Matt saw Doug get devoured and shouted at the top of his lungs

“RAISE MINION!”

Bones scattered and long since turned to dust gather under the unholy summoning circle in an attempt to raise a new generation of skeletal minions without a proper corpse! And under the concentrated assault of Matt’s mana, the System spit out errors, balks, and bargains before finally warping itself to Matt’s will-

Matt the Minor Liche has unlocked Undead Material Efficiency

Undead Material Efficiency : Any undead material can be used to bring forth a minion, apparently. (20%) chance of summoning an extra minion on any cast of “Raise.”

But that isn’t the end; no, it is the beginning. As Matt’s voice booms, he commands the remaining skeletons to fight. And they fight with everything they have as Doug’s sword bursts in and out of the Boss Mimic, as the creature attempts to swallow him whole.

Matt’s mind splits his focus from the energy needed to summon new minions with a word of power to the commands he sends to the four remaining skellies in his service, to forcing his spell to not accidentally consume the bones of Greg in its zeal to gather material while trying to maintain his grip on sanity. And for a moment, it all seems to crumble to nothing… until three skeletons rise from the ground up bones and screech to life.

And if Matt was a human, he would lay slumped in mental exhaustion and at the mercy of the enemy. But Matt wasn’t human but a Liche newly born full of dark and terrible fury.

Because even as the mana dissipates, Matt launches himself into casting Acid Arrow over and over again. Each blow means nothing as the System told him such, but Matt’s mind holds on to the image of Doug stabbing and slashing inside the belly of the Mimic and, through force of will, directs his minions to attack the areas where the acid arrow splashed. It is a cacophony of hacks and slashes as Matt fires arrow after arrow at the black mass of muscle oozing black blood.

The System drones on about how ineffective Matt’s strikes are, how pointless it is in the face of such a creature above his level. In fact, in a twisted moment of morbid curiosity, Matt uses Identity on the Boss Mimic-

Boss Mimic

Level : 20

Strength : B+

Magic Power : C

Speed : S

Defense : A

Difficulty Rating : A+

Status : Devotion (Seeks the elimination of all life that threatens the dungeon core. This desire overrides the need for food, drink, or any other needs or pleasures.)

He grits his teeth in determination, unwilling to give up on Doug or himself. Even if he knows deep down inside that save a miracle, he will lose. For a moment, he wants to spare a glance at Greg’s destroyed body, but he decides against it.

The Boss Mimic consumes his attention as it warps and reshapes itself into cubes, prisms, and spheres in his contest with Doug. But despite the rapid shapeshifting, the Boss monster proves unable to crush Dough without eating 4 inches of steel for his trouble. Where a normal man would have been consumed by the digestive juices, Doug holds firm, his bones glistening with black blood as he fights inside the Mimic’s stomach and corded bands of muscle pressing on all sides.

In this dance, the Mimic forgets the cardinal rule of his existence. Because as Matt is firing his Acid Arrows, he walks steadily but surely toward the Dungeon Core, and in the chaos of the skeletons’ hacking, the Liche casting, and the Mimic writhing in pain and fury while lashing out at the skeletons that surrounded it, Matt grabs the Core.