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

he never knew was there, felt distant from him, detached. The two black globes met in mid-air, the larger swallowing the smaller until they became one. He felt the demon enter his body, his mind, his soul – his own will dominating that of the Flayer completely. The single black globe hovering a few feet off the ground in the blue stone cave shimmered, then vanished and only the Necrologist stood in the space it had been. Garath retrieved the Mana Potion from his Items panel and downed it to recuperate before placing it back in the anomalous grid-space.

Though the Flayer was nowhere in sight, Garath felt its presence in his mind. A place that it would live, waiting to be called in to action. Instinctively, he raised one arm with his palm down and pulled the Flayer from the corner of his mind, forcing it out into the cavernous dungeon. The demon emerged from an invisible tear in space just below his outstretched hand, like the Items panel or Athios’ Dimensionalist Skills, but with no disk to visually denote the tear. Just as easily, he brought his palm down to dismiss the Flayer back into his mind and it vanished from view.

‘Sick!’ Garath thought to himself. He focused on pulling the demon from his mind again, this time trying to make it appear elsewhere. After a few minutes of playing with his new toy, Garath found he was able to will the Flayer into existence anywhere within about a ten-foot radius of his person. He was playfully willing the, increasingly pissed off, little demon into and out of existence around the starting cave when Warrion returned with a scouting report.

“The rest of this tunnel is empty,” he reported. “That’s the good news. The bad news is that it opens up to a cove a little ways ahead. The cove has pats trolling everywhere."

“Pats? Trolls? There are trolls in here, too?” Sharon demanded to know.

“He means patrols, usually a group of dungeon monsters that walk back and forth on a predetermined path to scout for intruders,” Athios explained efficiently.

Warrion nodded and equipped his daggers, then turned to Garath. “You done dicking around?”

Garath thought about it for a moment. He wanted to see the layout of the cove and try to time a strategy for pulling the patrol groups one by one back into the tunnel to wipe them out without alerting the others. That would be the ideal scenario of course and, so far, the dungeon appeared to be following a typical RPG dungeon format – but for some reason, the Necrologist felt that there were surprises ahead. He yearned for the precious Exp points he would gain in the cove ahead and his mouth actually watered at the thought. He wanted more power, needed more power, and so very much of it was waiting patiently for him through the tunnel ahead.

“Almost," he decided.

A pale green summoning circle appeared at the Necrologist’s feet and the gargoyle shaped Fel Hound emerged, wagging its stumpy tail excitedly. The German Shepherd sized dog-demon sat at attention, awaiting orders. Garath once again cast Demonic Bond and went through the same process of being encapsulated by sparking, black energy before emerging with a new presence inside of his mind, completely dominated by his will. The flood of power filled him even further and he grinned wickedly, but something felt off. His lips felt wrong somehow as they lifted over his teeth. He hurriedly opened his Profile panel to look at himself.

He looked at the holographic representation of his Character closely. His cheekbones seemed to protrude even more than they had before, and his canines had elongated. Paired with his ominously glowing eyes, Garath’s appearance even frightened himself little. He ran his hands along his face as he looked at the villainous avatar standing motionless on the holographic panel. As his fingers reached his forehead, he felt a small bump growing a few inches above his eyebrows. His thoughts of wondering what he was becoming didn’t last long, he liked the new look and the power it came with. He closed his Profile panel and nodded.

As the Party moved out of the starting area and down the tunnel toward the cove, they each received a private message.

Private Message from Gary to Sharon#142; Garath; Athios; Warrion - 00/00/06 @ 07:17:

Come back as soon as possible. Everyone infected with Plague. Hoping Sharon can cure it. Two dead already.

Gary

Chapter 30

Plague

The golden summer sunlight pouring in through the windows and the heat of the fire in the main hall of BOTH HQ had long since dried Daisy's tears as she lay on the couch with her head in Gran's lap, her little arms wrapped around the lifeless body of the only relative she had ever known. The tiny Elementalist had only ever had Gran to look after her. The two of them had been together for as long as Daisy could remember.

Gary looked on from behind the couch at the heart broken little girl. He felt deeply for her and didn't have the heart to pull her away from her beloved Gran, so he just watched with folded arms and dampened eyes. The bearded man finally worked himself up and placed his hand on her shoulder, she didn't look up.

"Go away, Gary."

"Daisy," he said gently, taking a seat beside her on the couch before the fire. "We can't just let her stay there. We'll give her a proper burial soon but for now I need to move her bo..." he couldn't finish. He couldn't refer to the corpse in front of him as just a body when it was obviously so much more to the little girl still clinging to it.

"Body?" she finished for him.

"Yeah."

"I won't let you!" she shouted, fresh tears cascading down her porcelain face.

Gary breathed in deeply, desperately wishing someone else could do what he then had to. "I'm sorry," he told her, gently grasping each of Daisy's arms and pulling her away from her