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

“You shall die!” he hissed, clutching the exploded stump of his right arm. Blood sprayed from the shattered remains, and he screamed at the Djinn behind him. “My portal! Change it to the Skyking!” he ground out through clenched teeth. The Imps that hovered nearby stared from him to me and my people, and paused, considering their options. The Djinn changed the pattern of the spell they were weaving, somehow moving the portal’s end point to a point a level above us, instead of wherever they’d originally been aiming for. The magic entrance began to open, just as Yen let out an almighty shout and jerked her hands apart, her magic splitting the arcane door and the engraved containment spell into splinters.

A scream of delight and bloodlust echoed into the night from the other side of the door, and the portal suddenly ripped itself apart, collapsing as Altai tried to step through it, leaving bloody chunks and the majority of his body on our side. His head slammed to the floor on the far end of the portal, his mouth twitching and flapping in disbelief as his brain shut down.

Chapter Thirty

Grey smoke billowed out of the room beyond Yen, grasping tendrils flooding the entire floor. The Imps were abruptly torn from the air, vanishing into the grey mass with cries and squeals of terror, followed by the sound of popping and cracking bones. An eerie silence fell.

I groaned in the stillness as I forced myself to sit upright, left arm cradled to my chest. My health, mana, and stamina bars were all pulsing, and I blinked hard, trying to bring the world into focus as Oracle landed on my knee, wrapping her arms around my neck and holding on for dear life.

I felt her shaking as I carefully wrapped my good arm around her, her wings morphing out of the way as her sobs wracked her tiny body.

“It’s all right…” I whispered, holding her gently but tightly to my chest. Our worst fear had almost come to pass, again, as someone tried to take her from me. We held each other for a long moment before Lydia stumbled out of the fog. Seeing me alive, she let out a sigh of relief, replaced almost immediately with a gasp of surprise as she spun around, gawking at the figure that formed out of the fog.

It was strange, coalescing into a woman’s form, slim and tall, but remaining entirely of the roiling grey fog. From her eyes to her hair, she was incorporeal, beautiful, and thankfully clothed in a dress that hid her figure. Despite the intricate detail, I couldn’t get over the fact that she literally appeared to be formed out of condensed air.

She floated to me, reaching out with her right hand to stroke my face. A gentle smile curved full lips that seemed forever on the edge of a laugh, but as I looked her over, I could see the marks of her captivity. Her eyes were hard and sunken, her wrists bore the marks of chains, although they were no longer bound, and the cracking and popping of bones being snapped deeper within the mist still echoed occasionally.

“My people…” I started to ask; although I could see their details in my vision, it wasn’t the same as seeing them personally.

“…Are fine,” She finished for me, and I felt a ripple of something passing through me as I breathed in. I felt a tendril of her form entering my lungs, the cool mist making it somehow easier to breathe, rather than harder, thankfully. I realized in an instant how dangerous it would be to try to capture a creature made of mist, when she could literally flow into your lungs and turn solid.

“Don’t be afraid, my champion,” she said, her voice gentle and reassuring. “You can breathe. I swear no harm will befall you or your people at my hand. I give you my Oath that I intend my rescuers no harm.” I felt the magic, now intrinsic to me, respond to her, and I knew in an instant that it was true. Relieved, I let out the breath I’d been subconsciously holding. “I see that my children agreed to a foolish Oath with you while I was imprisoned,” she remarked slowly, and I blinked, pulling up the quest I’d received from Xerix.

Congratulations!

You have made progress in a Quest you received from Xerix: ‘Free Our Mother’

You have been asked to free, or kill, Helenica, Clan Mother of the Gueric Clan. If you agree to do your best, and do not ask the Djinn to leave the city if she has not been freed, they will swear a Conditional Oath to you. If you free her, she and her children will swear to obey you for ten years.

Free Helenica: 1/1

Kill the Skyking: 0/1 – (Optional; if you succeed in this secondary objective, the Djinn will swear for your lifetime instead.)

Reward: Allegiance of the Djinn of the Gueric Clan, 62,500xp, Unknown

“Hellenica…” I whispered, unthinking, and she smiled benevolently at me.

“Yes, Lord Jax of the Great Tower, I am Hellenica.” She confirmed, as mirror images of herself led the rest of my party through to join me. The images drew together, becoming one body, and she smiled down at us all, even as I felt tingling running through my body.

I checked my HP, only to realize that it was returning unnaturally quickly, and I immediately knew it was her work. The mist, or fog, or whatever we’d breathed, was her, and she was healing us all.

“The Prometheans…” I started to say, and she shook her head.

“Not an issue,” she replied flatly. the seven Djinn who’d been chained to Altai’s belt appeared, dragging the remains of his corpse with them. The chains were intact, and I noticed that the fog was pushed back by something intrinsic to the belt . “Now, would you mind…?” she asked sweetly, inclining her head.

I reached over the mangled corpse, touching the