It was not liquid this time, but I sort of wish it were.

  Scalding-hot vapor erupted from all four openings, filling the chamber with a thick white fog that grew thicker by the moment. Within seconds, visibility dropped to almost nothing, the world reduced to the glows of skills and the necrotic energy coming from the monsters’ eyes.

  A debuff icon appeared on top of my health bar the moment I touched the steam.

  Boiling debuff applied. Damage per second: 10

  -10! -10! -10!

  "We need to end this fast!" Kara shouted, her voice muffled by the roaring steam. “Group up, I’ll switch to healing only!”

  She chugged down a large mana potion.

  “Soothing Melody, Healing Notes!”

  The combined songs offset the mist's damaging effects, keeping us in the fight.

  The guardians were barely visible now; their forms were nothing more than large, shadowy silhouettes.

  Athos finished the warhammer guardian with a brutal combination of Blade Rush and Saltstone Edge, along with my Piercing Shot and Burning Arrow. The skeleton collapsed into the steam.

  One down, I thought.

  I focused everything on the remaining guardian, relying on the glow of its eye sockets to track its position.

  “Burning Arrow! Piercing Shot!”

  -364!

  -45!

  -338!

  I kept shooting, using basic attacks whenever my skills were on cooldown. The skeleton's health dropped steadily as Athos joined the assault, our combined damage overwhelming its defenses.

  The greatsword swept through the steam, the displaced air creating a gap in the fog that I exploited. I saw the blade coming and ducked, feeling the rush of wind as it passed inches above my head.

  When I came up, Athos was already there, his sword driving deep into the guardian's spine.

  "Now!" he shouted.

  I drew back, charged a Fan of Arrows, and released.

  -82!

  -82!

  -82!

  …

  The arrows flew true, punching through the whole body of the skeleton.

  The second guardian crumbled, its remains disappearing into the swirling white mist, granting me a nice chunk of experience. We couldn’t see whether the guardians dropped anything due to the fog, but we didn’t have time to deal with looting anyway.

  The steam was growing thicker, the temperature climbing with each passing second. My health was kept steady by Kara, but I saw her having to drink another mana potion.

  "Help Lothras!" I shouted, already pushing through the fog toward where I'd last seen the Paladin.

  He was barely visible through the haze, just a shape illuminated by flashes of holy fire. His shield arm hung limp at his side, the shield itself cracked almost in half.

  Seems like magic’s wearing it down even faster.

  His armor was also scorched and dented from the repeated magical impacts. Kara's songs and his own Oath of Vitality, along with his potions were the only things keeping him on his feet, fighting against both the lich's attacks and the constant steam damage.

  Lord Aldmar floated above the mist, its spectral form unaffected by the heat it had unleashed.

  "Impressive," the lich admitted, watching us approach through the steam. "You've destroyed my guardians. But they were merely appetizers. The main course has only just begun."

  It raised its hands again, and I saw the runes of another spell beginning to form. Whatever it was, it didn’t look good.

  "Spread out!" I called. "Don't let it hit all of us!"

  We fanned out as best we could inside the steam, surrounding the lich from multiple angles. Lothras was in the worst position, directly in front of the boss, but he refused to retreat.

  "I can hold," he insisted through gritted teeth.

  "You can barely stand," Kara countered.

  "Then keep healing me."

  Lord Aldmar's spell completed.

  "SPIRITS OF THE DROWNED, ANSWER YOUR LORD'S CALL!"

  Thankfully, it was not a huge AoE skill. This meant that we still had time.

  Dozens of ghostly figures began to materialize from the steam all around us.

  Translucent sailors and soldiers, their forms flickering like candle flames, their eyes burning with the same green fire as their master. The fog seemed to cling to them, making them even harder to see until they were almost on top of us.

  I shot an arrow through the closest one, but it flew through them harmlessly.

  The system chimed in.

  Drowned Spirits summoned! Avoid contact!

  The spirits didn't attack directly.

  Instead, they began to drift toward us in random patterns. The chamber became a maze of ghostly figures hidden in mist, enemies we couldn’t destroy and could barely see coming.

  "Don't touch them!" I shouted, catching a glimpse of green eyes through the fog just in time to dodge aside.

  Athos was already in motion, his speed allowing him to navigate the spirit-filled steam with relative ease.

  Lothras was less fortunate; his heavy armor made quick movements nearly impossible even without tanking a Dungeon Boss, and the reduced visibility meant spirits emerged from the fog with almost no warning.

