The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1) by Craig Kobayashi (ereader android TXT) 📕

at first. As the thrum grew louder, small openings appeared and the darkening lavender sky could be seen behind a constantly shifting tide of some kind of flying monster. As they neared and Garath’s eyes recovered, he understood the thrum.

Countless, large winged beasts were descending from the burning sky.

‘Fuck,’ thought Garath. ‘Dragons…’

Chapter 19

Apocalypse 1/3

The air had begun to chill and a stiff wind blew east off the ocean as the winged creatures neared the ground.

"Heads up! We're in their firing range!" Warrion shouted as the massive reptiles began to fire streaks of lightning from their mouths.

"What gave you that impression?" Athios asked. A silver disk popped into existence near her right hand and was then directed above the melee fighters with her left. Blast after blast of forking lightning directed at the fighting force from above sank harmlessly into the shimmering disk, which then popped back out of existence and was replaced by a second disk that sent the cumulative destructive force back at the aerial monsters. In the distance, a familiar neon explosion let Athios know that she had managed to kill at least one of the beasts.

Seconds later, dozens of horse-sized, black, armor-scaled reptiles landed down on the black-top outside the school building. Powerful hind legs with wicked, obsidian claws touched down first, followed shortly to the ground by the hand-like appendages protruding from the tips of their great wings - leaving the creatures hunched over on all fours. Their elongated, serpentine torsos ended with a long, barbed tail that swung threateningly behind them. Garath triggered his Inspect ability.

Wyvern

Health: 165/165

Race: Beast

Level: 17

Mana: 183/210

Specification: Reptile

Description: Often mistaken for Dragons, these winged reptiles have only two legs.

***Note: Wyverns lack the intelligence and reasoning abilities of their more advanced cousins, the Dragons. They do, however, pack a powerful ‘punch’.

Average Respawn Time: N/A

‘So that's the difference between a Wyvern and Dragon…’ Garath speculated to himself while shifting into the form of a House Cat.

Fluffy and adorable once again, the Necrologist was swept by an unusual feeling. Whenever he had shifted into his House Cat form before he had felt more powerful - lean, strong, and athletic - but this was different. He felt raw power rushing through his veins and a kind of bloodlust overcame him. He craved the feeling of slain enemies empowering his body in the form of Experience points. He could almost taste the power just waiting to be ripped from the winged reptiles, and his mouth watered.

Garath started summoning his Fel Hound as he gave instructions to the fighting force around him. *Healers, get all the way inside the building. Ranged fighters, form up just inside the doors. Melee fighters, make a tight circle just in front of the ranged fighters.*

The sickly green summoning circle received the necessary time and Mana and a sickly green Fel Hound emerged from it as The Band responded to Garath's commands. The Raid leader himself took his place in front of the entrance hall where the ranged fighters began to send attacks of their own at the winged reptiles now tearing into the melee fighters as they scrambled to forge a defensive line. Garath aimed and fired Death Bolts on repeat, sending his back orbs to join the kaleidoscope of magic attacks spewing out from the building’s southern exit. Several Wyverns cried awfully and flashed neon before disappearing entirely into the night.

Finally, they managed to clear a ten meter half-circle around the doors. Garath sent his Fel Hound to join the melee fighters standing almost shoulder to shoulder as more Wyverns dove to attack. Garath continued giving orders over the Raid communication channel.

*Athios and anyone else with a Skill that can stop these fucking aerial attacks, you're only job just became to do so. AyAyRon, you and your boys just do your thing but I want you to be responsible for any Wyvern that breaks through those shields, got it?*

"Got it," the young man confirmed.

With an eager tail wag, the Fel Hound took off at a sprint toward a Wyvern and leaped at its face. The demonic canine sunk its teeth into the Wyvern's neck and held the bite with all its strength as the great winged beast whipped its neck around in an attempt to fling the Hound off. After a few frantic attempts, the reptile succeeded in sending the Hound flying through the air, but the damage had already been done. A large, bloody chunk of scaled flesh was still between the hound’s clenched jaws as it hit the ground. It let out a whimper of pain before scrambling back to its feet. The Fel Hound battled on with the Level 17 Wyvern, zig zagging evasively to avoid the lightning being expelled from the reptile's mouth and jumping at its target again with gnashing teeth.

A silver disk appearing out of nowhere just above him and to his left pulled the Garath's attention away from his Death Bolt spamming. A Wyvern diving at him from above disappeared into it less than a second after he noticed it. Scant moments later, a second disk appeared thirty-meters in the air and the winged beast came barreling out of it like a bat out of hell. The Wyvern slowed after a second, looking disoriented - but ultimately just turned back to the building and resumed its diving attack.

Thwarting the attacks from above proved difficult but not impossible. Athios, TodoroKen, and SHONEN worked out a rotation that got the job done. The next dive-bombing reptile was promptly knocked unconscious by a pillar of asphalt that rose up from the ground to meet it, courtesy of the good doctor, TodoroKen - and was just as quickly dispatched by AyAyRon and the hawkies. After that, another diving attack was stopped cold by SHONEN’s AoE spell shield - a blue wall that extended over the Raid group like an awning and remained in place, protecting the