Dread runners a litrpg u.., p.32
Dread Runners: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Dungeon Crawler, page 32
The vampire Hazel stood with a lightning wand pointed at the humanoid dragon, a distance away
“Acid?” Lady Vizyss sneered.
The robed vampire smirked as the dragon woman reflected in her strange glasses.
“You think I would just use acid against you?” the vampire said before a lightning bolt blasted out of her wand.
Lady Vizyss stood her ground, the acidic liquid still burning at her scales. When the lightning bolt struck it, it exploded.
The explosion was far more than everyone realized as it flung the dragon woman back like a cannon blast. It shattered team Odd Bog’s shield, and cracked Tolith’s holy shield barrier.
Hazel cackled as the smoking form of Vizyss landed and tumbled a few times.
“Ding dong the dragon is dead!” Hazel cackled with her wand out.
Lady Vizyss stood up with wisps of smoke floating up from her body. Rage filled her dragon eyes as she stared at the lone vampire in the distance.
Hazel stopped cackling, and aimed her wand.
The red dragon shot forth like a red comet. A bolt blasted out of the vampire’s wand, while Captain Juul and Bridget unleashed lightning bolts and streams of lightning.
Lady Vizyss ignored the attacks from along her sides, as she barreled toward the lone vampire.
Hazel cackled again as she began to turn to mist. Her feet vanished, followed by her legs. Her chest turned into mists, but before her head could change, a bone sword stabbed through it.
Mists snapped back to the vampire’s impaled head, her body now twitching as blood dripped.
“Revel in the tiny moment I underestimated you,” Lady Vizyss scowled before she pulled back her bone sword with one quick move, and Hazel fell.
The vampire turned to dust.
Hazel Gloomis has Perished!
Lady Vizyss turned to the rest of the cavern, her eyes filled with violence. She spotted the Odd Bog team, and what was left of the Shipwreck team. When she took one step forward, Simon was on her.
Time slowed down as the dragon woman looked at the darkling. He was low, a spike stabbing out of a shadow blood gauntlet. One glowing pupil stared into her gaze, the other pupil moving erratically in different directions.
“You’re not the only one who can go past mythic limits, darkling,” Lady Vizyss said so fast, it made sense to the darkling and no one else.
The dragon’s bone sword sliced up and parried the spiked gauntlet. Simon’s eyes glowed as he swung his other armored fist at her face, a spike stabbing out of the knuckles at the same time. The dragon’s hand shot up, and clamped on his gauntlet, the spike between her fingers.
Simon stared at the spike that was inches from her cheek. He willed the spike to stab out another three feet, but the horned dragon woman shifted her head, the spike missing her by an inch.
“Nice try, darkling,” Lady Vizyss smirked.
Simon swung his spiked tail, but noticed the dragon bent her knee, and lifted her taloned foot behind her. In that instant, the darkling knew he miscalculated, and paid for it.
The dragon’s scaled foot slammed into his stomach, and launched him backwards.
5 Damage!
Armor: 10
Hits: 14/19
Her foot did fifteen damage! If I wasn’t in my Madness Surge, it would have hurt. But it doesn’t even seem like she’s trying too hard.
Simon hit the ground and tumbled until he slid to team Odd Bog’s feet.
Tara, Roma, and Bridget grabbed the darkling, and helped him up to his feet.
Fire!
Simon stood with his team as they looked at the dragon woman in the distance.
Lady Vizyss held her bone sword up a little, and smiled at the remaining dread runners.
“This has all been a great start, but let’s make it a little more interesting, shall we?” the dragon woman smiled.
A small aura appeared around the dragon woman.
Everyone watched as flames burst along her bone sword. The fire remained, burning like a flame on a candlewick.
The dragon woman lowered it, flames obscuring part of her features, as her serpentine eye connected to Simon’s purple gaze.
“A little fire, to burn away the dead, and the dark,” Lady Vizyss said with a sinister leer.
Chapter 32
Fiery Tide
Lady Vizyss watched the teams as their eyes widened to her now flaming bone sword. She licked her lips along her small snout, amusement filling her serpentine eyes.
