Chapter 34: 34: One Hit Hunting

Advancing down the hallway towards the last room, the party prepared themselves for one last battle, against the being who had taken over and modified this dungeon. 

A tense atmosphere between them as they neared the final door, the party came to a stop once they were before it. This door was large, Dexter, a person with a sizable frame could fit through it with ease, yet, this door’s age was also visible. Wear and tear throughout the years were clear on the heavy stone door, slight cracks on the powerful hinges, held together by obvious newer reinforcement. 

Getting ready to break the door down, caring little for its historical value, Dexter took a deep breath, crouching down close to the ground, getting ready to bulldoze through it like a frenzied bull. 

“Don’t.” 

Putting a hand on Dexter’s shoulder, Sasha pushed by him before walking up to the door, bending over like a doctor inspecting a patient, declaring, “The doors unlocked everyone... no need to plow through it we can just... go normally.”

With an awkward cough, Dexter stood up, nodding in agreement while taking the lead, being the party’s vanguard. 

At Jayce’s signal, Dexter pried the door open, now careful to preserve the door for its historical significance after feeling Sasha’s hawk-like eyes drilling a hole in the back of his head.

Running in right behind Dexter, Jayce pulled out his spear, ready to launch it into an imposing enemy or monstrous army; however, what greeted Jayce was a shocking sight, one filled with unexpected treasure. 

Holding the excited Alix back, Jayce then looked towards the middle of the room, his brows furrowing and a crease of worry appearing on his still youthful face, “Alix, calm down, it still seems like we have an enemy to defeat.”

What greeted the party in the middle of the room was certainly a unique sight. Suspended off the ground in a cradle made of chains, sparks of energy teeming and running along the chains, a still nascent nascent lich hung.

In what seemed to be hibernation as energy ran from the chains into feeding this lich, a horrific skull for a face could be seen, its eyes empty. This was not only in literal terms, with the lich having no eyeballs, but also in non-literal terms, with the lich facing off into space, unaware that anyone had made any intrusion into its birthing area. 

Moments later, while the party stood back, observing the situation for a little longer, the lich, still missing its entire lower body, reared its skull back, its spine cracking segment by segment as the skull faced the sky. 

Its mouth chattering open, a monstrous magical presence seemed to manifest, hinting at the future potential of the lich as a deep, guttural voice rumbled, laced with an invisible weight that pressed down against the adventurers now cautious against its presence, “Go... join the others... continue expansion...”

With this, the lich seemed to lose life, going back into a hibernative state as the previous heavy presence dissipated once more, the entire time, unaware that the entire dungeon had been emptied. 

“Shit...” Alix murmured, letting out a long sigh as they sank deep into their own thoughts, pondering how to approach the situation that was before them, they trailed off while whispering, “I’m glad I didn’t just run into the piles of gold...”

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Even while most of the party shared similar sentiments, Jayce, Sasha, Kaitlyn, and Dexter stood there, relaxed and a little bored as always, on the other hand, Nao was similar to Alix, sinking deep into thought about how to approach the situation before them. 

Patting both of the newer adventurers on the shoulder with a warm smile, Jayce reassured them, pushing his way forward between them, turning back with a confident grin, “Let us experts handle this. We have some secrets that work well, how do you think we beat the demon king? My title as the hero wasn’t for nothing.”

“The rumors that Jayce was blessed by the goddess aren’t a lie, you know?” Sasha smirked, crossing her arms and putting her rapier away, “The country wouldn’t just send their crown prince to the frontlines for no reason.” 

Nodding in agreement, Jayce laughed, pulling out his trusty spear once more while turning back towards the growing lich in the center of the room, “This was given the title as the most annoying ability during our inter-party spars, even more than Kaitlyn’s natural blessing. Though... I can’t use this one as much as Kaitlyn can use hers.” 

Turning away, suppressing the small grin tugging at the sides of her mouth, Kaitlyn retorted, “It's not my fault you all can’t use that spell as well as I can...”

“Yeah, yeah, you said that everytime you smacked us to the ground back then,” Jayce recounted, a certain amusement clear in his voice as golden light began to shine from his right hand, “You don’t know how much pain I was in!”

“Truly...” Dexter nodded in agreement, crossing his arms remembering those tough days being smacked around by a teen, “Dark times indeed...”

With that, the group fell silent, letting Jayce concentrate on the task at hand. 

Concentrating, Jayce closed his eyes, feeling his connection with the world and calling upon the blessing bestowed upon him by the goddess. As he sunk further and further into his stupor, golden holy power swirled around him, centered around his right hand. 

A tight grip on his spear, the golden streams of energy that surrounded him were taken in, being then directed into the spear, turning the normal-looking spear into a pure-white spear decorated with gold. 

Opening his eyes, Jayce, with his hair fluttering, eyes glowing, pulled his spear back as he felt the power surge through him once more, preparing his one-hit kill move. 

His muscles bulging for just a second, Jayce let the spear fly, throwing it towards the lich suspended in the middle of the chamber. 

Staggering forward as he felt the holy power leave his body, Jayce’s spear flew forward, being thrown so fast it lost its shape, seeming more like a bright white line that plowed into the cradle in the center. 

The bright white spear, now stabbed clean through the lich’s skull, let out a golden explosion, blinding everyone in the room for a brief moment.