Magus: A Supernatural LitRPG Saga (Apocosmos Book 2) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (romantic love story reading TXT) 📕

able to see its legs. Its paws were roughly the size of my head and each of its claws was thick enough to pierce through any armor I'd ever encountered.

Without having seen it in action, I still doubted we would be able to take it on, even if we surprised it. It looked like a beast, but there was something in the way it moved that screamed intelligence.

The massive monster moved closer to us, its long furry tail brushing against Rory's shoulders as it circled around us. We stood still, pretending to be part of the jungle but we didn't expect it to do the same. It curled up next to me, its claws buried in the ground. It stayed there for a couple of minutes and I widened my eyes at the others, trying to communicate whether we should do something about it.

Before I managed to get my meaning across, I saw the same owl that had assaulted Louie before make an almost vertical dive toward him again. Yet this time, it wasn't as silent as before. A soft sound of air finding resistance, probably due to the doppelgänger's strike, was what had alarmed me to its attack.

Just as I was about to strike it with my sword, the shadow panther leaped forward and trapped the bird's neck under its claws. The owl was only able to flutter its wings once before there was a loud crack and it fell limp. The beast picked it up in its mouth.

I swallowed dryly, trying to keep my cool at how easily the beast had snapped the owl's neck. I hadn't even have time to check its level. Even if the quest's requirement didn't forbid us from attacking the denizens of the planes we visited, there would be no way we'd ever attack such a beast--only run and hope we'd be able to escape its grasp.

The panther purred, apparently satisfied with having secured its dinner, and sloped back to where it came from, its form slowly merging with the shadows of the forest. We stood still for a few minutes until we could hear absolutely nothing of it anymore and then stayed some more just to be safe.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked, once the doppelgänger prompted us to continue moving. "How did you know it could hear us but not see?"

"I saw it had no eyes, and I've heard of a feline beast without eyes before," she said before turning to face forward again. "My people... we're used to protecting ourselves from predators."

"Ye mean yer kind aren't the predators?" Rory asked.

"Shut up and fuck off, dwarf," she said and momentarily shifted her face to resemble that of Rory. "Ye know nothing of me kind."

The ease with which she changed her facial features, the similarity of her voice to that of Rory's, and the casualness with which she did it, was as fascinating as it was disgusting. Rory was visibly annoyed by the display, though he tried his best not to show it.

"Bah!" he said and turned his face the other way. "Nothing but trickery."

The woman's face returned to her previous form as she pointed forward, to a place where the trees became even denser. There was nothing but darkness in there.

"This will be the safest path from big predators, but you'll probably not be able to very much at all," she observed. "Do you know where we're going?"

"We know nothing more than you do," I replied.

"Let's find a spot deep in the thick of the jungle and perhaps we'll be able to climb up one of the trees and have a look over the canopy," Louie suggested.

"He really is the clever one," the woman said, and we all continued toward the gaping mouth of darkness ahead of us.

The atmosphere became more humid the further in we went, and soon our feet were sinking into moss. When we lost the last shred of our vision, Louie stopped walking.

"We need a way to stay connected," he whispered.

"Let me carry you then," I suggested and he stayed still while I picked him up.

"Take hold of this rope, half-Celt," Rory said and I felt his hand on my ribs. "Doppelshit, stay between us and pull it."

The woman didn't say anything but as soon as I had wrapped the thin rope around my arm I felt her tugging it, and so we resumed our slow march.

"How much further before it's safe to climb a tree or levitate?" Louie asked.

"Most of the animals I see running around are small rodents or lizards," the woman replied, "so not much longer."

"I say we stop here and check what's out there," Rory said, and suddenly the rope tensed. "We might have been going the wrong way all this time."

"Okay. Then let's do it here," I agreed. "Louie, can you float up?"

"I can but I'll need at least some light to get up there," he admitted. "Do you think it's safe to do it?"

"It will never be safe," the woman responded, sounding tired of having her suggestions ignored. "So might as well do it now."

"Do you have something that isn't too bright?" Louie asked.

"Here, take this," Rory said, and produced a small bright sphere.

Item: Minor Pearl of Light

Type: Enchanted Item

Durability: 60/60

Rarity: E Grade

Weight: 4st.

Description: A small pearl that has been enhanced with a minor illumination enchantment. The pearl will continue to shine its light at the same level until the enchantment wears off, with no way to make it brighter or dimmer.

At first, my eyes hurt from looking at it and even when they got used to its luminosity, I could still make out the flash effect it had left on my eyes. It was a large white bead, roughly the size of Louie's paw, and it emitted light around it in all directions.

Louie grabbed it with his mouth and tried moving it around. The light was enough to illuminate his immediate surroundings but not enough to be visible when he closed his mouth.