To Ronan, the horrifying creature revealed by the fading cyan flames seemed familiar. A second passed as it flexed its hands and rolled its neck. Then it struck him.

The zombie-like skeletal humanoid was almost identical to Magriz'al, the normal difficulty tutorial boss. Except, this new vessel of Tharaxes' had pallid, sickly green-blue flesh, eyes that glowed like the very fire that summoned it, and most of its body was skeletal in nature.

Only the tag floating above its head confirmed that this was, in fact, still the boss of this stage.

[Tharaxes - BOSS]

[Hobgoblin Lich-Lord Lv.51]

Nothing had changed. The same name, the same class and species, and even the same level. While this new vessel might possess altered powers, the system deemed it an identical monster.

That was all Ronan needed to know. Even if the lich-lord had returned as a level 100 with an evolved class, he still would have thrown himself at it with the fury and rage of a cat that had been stared at for a moment too long.

Before the boss could get a word out, Ronan used charge of the unstoppable juggernaut. For the first time since obtaining the skill, he didn't reach his target.

His upper body flew forwards, but his feet remained rooted to the ground at the bottom of the dais. In the corner of his eye, Ronan saw his momentum bar plummeting to 0. Looking down, the reason why became clear.

Ice had formed at his feet, freezing him to the stone. Unfortunately his upper body didn't get the memo about stopping. The muscles at the base of his spine were pulled taut as he bent over double. His head smashed into the stone steps.

Stars danced across his vision, most of it lost to darkness. Through the haze he saw bright cyan light. Then he started to convulse. All Ronan saw was white. His entire body burned.

Someone screamed. More flashes. Cyan. Orange. Black. His vision was blurry, and he saw the lich-lord slowly approaching from the top of the dais.

Ronan refused to fall this easily. He reached into his soul, the vast and unfathomable part of himself that he'd barely begun to explore, and willed himself to focus.

Clarity returned. On instinct more than anything else, he immediately swung his mace. Tharaxes clearly hadn't expected the sudden strike, and the bonecrusher caught the boss between a skeletal rib and a fleshy one.

Activating stone grip, Ronan kept hold of the mace and pushed the strike through with all his might. Tharaxes was sent tumbling back, one rib shattered. A bolt of black lightning struck the lich-lord as it fell, shattering a few smaller bones around its shoulder.

"Damned cockroaches! Where did the system find you?" Tharaxes roared, throwing fireballs out wildly as it retreated back to its throne.

Ronan didn't let the boss escape freely. Confident in his durability, he advanced up the stone steps, one at a time.

He heard steps to his left. Alyssa joined him in his attack. They stepped onto the top of the dais at the same moment. Ronan unleashed charge of the juggernaut, while Alyssa darted in to close the boss' path of retreat.

Jenna's black lightning struck Tharaxes. Ronan's charge connected, the little momentum he'd regained unleashed against the lich-lord. This time he hadn't forgotten his skills. Alyssa cut into the sagging flesh, carving a chunk from Tharaxes' chest.

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They were so close.

As the boss stumbled back once more, it howled in pain, unleashing its fury into its halls. Ronan took another step forward, pressing the advantage.

Jenna prepared another attack, and Alyssa was right there beside him, to carve the boss apart. Right before their second wave of attacks landed, Tharaxes plunged a skeletal hand into its chest.

The last thing Ronan heard before he was engulfed by a wave of cyan flames was the maniacal cackling of the hobgoblin lich-lord. Everything burned.

Alyssa's screams reached his ears over the searing heat of the flames. A black flash cut through, but failed.

Every inch of his body was screaming in agony, but that was only the beginning. Ronan felt a tingle in his soul. At first he thought it was his tenacity giving him the strength to fight back, but then it intensified.

By the time he realised that Tharaxes had set his very soul aflame, it was too late to stop the raging blaze. Ronan had died many times, and he'd experienced a myriad of torturous battles. Even being eaten by Magriz'al was child's play compared to the incineration of his soul.

Through it all, only one thought kept him focused, and moving. He refused to let the arrogant boss get away with this.

Every last drop of tenacity, of his willpower, Ronan gathered together. He screamed, a primal release of his raging fury, and took another step forwards.

"How are you still alive!?" Tharaxes exclaimed.

Through the flames, Ronan could barely make out the lich-lord's face, but the expression of shock brought a smile to his own charred lips. He took another step.

Being set alight hadn't dropped his momentum. Pushing through the attack on his soul seemed to send it into overdrive, and he was back at 102 points.

Tharaxes raised its hand, the skeletal fingers crackling with electric mana. Ronan's health was close to zero, but he had one final attack in him.

Those sparks of mana died in the hobgoblin's hands as the bonecrusher mace smashed through its torso. In a single fluid motion, Ronan spun and struck the falling skull from the sky, as though he was playing lich baseball.

Much to his disappointment, there was still no kill notification. This is fucking unfair, he inwardly cursed. Ronan recognised that his own advantages were also unfair, but this particular boss was pissing him off.

With a burning soul, and a burnt body, Ronan finally collapsed to his knees. He was spent, and only through sheer force of will was he even conscious.

He wondered if Alyssa and Jenna might be able to find the boss' phylactery this time. At least then his efforts wouldn't be for naught. However, as he looked around the throne room, he saw two charred corpses where his teammates had been. They had suffered the same soul attack as Ronan, but were even less prepared to handle it.

Only because he'd lived and died so many times had he managed to stay moving for a few seconds longer. His soul cultivation had certainly given him a boost.

Adding insult to injury, he felt a powerful suction force gathering all the mana in the room. Then, two glowing sparks emerged from Alyssa and Jenna's bodies, before being sucked towards the ceiling above the throne.

Ronan looked up. The two sparks were drawn into the ceiling. A fresco decorated the section directly above the dais, and as the sparks entered, various parts lit up with a radiant glow.

Death's icy grip was wrapped around his soul, threatening to rip him away from this life. Ronan refused to give in. He'd finally found Tharaxes' secret.

He would bet all of his chronos merits that the lich-lord's phylactery was built into the ceiling, or hidden above it. His wager would have paid dividends.

Despite the lack of bones or flesh to build from, the addition of his allies' souls seemed to supercharge the lich's reincarnation. Floating above the throne, the lich's fourth vessel began to appear.

By the time it was fully formed, Ronan was barely clinging to reality. His soul had been burnt to cinders, and all that remained of his body was a charred husk.

Tharaxes was closer to a zombie than a skeleton now, only a few bones poking through his pallid green-blue flesh. With every reincarnation, the lich somehow grew stronger. Or simply closer to what the creature used to be.

"You're still alive? Truly, I must commend your tenacity. You are as durable as a cockroach, if nothing else," the lich-lord said, landing right beside its throne. "I will savour the taste of your soul as you fade into the void."

With that, Tharaxes reached out a hand, and pulled. The final fragment of Ronan's soul burnt away. The sting of defeat was burnt into him, but just like the infuriating lich, he would return once more.

And this time, he knew the boss' secret.

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