  -50! -10! -50! -10!

  “They deal 50 damage by contact!” He shouted while drinking another health potion, dodging a necrotic lance coming from the lich.

  The constant ticking of steam damage, combined with spirit contact was devastating.

  I raised my bow and took aim at where I could see Lord Aldmar’s green glow through the haze.

  Piercing Shot streaked across the chamber and passed through Lord Aldmar's form. The lich flickered, its health bar barely moving.

  -186!

  “Too much physical resistance!” I called out.

  "Did you think it would be that easy?" Lord Aldmar laughed, the sound echoing through the steam. "I am beyond flesh. Beyond bone. Your arrows are nothing but annoyances."

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  Lothras pushed through the fog and spirits alike. His health was yo-yoing wildly, dropping from spirit contact, steam damage, and magical attacks, then climbing back up as Kara's healing compensated.

  "Radiant Edge!" His blade connected with the lich's form.

  -1,246!

  Lord Aldmar's laugh cut off abruptly, replaced by a hiss of pain.

  "Holy damage works better!" Kara observed from somewhere in the mist. "Lothras, keep hitting it with Smite and Purging Flame!"

  "What do you think I'm doing?" he snapped back, already preparing another attack.

  The steam was growing denser, the visibility dropping further. I could barely see my hand in front of my face now, navigating purely by the glow of skills and the burning eyes of spirits.

  -10! -10! -10!

  Kara was sweating, constantly playing a mixture of two songs, using mana potions in the brief pauses.

  “I have a song that transforms physical attacks into a random element!” She called. “But I’d have to stop healing you guys to use it! I can’t even double cast it, it’s too complicated for now!”

  “Keep healing!” Lothras shouted.

  Lord Aldmar attacked with another Soul Shackles, rooting the Paladin in place just as a cluster of drowned spirits emerged from the fog beside him. The paladin struggled against the chains, his health dropping steadily as the ghosts passed through his body and the steam continued its relentless assault.

  -50! -10! -50! -10! -50!

  +20! +20! +20!

  "It’s way too close!!" Athos shouted.

  Kara's fingers flew across her lute strings, Healing Notes washing over Lothras in waves. She was burning through her mana at an alarming rate, the blue bar in her status window dropping visibly with each chord.

  Athos and I were dealing continuous damage, but Lothras did even more; he almost completely gave up on blocking and kept spamming all of the skills he had access to; half of them I didn’t even recognize.

  The boss was dropping fast, but we were running out of time.

  "I can't keep this up forever!" Kara warned.

  Lord Aldmar raised his hands again, and I recognized the beginning of the Drown in Despair cast. Another healing debuff would be catastrophic.

  I had to interrupt it.

  "Athos!" I pointed at the lich's glow through the steam. "We need to break its casting!"

  He understood immediately. "Comet!"

  The swordsman launched himself from the fog like a missile, his blade blazing with blue fire as he arced toward the lich. Lord Aldmar saw him coming and tried to dodge, but Athos was too fast.

  -426!

  The impact knocked the lich backward, disrupting its spell. The gathering runes shattered, their energy dissipating harmlessly into the steam.

  "Yes!" Kara cheered.

  But Athos paid the price. Lord Aldmar's counterattack was immediate and vicious: a point-blank burst of necrotic energy that sent the swordsman flying backward into the scalding mist.

  -392!

  It was a one-hit kill.

  "Athos!" I pushed toward where he'd fallen, but he was already in the respawn menu.

  "Focus!" Kara gasped. "Keep fighting."

  The steam was nearly opaque now. Soon we'd be fighting completely blind, and our combat effectiveness would plummet.

  Lothras broke free of the chains and renewed his assault, Smite after Smite connecting with the lich's spectral form. Lord Aldmar's health dropped steadily, but so did the paladin's. They were locked in a war of attrition, and I wasn't sure which one would fall first.

  "Orion!" Kara's voice was strained, somewhere to my left. "I'm almost out of mana! No potions left!"

  I jumped next to her and traded all but one of my mana potions, which I then used immediately.

  We need to end this. Fast.

  "Everyone on the boss!" I shouted. "Heal us up to full, then do the song you talked about earlier!"

  “No!” Lothras shouted. “That would change my holy damage as well!”

  He was right. That would not have been ideal.

  “I’ll heal up then buff everyone’s damage,” Kara decided. “And then I’ll attack as well.”

  “Go!” I nodded.

