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Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 62 - Manageable

“Are we ready?” asked Dat, glancing back at Elijah and Sadie, who were nestled between two huge boulders.  The pair of edifices were at least forty feet tall and almost as wide, with smaller rocks forming a wall that stretched around in a rough semi-circle until they merged with the steep slope of the mountain.  Originally, there had been gaps throughout, and some of the rocks had only been a few feet tall.  However, Elijah and the others had spent most of a day using their...

Chapter 626 - The Tempest

“The last time I jumped into a pit, things didn’t go so well,” Zeke said, peering over the edge of the pit in question.  The hole in the ground was a few hundred feet across, and the lip was lined with jagged, black crystal.  Even with his enormous endurance, those sharp shards of glass-like material were capable of cutting through his flesh with ease.  He knew that because he’d been forced to cross more than a thousand feet of the stuff.  No matter where he steppe...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 61 - An Army, Amassed

The cave was entirely desolate, and when Elijah looked back, he saw that there was no evidence of the door through which they’d arrived in the Primal Realm.  However, he was more concerned about the cold.  To him, it was only mildly uncomfortable, feeling like it was a touch above freezing.  But the others were far more affected.

The worst off was Zhang Yue, who looked as if he was on the verge of hypothermia, but Nico wasn’t doing much better.  The others took t...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 60 - Mount Longhu

Elijah’s head was still reeling a day later, but Sadie had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in addressing the romantic moment they’d shared the night before.  They’d only kissed a little before remembering where they were and heading back inside, but even that was enough to twist Elijah’s insides into knots.  Making it even worse was Sadie’s all-business attitude. 

He understood it, of course.  They were still on a mission, and they didn’t have ...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 59 - The Wrong Time is Sometimes Right

Elijah stepped into the maze, looking both directions before picking one.  The others followed close on his heels, though they seemed far more anxious than he felt.  It wasn’t surprising, either.  To them, the notion of traveling through the endless twisting halls was a daunting prospect.  But to Elijah, it felt like a casual stroll, largely because he could see all the gaps in the system of corridors.

Unfortunately, every wall was not illusory.  Instead, it r...

Chapter 625 - Thinking on His Feet

Zeke leaped high into the air, intent on ending the fight before it had a chance to truly begin.  However, when he swung Voromir in a sledgehammer strike that should have caved the Warden’s chest in, he found nothing but air.  He passed through the knight-like creature’s torso like it was nothing, and he hit the ground only a moment later.  Stunned, he stumbled – which was probably the only thing that saved him. 

The Warden’s great sword sliced through the ai...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 58 - Ap Le Chau Temple

There were more of them. 

A lot more.

And Elijah knew why.  The Primal Realm had been open for a couple of days by that point, and it had wasted no time in disgorging hordes of undead.  As the group slowly traveled through the city, making their way to the third and final shrine, they encountered thousands of zombies, ambulatory skeletons, and other, more esoteric undead.  The worst were the wraiths, which had no corporeal body, but instead presented as wisps o...

Chapter 624 - The Warden

Zeke slotted the final piece into the item, then held it up before him.  It blazed with ethereal light, dispersing the fog directly in front of him.  Instantly, his mind cleared, and he remembered where he was, what he was doing, and why. 

“The Lantern of Clarity,” said Eveline.  “Another myth made real.”

Zeke nodded, studying the item.  It was well named, considering it looked like an old oil lantern, though one made entirely of glass.  For w...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 57 - The Pearl

Under Guise of the Unseen, Elijah swam forward, passing through a dense clump of kelp until he saw his goal.  His heart jumped into his throat as he beheld a once-magnificent clam.  There was nothing else nearby.  No fish.  No other sea life.  Just an enormous clam the size of a small SUV. 

It was obvious that, at one point, the clam had been beautiful, with an iridescent shell that radiated so much ethera that it created its own swirling current.  How...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 56 - Tin Hau Temple

Though he endeavored to hide it, even Elijah was a little surprised at how much damage he had done with Incinerate.  The ability itself didn’t sound terribly impressive – especially next to more complex spells with flowery names – but he couldn’t deny its effectiveness. 

