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

Elijah stood on the cliff overlooking the ocean, watching as the massive waves warred with one another for prominence. It was like looking at a mountain range in motion. From above descended gargantuan tentacles, splashing into the water, only to reemerge moments later and clutching deceptively small prey.

From experience, Elijah knew that the creatures snared by those tentacles were as large as blue whales, and demi-gods to boot. The tentacles belonged to truly awe-inspiring monsters who lived just outside the limits of the planet’s upper atmosphere. It was fortunate that Gorveth simply couldn’t support them. Otherwise, Elijah and everyone else who lived on its surface would have long since died.

The same was true about the monsters living in the deepest parts of the ocean. Elijah had encountered those, and though he’d grown much more powerful since those meetings, he knew good and well that he had a long way to go before he could fight them on even footing.

It was a good thing, then, that he had no intention of doing so. Fighting them, perhaps, but not on even ground.

Without further ado, he leaped from the cliff, sprang off of Cloud Step, and shifted into the Shape of the Sky. A flap of his wings sent him further along, and once he’d reoriented himself in the appropriate direction, he used Lightning Rush.

He tore across the sky as a bolt of electricity, slamming through the towering waves without hesitation or impediment. The ability lasted a little more than three seconds, and in that time, he covered nearly a thousand miles. It was a good reminder of just how far he’d come, given that when he’d first set out across Gorveth, Lightning Rush was only capable of carrying him half that distance.

At best.

Soon enough, the ability ended, and he dove toward the nearest wave. As he did so, he used Shape of the Sea, transforming into a massive sea turtle before plummeting into the water.

Once, the liquid itself had been like acid against his scales. Now, with the benefit of his increased attributes that had come from his recently obtained levels and the enhanced durability of becoming a demi-god, it felt no more serious than a sunburn.

He dove.

And immediately, he found himself under attack by monsters. It wasn’t his first foray into the depths. In fact, he’d lost count of how much time he’d spent in the ocean over the past couple of years. But the local monsters had been whipped into a frenzy, probably because they could sense what was coming.

Elijah shifted his mindset, letting himself embrace the beast as he tore through the monsters. They kept coming, but such was their nature. Elijah carved a path through them, scarcely noticing what form they took. For a while, his world became a mass of tentacles, teeth, misshapen eyes, and the darkness of the depths.

Experience flowed in as he continuously dove deep. And then, after leaving the monsters behind, he reached the seafloor. Only a few hours of searching netted the discovery of a familiar landmark, which in turn led him to his final destination.

The trilithon was massive. At least five hundred feet tall and just as wide. The surface of the stone had already been engraved with artful but simple depictions of sea life, and not the monstrous kind. To his senses, it shimmered with barely contained ethera.

The latest ring was exactly two thousand miles from the previous outer circle, and he’d been steadily working on it for the better part of two years. At last, he was on the verge of completion.

But then, he’d need to start the next ring. And the next after that.

He’d never gotten an accurate estimate on the planet’s exact size, but even if he managed to keep going for a decade or more, he’d only cover a fraction of the planet. And that wasn’t even considering how long it would take Treebie’s roots to spread across all of Gorveth.

No – the undertaking was not meant for the faint of heart or the impatient. Even using his most generous estimates, it would be a century or more before the world was entirely encompassed by Treebie’s roots. And only then could the true cleansing begin. There was no telling how long that would take.

Once, such a timeframe would have sent Elijah plummeting into an existential crisis. But the same could have been said if he’d contemplated a decade-long endeavor. And that decade had already come and gone.

There was a certain aspect of peace in the process. A surety that he was making progress that served to comfort him. It also distracted him from the very real questions he had about Earth’s fate. There was a chance that, when he finally did return, he’d need to repeat the process with his home planet.

Until then, he could only take one day at a time.

To that end, he extended his Mantle of Authority through his beak-like nose and carved the final rune on the trilithon’s lintel. Upon completion, the entire ring pulsed with power and sent a wave of cleansing energy through the corrupted sea.

The local monsters responded the only way they knew how – by attacking.

Most of them went straight for the trilithons, but plenty targeted Elijah himself. He welcomed them with equal aggression. Killing them had become a matter of course even before he’d completed the circle, but now that it was done, they were grossly weakened, and to the point that he could dispatch them with ease.

As a giant sea turtle, he ripped through the monsters, carving a path of black blood and carnage across the sea. For a while, he lost track of time as he circled the ring. It was thousands of miles wide, and he was fighting the entire time. So, the trip took months more.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t necessary.

The monsters couldn’t destroy his trilithons, as demonstrated numerous times on land. Yet, Elijah found it difficult to stomach their ineffectual attacks. However, after months of fighting, he wanted nothing more than to retreat to dry land and take a much needed break.

With that, he leaped free of the waves and transformed into the Shape of the Sky. Once he’d established the right direction, he used Lightning Rush, which took him most of the way to land. After that, it only took another hour to reach the cliffs.

He landed on wobbly legs, then, after resuming his human form for the first time in months, sank to his knees. He remained like that for a while, just reacclimating to his lack of fins. Finally, he rocked back on his heels and raked his fingers through his hair.

Despite the fact that he’d spent so much time fighting monsters, there really wasn’t much excitement about his latest excursion. Or really, his life in general. After killing the Synod, there wasn’t much on Gorveth that could truly threaten him. Certainly, if he let his guard down, that would change. But so long as he maintained focus, he wasn’t in much danger.

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Instead, he’d fallen into a rhythm of constant labor, which was comfortably boring. Almost zen-like.

But he would have been lying to himself if he said that he didn’t miss the life-and-death battles that had characterized so much of his life post-World Tree.

The only thing that really excited him about it was the tidal wave of experience he’d received, which had pushed him all the way to level two-sixty-eight. Just looking at his status came with a sense of immense satisfaction.