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

a few seconds. Maybe until the spell holding him in place faded and he could run. Maybe long enough for Athios or another member of the Raid to pull a rabbit out of a hat and save his ass (again).

As the blood responded to his renewed will to live, black droplets began to seep out of his pores then dispersed into a dark vapor around him.

Aldrasyl opened his fanged mouth and lurched forward to execute the helpless feline. Frozen in place, Garath was watching the toothy orifice close around him when something brilliant occurred to him. Behind the menacing row of four-foot-long teeth he caught a glimpse of the glistening, pink soft-tissue of Aldrasyl's mouth and throat. At some level, he knew it was probably a bad idea, that the black vapor made up of his blood swirling around him was his only chance to live - but he also knew that this foe would mercilessly try to kill him again and again until succeeded, and that was even considering the spell shield held... and to be fair, even Garath really couldn't blame the Dragon. Once the Ice Drake took revenge for his ruined rod, he would just as mercilessly kill the rest of the Raid. Garath couldn't let that happen. He saw his chance and he took it.

The black blood-vapor hardened into a pointed lance of glossy obsidian and extended into the roof of Aldrasyl's gaping maw. Garath shuddered as he felt the sickening crunch of his hardened blood puncture bone and slide into the Dragon's brain tissue even as the wicked fangs of Aldrasyl's powerful jaw clamped around his slight form. The Ice Drake seized, his jaw clenching even tighter, crushing and grinding the Necrologist as his body convulsed in a dying fit.

With many of his tiny bones crushed, a lung punctured, and multiple open wounds leaking vital blood with abandon, the Necrologist lay in the pure darkness of Aldrasyl's closed mouth. As he watched the last of his HP depart from his Health bar, another prompt opened and was minimized. Not long for this world, Garath barely noticed and he heaved his last, painful breath.

The Dragon's convulsions slowed, then stopped. In the end, the cost of saving the countless lives this Dragon would have taken was Garath's own. The Necologist took solace in the fact that this vicious beast would accompany him into the beyond, never to take another human life.

Chapter 22

Emerald Glade

A warm breeze surprised Garath's nostrils with the sweet scents of spring flowers and cut grass. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the welcome sensation. Too afraid to open his eyes and see exactly what the afterlife had in store for him, he just laid there enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face.

*Are you enjoying yourself?* a deep, confident voice asked in the form of mental communication that Garath had become familiar with while in his House Cat form.

Hesitantly, the Necrologist peeled his eyelids apart. The first thing he saw made him wish he hadn't.  The stoic, draconian face of the great white Dragon, Aldrasyl, was only a few feet above him. Garath's eyes widened and he crab-walked backwards in a mad scramble as to get out from beneath the massive Dragon. A massive Dragon with more than enough motive to end his life. To his surprise, and profound relief, Aldrasyl merely watched him scrambling away with an unamused expression plastered on his scaled face.

*There is no need to fear, human. You cannot be harmed in this place,* the deep voice said in Garath's mind. Aldrasyl pulled his enormous wings in tight and lowered his body, bringing his serpentine torso to meet the emerald blades of grass below. He settled in to get comfortable, and to appear less threatening to the little human shaking with fear and still scrambling away from him.

*Are you talking to me?* Garath asked the Dragon, already knowing it was a stupid question.

The Ice Drake slowly looked around the serene glade they were standing in. Garath followed the Dragon's gaze, really taking in his surroundings for the first time. In his haste to put some distance between himself and the Dragon, the Necrologist had backed into a towering evergreen. The base of the ancient tree was as big around as a water tower and it was almost as tall as his thirteen-story apartment building had been. It wasn't the only one. In a perfect circle, hundreds of the ancient trees surrounded an emerald glade and, in the exact center, a round pool of crystalline blue water reflected the towering conifers around it. As he finished scanning the tranquil setting, his eyes once again landed on Aldrasyl. The fury that had filled the Dragon's sharp eyes only minutes before was gone, replaced now with an amused interest.

*Shall I assume that you have discovered the answer to your question on your own?* Aldrasyl asked slowly, seeing that the frightened human had now noticed that they were the only two living beings in the tranquil glade.

*Yeah,* Garath confirmed, still surveying the scene in wonder.

Neither spoke for a time and the Necrologist and the Dragon sat in silence, Garath with his back against the bark of an ancient tree and Aldrasyl lying casually next to the crystal pool in the center of the glade.

Time did not seem to pass in this place the way it had on Earth, Garath noticed. While they were sitting, he watched a seed that had fallen from one of the ancient trees. Before his very eyes, the soft soil seemed to almost suck the seed slowly under like a parent tucking their child into a blanket. Seconds after the seed was fully submerged, a sprout peeked out of the ground and grew steadily upward until it was roughly the height and width of the tree that had gifted the soil below with its seed. Even though he had watched it happen, in his mind, Garath knew