"Hey, is it my imagination, or are the hands weaker?" Peonie whispered, trying to push the skeletal fingers squeezing her chest like a rubber ball. Tarienne was too busy looking around for Liana to pay her any mind.
"They are!" Celeria replied, pushing her skeletal prison open and freeing herself. "The lightning bolt must have weakened the lich magic and disrupted her concentration."
"See, Liana was useful for something!"
"Shh, let´s hide while we can."
The three remaining naked adventurers crawled out of the center of the room and took cover under a giant bull still entranced by the ritual.
"So, what now?" Min asked. "I don´t think Skeletor over there is lying about her immortality. Can we even beat her?"
"That would be a tall order under normal circumstances, but as we are now?" Celeria shook her head, nudging her nose towards her own body. Pointing at the lack of equipment that would usually cover her sprightly chest. "We are barely equipped to take down a bandit, let alone her."
"S-so, are you saying we should cut our losses like Liana?! We can´t let the Lich-"
"I don't think we can beat her, but I can at least ruin her ritual. It's going to be dangerous, and if I succeed, I'll only piss her off more. You two should run away. No sense in risking both of your lives."
"Are you sure?" Min asked. "I don´t think you´ll be able to claim any rewards from the afterlife."
"I told you already, I don´t need a sack of coins dangling in front of my face to do the job. I´m a professional, and a professional finishes what she starts. But there´s no point in risking all of our lives to do it."
"Don´t be stupid, Celeria, a suicide mission is not part of the job. If anything, I should be the one staying. As noble, I´m the one with the duty to try and protect the peace in our realms. I´m staying no matter what. If you want to leave, I understand." Peonie said somberly.
"Leave? And let my friend fight off a monster not seen since the Catastrophe of the Burning Skies in the nude? I´ll stick around, thank you very much. For the laughs if nothing else," Celeria said somewhat sarcastically, to try and raise her friend´s spirit.
Peonie and Celeria looked at each other and went in for a comforting, if still awkward, hug. "Thanks for sticking by."
"You too. Now, Min, I know the idea of fighting a lich must be-"
"No, I´m all in. I didn't travel across the worlds to refuse an epic fight with a lich when it´s laid in front of my feet. Who cares if I´m naked? That will just make the tales about it all the more impressive." Min butted into the hug, wrapping her arms around both adventurers.
"I don´t think you understand how serious this is."
"Oh, I do. But what´s the worst that can happen? I die again? Ha! Maybe I´ll get to carry my cape to the next life. It would be something at least."
"I´m sorry. Die AGAIN?"
"Err, what I meant to say was that things are looking grim now, but that´s just how it happens in the climax of every story. I´m sure we´ll turn things around like the adventurers we are!"
"You, don´t sound like you are taking this as serious as you should. This isn´t a story, a legend, or even a fable. This is real life."
"Eh, let her be." Celeria shrugged. "Every adventurer is a bit touched in the head, it comes with the job."
"While, I disagree with implication that I´m slightly crazy, but trust me, Peonie. I never took anything else in my life as seriously as I´m taking this. And don´t worry, I still have a trick on my non-existing sleeve… I hope. Everything will turn out fine in the end."
Min crossed her fingers. If there was ever a time for her supposed magic-jamming ability to work. This was it.
"Heh, feels nice to hear someone say that, even if it´s a lie..."
"No lies here! But now that we are all in the same page, how about we break this hug and go fight a lich? I like you girls and all, but I do think it´s a bit awkward to have our nipples touch each other like this…"
"Right, let´s go!"
"I think they all teleported away," Tarienne mumbled, inspecting the empty bone cages that used to hold the party. "Am I really that scary?" she looked at her skeletal hands. "Another reason to finish this ritual once and for all."
Tarienne attempted to walk back into her cauldron, but as soon as she set one foot inside the magic circle, she felt a sharp pain spread across her slim behind. Peonie had jumped from behind a cow and hit her with her club across her buttocks.
"Not so funny when it happens to you, huh?"
"I never said it was funny," Tarienne retaliated with another lighting bolt, but like before, Peonie raised her shield to block the attack and redirect it back at the caster.
This time, however, Tarienne was ready. The skeletal hands reshaped themselves into a bone shield that covered her from her electricity. "That´s so irritating! Where did you even find that enchanted shield?" the lich yelled.
"It was in a treasure chest behind a pit of lava and a red frog."
"Ugh, I told the Queen we should have invested in a guard sphinx instead. But nooooo, the fire frog will burn any intruders, she said. If only she was still around to see the folly of her ideas. Hmm, maybe she is, actually. I think these are her bones..."
"En garde!" Peonie resumed her attack, knocking aside the shield of bones and attempting to lunge at the lich to whack her head back into her neck.
"Cool it, will you?" Tarienne aimed her hand at Peonie, shooting a jet of water out of her bony fingertips. Peonie raised her shield, redirecting the water flow downwards. The adventurer´s toned legs shone with a thin veneer of water as they became wet.
"Hah, ran out of spells?" Peonie taunted. "That little water current can´t even give me the sniffles."
"Are you certain about that?" Tarienne lifted her eyebrow and snapped her fingers. The water turned solid, encasing Peonie´s lower body in ice and trapping her in place.
"Eeck! C-cold!"
"You were saying?"
"D-do y-your w-worst, l-lich. I´m n-not afraid of you!"
"Aren't you a glutton for punishment? Very well, if you insist on being a pest I'll-Ack!"
While Tarienne was distracted, Celeria shot her back with a flurry of arrows that pierced right across her chest.
"Urgh! I just got this set of lungs! Now I have to make new ones!" Tarienne shouted, indignantly stomping her feet and glaring at the elf. As a retort, Celeria placed another arrow in between her eyes.
A scowling Tarienne silently picked the arrow out of her face and snapped it like a twig under her fingers. She conjured a spider web to try and catch Celeria, but the elf somersaulted across the back of a grazing cow and jumped away just in time.
Dozen more webs were shot from the spiders in the ceiling, with Celeria jumping and running to avoid them. Peonie shily glanced down at her feet. It didn´t feel polite to stare at her friend while she was doing crazy pirouettes, what with her breasts flopping in the air and her buttocks flexing at each turn.
Eventually, the elf´s luck ran out, and a web snared her ankles, which were promptly pulled up. Celeria was left hanging upside-down from the ceiling.
"You owe me a set of lungs!" Tarienne yelled, grabbing Celeria´s face to stare straight at her blue eyes. "Maybe I should take yours! ...Why are you smiling? Don't you understand the gravity of your situation?"
Tarienne felt hot liquid splash against her feet. She turned around to see her cauldron toppled over. The magical potion contained therein spilled onto the ground, erasing the chalk circle she carefully laid down.
Min gave her a defiant smile, her bare feet standing over the toppled cauldron. Her cape, the only garment she had, flew heroically behind her.
"Haha! See? Having a rogue to sneak behind enemies is useful!"
"You idiot. Don´t you realize what you have done-"
The sudden cancellation of the ritual released all the pent-up magical energy it had stored. Above the room, a red vortex of raw magic spun around violently, getting faster and faster.
The last thing Min saw was the ethereal energies in the room imploding in a flash of blinding light.