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

gift when he became Cynthia’s apprentice, and it was touching that he’d kept it. Even though the fabric was obviously much shoddier than what Lipperton, that bloody conman of a Yondersun merchant, had led me to believe. “It’s the best quality leather,” he’d said. That damned charlatan git.

But anyway.

“The orb is supposed to dispel any mana effects in the area, yes?” I said.

“When I make one that truly works, Dark Lord.”

“And this one doesn’t?”

“It might, but I have not perfected it.”

“If we use it on the guards, would it remove Riston’s spell?”

“Ah,” said Maginhart. “You think the orb will remove hisss control. It only worksss in a sssmall area. And itsss effectsss will not be powerful enough to remove the ssspells of a mage like him. He isss too ssstrong.”

“Damn it. Then we’re stuck.”

Maginhart shook his head. “Not quite. It will not remove them, but it may sssuppressssss the ssspell effectsss. For minutesss, perhapsss.”

“That’ll be enough to get us into town without killing innocents. Okay, we might have something here. Eric, I want you with me. You’ll have to kill Riston.”

“It’ll be a pleasure.”

“I’ll come too,” said Shadow.

“Really? You just heard what we have to do, Shadow. I know that ever since the whole thing with Anna…”

“When she seized control of my mind, Beno? Made me a prisoner within my own thoughts?”

“Hey!” said Anna. “It wasn’t like that. Well, it was, but you make it sound like a bad thing.”

Bolton squeezed Anna’s shoulder. “Not now, Anna.”

“They’re standing there, bad-mouthing me, and-”

He squeezed harder. “Not now.”

Shadow gave Anna a stare that made me feel cold. “Riston tried to control me,” said Shadow. “Just like the witch. They were fighting with weapons I had no defense against. I realize that now. The actions my physical body performed while they controlled my mind, are not the same as if I had done them. I can’t hide from violence, Beno. It will still find me. But at least I can choose when to use it, and I can choose to use it to help my friends in the dungeon.”

“Good. We’ll use the orb, get by the guards. I’ll keep Riston talking. These bad guys types, they like to waffle on when they see their enemies. Trust me; I do it too. I really ought to cut it out. It’s a bad habit. Anyway, while me and Riston are yapping, you two will sneak up on him and kill him. Stab him, slit his throat, cut his head off. I don’t care. Just do it quickly, and make sure he’s dead. If you have a few spare seconds to dance over his corpse, great.”

“And then everyone will go back to normal?” said Jahn.

“Nope. Riston’s spells won’t stop just because he’s dead. It just means he won’t be pumping mana into them. When he cops it, we’ll have to get out of town for a while. Let the spells wear off naturally, and then it’ll be done.”

The orb worked just as it should. On Maginhart’s instructions, Eric threw it at the wall nearest the guards. It smashed, releasing waves of white light. Within seconds, the spell glaze had left the guard’s eyes. They looked around, confused.

“Core?” one of them said. “Wha-”

“No time to chat,” I said.

I floated beyond them and into Yondersun. Eric and Shadow followed, but they split off in different directions. Their job was to sneak through the alleyways behind Jahn’s Row. When we found Riston, they’d attack.

Heading along Jahn’s Row, I couldn’t help but think how different the town felt, even after less than a week of being away. Nobody was shopping. No traders were bellowing from their doorsteps, boasting about how their prices couldn’t be beaten. Riston’s spell wasn’t doing the Yondersun economy any favors.

In one part of the street, someone had painted a circle of runes on the ground. There were bloodstains. Not many, but enough to see that something really damned strange had been going on in my absence.

I wondered where Reginal was. Galatee, too. They were both under Riston’s sway, but had he done something else with them? After all, he wanted control of the town. It would help him if the chief and her husband were gone.

Gods, I wanted to tear his spleen out.

When I reached the center of the street, a figure stepped out from the doors of the Scorched Scorpion. Tall, with swept-back hair and a beard that, surprisingly, had lost some of its perfection. Riston had let his stubble grow out, and he had bags around his eyes.

I wondered if keeping up his spell for so long was tiring. Or if he was wondering where the wraiths were. Or maybe he’d decided that such a well-groomed beard was too much upkeep.

Nah, it was probably the spell thing. Riston had been busy lately, and things couldn’t have been going to plan. After all, the 50 nights were here. I didn’t know how he’d made it happen, but he’d have been expecting his wraiths to come. When they didn’t, he must have started to worry.

“Nice to see you again,” I said. “You look different from when we last met. Much less bug-like. It’s not much of an improvement.”

“Enjoy your jokes while you can. This night might be your last. This, or the others that follow.”

“Right. Because of the wraiths. We passed them on the way here.”

I knew I’d played into a fear that had been growing inside Riston’s head. He didn’t know why the wraiths weren’t here yet. I just needed to keep him distracted. Not for much longer now. Just enough time for Eric and Shadow to make their way around Jahn’s Row.

“Ray sends his regards, by the way,” I said.

“Ray?”

“Wait. He said only his friends call him Ray. Does that mean you aren’t a friend? You