On the surface, killing one monster – no matter how big – didn’t seem like a big deal.  Except that doing so had given Elijah an entire level, pushing him to one-thirty-eight, which didn’t...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 55 - Monsters and Men

Sadie swung her sword, hacking an abomination in half at the waist.  It had taken two strikes – the hulking monsters were incredibly durable, even with Dat’s curses decreasing their Constitutions – but she’d managed it all the same.  That was primarily due to her spell, Blessed Blade, which was an evolution of the generic Warrior ability Heavy Blows.  It had been one of the first spells she’d gotten after gaining her class, and it had been absolutely necessary for her...

Chapter 623 - The Forgotten

Zeke peered at the steps, studying the fog billowing down from their summit.  It was only fifteen feet above him, but it felt like an insurmountable distance.  That was because he could feel the mist invading his thoughts.  Already, he found it difficult to think, and he suspected that if he fully immersed himself in the fog, it would grow much worse. 

But as he’d often reminded himself of late, he didn’t have much choice in the matter.  He’d already commi...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 54 - Tensions

“It is abominable, don’t you think?” said Gideon, leaning against the railing and staring out at the gentle waves. 

The ferry was incapable of moving quickly – only a couple of miles an hour – so the trip to the island where the Tin Hau Temple was located would take a little while.  Elongating that journey was the fact that they were forced to make frequent stops so that Ke Ming, the ferryman, could use one of his abilities meant to dissuade the monsters of the deep ...

Chapter 622 - An Impossible Task

Often, people referred to the demon realm as Hell.  Zeke had done so more times than he could count, and he considered himself a decent authority on the subject.  However, after taking ten steps past the gate, he started to reevaluate his word choices.  Because if anything ever qualified for that label, the environment on the other side of the gate certainly did.

It was an enclosed hall, though it wasn’t made of stone – or any other inorganic material.  Instead, ...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 53 - The Ferry

“Just a second, bro,” Dat said, already striding forward.  As he did so, Elijah studied the dock and its surroundings.  Vaguely, he sensed that something was off about the whole scene, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on exactly what was wrong. 

“Where is he going?” asked Gideon.  “What is he doing?  There’s nothing there.”

“Dat has spent more time out in the city than anyone else in Hong Kong.  Just trust that he knows what he�...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 52 - To Tin Hua Temple

Elijah stepped through the gate and found nothing waiting.  For a moment, he was extremely confused until Dat spoke up.  “Hey, bro,” he said.  “We got tired of waiting out in the open, so we moved across the street.”

“Since when could you talk and not break stealth?”

“New evolution,” Dat answered.  “Come on.”

With that, Elijah focused on Soul of the Wild, and his efforts were rewarded with a subtle sense of Dat’s position.  It w...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 51 - Master

Elijah let Shape of Thorn fall away, and he stood statue-still in the center of the circle.  Even the blood – of which there was quite a lot – had disappeared, leaving the tiles entirely pristine. 

The old man stepped into the circle. 

When he was ten feet away, he stopped and studied Elijah.  His eyes settled on the Feral Spire, and he nodded.  A second later, an unadorned quarterstaff appeared in his hands.  It was as long as the old man was tal...

Chapter 621 - Guardian of the First Circle

As Zeke flew backwards, he regretted many of his life decisions.  Before he could get too far into the many mistakes in his life, he hit a solid wall that surprisingly did not crumble.  It did rattle his bones, though – a testament to how hard he’d been hit.  As he fell to the ground with a crash, and a moment later, his hand crept to the wound on his side.  A huge chunk of his torso was missing, and if he’d possessed any organs, they would have already been ruptured...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 50 - A Matter of Martial Might

Elijah stood on a cliff, staring in awe at the complex across the bridge.  From an aesthetic standpoint, it was almost identical to the Man Mo Temple he’d seen from without.  However, it was much, much larger, looking more like a grand fortress than a modest temple in the middle of a city. 

The bridge itself was made of white bricks trimmed in jade, with sculptures of iconic creatures – ranging from pandas to dragons – adorning each pillar. 

“You must p...

Chapter 620 - Conviction

As Zeke fell into the Pit, he regretted his life decisions.

It wasn’t difficult to see why, either.  The Pit was less of a hole in the ground and more like the maw of some gargantuan creature.  Teeth as large as buildings jutted from the edges, while something wet and squishy awaited down below.  But at the moment, Zeke was far more disgusted by the smell, which was a mixture of rot, raw sewage, and hot garbage, which very nearly had him retching. 

