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

I’d be damn well bringing that in, I decided, as Augustus called out more orders, directing Lydia, Jian, and Arrin to join him, while ordering Miren and Stephanos to take up station on the railing of the ship.

“Oracle…” I said quietly, and she turned to look at me, her sadness at the deaths of others clear on her face. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t like this.” I changed what I’d been going to say at the sight of her tear-streaked cheeks. I thought back to the fight in the Skyking’s tower, and how quiet she’d gone since we had found the feeding area. “Are you okay?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“No, I’m really not, but I know why we’re doing this, and I know it has to be done. These people would be flying against us, I know. I just…”

“You just don’t like that we attacked them first,” I finished for her, and she shrugged disconsolately.

“Yeah… I guess.” She sniffled, and I reached up to pat her legs as she landed on my shoulder and cuddled the side of my head.

“I know,” I said, watching as we closed in on the other ship. The crew hadn’t noticed that we’d taken the first ship, and the few that had the time to see us, assumed we were bringing them reinforcements, not their attackers. “Can you watch over the crew on this ship for me?” I asked her, and she frowned prettily.

“Why… what are you going to do?” she asked, her tone full of suspicion.

“I’m going to help our people, magically; I’m not jumping over to fight, don’t worry,” I reassured her quickly.

“As long as you stick with that, then, okay.” She lifted off my shoulder, quickly zipping aloft and hiding in the rigging as she started to check over the crew.

I moved to the side, standing next to Miren and Stephanos as they drew back on their bows, aiming carefully.

I saw Nerin casting her AOE buff over our people, and I watched them psyching each other up for the jump. Rinko bellowed out orders to the group as Augustus was quietly lectured by Hellenica.

We pulled alongside the enemy ship, hovering slightly above the main deck, less than ten feet apart. Our helmsman turned the ship suddenly to cut across above them, as Augustus bellowed “Go, go, go!” and the group sprinted for the edge. A section of the railing had been lifted free where a gangplank would normally be attached, and they ran straight out, jumping off it and landing on the upper deck of the forecastle. Most rolled upon impact, but a few, like Lydia, encumbered by her heavy armor, slammed down hard, hissing in pain as they bounced off the railing on the far side.

Our ship started to turn slowly, arcing about as Miren, Stephanos, and another Legionnaire raised their bows and took aim. Their arrows slammed into the wood around the entrance to the forecastle, with one spearing the ground inside the door. I made eye contact with Hellenica, who’d taken up station by my side, and I smiled.

“I bet you’ve got a powerful ‘Lightning’ spell, don’t you?” I asked, and she nodded, grinning evilly. “Great. Give me a few seconds to get the fountains into place, then hit the water, okay?” I said, casting as quickly as I could.

I took a deep breath and concentrated, building the spell and focusing in on where I wanted it to appear. I found that, without a second hand, I could only cast a single fountain, but by forcing more mana into it, it grew bigger more rapidly, and setting it off in the doorway meant that it quickly flooded the space inside, adding to the small puddles of water that the rain was building.

Our archers fired off a couple more arrows each, before I nodded to Hellenica, who’d been building her spell while I soaked the area.

She released a lightning bolt as thick around as my leg. It put all of Oracle’s and my own attempts to shame as it blasted through the air, hitting the side of the doorway and punching through effortlessly in a spray of splinters. As it hit the pool of water, the impact set off a secondary series of smaller bolts that coursed through the puddle, traveling up the legs of the men inside the room and making them scream and convulse, before tearing through to the deck below and eventually grounding out against the inside of the hull.

“Well…” I said in astonishment. “Remind me not to get on your bad side!” Hellenica regarded me seriously as she answered.

“I recommend that. I know Legionnaires personally, you know…” She pointed at the helmsman on the enemy ship as she tilted our vessel aside, having finally realized that we weren’t there to help. “Should we take the helmsman next?” she asked, and I shook my head.

“We don’t know if the helmsman that was trained for the ship is still alive; leave them and let the Legion take control. They can force her to land. Meanwhile, we need to take the soldiers out…”

***

“Move it!” Lydia shouted, rushing forward with her shield held high, the Legionnaires on either side of her quickly outpacing her as she limped along, gritting her teeth.

“You alright, L?” Jian asked her, and she grunted, straightening and forcing herself to run as though nothing was wrong, despite the pain. Sod’s law I’d be the one ter sprain my ankle… she thought to herself.

“I’m fine, just go!” she snarled, and Jian shrugged, jogging forward to keep up with the Legion.

The damn Legionnaires were insane. No matter what happened, they just kept powering on. They wore more armor than she did, yet every time they trained together, they outran, out-jumped, and outfought her like it was nothing. Well, not today… Lydia thought grimly. Determined to make it through the fight without them looking down on her or her team,

Lydia followed Jian down the stairs from the upper forecastle to the main deck. Arrows flew