Hack, Slash & Burn 2: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 40
Should’ve thought this through…
Flames erupted from the black dragon’s mouth in a constant stream that struck Calder and burnt through his transparent shield in an instant. This attack was even more deadly than the last time the beast had breathed fire, as though the flames were somehow more potent.
They melted his Living Armour. He could feel the steel heat up, burn his skin, the fire resistance doing bloody nothing.
Every part of Calder burned. He couldn’t help but release a scream of pain, one that was torn from his throat without him wishing it. Pure instinct, just like the fear he felt under the gaze of this beast.
Calder tumbled down, crashing into something hard behind him. The wall. It’s close to the wall. Calder could only lie there for a second. Every single movement of his body brought him an intense amount of pain. His forearms still hadn’t fully healed, and the pain from the mana burn lingered on top of it all.
He could feel his health begin to regenerate. Not only that, he felt his Living Sword and Living Armour tap his mana and adrenaline as they attempted to heal themselves.
I can take this. I can keep moving.
Exhaustion from countless days of fighting—countless days remaining awake—weighed on him like a hundred anvils stacked upon his chest.
I have to move. Have to keep fighting.
He leveraged himself onto one elbow.
This isn’t the end for me. I’m an Avatar of Light. I killed an Orc Destroyer. Helped defeat an entire army. Captured an orc settlement.
He leveraged himself onto the other elbow.
Captured an orc city. Severed the head of a dragon and killed a hundred thousand enemies in one fell swoop.
He dragged himself into a sitting position.
Of course, then that dragon didn’t die…
The sky above him darkened. Red clouds formed above. It looked as though they were flashing with lightning, but they weren’t.
They were flashing with flames.
The black dragon was casting some sort of spell, a vast amount of power emanating from it, rippling in waves, causing that fear to shiver up Calder’s pained body once more.
Then molten rocks fell from the sky, every single one of them aimed at him.
Bloody hell.
A split-second before the first of them hit him, Dream Step reached its cooldown and Calder was able to teleport away.
He went for the dragon’s other eye.
The moment he materialised, he was struck by a falling molten rock, almost as though the dragon had known where he would appear. Maybe it did.
Calder went tumbling toward the ground once more. He felt his health dip below half. Then below a quarter. Then below a fifth.
It kept falling, until he crashed into the dirt and his health was sitting at a tenth.
If he got hit one more time, he would surely die.
Your health has fallen below 10%.
Would you like to activate Last Ditch?
Calder thought Yes! as fast as he bloody well could, still having no idea what the spell actually did.
Last Ditch activated!
All spells restored.
All attributes boosted by 200% for the next 10 seconds.
Calder couldn’t help but gawk at the text that flashed over his vision. A 200% boost had been added to all his attributes and every single one of his spells met their cooldown!
He rapidly looked at his attributes.
Attributes – Simplified (Modified Values)
Strength: 814
Agility: 1305
Magic: 647
Stamina: 1154
Perception: 208
Gods, he thought, seeing the stats. That’s impossible.
His health, mana and adrenaline remained exactly the same, however, and with only ten seconds… he didn’t want to waste a single moment.
Calder rose to his feet faster than he ever had and reactivated every single one of his passive spells, along with the Fireball and Lightning Bolt enchantments in his Living Sword.
Then he Dream Stepped straight at the enemy’s weak spot once more, unleashing every single offensive attack he could.
Mana Blade.
Bleeding Strike.
Eviscerate.
Power Strike.
Then finally.
Burning Devastation.
The dragon began to fall. Straight on him. It was so weak it could no longer flap its wings.
Calder turned in the air. Dream Step was still cooling down, but he had other ways to get out of danger. He created a portal in mid-air, its twin a mile away down on the ground.
He fell straight through, his point-of-view shifting, his momentum making his boots slide across ground, leaving two long gashes in the dirt, until he halted to a stop. The space around the dragon was still clear, the orcs, humans and minotaurs giving it a wide berth, even when it was in the air. Though he knew that didn’t mean they had halted the attack on the wall, he couldn’t think about that right now.
Calder watched as the dragon hit the ground for the second time, and waited for the Proficiency to slam into him.
But it didn’t come.
It was still alive.
I still have time.
Dream Step was ready once more. He teleported straight to its head, unleashing everything he could, striking at the beast’s injured eye what felt like a hundred times, maybe two hundred times, per second, with his Agility currently at 1305 the ten seconds from Last Ditch felt like they would last forever, but he knew that almost half had already passed.
Come on, come on, come on.
The dragon raised its head as Calder landed on its nose. Only Strong Stance and his massively inflated attributes kept him in balance as it moved.
The dragon looked weak. Felt weak.
But it still managed to shake him. With a violent twist of its neck, Calder was sent flying to the side. A wing raised up to meet him. It was slow, but so large there was no way he would be able to dodge it.
