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

Sadie rammed a shoulder into a particularly large wraith, sending it stumbling backward across the ground before it hit a clump of its fellows. In the same motion, she spun, bringing her blade in a sweeping, horizontal strike that sheered through four other wraiths. That left her open to attack from another set of monsters, but even as they collapsed onto her, she ignored their efforts.

They clawed and bit at Bulwark of the Faithful, and even with the sheer volume of their onslaught, they were entirely incapable of penetrating her personal shield. Vaguely, she could feel Consecrated Shield on her companions, which gave her an idea of their positioning. It was a good thing, too, because surrounded as she was, there was no chance she could visually keep track of their locations.

An explosion of fire erupted from somewhere to the rear, telling her that Kurik had utilized another one of his traps. This one was far more destructive than the slowing traps he’d used to control the flow of wraiths, telling her that the dwarven Sapper had been forced to get serious.

Her every instinct told her to retreat to the secondary location they had prepared, but it was far too early for that. Instead, she chose to trust her group to do their respective jobs, at least until they showed themselves incapable of doing so. So far, they had done just that. Even through multiple challenges that should have killed everyone in the party, they’d kept their heads and overcome all obstacles. If anyone had earned her trust, it was them.

Still, in the back of her mind, she felt a need to protect them. After all, that drive to defend others was one of the reasons she’d chosen her initial archetype. And after that, her Crusader class. So, she desperately wanted to personally ensure their safety, rather than allow them to take responsibility for their own well-being.

Another explosion sent a shockwave across their chosen battlefield, and Sadie used that brief distraction to dislodge her attackers, throwing the comparatively light wraiths aside like they weighed nothing at all. That was her Strength at play, though after seeing Lamar, she wondered how strong she really was. The man had invested almost exclusively in Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity, and the automatic allocation that came with his class furthered that path. He’d also managed to achieve the Stone Body stage – apparently, access to powerful alchemists was one of the advantages of being in the Trial – which augmented that path of progression. He’d neglected his Mind, Soul, and Core, but when he was a physical juggernaut who relied almost entirely on his body and stamina-based skills, those facets of cultivation seemed a little less necessary.

By comparison, Sadie’s class allocated points into Ethera and Regeneration – a necessary accommodation for her reliance on spells. The result was that she could do more than him, and she was far less reliant on a team, but in his chosen role, Lamar was an absolute beast.

Unfortunately, he and his team had chosen to head back to Nexus Town to mentally recover from their ordeal before engaging the challenge of Ignis. Sadie expected that they wouldn’t seek out any more first-clears for the duration of the Trial. However, the experience would hopefully give them the power they needed to succeed when they went back to Earth. That was the point, after all. Accumulation of power without purpose wasn’t the goal. Instead, they progressed because that was what the situation required.

For her part, that meant growing strong enough to beat back the undead threat and conquer the Primal Realm. Until she did that, she couldn’t rest. She couldn’t consider a real future until she took care of her people. After that, she would worry about everything else.

But at the moment, she had to focus on the fight. Labeling the process grinding implied that it was easy, and in a lot of ways, it was. They’d long since achieved the power and skill levels necessary to deal with a horde of wraiths. After fighting them so often, her group was well-equipped to do just that. However, the four-armed creatures were savage fighters who would seize upon any opening. So, if Sadie or her companions made a mistake, the horde was more than capable of ripping them limb from limb.

Or worse, draining their ethera until they were nothing but husks.

So, Sadie narrowed her focus, pushing all superfluous thoughts out of mind as she destroyed one wraith after another. At the same time, she continuously cycled Bulwark of the Faithful, keeping it fresh so it wouldn’t burst and go into cooldown. It was ethera-intensive, but she had enough energy in her core to do that much. She also kept Consecrated Shield on her companions – paying special attention to Ron – so that they could endure the attacks of any wraiths that made it past her position.

Because they’d chosen and prepared their ground appropriately, funneling the wraiths through a small gap between two earthen berms, very few got through. And those were met with furious assaults from both Kurik and Dat. Between those few instances, the two damage-dealers aimed their attacks at the horde of wraiths confronting Sadie. She kept them bottled up, and the others cleared them out.

It was a good strategy.

And yet, the weight of their endless numbers was irresistible. After hours of steady fighting, Sadie called for a retreat. To ease that burden, Dat and Kurik stepped up. The dwarf tossed out a few clumps of power crystals – grumbling at the cost the whole time – while Dat took aim with his crossbow. When the crystals hit, they erupted into a whirlwind of frigid ice, freezing the front few lines of wraiths into place. Meanwhile, Dat unleashed a barrage of blue arrows that exploded upon impact, adding a green cloud of mist to the atmosphere.

The wraiths stopped moving.

They slumped their shoulders, looking around as if they’d forgotten what they were doing or why. Dat said his new ability was called Curse of Delirium.

“Now!” Sadie called.

Everyone knew the plan of retreat, so they didn’t need her orders. For her part, she backed away, keeping her white-glowing sword at the ready. Some of the wraiths blinked, clearly regaining their wits – such as they were. Sadie knew they wouldn’t have time to reach the secondary defensive position. The wraiths would recover more quickly than Dat had hoped – probably because they had better attributes than he had expected.

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But they had a plan for that, too.

So, even as her companions sprinted back to the fallback position, Sadie continued her methodical retreat. The wraiths recovered a little with every passing moment until, after seven seconds, the strongest among them pushed the confusion aside in favor of their characteristic savagery. They screeched, waking others from their delirium, and just like that, they surged.

Sadie used her minor Miracle, Bell of Faith: