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

A volley of thrown javelins hit the ceiling, carving a line of destruction in Elijah’s wake. Rocks and tiles erupted into dust upon impact, but he barely managed to outpace them. Finally, he reached his destination and leaped, fangs bared. He never reached his goal, because an enormous ka’alaki hulk swatted him out of the air. His bones creaked under the blow, but nothing broke. Using every point of Dexterity at his disposal, he twisted so that he hit the other wall feet-first. His reptilian body absorbed the impact, and he sprang away only a second before another volley of javelins would have hit him.

At the same time, a half-dozen soldiers planted themselves in front of their leader, barring Elijah’s way. The way he saw it, he had two choices. He could shift into his Shape of Thorn and simply power his way through the line – and probably gain quite a few wounds on the way – or he could use the speed of his blight dragon form to slip between them. The latter plan was complicated by the fact that only a second later, the soldiers slammed their shields into the ground and created another ethereal barrier not unlike the one he’d encountered when they’d first rushed into the chamber.

He'd broken that with Bestial Charge, but he didn’t think he could repeat that feat. For one, they would be ready for it, meaning that there were dozens of other soldiers ready to respond to such a tactic. And for another, he sensed that the new shield was empowered, probably by the Tactician leader in the back lines.

Just as Elijah was considering his options, another presented itself when he felt that Flicker Step had come off cooldown. He skittered forward until the leader was in range, then used it. As he teleported through the air, he was beset by significant turbulence that felt like it was trying to rip his body in two. Normally, the skill was instant, but this time, it took an agonizing couple of seconds before he popped out on the other side of the shield.

He flopped to the ground, bloody and grossly wounded.

Fortunately, the soldiers didn’t respond to the tactic as quickly as they probably should have. Elijah was no expert in ta’alaki facial expressions, but he thought he saw surprise decorating the few faces he could make out. Clearly, they hadn’t expected him to bypass their shield, and because of that, it took them a few seconds to react.

Elijah recovered from his own shock far more quickly, and he immediately initiated a shift to his human form. Just as it completed, the ta’alaki fighters finally reacted and rushed him. The closest rammed a spear into his side, but Elijah ignored it, already focusing on casting Soothe. The heal-over-time spell hit him a moment later, and he jerked free of the spearhead. After slapping another away, he used Healing Rain. As the expected precipitation fell, he lashed out with his staff, clapping one of the soldiers across the neck. With his Strength, the attack carried quite a bit of weight, as evidenced by the sound of cracking bone that came a second later.

He wheeled around, dipping low and sweeping the tail-like lower half out from under another ta’alaki, then conjured a Swarm of tiny gnats that immediately descended upon the enemy. Elijah leaped high into the air, using Storm’s Fury a second before bringing his staff down on yet another fighter.

The spell flashed out, stunning the creature. Finally, Elijah embraced Lightning Domain, and whips of lightning spun around him. He never stopped moving, battering the ta’alaki with his staff as he let his body heal.

Then, it all came to an end when the hulk arrived, ramming into him with a dipped shoulder that sent him flying across the corridor. He hit the wall with enough force that it would have turned a normal human to jelly. For his part, he only experienced a couple of fractures that were healed a second later.

But he knew he couldn’t stand up to that hulk in his human form. In truth, he couldn’t even kill off the normal soldiers. Not unexpected, given that his class was built around his bestial forms, but still a sobering thought. This was not a fight he could easily win.

It was good thing he had plenty of other tools at his disposal. With that in mind, he rolled away from a stabbing spear, then used Shape of Thorn. Even as he threw himself upright, the transformation completed, and he let loose with one of his oft-ignored abilities: