Although most of them were stunned, the lich quickly reacted when he came flying, raising his fingers which made a yellow strong barrier appear around him. Samuel's full force broke the barrier but put all his momentum was stopped, so he quickly swung his swords agains the lich that parried the phoenix blade with his staff.
The other blade did reach him, and if it wasn't for the fact that it was infused with magic it would have done no damage, but even then it only made the lich jump back a meter, seemingly not caring about the damage taken.
For the others that were in this fight, both Erica and Sonya had not been in enough fights, so they were frozen solid at the sight of the dead dragon for a few seconds too long and only snapped out of it once the fight continued.
But Bregane, Tere & Sarmah were all seasoned in combat, they had snapped out of it really quickly and started running in formation towards the lich. Sarmah reached it first, the lich whose full attention was aimed at Samuel suddenly felt something hitting him with great force from behind.
Sarmah sent him flying several meters up into the air as she struck his wide open back with her magical greatsword. Tere'he was next and had already prepared her spell, as a lightning bolt shot out at the lich that was still in the air.
It hit right on, and the remaining lightning went through the creature, it was certainly a critical hit to the lich. Meanwhile Bregane had disappeared into the shadows and sunk into the ground.
The lich quickly reacted by casting a flight spell and flying up into the air and casted two big fireballs at Tere and Sarmah. The explosions collided but as soon as the fire dispersed both of them stood there completely unscathed.
A green emerald barrier surrounded both of them, Erica quickly collapsed onto her knees further in the back, that defensive spell had taken the last of her mana.
'Thunderclap & Flash' Sonya chanted her spell and a spear made of lightning appeared in her hand, which she quickly threw at the lich, a lightning spear fast as a lightning strike instantly found its mark.
The lightning did not seem to bother the lich a lot, but the shockwave from the spell did send him crashing into the furthest wall in the back. Samuel took the opportunity to cast his own fireball and send it right at him.
Unfortunately the spell fizzled out and got cancelled by the lich that looked as furious as a skeleton could. With power swirling all around him as he came flying out back into the middle of the room. He waved his staff, 'Plague Damnation' the lich casted his spell that Tere tried to counterspell but it unfortunately failed.
"Thats a really high level spell! Look out!" Tere'he shouted the moment her counterspell had failed, realizing the power of that spell was much higher than her counter had been. Everyone quickly guarded themselves.
As several green plague arrows came flying at each of them. Samuel activated his slow vision and started cutting apart each arrow that came close. While the others guarded themselves with defensive spells.
Sonya saw Erica who was out of mana and ran over and blocked enough arrows for the two of them. She screamed as she felt pain all over her body and everything went dark. She had saved Erica by blocking all the arrows either with her magical shield or her body.
As the smoke cleared, Tere'he and Sarmah were both on their knees panting heavily. At that point they had used most of their magic while the lich still seemed to be going strong. "It seems like your friend up and left!" The lich laughed thinking seeing all his opponents on their knees or unconscious.
"Maybe if you beg I will-" The lich started speaking but quickly stopped as if he had had a heart attack. "MY PHYLACTERY!" He roared in pain and anger. For liches often bound their essence to a phylactery that essentially made them immortal. If their bodies were destroyed then their phylactery would regenerate them. The distance they could travel from it was limited but it could always be moved around.
Bregane came back up from the ground and sunk down on his knees, he was bleeding from all over. Apperantely the phylactery had been guarded and he had fought and won, the lich was weakened, they could all feel the lich's magic power waning.
"No matter, you are all so weak that I can simply finish you off and rebuild my phylactery!" The lich groaned and quickly turned his head to the left where there suddenly was a figure.
Samuel had taken only minor injuries from the plague arrows because he had cut them apart rather than just defend with magic. They had sent him backwards a bit and he was dazed for a few moments. But the second he came too, he was still fresh as a fiddle.
He had unfortunately lost the concentration of his spells though, and he did not want to alert the lich who would feel him casting spells so he did the only logical thing in his mind.
"Night, Throw me!" He whispered.
Night smiled and didn't hesitate or ask questions, everything had already been conveyed through their soul bond. She grew enough in size to grab him with one arm and instantly swung him around one lap before throwing him.
If not for all of his training he would have been completely disoriented from the fast swing, but all that flying had prepared him for things like that. He quickly flew through the air and aimed both swords at the lich.
Whom just about noticed him when he was only a few meters away. "Void Rend!" Samuel screamed as a purple vortex surrounded both his swords as he lunged with them when he came flying. The lich was still fast enough to activate a magical barrier.
However the magic infused swords tore straight through the weakened magic and both swords pierced straight through the lich that screamed in agony and aimed a punch at Samuel.
Samuel poured all the magic he could straight into the lich via the swords and didn't mind getting punched once, unfortunately the lich was a terrifyingly powerful foe and the punch sent Samuel crashing into the ground.
With both the swords removed when Samuel got sent flying the lich quickly chanted a spell that formed a ball of acid and aimed it at Samuel, "Die you pest!" It roared in anger.
"No, you die!" Sarmah roared in anger.
Tere had used the last of her magic to conjure a powerful gust that sent Sarmah flying as well, the lich had been too preoccupied with swords in him to notice the spellcasting. All Sarmah and Tere had to do was give eachother one look before having the same idea.
Her greatsword that was infused with fire came flying down as she swung it above her head with all her strength. The skull of the lich was instantly caved in and in a roar of rage, the body of the lich exploded which sent Sarmah flying and skidding over the floor once she landed.
She struggled to get back up before losing conscience as well.
Erica had quickly stabilized Sonya and quickly stumbled over to Sarmah to make sure of the same thing. Tere and Bregane quickly walked over to eachother to make sure they were alive when they saw that Erica was already stabilizing the two that were knocked out.
Samuel opened his eyes with a bit of pain. He was inwardly cursing himself, because he had gotten arrogant thinking that a skeleton wouldn't carry much physical strength behind a single punch, if he had not underestimated the lich then he could have finished him off.
But he did realize that the lich must have taken severe damage from everyone else as well. "You alive?" Bregane shouted worriedly and Samuel raised both his swords in the air without getting up from the ground.
He had not the energy to get up, his mana breathing allowed him to refill his mana, but the same could not be said for his physical body, he was also crap at any sort of healing magic so when he took damage he had no quick way to fix it.
"I really need to force some healing magic into my system!" Samuel groaned out loud. Seeing that the danger was over, Bomfjeord quickly ran over with their backpacks. Where there were plenty of healing salves and potions to speed up recovery.
Soon enough everyone was back on their feet, alive. Samuel finally stood up as well and made his way over to everyone else. While getting a cloth to clean his blades from the dragon blood everyone gathered up in a small circle where most of them sat and rested or drank something.
Bregane had scouted the surrounding areas for more dangers and when he found none he had finally returned as well.