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

“There are at least two dozen. Amaat is leading them around to get them all in a line… looks like he’s headed back to us now!” He got out of the way, and I shouted back up to them.

“Take out who you can but be ready to get back down here. It’ll make it a lot harder for the fliers if they have to fight down here!”

They shouted assent, and I walked into the middle of the room, giving myself plenty of space to use my naginata. Barrett chose himself some space near the center, as well. Jian stood out in the rain still, a scythe in either hand as he stared up into the dark, weeping sky.

There came a sound of the air being cut by a fast-moving body, and then the reverberation of bowstrings being released. Almost instantly, the ‘thwack’ of arrows hitting their targets followed. As two bodies fell from the sky, a scream of ‘Oh yeah!’ from above told me that Arrin was also in the fight, just as two more bowstrings sang.

I heard a handful of arrows released, then a sound like hailstones hitting the roof and grunts of pain. Arrin, Stephanos, and Miren retreated back inside, pulling the trapdoor shut.

I ignored the fact that Bane was up there still, knowing he was either biding his time or I couldn’t help him.

A rush of wings indicated more bodies flying past at speed, and a second later, Jian ran back inside to take up position near the door, scythes drawn back.

Amaat flew in, landing hard and skidding to a halt in a crash of wooden boxes, and I felt my mana dip as Oracle instantly flew over to heal him.

Less than three heartbeats later, the first of the Harpies followed him into the room, a small green imp which noticed Jian lying in wait by the door too late. Jian’s twin scythes flashed out, the first missing its mark, but the second beheading the small creature as he stepped back into concealment.

The body hit the floor, wings still flapping spasmodically as death throes ripped through it.

Barrett kicked the head aside and drew his greatsword back like a baseball bat, even as I rolled slightly too close to him and channeled a thread of mana into my naginata, bringing it glowing to life.

We didn’t have to wait long. No sooner had Jian moved back than the second Harpy flashed past him, the third and fourth following straight after, while a hard swing from his scythes connected with the fifth. His twin blades were ripped from his hands as they buried themselves deep in the Alkyon. I felt a second of panic, thinking it was Venta, but it wasn’t, and the others that had burst into the room were imps. The second had been hit hard enough by Barrett that it didn’t seem cut by the sword, so much as exploded by an internal bomb. I’d stabbed out, skewering the third, and the fourth had barely managed to avoid impaling itself right after its friend, only to crash straight out of a window with a shriek. The cry was cut off abruptly when an arrow flashed out after it and dropped its moaning, concussed form from slumping against the far wall of the alley to slowly cooling in the gutter.

After that, it became a free-for –all. Easily thirty more fliers flew down, and the minutes passed in frantic stabbing, kicking, and punching before a sharp whistle broke through the grunts and screams.

As the fliers fell back, I slumped against my braced naginata, getting my breath back while I looked around the room. Ten more corpses littered the floor. I knew I’d punted at least one into the middle of next week, as it had landed before me while my blade was deep in its friend’s gut.

I’d lashed out, catching the diminutive, red-skinned figure in the crotch and firing it across the room, reaching out and grabbing another by its horns as it flew past and slamming it into a wall.

I’d heard its bones break , and I quickly counted the eliminated Harpies as I waited for whatever was coming next.

Seventeen, I could see down, and by contrast, all we had sustained were a collection of bruises and aches, thanks to Oracle. I had forty mana left, and I glared out at the heavy rain of the alleyway as lightning illuminated it.

More Harpies were landing by the second, and scrabbling claws on the trapdoor above us indicated that they were opening it.

“Everyone okay?” I asked, getting a grin from Barrett, who looked like he’d been bathing in blood . Jian looked spotless, but I could have sworn his arms looked even bigger, and I just knew the crazy fucker had been assigning points during the fight.

“You been upping your Strength again?” I scoffed, and he just grinned and flexed his biceps at me.

“Mad bastard...” I muttered, thinking of every goddamn fight I’d had. The one thing I always, and I mean always, decided mid-fight was that next time, I was going to be investing in Endurance. I almost never did, but fuck me, I needed to start.

“How many mana potions you got?” I called up to Arrin, and he lifted his middle finger, making me grin. Either he was telling me to get fucked, or he had one, but either way, his sense of humor was intact.

Everyone, bar Stephanos, looked to be okay. That poor bastard was getting an arrow pulled out of his arm by Miren, who gave him a healing potion straight after. I was about to say something else when a new figure entered the alley.

He slammed down onto the cobbles hard, his enormous wings batting smaller members of the gang aside effortlessly as he straightened and glared at me.

He stood easily seven feet tall, bearing a massive sword and triangular shield in his hands. , He looked human, except for