AI Apocalypse Resurgence: An Apocalyptic LitRPG Adventure (AI Apocalypse: Restart Book 3) by J David Baxter

Author:J David Baxter [Baxter, J David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silver Paw Publishing
Published: 2025-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Skyreach Spire Training Begins

“Fine,” I muttered, bracing myself as the first harpy dipped low, shrieking its challenge. “Let’s see how you like it when the prey fights back.”

Launching into the air, I prepared to fight. The chamber was large enough, and the other harpies were distant enough, that this wouldn’t turn into a swarm. For now, it was just me and a single opponent. I turned off my Aura of Fear so that I could have some good fights. I’d rather learn than watch them seize up in terror until they fell far enough to get out of my aura. That wouldn’t be much fun.

I could have opened with spells, but this was about learning my wings. Talon to talon, claw to claw.

It didn’t take long to realize I was faster and more maneuverable, but the harpy made up for that with pure flying expertise. That first fight was ugly.

I triggered Draconic Strike, wanting to gauge how tough these things really were, but my first swipe missed clean as it banked hard and pulled altitude. After a few passes—me more focused on observation than landing blows—I got the measure of it. Its favorite tactic was simple: gain height, dive, slash, retreat. Rinse and repeat.

It was fast while diving, but thankfully, not as quick as I was at maneuvering. Even when it managed a wild rake of its talons that tore a short line through one of my wings, the wound wasn’t enough to matter—pain flared and faded in an instant, and my flying never faltered.

The harpies leaned hard on their Shriek attacks. The sound was piercing, a raw sonic weapon that induced fear and could lock a victim into a stunned, helpless state while claws and beaks tore them apart. But I was high enough above their level that all I felt was discomfort—an ache in my skull and the sheer annoyance of how loud they were.

Unfortunately, every third shriek seemed to act like a signal flare. A second harpy swooped into the fight, and suddenly, dodging became a whole lot harder. They worked together, wings cutting the air in coordinated attacks that boxed me in. When the third shriek came, it called yet another set of wings from the heights.

Seeing the pattern, I knew I couldn’t let this snowball. Shadow Surge ripped through one of the incoming uglies. It didn’t kill her outright, but it shredded her right wing and left her spiraling helplessly. She crashed into the ground below with a sickening thud. Out of the fight. The second new arrival was bound with Umbral Chains and yanked earthward, snapping against the stone and taking massive fall damage.

I made a mental note: they are glass cannons. All flight and sonic harassment, but if you actually hit them, they fold like paper.

I kept dodging and dancing with the first two, letting my body learn. These weren’t capital-S Skills—it was instinct, the flying instincts of a dragon buried in my blood, borrowed from some draconic adventurer on some alien world.

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