Still, he ...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 49 - Man Mo Temple

It felt like a thousand eyes were following Elijah’s every move. 

It was not an unreasonable sensation, especially given the setting.  In fact, there was a good chance that he’d underestimated the threat.  He’d stopped counting the number of zombies in the area at around five hundred, and he knew he’d only scratched the surface of their local population.  Yet, none of them had reacted to his – or the rest of the group’s – presence at all. 

�...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 48 - Around Town

“Do you think I should do it?” Miguel asked, walking next to Nerthus as the spryggent made his rounds.  Fat drops of rain fell upon the young man’s shoulders, washing away the sweat of his most recent bout of training.  It was cold, but he could ignore that so he could experience the rain’s rejuvenating properties.  The spell wasn’t as powerful as Elijah’s, but it was enough to wash away his fatigue and improve his training.  “I should do it, right?”

...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 47 - The Team

“I do not like him,” said Song Tianwei.  For a long moment, he stared at the door, through which Elijah had just exited before adding,  “He is…impertinent.”

“He’s not that bad,” Sadie said, glad that the meeting was over.  Only she and her grandfather remained in the conference room.  All the others – including Gideon and her brother – had gone to prepare for the upcoming expedition.  “He also provided us with vital intelligence.  With...

Chapter 619 - Into the Maw

Zeke slammed his hammer into the demonic creature, exploding one of its heads.  That seemed to be the right one, because the monster went limp a second later.  After that, silence reigned across the battlefield.  He looked around at the results of the last hour’s worth of fighting, and a shiver went up his spine.

“When did this become normal?” he asked, his voice loud in the silent expanse. 

It was a good question, given the setting.  The air was thi...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 46 - Preparation

Elijah could move pretty quickly, even on foot.  Part of that was due to his high attributes, but he also had Lupine Reflexes speeding him along as well.  The upgrade to Essence of the Wolf hadn’t gained anything in terms of raw speed, but the attributes he’d gained over the past couple of months definitely affected his pace. In addition, the improved reaction times that came with it definitely made moving rapidly that much easier to handle.  So, as he sped through the fore...

Chapter 618 - Tenebralis

Mixik betrayed him the second they entered the city, proclaiming loudly that Zeke was an interloper.  The only silver lining to that dark cloud – as represented by an angry mob of demons – was that Zeke had expected it.  So had Eveline, which she wasn’t shy about reminding him.

“You can’t trust demons, Ezekiel.  How many times have I told you that?” she asked.

“But you want me to trust you,” he replied, facing off against thousands of demonic entitie...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 45 - The Persistence of Nature

Sometimes, it was easy to forget that, no matter what else happened, no matter how many evolutions he went through, Elijah was always a Druid first.  It took precedence over his class, and from it, everything else stemmed.  It was a key distinction, and one that Elijah knew he shouldn’t allow himself to forget.  Never was it clearer than when he embarked on his quest to cleanse the Aug Energy site. 

The poison inundating the entire area offended him in a way he cou...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 44 - Failed Connections

“Stay here,” Benedict commanded, glancing back at his horde of imps.  He’d lost count of how many he’d summoned over the previous month, and getting an accurate count was almost impossible due to the little minions’ inability to stand still for more than a millisecond.  However, he did know that there were at least a few dozen. 

It had, after all, been a busy few weeks, most of which was characterized by travel, but also included quite a few encounters with peop...

Path of Dragons 7 - Chapter 43 - Aug Energy

The moment Elijah left the metro behind, he realized that he’d just jumped out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire.  There were tens of thousands of zombies around, and more than a few were the augmented version he’d just killed with Incinerate.  Thankfully, they didn’t immediately react to his arrival, so he had enough time to shift into Shape of Sky and leap into the air.  Flapping his wings, he gained altitude, but as had happened before, it wasn’t long be...

Chapter 617 - Deal with a Demon

The demon pushed back his hood, revealing a face that looked almost elven in its sharp symmetry.  However, it was marred by a wicked scar that stretched from his eyebrow, down his cheek, and to the corner of his mouth.  In addition, the demon’s elven appearance was further sullied by the presence of small, curved horns – maybe an inch in length – covering his head.  And finally, his skin was purple, with white markings that Zeke took to be tattoos.

“Natural,” Ev...