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

have looked ridiculous. On him, it looked as natural as stripes on a tiger. He stood glaring at us as we filed in, and I noted the way we were funneled into the middle of the courtyard to face him, while our ‘escort’ ringed the outside.

The second figure was a woman, humanoid and tall, dressed mainly in leather. A pair of small crossbows on either hip emitted a glow of mana, indicating that they were either enchanted, or mana-powered devices, like Fenris. She had dark skin, curly black hair that fell to her shoulders, and bright yellow eyes, with the irises slitted like a cat. While the larger man had gotten my attention on arrival, I instinctively knew she was both the real threat, and the authority.

I came to a stop before the pair of them and tried not to flinch when I heard the double doors slam shut behind me. The sound of bolts being slammed home echoed around the courtyard, as did a series of sniggers.

I looked up, my eyes being attracted by movement, as another dozen men and women of various species stepped out of concealment on the balconies that ringed the courtyard, all with bows drawn and arrows pointed squarely at me.

“So, you killed our people and want to sell us back our own shit, do ya?” The woman asked, one eyebrow quirked, her voice and demeanor cold.

I stepped closer to the pair and heard a growl rising from the man. I glanced at him, observing that he was covered in weapons, but that the steel-backed gloves he wore seemed to be his weapon of choice. He was flexing his fingers and curling them into fists, ready to attack.

I looked around the courtyard a second time, noting that while the archers had their arrows nocked and drawn, their party that had accompanied us were still packed in too closely for them to fire cleanly.

The last detail I caught was that I could see open doors into the pyramid behind them on the ground floor. Nobody would leave a way out that easily accessed if it was a real ambush.

If I ordered a charge now, at least half of us could make it out of the sight of the archers and into the building, but I’d have to be willing to take that loss…

I looked back, finding the smugglers at the back of the party. Ellen looked scared, but not terrified, and she was still in our midst, not vanished into the surrounding group. It was all enough for me to draw a conclusion that was either right, and we’d move on, or wrong, and we’d end up cutting our way through and losing people. God, I hoped it was right.

“I did kill one of your people; a feckless arsehole called Gar, who tried to tell me my friend’s death, while saving him, wasn’t worth some goddamn wood to burn his body. He chose the wrong time to push me… want to see if this is your moment?” I asked, glaring at her and ignoring the big man.

He growled and stepped forward, only to freeze as the tip of my suddenly glowing naginata pricked the skin of his Adam’s apple. I looked from him to her, finding that, in the second I’d taken my eyes off her, she’d drawn both crossbows and leveled them at my face. The quarrels rested against quivering, lightly glowing strings as the weapons gave off a faint ‘whirr’ of mechanical movement.

“Maybe you’d all better calm down.” A voice floated down to the courtyard from the second floor, and I looked up to see a man leaning against the wall, a pair of crossbows the same as the woman’s pointed down at my people.

“Maybe you’d better tell your people to go fuck themselves… Mal.” I called back, guessing that he was the person I’d come to see, if Oren’s description of him was remotely accurate.

“Now, now, ain’t no need to be like that,” he said, still pointing his weapons at us. “Put down your weapons, and we’ll do the same.”

“Put yours down first,” I growled. “We came here to meet you in good faith, and your dickheads started this.”

“Ain’t gonna happen,” he called back warningly. “Drop your weapons, and we’ll talk. Best offer you’re gonna get.”

“Put yours down, and maybe I’ll not kill this piece of shit for being so fugly,” I replied, pointing my chin at the big guy.

The woman before me snorted and lifted both her crossbows from my face, flicking something on the outside of the weapon. The humming, whirring sound died, the arms of the bow relaxing and folding in.

“He’s got a point, Mal. Jay is fucking ugly,” she called up, stepping back. “How about you relax now, hmmm?”

“Hey!” The big guy, Jay, I assumed, complained. “Ah’m not ugly! Mah momma told me so!”

“Believe me, she lied,” the woman said, shaking her head with amusement before looking from him to me. “Well…?” she asked, and I forced my anger down, feeling Oracle ready to burst out and fight. The mental image of her ripping through my pants to attack the woman made me grin ruefully. Maybe my pocket hadn’t been the best place for her.

I looked up at Mal, seeing that he had lifted his crossbows vertically, but hadn’t put them away. I nodded to him, then stepped back, lifting the tip of my naginata away from Jay’s throat. A single bright drop of ruby red blood welled to the surface to mark the occasion.

“Stand down,” I said, and I felt as much as heard the group relaxing. Mal mimicked the woman’s movement, retracting the arms of his crossbow-pistol thingies.

“That’s it! Show’s over, folks! Go get some rest or whatever, but if you’re still here in five minutes, I’ll be giving you all cleaning jobs, you hear?” The woman gestured to the surrounding force, who started grumbling and moving away, which allowed my people to relax a lot more. “So, how about we go have a chat, and you