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

Begin combat log:

[you have been awarded 7,630 Experience Points for slaying Level 28 Gnoll]

[you have been awarded 7,630 Experience Points for slaying Level 28 Gnoll]

End combat log.

You have received 1.2 Mana Crystals.

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

You have received 1.2 Mana Crystals.

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

Garath found it interesting that he received roughly the same amount of Experience and Mana Crystals from the kills as he’d been getting when all five members of the Party had been involved. He hoped that Sharon, Atlas, and Auto were at least getting their share while they waited for Garath and Daisy to meet them—wherever they were. Soon the dirt sloped downward, leading them into a large clearing.

Oddly, Garath didn’t spot any movement at the base of the slope. The torches along the sides of the path fanned out where the trail met the clearing, forming a circle. Garath’s hopes for an end to this dungeon swelled when he noticed that there was no path leading away from the torch-encircled area. There were no gnolls, tents, campfires, or towers, only two identical, man-sized orbs standing side-by-side in its center. Garath and Daisy cautiously entered the ominously calm clearing.

The landscape of dark trees and dense fog vanished. Garath spun around and found the path that led them there was gone, replaced by more torches that completed the circle. He turned back to face the orbs, and was surprised to see that they each now had a red Healthbar affixed just above them. Next to the Healthbars, two timers on a synchronous countdown.

00:59

00:58

00:57

Garath triggered Inspect on the orb to the left.

Necro-Shaman Cocoon

Transitional Humanoid

Health: 25,000/25,000

Level: N/A

Station: Evolution Chamber

Mana: 0/0

Description: Once activated, the Necro-Shaman within this maturation chamber will awaken, a process that takes one minute. If allowed to exit its cocoon naturally, the Necro-Shaman will evolve to the final stage of its existence, a Gnoll Dread Priest. Destroy the cocoon in the time allotted or prepare to meet your demise.

Garath looked hurriedly at Daisy. The little Elementalist nodded in agreement, apparently having just read the same thing Garath had. *You take the one on the right. Light it up, Daisy. I do not want to find out what the hell a Gnoll Dread Priest is.*

Daisy was already pooling her Mana into an Ice Storm. “Don’t have to tell me twice.” When the two-second cast was complete, Daisy released her spell and a cloud appeared from thin air, showering both cocoons with pointed ice shards.

Garath sent his three Skeletal Warriors to attack the cocoon on the right, then issued mental commands for Handsome, Bill, and the Dreadreaver to target the cocoon on the left. He sprinted behind his summoned creatures to get within Blight’s 3-meter range. By the time the dark purple energy shot out from his body, the timers both read :43.

Between himself, his posse, and an eleven-year-old girl, they’d have to deal nearly 50,000 damage over the next 43 seconds or they’d all learn exactly what a Gnoll Dread Priest was capable of. Determined to avoid that if at all possible, Garath knew it was time to use his newest Skills.

He activated Boiling Blood and felt an instant rush, like adrenaline, if adrenaline did a line of cocaine. He pooled Mana into unleashing the Hellflies. A hellish red portal, one foot in diameter, appeared in front of him. It looked like a doorway to the farthest corner of Hell, complete with licking flames. The basketball-sized winged creatures that poured out of the hole certainly supported that theory.

Each one of the twenty-odd ‘flies’ that spilled out of the summoning circle was as vicious-looking as a hungry rottweiler. With a thought, Garath directed the swarm of Hellflies to attack the cocoons at will, and they immediately began divebombing their targets, spitting a green liquid from their mouths. With each pass, Garath heard the sizzling of acidic saliva burning the barriers protecting the two Necro-Shaman within.

Garath sent Felfire Bolts at both of the cocoons in alternating order to keep the damage-over-time effect active on both of them as much as possible. A glance at his combat log as another orb of neon-green energy slammed into a cocoon bolstered his confidence.

The ridiculous numbers scrolled by almost too fast to keep up with. In a single second, Garath and Daisy had pumped out a staggering 4,463 damage against the cocoons. Sure, they both had a 60% modifier to their damage, but it was still pretty damned impressive if you asked Garath. He stole an upward glance to check on the status of the cocoon’s Healthbars and time remaining. The cocoon on the left showed 6,113/25,000 Health remaining while the cocoon on the right was a pinch healthier at 6,541/25,000. The timers displayed thirteen seconds remaining.

Garath’s Mana was running low after sending Felfire Bolts at the cocoons nonstop for over 30 seconds straight. The insane damage boost from the Hellflies vanished at the end of the spell’s thirty-second duration, and the insects flew back down the hole they’d come from. Another Felfire Bolt shot from the little white Necrologist and he pooled Mana into the next immediately, still switching targets with each subsequent cast. Finally, with five seconds to spare, the cocoon on the left ran out of Health.

The timer disappeared from the defeated cocoon and wide cracks began to spread across its smooth surface. Garath didn’t wait to see what would happen next. With 204 of his last available 560 Mana, he sent another Felfire Bolt to connect with the remaining cocoon. His demons switched targets with him. For three stressful seconds, they put everything they had into finishing off the second cocoon. With a single second left, the cocoon’s Health dropped to zero and the timer vanished. Relieved, dizzy, and lightheaded, Garath took a deep breath as cracks began to spread across the second cocoon as well.

*Nice job, Daisy.*

She was breathing