99 The Wrath of a Lich (1/2)

The eldritch laughed, its wounded body shaking. It lifted its hand, glancing at its torn wrist,

“I do ponder in my own manner...Why am I not regenerating my wounds?”

The eldritch looked at me, my body healing what should be fatal injuries in seconds. The eldritch’s eyes narrowed,

“You own quite the life force for a being that tastes like dirt. We could combine our strengths. Would you be willing to join me and my many minds?”

My eyes creased as I seethed, “Hell no you disgusting fuck.”

The monster took a step backwards, its face and eyes riddled with confusion, “Why do you treat me with disgust? You are a living golem...an entity that should not exist, an entity that cannot exist.”

Torix waved his arm, ice spears colored a deep blue forming over his head,

“And yet here my disciple stands. Cease with your esoteric chatter.”

Another leg of the white monster came out of the portal. Torix clapped his hands, opening the portal wide. The head of a reptile came out. As it did, the air turned frigid. The ground around us turned icy. The blood around us froze, except for my own silver blood. Wings spread out wider than a city block. A whipping tail, ending in an icy scythe, slung around tearing through the rubble.

It was an ice dragon. A few things were off about it, however. The jaw of the creature extended past its throat and down into its belly. Above the jawline, thick, pearly scales covered its back and wings. Below the extended jawline, thinner, glassy scales coated it. Beneath these thinner scales, the monster glowed a deep blue. It looked like it was storing liquid oxygen.

The eldritch dashed towards us, and the dragon breathed out a frigid, white mist. It hit the eldritch monster like frozen fire. Torix channeled his grimoire, covering us in an insulative shield. His grimoire flipped once more, darkening the surrounding area as it glowed black. The deep blue icicle spears zipped through the air.

The mist cleared, showing the skin of the eldritch frozen on its surface. It took a step forward, that skin cracking. The icicle spears pierced into these cracks, digging into the creature. The dragon shot out streams of the blue liquid within the beast’s belly. Whenever the streams stopped, the eldritch was frozen solid. I analyzed it.

Endless Flesh(lvl 3646 | Growth Rate: Exponential) - This is a failed experiment of Yawm’s tampering. This is what he is trying to do, fuse sentients with the eldritch. The folly of his efforts is obvious. The overpowering energies of the eldritch have consumed this poor fool’s soul. Now he is a shadow of what he was, nothing more than a brute.

And a powerful brute it is. With acid, several limbs, and a shining sword of coalesced ambient mana, it is to be feared. It’s regeneration is remarkable as well, giving it excellent longevity, and its health pool is massive given that each and every cell has a working brain and heart.

That being such, the creature must be killed in its entirety for death. Even a single living cell could spread outwards, consuming nearby life and becoming a tremendous problem. Fortunately, this superorganism strifes for unity. It will not willingly disperse into many small pieces. It’s threat level would be much higher then.

It can mold its body at will. Getting close to this creature will cause many problems for closer range combatants if it restricts movement. It can assimilate someone’s body while they are alive, turning them into its own flesh. Even saved allies can be consumed by living cells that linger within them. Some kind of cleansing is necessary to prevent their eventual consumption from the inside.

You must stop its regeneration, it’s assimilation abilities, and its devastating energy sword attacks. Otherwise it will slowly whittle you down to nothing over a long term battle. Strike it fast, hard, and continuously until nothing is left.

Recommended Level: 3000+

Recommended Party Number: Less than 6

Recommended Tactics: Larger parties may make destroying the creature more difficult. Dense parties with no weaker members are highly recommended. Long range disposal is highly advised.

I almost read the entire page in five seconds. My perception let me do so. The passage explained why we were struggling so much against this thing. We were out leveled, it was a bad matchup against us, and we didn’t prepare against it. We couldn’t have given the circumstances.

Torix’s attack was well suited for killing it though. The ice dragon emptied its pouch of blue liquid, sending a plume of it at the monster. The moment the liquid hit the air, it turned into a white mist. Torix raised his hand, a blue fire forming,

“Do you know why I prefer liquid oxygen for my freezing attacks versus liquid nitrogen.”

Hod, Kessiah, and I just stared at him in disbelief. Leave it up to Torix to find time in the middle of a life or death battle for a lecture. He continued,

“Because liquid oxygen oxidizes the surface of whatever it touches. It leads to explosive results.”

He flicked the blue fire at the creature. The blue dragon flapped its wings, sending the collected mist towards the eldritch monster. The moment the blue fire left the insulated shield, an enormous explosion surrounded us. Torix lifted his hands, laughing at the destruction,

“Hah, hah, hah. I love watching a good fire burn.”

He lowered his hands as his eyes narrowed, “Especially when it scorches something so filthy.”

A white smoke covered were the eldritch had been. There was no notification for experience in the side of my vision. It still lived, even after all that. I dashed out of the forcefield before the dragon opened its mouth to fire off another plume of liquid energy. The eldritch shot out of the smoke cloud and into the dragon’s mouth.

The dragon tried biting into it, but the monster just forced itself down the dragon’s throat. The dragon tried breathing, but it couldn’t. I turned around, running towards the dragon before blood spurted out of it. It’s massive jaw opened, showing the eldritch spreading all throughout its insides. It was trying to eat the dragon from the inside.

I moved Event Horizon over the dragon, causing it to scream. Torix howled, “Get off of my pet.”

Torix’s grimoire turned its pages, the runes sucking in the light around them once more. At the center of the eldritch’s writhing mass, the air condensed. It was like the the single point was eating all the nearby sound. For a moment, all was silent.

A kinetic detonation imploded the eldritch from the inside. It’s body deformed before I jumped onto the eldritch. The disgusting ball of flesh stuck to me, trying to crawl between the kinks in my armor. It found nothing to seep into. I breathed deep and coated myself in the armor.

It was airtight, locking the monster out. In fact, my own armor dug into the flesh of the eldritch, devouring its vitality. I tore at it, ripping the beast’s exposed body apart. The shifting eldritch spread faster than I and Torix could tear down. Torix shouted,

“The dragon is no longer under my control. The eldritch severed the link between us.”

A giant set of claws latched onto my back, pulling me out. I opened my armor, letting me see and hear. It lifted me out of its mortal wounds, giving me a view of the beast. The dragon turned into a shifting abomination as its body spilled out of its scales. It was like watching a candle melt as the magnificent scales were corrupted.

The dragon grinned, many eyes and tiny mouths forming over its face. These human sized mouths spoke in unison,

“Come here morsel.”

It lifted me above its gargantuan mouth before chomping down. Teeth grated against the armor of my back,it chewed, the disgusting saliva and blood surrounding me. I lashed out, expanding my armor into its cheeks. I gashed at the inside of its mouth. After breaking many of its teeth on my back, the monster spit me out.

I flopped around, my vision spiraling before I dived into the ground. A stream of liquified oxygen struck the ground above me before I burrowed back at the beast. I shot out of the ground, a cool rush of air flowing over me. My fist clashed with the flesh dragon’s scales, cracks forming on its chest.

The monster spewed the cryogenic fluid, towards me, but I shifted its trajectory back at it with gravity. Doing so burned through my health, but it covered the dragon in its own liquid. The monster howled out, the roar breaking nearby windows. I covered my ears in the nick of time, the sound rattling my bones.

It whipped its long tail towards me, the icy scythe shimmering in the sun’s light. I deflected the blade with ease. It dug into the earth before I dug into the ground as well. I grabbed the tail, dragging the dragon into the dirt. My sheer mass let me pull it halfway down before I could no longer move downwards.