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

I strode across to the doorway, standing next to Lydia and bumping her deliberately with my now-armored shoulder. She pushed me back with hers, and I grinned at her.

“Sorry, and yeah, you’re right. I’ll be more careful in the future…” I whispered to her as we all moved forward cautiously. “I tend to panic when my friends get hurt.”

“We all do,” she acknowledged, and left it at that. I let out a little sigh as Oracle hit me with a quick healing, bringing me up to full health again and dismissing the debuff from ‘Mana-Overdrive’.

“Thank you…” I sent my companion and got a feeling of love and protectiveness back from her.

We slowly made our way from room to room. While all of the lower levels of the tower were made of a few simple, large rooms with stairs in the middle of the floor, the sealed-off ‘upper’ tower seemed to be divided into sections. It had been abandoned in the lower levels, followed by what I thought of as ‘Imp territory,’ and now, we were clearly in the important sections. The next room had dozens of beds, all enormous, with trunks at the foot of each. Stands were placed next to each bed, with spaces for weapons or gear, but they were all empty, and the room had a freshly abandoned feeling about it, as though its inhabitants had been there recently, but had just slipped out to get a packet of cigs and hadn’t come back.

The room was long and wide, with far more care being taken here in decoration than in the lower floors. The leaky windows had been fixed, the chairs were new; there was even a fire blazing merrily in the fireplace, despite the absence of anyone to tend it. Strewn about everywhere were feathers and judging from the look of disgust on Lydia’s face as she lifted a stained schenti from the nearest chest, we’d found the Promethean barracks.

“Okay, people, strip it of anything valuable,” I said, looking around. “You’ve got one minute.” I left the others to their race to search, moving to inspect the closed door at the far end of the floor. The softly glowing red lines etched into the wood intrigued me.

“What the hell…” I muttered, looking it over. The door was huge, composed of thick wood crisscrossed with iron banding and rivets. The entire surface was black with age, but it looked solid as hell. Then, to add to the generally foreboding theme for the door, someone had carved into it a series of red lines and circles. Clearly, they were magical, judging from the glow, but even worse was the smell and the dried stains around the pattern. I searched nearby, and sure enough, a few feet away sat a small pitcher and a brush. I recoiled in shock as I peered inside; the pitcher was filled with a load of coagulating blood.

“What the hell?” I said in confusion, when Yen appeared at my side and inspected what I was looking at.

“Blood magic,” she said shortly. “It’s a generally shitty thing that the Legion’s been campaigning against forever. It’s used by Wytches and Warlocks to control things or summon Demons. Shouldn’t be surprised it’s being used here…” She broke off, grunting in disgust. “Best to leave whatever’s behind this door alone. Trying to break curses and forbidding’s are never fun; not to mention whatever’s in there… unless…” she trailed off, studying my expression. “You think it’s the Djinn Clan Mother, don’t you?”

“It’d make sense,” I admitted, nodding to the room behind us. “Surrounded by the Prometheans, who, until the Anubai showed up, appeared to be the Skyking’s top dogs… if you know what I mean…”

“You any good at breaking curses?” Yen asked me, and I snorted, shaking my head.

“I didn’t even know curses were real until a minute ago; good job, too, considering some of my exes…”

“A story for another time, then,” Yen said firmly. “I’ll see what I can do with this, but it won’t be quick, and I can’t stop once it begins, so you’ll have to keep anyone back.”

“Consider it done.” I clasped her shoulder appreciatively and turned back to the room as she sighed in resignation and started examining the door more closely. I paused looking through the room, then back at the door, finally forcing myself to walk back out of the room on the far side, continuing all the way back to the stairwell at a jog.

“What the hell?” I muttered to myself, startled as Bane popped out of stealth at my elbow. “Fucking-god-dammit!” I cursed, jumping back and glaring at him. “I swear, one more goddamn time, dude, and I’m getting you a bell!”

“You seemed troubled…” was all he said, but I could feel the damn smile, even if his mouth didn’t really work that way. I just knew he was grinning at me.

“And so you thought, what, dude? ‘There’s Jax, he’s clearly stressed and knackered, I know, I’ll sneak up on him and give him a friggin’ heart attack’? Seriously, man. You’re gonna be the death of me one day.”

“I hope not, but you do scream so prettily. Anyway, what was it that was confusing you… this time?” he added, and I fumed.

“Okay, a full goddamn jester’s outfit, bells everywhere…” I muttered before getting ahold of myself and forcing a deep breath out. “We know that the Skyking’s not through that last door, or at least it’s unlikely, right? Considering the fact that it looks like it’s built to contain something… and we’ve seen no sign of the Anubai quarters?”

“Yes…” Bane said slowly, nodding as though I was a good boy who would, just maybe, be allowed a cookie.

“So, where the hell’s the way up to the next level?” I asked, annoyed.

“Can’t you see it?” he countered, and my scowl deepened.

“If I could see it, would I be asking you right now, hmmm? Come on, dude, help