The flame had almost reached them but the prince was quite quick to act. He sheathed his sword swiftly and he picked Atropa up hastily in a princess carry.
"Your highness!" the girl exclaimed in surprise.
But Briar did not mind, instead he ran fast and brought her to a safe place whilst evading the infernal attack.
Once they were out of harm's way, the pair had thought of a counter attack.
"Let's do it." They both nodded and commenced their operation.
The prince dug his sole and then used gravity as springboard to jump and shorten the distance between him and the opponent.
At the same time, Atropa had raised her hand and created a light green pentagram. She manipulated the mana on air and compressed them to form a transparent foothold.
Seeing what Atropa had done, Briar used the coagulated mana as his stepping stones to amplify his speed and to avoid the whips of darkness that the lich had once again summoned.
Noticing the dark whips, Atropa gave the prince a boost so that he could evade the lash.
But the pesky things seemed to have a mind of their own. The ones who had missed hitting Briar, had been ordered by the lich to change directions and aim at the prince.
Briar had no choice but to fight them back, so he turned and hacked off a few of the dark tendrils. With the estoc imbued with the incantation, the dark whips dissipated as soon as they were cut.
"Impossible!" The lich screeched as he saw that his whips did not regenerate unlike before.
"Pesky mortals!" the lich cussed in agitation.
Without the dark whips, the lich was open and vulnerable for attacks. Hence, Briar tried to close the distance.
However, it seemed as though that the opponent still had a few aces up his sleeve. This time the lich unleashed several icicles towards the prince. But Briar was able to get through the assault and continue advancing.
The icy shards were not as heavy as the fiery ones earlier, so he could manage evading and deflecting some of the icicles raining at him.
Meanwhile Atropa kept up and incinerated some of the ice shards that Briar failed to slice or avoid.
"I think it is time." She muttered as she sent a portion of her mana to activate the jewels she had laden earlier. And with it, she made a huge multicolored pentagram.
The pentagram glowed and out of it, binds shot out and ensnared the lich.
"What?!" their opponent cried out as it tried to break free. Struggling to severe the binds, the lich tried to burn the shackles but to no avail.
With the opponent immobilized, Briar managed to approach him.
"It is time to put a stop on this madness." He said and with a slash, he had cut the staff into half. Seeing that the orb was still glowing, Briar took it and then he destroyed the orb by stabbing its center.
"No!" the lich shouted as it saw the precious stone shatter to pieces.
With a surge of mana due to its fury, the lich struggled and managed to break free from the bind.
Though the bind was strong, it gave in to the dark mist that the lich had emitted. Even though he was without a staff, he still managed to launch a huge ball of fire towards the prince.
"Your highness!" Atropa managed to put up a barrier between him and the flame.
Taking the opportunity, Briar retreated to evade the attack.
Atropa bowed after she realized that he was safe and that she had stepped in without his consent. "I apologize for overstepping."
He patted her head before getting on guard. "no need to apologize… rather, thank you Atropa. And by the way, I think it is our turn now."
Atropa nodded and had made another reddish pentagram and a combination of mana bullets and fire balls were made to counter the enemy.
Upon seeing its enemies combine fire balls and bullets, the lich screeched. "Mist!" he then erected a barrier made out of darkness. That misty wall swallowed Atropa's barrage.
"Why do you have to stand in my way? Give me back, my Lumina!" his scream reverberated and shook that floor.
The lich's outburst had caused several debris to fall down. The pair had to take cover in order to avoid getting crush by the weights.
Then with a wave, the lich made the earth shake and the ground burst forth. Several undead creatures rose from the crevices that were made.
"Darn it!" Briar cussed. "He really have to summon more undead."
"If only I have mastered that purification spell…" Atropa muttered. "It will be easy for us to defeat this thing."
"No use fretting. We will just fight with what we have." He said as he unsheathed his estoc and faced the undead. There were several human cadavers and three canine ones.
It would be a bit of a cinch to fight the human corpses but the four legged ones would be a challenge. They were faster than the average revenants.
In just a matter of few seconds, Briar was able to severed the heads of the first wave of zombies.
He was able to deal with the three canines by impaling them when they attacked him. He had to use his affinity with earth and impaled the undead hounds with earth spears.
He also dealt with the bipedal ones by fighting them of with his estoc and beheading them. Some of them proved to be tough.
It seemed that they were a few who knew how to use fire and fight with swords. But the prince knew how to handle them… and was able to exterminate the corruptions.
His only problem is their numbers. His opponents never seemed to decrease. They kept on coming in droves and he was getting exhausted.
"When will these things stop assaulting!" he gritted out as he chopped another neck.
He then noticed that the fissures the lich made were the ones used by the undead as gateways.
"You seemed to be entering from those." He muttered as he swung his estoc to swipe at another undead.
He then concentrated his mana on his right leg and with a stomp, he made the earth move and the fissures were closed trapping the vermin who were trying to kill him due to the lich's bidding.