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

pool of 810 was down by 378 - leaving the Necrologist with just over half of his maximum Mana. He gritted his teeth and had to really focus to control the 115 Mana as it pooled into his fifth casting of Creeping Death - without the Mana cost reduction from his form and AyAyRon’s urgent sounding tune, the same spell would have cost him a staggering 159 Mana. With five stacks of QE on the Dragon, Creeping Death was dealing over 13 damage per second in addition to the 5.3 damage per second from Haunt - and he wasn't the only Raid member getting work done. An uninterrupted volley of various magical attacks and projectiles that pelted the Dragon from every angle hadn't slowed at all. Slowly but surely, they were bringing down the Mythic Reptile.

*Steve!* Garath shouted, an abbreviated version of the next tank's designation, 'Steve-oooooh'.

The Necrologist nearly emptied his Mana pool pouring 149 of his last 432 Mana into a sixth stack of QE and risked breaking his concentration to take a quick glance at Aldrasyl's Health bar. Garath almost squealed with delight upon seeing that huge white reptile's Health was below one-third and dropping. Garath couldn't help watching the impressive numbers scrolling continually in his vision. Between the five stacks of QE and the damage-over-time effect of Haunt, Garath alone was dealing 18.4 damage to the white Dragon with every passing second. If Garath was the only member of the Raid damaging the Dragon though, it would take him roughly 30 minutes to bring it down at this rate. He considered making another wild run at the Mythic Reptile to get in range for a Blight, but thought better of it.

Getting the Quickening Entropy stack count to six would nearly empty Garath’s Mana completely but, after seeing those numbers, he couldn’t help himself. Struggling to keep his focus, the Necrologist dumped 194 of his last 283 Mana into another casting of Creeping Death. He was about to shift back into his natural form to retrieve his Mana Potion but the increasingly enraged Dragon had other plans.

With a single beat of his great wings, Aldrasyl knocked everyone outside the building off their feet. With a practiced series of complex movements and ancient magic, the great white Dragon unleashed his most powerful area of effect attack - Shatter Stomp.

In a fraction of a second, the massive Dragon created a strong, outward gust by twirling a in tight circle. He sprayed a blue mist from his mouth that was pushed away from his form in every direction - covering everyone outside the brick building with a thin layer of glossy cobalt liquid. Then, with an Ability passed down the hereditary line of Ice Drakes, Aldrasyl sucked all of the remaining heat in the air through his open mouth and into his lungs with the sound of a malfunctioning Hoover. The blue mist plastered to BoTH's fighting force reached its freezing temperature of -90 F and locked them all in place.

Garath desperately willed himself to shift back into human form to avoid taking 150% increased damage from the inevitable AoE attack but cursed when he received a system derived #nope.

You are Frozen.

You cannot shift forms while a condition debuff is in effect.

Focusing on a blue ice icon in his vision, Garath was able to see that they would all be frozen and unable to move for another six seconds. The great white Dragon finished his attack by soaring over a hundred meters straight up then turning back and descending at nearly 400 miles per hour - his eyes locked on the small feline Necrologist covered in the Dragon's own blood. As the massive weight of the Drake connected with the ground, a shockwave effect rippled out from his point of impact, shattering all of the ice once again into jagged fragments - all of the ice apart from the impossibly hard, blue ice rendering the fighting force immobile, of course. The piercing shards shot in every direction, ripping skin and chipping bone and even severing the outstretched arm of one of the casters.

The AoE attack hadn't killed a single member of the raid but Garath noticed several Health bars drop to dangerously low levels in his peripherals. His attention was quickly pulled from those concerns though. Aldrasyl was staring wild eyed directly at him.

With a snarl, the Dragon charged at the bloodbathed white cat. Garath's own eyes widened and his heart pounded faster and harder in his chest than it ever had before. He was still locked in place, unable to move for another two seconds. He closed his eyes as Aldrasyl closed the final few meters between them with one ice-shattering step. Garath knew it was over. He was going to die. He would not respawn. He was going to join over five-billion nameless people on that god-forsaken death prompt.

Just before accepting his inevitable death, the lifetime nerd and gamer that never did anything with his life gritted his teeth. He couldn't accept this. Whether it be his fear of the beyond or sheer will to live, Garath refused to let this monster take his life. On this new Earth he could be who he always wanted to be, a hero. He had been a gamer his entire life and therefore had been the savior of hundreds of worlds and vanquished millions of foes. Garath's resolve firmed and he came back to himself. He would be damned if he couldn't do something to vanquish this one foe to save his world.

The feline Necrologist opened his eyes with a grim resolve, looking directly into the face the Dragon that would claim his life.

"NO!" Garath yelled. He pulled his will inward and triggered the instant cast of Black Blood. Time seemed to slow and he could actually feel every blood cell in his body transform - ready to act as a shield to protect him, even if only for