The four of them immediately adopted combat stances and started looking around for the owner of the creepy voice. A monster that could speak implied a terrifying level of intelligence that Ronan had only encountered in the sector boss.

Are we about to fight a level 90!? Holy crap. That would be an insane difficulty spike. Impossible, even, he inwardly yelled.

Two more braziers flickered to life. Unlike the dancing flames that decorated the eight pillars around the room, these were cyan in colour, and far larger. Like two miniature bonfires.

In the glittering cyan glow cast by the two brazier-flames, a raised dais had been revealed. Atop the dais sat a throne of stone, utterly plain save for two spikes fashioned from bone that stuck out from the top corners of the backrest. Upon the throne, a four-foot tall figure wreathed in a rough-hewn black robe sat.

From within the hood, two glowing orbs the same colour as the brazier-flames shone, and they gazed down at the group of four as though they were ants. In the Goblin Lich's hands, an ornate staff rested. Of everything about the undead monster, it was the only part that radiated pure power.

At a glance, it was ivory white, fashioned from bone, in a similar manner to the staffs wielded by the other goblin shamans that Ronan had encountered. The similarities ended there.

Unlike the twisted, malformed staffs they used, this one had been carved and polished to perfection, a single ramrod-straight shaft that fit snugly in the lich's hands. At the tip, bone spikes held a glowing blue gem in place. It was a perfectly spherical orb, and Ronan could feel the mana washing off it.

[Tharaxes - MINI BOSS]

[Hobgoblin Lich Lv.35]

Ronan had half-expected the goblin lich to be the final boss of stage 4, based on everything they'd experienced since entering its throne room. However, the tag floating above its head dispelled any misunderstandings.

The level was low for a mini-boss—Tharaxes was actually a lower level than some of the monsters they'd fought and killed on the way to reach this chamber. However, it was a hobgoblin, and a mini-boss with a class he'd never seen before. The evolved species, not to mention its clearly superior intelligence, meant Ronan wasn't going to take it lightly.

"Stay on your guard. Liches are undead summoners, right? Expect more skeletons, and definitely magic," he whispered to his teammates as they drew weapons and subtly shifted into a battle formation.

Tharaxes straightened its posture, and rested the staff against the ground. Then, it tapped it twice, and the orb flashed brightly. "Let's see you handle some of my failures. I wouldn't want to rush into the finale and ruin the first toys I've encountered in a century," it said, teeth chattering in its skull.

The braziers on the pillars which had been snuffed out suddenly flared to life, and the clattering of bones and metal echoed from the darkness at the edges of the room. A few seconds later, the first shambling skeleton stumbled out into the edge of the torch-light.

Ronan frowned. When the lich had said 'failures,' he'd been expecting something more along the lines of a disfigured skeleton, or one that couldn't put up a fight. This seemed… identical to those that had ambushed them back at the crossroads.

As more appeared, that proved to remain true. Apart from some hairline cracks he could barely spot, and the lacking quality of their armour and weaponry, they were regular skeletons. With that confirmed, there was only one thing left to do. "Let's fuck these old bones up," he said, before stepping forwards and swinging his mace at the closest undead.

He heard the other three shout their confirmation as they began to attack. The air hissed as Jenna's black lightning arced towards a skeleton, blowing it up with a single strike.

Howard's magic throwing knives whizzed at the distant skeletons, while Alyssa rushed at the skeletons on the other side, doing a similar job to Ronan on the team's other flank. As for him, he was having the time of his life.

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Swinging the mace was a breeze now, and the weak skeletons exploded on first impact. He didn't even need to resort to magic strike, or double strike. However, he did use sacrificial strike to try and gain more health mastery. Pushing it to tier III was unlikely this iteration, but it was worth a shot.

Defeating the small wave of skeletons didn't take much effort. Ronan didn't even gain a level, which was disappointing. He turned to the lich, deciding if he should risk a direct assault.

