by Skyler Grant
That gave me an option. I suspected there was more than one mage maintaining that shield, but killing just one might disrupt it enough for the Vainglory to win this fight.
There was also the balloon overhead. If I could manage to set fire to it, then that might crash us without need of the Vainglory at all.
“Happen to know if that balloon is filled with flammable gas?”
“They built this thing to take into war against battle mages. Unfortunately, they aren’t that dumb.”
That was unfortunate. There was another option, the anchor points where the balloon was attached to the ship below.
I focused on one, seeing if I could pull up any details.
Cable Attachment
Type: Structure HP: 5000/5000
That seemed unnecessarily sturdy. The mage was going to be my best option. Hopefully he was so busy defending the ship he wouldn’t have his own defenses up.
I hoped Ashley was busy killing the Commander somewhere. I didn’t have time to find her or to wait.
I charged towards the Shieldmage, drawing Intemperance only at the last moment. Subtle my sword was not.
Zealous Blow
My blade dug deeply into his shoulder. An astonished scream came from the mage, his robes catching alight.
Fist of the Divine
I felt my ribs crack as I flew backwards. Their clerics weren’t the only one that could lash out with divine fury.
Smite
I threw a smite at the badly injured mage and he waved his hand. The spell deflected and flames flared in the air. That was a new trick. I didn’t approve. The mage was limping away and others were moving to cover his retreat. I could use that to my advantage.
Smite
Smite
Armor Piercing Shot
I threw Smites at the cleric and bowman who had moved to either side of the Shieldmage. Both were engulfed in flames and as I’d hoped, it spread. The Shieldmage wasn’t expecting the area of effect to spread to him and fire engulfed him. With only a sliver of health remaining it was enough and he perished.
It was then that I took an arrow in my knee, the shaft plunging right through my armor, and I collapsed hard to the deck.
The ship was rocked by another volley of fire from the Vainglory and above the shields flickered out.
Three soldiers were advancing on me with swords drawn. The lead one screamed as what appeared to be some sort of clockwork dragonfly landed on his face and with tiny buzzsaws began to remove it.
I was gripped by the curious sensation of both intense gratitude and wishing I could unsee something.
On the deck all around me dragonflies were attacking, the battle mages turning their attention to the new foe. Flaming streaks flew from the sky.
The Vainglory was drifting closer when a bolt thrower finally got lucky and the side of the ship took some nasty damage that sent it peeling off.
The remaining soldiers reached me and even as I parried one blow the other drove his sword through my shoulder.
I downed a health potion and tried to crawl away. With the arrow I could barely move.
Double Backstab
Ashley materialized out of stealth and her blades bit deeply into one of the soldiers killing him instantly. If I felt nearly dead, she looked it. A massive wound in her chest seemed to be leaking bits she really needed to keep inside and she was missing a foot. It was just gone.
Lay on Hands
I reached out and forced the healing magic into her system.
Ashley howled in agony. “Fuck, not now, Liam. One is still up.”
One was, but I don’t know if she understood how bad she looked. The remaining soldier turned his attention from me and with a fierce blow drove his sword all the way through her stomach again. No wonder Yvera hated Elves. I was starting to hate Elves.
Flurry of Blows
Ashley let out a howl of rage and pain, and lashed out with blow after blow into the soldier’s unprotected neck and face. It’s amazing how much blood the body holds. I think he was dead in the first few seconds, but she was in no mood to stop. I grabbed his arm and wrenched to pull the sword out of her.
Lay on Hands
I once again knit her body back together and still she was lashing out. It was just bones now. Bones and blood. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her off.
“Snap out of it, Ashley! We need to go,” I said, as I dragged her towards the edge of the ship.
I shielded her with my back as arrows pelted against my armor. I had that rush of heat and exhilaration from my passives as they barely served to keep me alive.
Ashley was panting and her eyes were manic. She was fully into the midst of a blood rage. Elves were closing in on us from all directions. We didn’t have a choice. I grabbed her and jumped. We went right off the edge of the ship.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The air rushed around us as we fell from the ship. The Vainglory was too far away to help us. I could see her lurch in the distance, firing a broadside.
I turned my attention towards the earth. Below us were mountains and hills. We weren’t going to fall into a lake—that was too much to hope for.
I kept an arm tightly around Ashley and shifted my back to the ground. It slowed our descent slightly.
Ashley was struggling against me with a primal fury, madness still in her eyes.
“The ground gets closer every second, Ashley. Snap. Out. Of. It,” I said.
She wasn’t getting saner.
“Atlantia, if you are in there, Ashley is going to die if you don’t get her under control,” I said. It was worth a try. Yvera had never assumed control of me, but she was in my head in every other way.
Ashley’s eyes shimmered and turned into the color of deep sea—and her hair took on streaks of blue.
The carpet appeared out of her inventory and she handed it over to me. “Being this deeply in her body is unpleasant and off-putting. I wish you success.”
