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

*Why?* Handsome scratched the question into Garath's mind, almost as if he'd known this would happen.

The fuzzy white Necrologist doubted that Handsome’s choice of the same one-word-sentence was a coincidence. He spared a moment to send the demon an apologetic thought. Handsome’s Healthbar had dropped to under half from the single hit and was continuing to slowly tick away from the bleeding debuff the arrow had blessed him with. Handsome may pack a decent punch, but his defenses left a lot to be desired. With a thought, he dismissed Handsome to wait within the relative safety of his mind. He wasn’t sure if or how Handsome would recover his missing Health, or if the recently skewered Flayer was even conscious of the pain while inactive. A quick mental probe later, Garath was relieved to find that Handsome was safe inside his mind and in the same condition in which he’d entered. He made a mental note to gift the demon with an apologetic gnoll heart later.

His plan had been to lure the ground-level pack of gnolls by having Handsome pop out of the fog and fire off a Death Bolt. Garath would then dismiss the demon, while still concealed by the fog himself, forcing the gnolls to investigate. From there he was going to run out of the fog, cast a Death Bolt himself, and then book it back to where his Party was waiting to ambush the simple creatures. Unfortunately, Garath ended up being the simple creature in this scenario, and his plan had fallen to shit. That was the bad news.

The good news was that his attempt to get the attention of the gnolls standing guard at the camp’s entrance was a success.

Knowing the gnolls would be at least as fast as he was, Garath didn’t spare a single second before tearing down the dirt path. A few more arrows thunked into the ground behind him, effectively laying out perfect markers to gauge the range of the towers’ combatants.

The cackling club of canids raised their weapons as they charged after the fleeing feline. The Necrologist glanced over his shoulder. Instead of joining the gnolls chasing him, four of the five gnolls that had been standing around the campfire moved up to stand guard between the towers in their place. Garath only caught a glimpse of the fifth as it sprinted toward the larger building on the far side of the camp. It may not have gone completely to plan, Garath mused, but he was currently in the process of bringing a single group to the slaughter, easily outside the range of the crossbows. It was still a win in his book.

*I’m bringing five gnolls your way,* Garath called. The yips and growls of the pursuing gnolls were growing closer and his heart was beating on overdrive.

Garath didn’t dare to glance behind him again. He could almost feel the heavy breathing of five gnolls hot on his tail when backup rounded the corner. Backup with a massive, horned, hairy, head of steam.

Garath banked to his left just before being trampled to death by the raging Unibear. He ran to reunite with the rest of the Party then turned back to the fight, channeling Mana into a Felfire Bolt.

The initial contact of a charging Unibear into a pack of gnolls in tight formation was something like a bowling alley strike, Garath thought as he took in the scene in front of him. Two of the creatures were just getting to their feet to Auto’s left. Two were already lifting their maces to retaliate. The last gnoll was stuck to Auto’s head, the horn embedded in its chest not quite long enough to impale it. To the gnoll’s credit, it was still gnashing and biting the Chimerist even as it writhed in pain.

*I can’t see shit,* Auto complained.

After trying and failing to shake the gnoll off of his face, Auto took a different approach. His body glimmered and blurred as he changed forms. When the his form solidified in Garath’s view, Auto was just a normal grizzly bear. The gnoll that had been on his face dropped to the ground, bleeding, as Auto shimmered again, swelling back into the horned hybrid of bear and rhinoceros.

During those scant seconds, the Party did quite a lot. Sharon easily restored the small amount of Health the Auto had lost. Garath sent in the troops with orders for the Fel Hound and Golem both to watch Auto’s back and target anything that tried to attack the tank from behind. Atlas joined Garath's summons, slashing with his ostentatious dual swords, while Daisy landed a burning status on each gnoll in turn with a well-placed Blast!

In less than a minute, five dead gnolls lay bleeding, charred, dismembered, impaled, or all of the above in the case of one particularly unfortunate specimen. Five teal orbs levitated out of their lifeless forms that were promptly distributed.

You have received 1.2 Mana Crystals.

Mana Crystals will be stored in your Items panel until spent, traded, or until your death.

There were four more identical prompts that Garath dismissed. He insisted on looting the weapons of the dead gnolls on the basis that they had access to a convenient, unlimited storage space. He wasn't sure if the gnoll weapons would ever make it back out of his Items panel, but if he ever needed a spiked mace, at least he'd have several of them.

The process of looting everything he could get his hands on would have required a form shift, so he enlisted Auto’s help. As impressive as their athleticism is, cats can't pick up a mace to save their lives. He hated the idea of shifting back into his human body. That weak, flaccid excuse for a form. Unwilling to do what was necessary to grow in power. Unwilling to even eat the heart of Illunitus like he should have, and just because it would probably taste bad. No, Garath did not