Godspawn Ascendant [LitRPG, Epic Progression Fantasy]

I raised a confused eyebrow at the growing smile on Cinthara's face. Her smile seemed strange amid her trembling and the sweat dripping down her pale cheeks. She offered me a knowing nod–a nod that indicated she knew some sort of information that I didn't know.

I gasped in horror as a dragon hand swiped Cinthara's way. But instead of getting caught in the dragon's gasp, Cinthara faded away in a waft of smoke just as the hand tried to wrap around her.

I stumbled back, unsure of what had just happened.

"Cinthara?"

Had the dragon somehow killed her in a bizarre way? No. The beast brought her hand up to her eyes and tilted her head as she stared, looking just as confused as I did. Cinthara had disappeared, somehow escaping the dragon's clutches. But how had she done it? Was it an invisibility spell? Could she have teleported herself out of the Containment Ring?

Another weakening wave pulsed from the circle and over the dome, causing the dragon to shake on her knees. Her head swayed back and forth as she tried to stay upright but to no avail. The dragon fell back to the floor, landing on her wounded abdomen and howling loudly as she went down. It was sad to see such a magnificent beast become so weak and vulnerable, no matter how much the same beast might want to eat me once freed from her magical cage.

"Cinthara?" I called again, circling the prison and peering through its sheer dome surrounding the dragon.

I stopped marching and whirled around myself, searching the entire cave. I couldn't see Cinthara anywhere.

I looked back near the dragon's tail, and that's where I found her. It took every bit of self-control I could muster to keep from gasping and alerting the dragon to Cinthara's presence. She huddled within the center of the curled dragon tail, a finger over her lips, warning me to remain quiet. How dumb did she think I was?

Cinthara looked pale, and her shoulders shook from pain, all thanks to the weakening powers of the Containment Ring. However, her wide and alert violet eyes glowed with resolve as she clutched the hilt of her rapier.

Cinthara then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose. Within seconds, purple tendrils of woven magic swam around her, similar to what streams of essence looked like when hoarding around a casted spell or large groups of people. The weaves danced through stray locks of hair that had fallen out her braid, then twisted around her face, her torso, and then cocooned her completely in a pod-like structure of mobile magic.

Her eyes flew open, and the pod broke apart, shooting streams of purple in every direction. Cinthara rose to her feet, looking significantly stronger than she had just seconds before. Had the purple cocoon healed her? If it had been a spell, I should have been able to read how she'd cast it and steal and duplicate it for myself–she was only a Tier 4. But nothing about the purple magic spoke to me in the way essence would. It was strange….

Cinthara then snapped her fingers. My mind flashed back to a scene where the goddess Euridice herself snapped her fingers in the exact same way, with the exact same smirk painted on her lips as Cinthara had. I remembered it from a memory the Lord Solomon AI had shown me–the memory of Lady Euridice's and Lord Solomon's duel to the death. Back then, when Euridice had snapped her fingers, she'd created 100 illusions of herself.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

My eyes widened, and I stared at Cinthara in anticipation. Was she about to do the same thing?

A puff of purple smoke appeared right in front of the dragon's nose, revealing a false image of Cinthara. The illusionary doppelganger waved coy fingers over the beast's eyes and spit out her tongue while the real Cinthara slunk around to an exposed part of the dragon's weak abdomen.

So, that's how she escaped the dragon so quickly, then appeared again from seemingly out of nowhere, I realized. She has a similar spell to Euridice, which allows her to summon illusions of herself.

I had no way of knowing if Cinthara was powerful enough to create 100 illusions like the goddess she'd been cloned from, but even summoning one doppelganger to distract the dragon seemed to be working. The dragon growled at the fake Cinthara, weakly swinging both its front hands at her over and over again. The illusion just threw her head back and laughed at the pathetic attempts.

The only thing I could ascertain about Cinthara's spell for certain was the fact that I still couldn't read this one, just as I couldn't read her purple magic healing spell. Maybe she'd advanced to Tier 6 without my knowledge and gained two new Skills that I couldn't duplicate due to my lower level.

But none of that mattered now. I stood directly in front of the golden circle and the sheer dome that came from it. I felt utterly helpless. I was annoyed that I couldn't do anything, and it seemed Cinthara was getting to have all the fun.

Another wave from the prison brought on a pained moan from the dragon. Her head fell to the ground, and she gave up trying to catch her elusive prey–at least for now.

The real Cinthara successfully maneuvered her way toward the beast's weak spot. She poised her rapier above her head and slammed it down into the dragon's abdomen, ripping out a hefty chunk of flesh as she pulled it back out.

The next 45 seconds completed, which brought on another shimmer wave that sent Cinthara to her knees again. The dragon had entirely ceased moving and releasing any sort of cries or groans. It seemed she'd completely given up. I could still see the top of her hide rise and fall from her heavy breaths, so the beast was still alive, but I didn't think she would stay that way for long.

I waited impatiently for the final 30 seconds of the Containment Ring's time to slowly tick by, tapping my feet and chewing on my tongue as I watched Cinthara writhe in pain. She seemed too weak to summon another healing spell. I hated just standing there!

The circle finally shattered like a glass plate falling to the floor, shards exploding all over the place. I instinctively raised my arms over my face to protect myself, but each piece of the Containment Ring dissipated before hitting anything solid.

The dragon still remained motionless, so I ran to Cinthara's side. Her breaths were ragged, and she'd dropped her rapier at her feet. Her arms were tucked around her stomach, and she groaned. I held my arms out toward her, trying to decide what I could do to help. Cinthara pushed my hands away and shook her head.

"Kill it," she said. "While we still have the chance."

She was right, of course.

I took a deep breath, pulled my spear from its back sheath, and marched to the dragon's exposed abdomen. The beast whimpered and craned its neck toward me, but the rest of her body didn't move. She still hadn't had time to recover from the effect the Containment Ring had had on her.

The dragon slowly opened her scaly eyelids and met my eyes. I froze, mesmerized by her sorrowful stare. Her yellow irises glistened from the tears pooling around them. My heart wrenched–not just because I saw the sadness in her eyes, but because I knew what giving up looked like. And I knew what it felt like.

"I'm sorry," I breathed. "I'm so sorry."

I pulled the spear back over my shoulder and tensed every muscle in my body. I closed my eyes and called all streams of blue essence that floated around the cave to me. I commanded half of the essence into my weapon and successfully directed the rest into the muscles of my arms. Nic had taught me how to use essence to enhance my actual body, not just my equipment, and I was taking advantage of those lessons now. I breathed slowly as the streams warmed the upper half of my body, temporarily boosting my strength.

And then I heaved the spear deep into the dragon's weak spot with all my might. The beast's limbs flailed for two seconds, then, with a final pained grunt, the defeat in her eyes faded until there was no life in her left.