The Tree of Ascension: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Peril's Prodigy Book 2) by Craig Kobayashi (ebook reader 7 inch TXT) 📕

the Rabbi had spent the opening seconds of the duel placing transparent bubbles around himself and his teammate. White light surrounded his hands and raised staff as Garath raced towards his position on the mound. With Auto hot on his heels and Maimon only a few yards in front of him, Garath unleashed the instant cast of Blight. Dark purple energy shot out from his tiny form in every direction, infecting both opponents with a 15 second DoT that would inflict 203 damage to each of them over its duration. Garath smiled to himself. Everything’s going exactly to plan.

The undersized white cat jumped onto Maimon’s white robes and clawed wildly as he climbed. Auto pulled back his claw swipe to avoid hitting his teammate with friendly fire as Garath clawed a path up the Preacher’s chest. Maimon must have cancelled the spell he’d been casting when Garath leaped, because the white light faded from his hands before winking out entirely. The self-proclaimed Rabbi flailed his arms trying to get the feisty feline off him, but Garath clung tight to the Preacher’s robes. With a muttered oath, Maimon dropped his staff and flung Garath off his chest by the scruff of his neck. The tiny cat flew, a sensation he was becoming a little too familiar with from his time in House Cat form.

He was now effectively a mid-air snack for the drooling Man-Bear, and Garath braced for an abrupt death by tooth and claw. Auto pounced at the opportunity to end this fight quickly, but Garath wasn’t fighting alone.

As Auto leaped, teeth bared, two thorn-covered vines erupted from the ground once again, this time wrapping themselves around both ankles. The momentum of his lunge and the sudden stop caused by Sharon’s Roots slammed Auto’s face into the ground. Frustrated, the mutant bear growled and tore at the thorny roots with his clawed hands. Garath landed on all fours and booked it back to third base.

*Nice one, Sharon!* Garath called, relieved for the moment of respite. Garath put some much-needed distance between himself and the hideous Man-Bear, darting toward shallow left field as he willed his demons into existence and issued some quick mental commands.

*Bill, slow Auto down as much as you can. Bite his legs and ankles, got it? Bark if you understand,* Garath directed, turning to look over his shoulder at Auto.

The Chimerist was moving slower now due to Haunt’s movement speed reduction, but still gaining on him. To Garath’s surprise, he saw that Auto too was being chased. A grey tabby with Sharon#142 floating over her head was in hot pursuit. Bill gave a growling woof and peeled right to circle back. *Handsome, use all your Mana to stack Quickening Entropy on Auto, then go pester Maimon with any dirty trick you can think of. If he’s focused on you, he’s not healing. Got it?*

*Yes,* Handsome responded directly into Garath’s mind. The Cambionic Flayer’s one-word response was somehow brimming with mirth. The tone confused Garath briefly, then he realized that he had just ordered a literal fucking demon to use any dirty trick it could think of. Of course Handsome was happy about this command. Garath was curious to see what the ugly little demon would come up with.

Bill barreled into Auto as the Chimerist took his first Root-free step in Garath’s direction, causing them to roll over each other in the grass. Garath took that second to further bolster his forces. For the first time, he excitedly started pooling Mana into the Skill ‘Summon Golem – Dreadreaver’. The relatively quick one-second cast seemed to stretch on for days as Garath nervously watched Auto toss Bill away, almost casually, before tearing off toward the Necrologist. When the spell was complete, Garath looked at the creature he’d summoned in gleeful awe.

Standing a full head taller than even Auto in his Man-Bear form, the Dreadreaver was one of the most frightening creatures Garath had ever seen. It was tall, muscular, and black as darkest night. One of its too-long arms ended in an almost-human hand tipped with five long, dagger-like claws. The other arm looked like a thick, heavy club below the elbow. Its twisted facial features could have been inspired by Dali’s worst nightmares. Garath pointed at the Chimerist sprinting their way and gave the Dreadreaver a singular command.

*Attack.*

Garath and Handsome stopped in deep left field, then turned back to see Garath’s Dreadreaver meet the Chimerist in a clash of muscle and claws. Garath and Handsome each channeled their Mana into casting Creeping Death. In tandem, the Necrologist and the Flayer each landed their first stack of Quickening Entropy as the Man-Bear reached the slightly overgrown left field grass.

Garath noticed that two separate debuff icons appeared below Auto’s Health bar, answering a question he’d had regarding two separate casters stacking Q.E. on the same target at the same time - he was a little disappointed that each subsequent cast of Creeping Death would only refresh the DoT debuff stack of the caster. That little detail wasn’t exactly game changing, but if he and Handsome could each refresh a single, shared debuff stack it would be easier to ensure the timer didn’t elapse and cause all of the stacks to fall off. Garath and Handsome both started casting Creeping Death for a second time as Auto broke free of his deadly tango with the Golem and closed the distance to Garath. That was when Bill made his second clutch appearance in as many minutes.

The Cambionic Fel Hound bit into Auto's lower leg, sinking his teeth in only briefly before releasing and scampering out of range of the Man-Bear's counter swipe. Auto paused, looking from Bill to the Golem, then to Garath and back at Bill. Garath smirked. He knew exactly what his old friend was considering. In many games, simply taking out a player's minions could render them near useless and Auto was trying to decide if that would apply to the Necrologist Class.

The Chimerist's moment of indecision ended and