“Before you bore me with inane statements and questions, I am a red dragon, and fire is my element. I may not be allowed to blast you all with my fiery breath, I can still use fire in many other ways.”
The dragon woman glanced at Captain Juul as she aimed her pistols at her. “And no, it’s not magic.”
Tara held her shield up to her nose, as she turned her head slightly.
“Remember how we fought Krazug? This will be our only plan to beat her,” the wight whispered.
Lady Vizyss turned her attention back to the wight, and her slitted eyes narrowed.
“I can hear you,” the dragon smirked.
Simon knew instantly what Tara meant. He had to make his way around as Bridget and Roma kept up ranged attacks. With power surging through him, he might be fast enough to get around the dragon, and strike from behind, without the flaming sword finishing him off.
Bridget glanced to the side, Val nowhere to be seen.
“I got her, captain!” the fire elf aimed her fire bow, and let loose three flaming arrows, each in turn.
Lady Vizyss glanced over, seeing three flaming arrows coming toward her, and she let out an annoyed sigh.
The dragon woman lifted taloned fingers, and made a quick, turning motion. The three arrows stopped in their tracks, turned around, and darted toward the fire elf.
Pyra turned and leapt to the side, when the three flaming arrows struck her, one to the thigh, one to the arm, and the last through her elven skull.
Tolith watched as his companion fell, and turned to dust.
Captain Juul looked on with dark shadows covering her eyes.
Pyra Seaflame has Perished!
Lady Vizyss lifted her flaming bone sword again, a gleam in her eyes. “Now that the children have been put to bed, the adults can really play.”
“Ready,” Tara said sternly.
Electricity arced along Bridget’s gauntlets. The flesh golem stared at the dragon with a firm gaze.
Roma held her Frost Storm staff at the ready, a spell on her mind, and courage in her soul.
Simon lowered his center of gravity. His head twitched as the incoherent screaming voices grew louder in his head.
Captain Juul stood with her pistols pointed down.
“Tolith, use it,” the pirate captain said with a dark whisper.
The elf priest’s eyes bulged wide.
“Captain! If I use it, I will be useless for hours,” Tolith said in a panic.
“We have little choice. If you don’t use it, Team Shipwreck is finished.”
The captain turned and looked at the sun elf with a proud gleam in her eyes.
“If we win, I will carry you until you are yourself again,” Captain Juul said warmly.
The panic in Tolith’s eyes ebbed, and slowly turned into growing courage. He stood taller, staff in hand, and bravery etched into his features.
Lady Vizyss’s smile grew a little more.
“That’s it. More! Bring on the drama. It feeds my soul as you all fight for your lives. How delicious it will be when I cut you all down to pieces.”
Simon’s eyes moved in all directions, but his pulse was even.
“Now!” Tara shouted and charged the dragon woman.
Lady Vizyss turned her gaze at the lone wight, rushing at her with sword and shield. She glanced up to the rest of team Odd Bog, as they didn’t move.
Tara reached the dragon woman, and launched at her with a hellish cry, her sword up.
The dragon woman lifted a boney eye ridge as she easily parried the wight’s sword.
Tara landed on her feet. Her sword flashed with quick, powerful strikes, but to the dragon, it was like watching a toddler trying to fight her.
“This was your secret plan? Am I to wait for your team to blast me while you keep me busy? I must say, this isn’t much of a plan,” Vizyss said as she easily parried Tara’s blows.
Tara ignored the dragon woman, pouring all her rage, might, and hatred, into each strike.
The dragon sighed. “I thought better of you, Tara Finn.”
Simon watched as time slowed down. A gleam filled the dragon woman’s eyes before her flaming sword flashed in quick blinks.
Tara changed her tactics as she dropped her sword, and held her shield with both arms. She moved in quick, tight blurs, blocking each flaming strike, her shield unaffected by the flames, but she still felt the powerful blows from each one. It was like a hailstorm, the wight gritting her teeth as she tried to hold off a dragon.
