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Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 33 - Vacation's End

“No armor?” asked Sadie.

Elijah stuffed the last of his wardrobe into his Ghoul-Hide Satchel, saying, “Flying under the radar.”  He raised his hand, showing off the jewelry on his finger. “I’m even using my ring.”

“Has that ever worked for you before?” she asked, neatly folding her own clothes.  She’d bought an entirely new wardrobe for the trip to Seattle, and she’d even purchased a couple of the new dimensional bags to accommodate her expanded opt...

Chapter 656 - Cycles

Yanking his axe free of his latest victim, Zeke never even saw the blade coming for his neck.  A second later, his head flew free and rolled down the hill.  He remained aware for only a few moments before everything went black.  Then, he awoke on a slab of stone, just like he always did.  Mechanically, he dressed in the simple clothes folded at the foot of that stone bed, then left it behind.

Though he did take a single glance back before he left the room.

Ther...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 32 - Deeper

Miguel knelt near the site of the cave-in, his senses locked on his surroundings.  The monster he’d encountered there had long since moved on, allowing a close inspection of the path to the surface.  However, there were two immediate problems.  The first was that Miguel was the only one willing to get close enough to give it a good look, which meant that he was entirely alone.  A couple of other scouts were a few hundred yards up the tunnel, but that was too far away to ...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 31 - That's a Lot of Soap

“There is such a thing as too much soap,” Sadie said, her hands on her hips as she stared at the crates Elijah had piled next to the treehouse.  As it turned out, his effort had produced much more soap than he’d ever expected.  Some of that was due to his abundance of materials as well as Biggle’s help.  However, it was also because he’d recently added a few smaller crates to the mix.

Those were the results of the very last of the lard taken from the boar king �...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 30 - Appraisals

“I hate you so much.  Have I told you that recently?” sighed Carmen, turning the Verdant Fang over in her hands.  She handled it much better than he’d have expected, given that she didn’t have a combat class.  But in retrospect, her familiarity with weapons should not have been surprising, given her background.  She’d been thrust into combat more often than many Warriors.  “Do you know what this is?”

“Uh…my new staff?”

“Obviously,” ...

Chapter 655 - The Drums of War

The moment Zeke stepped through the gate, he was blinded by the bright sun above.  He blinked, clearing his vision with every passing second.  When he could finally see, he was more than a little surprised to find himself looking at an idyllic landscape.  Rolling hills of green grass stretched as far as he could see, and a bright sun shone amidst blue skies high above.

A gentle breeze tickled his naked skin, and he couldn’t help but bask in the warm air.  He hadn�...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 29 - Verdant Fang

The tree was ready.

Still, Elijah circled it, inspecting it with each of his senses.  The smell was the most difficult to pick out, largely because it was overwhelmed by the grove’s other aromas.  But just beneath the surface was an odor that Elijah felt most resembled mint.  That wasn’t a good description, but there was something about the underlying sense of biting cleanliness that brought that familiar smell to mind. 

Visually, the tree looked little dif...

Chapter 654 - Questions Without Easy Answers

The accusers screamed their accusations, but Zeke paid them no heed.  They had no more power over him.  He’d accepted his sins and atoned for them, so they could no long affect him.  Still, he did not feel the peace he’d expected.  Instead, he could only think of what was in store for the future. 

Because the gate to the next circle loomed ahead of him, dark and uninviting, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he would be up to overcoming whatever hardships ...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 28 - A Shrinking World

Elijah hefted the boulder, then raised it above his head, where he balanced it on one hand.  The pressure felt almost negligible though he knew from experience that it probably weighed between nine and ten tons.  The real trick was managing the awkward burden, though he’d combatted that via some deep handholds he’d dug with the claws of his thorned sentry form. 

But as he held it above his head, Elijah was forced to acknowledge a simple fact: he’d outgrown his old t...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 27 - Organization

Isaiah peered at the monitor, which displayed a maze of tiny conduits.  Some blazed with the current of ethera, while others conducted electricity.  In a perfect world, the two would have worked in harmony, but anywhere they clashed, sparks flew.  Thankfully, the system was designed for that, taking the best parts of both worlds. 