Is this my death?
It struck Calder and flung him straight into the wall once more.
Every bone in his body broke with the impact, but somehow, he was still alive.
How am I supposed to kill this thing?
Calder activated Dream Step—or, well, he tried to, but found himself completely drained of mana from all the spells he had been casting without abandon within a very, very short span of time because of his high Agility.
Though as he looked at the dragon, he could see that it was indeed dying. It could barely hold its head up. It looked as weak as a day-old kitten. One more strike. One more strike and I could have taken it out.
But I’ll be dead before then.
A rumble built up in the black dragon’s chest and throat once again.
He supposed he had done enough, then. One of the others—Luceen, Peter, or both—would be able to kill this thing now. And with this thing dead, they would be able to hold out against the army.
The black dragon opened its maw.
The force of hitting that wall hadn’t killed him—gods, he had thought it would kill him—but his health was down to almost nothing. He was on the brink of death just as the dragon was.
Maybe that’s why he could recognise it so well in the bastard beast.
You put up a good fight, dragon, he thought, as he struggled to his feet. Too good of a fight.
Calder kept thinking he had felt the worst pain in his life, and later kept being proven wrong.
And so I am again.
He raised his sword, activated Shield Shift. He knew it wouldn’t do anything, but in his state, even with his attributes boosted by Last Ditch, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the flames.
Too many of his bones were broken. He would probably fall over his own feet after no more than three steps.
He didn’t fancy dying by tripping on his own feet.
I don’t fancy dying at all.
The flames were unleashed from the black dragon’s maw. They flowed toward him in a stream that looked as though it was moving in slow motion.
He saw the flames hit his transparent shield. Saw the shield—still cracked and healing from the last strike—break apart.
The flames came for him.
Then everything froze.
Chapter 49
Time stopped around Calder.
It wasn’t because his Agility was over 1300. He was fast, but he wasn’t that fast.
The flames that had been less than an inch from reaching him were stopped dead in the air. Dead like I should be.
Calder blinked. Unsure of what happened. The dragon wasn’t moving. It too, was frozen.
The army behind it didn’t move an inch.
There was a bird—a normal, non-bestial bird—just hovering in the sky, its wings stopped mid-beat.
What in all hell?
A notification popped up in his vision.
Time to Die activated.
Avoid your imminent death.
10 seconds gained.
Calder stared dumbly at the text. Time to Die was the Temporal spell he had gained at level 60. The automatic, no-cost spell he didn’t know how to use.
What was he to do? Did the spell… stop time? He looked down at his sword. Every inch of him was still in immense pain. He looked over at the dragon. His mana wasn’t regenerating at all, as though it too was frozen.
Could I just… walk forward and kill the dragon? It wasn’t as though it was moving anymore…
Calder stepped around the flames, sending shooting pain up his legs, through his hips, and everywhere.
Gods, it hurt.
Then time began to move again.
No. Not yet! Not yet!
Except… it wasn’t moving forward. It was moving backward.
What. In. All. Hell?
His body was no longer in his own control as time reversed itself, and he repeated every move he had just made backward until—
Last Ditch activated!
All spells restored.
All attributes boosted by 200% for the next 10 seconds.
Calder was still in an immense amount of pain, but it wasn’t near as much as before. He could move again. He was lying on the ground, exactly where he had been when his health had hit below a tenth and he had activated Last Ditch for the first time.
Time to Die…
The Temporal spell had frozen time just before he died and dragged him back ten seconds. Will it work again, if I fail again?
Calder gritted his teeth.
Best not to find out.
He remembered exactly what he had done with his next round of attacks, inflicting so much damage against the black dragon that it was one step away from death, and taking so much that so was he.
He had seen it twice—forwards and backwards.
Calder would need to act differently if he was to win. This time.
He rose to his feet with an odd sense of déjà vu, reactivated all of his passive spells, then Dream Stepped at the weak spot once more.
This part, at least, he knew would work.
He unleashed all the same spells:
Mana Blade.
Bleeding Strike.
Eviscerate.
Power Strike.
Then finally.
Burning Devastation.
Calder fell, and so did the dragon. He could feel how weak it was—too weak to even keep in the air. Calder twisted, casting portal. But this time, he had the twin portal open up directly over the beast’s head.
He knew it wouldn’t die when it hit the ground.
Falling through the portal, the world shifted around Calder until suddenly he was above the dragon’s head instead of below its body. He slashed and cut and sliced straight for the bastard beast’s eye. As he did, Dream Step reached the end of its cooldown, and he couldn’t help but smile.
Every second he struck the dragon one hundred, two hundred, three hundred times. With Charge, Berserk and Last Ditch he was a blasted monster himself.
When Calder landed upon its nose, he didn’t wait for the beast to shake him off and slam him with its wing. He Dream Stepped away, landing on the ground near the beast.
