“Not on my watch!” Sergeant shouted, jumping in at the last second to cover us from the deadly attack, the Marsh Mistress landing heavily in the Lamia’s path.
For the next few seconds, the giant spider fought with the weaving monster, biting and striking with her spidery legs, and getting the same back. The armor created by the Engineer and Mechanic flew off her in shards, caving under the force of the mighty snake’s tail and powerful clawed hands. But the Lamia took damage too. For the first time, I heard her emit a scream of pain, then she quickly tore herself from the spider’s grip and surged to the side. The Wise One appeared in her path, and she wasted precious seconds in fruitless attempts to deal damage to the incorporeal ghost.
I spent all my mana on Slows and Weakens. I don’t know how much it helped, but the beast didn’t seem quite so fast now. It was getting harder for her to evade the pack of rats chasing her around the hall. And the Lamia’s health began to fall, too. I saw blood flowing from numerous wounds on her body. And a crossbow bolt was stuck into the monster’s neck almost up to the feathers, clearly causing her pain. The Thief and Huntress managed to land another couple of shots in her tail. From what I knew, Anita Ur Vaye and Avir Tan-Hoshi had dipped their bolts in a substance that burns Stamina Points, so the Lamia’s strength should steadily be fading. There was no doubt — we were gradually winning. But why was she not running? Why continue to fight a hopeless battle?
“Hey you, Lamia! Over here!” Many turned to the Mechanic’s cry, including me.
Edward stood with a lit torch in one hand and something else in the other, hidden behind his back. He was standing by a cradle, leaning down and looking at something inside. A cradle? Where had that come from? Before I even had time to consider that question, the Minotaur’s blood-curdling scream rang through the hall: “NOOOOOOOO!!!” The Lamia covered the distance to the Mechanic in a split second and sank her venom-filled teeth into the human’s shoulder!
He reeled, but then suddenly pulled his hidden hand from behind his back and struck the Lamia. Then Edward’s legs failed and he fell, a smile of satisfaction on his face. He can’t have just hit her with a bare hand — I clearly heard the sound of metal. Ah, there it is! Edward’s wrist gleamed with a locked metal bracelet, its chain leading to the Lamia’s arm with another bracelet sealed around it! Our Mechanic had bound himself to the monster, depriving the Lamia of the incredible speed she was using against us. Edward’s move came as a surprise to me. It was a kind of self-sacrifice for the good of the group. The Lamia was far larger and heavier than him, but even so, it drained her to drag a human body around.
Soon enough, the Marsh Mistress caught up to the newly slowed Lamia again, wrapping all eight of her legs around the snake’s body and delivering bite after bite, spraying venom into the wounds. Sergeant hit the giant beast with his heavy club a few times too, knocking the enemy’s final Stamina Points away with his Stern Mentor. And… it worked! The Lamia fell unconscious!
Curse Magic skill increased to level eighty-three!
Shapeshifter skill increased to level thirty-seven!
Your character is now level thirty-seven!
Reward: three skill points (total available: twelve) and one mutation point (total available: twenty-eight).
“No! We need her alive!” the Beast Catcher shouted, chasing the rats away and watching while the Marsh Mistress quickly rolled the snake up in a cocoon of webbing. Then he sat down exhausted on the floor and sent for his sister, so the Veterinarian could see if Darkness and Edward could be saved.
* * *
Only eighteen remained from the huge pack of rats. And Edward had gone to the respawn point too. Margarita cried rivers over his body and blamed herself for not saying ‘yes’ to the boy’s proposal, promising to correct that error as soon as Edward revived. But the Chimeric Cougar survived at least, saved by our little Veterinarian, who used her last dose of the antidote Sergeant had brought from the old world.
Now there was the question of what to do with the man-eating monsters. Most of the League of Losers were in favor of killing the dangerous creatures. But Sergeant was in no hurry to do anything irreversible. He span some magic scroll in his hands, looking first at the Minotaur, then at the Lamia. Then he took the sherkh Huntress aside, whispered to the pointy-eared girl for a long time while she calmed down a crying Hope in her arms. He gave Anita the scroll and pointed at a simple silver ring on her hand. The babe in her ‘mother’s’ arms suddenly shone with multicolored sparks and… disappeared!
“Heh. The Cartographer won’t be pleased… But now we’re ready to go out into the world beyond!” Sergeant declared, but the Wise One asked him not to hurry, and to first go to the cradle.
I couldn’t hold back my curiosity either. I jumped up onto my master’s shoulder — I wanted to find out what the offspring of the Minotaur and the Lamia looked like. Wow… It wasn’t just one child inside, but three. They had long tails covered in snake scales, but were still reminiscent of human children, although with sharp horns on their little heads.
Apollyon Horn. Level 0 Demon.
Abaddon Horn. Level 0 Demon.
Veronica Horn. Level 0 Demoness.
The still bound Minotaur kept a close watch on the humans, eyes wide. “Sergeant, I beg mercy!” he said. “Not for myself. I have done many horrible things and I deserve no quarter. And not even for my beloved. But I beg you, have mercy on my children! Take everything I have, but don’t hurt my babies!”
“Don’t listen to him!” our Wise One said with unusual seriousness. “They may be small now, but they’re demons, enemies of the human race. You must kill them while you have the chance! Later may be too late.”
The other members of our group approached the cradle and voiced a whole range of differing opinions. The Beast Catcher said nothing for almost a minute. Then he declared that he wouldn’t let anyone kill the children. The silence that resulted from these words was broken by a slow clap. The group turned slowly. The clapper, standing in the center of the hall, was a familiar gentleman in an old-fashioned suit.
