Alpha Zero (Alpha LitRPG Book 1) by Arthur Stone (top 5 books to read TXT) 📕

No matter how strongly the current fought against us, we resisted, working in shifts, and thus we managed to draw the raft away from the right bank and into the middle of the river. Now, we would pass about 40 yards away from the tip of the sandbar.

A bow, in capable hands, could shoot a good deal farther than that. I had heard stories of archers with astronomical numbers behind their shots. Able to skewer you through the heart from hundreds of yards away. Those were only archers of vanishingly rare skill, of course—but far be it from me to presume on the weakness of my enemies.

I turned to Beko. “Row us around so that the stern points towards the sandbar. I’m going to move the baskets.”

“Why?”

“They might be able to protect us from any arrows. The sky is growing dark quickly, but we are moving quickly, too. It won’t be dark enough to cover us entirely.”

Twelve baskets were filled to the brim, and two others partly filled. With the containers so packed full of fish, I doubted an arrow could punch through. Especially with the archer dozens of yards away—with each yard, the arrow’s penetration power would decrease.

Never before had I moved heavy objects so quickly. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I moved those baskets as speedily as I would have if they had been empty. Mercilessly I shoved them together, allowing no gaps for death to reach between. Once I was done with this task, I ripped the topmost layer from the center of the platform and put it up as an additional obstacle.

I was just in the nick of time.

As soon as we took refuge behind our cover, screams rang out from the sandbar.

“There they are!”

“Chaos take them, why aren’t they near the sandbar?”

I could not help myself from responding, “Because we know this river, unlike you worthless idiots!”

“Biqo, step aside. Aside, I said! I’ll show those street rats who’s worthless!”

A nasty twang rang out, and our basket barrier took a hit so solid it splashed us with fish innards.

“Hey, boy! How’d that feel? Well?”

We weren’t about to provide them the satisfaction of a reply. We both knew that it was dark enough now that the archer was unable to discern our position on the blackening surface of the river. He hoped to pinpoint us by the sounds we made.

We showed no further desire to communicate, despite this provocation. The archer began to fire blindly.

One arrow hit, then another—and then one whizzed past my hair and buried itself in the deck, which a second ago had seemed impossible.

Before, I had cursed our speed. Now, I called hellfire upon our slowness. A dozen more times the archer fired, and finally hit.

Beko screamed after a projectile punched through the barricade, and then started whimpering.

A cheer came from the shore. “I got one!”

“Nail the other to the deck!”

“I can’t see shit now. We have to make our way downriver and cut them off.”

“We’ll never beat them. The river will take them to the Grove in no time.”

“To Chaos with them, then. That’s where they’ll die.”

“What’s wrong, Beko?” I asked quietly. “Sit up—they can’t hit us anymore.”

“My... my... my eye.”

“Your eye? He shot you in the eye?”

Thankfully, Beko’s words were founded only on pure panic. A wide-tipped arrow had punched throw the barrier and grazed the poor boy’s cheekbone. It had lost most of its power by then, but blood still sprayed from the wound like water from a hose. Most leaked through the gaps between the logs of the raft, dripping into the water and frenzying the nearby kotes. Their splashes intensified.

I made my friend pull his hand away from the wound, and I put my palm there instead. Activating my healing talent, I watched my chi shadow drain rapidly.

Then, I moved my hand away. “Done. You can stop shaking now, Beko. Your eye is OK—he just slashed your cheek. I just healed it.”

“H... healed? You’re a healer?”

“Not a very good one, but yes, I am. I can only deal with scratches and close up small wounds while they’re still fresh. You’ll probably have a scar.”

Beko cheered up and started washing his face. “I don’t mind a scar.”

You have treated a wounded person. Wound healed!

 

You receive: Lesser Symbol of Chi x1

Huh, I even got a reward from the ORDER. What a lucky day. Hurray.

“Those monsters wanted to move downriver and catch us, but then one of them said we’re going to die in some grove anyway.”

Beko nodded. “If he’s talking about the Black Grove, then yes, we will die there. Even Stubs doesn’t go there. It’s a very bad place.”

“Then we have to get this raft to shore. But how? Before the darkness really settled in, I saw a cliff just beginning opposite the sandbar. It didn’t look very high, but I’m not sure we can climb it.”

“No way. That’s clay, which no one can climb. This is a tough stretch. Maybe there are some promising places, but I don’t know about them. From here on, the river becomes a death trap.”

“You do realize what just happened, don’t you?”

“What?”

“That archer who shoots people in the eye was attacking us.”

Beko looked up. “What? How do you know that?”

“He almost hit you right in the eye. I had an arrow whiz right past my skull. Even when he shot through those baskets of fish, he somehow knew where our eyes were. A mighty marksman, for sure.”

“Wow, that was really him!” the ghoul exclaimed. “And we’re alive. Our eyes are fine. All of our eyes!”

“I’m glad you’re happy, but...”

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

“It’s dark, and the river is sweeping us away. We can’t even see where we’re going. And you just told me