Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

leaped into the air and came down on the back of the brute's neck with the Spear, the blade driving in through flesh and bone. But when I yanked it out, it was clean. Instead of blood, a thick black ooze welled up from the puncture while the Brute roared and twisted, and as I jumped back, it clotheslined me in mid-air. The blow shaved a cool 350 HP off my ass and sent me flying. I hit the wall and bounced for another 50. Pain rocketed through my torso, but I landed in a spring crouch, and flew straight back at it. “Karalti!”

“I'm on it!” Karalti circled back away from the raging monster as he whirled toward her, stalking low to the ground like a wrestler. “Or not!? I can't Bioscan it! It repels magic!”

“Can't Bioscan it?” That gave us some important information, at least. I struck down, blowing out a whipping thorny cloud of Dark energy that lashed over the ogre's back. Umbra Burst caught the monster's attention, but only did a fraction of its normal damage. “Okay! Physical attacks only!”

I put myself between the monster and Suri as it he roared and spun toward me. He put his head down to charge. I hopped out of the way and spun around him, slashing. Karalti flew in from the back, kicking him and flipping off. Pinned from both sides, he threw out his arms and launched into a clumsy, but powerful spinning attack.We dodged back, drawing him away from Suri. She was starting to come to, but shaking and pale as she pushed herself to her hands.

“Get up on itshead if you can!” The thing was monstrously strong, and didn't seem to feel any pain. He swung wildly at me, striking the wall and smashing it to rubble.

“Right!” Karalti flipped up and landed right on him. She wrapped her legs around his neck, pulled a dagger, and began to stab. “Hey! Ugly!”

The energy rippling over my spear turned red as I rushed it. The 10-hit combo of Blood Sprint chain was faster than the human eye could follow, crimson flashes cutting air and flesh. The [Rostori Brute] shielded his face with his arms, soaking hit after hit as his Bleed debuff stacked up all the way to maximum. Oily black fluid dribbled from his forearms and neck. He let out a brute cry of anguish, groping backIt caught hold of my dragon as she kept stabbing and flung her over its head, sending her smashing into the opposite wall.

[Karalti takes 1529 damage!]

[You deal 2500 damage to Rostori Brute! -4% enemy attack power]

[+20% attack speed, +350 restored HP]

“HuuuuuRRAGH!” The crimson fire turned black and cold as I built into the final phase of the combo: Death by a Thousand Cuts. I didn't know if the Curse effect would work, but we were about to find out.

The cold black fire streaming from the Spear of Nine Spheres burst out into a rain of needles that drove into the Rostori Brute’s skin and soaked in. The monster thrashed – and for the first time, seemed to feel the damage.

[Your attack power +4%, Damage reduction +10%; Enemy Attack Power -4%]

[You deal 1824 damage!]

The Rostori Brute banged his fists on the ground and charged me as Suri staggered to her feet. I waited until he was almost on top of me, then Jumped, somersaulted, and came down like a meteor onto the back of hisneck. The blade slid home, and I felt something in the Brute's neck pop. He stumbled and crashed to the ground, skidding to a stop just in front of Karalti's feet.

Chapter 51

[You deal fatal blow to Rostori Brute!]

[You gain 950 EXP!]

[Karalti gains 950 EXP!]

[Suri gains 950 EXP!]

“Holy crap.” The Spear of Nine Spheres, in its current form, had a 1% chance to instantly kill an enemy. In all the time I'd been using it since it had gained that ability, Lady Luck hadn't smiled on me - until now. “Suri! Are you okay?”

The collision with the wall had knocked Suri's helmet off. She was flushed beetroot red, and when she heard me, she put her face in her hand and leaned against the wall. “No. Not really.”

A dark, pixelating haze crawled through the Rostori Brute's body, gathering into a dark fluxing ball of visual snow. We tensed, weapons drawn, but the ball simply hung a moment before shooting off through the wall, angling up and to the right. As it vanished, a wordless whispering slithered through the air, and then the same woman's voice from earlier spoke.

“That was a Rostori Brute, the least of the foot soldiers of the Drachan,” she - Sachara? - said to us. “Beasts bought to Archemi in the time of the Ancients. The Rostori who were not imprisoned in the Caul of Souls were enslaved by the Aesari... who wielded them against us. You have defeated but one of them. Imagine an army of these creatures, immune to all but the most powerful of magics and ravaging the land. Such was the trial of our ancestors. Such was the reason for the Warsingers, and the terrible toll we paid for them. Return to the statue; bring with you the greatest weapons I ever wielded. Face your trial, daughter or son of mine. If you are here, it can only be because you are in great need.”

“Fuck,” Suri gasped. “I'm so sorry. I fucked up. I saw that thing looming over me, and I-I just... “

“It's okay!” Karalti limped over. “We took care of it! You can get the next one.”

“Seriously,” I said. “It's okay. Every human being alive freezes in fights sometimes.”

At our words, Suri's composure completely deserted her. For the first time since I'd met her, she just stood and shivered, her hand clamped over her eyes. But when I tried to go to her, she warded me back.

“Giants,” she whispered. “I still can't fucking handle them, unless I'm raging.”

“Then you need to look at it, Suri.”

“I can't.” She shook her head.

“It's