Belorgz
Undead Abomination
Level 108
Health 35,400/38,000
Alexander felt a sting on his face. He turned to find an angry Sasha looking up at him. She’d slapped him as hard as she could.
“Hey! Wake up, dumbass! Get your mind right! Jules will be fine! You’re going to get the rest of us killed if you don’t get your shit together!” She kicked him in the shin for emphasis.
Alexander looked around, blinking tears from his eyes. He saw Brick moving back from the burning pile of bugs toward Jules. He watched his friend bend over her body, laying a hand on her chest. There was a flash of holy light, and Jules began to cough. Instantly Benny, Lyra, and Sasha threw heals at her, bringing her health up to about 80%, where it stayed steady. Her death had cancelled the DoT’s from the poison acid. Kai helped the rogue to her feet.
Sasha turned back to Alexander. “See? She’s fine, Romeo. We’ve got two paladins here. Did you forget they get one res per day?” She kicked him again.
“I’m sorry, Sasha. I lost my head. I’m good, now,” Alexander said quietly. “Let’s kill this thing and get out of here.”
Sasha looked at him for a few moments, as if trying to decide whether to believe him. Then she smacked the back of his head for emphasis, and turned to the group.
“Looks like the trash mobs are dead. Fitz, how long will that wind last?” she asked.
“Another minute, no more.” he responded. “I can cast it again if needed, but it takes ten seconds. It is difficult to create wind underground.”
Sasha nodded, thinking. “Everybody with fire magic, burn the mushrooms between here and the boss. Now, while Fitz’s wind is behind us!”
Alexander, Fitz, and Kai all began to cast fire on mushroom after mushroom. Wizard fire and dragon fire quickly shriveled the fungi in a wide swathe, creating a thick green smoke that was pushed toward the boss by the remainder of Fitz’s wind spell. The monster screamed in agony, inhaling more and more of the poison acid smoke with each breath. Its health began to drop steadily.
Belorgz
Undead Abomination
Level 108
Health 27,100/38,000
The abomination was already below 75% health, and had not activated any ability that Alexander had seen. He spoke his thoughts out loud, “Maybe it’s not really a boss? It’s a named mob, but maybe where it comes from, it’s only a mini-boss?”
“Everybody focus fire on the big ugly dude!” Sasha yelled. “Brick, you and the melee stay back and be prepared to block or dodge any thrown weapons or spells.” She cast Trap Soul on the beast as she moved.
The group moved forward to the edge of the now burned out mushroom field. They were within twenty yards of the stream, and thirty yards of the undead abomination.
Brick cast a holy smite on the monster, as did Benny. Fibble pulled out his stick and proceeded to bombard it with holy magic, shouting ‘Pew! Pew!’ with each shot. Fitz blasted it with wizard fire the same time that Alexander renewed his own. Sasha threw a thorn trap around it to increase the intensity of the fire. Lainey and Max poured arrows into it, while Misty hit it with bolts of ice, and Beatrix surrounded both of its heads in a ball of water from the stream.
Lugs, not wanting to be left out, pulled one of his spears from his bag. He backed up a few steps, then ran forward, hurling the spear with all the momentum and strength he could muster. The spear raced across the stream and into the monster’s neck, nearly severing the smaller of the two heads. The beast’s health was dropping steadily from the group’s barrage.
Belorgz
Undead Abomination
Level 108
Health 20,900/38,000
“Coming up on 50%!” Sasha shouted. “Everybody back off, let the DoT’s bring him down. Alexander, Fitz, Kai, give us some cover!”
The three immediately began raising thick stone walls in an arc in front of the group as the fire, and ice damage ate away at the mob’s health. In less than a minute the group members were all hiding behind three walls, five feet high and three feet thick. Brick and Lugs were each holding their shields over the heads of those close to them, in case something made it over the walls. Alexander was preparing to cast a magic shield. Fitz already had.
