The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) by A. Kay (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

Rami vibrated and hid back behind Ruwen’s hair. He could feel her pleasure like a burning coal behind his ear.

Thank you, we had help, Rami said in Chat.

Using their new process, it took twelve minutes to clear the blockage. In the end, Ruwen kept one thousand five hundred cubic feet of dirt, thirty-seven head sized boulders, and two thousand one hundred ninety-three thumbnail-sized pebbles. In addition, he kept three eight-foot boulders. He had no idea what to do with any of it, but he had the Inventory space, so he kept it.

A minute later the cavern came into view, but the four guards Lylan had seen had disappeared. Moisture filled the air like fog and made it hard to see past twenty-five feet. Survey and Stone Echo painted Ruwen’s vison with yellow lines, giving him a clear view of what they faced.

There are two other exits from this cavern, Ruwen said in Chat. Updating the map now.

Lylan is close, Sift said, stepping forward.

Ruwen reached out and stopped Sift. Let’s give my abilities a few seconds to find everyone. She’s not going anywhere. I’ll update the map with the enemies, and then we stay in formation.

Sift nodded.

The hole in middle of the cavern went straight down, disappearing past Ruwen’s five-hundred-foot range. His map had marked it as full of water. Lylan lay motionless on the map, two hundred feet away. All the guards had retreated to the far end of the cavern. Were they just letting them take Lylan without a fight?

Ruwen had destroyed the guards out front. If they didn’t have anyone stronger to defend this place, it made sense to retreat.

Lylan’s vitals are stable, Hamma said.

Let’s go, Ruwen said, and moved toward Lylan.

A hundred feet from Lylan, five red dots appeared on Ruwen’s map, coming up the deep hole in the cavern’s center. A moment later, ten guards separated from the far group and headed toward the hole, as if to meet the newcomers.

Ruwen, confident Survey and Stone Echo would have caught anyone hiding by now, sped things up, and sprinted toward Lylan. Company arriving from below.

They reached Lylan as the two enemy groups met by the hole, hidden in the mist and only visible on Ruwen’s map.

Lylan lay on the ground, still dressed in her armor, which was soaked from all the moisture in the air. Her skin looked blue, and she no longer wore her Scarf of Freshness.

If I heal her, she’ll just pass out again, Hamma said.

Ruwen removed his Scarf of Freshness and handed it to Hamma. Put this on her. I have a spell keeping me safe.

Sift kneeled next to Lylan and held her head in his lap. Hamma handed him the scarf, and he quickly put it on her. Ruwen saw Lylan’s weapons piled against the wall and retrieved them. By the time he returned, Lylan had sat up.

Can you move? Ruwen asked in Chat. We have company inbound.

Sift helped Lylan to her feet and Ruwen handed Sift her gear. As Sift helped Lylan rearm, Ruwen spoke. Sift lead us to the exit on this side. Hamma stay near Lylan. Xavier you follow the women. I’ll bring up the rear. Go.

It only took a few seconds to see the enemy group would overtake them. Ruwen slowed. Keep going. I’m going to delay them.

We shouldn’t split up, Hamma said. It’s too dangerous.

You saw what I did at the cave entrance, Ruwen said. I’m in no danger here.

Ruwen didn’t know that for sure, but wanted to calm Hamma’s fears.

I don’t like this, Hamma said.

I’ll be right behind you, Ruwen assured her.

As Hamma and her Light Guardian faded into the mist, it grew darker. Ruwen toggled on Detect Temperature but didn’t activate Glow as he didn’t want to make himself a target. Ten seconds later, four orbs appeared in the fog, like moons on a cloudy night.

The ten Fighters that had hurried to the hole, now formed a circle around the four glowing followers of the god Haffa. Ruwen had seen pictures of sea people but had never met any. The group stopped twenty feet away.

The sea peoples’ faces were oblong, and instead of hair, stinging tentacles swayed as if moved by an invisible tide. Their black eyes were too big, and their circular lipless mouths couldn’t hide their razor-sharp teeth. Their armor looked like clumps of seaweed, which covered their two tentacle like legs.

The person all fourteen of them guarded stood in the middle. She was young, maybe fifty, and barely over five feet tall. She looked relaxed, and if Ruwen had to guess, irritated. Her black hair didn’t reach her shoulders, and he doubted she weighed a hundred pounds. The methane sacks around her neck had wings tattooed on them.

She pointed at Ruwen with a flat hand, as if to chop him in two, and to his shock, a familiar one-foot black circle appeared from her palm. For the first time, he’d met an enemy with a Void Band.

As Ruwen processed what this meant, the girl raised her other hand, holding it behind the first.

From the rear palm, a matching black circle appeared.

The small woman, protected by two rings of guards, didn’t have a single Void Band.

She wielded two.

Chapter 59

Ruwen’s Perception showed him what he faced.

Name: Stone Carver

Deity: Naktos

Class Type: Mage

Level: 21

Health: 264

Mana: 733

Energy: 317

Spirit: 0

Armor Class: 112

A silver rod emerged from the Stone Carver’s front Void Band and hurtled toward him. Last Breath triggered, but his body had already reacted to the danger, twisting to the side. Without all his Step training, he never would have reacted in time.

The rod struck the stone wall behind Ruwen, disappearing from sight. A heartbeat later a small explosion caused the area to vibrate and Stone Echo displayed the now fractured wall behind him. That rod wasn’t meant for combat, but to weaken stone for tunneling.

Ruwen faced the Stone Carver again. He’d expected a spell from the Mage, not a physical attack. At this distance, he was confident he could dodge whatever she fired