Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1)

by Grayson Sinclair

  I subconsciously slipped back in time, and was on a whole different battlefield.

  Lonny stood over me, his glittering gold sword bit into my neck as he looked down at me with unbridled hatred, tears streaming down his face. My own sword shattered to pieces; I’d been beaten.

  I wasn’t fast enough, and this was deserved. I’d let my carelessness run rampant for far too long. This is my punishment for letting Sophia die. I deserve this. I faced my death with as much bravado as I could muster, spitting a mouthful of broken teeth and blood straight into the face of the man who’d been my best friend.

  Then I blinked and came back to my senses. I wasn’t fighting with Lonny anymore, though I was still about to die.

  Rage shone in the eyes of the darkplate warrior as he wiped the blood from his helm with one hand, while still holding me aloft with the other. He raised back his fist to finish me off, and I had no doubt he would succeed. His mammoth hands would shatter my skull like glass if it connected, but it never did.

  Leaves rustled in the wind, and I laughed until I coughed blood as Wilson Shadow-Walked behind my would-be killer. His twin daggers tore through the weak spots of the giant’s armor. He gurgled and choked as blood filled his lungs. The man dropped me to the ground and fumbled for the knives in his back, dying before reaching them.

  Wilson picked me up with a grunt and Shadow-Walked back to our side of the battlefield.

  It was my first time experiencing the Realm of Shade, and it was like being submerged underwater on a moonlit night. Everything was hazy and distorted, my blood too loud in my ears, its roar drowning out everything but an insidious whisper next to my ear, begging me to stay. It was a very unsettling experience. Wilson had always told me he enjoyed the peace of the place, but I didn’t share his sentiment. Soon enough, we were out of that strange place, and the world made sense again.

  The sky looked incredibly blue to my eyes, and a flash of Markos’s robes told me I was well away from the battle. Wilson tossed me like a sack of potatoes on the grass next to Markos.

  “Ow,” I tried to say, though it came out more like a strangled, raspy groan.

  “Don’t be a baby,” Wilson scolded as he handed me back my sword.

  I was grateful for that, but his words made me angry. I wanted to give him a scathing retort, but my head tingled, and the words in my head got jumbled together. “Shut u—” is all I managed before I heaved blood, vomit, and pieces of my shattered teeth all over the ground.

  “Oh, stars above. What happened to him?” Markos asked.

  “Our glorious leader decided to show off and nearly got himself killed for the trouble,” Wilson said with bitterness in his voice.

  I was going to hear about this later, hopefully after my ears stopped ringing.

  I couldn’t see anything by the time Markos got around to healing me. My eyes had swollen shut, but I could hear just fine as Markos chanted in Script. The guttural, fricative words rolled from his throat as he carefully built his spell.

  He took his time to maximize the efficacy of the healing magic, and a bright warmth spread through my body that got increasingly hotter as it reached the damaged portions of my face. My skin itched like fire ants had burrowed under my skin and stung me relentlessly as my bones reset themselves, and my teeth regrew in my skull.

  In under half a minute, my injuries were healed, and the pain disappeared entirely. I sat up off the ground and dusted myself off.

  Having been taken out of direct combat for a few minutes, my battle fatigue had lowered enough to where I felt comfortable going into battle again. I looked around for Wilson, but Markos and I were the only ones around. Wilson had disappeared, likely run off to join the fighting, and Markos was zoning out, sipping on a small vial of mana potion, but when I went to head back to the battlefield, he put his hand out to stop me.

  “Whoa, there, my friend. You shouldn’t be heading back into battle. The fates spared you once. Best not to tempt them a second time today.”

  I shrugged off his hand. I was angry. Not at Markos, at myself. I’d been stupid, an idiotic child, showing off in front of my friends only to make a fool of myself. I had to fix it.

  Markos sighed into his hand. He knew he couldn’t talk me out of it, so he didn’t even try. “Good luck, D,” he whispered to my back.

