Immortal Swordslinger (Book 2)
Dante King
Copyright © 2019 by Dante King
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
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Chapter One
I woke with a start. It was night in the Diamond Coast, but a full moon shone down on the clearing, bathing everything in ghostly white light. Vesma stood over me and nudged me to wake up with the butt of her spear.
“What is it?” I asked, knowing she’d been on watch.
“Something is moving out there.” She gestured at the lush palms surrounding the clearing. I caught sight of a scaled figure among the greenery and immediately leaped to my feet. Instinctively, I snatched up my sword.
“Is it time to play?” Nydarth whispered from within my weapon.
Beside me, Kegohr lumbered to his feet with mace in hand. “What, what, what?” He rubbed his eyes with the back of one clawed hand.
“Can anyone else smell that?” I asked. The air was thick with the salty aroma of the nearby seashore, but it carried something more decrepit. The stench of rotting seaweed and decaying fish almost made me barf.
“Lampreys!” Vesma pointed at half a dozen creatures advancing out of the forest toward us.
The lampreys were four feet tall, bipedal, with arms like a man. Scales covered their bodies, and fins protruded from either side of their heads. Mist exuded from their backs, and the vapor clouds trailed behind them as they moved with a swaying gait. They flexed their clawed hands and hissed as they advanced. Mouths almost as large as their faces were filled with pointed teeth that gleamed in the moonlight.
“Holy fucking shit,” I said as Vesma and Kegohr stood in formation beside me. Vigor boiled from beneath their skin and cast them in a fire-red hue.
The lampreys were the first water monsters I’d seen since we’d ventured out from the Radiant Dragon Guild. The map Xilarion had given us indicated this glade was a Vigorous Zone, so I’d known we’d encounter monsters sooner or later.
“Be wary,” Vesma warned. “We should—”
“Attack!” Kegohr roared as he charged into the pack of scaled monsters.
“Fuck,” I said. We hadn’t even come up with a plan yet, and he’d decided to rush the enemy.
I couldn’t let him get all the kills himself, so I charged to join him.
“It is so pleasing to be in your hands once more,” Nydarth whispered as I swung the Sundered Heart Sword at a lamprey. The monster reared back, dodged my attack, and spouted a cloud of mist that closed around me. My lungs filled with the substance, and my chest constricted a little. My throat swelled as I gasped for air.
I hastily sheathed my sword, sucked in as much air as my tightening lungs could handle, and opened the magical channels within me. Vigor flowed along them, infused with the power of fire. I forced the magic to run along the pathway I’d shaped for Untamed Torch and brought my hands together.
Fire formed between my palms before it coalesced into a blazing sphere. I pushed the fireball forward, and it rolled straight into the mist. The vapor crackled as the flames evaporated it, but the lamprey itself was unharmed. I realized then that fire would have no effect on these beasts, so I drew my sword again and ran the scaled monster through the stomach before it could spout another cloud.
Vesma jumped beside me and crushed a lamprey’s skull with the butt of her spear. Despite how easy it was to kill the monsters, there were dozens of them flowing into the clearing. Their numbers continued to grow until all I could see was scales, claws, and razor-teeth. Mist accompanied them, and soon, the entire area was shrouded behind a thick fog the moonlight couldn’t pierce.
I could only see a few inches past my face. Unfortunately, my Augmentation training hadn’t involved learning to see with my eyes closed, so I had to scramble to block the strikes from the monster horde. I sent out Plank Pillars in a perimeter around me and heard the thuds as lampreys plowed into them.
“Fire evaporates the mist!” I yelled to my friends as I cast a one-handed Untamed Torch. It was weaker than a two-handed fireball, but it still struck the mist and produced a hissing sizzle.
Kegohr roared, and his entire body lit up. He’d activated Spirit of the Wildfire, and his scorching body caused the fog around him to fade. He was like a beacon of light, and I fought toward him as I continued to shoot fireballs at the vapor while dodging the lampreys’ vicious claws.
Vesma jumped beside me and waved her Flame Shield around to disperse the fog. A lamprey jumped through the quickly fading mist, and I kicked it directly in the chest. The monster skittered backward before pouncing forward again. While the creature was in midair, I lunged and skewered the clawed fiend.
“Ugh,” Nydarth said. “Such unsavory flesh!”
“Better get used to it,” I replied as the fog disappeared entirely. “There are a whole lot more of them.”
Kegohr swung his mace around in a sweeping arc that almost caught a lamprey, but the creature jumped back at the critical moment. The lamprey didn’t see Vesma coming as she thrust her spear at its ribs. Rather than pierce the monster’s scaled abdomen, the spearpoint glanced off.
“What the devil are these things made of?” Vesma asked as she fought off the lamprey’s counterattack.
“We’re going to have to get more creative,” I said.
“Or more brutal.” Kegohr bellowed with laughter as he swung his mace straight into the nearest lamprey. The blow sent the creature flying,
