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

I swallowed hard, straightening and clapping my fist to my chest in salute. The gesture was immediately echoed by the Legionnaires all around me, my own people following our lead and saluting as well.

“Now what?” Grizz asked, and I looked over at him, forcing a small smile.

“Now?” I asked. “Now, we strip this fucking place of everything we can carry and get it down to the next floor.”

Chapter Twenty-One

After the shocks I’d been given by touching things while fleeing the Golems, I decided not to fuck about with the gear myself or have my people try to do it. Instead, I sent all eight War Golems to strip the upper floors of anything magical and ordered them to take it to the floor below. They trooped off upstairs without complaint, while the two Servitors went to work. One opened the door to the lower levels—ridiculously easily, I might add—and descended, its orders to start the mining Golems up. The other set about removing any evidence we’d found our way down to this area.

We closed off the control room after stripping it of anything we could, and I collected the skeletonized Legionnaire’s sword before we left the room, as well as his rings, a thick metal torc, his medals, and his rank tabs. Every piece was tucked carefully into pockets and my bag, with a mental resolution to look them over later.

“Here,” said Bane, passing me my naginata and making me grin as I took it back. My freshly regrown little finger twitched slightly as I gripped it.

The Servitor glided smoothly across the floor, repairing and concealing the entrance to the control center from anyone that might come along afterward, then followed us.

“Thanks, man.” I said to the construct, then gestured to Augustus, pulling him over to me as we jogged down the stairs. “Augustus, I know what you said, but still, I am sorry for the loss of your Legionnaires.” He nodded and clapped me on the shoulder.

“I know, Jax, and I’m sorry. I appreciate the sentiment, but truly, there will never be a more honorable death for a Legionnaire than defending you. In defending you, we are literally defending the heart of the Empire,” he said earnestly, making me uncomfortable. I hated the idea of anyone looking at me like that. I’d grown up needing to fight for everything, and while I knew that wasn’t going to change, the knowledge that I was looked up to because of my lineage was hard to accept, especially as I knew what a complete cockgoblin my father really was.

The next floor down was in pitch darkness, but thankfully the Legion, as ever, was prepared. Torches were removed from bags and sparked to life, even as Arrin and I held up Firebolts and Fireballs, respectively, to light our way.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked Oracle when she returned to me, and she stopped dead.

“Sure about what?” she asked hesitantly. “You haven’t said anything.” I froze as I realized I hadn’t, I’d just…

“I thought… I’m sorry, Oracle. I could… feel things… knowledge. I thought, for some reason, you’d told me about a limit for controlling the facility from a distance… maybe I’m going mad?” I said, suddenly worried. I’d come down here on the understanding that I could still control the Golems, and if not…

“Stop!” Oracle said, zipping in front of me to stare into my eyes. “Look at me. Reach out to me, and tell me what you sense…”

I came to an abrupt stop, people all around me staggering to a halt. Oracle covered her mouth with her hands and whispered “Ooops.” She murmured embarrassed apologies to my crew while leading me to the side, out of their way.

“Okay, Jax, try again. Reach out and tell me what you sense, okay?” she said, hovering in the air before me.

I frowned and focused on her, seeing her beautiful eyes, and forcing myself to concentrate. I reached out with my mind, feeling something, as I always did. I could sense her presence, but nothing else… I closed my eyes then, concentrating on that feeling. Straining, I reached out further, imagining it to be as if we spoke to each other, except mind to mind, and just for a second, I got an image, a vision…

“The lake,” I said without thinking. “The lake where we found Decin and the others. I…”

“Yessss!” Oracle crowed, flying forward and wrapping her arms around my neck, covering my startled face in kisses. “You made a link! You managed to access my mind, Jax; you saw what I was thinking! Not just a hint; you really saw what I was thinking!” She released me, spinning up around my head in a dizzy pattern of delight. “The remote link is true. You can command the Golems and the facility because they’re linked to it, and so are you. It’s valid for about five miles; outside of that range, it’ll break down, but that’s okay, because the only way you could have known about the remote link was if you were accessing my knowledge! Do you know what that means? It means you’ve been linking with me, mind to mind, probably for ages now. It’s just been so infrequent and weak that neither of us realized... If you can do it consciously, though…”

“Yes?” I asked her, confused, and she grinned.

“I can fly high above a fight, and you can use my senses. I can help you at an instinctive level, and most of all, we can meld our magic deeper, Jax. We can adjust spells on the fly!”

“Oh, hell yes!” I said realizing how much better of a fighting team we could become when I could literally sense the entire battle around me.

“So, what was your plan?” she asked me, and I blinked at the change in topic. Just then, I happened to glance at the entrance as the second Servitor entered the room and moved