Dungeon Core Academy: Books 1-7 (A LitRPG Series) by Alex Oakchest (book suggestions txt) 📕

sharpest tone of voice I’d ever heard from him. “Stop messing around! This is Shadow! Not a game!”

He was right.

I was letting Anna get to me. She was really, really good at that. I’d promised Death and Kill that I’d put my dungeon mates first, but right now, I was feeding my own ego.

“Fine. Just help Shadow. Remove whatever it is that’s controlling her mind.”

Anna closed her eyes.

She opened them.

“Done. But it wasn’t me who did that to her. I’d tell you if it was.”

“Now remove the trap, Beno,” said Bolton.

“Done.”

“Are you three going to tell me what you’re doing here?” I asked.

Bolton folded his arms. “We were passing through the wasteland, when-”

“Anna!” cried a voice.

It was Shadow.

Newly recovered, and with her ropes cut.

She stared at the girl with a look of intense hatred.

Shadow picked up a sharp rock from the ground and then sprinted at Anna, covering the distance in seconds.

Before anyone could react, she smashed the rock on Anna’s head.

The girl fell onto her back. Shadow was on her instantly. She raised the rock.

Just one blow, and it would be finished.

But then she lowered it.

Utta held his hands in the air, readying a spell.

Shadow fixed Anna a look of disgust and climbed off her.

“You forced me to kill,” she said, staring at Anna. “But I chose not to kill you. Remember that. I’m stronger than you ever will be.”

Anna, blood trickling from her temple, looked around. Dazed. She fixed her gaze on Bolton. She didn’t say anything but seemed to be asking for something.

Bolton kneeled next to her and hugged her tight.

CHAPTER 19

“It’s bad, Beno. He looks really bad.”

“Dying, bad? That sort of bad?”

Cynthia didn’t answer.

She had managed to stop the bleeding on Warrane’s neck. There was a lot of it, but the wound looked worse than it was.

Gulliver was the one who was in trouble. Shadow had cut his thigh, severing his femoral vein. Maginhart had used a powder to seal it, but Gull had already lost a lot of blood.

When I looked at my friend’s ashen face, I felt a knife twisting deep inside me. I felt furious with Shadow, but I told myself it wasn’t her fault. In fact, Shadow was slumped against a wall now, staring into space. Tomlin was sitting on one side of her, Eric on the other. He was still clutching his ear in pain, but it was clear he bore Shadow no malice. He knew it wasn’t her fault, and he’d forgiven her instantly. Theirs was a true friendship. Shadow’s pups had braved getting closer and were now lying by her feet. It was like she didn’t know any of them were there.

Next, I directed my anger to Anna, but that was misplaced, too. I knew it wasn’t her. And how did I know? Because she’d told me.

Most people would have cautioned me not to take the words of a psyche-mage as gospel, but this was Anna. A girl entirely lacking in scruples or conscience. If it was her, she wouldn’t lie. She’d tell me to my face, and then she’d laugh.

So it could only have been one person.

I floated over to Anna.

“When you were removing the spell from Shadow’s mind,” I said, “Did you see who planted it?”

“Get lost, core. Go float up a dragon’s bum.”

“Anna, I need to know. So just grow up and-”

Bolton stood up. Walked past me and expected me to follow. That was his way. Overseer Bolton walked, and cores trailed behind.

This wasn’t the academy anymore. I no longer idolized him.

“Beno,” said Bolton, without turning around. “Either put your pride to one side or shove it up your gemmy arse. Whatever you do, get rid of it. There’s more at stake.”

Utta, sitting with his arm around Anna, fixed me a stare of pure hate. “I’d listen to the old geezer if I were you.”

“Oh, and you’ll do what? Summon the wind and tickle me with a breeze? Suck dew drops from the walls and give me a bath? I kill little boys like you before breakfast.”

Anna perked up. “You kill little boys? Ooh, scary core.”

“And I’m fifteen!” said Utta.

“Beno!” shouted Bolton.

“I’m done with this. I have a little more maturity,” I said. “You stupid idiots.”

“Stupid idiot? Ooh, I’m hurt! What was the alternative? Clever idiot?”

Bolton and I went to the other side of the chamber. Jahn’s sheet of steel was above us. Some of the insects were on top of the parts he’d constructed before Bolton turned up. They were docile and under Anna’s spell. The others were around us, on the ground. The goo balls had dosed them enough that they wouldn’t wake for a good while yet.

Bolton stopped walking. He leaned one hand against the wall. Took his boot off, and tried to fish a stone out of it.

His boots, I couldn’t help noticing, were very fancy. Bolton had always been a skinflint. Never changing his academy robes, never buying new clothes. Lately, though, he’d begun spending all the gold he’d saved. Buying frivolous things.

“What was all that, Beno?” he asked.

“All what?”

“With Anna.”

“I’d ask you the same thing. Better yet, I want to know why you’re here.”

Bolton looked at me like it was the stupidest question in the world. “The same reason as you.”

“Riston?”

“Who the bloody hell is Riston? I’m here for the core, Beno. This is a dungeon, and the core is still here.”

“I’d worked that out. The loot chamber, the essence vines. It makes sense. The only question is the insects.”

“Obvious. The core is making them.”

“It’s not quite so straight forward,” I said.

I told him about Riston, Gary, the townsfolk. I only changed one tiny detail.

After