The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) A. Kay (best management books of all time .TXT) 📖

It didn’t matter now, as the enemy stood three hundred feet away, and he was gliding to safety. A row of stone spikes erupted from the ground, passing him like a wave. It had happened so quickly he almost thought he’d imagined it, when another wave passed in front of the wagon, just missing it.

In the twenty-five feet that Ruwen could see, sharp stone pillars continued to rise five feet into the air, before immediately returning to the ground. The mist made it hard to know how fast he traveled but he only had another seventy-five feet to reach the exit.

A loud clicking noise echoed in the cavern, and after two seconds it quickly grew closer. A ball of blue liquid approached Ruwen and then suddenly stopped making noise. Instead, it floated above him, strobing a blinding white light. This orb spell had used sound to find him and probably originated from one of the Haffa followers around the Stone Carver.

Stone spikes erupted under the wagon, flipping it. Ruwen rolled to his feet as the wagon dissolved and sprinted toward the exit, his Fallen Hero next to him. A wraith made of water appeared ten feet in front of him, and he moved at an angle to avoid it.

The mist collapsed around Ruwen like a thick blanket and running became difficult. He pushed through, using his Strength to overcome the resistance. The wraith flew toward him, and wrapped itself around his head, trying to drown him. But his Fresh Air spell kept the water from his lungs.

The enemy group moved quickly, but Ruwen could see the exit now. He was only twenty feet from the exit tunnel when a slab of stone exploded upward, slammed into the ceiling, and cut off his retreat. He didn’t slow, hoping to Melt his way through it.

One of the dots next to the central Stone Carver on Ruwen’s map disappeared and reappeared fifteen feet in front of him. A shield of water surrounded the guard and his Perception provided him details.

Name: Wave Crasher

Deity: Haffa

Class Type: Mage

Level: 31

Health: 411

Mana: 933

Energy: 429

Spirit: 0

Armor Class: 196

Ruwen had closed to within ten feet of the Mage when the Wave Crasher’s Mana dropped by one hundred. Ice shards fell around Ruwen, forcing him to stop. The ones that struck him shattered and cooled the air, creating ice. The ground froze and his footing became difficult.

The debuff Hypothermia flashed at the top of his vision but disappeared almost immediately as his Elemental Resistance and the Bracer of Freedom counteracted the spell’s effects.

Ruwen’s Mana dropped by twenty-five as he cast Jump and leaped at the Wave Crasher. Not wanting to give the Mage a chance to cast any more spells, Ruwen attacked, hitting the Mage four times in the chest and once in the face. The Mage’s water shield absorbed the blows, the translucent leeches from Ruwen’s amulet hanging from the shield and doing more damage.

The Fallen Hero swung the Walking Stick, striking the Mage in the back and causing him to stumble forward. The shield stopped Ruwen from grabbing the Mage’s clothes, so he kneeled, and flipped the Wave Crasher over his shoulder.

With a quick twist of his body, Ruwen slammed an elbow into the Mage’s face. The shield absorbed the blow and faded, its maximum protection reached. Ruwen wrapped his arm around the Mage’s neck. The Wave Crasher’s eyes grew large, and before Ruwen could snap the Mage’s neck, the world twisted and Ruwen gagged as his stomach turned.

Panicked, the Wave Crasher had teleported back to safety, and Ruwen no longer lay on the ground next to the exit.

Ruwen looked up at the Stone Carver, and her entire group of guards.

The Fallen Hero sprinted toward Ruwen from the exit, but it would never make it here in time. The Stone Carver looked just as surprised as Ruwen that he’d arrived in their midst.

This close to the dual wielding Mage, Ruwen had no chance of dodging anything she launched from her Void Bands. If he had any chance of surviving, he needed to level the field. And he had an idea.

Ruwen triggered the active effect, Holy Ground, on his Overseer’s Pants of Obedience. A thirty-minute cooldown timer started and everyone within ten feet fell to their knees.

The Stone Carver leaned away from Ruwen, and laying on his back, he couldn’t strike her head or neck. If he shot a boulder at her body, it might just throw her backward and out of reach. He might never get a chance to be this close again, and he wanted to take full advantage of it.

Channeling two Energy per second into the level three Worker spell Kindling, a blade of air formed around Ruwen’s right hand, but he still couldn’t reach her neck or head.

Stabbing the Mage in the heart or some other vital organ would critically injure her, but probably not fatally, especially if there were Healers nearby. So instead, Ruwen jammed the air blade into the armpit of the kneeling Stone Carver, violently forcing his hand upward.

The blade sliced through the cloth armor of the Stone Carver and then her shoulder. As her arm fell off her body, Ruwen opened his Void Band and captured it, scared a healer might reattach it.

Blood sprayed Ruwen’s armor, disappearing immediately as the armor absorbed it like a dry cloth. The hole in the armor caused by the Stone Carver’s earlier attack repaired itself, as well as the damage from the fight at the cave entrance.

Flipping himself to his feet, Ruwen channeled two Energy per second into Dash and sprinted toward the tunnel they’d arrived in. As the enemy group recovered from the Holy Ground spell, he channeled fifty Energy into Dig and scraped it across the ceiling behind him, creating an avalanche of stone and dirt.

With a thought, Ruwen directed the Fallen Hero toward the enemy group. Shouting echoed from behind him as the enemy engaged his double. In the confusion and mist, they hadn’t realized