Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

up with a solution that no one would have expected. He remembered how he had used his ability to defeat gravel ghouls and vine monsters in the dungeon.

That was it. He turned his gaze away from the purple energy of the mages and focused on the green physical energy of the vine monsters.

He picked out a couple of the monsters growing down from the ceiling. Those would be burnt by the conflagration on the table soon anyway. He’d need to have a word with Sir Gallant the Younger about placement next time.

He drained all the physical energy from those vine monsters, causing them to shrivel up and filling his own body with super speed. Moving in a blur, Ben shot up to Vinata and relieved her of the null lock she was carrying. Then he darted toward Uzax. He came up short though, as the wall of heat emanating from the mage grew too much to bear.

Ben was forced back at a distance of ten feet. There was no way he could get close enough to snap on a null lock. His own flesh would melt off his bones before that.

He made for Lexi instead. She saw him coming and whipped her spear around to face him. Ben skidded sideways. The spear tip glanced across his stomach, tearing the splendid robes he’d found in his wardrobe, and scratching the skin, deeper than he would have liked. Blood began to well up in the wound.

Ben dived to the ground like a footballer making a touchdown, and clasped the null lock around the hawkwoman’s ankle. While the null lock prevented Lexi from using her magic, it did nothing to remove her physical power. Ben glanced up and saw her spear coming straight down toward his face.

Then there was a loud crash, and a shadow passed over Ben’s face. A gravel ghoul smashed into Lexi, knocking her sprawling to the ground. She lay there stunned, a trickle of blood trailing down her cheek.

Ben got to his feet and saw Imogen on the other side of the ashen remains of the dining table, grinning at him. She’d just hurled that ghoul like it was a bowling ball.

She turned and grabbed another one, shielding herself from Uzax’s continued attacks.

Uzax pulled a potion out of his belt to drink. Imogen tried to knock it out of his hands, but he was too quick. Ben realized Uzax must have been low on mana. He would need to distract the Pyromancer and see if he could give the nymphs a chance to attack him like Imogen had attacked Lexi.

Melody and their two children were heading toward Uzax as well, but Uzax ignited a ring of fire around himself, keeping everyone at bay. Lulu cast spheres of water at Uzax, but they evaporated before they could reach him. She started accumulating the water in an ever-growing sphere.

Ben activated Drain again and sapped Lexi’s magical energy, hoping it might give him something to use against Uzax. He’d expended a fair bit of mana draining the vine monsters already. He pushed his supply to the limit, taking all of Lexi’s magic.

The hawkwoman passed out as he sapped all her magical energy. The magic swirled inside Ben’s body, filling him with a sensation of power he’d never felt before. His veins throbbed, and his skin tingled with the new energy.

A message appeared in front of his eyes.

You have acquired a new spell: Healing Touch

Ben wasn’t sure what that would do, but he could make a pretty good guess. He touched the wound on his stomach that Lexi had given him, and channeled his mana into his fingers. He activated the Healing Touch spell in his mind and focused on the wound.

The skin quickly began knitting itself back together. Blood was slurped back up into the closing seam, and tendrils of flesh and muscle grew toward one another. Within moments, there wasn’t even a scar.

Ben looked up and saw the fighting continuing to rage between Adremor and Sir Gallant the Elder, on one side of the room. The advantage of being an animated suit of armor appeared to be that Sir Gallant would never tire. He still fought with the same energy as when they’d started. Adremor was holding his own, however, and showed no sign of wavering.

Uzax fought the nymphs on the other side of the room. The Pyromancer was still hurling fireballs at anything that moved, while Imogen used a gravel ghoul like a shield to defend herself and the others.

Vinata was using whatever plant magic she had as a dryad to heal the vine monsters as they were getting burned. Together, they were keeping Uzax off-balance, but neither side could gain the upper hand.

Seeing Vinata healing the vine monsters gave Ben an idea, possibly his craziest so far. He stepped over the ashen remains of the dining table and took the null lock from Lulu, who was busy trying to gather more water from the few puddles remaining on the floor, while not getting hit by fireballs.

Then Ben began to march toward Uzax, null lock in one hand. The heat emanating from the Pyromancer was intense. Ben could feel himself burning, his skin drying out until it was like sandpaper, then flaking off in huge strips. The pain was like nothing he’d felt before, but he gritted his teeth and bore it.

He used his mana to heal himself, using the spell he’d acquired from Lexi. He held his hand out and applied the magic over his whole body, but it didn’t mitigate the pain.

The sensation was like wading through mud made of lemon juice and dirt, filled with razor blades. The air was thick with heat. Ben could feel his eyeballs being scorched out of his skull. Uzax was facing him now, casting fireball after fireball straight for Ben’s head.

Ben ducked and weaved, avoiding any direct impacts, but he could feel his hair catching on fire, and the skin being scorched off his scalp. He was only five