Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO ON KINDLE SEPT. 2)

Elijah used Flicker Step, instantly appearing on the demonic Chainspeaker’s back. But when he bit down, his fangs were nearly deflected by rustling chains that had somehow superimposed themselves in front of his mouth. He adjusted, and his right fang managed to nick the demon’s shoulder. It wasn’t more than a scratch, but that was enough to deliver his Predator Strike-enhanced Envenom.

An instant later, a chain looped around his middle and hoisted him into the air. The damage was done, though. And perhaps more importantly, the enemy had been so distracted by Elijah’s attack that he never even noticed the swarm of phase spiders closing in on him.

Mimicking Elijah’s attack, they pounced, one after another. By default, the arachnids were cloaked in stealth that exceeded the potency of even Dat’s Ghost Cloak, but when they attacked, their true forms were revealed. The spiders looked like glass sculptures, and they were just as delicate. They were destroyed the moment they bit the Chainspeaker, but the conjured creatures succeeded in delivering their potent venom.

By that point, Sadie had reached the demon, and the second she got into range, she swung her recovered sword in a wide arc meant to cut the creature in two. The Chainspeaker looked boneless as he bent double, avoiding the attack before thrusting out his arm in Sadie’s direction. Chains unwrapped from his forearm and sped forward, writhing like snakes as they attacked Sadie.

She fended them off, but she was forced to retreat.

Elijah used the distraction to initiate another transformation. This time, he used Shape of Thorn, then activated Thornbound Legion. Ethera raced out of his core and through the conduits of his soul while, at the same time, a powerful wave of fatigue swept through him.

One cast of Primal Swarm – or its variants – wasn’t that taxing, but two in quick succession was more than noticeable. A third time would be nearly exhausting.

But Elijah knew better than to hold back. The Chainspeaker was incredibly powerful, and Elijah had no intention of leaving anything in the tank. When he used Thornbound Legion, a thousand tiny thorns grew out of his body, then shot free in every direction. Upon hitting the ground, the sprouted tiny legs, then raced forward as Elijah mentally commanded them to attack.

As one, they surrounded, then leaped upon the Chainspeaker. Before he could sweep them away, the little creatures rammed their spikey bodies into his flesh and burrowed deep. He managed to pluck a few away, but the vast majority of the conjured mites splintered, inflicting yet another affliction upon the demon. This one wasn’t about damage, though. Instead, it was meant to inflict a host of debuffs that would lower the Chainspeaker’s attributes and severely hamper his Regeneration.

But Elijah wasn’t finished.

Neither was Sadie, who, like Elijah, used the Chainspeaker’s split focus against him. She seized upon his distraction, ramming her sword into his stomach up to its hilt. The blade burst from his back in a shower of blood, meat, and thorny splinters. Elijah knew better than to trust that the wound would slow the Chainspeaker down, and he raced forward, intent on finishing it off.

He never got there.

A storm of chains erupted from the ceiling, lashing out at both Elijah and Sadie. The sound was deafening, but at first, the chains struggled to get past his natural defenses. However, with every passing second, they picked up speed until they began to strip his scales from his body. To combat it, Elijah activated Unchecked Growth, then added Domain of Vines.

Time was ticking down. If he didn’t do something soon, the Chainspeaker’s domain would return, and they would all die. Or worse, be imprisoned next to all the other captives.

Vines burst from the floor and writhed all around Elijah’s recovering body. They formed a living cocoon, shielding him from the worst of the storm. Meanwhile, other vines encircled the Chainspeaker. His chains fought against the vines, and at first, it seemed that they were winning. They ripped through Elijah’s roots and vines like they were nothing.

But the advantage of Domain of Vines had never been in their durability. They were strong, but not that strong. Instead, the reason they were effective lay in the sheer amount of vitality they could channel. With Unchecked Growth driving them, their ability to regenerate was nearly infinite. When one was struck down, another two took its place, overwhelming and clogging the demon’s chains.

That was only the first part, though.

The second came when Elijah barreled into the Chainspeaker, tackling him to the ground. His efforts were rewarded by hundreds of chains tearing huge chunks of his flesh away, but those wounds sealed only a moment after they were inflicted. Such was the other advantage of Unchecked Growth, and Elijah used it to the extent of its advantage. He took hits he never could have otherwise endured, all in the hopes that he could tear the Chainspeaker to shreds.

In service of that goal, he ripped the creature apart.

But no matter how much he tore and shredded the creature’s body, no wave of experience came.

“Fifteen seconds!” shouted Dat from the back of the room.

Just then, a bloody hand, stripped of flesh, rammed into Elijah’s stomach hard enough to lift him from the ground. He landed a couple of feet away, but even that short distance was enough to allow the Chainspeaker to slither away.

Sadie was there waiting for just such a thing to happen, but when her sword descended, the demon snaked out of the way. The blow that should have cleaved him two only served to sever an arm.

“Five seconds!”

Elijah knew they’d failed.

He yelled, “Free the prisoners! Get them out!”

Then, as Unchecked Growth ran its course, he began another transformation. This time, he resumed his human form. By the time he cast Blessing of the Grove, Soothe, and Nature’s Bloom, Dat’s domain-canceling ability petered out.

Immediately, Elijah felt his attributes fall.

To counter that precipitous drop, he embraced Shape of the Master. For the third time in only a minute, he cast a variant of Primal Swarm. This time, it manifested as a swarm of fire beetles. There hundreds of the fist-sized creatures, and each one glowed with fiery light. Their wings glittered like onyx as the first wave descended upon the Chainspeaker.

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By that point, he had become a truly miserable sight. Most of his leather wraps had been ripped away, and huge chunks of his pale flesh had gone with it. That, along with his missing arm, was the only reason Elijah held out any hope at all.

The first few fire beetles hit the demon like grenades, filling the dungeon with the deafening sounds of explosions. They weren’t terribly potent, but Elijah hadn’t expected them to me. He recalled the spell’s description: