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

always call for more reinforcements. Our best chance is to push through before they can bring more here. He’s lost two of his pride, dead without a doubt, and we’ve got one Legionnaire who’s taken heavy injuries. Nerin’s working on him now.” He took a deep breath, looking around. “As to the next floor, it’s probably the best bet, but I’ll admit, I had not foreseen the Prometheans whipping up a mob to block us in. I’d expected maybe a few dozen idiots. There’s over a hundred out there now, and they’re only growing. It won’t be long before they either try to get in and we have to kill them, or the Guard arrives.”

“Okay, mate, give me a few minutes then. Get everyone ready; we’re abandoning the lower floors and moving up, then we brace the hole as best we can and make sure it’s costly for the mob to follow us. I could do with a few mana potions, if you’ve found any?”

“I’ll have the corpses searched. Only two Mages around that I’ve heard, though, which is both a blessing and a curse…”

“Thanks, man.” I nodded gratefully as Legionnaires started checking the corpses. “As soon as they’ve been searched, get everyone back. I’m gonna have to make a big mess.”

“Tell me which room you’re going to aim for, and I’ll have something to climb up knocked together in another one,” Rinko slipped in, and I smiled in appreciation.

“Will do, mate, and thanks. Any damage to the ceilings you found?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“Just some rot, but that’s spread out across all the building. The ceilings look solid, with heavy reinforcing beams. Take out too many, and you might take out the building; too few, and we’re going nowhere…”

“Well thanks for that sunny outlook,” I muttered and started walking from room to room. As he’d said, there was no particularly good or bad one, and years of fireplaces had left them covered in soot and crap anyway.

“Jax?” Oracle whispered, landing on my shoulder.

“Yeah?” I asked absently.

“Why don’t you ask Jenae?” she suggested, and I paused.

“You think she’ll be able to help?”

“Probably not the way you were hoping, but she might suggest a room?”

“Sounds good to me,” I said, smiling. “Thanks, Oracle.” She smiled back at me, and I took a deep breath, sinking down onto one knee and closing my eyes as I felt Oracle take off again, flying up to the ceiling and starting to examine the beams.

“Jenae!” I called, pulling in a deep breath and expelling it along with a blast of mana that I’d formed into the communication spell.

“Jax…” came the response after a few seconds, and I let out a breath of relief. “Not a good time…” she said, strain clear in her voice.

“Uh, okay, sorry! I need some advice. We’re trapped in a tower, and I’m looking to blow a hole through to the next floor up. I need to know how to not take the next floor out entirely, but also smash enough that we can get though…”

“You need an architect, not a Goddess, then!” she said, irritation clear in her voice. “Wait a minute…” She was silent for a few minutes, broken only by the shouts from outside and the occasional screeches from the tower’s guardians further above us. I saw flashes of light and heard booms as the resident enslaved Imps swooped down, hurling firebolts and worse through the open windows as Legionnaires tried to block them off.

“The next room over to your left; hit it where the wall joins the chimney. You owe me a thousand mana!” she snapped, and the sense of her presence vanished like a popped soap bubble.

“Thank you!” I threw after her, springing to my feet and rushing after Oracle into the next room.

She was hovering near the roof as I entered the room and nodded in satisfaction to herself.

“She’s right,” she said. “The wood’s cracking up here. If we make that explosive spell stronger, maybe start with a Fireball as the base, and build from there… we should be able to take out the wall and ceiling here, with a bit of luck. It’ll bring down the chimney, and we can climb through!”

I turned, discovering Augustus in the doorway, who was already turning and barking orders.

“Get everyone off this floor, but stay ready to go,” I called to him, getting a nod of acknowledgement in return, and I turned back to Oracle. “Looks like we need to build another new spell then; high explosive mortar?” I suggested and she grinned at me.

“You know I love a good bang!” she said, winking.

“Oh, I know you want one, that’s for sure!” I laughed, pulling up the standard Fireball in my mind. “So, let’s get this started…”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The explosion echoed around the inside of the tower, and I was flung backward by the pressure wave, my ears ringing.

Congratulations! You have created a new personal spell…High Explosive!

High Explosive:

Creates an explosive shell around an already unstable Fireball core. This spell has been modified with a compressed air shield to force the detonation to travel in one set direction.

This spell, while cobbled together from parts of other spells, has been refined enough to be acknowledged as a fully formed spell, and as such, will begin to level and evolve as your understanding of its properties grows.

Cost: 25-200 mana, depending on desired outcome.

“Move!” screamed Rinko, sprinting past me, followed by two other Legionnaires carrying a ladder they’d botched together from doors and scrap wood. As Bane helped me to my feet and Arrin hit me with a healing that fixed my eardrums, Legionnaires streamed past me, rushing up through the opening to attack the next level.

I blinked and shook my head reflexively, searching for Oracle. She floated nearby, looking up at the next floor. Half the room had seemingly fallen through, and the level above revealed intermittent patches of flames spread out.

“Uh, judging from the shaking of the tower, maybe don’t do that again, Jax? Please?”