Bridget lifted her gauntlets as her heart pumped electricity. Energy arced along her arms, and into the gauntlets. The runes on the gauntlets flared with greater power. The flesh golem clapped her hands together, and roared as a blue-white beam of energy blasted out.
Lady Vizyss caught the gleam of power and shifted her whole body. The beam shot past her, and struck a cavern wall. An explosion shattered rock, and sent shards into the air.
Bridget’s eyes glowed as she turned her beam at the dragon.
Simon darted to the side just as Lady Vizyss lifted her flaming sword, and parried the beam. Energies surged as the dragon woman grunted, her clawed feet sliding back a few inches.
Tara was low and saw a scaled thigh. A chance glowed in her mind. Her white hand flashed forward, and touched the dragon.
Lady Vizyss felt it as she grunted. She parried the beam, but her very lifeforce drained into a small hand. She dared not use her sword, or the beam would damage her. Instead, she pulled back her scaled leg back, and swung it forward at the wight.
Tara felt the leg pull away, but it meant nothing as living dragon energy filled every cell of her body. The wight felt stronger, faster, and more powerful than she ever felt before. It was intoxicating as the dragon swung her foot to kick her, and Tara’s hand shot out and grabbed her ankle, halting her attack.
Lady Vizyss looked down with wide eyes.
Tara was silent as she bent her legs further, and launched up. Her pale fist struck under the dragon woman’s jaw, and sent her up a few feet into the air, a shockwave blasting out.
The bone sword shifted, and pure energy struck her chest. Lady Vizyss was blasted back ten feet. The dragon woman brought her sword up to parry the energy beam once again, and she fell, tumbling to the ground.
The beam died, and Bridget fell onto her hands and knees, her whole-body trembling.
“My turn,” Roma whispered as two ice shards appeared over her shoulders, and blasted out torrents of frost shards.
Serenity blurred to a tunnel, ignoring everything happening behind her. When she was nearly to it, she slammed into a barrier, and was knocked onto her ass.
A shadow flashed over her, and stood with two blades pointed at the vampire’s chest.
Serenity looked up at Val’s glowing red eyes, her smile sharp, but her eyes crazed.
“I knew there was something off when you didn’t allow me into the Bloodstone Hamlet. You’re the worst kind of blood sucker,” Val said as she inched her blades closer to the vampire.
“Val, we can work together,” Serenity said as she crawled back a little at a time.
“No, we can’t,” Val said with a burning gaze. “I always thought I was a monster. It’s nice when the mirror is held up, and the truth is reflected, dispelling the lies.”
“You can’t kill me. I’ll just appear on the surface,” Serenity reasoned.
Val’s eyes narrowed. “Then why say anything? Why fight to stay in the game, when we can settle this on the surface?”
Val’s eyes gleamed with simple understanding. She brought the tip of one of her swords close to Serenity's face.
“You don’t want Simon to reach the bottom, do you? You never expected him to do so well. You wanted to test him, and he is blowing past everything you expected. If he reaches the bottom, and gains his prize, it may mean the end of the Vampire Empire.”
Serenity was silent, the blade point hovering before her eye.
“You were right to fear him, and us,” Val licked her lips. “But I’m not going to kill you. Simon will.”
Lady Vizyss stood up, a smoking, hand-sized black spot on her chest. A storm of ice shards struck her. The dragon woman lifted her arm up, blocking some of the shards as they whittled down her strength a hair at a time.
She stared with a burning rage at the witch, until Tara slammed her shield into her face, causing her to stumble back a few steps.
“You’ve been holding back,” Tara said with glowing eyes, dragon strength and lifeforce filling her.
“Yes, I have,” Lady Vizyss sneered, just as Simon appeared at her side, a black gauntlet with a pointed spike on his hand.
The dragon’s hand blurred out, and clamped down on his wrist. Simon swung his whole body, black spikes stabbing out of his boots as he slammed both into her head with a twist of his hips.
Tara lifted her shield and slammed into the dragon woman’s gut so hard, Vizyss grunted.
Time snapped back to normal as the dragon woman swung Simon into Tara so hard, the pair tumbled away from the blow.
