Drake's LitRPG Megabundle (7 Books)

by Adam Drake

  But the dragon was determined. Flapping its wings for balance, it settle one of its feet onto the boulders while it grabbed for him with the other.

  Unable to escape, Rob found himself seized within its grasp. He shouted in pain as it tightened its grip.

  Suddenly, the dragon lifted off, and the ground fell below them. Like an eagle that caught a mouse, it soared up through the air, its great wings flapping.

  Rob's arms were pinned within the vice-like grip of the talons, and couldn't move. Horrified, he watched the terrain speed past below.

  Now I'm in trouble, he thought, a little stunned. Where was this thing taking him?

  The wind buffeted his face, making his eyes water. He could turn his head enough to look up at the dragon. Its long body was covered in thick shiny scales, and he could see the rippling of its muscles beneath them. The great beast was blackish in color, with gray streaks down its scaled belly.

  Completely helpless, Rob could only wait to see where they were going.

  It didn't take long. The creature slowed and circled a large rocky outcropping. Rob blinked against the tears and saw a huge nest atop it. Something within the nest raised its head on a long neck. Another dragon, this one smaller.

  Uh, oh. This was about to go from bad to worse.

  The dragon circled several times, roaring. Below the small dragon answered in kind, but higher pitched.

  Rob was in full panic. He was about to be fed to the dragon's baby!

  The dragon suddenly dropped down. Flapping its great wings to keep it hovering above the nest, it let go of Rob.

  He fell with a shout to crash into the nest. It was made of large branches and small tree trunks. Bones and skulls of various creatures, some human, were scattered about.

  But Rob barely had a moment to take these details in. The baby dragon shrieked and turned toward its newest meal.

  Dazed from his ordeal, and hurt from the fall, Rob tried to scramble back, away from the hungry creature. Above, mother dragon flew upwards and banked away out of sight.

  While the mother dragon was the size of a plane, the baby was much smaller, with the body mass of a horse, and a head like a large crocodile.

  Smaller or not, it wasn't something he wanted to be trapped in a small space with.

  The baby flapped its wings and walked awkwardly toward him, its talons grasping at the branches of the nest for balance.

  Rob could barely stand, but managed to hold up his buckler and axe. He glanced around for a means of escape.

  Suddenly, the baby dragon lunged forward and snapped its jaws at him.

  Rob was able to deflect this attack with the buckler, and swung his axe at it, but missed. He took several steps back until he was at the upraised edge of the nest. The situation was dire. Even if he managed to kill this baby, the mother would end him, anyway.

  The baby regarded him with curiosity as if trying to decide how to go about eating him. It shrieked and flapped its wings in agitation.

  Rob looked frantically about. The outcropping jutted out of a mountainside, but there was nowhere to climb to from here.

  Suddenly, the baby surged forward, squawking loudly and lunged its large head at him.

  Rob cast Sun Bolt, careful with his aim.

  The beam struck the dragon right in its eyes, and the dragon yanked itself away, crying in pain.

  Quickly, Rob pulled himself up on the edge of the nest and looked down. Far below, a small forest grew around the base of the outcropping. He swallowed hard. It was a long way down.

  Behind him, the dragon was shrieking up a fit, blinded by the Sun Bolt.

  Deciding there was no other choice, he slung his axe and buckler, then climbed over the edge of the nest, and down the other side. Several times a branch he grabbed snapped in his grip, but he managed to keep from falling.

  In moments, he had his feet on the rock beneath the nest. Carefully, he continued climbing down. The outcropping was sheer, but there were still enough small ledges and cracks for him to hold onto.

  You have learned a new skill: Climbing

  Advancement in this skill will allow you to better climb various surfaces and terrain.

  Oh, wonderful, just in time! Rob thought sarcastically, trying desperately not to fall. What good was the 1% skill to him at this point?

  A strong wind buffeted him, threatening to rip him from the rock-face. But he hung on and kept climbing.

  Above he could here the baby dragon shrieking, afraid and in pain. From somewhere close he heard the mother's answer, a deep roar that nearly made Rob freeze up in panic.

  A shadow moved over the rock above him. He looked up to see the mother dragon land in the nest, her long tale hanging over its edge. More roaring and shrieking pierced the sound of the wind in his ears.

  The mother dragon was inspecting her young. When she realized Rob wasn't there, it would look for him.

  Running out of time, Rob scaled down the rock face. He couldn't tell if the leather gloves he wore were a help or hindrance. Regardless, there was nothing he could do but keep going.

  You have advanced in Climbing! Skill has increased from 1% to 2%.

  Couldn't he learn to fly, instead? he thought as he eased down onto another ledge. Below, the forest was getting a little closer. The rocky outcropping was tapering outward, slightly, getting wider. A few more feet and its surface wouldn't be so sheer.