There was a problem, though, and one Isaiah needed to fix soon or things would go extremely wrong very quickly.  Even as he guided hi...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 26 - Kurik's Defenses

“Put yer gods bedamned pendants on, you rock-brained idjits!” shouted Kurik, his rough voice echoing down the tunnel well before Elijah caught sight of the angry dwarf.  The sound brought a small smile to his face that only broadened when he rounded the corner and saw his friend demonstrably gesturing at a group of miners.  “Them traps down there’ll rip you to pieces if you don’t follow the rules!  Now, put ‘em on!”

The group of miners obediently followed Ku...

Chapter 653 - Guilty

Zeke hit the man in a shoulder tackle that should have shattered a mountain.  But to his immense surprise, he rebounded as if he’d hit an immovable wall.  He stumbled backward, a flood of divine energy flowing through him, and narrowed his eyes.  The accuser looked upon him with a mixture of pity, disgust, and eagerness that his bland features couldn’t hope to hide. 

More importantly, he blazed with divine energy of his own. 

“Did you truly believe y...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 25 - Power Source

“The Forge of Creation,” Carmen said aloud.  “I don’t hate it.”

The name had been suggested after a survey of all the other crafters who would one day use the facility, and against all odds, she liked it – at least much better than any of the other options on offer.  Still, Carmen wasn’t certain that it was absolutely appropriate, largely because it seemed to give prominence to blacksmithing when the compound had grown far beyond the limited scope with which it h...

Chapter 652 - Punishment Earned

Zeke stumbled toward the village, the weight of his struggles heavy on his shoulders.  It would only take a simple pulse of divine energy to get him back to full strength, but he would need to keep it going if he wanted to continue to reap the benefits.  So, he kept a tight hold on his core, clamping down and giving the divine energy no way to escape.

And because of that, he experienced a brief respite from the pain that had accompanied him for so long.  The echoes remain...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 24 - Scales

Elijah looked at his forearms with no small degree of consternation twisting his expression.  Part of it was the power he felt coursing through his body.  Strength unlike anything he’d ever experienced flowed through him.  He had no idea how to quantify it, but he knew that taking the step from Iron to Bronze had been the largest leap he’d taken in terms of body cultivation.  Even without buffs like Wild Infusion, Elijah felt much stronger than ever before, suggesting ...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 23 - Purity

With his legs crossed beneath him, Elijah sat atop a large, rocky edifice in the mountains.  He was only a few miles away from where he’d fought the spider who’d once guarded the pass leading to Norcastle, but there was no life in his general vicinity.  Even the microbes had been killed – a fact which left him with more than a little guilt. 

But the damage was done.  He couldn’t turn back.  Not now that he was finally making progress. 

He cycl...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 22 - The Descent

By all rights, Miguel had no business being included among the scouts.  He was a Warrior by archetype, and his Green Warden class hadn’t given him anything like a stealth ability.  In addition, the terrain didn’t lend itself to his nature attunement, which seemed to be much weaker away from forests and other flora-rich environments.  The cave had plenty of life within it, but for whatever reason, he didn’t connect with moss and fungi like he did trees and bushes.  2025-02-04 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 651 - Web of Lies

Zeke stepped forward with footsteps of thunder as a thousand pyres burned behind him.  Every step shook the very nature of reality.  Every twitch sent ripples of divine energy to scorch their way through the air.  And his gaze carried with it the full weight of a demigod. 

With every passing second, his body cried out in agony as his flesh was destroyed, then remade by the very same power that made him so dangerous.  He couldn’t ignore it.  The only answe...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 21 - Seeds of an Idea

Elijah turned the seed from the ancestral tree over in his hand, studying its structure via Soul of the Wild.  From a visual perspective, it was just a seed.  The size of a walnut, its oblong exterior was rough and marked by deep grooves.  It really didn’t look like much.  However, with his other senses, Elijah could feel just how different it was from any other plant he’d ever studied.

There was so much potential there.  So much magic.  It wasn’t lik...

Chapter 650 - Divine Fire

He burned.

But he did not waver. 

He refused to give in, and somehow, his pool of divine energy responded.  Not all at once, and certainly not quickly.  But it answered the call, somehow sustaining him through a level of torture no soul could be expected to endure, and certainly not without grievous consequence.