It’s on its last legs again, Calder thought, but I am not.
He just needed a moment. One or two breaths to gain enough adrenaline to perform another Power Strike.
Then he sensed something coming from above. Even as fast as he was, he wouldn’t be able to dodge it in time.
It was simply too big, wherever he ran, he would still get hit.
Another falling molten rock. When did the dragon cast that? He raised his sword, activating Shield Shift, but the transparent shield was still a bit damaged from when the flames had hit him—the ones that had set off Last Ditch. Besides, he wasn’t sure how much it would do against this attack anyway…
The rock went through the shield and crushed him straight into the ground. Just like when he had hit the wall, he felt his bones crack and break from the force.
His health was once more on the brink, and he found himself exactly where he had been before. Calder struggled back to his feet, knowing the seconds were swiftly passing him by.
Calder stood on shaky legs, once more feeling the worst pain in his life.
The rumble came again. In the dragon’s chest. In the dragon’s throat.
Calder raised his broken Shield Shift, unable to move.
Ah hell, not again—
Everything froze.
Time to Die activated.
Avoid your imminent death.
7 seconds gained.
Time reversed itself, dragging him backward. Only this time, it took him back only seven seconds instead of ten, lessening his chances of survival.
He found himself striking the black dragon’s belly with his myriad of adrenaline-powered attacks.
Everything moved so quickly, Calder didn’t know what to do differently. He managed to get the black dragon to the brink of death for a third time. He tried to change his tact, to move differently—
And he failed.
Time to Die activated.
Avoid your imminent death.
4 seconds gained.
Gods.
Calder was once again saved, but he had even less time than before. He could barely believe how powerful and yet how gods damned limited this spell was.
What was he supposed to do with less and less time? With fewer and fewer seconds?
It seemed to take him back three seconds less each time, meaning if he failed now, he would only have one more chance—and one more second.
He found himself assaulting the black dragon’s eye, inflicting hundreds of strikes against it. Instead of trying to retreat, he let the thing attempt to shake him off.
Maybe he could keep hold this time—
The black dragon’s neck twisted violently to the side. Calder was thrown. The wing hit him, hard. He flew into the wall.
Exactly where he had been the first time of his imminent death.
He rose to his feet, once again on the brink of death—as the dragon was on the brink of death. Maybe it isn’t meant to be. He held up his sword. Am I simply not strong enough to slay this beast? No matter how many chances I am given? He activated the shield.
The flames cut through—
The world froze. Calder stared at the flames that were about to do him in. This is my final chance. One second.
I only have one more second to live.
Calder’s mood suddenly shifted, from resigned to resolute.
No. I don’t have one second to live.
I have one second to win.
A rage filled him. A rage at having gotten so far, at having been given so many chances, only to fail over and over.
Was he really going to lose at the most crucial moment? When his enemy was on its last legs? When a single strike could defeat it?
What did it matter how injured Calder was? What did it matter that all his bones were broken? That he was in more pain than he knew anyone could ever feel? That he was more exhausted than he had ever been in his life?
He had never been one to give in. To give up. If he had one last second to live, he wouldn’t waste it.
Time to Die activated.
Avoid your imminent death.
1 second gained.
Time reversed for what Calder knew would be his last chance.
He was standing, the dragon’s maw open, the flames about to spew forth. He couldn’t dodge. It could move its head and the flames would follow. He couldn’t Dream Step. He had no more mana left, again.
One more strike, and I could kill it.
He looked at his Living Sword.
Looked at the black dragon’s giant maw.
And saw the only option he had.
Maybe I won’t live, but at least I’ll get to take this bastard with me!
Calder still had adrenaline. Only a small amount, but enough.
With his Agility boosted to an insane degree, Calder swung his sword back over his head, fighting through the pain that only doubled as he moved, then flung the Living Sword forward, using Power Throw for the first time since this battle began.
His Living Sword turned end over end in the air. Calder was completely undefended. The flames contacted the sword, and he knew if they were strong enough to melt his armour, they would melt the sword—but not fast enough.
The sword wasn’t stopped by the flames. It kept moving forward until it struck inside the black dragon’s gaping maw—another weak spot, completely devoid of seemingly impenetrable black scales.
The black dragon screeched.
The flames were an inch from Calder’s face.
The black dragon died.
Chapter 50
Proficiency flooded into Calder. As the flames engulfed him, so did a white light.
You have reached level 74!
Your health, mana and adrenaline are now restored in full.
You have 10 attribute points to apply.
I’m alive.
Every bone in Calder’s body cracked back into place. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. In fact, it hurt like hell.
I’m still alive.
The flames melted his armour once more—which had also been healed, as it too had gained a level.
You have reached level 75!
Your health, mana and adrenaline are now restored in full.
