Path of Spirit (Disgardium Book #6): LitRPG Series, Dan Sugralinov [the reader ebook .TXT] 📗

Squelching rot, open sores, guts falling out of a disemboweled stomach, ribs shining through — it wasn’t a good look. I’d win no beauty contests.

It was a miracle the people didn’t flee: curiosity (or stupidity?) overcame their common sense, and only a few sentients started to leave, pushing their way out through the crowd. The people grimaced and covered noses with handkerchiefs, looking at me in disgust. Someone was noisily sick. Look while you can! I thought, getting mad. Fat, happy… None of you have any idea how terrible the Destroying Plague can be, what a single one of its legates is capable of!

At first I was surprised by how calmly the state leaders took this appearance of the undead faction. Then I realized — they weren’t moving because Nergal was behaving as if there were no undead. The god of light was deliberately giving time to the Nucleus he had created, to let it grow and do as much harm as possible to the sentients. Only then, in an aura of sunlight, Nergal the Radiant, the great savior, would appear, drawing into his ranks those sentient followers who worship other gods. And of course, Nergal wouldn’t kill the Nucleus — it was too convenient an enemy. He would just banish it to the frosts of Holdest and relative freedom.

The people of the Commonwealth and the Empire had to see with their own eyes what the Destroying Plague was. My idea would be impossible if I hadn’t stocked up on Plague Fury scrolls on Terrastera. But I’d inscribed enough to put on an educational horror show.

Emitting a guttural roar, I slowly turned my head, looking out from beneath my brows and baring blackened teeth, letting as many people see me as possible.

“Nergal the Radiant, what a monster!” a merchant in a bright apron spat, hitting the foot of a hunter standing nearby, who dropped a multi-story structure of choice words on him.

“Damn! Even uglier than your wife!” a warrior shouted, elbowing his neighbor, a hairy half-naked barbarian.

The crowd liked the joke, and insults began to fly in from all sides, all directed at me, or rather at Mogwai.

Soldiers began to stream in, weapons bare. “Make way for the royal guard!” they shouted. “Stand aside!” Shoving their way through and surrounding the well, they carefully waited to see what I would do next. Nobody tried to attack; they must have been waiting for reinforcements.

In the distance, by Nergal’s central temple, a pillar of light struck the sky. Royal battle mages began to appear with the snap of portals.

I waited.

And waited.

Someone in the crowd couldn’t stand the strain and shouted “Kill the dead man!” before throwing a knife at me, activating Equanimity and Sleeping Justice. A timer started from three and a half minutes. With Diamond Skin, enough for the whole operation. Without invulnerability, Plague Fury would have killed me just like everyone else.

My preprepared scrolls cast instantly. I activated the first, whispering: Apophis, White Snake, these victims I sacrifice to you… A hiss of approval came from nowhere, echoing into silence.

The flash of Plague Energy expanded in a killing wave in all directions. Those who had been spitting curses only moments ago, seeing me only as an amusing monster, collapsed into dust.

Summoning Storm, who took the form of a Crystal Wyvern, Mogwai’s mount, I took off and flew toward King Bastian’s palace. Below I could clearly see a three-hundred-foot circle of dead earth scattered with sand, the remnants of royal guards, battle mages, players and merchants. The explosion didn’t hit the entire market square, and panic spread outside the circle of death: people fled this way and that, shoving each other, trampling the weak and slow, screaming in a thousand voices. A deafening alarm bell rose, drowning out the screams and multiplying the panic.

A couple of seconds later, a stream of loot and Spheres of Serendipity caught up to me, drawn in from the corpses by Magnetism.

Serendipity collected: 1,000,000 / 1,000,000.

 

Quest of Fortune, Goddess of Luck, completed: Serendipity for Fortune.

 

You have collected enough Spheres of Serendipity from the corpses of fallen sentients. Give them to Fortune to claim your rewards (Elixir of Luck; +1,000,000,000 experience; +5000 reputation) and the next quest in the Wheel of Fortune divine quest chain.

 

Followed by watchmen on gryphons, I reached the royal palace towering over the city a minute later. My path was blocked by an incredibly thick force field. Behind it I could see fountains, flower beds, gardens. Palace servants ran around in fear, rushing to hide within the castle walls.

I flew a little way around the force field dome, found a spot where I had a better view of the palace. Looking closer, I saw a figure in a royal mantle standing on the balcony of the tallest tower. Ruler of humans and leader of the Commonwealth Bastian the First watched me, his mighty arms crossed at his chest. He wore a crown forged from an alloy of the seven most precious metals in Dis, decorated with a huge gemstone as if woven from light.

There was no way I could reach the king, but he wasn’t my target; I needed to emphasize the threat the Destroying Plague represented. I threw my shield charged with Vindication at the king, but the monarch didn’t even bat an eyelid. Next I attacked the forcefield, raining down a whole series of Combos within a few seconds (the logs imitated druid abilities) and activated another scroll for the king to witness the destruction of Plague Fury for himself.

The half a hundred guards flitting around me on gryphons and trying to attack me fell to the ground like burnt moths. Storm didn’t survive the explosion either, but I stayed in the air thanks to Flight. The dome’s durability fell by 10%, but began to recover right away. Equanimity dropped right after the explosion.

The