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

Elijah staggered through the gate, then collapsed in exhaustion, slumping against the wall. The gate slammed shut behind him just in time to stop the monsters from invading the city. It had happened before, and Elijah had seen only a few creatures kill dozens before the soldiers were able to respond. For his part, he didn’t think he could have moved even if one of them tried to eat his face.

He’d barely even made it back inside.

“How long was it this time?” he asked, glancing up to see a very worried Eres standing nearby. The Vey’thaalians weren’t the easiest people to read, but over the last few weeks, Elijah had managed to get a handle on interpreting their emotions. Mostly.

“Seven hours, thirteen minutes.”

“New record,” Elijah breathed. He weakly raised his hand. “Yay.”

He extended his hand, asking Eres to help him to his feet. The Vey’thaalian complied, and soon enough, Elijah was once again upright. Barely. His legs were wobbly, and he struggled to keep his shoulders from slumping. Not surprising, considering how hard he’d been pushing himself.

He certainly didn’t know how many monsters he had killed. He couldn’t even estimate it. All he knew was that he’d finally reached his goal and achieved level one-sixty. It was an incredible accomplishment. Anywhere else, and it would have taken months to gain that many levels, if it was even possible. But if nothing else, the endless hordes of monsters were good for progression.

The only problem was that if he let himself make more than a couple of mistakes, he’d have died. Over the previous few weeks, he’d come incredibly close on more than one occasion, and yet, he’d managed to push through.

“It’s all dried up,” he said as Eres escorted him to one of the barracks embedded into the wall. The Vey’thaalian soldiers couldn’t afford to live too far away. Otherwise, an emergency might end up overwhelming the people on duty and invading the city before they had a chance to respond.

“That is a shame,” Eres said.

The Vey’thaalian didn’t agree with Elijah’s insistence on using the monsters to grind levels. It was an unnecessary waste, as far as he was concerned. After seeing Elijah in action, he’d obviously allowed himself to hope – even just a little. Yet, he was also well aware of just how easily things could change. One wrong move, and that hope could be destroyed. Instead, he wanted Elijah to embark on his quest as soon as possible.

Of course, Eres couldn’t force him to do anything. Even if he was capable, he never would have gone down that road. The Vey’thaalians revered Elijah, so one of their head priests certainly couldn’t justify using force against him.

But it had obviously crossed Eres’ mind, at least early on. For the past week, he’d resigned himself to supporting what he considered a pointlessly dangerous endeavor.

After taking half an hour to bathe, Elijah found himself sinking into cold, red sheets. The Vey’thaalian culture differed from humanity’s in a lot of ways, but both societies seemed to appreciate a comfortable bed. Maybe that was universal. In any case, Elijah was thankful for that similarity, and he allowed himself to drift off to sleep. For the past few weeks, he’d taken to snatching a bit of rest here and there when he returned to the city, but he’d been so driven that he never allowed himself to sleep for long.

This time, though, was different. This time, he didn’t wake up for almost sixteen hours. Thankfully, because of his Constitution, his muscles were only a little stiff as he rose from the bed and enjoyed a couple of Grove Fruits. There was a time when he could sate his hunger for a week with only a single berry, but now, the larger fruits couldn’t even satisfy him for more than a day.

Still, at least they were tasty.

After eating, he sat on his bed and turned his attention to the reason he’d been working so hard. He had two notifications awaiting his attention. The first was: