The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) by A. Kay (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

Great, one more god who wants me dead.

Lalquinrial is interesting because he’s the only deity without a presence on this world, and he’s not part of the Divine Pact.

If he’s not here, why did Hamma have such a strong reaction to the Plague Siren?

Demons are rare here, but not unheard of. Because they can damage a person’s soul, all the deities’ Priest Classes despise them.

Well, this is just one more reason not to trigger the Aspect in public. If the Scarecrow suddenly appears in the Material Realm, and Lalquinrial isn’t part of the Pact, who knows what might happen. Nothing good for me, I’m certain.

Sometimes you make sense.

Sometimes?

Rami laughed.

Ruwen focused back on the blackness just outside his bubble of Fresh Air. Survey and Stone Echo painted the invisible walls around him in streaks of yellow. Survey had also allowed him to tilt his Map, providing a side view of the world, and allowing him to visualize how far below ground he’d come.

Five hundred feet ahead of Ruwen, the tunnel suddenly ended into what looked like a small lake. He slowed his ascent and channeled one Energy per second into Sixth Sense. That would give him node information on any resources Stone Echo detected.

A moment later Stone Echo displayed more than just hidden resources. It displayed people. Whoever had created this tunnel was still here.

Chapter 18

White nodes appeared on Ruwen’s map, some of them moving, and Sixth Sense displayed “Unknown Biological” for a description. He slowed down further as he neared the end of the tunnel, coming to a complete stop just before entering the bottom of the lake.

With a thought, Ruwen zoomed the overlay out so he could see more than his immediate surroundings. Like the three-dimensional map he’d used to trace his way down to the original oil lake, he studied what Stone Echo had sensed.

The oil lake had a depth of fifty feet and the cavern’s ceiling was thirty feet above the oil’s surface. A single narrow tunnel led from the edge of the oil lake to a much larger cavern two hundred feet away. There were two “Unknown Biologicals” in the lake cavern and at least fifteen in the larger cavern grouped around twenty oblong structures.

Ruwen’s map took on a blue tinge, and he focused on it, causing a description to appear: Hands of Naktos (You cannot bind to this temple)

Rami, does this mean Naktos has a temple here?

It must be a mobile one for the war. So far from home they need to revive their fallen soldiers quickly. But the temples usually travel with the armies, so this must be some sort of fallback.

Ruwen nodded. It makes sense to have at least one away from the front lines in case of catastrophic damage in the war zone. So those oblong things are revival baths?

Probably. But it’s a bad idea to go look by yourself.

Ruwen could hear the reluctance in Rami’s voice. I just want to verify what this is. Listen, here is my plan. I’ll take out the two guards here. If that triggers an alarm, I retreat. If it doesn’t, I take a quick look.

After a few seconds, Rami replied. Okay.

Retreating down the tunnel a hundred feet, Ruwen refreshed all his buffs, and then returned to his position at the tunnel’s edge. Stone Echo painted a detailed picture for him, and he studied the layout. One guard stood at the end of a twenty-foot dock, next to a pipe that dropped forty feet into the oil lake. The other guard moved at a slow pace around the perimeter of the lake.

Ruwen eased himself into the lake and moved toward the dock. He carefully watched the two guards for any signs they’d detected him. Satisfied he remained undetected, he waited until the moving guard walked to the far end of the lake. He ran through the calculations and angles in his head a final time and then relaxed his body, preparing it for combat.

Ruwen opened his Void Band a foot and channeled thirty Energy per second into propelling himself forward. He had never moved this fast in a liquid before and realized this might not be possible in water. But oil’s lower density, coupled with its slickness, allowed him to reach an amazing speed. Which he needed for his plan to work.

Bright light made Ruwen squint as he broke the surface of the oil lake and flew into the air. He immediately stopped channeling Energy to his Void Band and closed it with a thought. His calculations had been close enough, and he grabbed the guard at the end of the dock as he hurtled past him through the air. Ruwen’s momentum carried them both forward and back into the oil lake. The whole attack had happened in a second.

The two of them tumbled through the oil, and Ruwen wrapped his legs around the guard and gave him a fierce hug, expelling whatever air the guard had in his lungs. The guard thrashed and Ruwen pushed himself away. Opening his Void Band wide, he brought it over the guard like a net.

Ruwen dismissed the popup and let the guard die in his Void Band. Only seconds had passed, and he brought the overlay back into his vision. Stone Echo revealed the other guard striding back toward the dock. He must have heard the splash they’d made when reentering the lake. Ruwen dropped the dead body out of his Void Band and let it sink away.

Shrinking the Void Band to the size of his hand, Ruwen propelled himself toward the shore and behind the remaining guard. He closed his Void Band and pulled himself out of the lake. Oil covered him and dripped onto the stone. He left the Fresh Air spell active, not trusting the air down here. His cloak hung limply behind him, and his skin prickled from the cool air of the cavern.

Stepping carefully because of the oil covering his feet, he moved toward the guard