  Suddenly, the mother dragon above let out a loud roar, then launched off the nest. It flew out of sight, but Rob knew it was looking for him.

  Gotta move! He kept inching downward, but his arms and legs were getting tired.

  For several minutes he climbed, occasionally slipping. Somewhere, the dragon roared as it hunted for him.

  Never in all his years did he think he'd be scaling a cliff to escape an angry dragon. It was like a scene out of a movie or book. Yet, here he was, living it.

  I'd rather be watching the movie right now, he thought, easing onto a wide ledge. The space here gave him enough room to turn around. The ground was getting closer, but was still terrifying to look at.

  Suddenly, the dragon appeared to his right, circling around the outcropping. It saw him and roared.

  Crap. A quick glance at his mana told him he was one point short of casting another Sun Bolt. Not that he thought it would make any difference this time around.

  The dragon flew at him, but stopped a short distance away, flapping its wings to keep level.

  Rob could only stare at the thing in terror, transfixed. It looked pissed.

  The giant lizard opened its mouth and inhaled deeply.

  Uh, oh. Was it about to breathe fire at him?

  Eyes wide, Rob looked down at the trees below. They were so damn far.

  The sound of the dragon's inhaling stopped, and its scaled belly expanded and contracted. Then it arched its head forward.

  Not waiting to be cooked alive, Rob chose to die another way. He jumped.

  The very moment he did, a titanic blast of fire exploded from the dragon's mouth and scorched the ledge he'd stood on.

  But this didn't matter to him anymore, the approaching ground did. In seconds he smashed into the upper most branches of the trees, bouncing off a trunk.

  He felt ribs crack as he plummeted through the forest canopy. Near the bottom, he bounced off the bow of a tree and his spine snapped at the waist.

  He slammed into the forest floor, and all his breath escaped his lungs with the impact. The ground was at an angle and the momentum of his fall rolled him downward.

  For several seconds his limp body crashed and slid along the side of the mountain, bashing into rocks and cracking against trees.

  At some point he blacked out. When he came to, he found himself wedged up under a large fallen log, bits of rocks and dirt racing past him.

  The pain was impossible to fathom. A glance at his health bar told him he had exactly one hit point left.

  I'm going to die, he thought. From a faraway place he heard the roar of t
he dragon. Not that he cared. This was a good a place to die as any. At least he didn't get eaten.

  All his limbs were broken, but his right arm still had movement. With groans and curses, he forced it into one of his bags of holding.

  Astoundingly, he managed to pull out a Major Potion of Restore Health. He raised it to his mouth and was surprised to find most of his teeth were missing. He pulled the stopper out with ragged gums and guzzled its sweet amber liquid.

  The sensation of being healed after so much traumatic injury was like riding on a tingly roller-coaster. He felt bones click back together, flesh sew back up, and his missing teeth popping back into place.

  After the full healing cycle was complete, Rob sighed. My god, he thought. Wasn't that fun?

  He pulled himself out from under the log and carefully stood. The forest ambled down the side of the mountain, and its thick canopy looked to provide enough cover from the searching dragon.

  But he couldn't wait here. He wanted to get more distance away from the nest.

  Checking to make sure he still had his buckler and axe, he followed the forest down, careful of his footing. As to where he was going, it didn't matter. He simply needed to get away from this place.

  For twenty minutes he moved through the forest, all the while replaying his fall and landing over and over in his mind. He felt every impact and each snapping bone. Although he was completely pain-free, it still smothered his memory. Something he could never forget.

  I really hate this game, he thought. Some sadistic bastard was enjoying all the pain he'd suffered. If he ever found who it was...

  Suddenly, a break appeared in the foliage to his right and something caught his eye.

  There, at the bottom of a wide gully was a large camp. He could see pale pech moving about, some fetching water from a nearby stream, others standing guard.

  In the middle of the camp were three circular stockades, each containing several humans. Even from this distance he could easily spot Jace's red hair and beard on one of them.

  These were his people.

  He found them.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Rob crawled into the bushes that overlooked the camp. He'd circled around through the forest, trying to find a place to get closer. This was the best vantage point he could find that didn't risk detection.

  You have advanced in Stealth! Skill has increased from 5% to 6%.

  He looked down into the camp, his eyes immediately drawn to the three stockades. Including Jace, he spotted Fumi, Saif, and the dock master, Erwin. Each were sitting on the ground with their hands bound in front of them. He didn't know any of the others at all, having never met them before. For several minutes, he tried to find Breddin, the farmer, but couldn't find him. He hoped he was still alive.

  There were many pech about. Too many. He counted at least twenty, but it was hard to tell them apart. They would enter and leave the camp making tracking them difficult.

