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

Most of the players didn’t have many Souls on them. Not as many as he thought they might, anyway. But Mack did. He must have been holding well over 20,000 to drop that wisp of 6,125.

The leader was only recognizable from the battered and caved-in red-smeared white metal lion’s head helmet. Altogether, Jacob gathered 12,255 Souls.

Not a bad haul considering I didn’t have to do anything.

“Let’s go,” he said to Kim. “Time’s wasting.”

20

“Jake… Jake!” Kim hissed at him.

“What?” he whispered back, hiding behind a pillar as he searched for the switch that would open the next section.

This area of the catacombs was worked with cunning traps and countless levers, pulleys, and other contraptions that moved or altered the rooms around them.

Thankfully, there weren’t quite so many undead and the Skeletal Beast was quick to absorb any into its disturbingly spacious frame.

Whenever it came upon a skeleton it would immediately absorb it, integrating the creature into its growing bulk and becoming all the more deadly for it. The upside was each skeleton it found, slowed it down.

Until there were no skeletons left.

That small reprieve gave them enough time to locate two out of four switches that would open the large stone door.

The Skeletal Beast was prowling around the expansive hallways looking for them. They already narrowly escaped it three times so far. Jacob wasn’t sure how much longer their luck would hold.

“He’s back,” she said, trying to keep her voice low.

They stood on a high platform with a sheer 40-foot drop between them. Down below in the main room, there was a large stone door with all the hallmarks of the area boss that would be guarding the [Ring of Broken Vows]. But first, they had to find a way to open the damn thing.

Jacob leaned over the side of his platform, watching the Skeletal Beast prowl around the area. Several black scorch marks decorated its grotesquely expanded bony frame.

He needed to get into that room. What imagery Jacob could make out on the massive door depicted an amorphous beast battling a great towering knight with a hammer almost as big as he was.

Much of the carving was destroyed or scratched out, making the tale’s end hard to discern. As dark as most of the lore for Lormar was, Jacob was fairly sure the knight died a horrible death but somehow managed to seal the amorphous beast away.

For a brief moment, he was afraid it was the Burgon Beast. While he never saw the creature in person, Alec was a passable artist and showed him what it looked like.

A feral black creature with six limbs, countless red-glowing eyes that wrapped around its jagged-toothed maw and down its long serpentine neck. The way Alec drew it looked like a horribly mutated and enlarged wolf made out of black vines instead of fur.

When he asked Alec which it was, the man only shrugged, unsure himself.

“Maybe it’ll go away,” he whispered back, knowing it wasn’t likely.

Even if it did, the hallways and chambers nearby that it patrolled were too close. By the time one of them descended a ladder it would be back. Its life sensing ability seemed muted at a distance of more than thirty feet. If they tried to go down too soon, it would know where they were.

While Jacob didn’t think it would be able to reach them, in making an attempt it could very well destroy the thin metal ladders. He was already down to 2 [Cinder Ampoules] after their last brush with the thing.

It had come upon them when they were distracted by a treasury, one of many no doubt. And while Jacob had no desire to fill his pockets with gold and riches that were overflowing like gilded water from the various coffers, he did want some of the relics and armor in the room.

That was until the Skeletal Beast found them.

There was a gorgeous set of golden armor he had been forced to leave behind that he desperately wanted. Hammered plate mail that looked sturdy and light, ridged in such a way that there was no need for leather or chainmail underneath to form adequate protection.

“Yeah, and I’m going to sprout wings and fly down there,” Kim said in reply. “You have to distract it.”

“Why me?”

“I did it last time.”

“Not willingly.”

Kim turned to him, but with her visor down he couldn’t tell why. “If you can’t tell because of the visor, I’m giving you such a scathing look, Jake.”

“Rock, paper, scissors for it,” Jacob suggested.

He could practically feel the eye roll coming from Kim, even if he couldn’t see it. “Ugh, fine. No best of three bullshit. First wins all.”

Turning toward her, he tapped his fist to his palm to a count of three then threw scissors, to which Kim put forth rock. Soundly beating him.

Despite the gravity of the situation, she gave a husky chuckle. “You’re so easy to read, dude.”

Grimacing, Jacob glared at her. “Easy because my janky-ass visor is busted.”

“Excuses, excuses. Get a move on, we’re only going to get one shot at this.”

Steeling himself, Jacob pulled on the lever set into the floor. It made surprisingly little noise as it pulled back easily and stuck in its position. If they were right, the doors would open if Kim threw her lever.

But they were far too weak to handle the boss within. Seeing how useful the Skeletal Beast was before, and considering its annoying proximity they agreed it would be best to have a repeat performance of the Crossing.

By using the Skeletal Beast to attack whatever was behind the door – presumably the Gnawing Hunger – they could kill two birds with one stone. Even if they didn’t kill each other, it might provide enough of a distraction for Jacob to slip in and pilfer any items they could find.

Likely their Souls would be forfeit but any items they found would stay with them. And if the [Ring of Broken Vows] was down here – an item necessary