Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (best way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

I lunged, swinging my axe at the Cobra, but it dodged each blow then ducked in to aim a bite at my face. I brought my axe up to knock the blow to one side, the cut at the Cobra’s body on the backswing. The axe found flesh, and the Cobra hissed, springing backward as dark blood sizzled onto the freezing snow.

“First blood to me!” I called.

The Cobra whirled and used its Mimic ability to create a version of my armor covering itself. Steel plating slammed into place around it, but blood still bubbled up through the links where I had wounded it.

The Cobra darted in again, using the full force of its massive body to slam blows into my side and my left leg. I reeled, stumbled, and went to one knee. The Cobra lunged in for a killing blow, but I brought my axe up to slam into the steel plates that protected the space under its neck. Steel crunched and crumpled, and the Cobra was stunned for a moment.

“Yield!” I called to the Cobra.

“Never!” it hissed back at me. “I am deathless, now that you can summon me again. You must kill me to win. It is my honor!”

I had felt a little bad about the prospect of actually killing the creature, but apparently it had no problem with it.

“Very well,” I said. “You asked for it.”

Kyrine and Astrid were still just watching me spar with the Cobra, and that was fine with me. Glancing at the two women, I saw that Kyrine had created three dark red healing potions and lined them up in the snow beside her.

“Let’s up the stakes,” I challenged the Cobra.

“As you wish,” it hissed. It was clearly enjoying itself.

I drew upon my Magma Ape summoning strand and directed a flaming portal to appear near the Cobra.

The Magma Ape lumbered out of the portal to join the Cobra in the fight.

Chapter 4

The Magma Ape stood for a moment, awaiting my instructions.

“Help the Venomous Cobra,” I told it. “I’m going to fight against you both, and I want you to give it your best shot. I want you to try and kill me before I kill you.”

I knew I could command each summoned creature to halt immediately if I was overpowered by them. Until then, I wanted them to give it everything they had.

The Magma Ape roared, throwing its head back and beating its chest. The primate was a powerful level three monster, and its skin was made up of shifting plates of gray stone, with molten magma bubbling and dripping from the cracks in between them. Its eyes burned with fire, and flames flickered between its savage teeth as it threw back its head and roared a challenge. Clawed fists the size of shovels trailed fire as they whipped through the air in front of it.

It certainly was an impressive creature. I hoped I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew, but I would give it my best shot.

I decided to draw on some of my own magic. I leaned on my own spellcasting ability and summoned a Force Barrier. Snow settled on the malleable magical shield as it rippled into life around me, protecting my front and sides, but leaving my back exposed. I had only a limited mana pool, and keeping the Force Barrier active steadily drained it.

Time to see what my creatures could do working together.

I charged in with a roar, aiming a blow of the axe toward the Cobra, then leaping toward the Magma Ape and barreling into it with my Force Barrier. The Cobra fired Acid Breath at me as the Ape stumbled backward, and I swung the Force Barrier around to catch most of the acid. What acid my spell didn’t deflect spattered and hissed on my steel armor.

The ape recovered swiftly, the snow around it hissing and melting to steam as it lumbered back through the falling flakes toward me.

“Go on, Jeremy!” cried Astrid and Kyrine encouragingly.

The Ape roared and the Cobra hissed, and then they both charged me simultaneously. My Force Barrier dropped at the last moment, and the Ape rang a stinging fiery blow against my helm. I dropped to the ground, not stunned, but pretending to be. The Ape roared in victory, but the Cobra darted in, aiming a mouthful of fangs at my face.

“Ensnare!” I shouted as I cast an Ensnare spell at the Cobra’s head.

The magical netting of the spell wrapped around the Cobra’s head, snapping the jaws shut, and the Cobra’s killing blow thudded harmlessly against my helmet. I shoulder-barged upward into the Cobra’s face, and the spikes on my shoulder guard punched through the steel plating around its head, through its flesh, and through its bone to find its brain.

The Magma Ape charged in, but I whirled, bringing my axe up for a two-handed blow. The Ape was horrifically strong, and it was reaching for my face. I brought my axe down in the middle of its skull, and the combination of my blow and the Ape’s own momentum made the cut so powerful that it almost severed the Ape in two.

Magma spilled out onto the ground around my feet as the Ape cracked and disintegrated, and then both the Ape and the Cobra shimmered into clouds of gray ash and were reabsorbed. My summoning pool was replenished, and I felt the great lift that always came with the mana boost of reabsorbing creatures.

There was a ping from my Personal Cultivation System, and I brought up the screen to have a look.

Venomous Cobra has increased its Metal Resistance by 3%

Magma Ape has increased its Metal Resistance by 3%

“Looks like all that hard work is paying off,” I said as I dismissed the screen. I