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

“Cam, you were a good soldier, a great man, and a terrible fucking cook when it was your turn to make the meals, but I’ll miss you, mate. Rest now, sleep away the ages until you’re reborn, and know that you did well. You were loved. Always know that.” With that, I lifted both hands and channeled as Oracle and I had discussed, weaving together fire and air to send a flowing, curling stream of flames to lick across his body. The wood charred slightly before catching with an audible ‘wumph’.

I cut the spell, stepping back and watching as the bedroll caught, the flames crackling as a thin smoke lifted from his body. I cleared my throat roughly.

“Okay, people…” I said, my voice hoarse with unshed tears. “It’s time.” I led the group over to our gear, and we set off, the tunnel to the surface beckoning.

Chapter Four

The passageway was empty and silent for another few minutes, going up and down, following some Faultline, until we found the bodies of the Drow that Yen and her team had intercepted.

“They give you any trouble?” I asked her, noting the twisted, blackened corpses, and she shook her head.

“I have a spell that I like to use for creatures like the Drow; ‘FlameStrike,’ it’s called. It creates up to a dozen spears of fire that can track your target, but if they are compressed into a single spear, it tends to get…messy. I had been wondering what would happen if I used it in an enclosed area while we traveled, and so… poof.” She gestured towards the Drow.

“Glad we didn’t get into a fight accidentally, then,” I said, looking closely at the bodies. They’d clearly not gotten a single attack off, and judging by the half-melted remains of their armor, they’d died almost instantaneously.

We moved on quickly. The scent of burnt meat lingering from the dead, and the thin tendrils of smoke from Cam’s pyre wafting down the tunnel, encouraged us not to linger as we moved towards the surface.

The last section of the Smuggler’s Path took forty minutes to cover in the end, mainly due to the fact that it climbed so steadily, but finally, after what felt like weeks, we came to the end of the cave system.

The end of the tunnel was sealed by a set of doors, reinforced and old. The doors opened surprisingly easily, leading us into the basement of a building. We crept out cautiously. The creaking of the hinges had probably been enough to waken anyone, but as we paused in anticipation of a confrontation, we quickly realized there was no reaction.

No sounds filtered down, except the usual shouts and clattering of a city, somewhere outside. I glanced at Bane, and he nodded, slipping past a surprised Yen as she was about to climb the stairs.

“There was nobody here when we entered, Jax,” she whispered, and I frowned at her.

“Yeah, about that... you’re the Legion. How come you knew about a smuggler’s path out of the city, but you didn’t stop it or report it?”

“In earlier times, we would have, but now? We’ve known about this path for years; we just didn’t need to use it before. The city doesn’t want anything to do with us, so we don’t see any reason to help them.” She shrugged dismissively.

“See, that’s just fucked up. Don’t get me wrong; I love the fact that you could reach me because of all this, but man… what a shitty situation,” I muttered, and Yen nodded in agreement, clearly feeling the same.

A few minutes later, Bane returned and spoke quietly.

“We’re in the basement of what appears to be an old weaver’s shop. It’s been completely abandoned on the other floors, and this section of the building is hidden behind a false wall. I’d guess that’s why there are no guards nearby. They trusted that the building would remain empty due to being uninteresting, rather than being secured.”

“No,” Ellen interjected, and we turned to her as one, my eyebrow raised questioningly. “The weaver’s shop was a good cover, but when we lost the first few caravans, some creatures came out of the path; some big spiders. Our people killed them and abandoned the building after the smugglers sent in to clear the tunnels went missing.”

“Spiders? Big ones?” I asked, then held my hands apart, indicating the size of a Pitbull. “Were there any this big? Red and black markings?”

“I think so, yeah! Mal has its head on the wall above his desk! It’s horrible…” Ellen replied.

“Great,” I said, shaking my head.

“What’s up?” Yen asked, and I gestured her over to one side with her fellows, so the smugglers wouldn’t be able to hear.

“Do you remember any tales of Giant Cave Spiders from before the Empire fell? Specifically, a species that were peaceful and sworn to the Empire? That could talk?”

“Hmmm, I don’t think so. It was a long time ago, and the records are spotty, but spiders are widely known to be evil…” Yen replied, rubbing her neck and frowning.

“Why do you say that? Specifically, why spiders?” I asked.

“Really? You used a Fireball on one just…” I cut her off with a shake of my head.

“No, that was one that escaped from Lloth’s altar, so it was definitely fucking evil, and yeah, spiders kinda freak me out, but I’m working on it. You don’t have any known records about spiders from back around the cataclysm, then?”

“Just that some of them attacked when the other monsters all rose up. The Legion has always taught that spiders are Creatures of the Night, monsters like all the rest, I guess. Why?” Yen said.

“Fuck,” I hissed, shaking my head. “I hoped they would either have records about it, or they’d have forgotten about that.” I paused, scratching my neck and cursing the feeling of my beard growing on my neck. The damn thing always itched like mad! It was fine on my face, but my