Chapter 565 Tightening Noose
The battle devolved into a race, to see who could reach their goal first.
Would the undead army on the outside reunite with the one here before they killed the Lich?
Or would Astaroth and his party wipe clean this abomination of undeath from the dungeon before getting swarmed?
The Lich boss quickly realized its undead were no longer answering his summons after getting struck by the now glowing mortals.
As if the servant of time's presence wasn't enough, who could steal away the fate of his minions from him. Now the pointy-eared summoner was blessed by the gods, and sharing it with his allies.
To make matters worse, the buzzing fly that kept running around his home and charging at him dealing some serious damage to it. It wouldn't even be able to land a hit, if it weren't for the monster in little girl's clothes, that kept harassing him from up close.
Astaroth, however, was having a great time. He fought furiously, taking out enemies left and right, slimming the undead troops as fast as three of his allies.
There weren't much of them left now, and he rejoiced.
Reaching the group's side, Astaroth aided SharpTusk in defending the casters from any melee threat. The pressure on him may have been great, but he seemed to have the time of his life.
"Leader Astaroth! Fancy you joining us here! I thought you would have rushed at the big bad!"
Astaroth chuckled at Tusk's words. The Orc wasn't wrong, in a certain way.
Normally, Astaroth would have gone directly for the boss, eager to fight a real opponent. But he had bigger concerns right now.
With every collision between Galtion and the Lich, or every strike Luna slipped through its defences, the barrier surrounding this place weakened. And right now, it was weak enough for him to stretch his senses outside the coliseum.
And things were about to get immensely worse.
"Phoenix, I know your mana reserves are running low. But can you block the entrances to the arena?"
Phoenix looked at Astaroth with a frown. She knew he wouldn't ask her something like this without reason, but this was a lot asked.
Looking about the arena, she could count four large entrances to the floor level where they were, alone. And that was aside from the large seating area, which had even more entry points from the exterior.
"I would have to close a dome around the arena, Astaroth. I'm running on fumes. There is no way I can achieve anything that meaningful right now."
Astaroth cursed under his breath.
"Shit. Fuck. Balls. Alright then. Then move to the center. This spot is about to get crowded."
Saying his piece, Astaroth blasted off again, making his way to Meat-Shield and Jaxx. Piercing through the ranks of undead to reach them, he stopped next to Meat-Shield.
"Meat-Shield! I need you to make your way towards the center of the arena. The rest of the party will head there, and they will need you."
Meat-Shield nodded his head, trudging forward as he kept fighting through the waves of monsters assaulting him. He had to throw out taunt after taunt, just so to maintain the aggro on them, but he was still managing.
Jaxx started following the Dwarf before Astaroth grabbed his arm.
"Not you, hot head. I need you on that boss monster. You deal good damage, and it needs to go down fast."
Jaxx almost froze in confusion. Most parties he and his sister had joined always sent him to tank adds, or clear trash mobs. He had only ever joined the boss fight once all the adds were cleared.
Having his damage recognized by the guild leader made him feel excited, but the sharp look in Astaroth's eyes also chilled him.
"Once this boss is dead, we will talk about your stupid behaviour," Astaroth added.
Jaxx gulped, nodding lightly, before taking off toward the boss.
Astaroth watched him run toward the Lich, who was now constantly on the run from Luna and Galtion's charges, and scoffed.
'If your sister wasn't redeeming you… Bah, whatever. I'll deal with you after.'
Calling mentally to his soul companions, Astaroth assigned them to form a cordon around the party's casters. White, Genie, and Morpheus accepted the command and quickly finished their foes before circling toward the center of the arena.
He let Luna on the Lich since she was one of the few who could deal with it as of now.
Phoenix took over command of the party once they regrouped, and put them into a more defensible formation, even ordering Astaroth's companions around. The soul beasts didn't mind, as they were used to this now, and obeyed her commands as if they were their master's.
As their formation was taking shape, loud screeching echoed into the arena. Coming from every direction, pervasively, the screeching filled the area, almost forcing the players to cover their ears.
"Get ready!" Phoenix shouted.
A moment later, the reason for their relocation became clear.
East, West, North, South. All four entrances started pouring out a torrent of undeath.
Along with this, above the arena ground, in the bleachers of the coliseum, zombies, skeletons, and ghosts of all kinds started trickling in through every smaller entry point. It was like watching a zombie movie of old, where the protagonists had cornered themselves.
The only saving grace for these players was that they could fight back.
Astaroth left the waves of undead to the rest of his party, and slammed into the Lich, not long after Jaxx had. Getting swarmed by two additional threats rapidly put the Lich at a disadvantage, and it was taking damage left and right.
Galtion's charges started hitting true, the Lich unable to erect barriers around him in time, with too many sides to this assault.
Feeling the noose tighten around its neck, the Lich went into survival mode.
Letting go of defence, it conjured up another portal through which it walked, reappearing in the sky, a hundred meters above the ground.
*SHREEEEECK!*
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