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

settled onto the bottom, gritting my teeth as the water washed up to my neck. I swore I felt my asshole pucker, the water was that cold, and I gasped when Oracle threw something into the water in front of me, splashing my face.

When it bobbed to the surface, I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of a grey lump that started to foam slightly. I climbed out and sat on the side of the bath, scrubbing myself from head to toe, suddenly wide awake and shivering as I tried to rid my skin of the grime of battles, blood, and sweat. It was both gratifying and disturbing to watch the water turning cloudy with filth.

Eventually, I let out a contented sigh. I felt thoroughly clean, if damn cold, for the first time in forever. I turned to find Oracle sitting there, watching me, as she had done throughout my entire bath.

“I’m surprised that you behaved yourself?” I said to her, half joking, half complaining.

“I thought you needed that.” She shrugged, rising to her feet and taking advantage of my now fully regenerated mana bar to shift and blur into full human size. She stood before me, clothed in a simple white chemise, her wings gone, and she lifted a hand out to me. I rose to my feet, pulling her into my arms, leaning down, and kissing her soft lips.

She smelled of vanilla and coconuts today, and her skin was softer than silk. The feel of her firm muscles, as I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the bed, made me very conscious that, in any right and sensible reality, she’d be miles out of my league.

We kissed again, and I felt the cool, whisper-thin satin of her clothing vanish.

I opened my eyes, gazing into hers, and smiled into the perfect sky-blue irises staring back at me. I reached up and brushed her hair back from her face, and I kissed her yet again, drinking in the vision of her.

She was quite simply the most stunningly beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but the reasons I had fallen for her weren’t her figure, her looks, or the fact that she could shift to become whatever fantasy I’d settled on that day.

It was her soul. Her mind, and who she was, in every way. Her personality, the kind and sweet side of her that wanted to love and protect the realm from all possible ills. The way she loved to ride around on Bob’s head, the way she grew enraged to the point of insanity at cruelty, and would gut those who hurt the innocent, but would also be distracted by something shiny.

The paradoxical mix of fury and softness, rampant sex kitten determined to play and sensible schoolteacher discussing magic, all made up who she was. I’d never met anyone like her, and I had accepted now that I loved her. I loved her fiercely.

I opened my mouth to tell her so, when shouting erupted down the hallway. We froze, staring into each other’s eyes and praying that it was a mistake, that…

“Lord Jax! We need you!”

“Goddamn mother fucking ass…” The fact that Oracle could swear like a fucking sailor also helped, I reflected. As I got up, she shifted to her smaller flying form, wings erupting into existence as she continued to curse, heading towards the door.

Chapter Ten

“What the hell’s going on?” I growled, stomping out of my room while cinching the belt tight on my pants. I was still naked beyond that, and my hair and beard were obviously soaking wet.

“I’m sorry, m’lord! This man says he’s come from Mal, and that we have t' go with him right now,” Lydia said, still in full armor but bleary eyed, like she’d just woken up.

I looked past her, trying to block out the sight of Jian in his ‘tighty-whiteys’ as he stood  alongside Stephanos and Yen, who were evidently taking their turn on guard duty.

Beyond my people stood Jay, the enormous melee fighter I’d brawled with earlier, and he looked pissed.

“You! Mal says yer gotta come with me right now an’ sort this out. Says the Skyking and the Harpies are comin’ fer yer!” I waved at him.

“Yeah, okay, give me a few minutes to get dressed, and we can sort this shit out.”

“No, Mal said…” he started, and I cut him off.

“I doubt he wants me half naked, and it’ll take a few minutes to get to him either way, so you can damn well wait two more while I grab some clothes,” I said, returning to my room and gathering up my gear as quickly as I could.

I pulled my clothes out of my Bag of Holding, sorting out the three pairs of pants and two tunics that fit the Drow armor. I reluctantly sniffed them to find the least dirty and damaged. My skin crawled at the thought of putting filthy clothes on over a clean body, but I didn’t have much choice. By the time I’d found some reasonably clean undercrackers to wear under my pants, put the pants back on, and started getting dressed properly, the voices in the hallway were getting out of hand.

I stuck my head out and saw Jay shouting at Barrett, whose head barely reached past his sternum. Barrett had equipped his two-handed greatsword, though, and it looked like things were going to get out of hand, until I spotted Oracle’s furious face. She obviously had plans for our time alone, and I could see the tell-tale signs of lightning crackling across her fingertips even at this distance.

“Jay! Stop being a dick. Oracle! If I have to come back out here again, I’m gonna be pissed off, so I expect to find someone twitching and pissing themselves from a fuckload of lightning if I do; understood?”

“Happily!” she said. Jay spun to look at her, eyeing the buildup of power cracking across her hands and swallowing hard.

“Good! Now, two minutes, then I’ll be