With the new minions came new problems.
First he discovered a new detail about magic.
If an enemy is wearing armor then the impact is obviously lower but the worst part was that the elemental effect of a spell would only affect what it harmed.
So if a creature was not directly harmed by the spell then the armor was all that suffered.
Now this wasnt to say that the elemental effect did not harm the wearer at all because it certainly did, but the wearer took less than the armor itself if the armor was not eaten through.
Because of this Ezekiel was limited to directly going after headshots with his shadow spear or using shadow volley.
By abusing the shadow volley he could easily handle the warriors but with their higher defense it was not as fast as the basic undead.
Volley upon volley.
Spear after spear.
He was casting so fast that he was even beginning to use more mana than his passive regeneration could replenish.
His spells were hardly harming the demilich but it did not matter.
What he saw was that she was resistant to at least 70% of the damage he was dealing.
When it was just fire damage she resisted 20% of it but his fire spells did not have the same level of mana cost reduction.
When the armored skeletons were finally slain he returned his focus to the demilich was was already in the process of casting another spell.
So he did something risky, playing defensively would only exhaust him after all even if his stamina got better with his vitality stat.
'A good reason to put points into vitality honestly.'
He rushed forward with a fire nova ready to cast and he forced his hand into the face of the demilich that was mid... chant? Channeling magic?
He didn't know what this casting time was caused by but he took advantage of it.
He pushed his hand against her face and shivered at the cold bone sensation on his palm before he let the spell free.
Such directed damage against her head was extreme for the demilich that it apparently managed to make a critical point.
When the smoke cleared his arm was singed by the spell as well as his shirt he had been wearing which was slowly fixing itself.
The demilich though?
The demilich was severely hurt.
A cracked skull with fragments falling and a missing mandible.
This result wasnt as good as he hoped but it was still better than nothing as she had stopped whatever she was doing to cast that spell.
Instead she was now casting shadow swords.
Now this he could deal with.
His new vitality would not protect him forever but it would certainly take a few hits.
He kept casting endless shadow spears while waiting for another opening.
She moved her hand to do something different?
Fire nova.
She took a step forward?
Fire nova.
She takes to long to cast a dark sword? Fire nova.
Little by little he was breaking her down as her health fell to 10%.
He expected some new mechanic this time but apparently that wasnt happening as she simply kept casting spells.
She hadnt even tried to cast an undead summoning spell again but what she did do...
Was hit him with a cheap shot.
~
While running from this boss she suddenly hit 5% hp which was apparently the next threshold for her new mechanic.
She vanished from his sight and hr used his mana sense to try to glean some information about what happened.
He saw the remnants of shadow mana where she stood and suddenly felt severe, blinding pain from his arm.
Looking down... well his arm seemed perfectly fine except that it was on the floor.
'MY ARM! THIS BITCH CUT MY ARM OFF!'
"AGHHHHHH!"
Momentarily caught off guard by the severe pain he threw himself to the side as he felt another blinding pain slash his side just below the ribs.
This demilich was standing there holding a sword made of shadow mana like she had been casting but this one had a grip.
The shadow mana was burning away at her hand but with her resistance to the magical damages she seemed completely fine.
What happened next was more disturbing.
His arm began to exude that black mist he had become so used to.
He had been afflicted with consumption.
Blinding pain wracked his body as he felt like his arm was being eaten away by acid.
His skin felt like it was touching dry ice as it slowly shrank.
His arm was being visibly eaten away by the elemental effect.
Now he understood why those creatures he killed were so easy to abuse when they were under this effect.
He knew that if he did not get up and focus he would not survive.
He had no clue what happened when you died in a dungeon but he was afraid of dying at all in this game.
So through sheer will he stood up and grit his teeth to cast another fire nova.
With only one arm he could not trick her with false aim anymore and he had to start to get in close to truly harm her.
He couldn't figure out how her spell was lasting so long as she kept swiping at his body.
He would dodge and throw himself out of the way as he wished to avoid being struck again but he would still take scratches and small cuts, the more he was afflicted by consumption the more pain he endured.
He saw her health grow lower and lower until a red mark appeared on the health bar.
The demilich began to attack wildly as her health reached 1% and when he saw this... he ran.
He did everything he could to flee and dodge her strikes as she wasnt very fast.
What she lacked in speed she made up for with her dark swords she cast at range.
He would have to rely on his own consumption damage now.
While running he would randomly cast shadow volley behind himself hoping that she would not be able to dodge such a wide radius and he was right.
He was rapidly running out of stamina so he turned to face her to try to take her out in a final stand of his own.
And he fell.
Horrific pain assaulted his mind and body as he looked down to see that one of his legs had been taken clean off by this demilich.
He howled in agony as he cast one final shadow volley.
It seemed like this mage had a sadistic streak as it approached rather than finishing him off with her blades.
She didnt even try to end him quickly with her sword of shadow mana she held.
She simply slashed him a few times to keep making him suffer from consumption.
The pain was so overwhelming that he didnt even see her stop.
He didnt hear the notification from the system.
He didnt notice anything was different until he felt blinding light on his face which he quickly covered.
'Why did i try to use my left arm that damn lich cut it off!....'
But the sun was in fact blocked.
He opened his eyes and saw... his arm.
Perfectly fine.
Not only was his arm perfectly fine but his leg was as well.
It was like nothing had even happened.