Limitless by John Gold (best e reader for android txt) 📕

effect. In other words, gods act on a deeper level than most superficial buffs. But the second reason is my mana restoration speed. The higher your morale, or survivability for Hunters, the less time it takes your mental body to get back to normal. And it treats all deviations from the norm as harmful, getting rid of them as soon as it can.

The third reason I’ve always skipped buffs extends from the first two. The duration and effect are just too weak for me. Experience has shown me the folly of relying on temporary effects, as you don’t want battles to depend on unknown variables.

The same is true of potions. The higher your resistance to poison, the poorer their effect and duration. That rule applies to all kinds of potions and alchemical products.

I suppress my fear and…delight. Death is so strong that I can feel the waves of power swimming through the air, penetrating my flesh. Incredible! He’s a fascinating opponent. Oh-h-h…no, not like that. Oh-h-h!

When I walk into the hall, I realize that nothing could have prepared me for an opponent like the one standing before me. Three of his faithful subjects flit out of the shadows to stand five meters away, blocking my path and covering their master from potential attack. The three lords can’t hide their levels from me anymore.

Companion of Death, Absolute Fear, Level 10000

 

Another thirteen are hiding in the shadows along the walls in the enormous hall. My buffs start counting down from twenty seconds, while the potions will work for another ten seconds after that. I have +22% to my strength, agility, and intellect, plus thirty from the potions.

Here we go! I’m sent into an emotional press, smacked around with a magic shield, thrown up toward the ceiling, and hurled down at the floor, all of that happening in just the first five seconds of the battle. In that time, my enemies all gather at the center of the room to form two circles around me. I fall back to the ground, where I cast a dark space and fire off a dead star. While it’s flying at the group, I dash toward a column and grab hold just as a gravitational well pulls all of death’s little pets into the center of the empty circle. If my amplification weren’t maxed-out, I wouldn’t have been able to cover the twenty-five meters between me and the column in two seconds. I even leave potholes in the floor.

When the gravitational wave hits me, I feel the stone under my hands beginning to disintegrate. I throw up a new magic shield. Just then, the star explodes to wipe the column away and throw me off along with it. Death’s companions survive, however, losing 50% of their health and looking none the worse for wear. They eye me up. I realize I can’t sense any emotions coming from them…damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! They’re all part of death, semimaterial chimeric pets. How do you fight immortal beasts?

But I turn off my emotions and get to work fighting the unwinnable battle. Death is still sitting on his throne, not having moved an inch since the fight began.

Shields of darkness hit my enemies with mental damage whenever they come in to attack physically. My aura of light blinds them, and stunning them buys me a second or two. Every blow I strike costs me ten in return. Leaping between the stone walls, earth shields, and columns goes on for a whole ten minutes, though I’m able to kill six of the beasts in that time. Still, I’m close to the end, as well. They’re working together, sacrificing one of their number to guarantee a hit through my shields and traps. Illusions, darkness, hard phantoms, traps, and feints are all used to great effect, an arsenal more befitting an experienced mage than a bunch of pets. I’m chased down and my defenses are battered into submission. But I’ve been using the time to save up strength for one more big attack.

The sphere of darkness covers us all. A second later, however, a leap spell takes me to the next column, and I realize that I fell for another trap. A phantom axe slices through the column and takes out my shield. On the other hand, the blow isn’t strong enough to get through my resistance, and I’m able to counterattack.

True darkness covers the part of the room where I sense my enemies are. Only mages using a spell can see through it, which means they’re blind.

Six of them die, but I lose my sense of where the other two are. Death is crushing down on me with such power. Even before this I was having a hard time sensing them. Now, it’s like they practically dissolved into the darkness. Judging by the emotional pressure I’m feeling, Fear and Hope are the two still alive. How romantic!

They’ve traded their bodies in for semimaterial versions, leaping out of the astral in two different parts of the room to hurl distance spells at me. I can’t find them or counterattack; all I can do is absorb their strikes. Although…

I set a diamond shield and hide under its canopy. The first three attacks are accompanied by little spirit creatures where the companion of death pops out. A second and a half before it appears, the spirits tell me where the portal is going to open. Got it!

The diamond shield bursts from a lightning bolt in the back; my magic barrier absorbs the rest of the charge. I’m supposed to turn and counterattack, but instead, I fire a dark spear at the portal which is in the process of opening. One down.

I’m not able to kill the final companion—death decides to get involved. He’s tired of watching, and apparently decides to show off the difference in strength between us. As soon as I turn to find my last assailant, death yanks me over towards him. The rest of the fight is a game