City of Fallen Souls: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 3) by Jez Cajiao (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📕

I didn’t know if I believed it, but I did know I needed this, and they were, technically at least, my enemies. I forced the thoughts of the guards from my mind and concentrated on the Emporium, walking up the steps to inspect the door. Oracle flitted forward from my shoulder and we examined it together.

“It’s a big lock, and it’s chained shut…” I pointed out, and she nodded. “But it seems a bit…clumsy?”

“It’s not magical, or at least, I don’t think so…” she said, slowly circling it.

“Maybe he thinks the Golems are all he needs, then?” I asked, and she shrugged, evidently reaching the same conclusion. “Joy. Well, let’s go find out, then, eh?” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. This was the riskiest part of the entire night, including the arena fights. If I couldn’t get control of the Golems before they attacked, we’d have to run for it.

“Be careful,” Yen whispered up to me. “It’s probably trapped. Do you want me to look at it?” she offered, and I shook my head.

“Maybe, if I can’t, but I need the practice…”

I reached out, feeding my mana into the lock, forming a flexible ‘finger’ of mana to fill it. It seemed like ages since I’d used my spell ‘Manatouch,’ and I grinned as I felt it expanding out to lift the little bars and levers that composed the lock, pushing the tumblers until they clicked, one by one, and then turning it, ever so slowly.

There was an audible ‘clunk,’ and a needle suddenly appeared, jutting out from the lock, right where my hand would have been. I would have been unable to avoid it if I had used a standard lockpick instead of one created by magic.

I let out a grunt of surprise, examining the needle and seeing the glistening tip, coated with something I didn’t want to think about. Not wanting any other surprises, I slowly, and oh so carefully, undid the chains and set the lock on the floor.

The door opened slowly to my touch, a gentle creak emanating from the hinges, as magelights around the room sprang to life. I stepped inside, feeling the air for magic as much as looking, and I grinned at the display before me.

It looked more like a high-class jeweler than the other merchant’s shops that we’d passed during our last trip to the merchant sector. The floors were marble, gold inlay climbed the walls, and every surface shone. The entrance led onto a small balcony jutting into an atrium, with steps to the left leading down, and steps to the right leading up. The visible floors appeared to be circular, with display recesses every few feet and occasional aisles of items between. The main floor, one level above me, was huge, with windows that rose twenty feet high and ornate chandeliers suspended above the bookshelves.

Looking around, I found a second flight of stairs that led upwards from the next floor up, marked ‘private,’ and a large glass-enclosed bookcase behind a desk at the far end of the floor below that had been secured with a huge padlock.

I looked at Oracle and she looked back, the fear and excitement in her eyes matching mine.

“Augustus, Grizz, Bane, keep everyone back here until I say otherwise…” I said, waiting for confirmation before passing my naginata to Bane with a nod and slowly easing forward, my eyes scanning the room. I hated leaving my weapon, but if it came to me fighting the Golems, I’d already lost. I needed to be fast, stealthy if I could, but beyond all else, I needed to be fucking lucky. I had to reach the control crystal before they could catch me.

“Where the hell are they, Oracle?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“There were two when we were here, both on the next floor up, but they were in sight when we came in…”

“Fuck. So either they’re hiding, or…”

“Or they’re gone? Or…” Oracle said, then squeaked as she pointed at the far wall on the upper floor, where an alcove was suddenly eclipsed from view by a shimmering blur. “.. or someone cast a camouflage spell on them!” She hissed as something moved to my right on the stairs.

“Shit!” I cried, diving forward on instinct as something huge hit the floor where I’d stood a second before. A crunch of metal and stone echoed through the vaulted chamber as the spell hiding the Golem failed.

It was huge, easily ten feet tall, with a humanoid shape. Shoulders that were at least four feet across had been outfitted in stylized plate armor. I had the sudden thought that, considering it was made of goddamn stone, the last thing it needed was more friggin’ armor, but that thought was banished from my brain as I caught the sparkle of the gemstone embedded in its chest.

I rolled to my feet and jumped up onto the balcony railing, turning and running along it. I wobbled precariously from side to side as I went, while Oracle dove for the gemstone, her right hand sinking into it up to the wrist.

“I’ve got it!” she shouted to me. “I can force it, but I can’t do more than one at a time! Find the control crystal!” I ran for it as the Golem she’d latched onto slowly ground to a halt, straightening and freezing as she overrode its commands.

I staggered, running up the banister and frantically looking around for anything I could identify. The room blurred past me as I ran, when I saw something coming from my right, too close for me to change direction.

A second blur, closing fast. I threw myself off the banister, hoping to slide past it, only to have a massive stone foot come down on my little finger as I passed.

I felt heat, more than pain, for all of a second, as the bones in the bottom of my right hand were reduced to fragments and bloody