered. “Come on.”
It had become a game of tug a war as Liam kept trying to suck the Lich’s soul out and harvest it into the lantern.
The Lich, for his part, put up a fight, trying to keep his soul connected to his body.
As Liam fought to win this battle, he felt his muscle start to spasm while his arm shook. Even though his body was battered, bruised, and tired, he refused to lose. He would harvest this soul and end this fight once and for all.
He then felt his stomach drop as the swirling of the ghastly green light started to slow down. This allowed the Lich’s soul to move back, away from the Spectral Lantern.
“No,” Liam said in almost a whisper. He repeated the word in a much louder volume with anger and frustration in his voice. “No!”
He watched as the Lich’s soul gave him a creepy grin as it moved back once more.
“No! I won’t allow you to escape!” Liam roared. He then felt something stir inside of him as the anger swelled up. With as much force as he could summon, Liam shouted, “Your soul will be harvested!”
Then, in a brief moment, a pressure shot out of Liam, causing everything to stop moving.
Liam’s body, the others behind, and even the Lich’s soul had stopped moving.
Even though Liam couldn’t move a muscle, he was still able to see and move his eyes.
As he looked around, he noticed there was something that hadn’t stopped moving. It was the ghastly green light that was swirling in front of him.
As it slowly circled, it suddenly pulsed. Once, twice, three times. After the third time a form suddenly appeared in front of him.
Liam was shocked to see something manifest right in front of him. He wasn’t able to get a clear look of what had formed, but he knew it was different. It wasn’t ghastly green or had any color that made it seem like a soul or anything. Instead, it had a raven black cloak that looked to move around like smoke. It wasn’t fully corporeal, but it also wasn’t incorporeal.
Liam stared at the figure. The smoky substance that rolled off wisped around. One moment it looked like a solid body was in front of him and then next he was able to see through it.
He then looked at the Lich’s spectral figure and noticed something he hadn’t seen on his face before. He saw the boss monster’s face was full of panic.
Liam then watched as the shadowy figure, that had manifested in front of Liam, started moving. It slowly walked towards the spectral frozen in front of it.
Liam watched as the panic turned to fear as the shadowy silhouette got closer and closer.
It made its way to the frozen spirit without any effort or trouble. It walked past it and stopped.
It then turned to face the lines that connected the spirit to the Lich’s body and raised its right hand up.
A frightening and wicked scythe suddenly appeared in its hand as it gripped the pole. Liam wasn’t able to see all the details of the weapon due to the Lich’s spirit body blocking the entire view.
The creature then gripped the pole with its free hand and without any hesitation, it sliced down; cutting through the lines keeping the soul and the body tethered together.
Liam watched as the Lich’s eyes dimmed with any sign of life and slump a bit.
Then without any warning everything started moving again. The Lich’s soul rushed towards the swirling ghastly green light and was sucked into the Spectral Lantern while screaming out.
Even though that was going on, Liam couldn’t keep his eyes off the shadowy form that was still standing there with the scythe in hand.
Liam didn’t move or make a sound. He wasn’t sure who or what this figure was, but he knew it was powerful. Powerful enough that it could kill him in an instant if it wanted to.
Then the figure slowly turned to look at Liam.
At first Liam was confused as he stared at it. Inside the hood where the creature’s head was, was a deep darkness. One that was so dark, Liam couldn’t peer inside.
Then, a wide sharp tooth grin appeared with one eye that looked back.
A cold sweat ran down Liam’s body as he stared at the smile and eye. He then felt his heart drop as the eye did something he just recently got familiar with. It thinned into a slit. As its eye did this, it opened its sharp looking teeth and started laughing a dark deep laugh. Then it puffed out of existence.
For a moment, Liam didn’t move. He didn’t twitch a muscle, blink, or even risk taking a breath. He didn’t realize what he was doing until a loud chime echoed in his mind and brought a notification with it.