Unfortunately for the group, the burning away of the mushrooms had revealed a low stone footbridge over the stream not far from the undead demon. Seeing a way across the hated water, it stomped its way across the bridge reaching the other side just as its health ticked down to 50%.
The monster threw back its head as it stomped toward the walls behind which the party was turtling. With a liquid roar, it belched forth a stream of thick black ichor - like spray from a fire hydrant. When it came into contact with the flames from the wizard and dragon fire that were still burning away at the monster, the ichor ignited, becoming a fountain of burning slime. What was essentially a stream of napalm struck the walls and splashed over the tops. Most was deflected by the shields, both physical and magical. But here and there, drops of the burning bile managed to get through to land on party members.
Helga screamed as a glop of fire landed on her shoulder, burning through her leather shirt and into her skin. Warren took a few drops to the face, which spread to his hands as he tried to wipe it off. Dayle tackled him and held his hands down while Benny tried to heal him.
Misty got the worst dose. She’d been crouched with her back to one of the walls, and a sheet of the flaming slime that had struck the top of the wall ran down the back side onto her head and back. Being a caster wearing cloth armor and having a low stamina stat, she was dead in seconds. She barely had time to scream.
The spray lasted about ten seconds. As soon as it was over, and no more splashes were impacting their shields, Brick and Lugs dashed out from behind their wall. Brick activated Shield Rush, racing toward the now much closer monster. He slammed into the thing’s knee as it was raising its axe to strike at him. There was a crunch as bone or cartilage inside the joint was crushed. But the monster did not seem to notice. It slammed the bone-handled axe down toward Brick’s undefended head. Lugs saved the dwarf, managing to place his own shield over Brick’s head to meet the blow. But the sheer force of it pushed the shield down onto Brick’s head, knocking him back onto his butt.
Lugs paid the price for his act of heroism. Down on one knee from the force of the axe blow, his shield above his head, his side was exposed. The flail in the abomination’s left hand came whistling across. The segmented section wrapped once around the half-ogre’s midsection, before the fangs of the serpent skull dug into his side. His armor kept the fangs from penetrating fully, but the tips got through far enough to inject him with poison. As Lugs screamed in pain, Sasha and Benny both hit him with heals. Lyra used a cleanse spell that, thankfully, worked against the demon’s poison.
But the abomination wasn’t through with the big tank. With a mighty heave, it yanked back on the handle of the flail, lifting the heavy half-ogre and flinging him into one of the still flaming piles of beetles.
Lugs had the presence of mind to use the momentum from his flight to roll out the back side of the flames. His armor protected most of him, but his face was badly burned and still on fire. Fitz immediately cast a spell that extinguished the fire, and cast a heal on the tank.
Brick, in the meantime, had managed to bring his shield up to cover himself as he tried to get back on his feet. Blow after blow from the axe hammered at the dwarf. Dayle rushed over, interlocking his shield with the dwarf’s, while using his other hand to help Brick stand. Though he managed to get the dwarf standing, a heavy blow from the axe split Dayle’s shield and cut deeply into his arm, knocking him down.
Kai, having seen the damage his party was taking, decided it was appropriate for him to get into the fight. Drawing a massive two-handed sword, the dragon rushed at the monster, passing it on its left side and swinging as he went. The abomination’s flail dropped to the ground, still held by its severed left hand and forear
m.
Lugs, back on his feet, lumbered over to the monster, which was ignoring the loss of its hand and still pounding on Brick with the massive axe. Lugs grabbed the end of the spear that was still embedded in the thing’s neck, and levered it around, using his ogre strength to force the abomination to turn away from Brick.
The pressure off him for a moment, the battered dwarf grabbed hold of Dayle and pulled the warrior back out of reach. Heals saturated both of them as they moved.
