Chapter 39: Chapter: 39 Farming Mobs

Ahri POV

Ahri woke up in Talasin’s arms. She was confused for a second until the memories of the night before came back to her. She sighed in relief and reached over and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“What was that for?” he asked.

She brushed hair out of his face and traced the outline of his jaw with her fingertip.

“Just making sure this is not a dream,” she said.

She’d found being in love to be more overwhelming than she had ever expected. It seemed to take up all of her free time. She caught herself constantly looking at Talasin and smiling like an idiot. 

She reached up and ran a hand through his hair and then she pulled him down low and kissed him. She giggled and pulled back as his bristle beard tickled her face.

“And that?” he asked with a smile that made her heart beat madly in her chest.

She laid back on the ground and ran her finger along his arm. “Yip, it's definitely not a dream,” she said. “You look like shit, did you get any sleep?”

He laughed and said, “We can't all wake up looking as good as you.”

She knew he hadn't slept a wink that night. The Nightstalker scared the crap out of them both. But that wasn't the worst of it. Its power had shown her just how weak they actually were. It was foolish to think they had a chance of stopping the harbingers when they were cowering in fear from a random monster. 

“If we are going to survive what is coming,” Talasin said. “We’re going to need to get much stronger.”

“We?” said Ahri. “You’re the hero. You can run around with your sword hitting leaves off trees, I'll be sunbathing by the river. ”

---

Talasin got a fire going with the wood Bel had collected the night before. He told Ahri that it wasn't fair that she cooked every time so he said he’d make them breakfast. It was sweet of him. 

Ahri smiled as she watched Talasin stab a stick into a chunk of bread and another into a wedge of hard cheese. He warmed them over the fire and whistled a tune as he worked.

She set about cleaning up the camp and packing her backpack when the smell of burnt toast filled the air.

She turned to Talasin and shouted, “Bread is burning.”

But Talasin didn't move. He just continued staring into the flame as the bread burnt and the cheese dripped into the fire.

“Talasin!”

“He's not in right now,” said a cold voice behind her.

Ahri’s hands balled into fists as Hood ran the end of his cane down her back sending a shiver down her spine.

“You found me,” she said. “Now what?”

“Maybe I just missed you,” he said. “It's been so long since your last message. I was beginning to think you’d switched sides.”

She couldn't show fear in front of the harbinger. Any fear she showed would be a sign of weakness.

Ahri took a deep breath, unclenched her fists and said as calmly as possible, “Your brother, Pale, snapped my neck and left me for dead. That message was quite clear.” 

Hood laughed, the sound like stones scraping against metal.

“Pale is a wild animal,” he said. “His actions cannot be held against us.”

Ahri was tired of his games. She knew that the only reason Hood would be there was that he wanted something from her.

“You’ve had no luck finding Gavriel,” she said. It wasn’t a question, there was no other reason for him being there. 

Hood’s lip twisted in a crooked smile and he said, “Trust me goddess, you and your little boyfriend will be much more comfortable if you uphold your part of the deal.” 

He stepped over to fire and pressed his cane against the side of Talasin’s head.

“You have no allies left,” he said. “I've made sure of that. Get us the World Stone by the winter solstice or your boyfriend over here will be wishing he’d never laid eyes on you. Do you understand?”

Ahri clenched her jaw and nodded.

Hood knocked his cane on the ground and a rift tore open behind him. “Good. I'm sure you won’t fail us again.”

Ahri watched as the harbinger stepped back through the portal and disappeared.

“Ouch, shit,” Talasin shouted as he dropped the flaming chunk of bread into the fire.

---

Talasin POV

Ahri, Flint, Bel and I stood in an empty field a short distance from the marsh lands. Flint was crunching on a mouthful of rocks, Bel was drawing in the sand with a stick and Ahri paced up and down shaking her head and muttering curses. 

I had no idea what had pissed her off. I could tell that something had happened during breakfast. I’d asked her what was wrong but she refused to say a word about it. She also had no explanation for my missing time. Whatever happened it had put her in a foul mood and I for one had no desire to get involved.

“I don't like this plan,” Ahri said. “Why do I have to be the bait?”

“Because you're the sweetest,” I said with a smile.

She crossed her arms and scowled at me. 

“That's a joke,” I said. “It's because you're the most expendable.” 

“Not funny,” said Ahri.

She glared at me as I placed a spell card on her forehead. Blue light swirled about as the Mimic spell resolved and eight copies of Ahri appeared.

