Rift Warden Academy: A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy LitRPG by Craig Hamilton

Author:Craig Hamilton [Hamilton, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2025-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

“We run.” I matched my words with action, jogging away from the thicket where we’d found the briarthorn boar.

After a dozen paces, I glanced back and found the two second-year students following me with uncertainty. Jake clutched his spear with both hands in a white-knuckled grip, but Kate was just running along empty-handed.

“String your bow. We need to be ready for an ambush,” I growled, keeping my voice just loud enough to reach her.

Kate stopped and began following my instructions. I halted, keeping my disappointment from showing on my face as I waited for her, but Jake pushed on ahead. It only took her a few moments, but that time could be costly in an emergency. As soon as her bow was ready, I started after Jake with Kate hot on my heels. The spearman had a dozen yards on us, and I could barely see him through the foliage, but the path was easy enough to follow since we’d done nothing to disguise our earlier trail.

I wasn’t too worried about the sounds my footsteps made, since neither Jake nor Kate were particularly quiet either and there was nothing I could do about that. Still, I worked to imitate the way Instructor Krauss moved through the forest. I saw some improvement, making less noise than before, so the practice was paying off.

A nasally shout from ahead and Jake’s cry of alarm warned that he had encountered trouble. I glanced over my shoulder, but Kate was already drawing an arrow from her quiver with a determined expression, so I charged ahead with confidence that she would cover me.

Breaking through the undergrowth at the top of a shallow gully, I spotted Jake down below. Two goblins with knives circled behind the second-year student while a third with a spear blocked the path ahead. The goblin’s spear tip glistened red, matching the crimson that leaked from a slash through the gray fabric of the combat suit below the breastplate that protected Jake’s upper torso.

My practice with the Trickster’s Deck proved its worth as I popped a card into my hand on my first try and flung the weapon into the back of a circling goblin. The creature shrieked in pain and dropped its knife as it reached in vain for the card embedded between its shoulder blades. The other dagger-wielding goblin turned as I shouted a wordless cry and charged into the gully, drawing my shortsword and knife.

The goblin lunged for me with the dagger extended, but the basic training from this morning’s Martial Combat class was enough for me to parry the blade, and I jammed my knife into the goblin’s eye without slowing my charge. Fluid spurted from the punctured orifice as the blade plunged into its brain, and the goblin fell limp as the tip of the knife scraped the back of its skull from the inside.

I jerked the weapon free of the collapsing creature as its companion leaped toward me with arms extended. Though the monster had dropped its weapon, the claws on its fingertips appeared sharp enough.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.