The boss monster that wasn’t a boss monster turned its attention to Lugs, who was still pulling at the spear to force it to turn its back on the others. Only Lugs and Kai were in the thing’s line of site now. Once again, Lugs paid the price. The axe came whistling across the front of the monster’s body, impacting Lugs’ shield and knocking him back several feet onto his back. Kai made the monster pay for the blow, dashing in to slash at its leg, nearly severing its knee before retreating back out of range. Again, the thing shrugged off the damage, hobbling after the dragon as he backed up toward the stream. Lugs wasn’t moving.
Alexander had had enough. I’ve got to think of way to end this! Too many of us are getting hurt and this thing’s only down to 40%!
Reaching into his bag, Alexander withdrew the obsidian he had left in his bag. It was a chunk roughly the size of a grapefruit.
Focusing his mana, he began to enchant the stone. Just as he did with the stone he’d created outside of Millicent’s, he pictured a volcano. Lava pouring out of its side. He poured mana into the stone until he was nearly empty. Then the grabbed a soul gem and began to drain it into the stone, this time pushing light magic instead of fire. He pictured the bright glow of the altar at Whitehall when it was consecrated by two gods at once. When he felt the stone begin to resist, he stopped. He used the remainder of the power in the gem to recharge his own mana as he yelled, “Kai! Get Lugs! Teleport back here!”
Without hesitation, Kai dashed backward then to the side, scooping up the still unmoving half-ogre like he weighed no more than a child. Then both dragon and ogre blinked out of existence. As the confused monster looked around, Alexander yelled, “EVERYBODY BACK BEHIND THE WALLS! NOW!”
Activating his levitation spell, he focused on the stone he was holding. He waited for the abomination to turn back in his direction, then pushed 1,000 mana into the levitation spell, sending the stone shooting like a bullet toward the monster. It embedded itself into the thing’s gut, knocking it back a step.
As the abomination recovered, Alexander stepped behind the nearest wall, crouching so that only his head remained above. As the monster took its first step toward him, axe raised, Alexander closed his eyes. He cast Trap Soul on the monster, then focused all his remaining mana at once into the stone in the beast’s belly. Fitz had warned Alexander as they sat in front of Millicent’s bakery that overloading an item would likely cause an explosion.
Fitz was correct.
The overloaded stone erupted in a burst of fire and light that nearly blinded Alexander as he dropped to the floor behind the wall. The others cried out in surprise, some covering their eyes. There was a loud
The entire cavern shook from the blast. Chunks of rock and dust fell from the ceiling, along with smoldering pieces of the abomination.
Level up! You are now level 46!...
Level up! You are now level 47! …
Level up! You are now level 50!
Your wisdom has increased by +1. Your intelligence has increased by +1
You have 19 free attribute points available
Skill level up! Enchanting +1
“What the hell did you do?” Dayle whispered from the ground next to Alexander.
Alexander slumped against the wall, exhausted from not one, but two massive mana drains in less than a minute. “I uh... leveled my enchanting skill. Figured I wasn’t busy doing anything else…” he closed his eyes and held his head as Dayle just stared at him, mouth open.
Sasha and the healers went to work on everyone who was injured. Lainey began gathering beetle corpses for Sasha, while Max and Beatrix looted everything. Fitz came over and laid a hand on Alexander’s head. After a moment, he felt well enough to open his eyes. The wizard looked down at him and waggled his eyebrows.
“That was quite a show, boy. I haven’t seen an explosion like that since an apprentice blew himself and half a wing of the Mages Guild to tiny bits!”
“I’m glad you were amused, Fitz,” Alexander mumbled. He took a flask of Sasha’s tea from his bag and sipped at it. Looking past Fitz, he watched as Benny resurrected Misty. The mage looked dazed.
Jules came to sit next to him. She scooted close, lifting his arm so she could place her head on his chest. “So. You went all psycho badass when I died?” She grinned up at him.
“I might have been slightly annoyed. Like when you wait in line all morning at the DMV, and they shut down for lunch when you’re next.” He played along.
