Thunderplump: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG Adventure by Dakota Krout

Author:Dakota Krout [Krout, Dakota]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mountaindale Press
Published: 2023-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The first step in setting up the new Ritual of Slaughter was going over and getting Socar to approve the placement of it. As this ritual had a much higher etheric fingerprint, Joe had been concerned that it would throw off the balance of the delicate Formation Socar had been designing. Happily, there was no conflict, and Joe was able to begin dismantling the previously-placed ritual and replacing it with its upgraded big brother.

Once it was in position, and Joe had ensured that every station was set to be well-aligned not only with the Formation, but the constellation clusters, he paused for a long moment. Hundreds of people had surrounded his burgeoning coven, ready to jump in and assist with the activation of such a powerful weapon against the swarming monsters. Still, something made Joe hesitate. “Why don't I want to activate-?”

His eyes went wide as he remembered the terminology of his ritual duplication spell. “I can't duplicate an active ritual; I can only duplicate a created but inactive one. Wait. Silly brain, I can't duplicate it. My skill level is way too low.”

Pushing aside his misgivings, as he had correctly identified them, the Ritualist began pumping mana into the design. He used the entirety of his Coven of twenty-three aspirants to make up the Novice ritual circle, as there was a perfect prime number in their presence. From there, he arranged the volunteers all the way out until the sixth circle, which had hundreds of people standing inside of it.

They would have the largest amount of mana drawn from them, and the Ritualist had no desire to see his brand new creation fail because he wasn't willing to use all of the help that had been offered. When he was ready, and a platoon of Legionnaires had been stationed around the site—orders of the council, after the last hullabaloo when activating a powerful ritual—he fully activated the diagram and exulted in the power he had to channel into it.

Thousands upon thousands of points of mana swirled in from all sides, and that was after taking into account all of his cost reduction bonuses. “No idea how many people are going to be required when my students are the ones activating this. I hope they get good bonuses as well, when they earn their class.”

There was only one minor issue with the ritual’s setup, and that was when an arrow came streaking from the battlements, aimed at the side of Joe's face. Luckily, a Dwarf shot into the air and smacked the arrow away with his shield, releasing a thundering sound like ringing a dinner bell. Dozens of people converged on the location the arrow had come from, apprehending the Elven-sympathizing infiltrator who had tried to take Joe down in his moment of weakness.

“Not a huge fan of being bait, but if it works, it works.” As the ritual ended, Joe casually scooped up the active ritual tile, pulling on it gently and coming away with two sets of five plates.

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