“Don't get any perverted ideas,” the nine Ahri’s said in unison. “I don’t like you duplicating me, it's creepy.” 

“Really,” I said. “Ask Flint it's not that bad.”

Flint crunched on his mouthful of rocks and nodded his head enthusiastically.

“The world deserves more of me,” he said.

“But you don’t know what your duplicate gets up to,” said Ahri. “What if Talasin sneaks one of them into the hut and plows it like a Cheapside whore and you didn’t even know it was happening?”

Flint scratched his chin and said, “That would be a tragedy. Talasin, if you’re going to use me as your dirty whore I want to remember it when it's over.”

---

One of Ahri’s duplicates had begun to wander off from the group and another one had decided to take a nap. 

I waved my hands to get their attention and said, “Bel spotted a clan of Rot Trolls on the northern bank. Let's start off with a small pull. Ahri, lure about five of them back here and the rest of us will finish them off.”

“What’s the point of this?” asked FLint. “Or are you just in a sadistic mood today?”

“We are grinding levels,” I said. “The fastest way to do that is to pull groups of monsters and kill them with area of effect spells. Do you have a problem massacring a clan of Rot Trolls.”

Flint shrugged and said, “The gods ruined perfectly good assholes when they put teeth in the mouths of Rot Trolls.”

---

I planted the four Demon Prison beacons and as I waited for Ahri’s duplicates to return I found myself wondering if I was actually a good person.

I said I didn't kill people but what was the difference between a troll, a pixie or a human. They were all living and intelligent. They had families and they probably had dreams and fears just like me. If I had to be honest it wasn't that I only cared about humans. I was a speciesist- if that's even a thing. The truth was that I didn't have a problem with killing ugly things. Or at least things that were ugly to me. Did that make me a hypocrite or was life just that screwed up?

The sound of feet pounding the earth pulled me out of my thoughts. I’d have to figure out my moral issues later because shit was about to get serious. A pack of Rot Trolls burst into the clearing chasing one of Ahri’s duplicates. I smelt them before I saw them. Torn and rotting flesh hung from their grayish green bodies. Their clothing was made of animal hide and they wore jewelry around their necks and ankles.   

The lead troll was snow white and he wore a belt of bird skulls around his waist. I scanned him quickly just in case he was too strong for us to handle. My plan would only work if they had equal health.

*

Name: Rhazim

Race: Spirit Troll

Level: 6

Health: 54

You are reading story GOD OF CARDS [DECK BUILDING] [LITRPG] [COMEDY] at novel35.com

Skills: Jade Fire

Status: Hungry

*

Rhazim the Spirit Troll raised a clawed hand and green flames engulfed Ahri’s duplicate. 

The duplicate shimmered and disappeared and the Spirit Troll and five Rot Trolls swung their gazes to stare at me as I stood alone on the far side of the clearing.

“We need to get them closer,” I hissed.

The real Ahri, plus Flint and Bel remained hidden behind a lone tree behind me. They were my plan B in case things went bad.  

The Spirit Troll hurled a green ball of flame directly at me and my instincts kicked in and rolled forward under the attack. 

I’d hoped they would all be close ranged fighters. My plan needed them to be grouped up. If I called for backup now the trolls would flee and go into hiding. I needed to act alone at least until they landed in my trap. But if I stood here facing them they would be suspicious. The normal response for a human was to turn and run.

So that's what I did. I spun around and ran and they gave chase. Another burst of Jade Fire shot at me but this time I was ready for it. I dived forwards with a binding card already in my hand. I twisted in the air and tossed the card at the flame. I landed and executed a perfect roll followed by a not so perfect tripping over my feet and landing on my face. Thankfully an explosion of light and color behind me filled the air stopping the trolls in their tracks.

* Binding complete, acquired Spell Card: Jade Fire 

* You have reached your Spell Card limit, new Spell Cards will be stored in the mages guild.

What the hell does that mean? I’d have to shelf that bit of information till later. At that moment my only priority was not dying. The Spirit Troll was not pleased with me binding his spell. He roared and dropped to all fours and bounded after me like a crazed animal.

Oh shit, I turned around and kept running.

* Spirit Troll entered Demon Prison

As soon as the troll entered the prison his body went limp. He immediately ground to halt as the demon magic took hold of him. The remaining trolls stopped just on the edge of the prison but Flint jumped out from behind the tree and launched both of his hands forward, shoving the five Rot Trolls into the prison zone.

