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

darkness as well, but I can’t remember what.” Grizz summarized for us as we watched the arena, waiting for the other side to make the first move.

“Okay, people, let’s wait and see; give them a minute,” I said, reaching out mentally to Oracle.

“Remember that sneaky bastard of a rogue in the Tower?”

“Of course…?”

“Remember how we flooded the area, trying to catch him in the water?”

“And then Bob killed him, before we could hit him with lightning!”

“Exactly. Get up as high as you can and start soaking the sand around us. Those stealthy fuckers are going to try to take us out, but wet sand will show footprints easier, and then you fuck them with lightning.”

“Okay! I… I miss Bob.”

“I do too. Let’s kill these dicks, and we’re one step closer to going home, Oracle. And then let’s keep him closer to us after this.”

“Deal!” I smiled at her enthusiasm and brought everyone else up to speed.

“Oracle’s going to see what she can do to take care of the rogue problem, so keep an eye out for them. When they’re visible, hit those bastards with everything. Lydia, stick with me. We wait them out, see if we can whittle down the numbers first.” My team confirmed with a round of acknowledgements, and we settled into formation.

The Twins were clearly unused to people that just watched them, and they slowly looked at each other before starting to move, stepping closer to the far wall, clearly expecting that we wouldn’t be able to flank them, while the rogues did…what rogues do.

Oracle was summoning fountains left and right, and I started doing the same, quickly ringing our position. After a minute, though, the sand slowly began to absorb the water, and I swallowed, annoyed with this issue in the plan. We’d have to refresh the fountains constantly, unless…

I concentrated, staring at a fixed space in the middle of the arena between our two groups, willing myself to pay attention to the details, the shifting of sand, as the assholes all around us, hanging on the bars and screaming, made the very earth shake.

There! Off to the left, just outside the range of the oldest fountain on that side, there was something wrong. Sand shifted one way, instead of the other, and I reacted, a fountain blooming in the path of the shimmering, red-tinted form that suddenly became clear as my enhanced Perception and meridians combined together.

The water shot up, crystal clear and refreshing, until it hit the stealthed form of the rogue that was sneaking slowly across the damp sand, trying to be invisible…

As soon as I’d turned, Oracle had sensed my focus, and instead of the fountain she’d been about to cast, she started building Stunning Lightning Bolt, channeling a full third of my remaining mana into it.

The rogue cursed as his stealth was broken, dashing forwards straight for Stephanos, only to have his target shouldered aside by Grizz, who fired an arrow at him. The rogue dove aside, rolling smoothly and coming to his feet, a glowing green vial held tight in his left hand. He pulled his arm back, cocked, aimed, and then screamed as Oracle hit him full in the face with her spell.

He convulsed, muscles locking tight, and the vial shattered under his sudden desperate grip. The mixture immediately reacted with the air, and with an audible ‘wumph,’ the area around him for a good three meters vanished into a green cloud. The screams emitting from the rogue went up a notch as he became the center of his own trap.

Grizz backed away, coughing and retching, and Oracle diverted with my blessing, casting ‘Cleanse’ on him even as he pulled the most powerful healing potion he had from his belt, downing it through lips that were already melting.

He fell to the floor, screaming, half the potion down, and the other half splashing across his face as his skin began to slough away. Oracle dove for him, hammering him again and again with Cleanse, while I called to Arrin.

“Help her!” I snapped, well aware we’d just lost two, and possibly three of our team from the fight. Even though we’d taken one of them down, we’d gone from seven against four, to four against three.

“Everyone else watch out for that rogue…” I started to say, as the twins abandoned their slow and steady retreat in favor of sprinting full speed at us.

“Lydia! With me! Stephanos, fuck up that rogue when the bastard shows his face!” I snarled, digging in and sprinting at the oncoming brothers, Lydia lumbering alongside me.

“Come on, yer DICKS!” she screamed when we were halfway across the arena, and her voice changed, reverberating deeper. The last word seeming to hang in the air, repeating over and over, growing fainter as the echoes died away.

To me, it just sounded weird, but the effect on the brothers? The pair of them both stumbled, changing their focus from one opponent each, to both sprinting dead at her, as though driven insane by the need to close with her.

“It’s her fucking taunt…” I muttered, hearing my own voice rendered tinny by the Legion helmet that Augustus had refused to take back with the rest of the gear.

A scream rose from behind us, and I flinched before refusing to be distracted. Instead, I swung my shield around to cover my chest and jumped, striking the brother on the right full on his shield and sending him staggering off balance from the unexpected assault. Braced as I was, I bounced off, landing hard and stumbling slightly, before turning and stabbing out at the one who had closed with Lydia and was hammering at her shield with his axe. I stabbed into the gap, aiming between his lower leg and knee. I felt the tip of my naginata penetrate, but it was quickly smashed aside by his shield as Lydia’s taunt wore off. His axe smashed down hard on her shield and drove her back a step.

I pulled back, set myself, and lashed out,