The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series, Dan Sugralinov [the read aloud family TXT] 📗

log out, or to try to escape from beneath the dome. Both options had their risks. But at least today I didn’t have any penalties…

Clarity!

My vision changed. My heart started thundering like a machine gun, my veins expanded, my lungs couldn’t get enough air… I sped up by a factor of ten, if my calculations were right.

Flight!

Breaking through the veil of the shield, I rocketed upwards with my arms raised and pushed back the demonic hand covering the dome by a couple of feet. The resistance from the Aegis ended as soon as I crossed its edge.

An ordinary thump with my fist activated Surprise — I was counting on that perk to knock the demon off his feet. A following Hammerfist pushed Abaddon’s hand back far enough to open a gap I could escape through. An instant before I collided with the demon’s arm, shimmering Rindzin’s Ghostly Claw extended from my fist.

You dealt critical damage to Abaddon the Destroyer: 520 (14,060 absorbed)!

 

Health: 666,666,146 / 666,666,666.

 

Unarmed Combat level increased: +18. Current level: 25.

 

Accuracy and damage of strikes dealt without a weapon increased by 130%.

 

Hammerfist improved: +1.

 

Deals 1,350% of standard damage. Ignores 24% of armor.

 

The demon’s elongated hands began to move back, returning to their master, but even with their lightning-fast speed, they were too slow. I doubted Abaddon was afraid; it was probably the effect of Surprise knocking him off his feet, and right now he was falling to his back.

I looked at the logs, reading and analyzing what as happening while my arms worked tirelessly, dealing strike after strike. I even opened my mouth for a moment to emit a preventive Ghastly Howl. Who knew, maybe it would work?

Before even a single second passed in Clarity, my Unarmed Combat was already at first rank, although I was still at level 1! A mechanic of the Demonic Games? Either way, the skill’s development path seemed to auto-select, matching the one I’d chosen in greater Dis. Considering the lack of penalties, Path of Justice would be useless here, but the developers had taken that into account and changed the mechanics:

Path of Justice

 

Choosing the Path of Justice doubles the effectiveness of all your skill’s combat moves.

 

My Hammerfist was now Crushing, and fully ignored armor, dealing more damage, although it was still mostly cut down by the demon’s defense. His arms, which had previously been glowing red, began to blaze up.

To reach the second rank of Unarmed Combat, I had to deal far more blows. The system put me on the Path of Spirit, returning my protectors: my beast protector the owl, and my element — air. I had Stunning Kick, Fast Combo and Storm Fists had back in my arsenal, though I had no time to set them up. All my moves became Spirit moves, and now I could hit at range again, but I had to preserve my precious spirit points. So I redoubled my efforts and tried to stay close to the demon’s arms as they slowly withdrew into the opening.

Better and more useful to take no risk at all! When that bright idea dawned on me, I switched to Storm Fists — an aerial move that turned my normal strikes into Hammerfists! And in Clarity, they dealt twice as much damage!

By the tenth second of my accelerated movement, I’d used almost ninety Hammerfists strengthened by Rindzin’s Ghostly Talon, and struck thirty times with Storm Fists. In the meantime, Abaddon was still falling somewhere in the depths of his cavern, his arms drawing back in. The demon had lost almost three million health, and I was already halfway to the gates, with one second of superspeed left to make my escape.

I glanced at the logs, then at the Clarity timer, which showed…

What the..?!

I had… 64 seconds left, not one?!

Unarmed Combat level increased: +3. Current level: 63 (rank II).

 

Accuracy and damage of strikes dealt without a weapon increased by 820%.

 

Spirit: +300. Total: 7,590.

 

I roared in triumph and changed my mind about leaving, but when I looked back at my target, I went cold — the hands weren’t just shimmering anymore. The demon’s arms had filled with blinding light and seemed about to explode at any moment. As if in slow motion, I was seeing the beginning of a nuclear explosion, the point from which a deathly heat was about to blast out in all directions.

After a second’s hesitation — Abaddon made the perfect training dummy and I would have gladly taken advantage of him for longer — I decided not to risk it and to get as far away as I could from the Pitfall. That’s just what I did, tearing off away from the gates and upwards. The walls flashed by, blurring into a single glowing point.

I froze high up in the sky and only then slowed back down. I suddenly felt sick, and my head started pounding like it had been broken open by an axe. The effect of long Clarity? The world swam before my eyes, my vision doubled, then tripled and started spinning like a carousel. I barely managed to focus my vision. With a dim eye, I saw a fiery blaze explode upwards from the Pitfall. A moment later, the boom of the explosion hit my ears.

Deciding not to leave my character in mid-air, I flew off to find shelter in the forest. Even the Sleeper couldn’t say what tricks Snowstorm would brew up against me next, after seeing my fight with Abaddon. They might remove my skills, and then Scyth would fall without Flight, knocking me out of the Demonic Games.

Finding a spot in a forest glade surrounded by dead trees and strange, thorny bushes, where there were no NPCs or players, I calmed down and used the final minutes of the game day to review