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

I sent the two Flora Whelps off to my left. They rushed the group of swordsmen, dashing in to hamstring them and leaping up under their shields. They used their new Twisting Vine ability, tangling the feet of the swordsmen while they darted in and out, biting their legs.

On my right, the Cobra was waiting. With a shout, I sent him charging into the flank of the spearmen. Acid Breath sprayed the shadow elves, and the Cobra’s massive bulk sent them flying. Kyrine and Astrid laid about themselves with their blades, but when they saw the Cobra charging, they began to press toward it.

The shield wall was broken, and the remaining spearmen had thrown down their spears and drawn curved scimitars. Kyrine and Astrid were spinning death among them, and the only forces that remained unengaged were the archers and the commander.

I de-summoned three of the Flesh Munchers who were now too far away from the shadow elves. In their place, I drew on my Frostbreath Cougar strands. The Cougar was one of my favorite monsters, a sleek big cat with lightning speed, deadly teeth and claws, and a powerful Frostbreath attack that sent a blast of ice from the creature’s mouth that would freeze and slow down an enemy.

With an effort, I made the summoning portals appear as far away from me as possible, right in the middle of the shadow elf archers. The huge cats leaped out snarling from the portals, swinging their claws in every direction. The volleys of arrows halted abruptly, as the archers began to clumsily draw steel to deal with the new enemies.

Astrid was trading blows with two spearmen. As Kyrine had told her, any blow that hit Astrid’s bare skin bounced off, as if there was an invisible shield there. The impacts caused lines of blue fire to expand from the point of contact, rippling over her body and up to the metal plating of her armor. Fighting together, Kyrine and Astrid both looked incredibly sexy.

I looked around the battlefield. All my summoned creatures were busy engaging the enemy. They didn’t need my help anymore.

With a roar, I slung my two-headed battleaxe up and ran round the melee, heading straight for the commander. As I passed the combatants, I heard a bestial roar. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Astrid transform into her werewolf form.

On the ends of her massive paws were long, razor sharp talons. Thick, silver fur covered a body rippling with muscles. She had gained at least a foot in height, and her face was that of a terrifying monstrous wolf, with a long, snarling snout, teeth the size of fingers, and blazing yellow eyes. Black spines swept back along her jawline and peppered the silver coat along the ridge of her head.

“Get them, Astrid!” Kyrine crowed as Astrid leaped into the air then dashed off to her left to engage the remnants of the swordsmen, who were managing to hold their own against the Flora Whelps. Kyrine would be able to deal with the last of the spearmen, and the archers were being driven back by the Frostbreath Cougars, but I was determined that the commander was going to be mine.

I met his gleaming longsword with the haft of my axe, turning the blow and shoving into him with the full weight of my body, armor, and weapon. At this range, I saw that his face was as expressionless as a mask, his skin dusky gray and his eyes red. He wielded a sword of thin steel as long as his arm.

He was tall, but I had the advantage of weight, and my axe had a longer reach. As I rained down blows on him, he deftly blocked each one, but as he did so he was forced to give ground.

Suddenly it struck me—I had never wielded an axe before today, and yet here I was, fighting as if I’d been trained with a battleaxe since my childhood. This must be the power of the Keeper, I thought, as I pressed the shadow elf commander back.

The thought filled me with sudden fierce excitement, and I whirled my axe round, pressing the attack as hard as I could. When the commander tried to move to the side, I headed him off.

He did the only thing he could do—he charged, his blade pointed forward like a thrusting spear. I deftly sidestepped away and slashed his arm with my axe, taking it off at the elbow. He didn’t make a sound, nor did his expression change, but he slumped forward into the snow, clutching his spurting stump.

I raised my axe and finished him with a blow to the back of his neck that sent his head rolling off across the packed snow.

When I turned, the battle was over. Kyrine and Astrid were standing in the middle of the carnage, surrounded by my summoned creatures. The snow all around was a bloody mess, with the bodies of the dead shadow elves littering the churned snow.

“Well, that was impressive!” exclaimed Astrid, who had returned to her regular form again.

“It certainly was,” Kyrine smiled, looking me up and down. “I’ve not had a fight like that for years, and I can’t remember the last time I got to fight alongside friends.”

She stretched like a cat and tossed her axes up in the air. They vanished in a puff of gray dust which was promptly reabsorbed through her hands. Then she held up her hands and spread her arms out, looking up at the snowy sky.

There was a sighing noise, and every single shadow elf body, their weapons, their armor, and every drop of blood also turned into gray dust and flowed back to Kyrine.

I smiled and looked around my summoned creatures. Following Kyrine’s lead, I reabsorbed them all. Looking around, I saw that the snow was all returned to pristine condition. It