Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

speed, slicing me twice in under a second. I tried to deal with Cleaver, but as soon as I turned my back, Flamberge struck, and I couldn’t dodge.

It worked with her, better fucking work for me! Pain rolled through me as I caught the sword on my palm. My skin split, spilling fresh blood, and the impact made my arm rattle hard enough to shake me to my core, but the chitin held under the onslaught of his blade—dark black chitin formed over my hand, acting as a second skin for me.

I grabbed hold of the flamberge, and with my chitin-wrapped grip, squeezed as hard as I could. It held for a moment before cracking under my fingers, shattering and tumbling to the ground in pieces.

Flamberge just stared in fear at the broken tip of his weapon sticking out of my hand. I let go of his broken sword, ducked under Cleaver’s swipe, and ran Flamberge through with my blade. Cleaver swiped at my head while my blade was sticking out of his friend, and I managed to move just in time. His wide blade sank deep into his dying friend's neck.

Thick, heavy blood sprayed into the air, coating us in rancid gore. I shut my mouth and stepped back as Flamberge dropped lifelessly to the ground, his head nearly sheared from his body. I spat on the ground, making sure none of his vile fluids landed on my tongue.

I returned to Cleaver. My sword was stuck in Flamberge’s body, and Eris still had my knife, so I fought with my hands.

Cleaver was much less confident now that we’d taken down half of their number. While Gladius stared wide-eyed at our duel, and Spear fought Eris, Cleaver was more cautious.

A glance told me that Eris was holding her own. With the falchion raised, she knocked aside what attacks she could and moved when she couldn’t parry them. Her movements were stiff and awkward, but she could move fast and was strong, so it allowed her to survive what attacks were coming her way. While Eris was his target, Spear had much bigger problems. Namely, the bugs.

Spiders, scorpions, and even ants were encroaching on him, dozens of them. He stomped the larger ones as they got closer, but every time his foot landed, a few managed to crawl up his leg. The spiders scurried towards his chest, while the scorpions jabbed their stingers into his legs over and over.

Spear screamed and frantically clawed at his pockets for an item while trying to knock the spiders off him. He pulled out a small gray stone, polished smooth with Script on it. A fire stone. He spoke the activation word and threw it at his feet.

Which was a fatal mistake.

Whether his terror had overridden his common sense or he just misjudged the throw, the fire stone landed just shy of his feet and exploded, sending a wave of pressure toward us, and a massive, roaring fire rose to consume everything in its path.

Spear meant to kill the bugs but was too close to the spell when it went off—fire engulfed him in a matter of seconds. He screamed as he burned before falling to his knees, clutching at his blackened and cracked skin. He died a second later as the fire devoured his entire body.

Eris picked herself off the ground. The fire hadn’t done much damage to her; a singed shirt was the worst of it. Though she was about to give out, she stumbled and was struggling to stand. Her mana had reached its limits. She smiled at me to let me know she was okay, but it turned to fear as she shouted.

“Sam, behind you!”

I turned, just managing to get out of the way of Cleaver’s swing. He swung again and again. I stepped out of the way of what I could, but he was fast, a few of his swings sliced thin grooves into my armor, one slice carved into my face, just below my cheek. Hot blood rushed down my face, but I ignored it and looked for an opening.

Cleaver was lightning fast and his weapon razor-sharp, but even with how light it was, he was tired from the numerous swings. His speed was still just as fast, but his technique slipped, allowing me to step close to him and kick him off balance. He fell to the ground, and I wasted no time in pinning his arm and breaking his nose with a jab. I snapped his wrist, took the cleaver from him, and buried it in his skull, splitting his face in two. Yellowed bone peeked out from behind his eyes as his skull cracked in half.

Five of the six were dead, leaving only the still stunned Gladius to deal with. Eris limped over to me, still holding the falchion and handed me back my knife. I secured it and went to grab my blood-soaked sword from Flamberge’s body. It came away slippery, which washed away as Poison Blade activated, and toxins dripped down it.

I turned to Eris and smiled at her. “Not half bad for your first time.”

“Really?” she asked, practically glowing, despite her exhaustion.

“Don’t get a big ego. You still need training, but this conversation can wait. We still have threats to deal with.”

I wasn’t talking about Gladius. He was kneeling on the ground, shaking with fear. I thought he was frightened of me, of the fact that I had beaten his friends so quickly, but no. He was staring at Eris, trembling with fear, and muttering to himself.

He looked from her to me and scrambled on all fours over to me, clutching at my pant leg, begging me. “Please, please, please, don’t let her near me. Please have mercy. I’ll do anything, just keep her away.”

I smiled a grim smile. “Don’t worry. I won't let her have you.”

Gladius broke into tears,