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

five years of rock-climbing experience, he would never have been able to do it. Years spent in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and Virginia had forced Jacob to adapt to the harsh environment.

Climbing was among the fastest and most secure way of avoiding the Vacant and other horrific creatures that roamed Earth looking for victims. And those few creatures that could climb? They were much easier to deal with when they were clambering over the edge after you.

Jacob made it to the floor silently, wearing nothing more than a drafty loincloth to cover his modesty. He padded over to Kim, covering her mouth with his hand as he pressed a finger to his lips.

On the ground floor, Jacob could see how much the group that faced him outnumbered them. There were at least a dozen people in varying states of armor, but none of them seemed as opulent as the leader’s.

How did he get such nice armor so fast? I’ve never even heard of armor like that.

Jacob’s [Longsword] was summoned in a swirl of ash, blissfully silent. He used the sharp edge to cut through her leather bindings and together they turned to make the climb back up to the ledge.

Halfway there, Kim jerked her hand from his and summoned her glaive. She pointed it threateningly at the group. With their backs turned they would be easy prey. With Kim’s skill, several would be killed before they realized the threat.

Jacob shook his head and they glared at each other, her in polished scale armor, while Jacob was practically naked. Their silent argument was broken when a voice called out, turning all heads toward the pair.

Kim pushed him forward and took her glaive in both hands. “Go, I’ll hold them.”

There wasn’t much use in arguing. Without any armor, he wasn’t going to last very long in a fight. Jacob made it up to the ledge in short order as Kim backed herself up to the base of the wall.

An arrow sank itself in his side but he managed to pull himself up, gritting his teeth the entire way. He rolled toward the wall as arrows skipped off the stone and struck sparks where they hit near the edge.

If Kim wasn’t already an experienced climber, there would have been no way she could have made it in full armor. Even still, she took more than one arrow as she climbed and Jacob had to reach down grab hold of her and haul her up.

“Great,” she panted, pushing up close to him to avoid the volley of arrows being sent their way. “Now we’re stuck. Why did we do this again?”

“Follow me,” Jacob said, wincing as the arrow in his side shifted with each motion. Gritting his teeth, he reached back and yanked the arrow out. His Health fell another ten points down to 77, and a thin stream of blood leaked out from the wound.

It wasn’t enough damage to warrant wasting a mote of cinder. Not yet.

Kim wasted no time summoning a [Cinder Ampoule] and using it after she yanked out the arrows with a hiss of pain. “This is ridiculous,” she started to say but with a sharp look back at her, she stopped her complaint.

Arrows arced through the air, most of them didn’t come close to hitting either of them. By that point, the archers were guessing where they were.

Jacob could hear Mack below trying to organize them, shrugging off the loss and offering his sacrifice deal to another.

“The faster we get the hell out of here the better, yeah? So stop wasting time and volunteer!” he bellowed.

“I’ll do it,” said the woman in tight leathers. “None of your other members have the stones it seems. Five percent, right?”

Mack came forward and clapped her on the shoulder. “This is what I’m talking about. Yes, five percent to you.” He motioned to a sword-wielding knight nearby. “Take her to that table. Hurry it up.”

Despite her attempt at being stoic, the woman still screamed when they strapped her down and the bloodletting began. Her screams doubled when another sacrificial victim was cut open.

By the time Kim and Jacob were below the Skeletal Beast, three victims had been chosen and killed to feed the runes. The archers hadn’t given up on finding them. A few of the members of Mack’s group were trying to climb the walls with varying degrees of success.

The girl finally stopped screaming. “She’ll probably get more than most of us,” one of the men said.

“Who?” Mack asked.

“The woman that-”

Mack let out a low bassy chuckle. “I didn’t even catch her name. More money for you guys, right?”

The dark laughter filtered among the group, even as the next victim was chosen, realizing that there would be no compensation he started to fight back.

If he was going to make his move, now would be the time.

“I need your flail,” Jacob said, his voice a hoarse whisper. “We’re going to get some help from that thing prowling around above us.”

Kim stared at him. “How did you-”

“No time, just give it over.” Jacob held out a hand to her and she summoned the weapon, handing it over.

It was one of the first weapons she picked up in Pyresouls Online. She abjectly hated it. But kept it just in case she needed it. Which, as far as he could recall from their talks, she never did.

Flail in hand, Jacob dug his fingers into any handholds he could find and leaned out over the ledge. He swung the flail as hard as he could up and over until it rang against the metal bars.

The Skeletal Beast shifted above him at the noise and lunged at the bars. Jacob could hear them squeal with the effort to hold the monster back. Unfortunately, it meant the archers now knew where he was.

Jacob banged against the bars a few more times before he had to retreat from the archers' renewed attention.

But it was enough.

The Skeletal Beast threw itself at the bars again but this time they couldn’t