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

it to murder him?” he asked, and I turned to find Arrin trying to fit his head into Horkesh’s mouth.

“…see! I told you I could fit!” he crowed, to the laughter of the Legion and the obvious confusion of the spider.

“Well, Arrin... Arrin’s just a fucking idiot,” I said, shaking my head. “Horkesh, on the other hand…” And just like that, I was back to explaining the events that had occurred within the Smuggler’s Path and the deal I had made with Ashrag. “… so, Ashrag’s on her way to the Tower now, and Horkesh has come to help us. She’s brought ten Soldiers, which are about the size of small horses, and two Hunters, which are considerably bigger and meaner. I’m thinking we set them on whoever we don’t like.”

“Just remember, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, Jax,” Augustus said. “We need to be ready, but flexible, when something goes wrong, and it will. We'll need to move to fix it as fast as we can.”

“I know,” I agreed. “Let’s go find Mal, introduce another change to our plans, because I love watching his face when I do that. Then I need to get myself ready for the fight, and that includes a bit of time with Nerin, as I need to learn a new spell.” Augustus nodded, then eyed my gear.

“I noticed you’re not wearing your Legion armor…” he began, when I cut him off.

“Tonight is going to be a war, not just a fight, mate. I need to mix and match my gear to give me the best advantage I can. I love the Legion gear; it feels like a second skin, but we haven’t got enough for everyone, not if I wear it. So, give the pieces back to those who donated them, with my sincere thanks. And I’ll wear my normal gear, and use my weapons. To hell with what the gangs think. They all saw me fight in the Legion gear last night; that should give them pause. And after tonight, who cares what they think?” I headed out to the outer corridor and followed it along to Mal’s rooms.

It didn’t take long to find Mal and his people; they were all gathered around a table in the middle of his rooms, going over a map of the city. Evidently, they were pointing out checkpoints and guard posts, marking the ones held by guards they’d managed to bribe, and others that would need to be taken by force.

“About time you were up,” Mal said, frowning at me. “How in the hell can you sleep so much, with all this needin' to be done?”

“Practice,” I said, shrugging. “If I don’t sleep whenever I can, I’ll never sleep.”

“You can sleep when yer dead,” he muttered, jumping to his feet in shock as Horkesh ran up the wall to perch in the top corner. “What in the hell is that!” Mal cried, reaching for his crossbows as the room blew up. My side quickly moved in the way of his, as everyone panicked.

“Whoa!” I called, holding my hands up. “This is Horkesh. She’s come to help, sent by the Queen of the Cave Spiders. You remember them, and the little discussion we had about spiders?” I stared intently at Mal, and he gaped at me, wide-eyed, before slowly getting his breath back and relaxing.

“That… oh yeah… well, I redecorated the wall, if that’s what you’re askin'… but…”

“She’s here to help,” I said soothingly, sitting back down. “She’s brought her guard, and they’re outside somewhere, watching. Perhaps we could all relax a bit, so they don’t feel like coming to her defense? Considering the room would only hold maybe two of them…” I suggested, looking around at the size of the room meaningfully.

“Ah, right…” Mal muttered, as Soween put her weapons away and ordered everyone else to stand down. “Maybe warn a man first next time?” he asked plaintively, sitting down and swallowing hard. Clearly banishing Horkesh from his mind, he pulled up another stack of papers and sorted through them until he found what he was looking for and threw it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked, looking over it.

“It’s the final numbers for tonight; nearly seven hundred people, all told, includin' an estimate of the Legion.”

“Well, fuck me gently with a lit candle...” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t realize there were this many of them.”

“Kinky bastard,” Mal snorted, chucking another piece of parchment at me. “That lists who and where. The Battleship should be good to hold around four hundred, the rest will be split up between the other ships. We managed to get some of the crews and engineers to the battleship to help the build as well, in case you were wonderin',” he added sourly.

“Shit, I totally forgot about that,” I admitted.

“Yeah, well, we sorted it…” Mal said, getting a snort from Soween.

“We?” she asked pointedly, and he shrugged.

“We’re a team…” he said, getting a look from her before he moved on quickly. “…anyway, the battleship will be ready for a ‘test flight’ tonight. It’s been cleared for that, apparently, so that should hopefully make it less suspicious.”

“What condition is it in?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“It’s not good; I’ll be straight with you. They’ve managed to make the interior mainly secure, given her minimal engines and controls, but it won’t be able to defend itself, or outrun anythin' beyond a sickly ant with some heavy shoppin'. They think they’ll be able to turn it, go up and down, and that’s about it. Its top speed with the wind behind it will make an ox look dangerously fast.”

“Damn. Shame it’s the only way we can get everyone out… what ships are docked at the minute?” I asked.

“Well, a little good news there,” Soween interjected, taking over the discussion and passing me another bit of parchment. “The ‘Atlantessa’ landed about four hours ago. She’s a cruiser and just needs restocking. Her soldiers and crew are on leave for two days,