61. The Tower 12
"FOOLS! Now I will kill you all."
Before any of them could move the creature stepped through the door. It looked like it had been on its way to help its last minion but did not get there in time. Novum wondered if the lich had a link to the creatures and felt it break or if he was using a mirror or something to watch them and it was floating along. It did not matter in the grand scheme of things but he had a few seconds to think so he thought. But he thought as he moved towards the thing. It had stepped out closest to Crystal and he needed to get between them.
The lich stepped out and realized that he should have used the other door. This one was closest to the cleric and while he was powerful her aura was enough to send shivers into his core. He would have said to make his skin crawl but most of that was gone. It saw that Novum and Rurik were moving towards it with no fear and instantly decided that the tow magic casters in the back should be his main target. It moved in that direction as it looked around. It was looking for the last member of the group.
Berry knew that the creature thought she was the weakest link and the second biggest threat and that he was on his way to her. She also knew that he was looking for Topaz. While he knew how dangerous the other two were, it was this hidden factor that Berry did not want him to get comfortable with. As long Topaz stayed hidden, he was not sure where they belonged on the threat scale and he would have a harder time setting up any plans that it had worked out. An invisible opponent was never an easy opponent. Berry went into a spell to block the lich from her and Erica's area. Erica saw what she was doing and get her own spell ready. She had worked with Berry enough times that she could time her attacks around her partner. She would discharge her spell right before the barrier went up. The goal was that he would dart closer to get out of the range of her spell and run into Berry's spell.
The lich saw both of the girls starting their spells and ignored them. He could feel their power level and he was not the least bit afraid of anything that they might be able to throw at him. He was moving a lot faster than any other undead could and he would quickly be in his threat range for close combat. He was a mage first and foremost but he could not waste the physical advantages that he was given when he became a lich. He saw Erica get her small fireball off first and did not bother with blocking it. He was moving fast enough that he would be out of its threat range. He felt the release of the other mage's spell and for a moment thought that the spell had failed then he slammed into the wall in front of it. He felt his lead arm break as it made contact moving as fast as he was. It was like jumping from a thirty-foot cliff. He ignored the pian and the damage and reached out with his senses to find the edge when he remembered the fireball that he had ignored. The ball exploded and since he had nowhere to go it was consumed by the blast. It was not that big of a deal since he was a firebug in his previous life and had gear to protect him but the fact, he was completely outsmarted really hurt his ego.
The lich felt the barrier and realized that it would have to get a lot closer to the cleric and the encroaching Novum if he wanted to get around the end. He saw that the barrier went all the way to the wall so that he could not get around it. Based on this if he did not do something soon, he was going to be cornered. He immediately went for his most powerful spell. He did not have any access to high level spells since he was trapped in here but he did not waste his time and learned new ways to use the spells that he did know. They took more energy but since he did not have any spells to take that energy anyways, he used it for them. Even though he was a fire bug did not mean that he did not know other spells and his spell that covered the biggest area was one of those few.
They all felt it when the temperature in the room started to drop but given the situation none of them changed what they were doing. They all closed in or continued to gather the energy that they needed to face the threat. They were not sure that the spell was going to do but they knew that it could be dangerous. Novum and Rurik ignored the threat and kept moving forward. They both knew that there was no way that they would be able to get out of the area before the spell hit them. Crystal, who was closer to the edge based on the lich's movements, started moving towards the wall away from the caster. She could take a beating but there was no point in the risk. If she was hurt bad enough, she could do nothing for the others.
Novum quickly assessed the situation based on his previous knowledge and cheated just a little. He recognized the base of the spell but he also knew that the AI that was running the world and the system in his head would limit how much he could use that knowledge to influence things. But this time he knew that he was right enough to follow through. He quickly unstrapped his shield and tossed it towards Erica. "Use that to protect Berry." He put both hands on his sword and ran even harder towards the lich.
Erica was not sure what Novum was talking about since she was purely a pyromancer and had spent almost no time learning about other spells. But she knew Novum enough to understand that his shield was important. She quickly picked it up and moved closer to Berry. About the time she got beside her the lich finished his spell and Erica could feel balls of magic in the air above her. She looked up and saw that the area above all of them was filled with magically formed balls of ice. Without any hesitation she put the shield over Berry head first and then got under it as much as she could. Berry was much more important to his fight than she was and with Crystal close by she knew that she could be healed up quickly.
The lich released the spell and Novum and Rurik felt the balls of ice start to hit them. They ignored the hits as best they could and kept moving forward. The problem was not the balls since the armor blocked a huge portion of the damage but they quickly discovered that when the balls hit the ground, they created a small cloud of frozen fog that made it harder to move. The two fighters who had only heartbeats before had been running were now having to force their way forward to get to the lich. The lich watched the scene and gave them an evil smile before he went into his next cast.
Erica felt the last of the balls of ice bounce off her shield and knew that this spell was way more powerful than anything that she could cast yet. She was not sure what the lich had done to make it that much more powerful. She also was the layer of frost that was on the ground and instinctually knew that was coming. "He is going to hit the area with a fireball to create steam to both burn and blind you." With that Erica dropped the shield and then quickly cast a spell to resist fire on Berry her robe could handle the amount of fire she would be exposed to behind the barrier and she did not want to waste the magic.
Novum realized the plan and got ready for the hurt. He knew that given the current situation that Erica was right and he was about to get burnt. He knew that his armor would give him some magical protection but the steam would not be magical. The burns would be real and they would hurt. He also knew that Crystal was far enough away that he was going to hurt for a long time before he got any help. But he also knew that not only would the steam burn him it would also get rid of the ice and blind the lich as well. He gritted his teeth so that he did not yell out and give his location away and got ready to run.
Topaz had watched all of this happen and had let them be hurt just to get herself into the perfect position. Now she was in an internal debate. Did she let the lich cast the fire spell and get Novum and Rurik loose or distract him now and hope that she could survive until the rest of them got to her?