“Congratulations! You have defeated the 6th Floor boss: Hubristic Arisen Lich.”
Liam watched as the mana the Lich was channeling suddenly winked out, making the Lich give a confused look. One that lasted for a brief moment before he whirled at Ariyana and cursed, “How dare you!”
“If you’re worried about what she did, you’re going to miss what’s coming next,” Liam commented with a glee in his voice.
“Wha…,” The Lich started as he turned to look at Liam but was cut off as Jude suddenly rammed right into the Lich’s side.
Liam channeled as much Shadow Mana as he could and smiled even more while he watched the Lich fall to his side and slide a few feet away from the raised platform. Fire lit up on the shoulder piece where Jude had ran into.
After the Lich stopped from sliding he pushed up to get back to his feet, until he felt a dark cold mana suddenly pool out from underneath him. He looked down to see his own shadow start to quiver. A feeling washed over him he hadn’t felt in a long time as he stared down into his shadow. One he thought he wouldn’t feel anymore.
Fear.
He felt fear sink into him as he recognized the nature of the magic that was being cast. He knew shadow magic was dangerous for many reasons. One reason would be the madness that it covers. Another was how powerful it could be if someone spent a long time studying it. However, the one major reason he knew Shadow magic was dangerous and the cause of the fear that was gripping him was what hid within the shadows.
He spun around and started to move up as fast as he could so he could get away, but before he could get himself back up, raven black tendrils shot out and wrapped around his limbs, torso, and neck. They pulled him down to his back, sprawling his arms and legs out across the ground.
“Everyone! Attack!” Liam shouted as everyone rushed towards him. He then yelled out orders, “All melee attackers surround him and strike hard. Buffers get those physical buffs out now! Magic dealers, if you have a spell that can do damage without hurting those in melee range then use those, if not then pull out a melee weapon and join in on attacking. I don’t want to see any spells harming allies!”
Liam watched as everyone attacked swiftly and hard. As they did this, he pulled out one of the Orange Stamina Potions Galin had gifted him and took two sips. As his stamina replenished, he watched as the Lich’s health pool started to drop rapidly.
It quickly dropped from the ten thousands then to the nine thousands. Eight, seven, six.
He wasn’t sure if the Lich’s health was dropping because his defense was so weak or if the Lich was just weak to physical damage in general. He wasn’t going to complain. He felt this fight had dragged on long enough and he would be happy to see it end now.
Liam watched the monster’s health continue to tick down until it got into the three thousand range. Once when it entered that area, Liam felt a sudden pressure build up in the air. Before he could remember where he had felt that before, the Lich let out a pained roar of frustration and sent a shockwave out from his body. This shockwave forcibly flew everyone away from the creature.
Liam fell to his back as the pulse slammed into him. After he brought his head back up to see what had happened. He noticed no one but the Lich was close by. He guessed that since he was the farthest away from the lich, before he released that shockwave, the pressure was less potent than the area the others had stood.
A cold icy blue color started to gather around him as he glared at Liam.
Liam realized he was channeling mana for another spell. He had to stop it, but he couldn’t think of anything that would be enough. If his Lunar Step was at a higher level then he would be able to cause a quick blindness when he appeared, but he knew it wouldn’t do the trick.
After thinking about that, a thought popped into his head. He had a spell that could be enough to blind the creature and thus stop him from casting. He bite his lip trying to think if he had enough time. He then shook his head and decided to try it anyways.
He readied himself and started chanting the spell.
“Moon, beautiful and radiant,” Liam started to chant as a dark orb appeared before him. A pale light started to shine down upon him and enter the black orb forming.
“Bless us with your power to lighten up the night.”
The once pitch black orb was now almost devoid of any color other than the pale white.
“Expose those which try to hide within your majestic li…”
Liam’s Danger Sense suddenly flared up as he stopped chanting.
“Shit!” Liam cursed right before he used Lunar Step to get out from the rain of sharp icicles.
