Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

While he never saw it himself, he recognized the room from Alec’s stories. This was a sacrificial chamber. The way you passed the “puzzle” was to spill enough blood to fill up all the symbols.

Only then would the large doors on the other end of the room open, letting the players out of the Crossing. Running all along the circular room was a massive holding cell about seven feet above Jacob’s head. The holding cell stuck out a few feet beyond the ledge, making it impossible to see what was above him.

A few other voices tried taunting him, but he wasn’t going to give in to the obvious bait. He spotted six people, and those were the only ones he was able to mark quickly.

Vastly outnumbered, he wasn’t going to give away his location so easily. They already knew he was there, best not to let them know exactly where.

“Oh, you better hope this is a permadeath because when I come back I am going to gut you like a fish!” Kimberly shouted, her voice dripping with vitriol.

“Will somebody please gag her?” came the first voice again, the deep bass marking him easily. He lifted his voice, clearly talking to Jacob. “Listen, man, I’ve got a fresh spot on my crew. We’re splitting off in pairs to push through after this. There’s no way you’re getting out of here alive but if you join me you’ve got a good shot at taking the prize.”

Jacob shook his head and continued around the ledge. Typical carrot-and-stick approach.

Among all the offers of “unlimited power,” or “ungodly strength,” that was by far the weakest one he could remember. No hint of what he could achieve with the group. Hell, the guy didn’t even have a name for his little band of degenerates.

He probably found a few people, convinced them they could work together - with him at the top, naturally - without any understanding that after they left the Crossing each of them would return to their shard.

Movement across the way made Jacob freeze and pulled him from his thoughts. Directly below the jutting lip of the holding cell above, he was hidden. But across the room, he saw a familiar shape that made his blood run cold.

The Skeletal Beast was stalking behind the bars, burning ruby-red “eyes” filled with hate, looking for anything alive to punish. A wicked smile came over Jacob and a plan began to take shape.

It hadn’t seen him yet, which was good. If he could circle around until he was beneath it, he might be able to rouse its anger enough that it broke open the bars. After that, he wasn’t really sure what would happen.

Either it would manage to crawl down to the ledge he was on, or the creature in its violent rampage would overshoot the ledge and land in the room below. Slaughtering everybody – including Kim.

As Jacob made his way around the room, he peeked his head over the edge, removing his helm so that the metal didn’t glint in the light and give him away.

Five tables in total filled the room, their use was obvious from his vantage point. Strap a person down, bleed them out and let their blood flow into the channels carved into the table and the floor.

Barbaric and stupid.

The solution was obvious. If each person sacrificed a little of their blood directly over a rune, each of them would light up and with little use of their cinder. With even two people possessing a single mote of cinder, it was child’s play.

Kim was strapped down onto one table directly below his ledge halfway to the where the Skeletal Beast roamed. He might be able to make it down unseen, but then what?

He couldn’t fight six players all at once. Even with Kim’s help, they’d both be killed and the group would continue on their merry way.

Two other tables held bodies squirming and fighting against their bonds. The leader, dressed in gleaming white plate with a lion’s head helmet on, was making his lackey’s draw straws for the last two tables.

“By your sacrifice, we will all prosper,” he was telling them. He seemed to have dismissed Jacob’s presence out of hand. And judging by the number of players he had on his side, the man had a right to be unconcerned with a single player.

“This is the first major step toward winning the competition,” he continued. “Remember what you’re doing this for: not for the billions of dollars in controlling stock in Altis but because we’ll have a controlling interest in the company.

“Imagine it, any game owned by Altis as your personal playground. Yearly dividends in the hundreds of millions. Your families will never want for anything. Anybody who willingly sacrifices themselves will have a guaranteed share of five percent.”

“I don’t know, Mack,” said a woman in close-fitted leather armor and a bow slung over her shoulder. “Five percent doesn’t sound like a lot.”

“Do you even know how much money we’re talking about?” the leader, Mack, said. “Even if the dividend is as low as two hundred million, that’s ten mil for you. Otherwise, it’s a single percent if you survive until the end, more depending on contributions.

“And that’s what you’d get in one year at the current valuation of the company. Imagine how popular they’re going to be after Pyresouls Online goes live.”

Jacob found himself nodding along despite himself. Not that he necessarily agreed or bought into the sale’s pitch, but it was a decent one given the circumstances. Better than the one he gave Jacob.

Aside from the blatant lie about the controlling interest, Mack was right.

Even after the large bouts of inflation in the ’20s, a million a year was nothing to scoff at, let alone ten times that.

While they were arguing amongst themselves, Jacob made his move. Shedding his armor so he could be as silent – and swift – as possible, Jacob picked his way down from the ledge.

Without