The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1) Craig Kobayashi (sad books to read .txt) 📖

the four Naga that were on the platform with the Sentry seemed to notice their compatriot missing and were already in the water on their way to the cave mouth to investigate.

"My turn," said Garath to himself, grinning wildly and focusing his will into the .5 second cast of a Death Bolt he aimed at the Hypnotist. The caster had to go down next and he planned on bringing in reinforcements to get the job done. *Get out here, we have work to do.*

Garath could feel the Experience Points inside his target, the power he would gain from destroying it - and he wanted it. He released the black orb of energy from his outstretched hands and it fired over the flowing river, then dipped in altitude to connect with its target. Only a sliver of red drained from the Hypnotist's Health bar, eliciting a perturbed glare from the Necrologist that had expected much better results. Could she have a magic resistance of some kind? The Hypnotist stayed behind, treading water with her tail as the three Pikemen neared the cave mouth and Garath's summoned demons arrived at the scene behind him.

The Fel Hound ran back and forth at the edge of the water, eagerly awaiting the Naga Pikemen while the Flayer took aim at Garath's target without being told to, unleashing Death Bolts in a constant stream of black energy - pulsing every .5 seconds as another black orb shot out of its outstretched hands. The melee Naga engaged Warrion and the Fel Hound as soon as they slithered out of the water. The female Naga treading water beyond the melee made eye contact with Garath and held it, her gaze shaking him with its intensity and animosity. Then, he couldn't move.

A new icon appeared in the corner of his vision opposite those of the Bark Skin and Aquawood Defense buffs, this new icon was that of an eyeball with a red line flashing over it. Unable to move, the Necrologist focused on the icon to gain more information - he mentally kicked himself on repeat for being such an idiot, and read the script that appeared, even though he already had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

You are paralyzed. You will be unable to move until eye contact with Naga Hypnotist is broken.

Garath desperately willed himself to look away, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't. The Hypnotist raised one eyebrow at him, taunting, then lifted her hands and began to cast, a heartless smile twisting her face. Garath wanted to tell the Party to focus her down or distract her but the words wouldn't come. As luck would have it though, he wasn't the only person in the group with a brain.

Athios had noticed that something was wrong the moment Garath’s second Death Bolt didn't immediately follow his first. She saw the debuff icon appear near his nameplate and noticed that he wasn't moving. In a rare moment of decisiveness, Athios knew exactly what to do. And exactly what to do was inspired by her all time favorite game, Portal.

She hefted her trident, flipping the pointy end to face the stone floor. With one hand lifting the weapon as high as she could manage and the other outstretched with her palm up, she cast a white disk to appear at her feet. A second later she sent a second white disk to appear just above the water-treading Naga's head and strained to hold them both open. She thrust down with the trident like a conquistador planting his flag on already inhabited land with her eyes glued to the Hypnotist.

Just like in her favorite game, the dangerous end of the trident went through the disk just above the stone floor, then emerged from the second disk above the Hypnotist's head, easily penetrating the Naga caster's neck and shoulder.

The Hypnotist shrieked in pain and the Necrologist was free of her paralyzing gaze.

"Kill the caster,” Garath called over the Party channel while pulling his will in to cast another Death Bolt at the paralyzing Hypnotist himself.

Athios nodded, her Mana was getting dangerously low and her ability to focus with it. She steeled herself even as a mind splitting headache stabbed at her frontal cortex. Athios twisted the trident and pulled it out of the Hypnotist then thrust down again. The Naga caster dipped below the water level, lifeless, as Athios pulled her trident back through the tear in space-time, and ended her channeled casting. Holding two disks open drained her Mana precipitously and the cooldown for her Endless Potion of Mana still had three and a half minutes left - leaving her effectively out for the remainder of the fight.

Warrion was dancing, locked in melee with three Pikemen and bleeding profusely from his left arm by the time Garath was finally released from the paralysis. Sharon flashed green as she slung a Nature's Touch to the Assassin, bringing his Health back up to just over half and continuing to rise each second. Again she pulled horned roots from the stone floor, binding a flailing Naga Pikeman in place.

The Flayer fired Death Bolts at any Naga in sight like Oprah at a charity event. One for you, one for you, look under your chair, Death Bolt! The Fel Hound jumped on the Naga bound with horned roots and bit into its unprotected abdomen, filling the hound's mouth with blue puss and a fat hunk of flesh as it ripped away. Garath, less than cautiously, approached the raging melee, getting just close enough to infect all three Pikemen with the instant cast of Blight - he spared a thought to consider the additional cost, but figured one more soul-taint couldn't be that much harm - he'd gained dozens of taints with his cat form after all.

Deep purple energy spread from his body, infecting the snake-people with its poison debuff. The remainder of the skirmish was short lived, the outnumbered and outgunned Pikemen fell one after another