Charge of the juggernaut would let him cross the distance fairly rapidly, but he wondered if he had the momentum to pull it off—or if the mini-boss had some way to dodge or predict such an obvious strike. Mainly, he was worried about the goblin lich attacking from behind while they were busy with his minions. The teasing nature of the mini-boss told him it was unlikely, but it was better to be cautious.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised. They were as described… Failures. It seems you're a little more robust than the usual adventurers that wander in here." Tharaxes sighed dramatically, and flourished his staff. With a grunt, the lich smashed it against the ground with both skeletal hands, and sparks of cyan lightning arced into the air from the glowing orb at the top. "Let's up the ante."

The noise that came from the shadows after that was a deep rumbling, as though something enormous was burrowing through the earth towards them. The clattering of bones came next, and then an echoing metallic clang. The same noises repeated four more times. Then, a loud thud.

It was footsteps. The lich hadn't lied when it said it was upping the ante, only Ronan hadn't expected it to take things from zero to a hundred from the get-go. Out of the darkness, five enormous skeletal constructions emerged, wielding a variety of arms and armaments.

The closest giant to Ronan was humanoid in shape, but many of the bones were mismatched. The skull was brutish, and had two large tusks sticking out of the bottom jaw. Its eyes glowed like the lich's, but far fainter. In its hands it held a colossal spear that was almost twice as long as Ronan was tall. The tip would leave a football sized hole in his chest if he was slow enough to be pierced.

He would simply have to be faster.

Around the room, the other four golems had begun to close in on the group of four challengers. One held a sword and shield, another a huge two-headed battleaxe. A fourth golem held a savage warhammer, spiked on one side, while the final golem held a zweihander in its bony grip.

This would be a true challenge. Ronan was confident in his ability, and excited to take on the large undead, but he wasn't so sure about his teammates.

Jenna and Howard could deal great damage at range, but the moment the twelve-foot skeleton giants neared, they would be in serious danger. Alyssa could handle herself—she might not hit that hard, but her speed would keep her alive. Ronan wouldn't have the freedom to enjoy himself as he wanted.

A spear wielder wasn't the easiest opponent for a mace user, but Ronan could handle a bad matchup. He had to take it down fast, so that he could move to keep the rest of the skeletons away from his party.

Unfortunately, the quickest way to take down the giant was charge of the juggernaut. Ronan was loath to reveal such a potent trump card before they fought the mini-boss itself, but there was no use saving power in reserve if his allies died because of it.

And it isn't as though charge of the juggernaut is my only advantage, he mused. Let's see how that prick reacts to his shinier toys getting smashed to pieces.

Ronan raised his mace, activated stone grip and vital surge, then started appraising the giant for weak points. He felt the pelvis was a great place to strike. Worst case, he crippled its movement and had to strike again to end things.

Once he gauged his trajectory, he used charge of the juggernaut. In the blink of an eye he'd closed the distance between them, mace swinging.

Right before it crashed against the large pelvic bone, he used magic strike, double strike, and sacrificial strike. A cloud of white dust exploded around him, and he started spluttering as it got into his windpipe.

Rubbing his eyes to clear the remnants of calcium carbonate away, he glanced back at the results of his handiwork. The legs had fallen in opposite directions, and were lying still. The pelvis had shattered into nothing, and the ribcage had cracked and exploded in every direction.

However, the skeleton's upper torso still moved. The glowing eyes stared towards Ronan, and its large arms slowly pulled it over the stone towards him. It still gripped the spear in its right hand, and with every pull, a horrible screeching noise echoed through the room.

"You! It took me six years to find the right pelvic bone for that beauty, and you went and blew it up. Irritable bastard!" Tharaxes exclaimed.

Ronan brought the bonecrusher mace down on the giant's skull, giving it the same fate as the pelvis. The arms moved no more, and he saw a notification appear in his vision. His eyes, however, were glued on the lich, who was waving its arms and cursing profusely. It wasn't moving to use another spell, though, which was a relief.

The first enemy dead, or well, defeated—they were dead from the get-go—Ronan turned towards his allies to see where he could best put his strength to use. Immediately he saw that the axe-wielding skeleton was proving a terror, and he was sprinting towards it before it could raise its weapon once more.

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