She snorted, smacking his stomach. Then rubbed it a bit. “I’m okay, you know. As real as it feels, this is just a game. I came back no problem.”
Deciding this was a conversation best had in a more private setting, he kissed the top of her head and said, “I can see you’re okay. Let’s talk about the rest tonight?”
She nodded her head against his chest, not saying anything. They just sat there a while, listening to the sounds of looting and healing. Fibble was apparently ‘helping’ Sasha heal the injured. Alexander couldn’t see the little goblin, but he heard the telltale ‘Pew! Pew!’ and chuckled. Jules looked up at him. “What?”
“Nothing, just Fibble being Fibble.” He smiled at her.
Max’s voice rang out from somewhere behind them. “HELL yeah! Boss loot! Took forever to find a big enough piece of him to loot. Alexander, buddy, you reeeallyy gotta stop exploding the bosses.”
Alexander could hear the grin on his friend’s face. His only reply was to raise his hand above his head far enough to be seen over the wall, and make a gesture that spoke volumes. Max and several others chuckled. Jules rolled her eyes at him. From somewhere further away, he heard Lainey say, “Idiot”.
“Fitz, can you do something about shutting down the portal? I think my head might explode if I try it.” Alexander called out to the wizard.
“I’ll take care of it,” Brick said, rising from where he’d been resting against another wall. He strode toward the portal stones, saying “Can’t be havin’ more o’ them beasties comin’ thru!” Just as he finished the sentence, the portal activated. Brick froze mid-step. “That weren’t me! Tell me it were one of ye, playin’ a prank!?”
Alexander looked at Fitz, who was getting to his feet, shaking his head no. “Well, shit,” he said.
***End Book Two***
Acknowledgements
Once again, I can’t thank my family enough. My parents and sister who served as alpha readers and motivators. My brother Jason the printing expert who consulted on paper quality and ink. And my friends and guildies who gave me ideas and feedback to help me improve the final product.
Special thanks to Chris Johns, USMC, who had the winning suggestion for both the form and name of the cute little moat monster. And who has been a voice of support through my writing process. Also, a shout out to that Jeff guy, who couldn’t resist trying to put friggin sharks in my moat. As promised, the first noob to die at the monster’s hands is named for you. Thank you to Paul Martin at Dominion Editorials http://dominioneditorial.com/ for your editing and feedback. And a big thank you Robin at mycustombookcover.com for the amazing cover art and formatting.
Please check out my Greystone Guild page for information on upcoming books https://www.facebook.com/greystone.guild.7
You can also get great information and reviews from Ramon Mejia’s LITRPG Podcast at https://www.facebook.com/litrpgpodcast/
I’d also like to recommend you check out some of my favorite authors within the genre.
Daniel Schinhofen https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Schinhofen/e/B01LXQWPZA
Blaise Corvin https://www.amazon.com/Blaise-Corvin/e/B01LYK8VG5
Michael Chatfield https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Chatfield/e/B00WCAOQME
Ramon Mejia https://www.amazon.com/R.A.-Mejia/e/B01MRTVW3O
Dawn Chapman https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Chapman/e/B014A0RUBC
Eden Redd https://www.amazon.com/Eden-Redd/e/B00I8X8BCK
Aleron Kong https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0176S6G6A
D. Rus https://www.amazon.com/D.-Rus/e/B00LYQO4XI
If you enjoyed this book, or even if you didn’t, but you DO enjoy the LitRPG and GameLit genre, then I recommend you check out the following Facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGsociety/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/GameLitSociety/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGBooks/
Also, the first of the LitRPG groups that I joined (and was promptly kicked out of for misbehaving) after reading the first of the Chaos Seed series, “The Land” which was my first experience with LitRPG. I followed a link in the back of the book and found some of the strangest, and coolest, folks.
The Greystone Chronicles Book Two: The Dire Lands Page 53