I felt six troll hearts beating as one. I felt their sweat running down their brows and their insatiable hunger became my own.

I slashed my hand through the air and a red line appeared on the Spirit Troll’s chest and blood dripped out of the flesh wound. I sliced again, this time I aimed for his neck. Another thin trickle of blood but the cut would go no deeper. 

Fuck, there is no way I am killing these guys by cutting them thousands of times. That's too messed up even for me.

“This is not working,” Flint shouted beside me.

“No shit,” I said. 

“I thought you said it worked on the Queen of Darkness,” he shouted.

I glared at him and said, “She was already dead. The troll’s skin is too thick.” I looked around and saw Bel and Ahri still hiding behind the tree. 

“This plan is turning to shit,” shouted Ahri. “Let's get the fuck out of here before they break out.”

“Not yet,” I said. “Bel, use Spell Roulette.”

“What?” she said. “That wasn't part of the plan.”

“Just do it, I'm not high enough level to kill them in the prison.”

I turned to face Flint and I said, “Flint guard Ahri, if things go bad you guys get the hell out of here.”

“I'm not leaving you,” said Ahri. 

I hesitated for a moment and then I nodded. I didn't have time to overthink things. The trolls were already breaking free from my prison. 

The Hell’s Pixie stepped in front of me and raised both of her hands just the way she had when she’d summoned the meteor. I just hoped it wasn't another meteor though. There was nowhere to hide from that. The wind fueled by her magic rushed around us and kicked up dust and white light swirled around her feet. 

White light so it must be white magic. 

I’d realized awhile ago that just like in the Hero Seeker game, magic was divided into different houses and each house had its own color. Whenever a spell was cast the color of the tiny lights that first appeared was an indication of which house of magic the spell was from.

White lights were swirling around Bel so I mentally flicked through every powerful white magic spell card I could remember. White magic was from the Divine House with spells like Finger of God, Armageddon, Wrath of the Legion and Death from Above.

As I watched I saw a  single gold feather fall from the sky and land in Bel’s extended hands. 

“What’s happening?” Ahri shouted over the sound of a mighty rushing wind.

The wind picked up and blew through the empty field and the trolls stopped their struggling as the air filled with energy. The power rippled up all of our legs and through our fingertips. 

The pain in my twisted ankle faded and I looked down at my hands and saw tiny golden lights healing my burnt finger tips.

Oh shit, this is bad.

The wounds of the Rot Trolls closed up and the smell of decay was replaced with a sweet and spicy odor.

“Shit it's Healing Winds,” I shouted. “She just healed them all.”

The Demon Prison shattered and I stared in horror as six Cleansed Trolls with full health stepped towards me.

---

 

“Plan C,” I shouted as I slammed the Mold Earth card onto the ground. Green light washed across the earth and funneled my power into the spell and raised a mud igloo around the trolls. 

There was no way it could hold them for long. A second later a troll punched through the wall and I slammed another wave of earth over the igloo. I continued to reinforce it with wave after wave of mud as they continued to punch and kick their way through.

“That's not going to hold them for long,” said Flint.

“If you want to leave,” I said. “Now’s the time.”

“I'm not leaving,” said Ahri. “We are in this together.”

“Good,” I said. “Because I’ve got a plan.”

---

Plan C was a sadistic idea I’d thought up one night when we’d had fish for dinner and I’d farted under the blankets before bed. 

First Bell extended a single claw and stabbed it into the side of the mud igloo. She twisted the claw making a perfect round hole. As soon as she pulled her claw free I placed the Poison Mist card over the hole and the igloo began to fill with poison.

I could hear trolls screaming in agony as the poison mist burnt their eyes and throats. It wouldn't be enough to kill them, cleansed trolls had incredibly high poison resistance.

“Everybody get down,” I shouted.

I drew my newest spell card, Jade Fire and I directed the green flames through the tiny hole. The fire ignited the poison mist and the igloo exploded sending mud, blood and bone flying through the air like shrapnel.

* +21240 Exp

* Congratulations 

* You have leveled up (x3)

“Holy shit,” I said. “I just leveled up three times. Let's do that again.”

I looked around and saw Ahri covered in ribbons of troll flesh. She spat out a mouthful of hair and said, “I think I'm going to be sick.”

“It's our first time, Ahri. I'm sure it will be better next time.”

Flint laughed and said, “I'm sure you say that to all the girls.”

A status message appeared in my inner vision.

* You have reached level 10. 

* Choose a new skill.

---

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