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

I would bring back safety and respect to these people.

I would raise up the oppressed. I would heal the sick, and I would crush the evil under my bootheel. I would return the Empire to its rightful place, and I would ensure that its people knew what was right from fucking wrong, even if I had to carve it into each and every one of their foreheads with my goddamn naginata personally!

I spun, feeling Amon slip back into the netherworld where he now existed, and I found Barrett and Bane watching me. I turned my attention to Yen, and seeing the unshed tears in her eyes, and I nodded to all of them, once.

“Get your gear. We’re going up top. We’ve a goddamn city full of sinners up there, and some heroes to save.” I  tried to smooth my voice out, but still it came out rough and full of emotion.

“Yes, my Lord!” Yen responded fervently, a second later echoed by Bane and Barrett, and I met Barrett’s eyes.

“Is your friend joining us?” I asked shortly, and he nodded.

“Yes, Lord Jax, Artur has accepted my bond.”

“A good name,” I said, and I forced a smile at him, thinking inwardly about the insanity of naming a giant snow-white tiger ‘Artur,’ when names like ‘Deathmachine’ or ‘Tiddles’ were available.

“Oh! I wanted to call him Mr. Snuggles…” complained Oracle, and I blinked. Actually, Artur is a great name.

“Right, let’s go. Fenris…follow,” I commanded awkwardly, but it seemed to work, as the horse set off clattering along behind us.

The ceilings were too low for riding, so we all ran, but even on foot, it didn’t take long for us to arrive back at the main cavern. The squad had made excellent time in our absence. As I emerged from the tunnel, I saw the last of the boxes being broken into, and bolts of cloth being examined. There were distinct piles of equipment in three separate areas, as I’d asked. Small, easily stored items filled one area, valuable but larger items composed another, and the bulky shit had been placed at the furthest end of the cavern.

Before I could deal with that, though, there was something important that I’d been putting off, with everything that had happened so far. I couldn’t ignore it any longer, not without disrespecting him, so I nodded to the others and moved across the room to the space where Cam lay, carefully wrapped in a bundle of fabric.

I knelt next to him, drawing back the silk that covered his face, and I smiled sadly. They’d put him in one of the silken Drow bedrolls, an item that must be worth a fortune. While it was the best we could have given him, it still wasn’t good enough in my eyes.

“I’m sorry, Cam.” I said, reaching out to lay a hand on one cold, stiff shoulder. His skin was pale now, rather than the deep tan he’d always had, his color almost grey after bleeding out. I squeezed gently, noting the slow stiffening of rigor mortis, and I gritted my teeth against the tears that rose involuntarily to my eyes.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t faster, that I wasn’t stronger. I needed you, my friend, and so you came with me. You gave your life to protect me and the rest of the team. You’re a hero, Cam. You lived and died a hero, and I’ll make sure you’re remembered. I don’t know what I can do, now that you’re gone, but I’ll find a way to honor you the way you deserve. Sleep well, my friend.”

I didn’t know what else to say, so I settled for giving him one last squeeze and then covering him back over before standing up.

“What do we have that’s flammable?” I asked the room in general, and Miren pointed to the softly glowing enchanted wood.

We laid him on a plank, carrying him into the remains of the demolished building and piling more wood all around him.

“We’ll set light to him once we’re ready to leave,” I said quietly, and I turned my back on him, walking over to Fenris, which stood calm and patient. I frowned at it, running possible commands through my head, when Gar interrupted me.

“Look, sentiment is all well and good, right? But that wood is worth a fortune! It’s literally enchanted wood! You could make a dozen staffs from the amount you’ve piled on him. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds in gold! We can pile some clothes on him and burn them or some…”

I moved without thinking about it, my boosted Agility coming to play as I struck with the speed of a cobra. My right fist closed around his throat as I lifted him almost effortlessly from the ground. His feet were dangling a good six inches from the dusty floor of the cavern as I glared into his greedy little piggy eyes.

“Never…ever try to tell me my people aren’t worth that,” I whispered, my words carrying across the suddenly silent cavern. “I’d pay that, and a thousand times more… that man died to free you, you sackless piece of shit. The least you could do is show him some respect for him.”

I threw him backwards, and he fell to the ground, his hands grasped protectively over his throat as he glared up at me.

I tried to calm the simmering lake of my anger, knowing I needed him in order to reach this ‘Mal,’ or that he’d at least make it easier… until he spoke up.

“Fuck you and your little band of assholes! Just you wait, I’ll make sure…urk!” I was standing over him, glaring furiously down into his eyes as he struggled to draw a breath. It must have been a lot more difficult than he was expecting, considering my naginata’s tip was buried a good two inches into the stone floor of the cavern that lay under him. I’d moved without thought, skewering Gar through the sternum and out of his back, the force of my