2 Damage!
Armor: 10
Hits: 12/19
Simon tumbled back to his feet as Tara stood, shield up.
Ice shards slammed into the dragon woman again. She turned from the pair, and stared through the storm of ice, Roma concentrating.
“This ends,” Vizyss said and blurred toward the witch.
Simon blurred after the dragon woman, time slowing down. He was many paces behind the Lady Vizyss, his legs pumping with every drop of his new, colossal speed, but it was not enough.
Roma stood her ground as she aimed her staff, and unleashed a stream of ice shards. The dragon woman appeared before her, a flaming bone sword pulled back, ready to stab the witch in the face.
For a brief instant, Roma saw past the dragon, seeing Simon moving toward her with wide eyes.
“Simon,” she whispered before Vizyss’s flaming sword stabbed out.
Armored metal hands reached up. Bridget’s hip knocked Roma away as her gauntlets grabbed the end of the bone sword, and halted it.
The air around the flesh golem blasted out as she barely held back the flaming bone sword’s tip inches from her face.
“Strong one,” Lady Vizyss whispered.
“Leave…my friend…alone!” Bridget grunted as she snapped the tip of the bone sword off.
Simon was still running, ten feet behind the dragon woman as he stared.
Roma was on the ground, staring up at Bridget and Lady Vizyss.
Time froze in the moment, before the damaged bone sword stabbed into Bridget’s chest.
The flesh golem was silent, the end of the flaming sword burning her insides as it slammed into her heart. Her back exploded outwards, her heart flying through the air.
“No,” Lady Vizyss whispered in Bridget’s ear as she drove her sword to the hilt.
Val glanced to the side, across the cavern. She watched as the dragon impaled Bridget on her broken sword.
“Bridget,” she whispered with lost eyes, before she blurred toward the battle.
Roma watched with tears in her eyes as Bridget turned to dust.
Bridget Stein has Perished!
Simon appeared at Lady’s Vizyss’s back, and drove his spike into her side like a furious piston. Scales cracked from the blurred strikes by the darkling.
The dragon woman shouted in pain. She crossed her arm across her chest, and swung it wide. The darkling dived to the ground, and blurred back up, driving his spike into her stomach, as pointed tentacles stabbed out from his back, and stormed against the dragon. Vizyss swung her flaming sword at the darkling, but Simon’s hand shot out, and slammed into her wrist, halting her attack.
Tara was running toward Simon and Vizyss with her shield on her arm. The wight spotted an aura around the dragon woman.
“Simon! She’s going to use a fire attack!” the wight shouted.
A blur shot past the running wight.
Simon’s arm moved in quick, punishing blurs when energies tickled his senses. He saw the fire before he felt it. It burst from the dragon’s body, and surged outwards. Flames licked his armored fist, burning at his blood. Pain surged as he attempted to pull away, when a blur struck his side, and launched him sideways.
Fire exploded outwards from Vizyss’s form.
Roma made arcane gestures. A mighty mana shield appeared around her, and when the wall of flames struck it, it cracked before it was blasted to pieces.
The witch fell onto her back, some of her robe singed.
Simon hit the ground, a body over him.
9 Fire Damage!
Armor: 10
Hits: 3/19
Simon looked up to Val over him with crazed eyes of her own.
“I need your blood,” the vamp said before her head struck down at his neck like a cobra.
Simon didn’t fight the vamp, letting her sink her fangs into his neck so she could drink his darkling blood.
Captain Juul watched everything, with Tolith at her side.
“Now,” the elf said with a low, commanding tone.
The elf priest looked on the battle with forlorn eyes. He lifted his hands in prayer, and a golden orb of light appeared over his head.
Roma tried to get back up. Her hit points were low, and her body felt weak. She turned onto her stomach, and tried to crawl away.
Vizyss looked down on the witch with contempt dripping from her eyes.
“You’re another meddlesome one. Your ice magic is like needles against my scales. Time to burn you away,” Vizyss said as she pointed an open left hand at the witch, and a ball of flame appeared.
Tara leapt forward just as the fireball blasted at Roma. The wight’s shield was up as the ball of fire struck it, and exploded.