  I ran back to the front of the battlefield, which had devolved into pure and utter chaos. Using Dance at least had a positive effect on the battle. I’d taken out three members by myself, and with Wilson killing the tank, we’d evened the playing field nicely.

  Gil and Behemoth were side by side, attacking and defending against two members of the Order. It seemed neither party was gaining ground; every time one of them would go for the kill, the other would step in. They weren’t landing any quick kills, but there was damage being dealt. The enemy warrior bled heavily from a gash in his sword-arm as he hefted a large saber and swung at Gil.

  Behemoth brought his shield up to block Saber’s attack, sending his sword rebounding off the metal with a clang, which allowed Gil to bring his battleaxe ‘round to slice Saber in half.

  As Gill heaved his mighty axe, the other member of the Dawn brought their much smaller shield in to deflect Gil’s attack. His smaller shield glowed green, and Gil couldn’t stop his swing in time.

  Gil’s asked collided with the buckler, and Repel activated, sending Gil’s axe flying out of his hand. Saber danced forward and sliced a deep groove down Gil’s chest before Behemoth could defend him.

  Behemoth kept Gil safe while he retrieved his axe, and it looked like the gash was just a flesh wound.

  The pace of the battle changed when a bolt from a crossbow slammed Behemoth. It glowed and shimmered translucent as it passed through his massive shield, and Phase Shot took him in the shoulder. It would have hit his heart if he hadn’t been moving at the time it struck. He was thrown back from the force and lost hold of his shield.

  Saber rushed in to press his advantage given to him by Crossbow, gunning for Gil. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  I activated my auras simultaneously for the second time today and rushed in to save my best friend. My body was a thousand times lighter when my auras kicked in; it was a temporary high, but right now, I could take on the world.

  Saber swung his sword to take Gil’s life, but I caught it on my cross-guard with the barest moment to spare. Surprise rose on Saber’s face. So focused on Gil, he’d been oblivious to my approach, and he snarled wordlessly when I denied his kill.

  Binding with Saber wasn’t an ideal situation, not with Gil injured and still in Crossbow’s range. While Saber and I had our swords locked, I kneed him in the stomach, and Saber doubled over in pain as the air fled his lungs. Wasting no time, I brought my sword up and took Saber’s head off in one swing.

  It passed through the air where Saber had been standing, shattering the illusion I hadn't known was there. Saber reappeared a few feet away in a haze, smiling.

  "Missed me," he taunted, and with a whisper, spoke an incantation.

  A small purple Script circle appeared in his hand and vanished in an instant. He charged us, but before he could take a step, six identical copies of Saber appeared. All grinning wickedly.

  Shit, he's a battlemage! Saber was using illusion magic. Mirror, Mirror, a spell that could create copies of the castor, who were able to interact with the real world. Meaning we didn't have one opponent to deal with. We had seven.

  Two of them countered Gil, while the other five came after me. I backed out of reach and danced between several sword thrusts. Something I knew I couldn’t keep up. They backed me into a corner, and I was too slow to stop a couple of stabs slicing through my armor. One on my shoulder, the other across my ribs. Neither deep, but I was running out of time.

  I activated Aura of the Antimage to level the playing field once more. It bubbled effervescent on my skin, invisible to everyone but me and rolled off, expanding in a circle fifteen feet in all directions. With a small but aud
ible pop, every bit of magic in the area dissolved, leaving only one very confused Saber to deal with.

  I rushed in before he could react and severed his head. The second time around was much more permanent. Blood fountained out from his stump as Saber’s lifeless head rolled around in the grass. Unfortunately, Gil was right in the path of the spray and was coated in the hot, syrupy mess.

  Gil’s face was unreadable as I pulled him to his feet. He reached down and ripped into Saber’s clothes, creating a makeshift towel and neatly cleaning the blood from his face. He growled and spat several times.

  “Sorry,” I said sheepishly.

  Though I knew that didn’t make up for the impromptu shower of gore I’d subjected him to.

  Gil grinned at me with his blood-stained teeth and went to respond, but we’d made a colossal mistake on the battlefield. Never stand still.

