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

“I’ve hardly got any mana left anyway mate; one potion, and that’s all. I’m saving that for when we get higher up the tower, anyway”

“Not sure if it’s safe to do this, then, but we found two weak mana potions…” He grimaced and passed them over.

“Oh, thank fuck,” I muttered, popping them open and downing them, one after another. The sounds of fighting echoed down from the floor above, and I took a deep breath. “Well, sounds like they’re playing our song…” I said ruefully, gathering up my naginata and following the Legion.

The rest of my small team formed up around me, with Bane already ahead of me on the makeshift ladder, and he climbed through to the next floor.

We filed up slowly, the sound of fighting receding as we climbed. The Legionnaires pushed the defending Harpies back, until screams began rising just after we’d emerged onto the main floor.

“Back!” shouted Rinko, shuffling backwards with his shield held high as the Legionnaire next to him started shuddering and shaking. Darkness began spreading visibly through his veins as he moaned in pain and fear.

“Get back!” Rinko bellowed, moving faster and hunching down lower behind his shield.

Oracle lifted into the air for a second, then dropped as quickly as she could, as a bolt of necrotic energy passed overhead through the space she’d just occupied.

“What is it?” I asked as the Legionnaires formed a shieldwall, with those who had spears and bows preparing to blind fire.

“Another Anubai!” Oracle hissed angrily. “And this one’s a Mage.”

“Shit.” said Augustus, taking stock of the people around us, before grabbing my arm and pulling me aside. “Look, Jax, I know you haven’t dealt with these fuckers before tonight, so I’ll make it as clear as I can. If the Skyking has an Anubai Mage serving it, we might be better off falling back and taking our chances with the mob,” he said seriously. “The way the Legion usually deals with these scum is to swamp them with numbers. Sometimes we lose dozens to take just one down. Anubai Mages are usually champions of the Dark Gods; that’s how rare this fucker is.”

“Well, shit,” I gritted my teeth in frustration. “You’re telling me that this is a fight we can’t win?” I asked him, and he shook his head.

“No, we might win it, but believe me when I say it’ll be costly. Those we have left might not be able to take the Skyking down. Hell, those we have now might not be enough, if it’s strong enough to compel one of those fuckers to serve it.”

“Fuck it,” I said, straightening. “Thanks for the advice, Augustus. I appreciate it, but I think it’s time I took a direct hand.”

“Jax, seriously, you’re good, and you’re lucky, but this fucker…” he started, and I grinned at him, clapping my hand over his on my arm.

“Trust me, mate. Can you hold him for a minute while I get a little surprise ready?” I asked, and he sighed, finally nodding.

“Our lives before yours. I hope you’ve got a good plan.” He squeezed my arm slightly, then released me, returning to the Legion shieldwall. “Hold!” he bellowed. “Power the shieldwall!” He waited for the shouts of acknowledgement, before starting to chant.

“Who are we?” he called out.

“The Legion!” the Legionnaires shouted back to him.

“Who does the Legion serve?” he roared.

“The Empire!” they responded, a faint glow starting to build on their shields. The Legionnaire who’d been hit before, who’d stood bravely taking more blasts from the Anubai, grunted his last, falling to one knee, then collapsing to the floor, dead.

“Who’s gonna fuck them up?” he shouted to them.

“Lord Jax and the Legion!” they screamed, their shields glowing brighter and brighter.

I tuned out the rest of the chant as I started stripping my armor off, pulling it apart section by section, then dropping it into my bags. It was a tricky job to fit the breastplate, but thankfully the neck opened as wide as needed, which made me think of a few sneaky things I needed to try.

I shrugged off the thoughts and shook my head as Lydia asked me what I was doing. I felt Oracle testing the changes we’d made, with mana flowing through me, pulsing faster and faster as she helped me to control it.

“You’re not going to have long with it, unless you use that greater potion…” she warned me and I nodded, pulling my shirt off over my head to expose the bandages I’d kept wrapped around my skin since leaving my Tower. The need to let my skin heal naturally had been a problem, but thankfully, it was something that Ame had come up with a solution for.

Each morning and night, I’d had to smear a thick paste across the affected parts of my body, the result of which had been to create a mana ‘dead-zone.’ As it had been done with the guidance and blessing of Jenae, when the Goddess had helped Nerin to heal me, she’d guided the most powerful weaves around those areas, preserving the natural healing until now, and Nerin had in turn done the same during each subsequent healing.

I peeled bandages off slowly, feeling the air reaching the skin, making my hairs stand on end as I gave an involuntary shiver. It was time. I’d nearly done it a few times in the fights already, but this was the real test, to see if my wild-ass theory would actually work.

I’d done this off the memory of West’s comments when I’d first been choosing a class... “…you can’t become much of a Mage, but you could become a Mage killer!”

I took in a deep breath and ran the combinations through my mind, selecting the ones I wanted, then starting the slow cycle of feeding mana into them.

The first few seconds felt weird as my mana spread out, pushing out of my skin randomly, puddling and evaporating into the ether. Thanks mainly to Oracle, I adjusted quickly, focusing the