Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

need is lead, copper, carbon, saltpeter and iron. Get me those, and I can craft bullets.”

“Thanks,” Gar replied sourly. “Guess I’ll go do that with the money I need to repair my damn ship.”

“And while you’re at it, go buy some cheese to go with your whine,” I snapped. “This squad has no room for dead weight. You don’t want to grind? Sit it out, but don’t bitch about it. For the thousandth time, I insured your fucking ship. It’ll be fixed.”

Gar flashed me an odd look. “Fine. Meet you at the wall in ten.”

“Hah. Sorted him out.” Suri grinned mirthlessly after the man slunk off, his hands buried in his duster pockets. “What do you three say to brainstorming some small unit tactics? We can use this as a chance to sharpen up our ability to fight as a team.”

“Sure! Though I’m still not really any good in fights.” Rin winced. “I-I panic sometimes. If I didn’t have my turrets, I’d be really useless.”

“Fighting’s a skill, not a talent. Every time you fight and every time you win, you get better at handling your adrenaline.” I pumped a fist. “Let’s do it. We can set our spawn points at the nearest inn, stock up on potions, meet up with Karalti, and get in some righteous grinding time.”

Chapter 39

“Zacam’’unilag!” Rin shouted, her spellglove flaring with blue light. “Get in there!”

The injured tyrannosaurus bellowed as the spell took hold, wrapping it in a bubble of warped temporal distortion. Its motions slowed to a crawl, limbs struggling through invisible mud. The undead dinosaur was missing one of its arms, and its jaw hung loose from where Karalti had shattered it with a well-placed tail strike.

“Ally-oop!” I called out, dashing behind it. The t-rex smashed its tail down in slow motion, but I was already off the ground and out of range. I flipped into the landing, the Spear blazing, and landed on the back of the huge monster like a black meteor as Karalti and Suri closed in from the sides.

[You deal 3791 Darkness damage! Suri deals 1558 Damage! Karalti deals 988 Damage!]

[You defeated Tyrannosaurus! You gain 1512 EXP! Karalti gains 1512 EXP!]

[You are Level 33! Karalti is Level 18! Rin Lu is Level 30! Garcia is Level 24!]

[You have 6 unspent Ability Points! You have 10 Skill points!]

[You have one new Mark of Matir ability available!]

There was a cheer from the walls as the dinosaur’s legs crumpled and it collapsed forward, head smashing into the ground with earthshaking force. I twisted the Spear out of it and bounced back down, landing lightly beside Karalti as her body flooded with seams of light. Her wing membranes extended further along her tail, and she put on muscle in her legs, shoulders, and flanks. The deep raven-blue of her scales intensified, glinting with thick seams of bright opal that made her ripple with colors as she moved. By the time her level growth was complete, her horns were longer, but less flexible. She could still lift and flatten them, but they were now as hard and black as polished stone.

“Phew.” Suri pulled her helmet off and mopped her forehead. She threw the rag to me, and I did the same as Rin and Gar joined us. “Nice going, guys. We took that thing out a hell of a lot faster than the first one.”

“And I am now Level fuckin’ Thirty-Three,” I said, checking my sheet. We were exhausted, our potion and mana reserves depleted, but after ten hours of hard work split over the previous evening and the following day, we were looking good. Not only had I pumped my Physical stats by nearly ten points—Str, Sta, Dex—our small-group tactical work had increased both Wisdom and Intelligence by modest amounts. I had a stack of Skill Points to assign, and a whole lot of monster parts to sell to the Alchemist in town.

“You all want to wait for another round? Or should we head for the jungle?” Suri asked, tucking her helmet under her arm. “Seems to me like these mobs are getting tougher.”

“Yeah. They’re getting tougher, and we’re getting less EXP for them.” I restlessly checked the Quest the Priest-Queen had given us. “Oop, well... looks like there’s a timer on it now.”

“There is?” Suri checked it as well. “Huh. We’ve got twenty-four hours to solve the problem, at least.”

“A timer? When did that happen?” Rin asked.

“About three hours ago, during the fight with those big ol’ troll-lookin’ things.” Gar had mellowed out a lot over the course of the day—mostly because he’d been able to level like he’d never leveled before.

“I’m tempted to stay, except the city is running out of herbs for potions,” I said. “We should probably count our chickens and go do this quest. Give ourselves plenty of time.”

“Mmm. Chicken.” Karalti paused to preen an itchy spot under her wing, the membranes rustling overhead.

“Yes. If the quest requirements changed, then the circumstances must be evolving.” Rin fidgeted nervously. “The system only does this if we’re competing against someone else. Other players, maybe, or who or whatever is causing the plague to begin with.”

“Well, whoever they are, they’re gonna have to deal with us.” Karalti tossed her head, still hopped up from the fighting. “I can fly us to the edge of the jungle. And now we’re better equipped to take on whoever or whatever’s out there.”

“We sure are. Running low on potion ingredients, but I think we’ll be able to find those in the forest.” I looked to the others. “You guys ready?”

“Yeah. But I’m not going.” Gar looked to the city. “For one thing, it’s not any of my business. For another, I don’t feel right screwing off into the jungle when my crew’s waiting on news from me.”

“Suits me.” I shrugged. “Suri? Karalti? Rin?”

“I’m good. Let’s