Ashley transformed back to herself and once again resumed her struggles. I slammed my head into hers and there was a resounding crack. The things you can do when wearing a helmet.
Hopefully she didn’t have a concussion. It at least stopped the struggles. I shifted her against my chest so that I could trigger the carpet. It unfurled beneath us and we plowed into it.
I had hopes it would stop our descent at once, but instead we only seemed to be slowing down. We were rapidly approaching a peak of a mountain and I angled our fall away to give that much more distance before we hit the ground. The most valuable commodity we had now was time, every second gained would give the carpet a little more time.
When the carpet finally leveled out I let out a whoop of relief and we zoomed just above the trees.
Basic survival attended to, I looked up to see how the battle was proceeding. Several of the airships had fire on their decks. In the distance I could see the vast gray mass that was Leosi’s undead hordes. There were massive gaps in those ranks and blackened craters.
In the distance the Vainglory was a speck retreating from battle. I aimed the carpet in their direction.
We were halfway there when Ashley stirred back to consciousness.
“What’s with the inappropriate touching?” Ashley asked in a mumble. “And why have I got a massive headache?”
“You went a little insane and we wound up jumping off the ship. We’re on the carpet now.”
“Don’t remember that.”
“Atlantia took you over for a bit.”
“She can do that?”
“Seems so.”
Ashley grimaced and squirmed free of my grasp to look out over the battlefield. “Think we’re winning?”
I wished I could say it did. At best, I think we’d hurt them and driven the Elves back for a time.
“I think we managed to turn a total defeat into a minor one. Did you manage to kill the Commander?”
Ashley reached down to rub at her stomach and shook her head. “He got a scar, I got to wear
my guts on the outside. I got my ass kicked.”
Great. It wasn’t exactly unexpected that she wouldn’t be able to solo someone like that, but it would have helped if she had.
Riggs was waiting for us when we finally landed the carpet on the deck of the Vainglory.
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“Cobalt has the helm and Lea is keeping an eye on pretty much everything.”
“How is the Vainglory holding up?” Ashley asked.
“Lassie, we’re still flying, but it’s a near thing. We weren’t expecting them to have brought that kind of firepower. They brought everything they had to the fight.”
“That true?” I thought to Yvera.
“How would I know? Do I seem like an expert on Elven military distribution?”
We really needed a deity of knowledge in this little pantheon. I was sure Yvera would be able to tell me all about Elvish mating habits.
“Unfortunately, and it is disgusting.”
Ashley and I made our way to the bridge. Cobalt had a painful gash on her forehead, but otherwise seemed unharmed.
“You okay?” I asked.
“We’re still in the sky,” Cobalt asked. “Those airships are pushing the pursuit, but we’re faster. Once we lose them we can hook back up with Leosi.”
“Open to an alternative plan?” I asked.
Cobalt gave me a look. “As long as it isn’t going back to that damned castle where you can lock me up secure behind protective wards. Leosi would try such things, I won’t have it from you.”
Should I do that? Tempting.
“They committed everything to this offensive. Do you think I can do anything to command our defense better than Leosi can?”
Cobalt didn’t even have to think about it. “No, he’s a tactical genius. You’d be in the way.”
“And Elsora is better at running the Kingdom. If any of us on the Vainglory have anything going for us, it’s mobility and punching above our weight limit,” I said.
“Damn straight,” Ashley said.
Cobalt nodded slowly, “Where are you going with this?”
“Let’s play offense. They’re going south, let’s go north. Deep into the Elven homeland. Let’s gank the elves.”
End
Coming Soon
Book Four of the Crucible Shard
Gank
Elvish armies march upon the lands of Genea from the north while to the east several terrifying threats war amongst themselves. Never happy to play defense Liam, Walt, and Ashley set off deep into the heart of Elven lands. They’ll take the fight to the enemy before it can brought to them.
Thank you—not just for reading to the end, but for reading this little bit further. I love these characters and these stories, and I hope that you do as well.
Please, if you enjoyed this book leave a review on Amazon. Your encouragement is a powerful thing. It’s how us authors level up and get better. Whether you leave an amazing review or not, I’ll appreciate your feedback and be working hard on the next novel.
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I’ve always liked author’s notes when reading a book and yet for some reason didn’t put them in my own until now. They are little slices of time that I know can quickly become horribly dated, but they are still fun.
I’ve really enjoyed writing these books. LitRPG is a thriving and dynamic community and it is one I’ve been proud to be a part of. The last few months have seen a lot of new works in the genre and a lot of new readers discovering it for the first time.
I know where the story is going and I think you’ll find it one hell of a ride getting there.
The writing of this book got delayed a bit as I attended Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. I love cons like that, it is not just LitRPG that has a great community. Geekdom and nerdery of all kinds has this vibrant and amazing community that has grown around it. When you go to something like that and see the fans that love those worlds and the people who help to bring them to life with their art, acting, and writing it is both inspiring and humbling.
Thank you for letting me be a part of it.
You can reach me at [email protected]
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