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

Swords clanged out as wraith knights struck his legs and back, but he simply roared and took out three of them with one wild blow. More leaped forward, using each other for leverage so that two made it high enough to try attacks at his chest and throat, but a spell from a bystander took out one. The other landed with a sword in the giant’s chest, but only a shallow strike that pissed off his adversary more than anything.

Steph was nearby. She summoned again, only to collapse to her knees as the newly-summoned knights faded. She was using her magic too fast.

“Ebrill!” I shouted, pointing to Steph while attempting another go of frost footing and then ice claw and shot, aiming for different parts of his body in hopes of finding a weakness.

A growl caught my attention. The shisa was there, having taken a break from trying to attack. Or so I thought. It shook its head, growled again, and then charged. An image of the earth moving to lift the shisa and throw it at the giant entered my mind, so I obliged. All around me, the earth was distorted like after a massive earthquake, and now it was even more so as I sent a wave through the ground that caught the shisa and tossed it up and at our enemy.

The giant slipped, the shisa hit, and then I saw that Ebrill had helped Steph so that both were up and charging. Kordelia glided overhead, and they all hit at once. I roared as I charged too, focusing on the nature of my ice shot and ice claw attack and working with my transmutation magic to forge them together and put them into the shape of a sword in my hands.

It was cold, but almost like part of me. The giant struggled to get at the shisa—even dropped one of its scythes—and then we all made contact, tearing and striking. My sword penetrated. As the ice of my blade sank into the stone, blue spread across the giant’s body. The stone cracked from his skin and fell free.

He was exposed!

The attacks drew blood. Another lunging attack nearly caught me. That huge scythe slammed into the ground inches from my foot. I cast an ice claw directly at his face and watched as the icy magic tore into his eyes and forehead. His screams drowned out the incoming sirens.

The giant was down. The rest of the enemy was converging on us. But in other news, I had leveled up again! I quickly applied my stats and checked out my new situation, which read:

Level 6 MAGE

Statistics

Strength: 20

Defense:15

Speed: 16

Luck: 13

Charisma: 12

Mana: 520

Recent Spells

Gorffwys (sleep); Frost Footing; Ice Wall; Ice Claw; Frost Bite; Frost Shot

“They’ll just keep coming!” Kordelia shouted as I dismissed the screen. “Ebrill, you have to cloak us!”

“Give me room,” Ebrill replied.

Kordelia was at my side a moment later, her hulking frame reminding me how intimidating she could be, especially with this fierce snarl of hers. She pointed to the incoming group of enemies, and said, “Walls, attacks, everything you’ve got.”

I nodded and looked at Steph, who heard and shouted, “I’ll recall my knights, and send them all at once to hold the wall as long as they can.”

“Ready,” I said. We all got into position, the shisa suddenly back at my side as if sensing what was to come.

“NOW!” Kordelia conjured a spell that sent debris—dirt and grass and stones—flying, creating a circle around us that would blind some, hurt others, but mostly set the barrier of where my ice walls needed to go up. I could do better than that, though, and made the ground rise first with my transmutation, then created ice walls atop the circle. Only flying enemies would be able to make it over, but they had to be damn powerful if they were going to make it through Kordelia’s spell.

The wraith knights were already moving out, translucent as they went through the walls. Ebrill had a glowing hand in the sky, muttering her spell.

“We’re covered,” she said as the blue burst out forming a haze over us, and then we turned, Steph taking the lead.

“Where to?” Ebrill asked Steph, but she was looking around as she ran, unsure.

“I’m getting something, but… I think they’ve found a way to counter my knight.”

My humor at her wording seemed ill-timed, so I attempted something, working with the shisa to pick up the magical scent of where the wraith knight had gone.

The shisa gave me one look and then ran, so I followed. My team was close behind as I rounded the church to see the shisa digging at a spot between the church grounds and the next house over.

“I got this,” I said, and the shisa moved out of the way, eyeing me with excitement. The little lion-dog was really starting to grow on me. “Thanks, Shisa,” I added, deciding that worked for a name. Why the hell not?

“Tell me we’re not about to unearth some massive tomb where undead will rise and fight us,” Kordelia said, eyeing the church.

Steph laughed but shook her head. “As far as I know, that’s not part of it.”

My focus, regardless of what awaited us, was on the transmutation magic that worked on opening a way for us before the enemy managed to get back on our trail.

Earth flowed aside like it was the sea before Moses. Sure enough, it opened into a tunnel beneath. We shared a look of excitement and then went in, charging through the tunnel with our path lit only by the glow of blue from Ebrill’s hand and orange from Steph’s. I took the time to close our entry point but already the sounds of monsters screaming for blood came from ahead and behind. They must have found their way in through other entrances.

The tunnel led to a whole series of underground networks, tunnels and rooms. We charged through, hitting a group of demons who had been