“Bravo, Sergeant! Yet another of your decisions upon which the future of this world depends. Only this time, even I couldn’t intervene and influence your choice, as other PLAYERS did not approve. Congratulations. Another new race has just come into being in this world, the sixth, now. I’ve always had a soft spot for demons, and I am very pleased that they will again appear in this Great Game. I will take the babes to keep them safe and raise them in a secure location. Their parents will come with me too. Do not fear; they will never again harm humankind.”
“A sixth race?” the Wise One asked, bright-eyed.
“Yes. Humans, veichs, veyers and sherkhs are still arriving in this world. A mighty player on another continent has already recreated a race of intelligent dragons. And now Sergeant has released demons upon the world, for which I am extremely grateful to him. Here is the key you need,” the vallar said, offering a gleaming emerald rod to Sergeant. “The most valuable books in this castle are already under cover in the courtyard by your beast of burden. And as a reward from me personally, everyone present in this room, even the bound prisoners, will get the Demon Creator achievement and three points to Fame. They will also join the guild known as League of Losers, which they cannot leave until the end of their days. Plus two free character stat points, why not? They’ll help you survive. And that will be handy,” he cocked his head, “because I’m afraid there will be a great many people wanting to kill you!”
End of Book Two
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New (French Edition)!
Testeur de contenu (Le Sombre Herboriste Volume 1) Série LitRPG
de Michael Atamanov
Sur les ailes du succès (Le Sombre Herboriste Volume 2) Série LitRPG
de Michael Atamanov
New!
Nullform (Book #1) RealRPG Series
by Dem Mikhailov
Aces High (Reality Benders Book #6) LitRPG Series
By Michael Atamanov
League of Losers LitRPG Series
by Michael Atamanov
City of Goblins (In the System Book #1) LitRPG Series
by Petr Zhgulyov
The Keepers of Limbo (The Range Book #1) LitRPG Series
by Yuri Ulengov
World of the Changed LitRPG Series
by Vasily Mahanenko
Rogue Merchant LitRPG Series
by Roman Prokofiev
Small Unit Tactics LitRPG Series
by Alexander Romanov
Project Stellar LitRPG Series
by Roman Prokofiev
Clan Dominance: The Sleepless Ones LitRPG Series
by Dem Mikhailov
The Alchemist LitRPG Series
by Vasily Mahanenko
Neue Versionen (in Deutscher Sprache)!
Kräutersammler der Finsternis LitRPG-Serie
von Michael Atamanov
Unterwerfung der Wirklichkeit LitRPG-Serie
von Michael Atamanov
Perimeterverteidigung LitRPG-Serie
von Michael Atamanov
ALL BOOKS BY MICHAEL ATAMANOV:
Perimeter Defense LitRPG Series:
Sector Eight (Perimeter Defense: Book #1)
Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2)
New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3)
A Game with No Rules (Perimeter Defense Book #4)
The Dark Herbalist LitRPG Series:
Video Game Plotline Tester (The Dark Herbalist Book #1)
Stay on the Wing (The Dark Herbalist Book #2)
A Trap for the Potentate (The Dark Herbalist Book #3)
Finding a Body (The Dark Herbalist Book #4)
Reality Benders LitRPG Series:
Countdown (Reality Benders Book #1)
External Threat (Reality Benders Book #2)
Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3)
Web of Worlds (Reality Benders Book #4)
A Jump into the Unknown (Reality Benders Book #5)
Aces High (Reality Benders Book #6)
League of Losers LitRPG Series:
A Cat and His Human (League of Losers Book #1)
In Service of the Pharaoh (League of Losers Book #2)
Short Stories:
You're in Game!
(LitRPG Stories from Bestselling Authors)
You’re In Game-2
(More LitRPG stories set in your favorite worlds!)
New Release!
Please meet our new author! Kaitlyn Weiss writes in the genres of romantic fantasy, urban fantasy and fantasy adventure. You can download her first book for free on Amazon: Captive of the Shadows (The Fairy Code Book #1).
Captive of the Shadows (The Fairy Code Book #1)
by Kaitlyn Weiss
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About the Author
MICHAEL ATAMANOV was born in 1975 in Grozny, Chechnia. He excelled at school, winning numerous national science and writing competitions. Having graduated with honors, he entered Moscow University to study material engineering. Soon, however, he had no home to return to: their house was destroyed during the first Chechen campaign. Michael’s family fled the war, taking shelter with some relatives in Stavropol Territory in the South of Russia.
Having graduated from the University, Michael was forced to accept whatever work was available. He moonlighted in chemical labs, loaded trucks, translated technical articles, worked as a software installer and scene shifter for local artists and events. At the same time he never stopped writing, even when squatting in some seedy Moscow hostels. Writing became an urgent need for Michael. He submitted articles to science publications, penned news fillers for a variety of web sites and completed a plethora of technical and copywriting gigs.
Then one day unexpectedly for himself he started writing fairy tales and science fiction novels. For several years, his audience consisted of only one person: Michael’s elder son. Then, at the end of 2014 he decided to upload one of his manuscripts to a free online writers resource. Readers liked it and demanded a sequel. Michael uploaded another book, and yet another, his audience growing as did his list. It was his readers who helped Michael hone his writing style. He finally had the breakthrough he deserved when the Moscow-based EKSMO - the biggest publishing house in Europe - offered him a contract for his first and consequent books.
Michael is now the author of three bestselling LitRPG series: Perimeter Defense, The Dark Herbalist and Reality Benders which are already considered the classics of LitRPG.
In Service of the Pharaoh (League of Losers Book #2) Page 34