As he reappeared he glared towards the Lich from the right side of the frozen area he had AOE’d upon. As soon as he peeked his head out from the side, an icicle flew towards him.
Liam went to move his head back, but heard the object hit something.
He spun his head around to see his Shadow Hand had been pierced and was starting to disappear. The dagger it was holding onto started to fly away as Liam tried to reach out for it.
Another icicle shot towards his hand causing him to retract it. He kept his eyes on the object and tried to form another Shadow Hand to grab it before it got out of reach.
A hand formed and gripped the dagger; however, it wasn’t a Shadow Hand.
Liam stared at it with a perplexed expression.
It looked almost exactly like his Shadow Hand. Albeit, It had black smoke rolling off of it, but the color of the actual hand was a pale white. As he took in this new hand he felt it looked like a moon with shadowy clouds wisping around and off of it in the shape of a hand.
Moon? Wait, Liam began to think as he turned his head to his hands.
His right hand was devoid of mana, but his left wasn’t. His left hand was covered in a pale white color.
He was confused. He was trying to summon a Shadow Hand. Normally when he summoned his Shadow Hand he would channel some of his Shadow Mana, but in the thick of it he didn’t have enough time and tried to do it without channeling any. He was thinking of trying to summon it without channeling any of it, but instead this new hand appeared. What was this mana that coated his hand? Where did it come from?
Lunar Mana? Liam thought as he stared with wide eyes at his hand. But how? When…
His thoughts then went to when he was trying to chant to use the Lunar Exposure spell. He was cut off at the end due to the Lich’s spell about to come down and had to use Lunar Step to get away.
Was I able to absorb the mana when I used Lunar Step? Allowing me to finally grasp Lunar Mana Manipulation? Liam thought to himself. But that doesn’t make sense. Why would…
His thoughts were suddenly broken when he felt his skin start to prick and sting.
“Ow. Ow!” Liam said as the pain started to rise a bit more as the seconds ticked.
Liam! I don’t know how you did it, but you need to get rid of both of those Hands. They are causing damage to you! Eri suddenly shouted in Liam’s mind.
What is this pain? What’s going on? Liam questioned with some alarm.
Both your resistance and knowledge of Lunar and Shadow Magic is limited. Eri started back up. Because it is, you’re causing harm to yourself since both magics are opposites. And since your resistance to them is stupidly low it’s only harming you.
Liam felt a little panic start to rise as he listened to Eri. Without realizing it his Shadow Hand started getting a little closer to his Lunar Hand right in front of him. As this happened Liam’s Danger Sense flared up quicker than it had ever before.
Liam looked forward and noticed several pale white and raven black lightning like lines start to grow out from both hands. They looked like they were trying to reach each other as they formed.
Liam willed them to move away from each other as quickly as he saw this happen.
See. You barely have control over them. Eri informed. Her voice was full of worry, but also had a hint of…pride. If those lines had touched they would have sucked both hands in and the mana within would have combined and created an attack I don’t think you would have been able to handle that close.
What should I do? Liam asked.
Before Liam got an answer, he felt his danger sense lit up all over his body again. He looked up and saw icicles start to form above his head.
“Shit.” Liam cursed as he used Lunar step to get out of range again.
He reappeared backwards outside of range from the AOE spell the Lich had used and glowered.
“That stupid fucking Lich and his magic,” Liam growled. “I need to…”
His words slowly died as he felt another wave of pain ripple across his body. That wave of pain gave him an idea on how to get rid of both hands. It was a stupid plan since he didn’t know what would happen, but it was an idea, nonetheless.
Liam… Eri slowly started. I can see that smile you normally get when you have a stupid idea. What are you plan…
Liam didn’t let her finish, nor did he answer her. Instead, he felt the Lich start to channel mana again and felt it was the right moment to do what he planned.
He used Lunar Step and blinked away from where he stood.
He reappeared in front of the Lich with his arms spread out barely out of range of two certain spells he had going on.
The Lich widened his eyes in surprise when Liam had appeared in front of him not too far away. Recomposing himself, he saw the man in front of him had his arms out like he was ready to catch his spell. “What in the deity’s name are you doing? Do you plan on catching my spell?”
Liam stared at him. “I’m not catching anything. Its you who’s going to catch something.”
Taking the bait, the Lich questioned, “Pray tell, what am I catching?”
Liam grinned, glad to take the opportunity to finish saying. “You’re about to catch these hands.”
He then slammed his hands together and made a loud clap.
The Lich was about to retort, until Liam’s Lunar Hand and Shadow Hand suddenly rushed towards each other right in front of the Lich’s face.
Liam watched as the two opposite mana types collided together. As they got closer to each other he saw the same pale white and raven black lightning lines connect. Once when they did they pulled both hands together and sucked into a bead the size of a coin.
The coin size formed for only a second before it suddenly expanded into a bright explosion of raven black and pale white swirling out to the size of a small vehicle and swallowed the Lich whole.
The brightness of the explosion was enough to make Liam bring a hand up to block the light so he could try and see what was going on. However, due to the brightness of the explosion he wasn’t able to see the shockwave that rippled out.
Liam was hit hard from the force almost like someone had tackled him making fall to his back and slide backwards a bit.
The force from the shockwave also sent a ripple throughout the entire ice wall that was still standing and shattered it. The shockwave was also powerful enough to send everyone who was trying to race back towards Liam and the Lich backwards once more.
Liam got back to his feet and placed a hand out to block the brightness once more. The raven black parts circled around the bright pale light giving the explosion a flashing effect.
After a few seconds had passed the bright pale light and raven black shadows swirling around dissipated. Once when it was easier to see, Liam looked to see the Lich standing there.
Liam stared at the man dumbfounded. He thought for sure taking that so close would have destroyed him wholly. Instead, he stood there in tattered clothes. His left arm missing from the elbow down, parts of his right leg was destroyed to the bone. Many other sections throughout his body had cuts and gashes. Dark purple liquid oozed out from the open wounds. Especially from the destroyed leg and arm.
The Lich let out a cough, releasing a massive amount of dark purple liquid from his lips.
“How the fuck did you survive?” Liam muttered as he stared at the man with incredulity. He then looked at the creature’s stats.
“Hubristic Arisen Lich. 417/15,000 HP. 239/10,000 MP. Level 27 (Partially Sealed).”
He’s almost dead. Good. Now we just need to… Liam started to think until he felt something start to vibrate on his hip.
Confused, Liam looked down to see his Spectral Lantern shaking.
“What the hell,” Liam muttered as he stared with brows furrowed.
He then remembered something. Something a certain ability that evolved and retained its level twenty level at. There was a certain mention about an execute ability when a creature was at five percent health.
Not thinking it over any more or hesitating, Liam gripped the lantern as he raced over to the Lich.
As soon as he got within a fifteen foot radius of the man, he watched the Lich starring daggers at him. He went to say something but was only able to let out a gurgle as more of the dark purple liquid spewed out of his mouth.
The Lich’s eyes then widened as Liam pulled his lantern out in front of him and yelled out, “Soul Harvest!”
The Spectral Lantern shook violently before the glass panel shot open and allowed some of the ghastly green light out.
The light that shone started to circle into a swirling motion. The Lich’s mouth opened wide almost like it was trying to scream while his eyes remained wide open. As this was going on, Liam saw a ghastly light green figure slowly get pulled from the Lich’s body. The figure took the form of the Lich.
This specter of the Lich struggled as it was being pulled out from his body. Thick green lines connected the Soul shape to the body tethering them together.
Liam felt the struggle as he kept holding the lantern out in front of him. Sweat rolled down his face as he felt not only his Spirit Pool drain, but his stamina as well.
“Come on,” Liam muttered. “Come on.”
