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

At the exact moment that Maimon’s body disappeared from the system-sanctioned duel arena, Auto reached the two felines with their backs turned to him. With a wide, cleaving swipe of his claws, the Chimerist landed a vicious hit that raked both Garath and Sharon across their backs. The pain from the four-clawed slash was tolerable to Garath, despite it costing him nearly a third of his HP. Sharon did not fare quite as well. The same attack that parted the Necrologist from 30% of his total Health took more than twice that from the Naturist, leaving her with only about a fifth of her red Healthbar filled and a bleed debuff draining more of what precious few Health Points remained. Garath mentally kicked himself for standing in such close proximity to his teammate, allowing Auto to land such a devastating blow to his team as a whole.

*Sharon, we’ve gotta split up!* he shouted over their Party communication channel. Sharon’s only response was a muffled uh-huh noise that sounded remarkably similar to no shit, Sherlock as she ran toward home plate. *I’ll try to slow him down while you heal yourself. Turn around and try to run beneath him without getting hit.*

*You want me to run towards that monster?* Sharon asked incredulously, without changing direction.

*Do it, Sharon! Your reflexes are faster than his right now,* said Garath, fairly confident that he was right.

Garath resumed his natural form as Sharon skidded to a stop and wheeled around with four flailing limbs, her tail whirling to keep balance. Auto took a swing at the tabby as she passed beneath his legs, scoring the infield dirt with four deep gashes as she sprinted past him back toward the now much larger Garath between the pitcher’s mound and second base. The House Cat bonuses were great, but the Necrologist didn’t have a chance in hell at slowing the massive Man-Bear creature while weighing in at less than eight pounds. If he had to take a few hits from the Chimerist to give Sharon the time she needed to heal up and get back in the fight, at least he’d take less damage in his human form, although his chances of slowing Auto’s beastly form weren’t all that much better weighing in at his natural 170 pounds.

Garath didn’t like his chances of beating a fully-healed Auto in a one-on-one matchup with his own Health already sitting below 70% if Sharon went down. He had to give her the time she needed to recover.

Auto stumbled, off balance from his missed attack and Sharon’s abrupt change of direction, but recovered quickly and was gaining on Sharon as she passed the pitcher’s mound. Garath didn’t know what the hell he’d do when he got there but, now in his natural form and adorned with the tiara and baton he’d picked up in Aquawood Depths, the Necrologist helped to close the distance by sprinting toward Sharon, paying the 81 Health and 81 Mana costs into the two-second cast of Sanguine Ward as he did. The Blood Magic shield-spell would reduce the damage of physical attacks by 80% for the next five seconds.

Garath had never really been involved in athletics, but if he were to attempt a sports reference to describe what happened next, he would liken himself to a tennis player trying to tackle Jerome Bettis with a full head of steam. He knew there was a chance that Auto would break off from chasing Sharon and simply attack the squishy Necrologist. He knew it would hurt, but that was the result Garath was hoping for.

Unfortunately, the Chimerist smelled blood in the water and continued chasing Sharon, only slightly inconvenienced by the glowy-eyed Necrologist holding onto his hairy back as he moved in to make the kill on the wildly fleeing tabby.

Sharon’s Health continued to drop from the bleeding debuff as she made her mad dash, zigzagging in her best attempt to shake the pursuit. Garath had hoped to save his most powerful spell to use as a defensive measure, but opted instead to activate Black Blood in the form of an attack as Auto closed on Sharon and raked at her back with his right paw. The cleaving slash left shallow wounds on the Naturist as she made yet another well-timed direction change, lessening the impact but not completely avoiding the attack. Unfortunately, the numerical value of the glancing blow was greater than Sharon’s remaining Health. The Naturist’s limp and blood-soaked feline form vanished from the arena as she died.

Hundreds of black droplets of shiny liquid seeped from every pore in Garath’s skin as the fight became a one-on-one deathmatch. With his arms still wrapped around Auto’s hairy, muscled, way-too-thick neck, Garath willed the Black Blood to form a lance. The tiny black droplets, supposedly his own blood, coalesced at his command, and an impossibly dense spike shot out from Garath’s center, entering Auto’s back and erupting from his stomach with a string of hot, dripping intestines hanging loosely from it. The bear-man roared in pain, sounding much more beast than man, as nearly half of his Health drained away from the single devastating attack.

The Black Blood lance shish kabobbing Auto reverted to liquid form and reentered the Necrologist’s body. Garath wondered briefly if Auto’s guts had gotten into his own blood somehow. Gross.

Garath held on tight, weaving his fingers together around Auto’s neck as the Chimerist bucked wildly to throw the Necrologist. Garath’s heart pounded with excitement, thinking that if he could just hold on long enough, his DoTs might just win this fight. He released the instant cast of Blight again as the cooldown elapsed. He tried to funnel Mana into Creeping Death, but found that he was unable to cast some spells with his hands occupied. Garath reasoned that having free hands must not have been a requirement for that Blight, an instant cast that only affected the