Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) Jez Cajiao (top ten books of all time TXT) 📖

my attention to the Leviathans. Seeing them getting hit over and over, in their weakened, mentally dulled state, they didn’t last long.

First one, then the second died, and then everyone concentrated their fire on the caged parent.

“Infidels!” came a roar of fury, and I twisted around, tearing my eyes from the one-sided fight to the balconies above us. The first was empty; the second, where I thought I’d seen movement, was empty as well, but where the stairway spiraled upwards, opening onto the third floor, there stood a figure, and its arms were upraised in fury as a spell built between its hands.

“Run!” I shouted, matching action to words as I sprinted for cover, rushing for another doorway and throwing myself inside, rolling as I hit the floor and coming up with a wall between me and whatever spell the creature was casting.

“Oracle!” I called to her, and I felt her presence as she flew towards me. I moved to the doorway and glanced out, seeing the others had scattered as I’d ordered, but that while Yen and Tang were nowhere to be seen, Miren had fallen, Jian had stopped to help her, and of course, Lydia was standing over them, her shield raised in defiance.

My heart froze, and I knew I should be out there, it should be me standing over my people, then all three of them vanished in a blast of dark light.

The spell hit Lydia straight on, exploding out in a wash of blackness that seemed full of reaching, searching tendrils. Then they rolled back in, and all three of my people screamed in pain.

“No…” I whispered, my heart clenching as the wash of darkness crushed in on the three, vanishing and sinking into them. It flooded into their mouths, their eyes and ears, and they collapsed, convulsing.

I saw the skin that was exposed suddenly flooded with black veins, veins that seemed to twist and lift, spreading out and colonizing their bodies… before the three stopped moving.

“Bring them to me,” the voice intoned from overhead, and I glanced out, seeing the figure in the red robes clutching the edge of the balcony with bleached-white knuckles as it staggered. The black robed figure appeared and grabbing the first under the arms, towing it away.

I looked out, seeing Lydia and the others slowly climbing to their feet before turning and looking around the room.

“Lydia!” Arrin shouted. “Are you…” He cut off with a gulp of fear as Lydia, Merin, and Jian spun as one, locking in on Arrin, and letting out hisses of rage that were clearly audible even from where I was. Their respective summoned creatures immediately screamed out and vanished.

“Domination!” Yen shouted, stepping out from another doorway that she’d hidden in. “They’ve been dominated, all three of them!”

“What do we do?” asked Tang, appearing on the other side of the trio, and I blanched, realizing he was asking me.

“I… I…” I stammered, and Yen spoke up.

“Either we kill them, or we restrain them. First option, some definitely die, second, well… some probably die… and those of us that are restraining them…” Yen called to me.

“You’re not available to help me kill that fucker,” I said grimly, nodding my head. “Fine. Grizz, Arrin, Yen, Tang, Oracle, and Stephanos. Restrain them and try to free them. Bane, let’s go fuck shit up,” I snarled, looking up at the stairs.

“We’ve got this, boss!” Grizz called out, and I waved grimly.

“Be careful,” Oracle said to me, and I felt her concern, as well as her determination that she’d damn well heal the others and somehow free our people from the Domination.

Lydia led the way as the three ran at Arrin, and he took off, sprinting as fast as he could, heading for Grizz.

I broke out of the room I was in, running for the stairs, my shield sliding out of my pouch as I reached in and freed it, then summoned the kill-stick I’d taken from the gnomes earlier.

I’d nearly reached the stairs when the first arrow slammed into Arrin, dropping him and making him scream in pain as it took his leg out from under him.

I glanced back and saw Miren aiming at him with a second arrow already drawn, even as Jian raced to intercept Yen, and Lydia went for Grizz.

I swore and jumped over a small pile of bones, skidded on some filth, and jumped again, landing on the bottom stair and starting upwards. I heard the screech of metal on metal, and then another scream from Arrin, followed by my mana dipping sharply as Oracle worked to heal someone.

“Motherfucking asshole spell-casting dickbags!” I snarled under my breath as I took the stairs as fast as I could, clearing them two and three at a time as I raced around the inside of the tower.

The first floor flashed past, and glittering trash lay everywhere. I saw things hanging on walls and lying discarded on the floors.

The stairs came and went again, leading up to the second-floor balcony, and here, I found a dead gnome, laid in a pool of blood, a crossbow abandoned on the floor next to it. I glanced into the rooms as I passed, seeing more broken bodies laid inside.

They were covered in teeth marks and savage blows, and in the split second I had as I ran past, I noted they were all armed, and they had all faced each other. They’d fought to the death, and none had tried to run. Whatever this Domination was, it was powerful.

The last set of stairs to the balcony I’d seen the figures on was up ahead, and as I clattered onto it, my armor announcing my arrival, a figure blurred nearby, sweeping my legs out from under me.

I smashed to the floor, rolled, and came up swinging, my thumb flicking the activation lever on the kill-stick and sending all three circular blades whirring to life as I aimed for whoever had tripped me...

And for the second time, my heart cramped.

It was Bane. His flesh was