  One in particular, though, stood out. He was a little taller than the rest, and pech would constantly approach to speak with him. Their leader, no doubt.

  Several tents had been erected around the perimeter of the camp with the stockades in the middle. One tent served as a mess, while others looked to be temporary quarters. At one end was kept a half-dozen strange looking animals, like oxen. He wondered at their purpose until he realized they were probably used as some kind of pack animal.

  For over an hour, he watched the camp, and every second that passed made him feel more, and more helpless. How was he going to free his people? He couldn't take on all the pech. Heck, after his encounter with those shock sticks they used, he doubted he could handle one. But twenty?

  If there was a way he could free the people from the stockades, maybe some of them could escape. It was a possibility, but how to go about doing that? He didn't doubt that some of them would fight once freed. Better to do that and die than be taken away to be a slave.

  Lost in thought his eyes passed over his people for the millionth time. His eyes rested on Saif. The Sage looked worse off than the rest as he had a metal bit set into his mouth. None of the others had it. What did it mean?

  Rob sighed. This really was futile. He couldn't fight an army, and he couldn't free his people.

  This left him only two viable options. After they broke camp and moved on, he could follow them. Maybe an opportunity would present itself along the way. Of course, he risked detection as the pech might be watching for signs of pursuit. But if he had to, he'd follow them all the way to the Blighted Wastes, however far that was.

  Another, was to go back to the trogs and beg them for help, again. He didn't know what he could say to change their minds. Perhaps if he explained that without his people there wouldn't be a kingdom. And without a kingdom there wouldn't be any trade deals for the trog to exploit in the future. Yet, thinking about it, Rob knew it wouldn't work.

  He sighed and shook his head in frustration. This was too much for him. How was he expected to do this on his own?

  Below, a pair of pech approached one of the stockades and opened its gate. They pointed at Fumi, who tacitly ignored them. When she didn't respond, the pech entered the stockade to stand before her. One pointed at the gate.

  Even from his vantage point Rob could see her turn her one eye to scowl at them. Good for you! Rob thought.

  Suddenly, a pech jabbed her with its shock stick and Fumi moaned in pain.

  Son of a bitch, Rob thought, feeling his anger flare up. But he could only watch.

  Getting the message, Fumi allowed herself to be removed from the stockade. Two other women were also brought out. All three were marched over to an open-air tent with a large table and some buckets.

  Rob's alarm grew. What was this about?

  After some pantomiming from the pech, Fumi began to dig through the buckets while the other women placed stacks of bowls on the table.

  Meal time, Rob thought, feeling slightly relieved. He watched as Fumi dished out something from the buckets into the bowls. The two women then carried them to the stockades and handed them out. Even with hands bound, his people ate hungrily. They made for a rather pathetic sight.

  Rob went over his two options several more times as he watched the women bring bowls to everyone in the stockades. As he looked idly over all the unfamiliar faces he stopped at Erwin's. The little dock master wasn't eating. Instead, he was staring right up at Rob, eyes wide.

  Blinking in surprise, Rob crouched down. He locked eyes with Erwin and offered a reassuring smile.

  After a moment, Erwin smiled back with a big goofy grin.

  Yeah, I'm here for you, buddy, Rob thought. You're not alone.

  Erwin nudged the man next to him and nodded at Rob. The man looked and his expression went from shock to elation. This man nudged the woman next to him and did the same. The woman looked up, smiled then laughed.

  Uh, oh, Rob thought, realizing what was happening.

  Wanting to share, Erwin told the other people around him, and more people looked up at him.

  No, no, no. This isn't a good thing, Rob thought, growing alarmed.

  Soon, the word spread to the other two stockades and everyone looked up directly at their king who was trying to stay hidden.

  A pech wandering by, noticed this strange human ritual, and, of course, looked where everyone else was. He spotted Rob and shouted.

  “Shit!” Rob said, pulling back away from the bushes. More shouts came from the camp.

  He looked around trying to figure out which way to go. This sucked. His cover had been blown.

  A shout came from the trees to his right, close by. They couldn't have gotten up here that fast. Had to be a patrol.

  As he moved a pech ran out from the bushes and was startled by him.

  Rob was close enough to take a swing at the pech and his axe cut the being's arm.

  But the pech recovered quickly and jabbed at him with its shock stick.

  He managed to shift his body out of the way while ste
pping forward, buckler up.

  The Shield Bash smashed into the face of the pech and he heard a satisfying crunch. The being toppled backward, screaming in pain.

  Rob ran, heading in a direction that didn't have pech shouting. But he only got a couple of dozen paces when two pech appeared, running by. They stopped in surprise and turned to face him.

  But Rob was prepared, he raised his axe hand and cast Sun Bolt. Instantly, the beam hit one of the pech in the face, snapping its head back, causing it to cry out.