Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) by Dakota Krout (best romantic novels in english TXT) 📕

reached last time, which was marked by a streak of black soot. “Okay, keep the orb in that spot, land on it, and jump again. Don’t think, just do!”

Air rushed past his face, and he kept his eyes locked on the orb as he sailed up. His right foot landed on the orb, which started to drop almost instantly, but he managed to kick off it hard enough to get another third up toward the top of the wall. Another orb was summoned under his foot, and he kicked off that as well. Over the wall he went, rolling to be as flat as possible. Just as he arced over the peak of the barrier, he managed to lock his eyes on the orbs before they hit the ground and were buried in ash. In a moment, both orbs sailed up to his hand and into his ring.

Skill increase: Aerial Acrobatics (Beginner III).

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Joe whispered at the notification with a massive grin on his face. That had been a rush. He glanced around the battlements to ensure there wasn’t a patrol coming, then turned his gaze down into the unexpectedly massive interior of the fortress. “Oh, celestial feces. This is a major fort, isn’t it?”

Chapter Forty-Two

The fort below was filled with a variety of ‘buildings’ Joe had never seen before. Only the wall that he was crouching on seemed to be made by hand, while everything else within the confines seemed to be some variant of a plant. Even so, the general layout fit with what he had been expecting to see.

“That must be sleeping quarters, that has to be a dining facility, and that…” Joe’s eyes locked on a building that radiated a literal rainbow, which shot up and shifted into an aurora that couldn’t be seen from outside the walls. “That’s gonna be the illusion generation area. Oh, look. It’s right next to the Guardian. What a shock; the most important thing is in the most protected area.”

There were also hundreds of Elves milling about. There was no chance that Joe was going to be able to sneak through, and trying would end with him being caught and thrown into a prison. There was really only one option, but the chances of it succeeding were… slim. He reactivated Neutrality Aura and waited until his clothes were clean and sparkling again. Checking that his mask was in place, he stood up and calmly walked to the first set of stairs he could find, drifting down them in a careful yet grand fashion.

Then he just… strolled into the open area. He didn’t look around, having already plotted out where he needed to go thanks to his previous vantage. No one said anything at first, but by the time he had passed the second building, he was starting to gather stares and hear whispers.

“Just don’t talk to anyone…” Joe reminded himself, hoping that keeping his mouth shut—combined with his mask and confident manner—would stop anyone from realizing that he was not supposed to be there. Maybe Havoc had taught him something, after all. When he was over halfway to his destination, a young-looking Elf blocked his path. “So close.”

“Yo, who ah’ ya?” The Bostonian accent was extra thick with this one, and if Dwarven traits were at all similar, that meant that this Elf was fairly low-leveled, or at least low-ranked. Joe said nothing, simply continuing on in a straight line. Just before he would have run into the Elf, the long-eared androgynous male got out of Joe’s way.

Small conversations rose all around them. “Hey, he gave Tony zero face there.”

“Whoa, look at that big shot, he must be some kinda wise-guys or somethin’.”

“Quiet down; that must be the Helper that the Lady called in. No one normal is gonna ignore Tony.”

The Elf that Joe almost ran into, Tony, looked as though he was about to start a fight until the last comment rang out. Then he seemed to deflate slightly and called after Joe, who was still moving at a sedate pace. “Hey, youze the Helper? I got a bone ta pick with you.”

Joe ignored the Elf and kept going, sealing in their minds that he was someone they shouldn’t mess with. Still, he couldn’t bear the pressure of their stares, and only went another block or so before turning into a storefront. He didn’t go inside, merely pretending to peruse the items in the… window equivalent. It was some kind of translucent leaf, he was almost certain. He waited there for only a minute, then continued toward the illusion-generating area.

He almost made it, too.

The flashing building was in sight. Unsurprisingly, it was shaped like a tree and surrounded by strange, half-built structures. Half-grown or half-built? Frankly, this entire place was alien to him, to the point where he was questioning basic concepts. The architecture alone… Joe shook his head, clearing his thoughts just as an alarm bell went off. He flinched as a huge voice roared into some kind of enhancement system, “Intruder alert! There’s a human in a black robe, wearing white clothes and a mask! Find him, and capture him! Do not, under any circumstances, allow that human to go to respawn! The capture field is being activated as quickly as possible!”

Joe calmly turned into the first completed building he could find, opening the door and closing it gently behind him. He pulled out the Ritual Orb that had Cone of Cold assigned to it, gripping the weapon tightly to help ease his nerves, as well as to better prepare himself. Another orb popped into his left hand, and he tried to run through any combat spells that might be useful. Before he could get far, he heard musical voices arguing, slightly further within the building.

The human pushed himself up against the wall, slowly approaching the room full of people that were clearly arguing. The door was open, and he could hear that they were debating over whether to join the