End of an Era (Project Chrysalis Book 2) by John Gold (popular books to read .TXT) 📕

roof on the undead who are building a ladder from the swamp side. Suddenly, a small squad of monkey skeletons marches up from the back.

Undead, Swamp Chimpanzee Skeleton, Level 516

 

It’s a good thing Fem has my back; she takes care of them. She turns her blade sideways to club away at them, and the titanic strength she puts behind each blow crushes straight through the already frail skeletons.

The chimeras attack again twice, the second time from both flanks using the monkey skeletons as a diversion but we’re ready for them. A whirlpool of death hits the northern part of the swamp, Death Magic that pulls health from living beings by rotting their flesh. For the undead, even without much strength behind it, the spell does incredible mental damage. They don’t have much resistance to begin with. It’s the sword of Damocles hanging over the necromancers’ heads: they control the undead by making them highly susceptible to mental attack.

The second group of chimeras is taken out by meteors, and we don’t even pay attention to the diversion this time. But what happens next takes us by surprise.

First of all, the next five minutes go by without a single attack. Second, only one squad of local bosses appears - a dozen reaper centipedes. They’re serious opponents who have studied our tactics and abilities. The liches have evidently decided to start dispersing their attack.

Undead, Swamp Fitz Reaper, Level 547, local boss

 

Is this some kind of test? Are they waiting for us to relax before they send in the second squad? In this case, we decide to approach the situation differently.

No matter how clever the enemy is, they still have to get through the choke points before they can attack. Before they do, they make every effort to avoid a powerful surge.

Hm, their attacks are getting weaker, and coming less and less often. It’s like the liches are busy. How else can you explain the fact that we just killed all the local bosses in ten minutes?

Level 255 unlocked

Available for distribution: 215 attribute points

 

“Sagie, I think the undead are attacking someone else, and the liches are busy there. The second squad headed west.” Fem points in the direction of the forest. “I happened to catch them going in that direction.”

“You want to go see?”

“The liches are focused on someone who can fight local bosses. That’s either strong players or an attack on the village, and we should help in either case. Hey, we were the ones who started the war here. We should take care of what we started.”

I have a heart, so we head off to see who has the devils so interested. The ritual seal stays where we left it. The charge in the stakes will last another hour, hour and a half.

Ten minutes later, we see a very interesting picture. Four men are standing back to back in the middle of a field, surrounding a girl who’s pulling magic wands out of her bag. As soon as the charge in one runs out, she pulls out another.

Femida gets a kick out of the way they’re leveling up.

“Cool! She must have spent all her attribute points on intellect.”

The local bosses circle the field, periodically attacking the group, but it’s our appearance that breaks the standoff. Two dwarf hammers and a dragon breath smash home. Femida chops up another couple of reapers for good measure.

I’m wearing my cloak of death and the wig, while Fem has her helmet on. We’re not about to show our faces. The group of fighters immediately turns to face us, the woman in the center of their little squad. Just in case, I pull up shields for both of us. You never know…

“Hello there. What are you all doing? Why were you on your way to the swamp? There wasn’t anyone here, we didn’t see anything in the local chat, and there’s suddenly a whole group of you.”

They look us over for a little while, clearly chatting back and forth and deciding what to do with us.

“Who was in charge of the attack on the undead?” the woman asks. The cloth armor of an air mage gleams a light blue color. A rare choice. Her wands must be for lightning.

“Who’s asking?”

“That’s not a polite way to talk to adults.”

Hm, should I just kill them? They look iffy, and they’re out in the swamp.

“Miss, I was the first one to ask, meaning that you’re the one not being polite. What do you want here? The raid bosses are going to pop up soon, so you should get out. We might kill you by accident.”

They’re ignoring us again, model undead hunters.

“Where is your raid leader? I want to talk with him.”

That’s one of the men talking, apparently a marauder. Wait a second! He’s a master swordsman and mage. That sensation of power…wow, they’re all really strong!

“Fem, they’re Hunters. Really strong and professional…really strong.”

“Yes, I know. That guy has at least one familiar, the snake around his leg. The girl has a toad with invisibility. The others have hidden familiars activated, too.”

Okay, we all need to calm down. People don’t just pull out familiars unless they’re prepared to use them.

“I assume you’re all Hunters.” Nobody nods. “We don’t have a raid leader. We’re acting on our own, with no ties to the League. There are just two of us. You should all have advanced perception, so you can see that there isn’t anyone else.”

“You’re telling me two kids cleared all the undead here, and then took out a squad of local bosses? Care to explain that?”

“Sorry, but you’re getting on my nerves. I’m not going to tell you anything, and I’m going to ask you to leave this area. The battle with the raid bosses is about to start, and you’ll just