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

“You are too primitive to understand.” The lich turned his knives back in his hands—the only warning I got before the ground erupted beneath my feet.

Chapter 41

I nearly Jumped on reflex before I remembered that was a bad idea. The second of hesitation nearly cost me my life, as chains of energy erupted from the ground like a hydra. They lashed after me asI Shadow Danced through them, stabbing cruelly into the ground as I reappeared. I reeled away in what felt and probably looked like some kind of high-speed Irish dance before one of them snapped around my wrist with crushing force. The Spear fell from nerveless fingers as my hand turned numb, followed by my arm and then the rest of me. I began to lose HP, Stamina and Adrenaline at the same time as the spell began to suck the life out of me.

“You cannot win, half-blood.” Uttapsu hung about ten feet away, his knives resting loosely in his hands. “Surrender, and I will submit you to Ashur’s justice. He will finish what he started. You will know peace at last.”

I strained against the energy drain, mind racing. There was no way a mage that was only ten levels higher than me could be this strong. And how the fuck was he casting without a spellglove? Without mana?

Then my eyes lit on the Ix’tamo. The mana in them was boiling, surging through the glass tubules inside like blood through veins. And they were flowing down—down into the magic circle on which we still stood.

“Karalti! Assist!” I shouted to her telepathically, sinking down to one knee as the strength ebbed out of my limbs. “Nuke those Ix’tamo! Now!”

Karalti was being hit by magic from all sides, soaking fireballs and energy blasts from the three mages still left standing. All but four of the Mata Argis were dead. She charged the mages down, shattering their line, then grabbed the slowest one and flung him into the first Ix’tamo with her jaws. Then she blasted it and him with Ghost Fire. For a second, I didn’t understand—until the screaming, dying man seemed to mesh into the device, which exploded in a gush of pure green mana.

[Warning! Mana concentration is extreme!]

[You are suffering Mana Poisoning!]

The lich turned from me as I collapsed to hands and knees, gesturing toward Karalti. She squealed in agony as his next spell took hold: a kinetic blast that torqued her neck and twisted her wings back. But it didn’t stop her from belching another plume of fire at the second Ix’tamo. A normal dragon would have barely brushed the device with her flames, but Karalti’s liquid fire slapped the crystal and stuck there. The Ixtamo’s surface cracked under the intense heat as the sticky flames roared on its surface, then burst. And as it did, Uttapsu’s hold on me lapsed.

“HRRRAAGH!” I sped forward with the last of my stamina, the Mark of Matir burning on the back of my hand, and drew from it to power a lance of solid darkness at terminal speed. It tore through Uttapsu’s fragile body like a lightning strike, hurling him away.

[Shadow Lance deals 5072 damage! Uttapsu HP: 7786/13,873]

“You do not know who you are fucking with!” I roared, hunting him as he teleported in and out of reach. He was luring me toward the mana, trying to use it for its damage-over-time effect. So far, he was succeeding—I was at 559 HP and dropping every second. I chugged a potion, boosting my health back to 909 HP, and flitted after him.

“Bla’kotar!” Mana haze sucked into the lich’s knives, then blasted at me in twin whips of cutting water. I dodged one and soaked one, the damage boosting my AP, and struck him like a homing missile: a regular strike with the lance, and then an explosion of raw black energy. Umbra Burst—right in his fucking chest.

[You deal 6816 Darkness damage! HP: 970/13,873.]

[Your HP: 231/3,138]

The lich’s fleshless mouth opened in a soundless scream as his body caught fire like a match. The Darkness crawled through him like embers, but it didn’t destroy him. I could feel his will bearing down on mine.

“Fool.” His arms wrapped around me, and he plunged both blades into my back. The armor slowed them down, but as he bore down with feral, supernatural strength, I felt the magically-enhanced points begin to press through the links toward my kidneys.

“Just, fucking DIE!” I snarled, twisting the Spear deep in his body as my health trickled down into the double digits.

“I will report everything I’ve seen. Your powers. Your abilities. The way you fight.” Points of light kindled in his skull, boring into mine as his hands faltered. “You… belong to… USSSS.”

“Tell Fang Daddy to go to hell.” I twisted the Spear again, grinding into the lich’s surprisingly solid core. Uttapsu let out a thin wail, then collapsed into a shower of dust that winked out like embers. A loot sack appeared out of thin air, falling to the ground with a clank.

“Urgh.” I sank down to one knee. Blood was pouring from my mouth. I reached up to touch it, not even sure where it had come from. I didn’t remember taking any hits to the face.

I flinched as the last Mata Argis agent flew past me, screaming as he crashed spine-first against the edge of the portal ring. I heard his back go with a dull crunch, and he tumbled to the ground, lifeless.

“Ugh. Finally.” Karalti echoed my groan as she stumped over to me. One of her wings was dragging, and patches of frost still bloomed over her scales. Near the bridge, Suri was leaning on her sword, covered in blood and ichor. Surrounding her were the zombies and Napathian Elites she’d killed, then killed again when they’d Stranged and morphed into some Rat King-like abomination, all hands