Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO STUBBING AUGUST 15)

“You can handle it, right?” asked Elijah, glancing back at Ron. “I can’t understate how damaging it can be.”

“I’m fine,” Ron said.

“I ain’t,” Kurik muttered. “How ‘bout I just sit this one out? I can –”

“Don’t be scared, bro. It’s just a little death and decay. We’ll protect you.”

“I ain’t scared. I just don’t like it. That’s a valid feeling, by the way. Most people avoid death traps,” Kurik pointed out. “But you idiots just rush in there like you’re all invincible.”

“I don’t see you turning back,” Elijah said.

“Because you won’t let me!”

Elijah sighed, but before he could form a response, Sadie called the dwarf’s bluff. “If you feel that strongly about it, no one will force you to follow,” she argued. “You can go back to the camp and wait for us to finish this thing up.”

“That ain’t what I was tryin’ to say,” Kurik grumbled. “I’m just pointin’ out that this ain’t smart.” Then, almost under his breath, he added, “If I don’t go, you’ll all probably get yourselves killed.”

While that might have been true, Elijah suspected that Kurik just liked to complain. He’d done so about the cold, the biting insects that made their home within the jungle, and nearly everything else in the Trial. In fact, the only thing that hadn’t been the subject of his complaints was the influx of levels he’d gained. Still, despite all his grumbling, he wouldn’t let them go on without him.

“That goes for everyone,” Sadie said, standing over the recently opened passage. It had taken the combined efforts of Sadie, Elijah, and Dat to lever the giant slab of stone out of the way, and when they’d finally shifted it aside, they’d been inundated by powerfully death-attuned ethera. Elijah and Sadie had resisted it, but Dat, having much lower Constitution, had needed Ron’s intervention.

And Elijah knew it would just get worse the deeper they went.

If he was honest, he wanted to go by himself. After the tomb, he was confident that he could endure, but that confidence didn’t extend to his companions. Sadie would likely be fine, but Dat, Ron, and Kurik were all much more vulnerable. However, when he’d brought that up, they’d all rejected his proposition and insisted upon going into the tunnels.

He considered handing off the ruby ring he’d taken from the crypt, but that came with some problems none of them were equipped to confront. First, he had no assurance that it would help with the problem at hand. For all he knew, it would only give them a few extra attribute points. Useful, but not the game-changer they might need. But more importantly, Elijah was well aware of the existence of cursed items. The sword Carmen had forged for Roman had been one such item, and it had slowly driven the tyrant to insanity. Since then, he’d dropped that weapon into the ocean, but the lesson remained. Using an unidentified item was a good way to fall prey to just such a curse.

Or something much worse.

So, the ring, despite the possibility that it might be useful for their current situation, remained in his Ghoul-Hide Satchel. It would stay there until he had an opportunity to return to the Nexus Town and have it identified by Atticus.

“Well, if we’re going to go, we need to do it now,” Ron said. “I have a lot of ethera, and I’m pretty sure my Regeneration can keep up now that I’ve advanced to the second stage of Mind cultivation. But not if we waste time hanging out here.”

“Let’s get this over with then,” Kurik grumbled. Then, he looked at Sadie, adding, “But I ain’t leadin’ the way.”

She rolled her eyes, then descended the worn steps leading into the crypt. In her hand was the map Elijah had drawn from memory, and she held an ethera-powered flashlight between her teeth. Dat came second, followed by Ron, with Elijah taking up the rear. The chances they might be attacked from behind were low, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The formation had saved them on multiple occasions while trekking through dangerous areas, and Elijah didn’t expect that to change.

The steps descended for almost fifty feet before leveling off and ending in a tunnel measuring about ten feet across. To Elijah, it felt extremely claustrophobic, but he kept that discomfort to himself. Instead, he focused on the increasingly dense death-attuned ethera. It wasn’t powerful enough to do any damage – not yet, at least – but it did tighten his stomach into knots.

And then there was that same cold that felt so pervasive within the bounds of the Spires of the Fallen.

“Incoming!” hissed Sadie. Only then did Elijah hear the muffled sound of footsteps. Then, he narrowed his eyes and looked past Sadie, but all he saw was darkness – until a zombie appeared out of the shadows. It moved like lightning – far more quickly than the ones aboveground had – and it was on Sadie in an instant. Fortunately, she was ready for it, and her sword had no issues bisecting the monster.

Then, another appeared. And another after that. In seconds, the entire hall was blocked by densely packed undead – all reaching and clawing at Sadie. She’d clearly used Call of the Crusader, keeping their attention locked onto her. Meanwhile, Dat had opened up with his crossbow, sending glowing bolts down the hall to slam into the monsters’ heads. Every shot hit with enough force to burst their skulls like overripe melons.

Being in the rear, Elijah had no choice but to use his spells. So, he tossed out one Storm’s Fury after another, adding Healing Rain into the mix so he could ease the burden on Ron’s store of ethera. He’d also held out some hope that the zombies would react poorly to the influx of vital energy, but to his disappointment, they seemed entirely unaffected by Healing Rain.

What was effective was Nature’s Rebuke.