Chapter 140 Lich Fight 03

Cherry’s Point of View

I got hit, and my world narrowed to a pinprick. I almost fell unconscious, and if I did, I had no doubt I wouldn’t have woken up. I barely got a potion to my lips, but instead of lessening the pain, it made it worse as nerve endings repaired themselves. Again, I almost fell unconscious from the wave of pain; yet again, I doubted I’d wake up from the process, but I managed to crawl into one of the cave entrances so I wouldn’t distract them from the fight.

I was hurt badly; even after drinking the potion, my body felt wrong. This was one of the entrances that wasn’t connected to the cave system that went down. It meant that if an enemy did make it inside, I was as good as dead, but none did. I could feel something terribly wrong with my body, as if one of my organs no longer functioned.

I drank another potion, going into potion sickness as my body healed itself, hoping that once I woke up, everything would be okay. Finally, the pain lessened from the half-effect of the second potion, and my body finally gave out as I fell unconscious.

…

Millicent’s Point of View

I rubbed the dirt off my goggles as another clump fell onto me from the cave system I was running through. I couldn’t believe the size so far. It was something that should have taken hours to make, yet here it was, made in the time it took for the lich to reach us and the fight to head here. I caught my breath. The acid I tossed at the dragon was enough to piss the lich off, and I could see he was targeting me specifically as he chased me instead of the other girls.

The tunnel system was an interconnected and entwined set of tunnels, some wide enough to run through, even if you were taller; others were half that size, and even some were small enough you’d need to crawl through. As a shorter race, I had an advantage, and that was the only reason he hadn’t caught me as his body flew sideways in the tunnel behind me. Another beam struck right beside me, launching another jet of dirt into me as I planned on how to get rid of him.

I had done my part; the damage I dealt to the dragon was enough to ground it, and thus, the lich was fighting far more seriously, even chasing us into unknown territory when it would have made more sense to stay up top. I pulled out another vial as I tossed it behind me without looking. The glass hit the roof and broke. As the two liquids mixed together, they began to expand into a hard white substance that behaved like glue until it hardened.

It struck his shield again as it kept it active, and I glanced back to see the liquid begin to melt and boil off the shield. Another vial was tossed, and this time, as it struck his shield, it began to eat and dissolve it before the shield finally collapsed. It was a mana-eating liquid I used against heavily magical creatures, extremely expensive, but if it meant I could deal damage, it was worth it.

With a wave of his hand, another shield appeared for a brief moment before I could only groan in frustration. It cost him mana to create the new shield, but apparently that was only a drop in the undead's mana pool. I came to another junction where I could head left or right, and I chose left. After only a single bend, I knew I had made the wrong decision as the cave system abruptly came to an end.

Reaching the end, I caught my breath as the lich caught up behind me. Both of us launched our attacks at the same time, a death bolt striking me as my vial shattered against his shield, this time exploding and causing the tunnel system to collapse on both of us. Even with my strong gnomish resilience and high endurance, I feel the dark magic flood my tiny body. If no one helped me, I’d have died from suffocation when the roof collapsed on me.

As I start to lose consciousness, I feel a hand reach through the rubble and pull me out, revealing Roka as she pours a health potion down my throat. I coughed as I breathed in at the same time, looking at the tunnel system, which collapsed again. I saw that it split into two separate routes; the lich was buried on the other side, while the roof that collapsed down was connected to another tunnel system that Roka just happened to be running through.

I couldn’t help but laugh, laugh as I just stared death in the face, and through an explosive vial at it.

…

Delilah’s Point of View

I ran for my life. The lich somehow found us, and as I ran, he taunted. “Oh, so dwarves still exist, and you’re female. That’s good to see; my curse is still active.” I was confused, but he still taunted. “Oh, you must not know. I’m the reason dwarves have more women than men when they give birth. It should only take another hundred or so years for the race to fully collapse. At least if my estimates are correct.”

His taunting words are almost enough that I turn around and fight him, but I don’t. I know that’s what he wants, so I keep running. A bolt of his shadow magic strikes my shield as I feel it heating up and starting to melt on my back. I toss it back toward him, his own magical shield deflecting it to the side. Soon enough, though, I hit the end of the line, as the tunnel system leads to the end cave system where most of the other women ended up.

At a glance, I see Tems, Sarah, Olivia, Sophia, and my husband standing around, all watching him as he finishes up something. I go to shout, to announce the lich is here, but I’m cut off again as Leaf beats me to it. “Hey fuckface!” The lich turned to look at someone behind in the tunnel system as Leaf finished what she was saying. “I got enough energy for one last attack, and I’m putting everything into it. Grit your teeth bitch, I’m about to penetrate you!”

I could hear the strain in her voice; she had already done so much, taken out so many of the wyverns and drakes before we even began to fight, and now she was launching a final haymaker before draining herself out of mana and energy. I could only see the result of the attack as his shield began to block something before it finally exploded along with the projectile.

The blow was so powerful that it brought down the cave system I just ran through, the lich flying back into the air after the rocks from above fell onto him as he shouted out. “ENOUGH! YOU’RE ALL DONE! PLAYTIME IS OVER!” His shield reformed once again, but the time Leaf bought was enough for whatever Danny was doing to finish.

I could hear the smirk in his voice as he spoke. “Oh? I thought playtime was just about to start.” With that, I felt a wave of renewed energy fill my body. We might not have beaten the lich before, but now that I felt empowered, and I assumed so did everyone else, we stood a much better chance.