Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

I paused long enough to pick up as many pebbles as I could, then filled them with the fire spell and threw them as we charged. Lines of those beast riders met my mini-grenades, and now we were advancing with speed.

“Nice work,” Gertrude said, giving me a nod of approval before sending two counter-spells at an enemy who had just sent a wave of fire our way. The wave broke, replaced with a horse of ice that dove at the spell caster. He brushed it aside, but it was all the distraction Aerona needed to land a burst of wind that sent him into the air, flying far enough away that he wouldn’t be a bother to us in the near future, if he even survived the fall.

I dove for cover as two Drow joined the dagger-magic guy, and threw myself behind a rock outcropping alongside Ebrill.

“On three,” Ebrill said, nudging a larger rock my way with her foot. Clanging of blades on rock sounded, and then we were up, her doing a defensive spell while I imbued the rock and sent it flying. The three attackers were blown away, at least two arms separating from bodies, a haze left in their wake.

“We have to keep moving!” Ebrill shouted.

“She’s right,” Gertrude added, charging past us from where she left four corpses in her wake. “Form ranks! Push on!”

Her hands thrust forward and created a beam of light around us that then shot forward as we charged again, so that the light was like an arrow that knocked our enemies out of our path. Aerona had a spell like a wake of fire trailing out to give pursuers pause, but our enemy had their own spells and were pushing on.

All the while, my heart was about to explode, my eyes bugging at the insanity of it all. Back on my aunt’s roof, it had been night and maybe part of me hadn’t quite accepted it. Here, though, we were in the midst of the magic battle, surrounded by massive displays of magic and armies of creatures that I had thought could only exist in fairy tales.

Ebrill met my gaze and shouted, “Too much for you?”

“I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” I replied, and hit a flying beast with a stun spell, sending it to crash into the rocks behind us.

“You can do better than that,” she said with a laugh, then caught a rock troll with a blue blast that made it solidify into one giant stone.

I nodded, scanning my screen for what spells I had learned, glad that the screen wasn’t visible to others. How anyone ever memorized all of these and kept track of them, I couldn’t begin to understand. Just then, I noticed another level up! That meant even more potential spells at my disposal. I quickly added the points and assessed my spell screen.

The screen showed that my level could access a specific set of spells, and I realized I must have either scanned a certain portion of the book, or it was adapting to meet my situation. This seemed the case because the new spells I saw were now related to stone and ice magic. Higher level spells included Frost Footing and Ice Wall.

The new screen showed the old spells, but I skimmed over those, reading:

Level 4 MAGE

Statistics

Strength: 13

Defense:10

Speed: 10

Luck: 8

Charisma: 8

Mana: 400

Recent Spells

Gorffwys (sleep); Frost Footing; Ice Wall

I turned the corner and saw a line of Drow with arrows at the ready, releasing as one. As the arrows flew, they transformed into purple flames that penetrated the first wall Gertrude threw up but fizzled at a defensive spell from Ebrill. Another volley came from our left and I spun, managing to try the ice wall spell at the last minute. Arrows hit and exploded so that ice hit us, but nothing deadly.

Aerona led the counterattack with magic, Yenifer with weapons. The first group of traitorous Drow managed a counter-spell that sent her magic to burst into flames at the mountainside, but an attack from Ebrill and then Gertrude left their skin bubbling, some collapsing with hands clutching their throats. I tried my frost footing spell on the other group as Gertrude spun and threw a wall up to protect us, then I followed with another wall. When both faded, the result of my other spell was a hilarious show of Drow trying to regain their footing. Some were slipping, others had their feet seemingly frozen in place.

We moved while we had the advantage. Aerona and Gertrude attacked while Ebrill worked defensive magic on us, and I joined in. If she was doing so, that likely meant more trouble, soon.

Yennifer shouted as she charged, and I turned to see why. Three more rock trolls were being led our way by a horde of goblins and orcs, several of those flying beasts above them. She didn’t wait for us. Boost spells from Ebrill hit her as she charged. By the time she connected with the first goblins, she was twice her size and glowing green, her axes trailing flames and ice.

I tried the sleeping spell on the rock trolls but with no luck. All it did was turn their attention toward me. My frost footing spell, however, was genius against the massive creatures and their heavy steps. The first time I cast it, one of them fell to take out a handful of the goblins leading it, and the second goblin caught the third and knocked it over with a swinging arm.

The two men in our group cut through the goblins and orcs with swinging attacks and quick movements that left them like a blur in the enemy ranks, and spells rained down on the enemy from the ladies behind me.

One of the rock trolls recovered and nearly caught me as it lumbered up from my right. A spell from Gertrude bounced off it. The strike tore through my ice wall and hit me in