The Lich's Master

Chapter 1: You Do See the Lich, Right?

The answer was, unfortunately, a resounding no. No, the Knight was absolutely, certainly in no way aware of the god damned lich.

Despite its cackling laughter. And ongoing monologue. And the skeletons it was summoning. And the skulls floating mid-air. The Knight was not aware. His entire focus was on Kyle, and his apparently ‘vile’ intent.

“I will kill you!” The man shouted, making Kyle lose whatever hope he had. He quickly ran behind a group of skeletons as he hoped they would target the higher level player. He was a tank, he had to have a passive skill that taunted his enemies, or increased the likelihood of being targeted, right?

“You can’t hide behind your puny summons!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.

“YOU DARE DISTURB MY RESEARCH?” The lich’s voice echoed in the circular room he slowly stood up on his throne made of bones. “I WILL RAIN MY WRATH UPON YOU, PUNY HUMAN!”

“I’m not scared of your threats!” The Knight shouted, pointing his sword at Kyle.

“I’m not threatening you!” Kyle exclaimed. “How stupid can you be?” He shouted in desperation. “There’s a lich! A LICH!” He insisted, only to be ignored.

“I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS!” The Lich shouted and hopped off his throne. “YOU HAVE MET YOUR END, HUMAN!”

“I will kill you!” The Knight shouted again, and rushed at Kyle, brushing past the Lich on his way there.

“MORTAL SHACKLES!” The Lich exclaimed as the Knight passed by. Ethereal chains appeared around both of them. Kyle’s eyes widened, he leapt back before the chains could catch him. The Knight also noticed them, and promptly turned to face the Lich.

“Finally, see, there’s a Lich!” Kyle exclaimed with relief, only to watch in horror as the knight hit the lich with all his strength and turned his attention back at Kyle as soon as the lich was staggered.

“You’ve got to be joking.” He whispered as he retreated.

“PAY FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS, HUMAN!” The Lich shouted again and summoned another host of skeletons.

“Enough!” The Knight responded and bashed the nearest skeleton’s skull in with his shield. He raised his blade and cut off another skeleton’s head. Kyle used this short moment to quickly run and hide behind the Lich’s throne.

“YOU SHALL BECOME MY SERVANT FOR ALL ETERNITY!” The Lich’s voice once again echoed as it pointed at the Knight. “DEATH BOLT!” It exclaimed, revealing what spell it was casting. Kyle flinched as a skull shaped projectile formed at the end of the Lich’s bony finger and rushed at the Knight.

“I will kill you!” The knight shouted, tanking the projectile without hesitation. His health bar appeared on top of his head and dropped to about three quarters. Kyle pressed his palm against his forehead. How tanky was that guy?

“I SHALL GRIND YOUR BONES TO DUST AND-“

“Shut up, my god you’re loud!” The Knight shouted at the top of his lungs, and smacked the Lich’s hallow skull with his shield.

Kyle bit his lips. “Yes!” He whispered quietly. “That’s the boss, not me! Kill it!” At level 17, he had no hope of killing a lich, especially not solo. But if this dumb knight was strong enough to kill it, Kyle would gladly reap the rewards. Besides, there was no way out of a boss room once the fight had been initiated. He desperately needed the knight to kill this self-righteous Lich if he wanted to get out of here without dying.

“DEATH BOLT!” The Lich repeated. It pointed at the knight again, but the guy remembered to raise his shield this time. A satisfying clank sounded as the bolt hit the metal shield and shattered. Kyle’s eyes widened. The dumb knight had a spell blocking shield!

Oh, what he wouldn’t give to get his hands on such a rare item! But that simply wasn’t possible. He shook his head. Survival was his first priority. Getting the Lich killed was the first step in his plan. Then, just maybe, he could talk some sense into this guy’s head. If he paused to listen, of course.

The knight raised his blade and hit the Lich again, then raised his shield to block his next death bolt. The battle continued for a while as both of their health dropped lower and lower. Every time the knight failed to block the Lich’s spells, Kyle died a little inside.

“Please…” He whispered. He even considered stepping out of his little hiding place to help the Knight, but he was more than a little sure that the guy would just come after him instead of killing the Lich first. He couldn’t risk that.

The knight broke off the Lich’s right arm as it tried to cast a spell again. Kyle clenched his fists. The boss’ health was so low that it was just barely visible, but the Knight also had very little health left.

“I CURSE YOU, PUNY HUMAN!” The Lich shouted. Kyle’s eyes widened as it flew up into the air and pointed down upon the Knight. “MAY YOUR SOUL NEVER FIND REST!” Form it’s hand, a dozen skulls rained down. The Death Bolt’s hit the ground, only to explode. The Knight hid behind his metal shield, but it couldn’t protect him from the explosions happening all around him.

“How about you try running?!” Kyle shouted. He couldn’t help himself, the projectiles were so slow that even someone in heavy armour and slowed movement could easily evade them! The Knight’s eyes widened, his head jerked as his gaze snapped at Kyle.

“There you are!” He shouted, and took a step towards Kyle, only to get in the way of one of the Death Bolts.

“My god…” Kyle muttered as a text appeared before him.

‘Player Killed’

‘Gained 100 EXP, 5 Glory’

“Unbelievable.” Kyle muttered as he swiped at the panel to dismiss it. The Lich continued to pommel the ground with death bolts before floating back down.

Kyle braced himself, he was next. But it had nearly no health left. He could win this, a single hit was all he needed after all. He tightened his grasp on the hilt of his sword, then dashed out from behind the bone throne.

His steps carried him to the unsuspecting Lich, and he hit it’s already cracked skull with all his might.

The sound of bones shattering echoed in the circular boss room as the skull exploded into a cloud of dust.

Kyle stumbled backwards, and breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for the notification to pop up. A second passed, then another, then a third. The bone dust on the ground moved, almost as if a wind was pushing it.

“Oh, no.” Kyle muttered as he noticed the health bar slowly flashing red. The Lich wasn’t dead yet!