  A sledgehammer smashed into me. Intense pressure hit me in the back, right over my heart. The bolt flung me to the ground, with several bruised ribs. My shadowsteel armor splintered under Crossbow’s Hammer Bolt, but it hadn’t broken through.

  My life had been spared twice today.

  My armor was tough, but I didn’t want to chance it again. I rose to my feet and took off at a dead sprint through the grassy plains towards the main force of the Dawn, passing by several of my guild in the process.

  Evelyn and Richard were going head to head, but even from a glance, Evelyn was toying with them, only using the barest bit of effort to fend off Richard. He tried and failed to activate his abilities against her. That pompous bastard even had his other tank with him, but he would need more firepower than that if he wanted to take her down.

  I left Evelyn to her fun and went hunting for the bitch who put a bolt through my armor.

  She was lining up a shot that would have taken Levi through the chest. Levi was currently guarding Gil with Behemoth, making sure Gil was back up to fighting shape.

  Levi engaged with the last warrior, who had discarded his ruined buckler and was currently wielding his longsword with both hands, trying to hack his way through Levi’s shield. So focused on his fight, Levi would never see the bolt coming.

  With a burst of speed, I slashed at the wooden crossbow, and splintered it with a heavy crack, severing the tightly wound string. Crossbow jumped back from my next thrust, which would have taken her through the chest. She cursed at me for breaking her weapon and pulled a small dagger from her belt, running at me wildly, screaming unintelligible words as she did so.

  It was clear to me that she’d never faced a situation where she’d lost her primary weapon. Her stabs and half-formed slashes with the dagger were clumsy.

  As Crossbow struck once more with the knife, I maneuvered around it and stepped into her space, catching her hand by the wrist and breaking it with a twist.

  She screamed and tried to punch me in an attempt to free herself. I caught her weak punch on the chin, wincing when she glanced off my jawbone. I shrugged it off and pivoted on my feet. Clutching her arm with both hands, I used my back as a fulcrum to throw her over my shoulder and to the ground. She gasped as all air forced out of her lungs and struggled to catch her breath.

  With her crossbow, she was a fiend, but she hadn’t mastered even the basics of hand-to-hand combat. I knelt before she could take another breath and clamped my hand over her mouth and nose, effectively cutting off her airflow. My sword would be clumsy for the task at hand, so I blindly reached behind me, never taking my gaze off the panicked young girl who struggled in vain against my grasp. It was useless; she didn’t have the Strength to break my grip.

  I found the object I needed in the dirt, and after some clumsy pawing, I had Crossbow’s dagger in my hand. Her eyes widened in fear as I brought it into her view. She struggled in a fit of desperation, like an animal caught in a trap, willing to do anything to survive.

  I slammed it home under her chin, and the light fled from her eyes.

  I stood and glanced around; one look at the battlefield, and I was impressed. We’d taken down half of their number without losing any of our own.

  An explosion blasted into the ground next to Levi, sending clods spraying haphazardly all around us. Levi went flying after trying to deflect the Fireshot with his shield. He landed with a sickening thud some fifteen feet away. Behemoth was unhurt and still in the same position where Fireshot had landed. He’d activated Barrier, a bright red dome was all around him, as the fire around the Barrier died, the color changed from bright cherry to a dull crimson, and finally a clear translucent glass.

  Markos and Gil rushed to check on Levi. I didn’t know what condition he was in, but I knew he wasn’t dead, one look at the guild tab told me that much.

  With the safety of my friend in good hands, I wanted to find the mage responsible. The crater venom should have taken both out of commission, and it hadn’t.

  Weakened as they were, I still should have killed them myself before focusing on anyone else.

  Mages were the most versatile players on Nexus. As such, they were always the first targeted during a fight. It’s for that reason I kept Markos off the front lines. His cloth robes would do little to protect his life. Putting the mages out of my thoughts after they were struck with the poison was a grievous mistake.

  The fire mage regrouped with the remaining forces of the Order of the Dawn on a nearby hill. They were down to one warrior, a rogue, the two poisoned mages, and Richard. I glanced around for the last tank that had been fighting Evelyn. I found his twisted, broken body, nothing more than so much meat and blood now.