He had no more voice to scream.  No thoughts to distract him.  Instead, he had only suffering.  If he’d had the capacity to think, he...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 20 - Armor

Sadie stretched her arms above her head, the movement loosening her tight muscles.  She’d gone a little too far with her training the day before, and even Elijah’s healing had been insufficient to truly banish the consequences of overwork.  And then she’d pushed even further once the sun went down, though when she thought of her nocturnal activities, she couldn’t help but smile. 

Her time with Elijah – even though it was destined to end – had proven to be a ve...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 19 - Allure

If there was one thing Elijah already knew about his new form, it was that it was big.  Very, very big.  Considering that the world leviathan was in the description, that shouldn’t have been surprising, but even if he’d briefly experienced the transformation once before, he was still shocked by its incredible size. 

Even as he pushed out to sea and into deeper water, Elijah estimated that the form was around fifty feet long and about two thirds as wide, not including ...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 18 - Preparations

“That is so disgusting,” Sadie grunted as she performed her sword forms.  Each one was exact and sudden, cutting through the air with practiced precision.  She executed an abbreviated uppercut that flowed into a downward slash, ending in a sweeping strike that would have cut most enemies in half.  Only then did her shoulders droop in relaxation, and she let out a breath.  “You heard me, right?”

“Kind of working here,” Elijah said, pushing Soul of the Wild...

Chapter 649 - The Pyre

“The Circle of Heresy is a misnomer,” Eveline said suddenly.

“What?” asked Zeke, still trudging along.  “I thought you said you didn’t know anything.”

“Well, now I do.  You know how my memory works.  Or doesn’t work, as it happens,” she said. 

“Yeah.  I guess.  So, what makes it a misnomer?” he asked.

“It’s not heresy as you would consider it.  Instead, it’s dedicated to punishing those who stray from the...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 17 - The Invitation

“How long has this been up?” Elijah asked, still looking at the notification hovering before his inner eye. 

Ramik answered, “A little more than a day.”

Elijah frowned.  He had to remember that, as a relatively important person – whether he wanted to always admit it or not – he needed to be available.  His frequent jaunts into the wilderness were incompatible with that idea.  “I’m sorry,” he said, running his hand through his hair.  Thank...

Chapter 648 - The Light at the End of the Tunnel

The wall of blood hit Zeke with enough force to break every bone in his body.  Yet, via the wonder that was the divine-energy-infused [Hand of Divinity], he managed to pull himself back together just in time to slam into the other wave that had come crashing into him. 

For a long time, that continued, and he was battered back and forth.  He barely felt it, though.  Instead, he remained wholly focused on the energy within.  Guiding it.  Embracing it.  H...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 16 - The Ultimatum

Elijah spent almost an entire day touring the area around the nuclear plant, and he was happy to discover that his plan was working.  Certainly, there was a long way to go, but the sunflowers were doing their job of filtering the radiation from the air.  Curiously, though, that same process had resulted in a significant uptick in the density of the ambient ethera.  It wasn’t on par with somewhere like Elijah’s island, but it was markedly different than its surroundings.&nbs...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 15 - The Outpost

“We wait,” said Katis, scratching her short, blonde beard.  “Reinforcements should arrive shortly.”

Miguel frowned, though he didn’t argue with her order.  In a vacuum, waiting seemed like a good plan, but he knew that there was a good chance it would backfire.  After all, not three miles away, there was a significant stronghold manned by at least fifty dark elves.  They didn’t look like the cream of the crop, but Miguel had seen enough to recognize the d...

Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 14 - The Hollow Depths

Irasi stood atop the walls of the citadel and watched as her people’s doom descended upon Aeristhûn’s walls.  Perhaps the current charge would not destroy their defenses – after all, the powerful thrum of ethera through the walls was still as strong as ever – but she could see their fate writ large across the attacking army’s amassed force. 

They didn’t strike only from the ground, where the attackers rode massive beetles with mandibles well-suited to cutting thro...

Chapter 647 - Chains

Zeke slumped to the muddy ground, nearly collapsing in exhaustion, both mental and physical.  Never before had he been tested so thoroughly than as he’d traversed the neverending battle.  He’d lost count of the number of people he’d killed.  Powerful or weak, it didn’t matter.  If they stood in his way, they were destined to fall.  He crashed through thousands of enemies on his path to the center of the Bloodlake.

But he hadn’t done so unscathed.