Alpha Zero (Alpha LitRPG Book 1) Arthur Stone (hardest books to read .txt) 📖

This place was bad enough without tiny amoebic spies.

As usual, we could hardly perceive anything. I estimated the time at noon, but the farthest I could see was about 25 yards. And that was only in tiny places where the fog thinned out.

I saw the wisp at the very last moment. It nearly crashed into me.

I realized Beko knew nothing about these creatures.

Wisps didn’t walk, they flew.

Nor did they glow; this one looked like an all-black soccer ball, hastily patched together from cheap materials. Someone had glued a dozen tiny eyes, borrowed from dolls of various sizes, atop the front of the ball. Underneath them were two spider-like legs hanging towards the ground, and to top it all off, an appendage of a poisonous orange color and the shape of a scorpion’s tail. The creature was kept aloft by a pair of rapidly fluttering bumblebee wings.

Of course, I had never seen a bumblebee grow to such a size.

The creature surged out of the mist, right between me and Beko, at about the speed of a bicycle. Then, it stopped and turned.

It had clearly noticed us but been unable to slow down immediately.

I acted without thinking. My hand plunged into my sheath belt, pulled out the topmost knife, and threw it. As fast as I was, the wisp wasn’t waiting around. It took off straight at me. That was better, though. My target’s speed was added to the speed of my weapon, and with it coming right towards me I did not have to lead the target.

The knife hit right in the center of the eyes, down to the hilt.

The wisp whistled like a punctured tire. It tried to corkscrew down to the ground, but it wasn’t high enough to complete even one turn. It skittered along the red earth and came to a halt. The creature really was like a soccer ball, adorned with cheap accessories.

You have dealt significant damage to the wisp. You have dealt fatal damage to the wisp. The wisp is dead. You have defeated the wisp. This creature is part Chaos (Chaos Power 3).  

You receive:

Lesser Chaos mark x7

Lesser Attribute Power x1

Lesser Concentrated Warrior Energy x1

Personal Chaos Talent Mark: Monster Connoisseur x1

Lesser Universal Chaos Talent Mark x1

Lesser Enhanced Enlightenment State x1

Lesser Primal Essence x1

Lesser Standard Universal State x1

The wisp is a part Chaos creature.

You receive Emblem of Valor x1

I had never seen such odd trophies before. Many of them I hadn’t even known existed. But the situation was not conducive to contemplation: more buzzing was growing louder in our ears.

“Beko, crossbow!” I whispered loudly to warn the ghoul.

He was clearly panicking at the idea of fighting a pack of wisps. The ghoul had listened to hordes of haunted tales from hunters and was scared nearly to the point of passing out. For some reason, he had sat down and put his palms on the ground. As if he was collecting something. But when I spoke, he jumped into action, hurrying to prepare his crossbow for battle. It was a primitive weapon, not suitable against armored opponents. But buzzing balls were excellent targets. They could be deflated with a single hit of a throwing knife.

A second wisp flew out of the mist. It was obviously excited—jerking and spinning every which way—and so my first throw missed. But that gave up my location, coaxing the creature to come straight at me.

And straight at my knife.

A third wisp appeared.

Beko shot like an idiot. He didn’t appear to even aim, and so he missed. I did not fuss at him. The greatest source of surprise I felt was how calm and collected I remained. It was not every day you fought flying balls of courage. They confidently threw themselves at prey ten times their size, so they must have some dangerous abilities. I should have been terrified. But my hand stayed firm, and despite the uncomfortable lay of the battlefield, my next throw struck true.

“Reload!” I shouted, going for another knife.

A dark blob appeared in the fog. It grew rapidly, honing in on its target.

Then, it collapsed to the ground as a knife cut through its side and flew beyond. The wisp had lost its ability to fly, but it wasn’t giving up. It moved along on its grotesque arachnoid legs, like the latest postmodern mockery of the art of ballet.

I watched the tail coil, its stinger ready to strike, and realized I did not have time for another knife throw. So I stabbed the creature with the spear I had been clutching in my left hand for the whole battle.

My mind was a computer calculating every possibility and outcome.

But as I heard another growing buzz and saw Beko bring the crossbow up, I knew I could not delay. I had only one throwing knife left, and they had proven to be my most effective weapon.

So I rushed towards the nearest dead wisp. I yanked my knife from its carcass and went for another.

Just then, two more of the creatures flew out of the fog. These acted strategically, not hurling themselves at a single target. I met mine with a chop of the ari, casting the pest aside like a tennis ball. The second one was too far for me to reach in time, but Beko dealt it a solid blow with his ax.

Just as I was smiling at my comrade’s success, I saw another wisp emerge from the fog behind him.

Beko managed to react in time—but not very effectively. Hardly even looking, he turned and swung his ax, but only hit it with a glancing blow that cut off one of its legs. It turned sharply, struck with its tail, and then rushed away.

The ghoul fell with a thin scream, and before the