Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

he took two steps around the tight bend his shield quivered with two arrows stuck deep into the wood.

You block the [Vacant Archers] arrow (x2).

You consume 18 Stamina.

You take 14 points of damage.

I really need to get a better shield.

The [Plank Shield] he had only reduced physical damage by 75%. Which meant he still took a quarter of any damage he managed to block with.

Most of the better shields – like the [Kite Shield] the Knight started with – had upwards of 90% physical damage reduction. And shields later on were often 100%, only costing a chunk of Stamina to weather a blow.

After the first two strikes, Jacob lowered his shield and walked leisurely down the narrow path ahead. He counted off the seconds, dividing his attention between his Stamina bar, the archers ahead, and his internal counting.

Three seconds. That’s how long it took a Vacant Archer to reload and take aim.

Sprinting drained Stamina continually, and having a shield raised significantly reduced the recovery of Stamina. By leaving himself open, he was able to rapidly regenerate his Stamina.

In 3 seconds, knowing the mechanics of Lormar, he would completely regenerate his Stamina. With 124 Health, he could take several more volleys of arrows on his shield.

Provided he had the Stamina. Which he wouldn’t if he ran forward with the shield out. With 6 AGI compared to the 8 of his last playthrough, he wasn’t quick enough to make to the archers in between shots.

Like everything else in his life for the last decade, he had to adapt.

Three seconds, and Jacob was only halfway to the archers. He lifted his shield just in time to feel his arm quiver painfully from the twin arrow strikes.

Another 18 Stamina down, and another 14 Health gone. He dropped his shield arm and began counting again as his Stamina rapidly filled.

With a glance, Jacob noted the hiding spot he used the first time he came here. A jutting of razor-sharp stone that he had used to break the archer’s line of sight. He wouldn’t make it in time and after this next salvo, he wouldn’t need it.

Jacob lifted his shield for the third time, pain lanced through his arm as a rusted arrowhead broke through the [Plank Shield] and embedded itself a solid half-inch into his forearm.

With a grimace, Jacob dismissed his mace into ash and took hold of his [Plank Shield] with both hands. With a furious roar, he rushed the final fifteen feet and barreled into the first archer.

He let loose another shout and lifted the archer off the narrow pass, twisted his hips, and threw the light creature into the void on his left without ever breaking stride.

Before the next archer could nock his next arrow, Jacob had his shield back in line. His momentum barely slowed, he crashed into the next emaciated archer with everything he had. Just as his shield made contact with the archer, Jacob came to an immediate skidding halt.

The Vacant went flying through the air and tumbled off the side of the mountain, swallowed by the sea of dark clouds without a sound.

That was the most disturbing thing about the Vacant. They didn’t make any sound. Not when they attacked, nor took damage.

There was no typical hissing or guttural sounds like you heard in zombie movies. The only noise they made was the occasional scrape of their weapon or armor. It was incredibly disconcerting to face a group of them.

He took a moment to catch his breath and let his Stamina regenerate. That maneuver nearly bottomed out his Stamina. If he was caught out without any Stamina at his level, he’d be a dead man.

What he just did was reckless. He would have chastised himself if not for the gain it likely brought him. While the other players were discovering the archers for the first time, he was already past them.

If he was going to beat Alec, he would need to take risks. Too many lives were at stake for him to play it safe or give in to fear.

Jacob was already heading down the last leg of the Razor Pass when the white wisps of the Vacant Archers flew into his back, making him 300 Souls richer. Sometimes it took creatures flung over the edge a while to die.

He never understood what the reason was, whether they died from some creature down below - like that black tentacled monstrosity - or merely from the falling damage.

Not that it mattered, but he found himself more than a little curious about what was below that blanket of clouds. How many more of those creatures were down there?

In the distance, he could see the Pyre. Currently unlit, it emitted only a faint orange glow from within the mouth of the cave. The embers, partially covered in ash were a welcome sight indeed.

Jacob’s eyes misted up as he drew nearer. They had a distinctive look, a pyramidal pile of ash and ember that gave off a warm orange glow that fought back the general dimness of the world.

They were beacons of hope in a world where everything wanted you dead.

True to Pyresouls form, there was a final test to overcome before he managed to make it to that first Pyre. This wasn’t an enemy he could fight, at least not now.

Making his way along the Razor Pass, Jacob slowed to a careful shuffle, keeping his eyes focused on the path ahead. As the passage bowed out the stone below his feet changed, becoming a deep groove. A casual observer would find that the mountainside was also worn down with a half-circle groove nearly two feet across.

As soon as Jacob looked up the side of the mountain, a hulking behemoth of stony sinew peering over the mountaintop saw him and dropped a spherical boulder into the groove. It rolled down the side of the mountain at a speed that defied everything Jacob understood about conventional physics.

The mountain trembled when the two-foot-wide boulder hit the mountain pass and skipped off into the