It had become a game of tug a war as Liam kept trying to suck the Lich’s soul out and harvest it into the lantern.
The Lich, for his part, put up a fight, trying to keep his soul connected to his body.
As Liam fought to win this battle, he felt his muscle start to spasm while his arm shook. Even though his body was battered, bruised, and tired, he refused to lose. He would harvest this soul and end this fight once and for all.
He then felt his stomach drop as the swirling of the ghastly green light started to slow down. This allowed the Lich’s soul to move back, away from the Spectral Lantern.
“No,” Liam said in almost a whisper. He repeated the word in a much louder volume with anger and frustration in his voice. “No!”
He watched as the Lich’s soul gave him a creepy grin as it moved back once more.
“No! I won’t allow you to escape!” Liam roared. He then felt something stir inside of him as the anger swelled up. With as much force as he could summon, Liam shouted, “Your soul will be harvested!”
Then, in a brief moment, a pressure shot out of Liam, causing everything to stop moving.
Liam’s body, the others behind, and even the Lich’s soul had stopped moving.
Even though Liam couldn’t move a muscle, he was still able to see and move his eyes.
As he looked around, he noticed there was something that hadn’t stopped moving. It was the ghastly green light that was swirling in front of him.
As it slowly circled, it suddenly pulsed. Once, twice, three times. After the third time a form suddenly appeared in front of him.
Liam was shocked to see something manifest right in front of him. He wasn’t able to get a clear look of what had formed, but he knew it was different. It wasn’t ghastly green or had any color that made it seem like a soul or anything. Instead, it had a raven black cloak that looked to move around like smoke. It wasn’t fully corporeal, but it also wasn’t incorporeal.
Liam stared at the figure. The smoky substance that rolled off wisped around. One moment it looked like a solid body was in front of him and then next he was able to see through it.
He then looked at the Lich’s spectral figure and noticed something he hadn’t seen on his face before. He saw the boss monster’s face was full of panic.
Liam then watched as the shadowy figure, that had manifested in front of Liam, started moving. It slowly walked towards the spectral frozen in front of it.
Liam watched as the panic turned to fear as the shadowy silhouette got closer and closer.
It made its way to the frozen spirit without any effort or trouble. It walked past it and stopped.
It then turned to face the lines that connected the spirit to the Lich’s body and raised its right hand up.
A frightening and wicked scythe suddenly appeared in its hand as it gripped the pole. Liam wasn’t able to see all the details of the weapon due to the Lich’s spirit body blocking the entire view.
The creature then gripped the pole with its free hand and without any hesitation, it sliced down; cutting through the lines keeping the soul and the body tethered together.
Liam watched as the Lich’s eyes dimmed with any sign of life and slump a bit.
Then without any warning everything started moving again. The Lich’s soul rushed towards the swirling ghastly green light and was sucked into the Spectral Lantern while screaming out.
Even though that was going on, Liam couldn’t keep his eyes off the shadowy form that was still standing there with the scythe in hand.
Liam didn’t move or make a sound. He wasn’t sure who or what this figure was, but he knew it was powerful. Powerful enough that it could kill him in an instant if it wanted to.
Then the figure slowly turned to look at Liam.
At first Liam was confused as he stared at it. Inside the hood where the creature’s head was, was a deep darkness. One that was so dark, Liam couldn’t peer inside.
Then, a wide sharp tooth grin appeared with one eye that looked back.
A cold sweat ran down Liam’s body as he stared at the smile and eye. He then felt his heart drop as the eye did something he just recently got familiar with. It thinned into a slit. As its eye did this, it opened its sharp looking teeth and started laughing a dark deep laugh. Then it puffed out of existence.
For a moment, Liam didn’t move. He didn’t twitch a muscle, blink, or even risk taking a breath. He didn’t realize what he was doing until a loud chime echoed in his mind and brought a notification with it.
“Congratulations! You have defeated the 6th Floor boss: Hubristic Arisen Lich.”
