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

As he pulled it, the Assassin jerked forward as well. It must have gotten wedged in the bone.

The Assassin, feeling no pain, took the opportunity to get close and stabbed Jacob in the shoulder with one dagger. The other dagger Jacob managed to deflect with his shield.

Rather than dismiss the weapon to ash, he had another idea. Jacob let go of the handle and took a step back, launching a heavy boot at the [Longsword’s] pommel.

He put as much power as he could behind the kick and was more than a little surprised to see the effectiveness of his action. The weapon, hilt and all, punched straight through the creature’s brittle ribs and tore out the other side.

It landed with a dull thump on the dirt behind it. Surprisingly, the Assassin was still alive and standing.

Jacob dashed to his right and turned to face the two Assassins. At nearly half Health, he took out a [Cinder Ampoule] and crushed it. His wounds knit in the blink of an eye.

But it was long enough for the two wounded Assassins to come at him once more. Summoning his sword to his hand in a burst of ash, Jacob met them head-on.

Sunflower Faces the Sun picked off two dagger strikes but he didn’t have time to take advantage of the opening. He turned his attention to the Assassin with the hole punched through its chest.

A swift block blunted the initial strike and Jacob had to be quick to lower his shoulder to catch the second that tried to get under his blocking shield.

Sword flashing, Dove Takes Flight opened up the Assassin’s throat and the backswing liberated its head from its shoulders.

By a stroke of luck, the head rolled off into the Assassin’s chest to Jacob’s right and distracted it long enough for Jacob to perform Twin Forked Lightning. A heavy Stamina Sword Form that took a third of his Stamina in its impossibly quick double-strike.

Two hefty, 450 damage strikes in the blink of an eye meant the last Assassin was dead before it hit the ground.

Breathing hard, Jacob took a moment to himself allowing his Stamina to regenerate. The number of times Vacant Assassins had killed him in the past was embarrassingly high.

He knew their tactics well enough to face them, but even with years of experience fighting, taking on more than one was a challenge.

One that he was only too happy to overcome. Too bad the Vacant Assassins gave such a pitiful amount of Souls.

You defeat the [Vacant Assassin].

You defeat the [Vacant Assassin].

You defeat the [Vacant Assassin].

You defeat the [Vacant Assassin].

Awarded 600 Souls.

You gain [Small Buckler].

You gain [Assassin’s Cowl].

Jacob turned toward the Fog Gate and paused just before it, wondering what he would find on the other side.

Briefly, he wondered what would happen if he used his ability to Kindle on the Fog Gate again.

If he wanted to sow the same amount of chaos – which was a tall order, considering how destructive that damn Skeletal Beast was – he would need to return to a Pyre then lead a train of Vacant to the wall.

And hope that he could burn it again before they descended on him.

As good as Jacob was, being outnumbered made dying incredibly easy. If he had made a few mistakes more or the Vacant Assassins had gotten lucky, he would not be standing after that encounter.

It was a sobering reminder of just how hard Pyresouls was. Even with his high sword skill and intimate knowledge of both the area and the monsters, it didn’t mean he was invincible.

Far from it, he thought with a snort of derision.

There were still decent players, people like Kim who weren’t out to screw everybody over. Even if he did manage to burn the Fog Gate and lead monsters inside, and they only attacked players he wanted, the merchants would still flee.

And then his whole reason for visiting the Crossing would be for nothing.

He pressed through the Fog Gate.

Time slowed down. Drifting mist fell over him and the doorway as he slowly moved through the thick gelatinous air. He felt cold for a split second as if all the heat in the universe winked out and then he could see the other side of the Fog Gate.

When he exited the other side, time resumed smoothly enough that his next step wasn’t a stumble. The transition, for all its slowness, wasn’t jerky or disorienting enough that he was incapacitated for a moment afterward.

Which was a good thing, because as soon as he stepped through a blood-stained club swung for his head. A shrill ululating cry rent the air.

“Fresh meat!” the voice cried.

Jacob moved too fast for thought. Countless hours of training kicked in at the sense of a threat he didn’t consciously register yet.

In a shining arc, his sword swept up. Moon Crests the Horizon batted the unwieldy club out wide. A snap of his muscles sent the blade in a reversing direction back at the unarmored Savage. Diving Falcon took him in the throat.

A quick withdrawal had the Savage dropping bonelessly to the cobbled stones, his spine severed. It was over before Jacob realized what had happened.

You defeat [Gregory].

The other Savages hiding out at the edge of the market square ahead saw the lightning-fast exchange and went to go find easier targets elsewhere.

By the time he looked up to notice them, all Jacob could see were their flapping, retreating loincloths.

Staring in surprise at his bloodied blade, Jacob didn’t even give a second glance at the body of the player as he walked down the street except to scoop up the crimson wisp containing a measly 50 Souls. He could feel the rough, familiar cobbles even beneath his hard-soled boots.

There was a perpetual smell of smoke and fire in the air and not the pleasant campfire kind. It smelled of recent destruction and a town just barely holding on.

He had to remember to stay on his guard. The Crossing at Hollow Dreams was among the most deadly of them all. He could