  Richard and his group formed a defensive line to try and recover from the battle. Everyone’s battle fatigue must be high. The only reason I could even stand right now is because of my auras. Once drained, that would be it for me. I knew that the others would be in similar straits. We’d been fighting for what felt like hours, and if it went on much longer, we would all collapse from the fatigue long before we could kill each other.

  Richard looked a little worse for wear; he had a deep gash over his left eye that streamed blood down his face, and his right arm hung limply by his side. He pulled out a health potion from his inventory and went to drink it, but before he could, an arrow sailed through the air and shattered the potion. Bright red liquid rained to the floor, and Richard shouted in alarm.

  I followed the trajectory of the arrow to find Harper grinning like a madman while looking as smug as he could. Even I had to admit that it was a great shot, with perfect timing. It figured. Harper’s going to boast about that for weeks.

  Richard, having been denied his chance to heal, was furious. By the looks on the faces of his mages, I doubted they were in any shape to provide healing. Both had ashen faces, dripping sweat. It looked like the venom was doing its job, albeit much slower than we needed it to. From the looks on their faces, they could tell they were dying.

  The two mages huddled together, speaking in hushed tones; they seemed to reach an agreement and stumbled over to Richard. After a brief conversation, Richard's face grew solemn. He patted both mages on the shoulders, and they marched forward down the steep hill towards the grassland where we resided. I didn’t like this, not one bit. They're up to something.

  As the pair of mages reached the foothill, they stopped. They were about two dozen feet from us. Damn, out of range from my Rush Strike. This would’ve been over in an instant, but they could easily build a quick Fireshot and snap it off at me before I reached them, and I didn’t like my chances of surviving an explosion at such a close distance.

  Both mages unstopped mana potions and raised them to drink. Harper tried his trick shot once again, but Richard was prepared for it this time. In the blink of an eye, Harper fired one arrow, loaded up another one, and released that one as well. Harper’s arrows sailed through the air to their intended targets and were cut down mid-flight.

  Richard raised his sword, and the air in front of it rippled and distorted. In rapid succession, he slashed his blade through the air t
wice as each strike finished. A arc of pure energy shot forth from the tip of the sword. The two jagged waves met Harper's arrows and destroyed them. Only ash remained. They continued after taking care of the arrows as they crashed into the ground grass burst alight, and the blades of plasma burned deep furrows into the dirt.

  Hyper Slash. The ability could only be stopped by magic or hero-tier weapons and armor. Anything lower and they would burn straight through it. Even my sword might suffer some burn damage if I tried to parry them.

  Our attempt to stop the mages from recovering their mana failed, and they greedily downed the contents. Some of the pallor of disappeared from their faces, and they looked a little healthier, if for only a moment. The venom still wreaked havoc on them, eating their bodies from the inside. They were still just dead men walking.

  Dead men walking. That errant thought struck a chord through me. They knew they were dying, and nothing would save them.

  “Son of a bitch!”

  They’re going to kamikaze us. Try and drag as many of us down with them as they could when they died. The two mages joined one hand together and raised their palms towards us. Two bright neon lights erupted from their hands. With each passing second, the lights grew more vivid and more detailed. Soon a pattern emerged as they chanted.

  Each mage built half of the design in their hands. The design resembled an intricate pentagram split in half, each side with swirling letters forming, dissolving and reforming. Each time it did so, the pattern grew more elaborate. I couldn’t read or speak Script, but I’d seen this spellwork once before.

  Nova Wave. Cataclysm class magic, also known as mutually assured destruction. It was the atomic bomb of Nexus, and required two mages of level fifty or higher. To perform. As a secondary requirement to cast, it cost the lives of both mages. Once complete, it would send a wave of pure kinetic energy forth, destroying everything in its path.

  It was so powerful that not even antimagic could dissipate it. My Aura of the Antimage would be useless here. Even Evelyn would find herself powerless against such devastation.