  I activated Nature's Howl and opened fire. My arrows might not have done that much damage individually, but the lifesteal kept me alive through the constant steam damage, and every bit counted.

  Lothras used Purging Flame, holy fire erupting along his blade as he drove it into the lich's chest. Lord Aldmar screamed, the sound echoing through the fog-choked chamber like a death knell. “Radiant Edge is up in 40!”

  The heat was becoming unbearable. My health was dropping faster now, the steam intensifying as the saturation increased.

  "ENOUGH!" Lord Aldmar roared.

  The lich's form blazed with power, and a shockwave of necrotic energy exploded outward, hitting all of us simultaneously.

  -167!

  I was thrown backward, briefly lost in the swirling white void. When I found my footing, gasping in the searing air, I saw that everyone else had been knocked back as well. We used our health potions immediately.

  And Lord Aldmar was beginning a new cast.

  The runes forming around the lich were different this time. They were larger, more complex. More dangerous.

  "You cannot defeat me!" the lich shouted. "I will send you into oblivion. LET THE FLAMES OF THE DEEP CONSUME YOU ALL!"

  The pipes groaned. The steam flow intensified, the temperature spiking sharply.

  -15!

  -15!

  -15!

  We had maybe thirty seconds before the heat became lethal.

  "We need to finish this NOW!" Kara shouted, sending another pulse of heals in our way.

  Lothras pushed forward through the scalding fog, his movements sluggish but determined. "Oath of Vitality!"

  The healing aura surrounded him, compensating for the relentless environmental damage. It wouldn't last long, but it might be enough.

  "Kara, buff us!" I called. "Everything you have left!"

  She raised her lute one final time. "Battle Hymn! Sonet of Valor!"

  The combined buffs washed over us, and I felt power surge through my limbs. Attack speed. Damage. Critical chance. Everything she could give.

  We hit the lich together.

  Kara from the left, her Echo Strikes and Thunderous Accords shaking the ethereal body of the lich.

  Lothras from the right, holy fire blazing bright enough to cut through the fog.

  I fired from a distant range, shooting continuously like a machine gun.

  Lord Aldmar tried to defend, spectral shields materializing around its form, but we broke through them with sheer overwhelming force.

  The lich's casting faltered as our attacks interrupted its concentration. The runes flickered, clearly trying to stay up.

  "Don't stop!" Lothras roared. "Keep hitting it!"

  The steam was thick enough now that I could barely see my own bow. I was aiming purely by the glow of Lord Aldmar's eyes and the flashes of holy fire from Lothras's attacks.

  -15! -15! -15!

  I used Silk Shot to close the distance, then charged my strongest damaging skill.

  “Fan of Arrows!”

  -85!

  -85!

  -85!

  …

  I shouted, pouring every ounce of remaining mana into the attack. The arrows blazed with concentrated power as they embedded themselves into the lich's spectral skull.

  I let another arrow loose just before the steam finished me off.

  I fell to the floor, my HP drained, and suddenly everything started to grow dark. My first death. It’s a weird feeling.

  Before the respawn menu popped up and gave me the options to respawn either at the entrance of the boss room or the closest chapel, I saw Lord Aldmar fighting for its life.

  The lich's form began to destabilize, its edges flickering and fading. But it wasn't finished yet.

  "You... will not... defeat me..." it gasped. "I am... eternal..."

  Lothras reached it first. His sword, blazing with holy fire, drove deep into Lord Aldmar's chest.

  "Radiant Edge."

  The words were quiet, gentle, even.

  Lord Aldmar Trynd screamed one final time as divine power tore through its spectral form. The green fire in its eyes blazed bright, then began to fade.

  "No... my revenge... my legacy..."

  The lich's form shattered.

  Fragments of spectral energy scattered across the steam-filled chamber, dissolving into nothing before they could fall. The drowned spirits vanished with their master, their ghostly forms popping like soap bubbles.

  And the steam began to clear.

  The pipes reversed, sucking the vapor back into whatever hellish boiler had produced it. Within seconds, the fog thinned completely.

  Lothras's shield finally gave up the ghost, crumbling into fragments that clattered against the stone floor. He stared at the pieces for a moment, then let out a sound that might have been a laugh.

  Kara sat down heavily on the dais steps, her lute resting across her knees. Her red hair was plastered to her face, darkened with sweat. "I need a drink. Several drinks. An entire tavern's worth of drinks."

  And I hit the respawn button.