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

the balcony and the section where Giint had climbed up earlier, and one on the stairwell, we were reasonably safe.

Oracle had been sitting with me, cuddled up to my side, and she snuggled into me as I rolled myself up in my bedroll to sleep.

At first, it was almost impossible to drop off with the feeling of her body so close to mine, and my mind started to go down another route, so when she got up and kissed me, I grinned at her and was about to climb out of my bedroll, when she shook her head seriously, leaning in for a single chaste kiss before breaking free and whispering to me.

“Better if we behave… I don’t need sleep, and as much as I love being cuddled up to you, I’ll go take a flight around the cavern and see what I can find out.”

She shifted again, this time to her smallest size, and flew for the balcony doors, flitting outwards and up, disappearing from sight as I sagged backwards regretfully.

I started to settle back down, but as I did, a thought struck me, and I knew I couldn’t sleep, not yet. Tomorrow was another day, and it was a day we were going to be facing without potions. That alone left me with no choice, and I sighed regretfully as I began clearing a space in the bedroom where I could make some potions up.

The next hour passed both quickly, as there was so much to do, and horrifically slowly, as I was exhausted, and that goddamn potion Tang had given me was making me twitchy, I swore to myself. I kept getting the feeling that something was watching me. Watching and waiting for its chance to do… something.

I made a large batch up, scouring through the ingredients, and managing to make both a mana recovery potion that I got six small vials out of, and a health recovery potion that I made two batches of, getting seven in the first batch, but then over-boiling the second, and losing the lot.

I sighed, trying to hide my anger and anxiety from Tang when he came to check on me, and I packed the potions away carefully, leaving two of each out on the side, just in case.

When I finally laid down, I found myself unable to sleep, a nameless dread filling me, making me feel like something was about to attack me at any point, until Tang came and sat nearby and built up the small fire.

The light seemed to banish any evil miasma, and I swiftly fell asleep.

The rest of the night passed quickly, until in the early hours, I was awoken by a terrible feeling of foreboding.

“Jax!” Jenae called, startling me from sleep. I jumped, having just started to wake, searching the room for a threat and went straight from sleep into full-blown paranoia stage.

“Jenae?” I said aloud. “What happened, where’s Oracle?!”

“Jax, Oracle’s fine, but… I have bad news, and as my Champion, you need the warning,” she said, and I blew out a breath, kicking my bedroll aside and speaking loudly as everyone looked to me.

“Up and at them, everyone. Shit’s hit the fan,” I growled.

“Jax, I don’t have long; I’ll explain at some point, but time here doesn’t flow the way it does for you there, and there are things‒beings‒that I cannot allow to know of our return yet. I saw an opportunity to check on you and found a stain in the realm headed towards you. You fought a SporeMother once, so you know how evil they can be. There are seven aboard a ship somehow, with ships full of mortals traveling as escorts to them. There is also a creature that is neither mortal nor immortal controlling the creatures. I cannot tell you more about it without tipping my hand. I sensed that they are young, immature, but several have begun to produce DarkSpore. They will reach the Prax in six hours, and the devastation they could wreak upon your people…”

“Shit!” I snarled, thinking fast. “Are they alone? Is it one ship, or…?”

“There are seven; five appear to be of Narkolt, one bears the flag of Himnel, and the ship that carries the largest of the creatures bears no flag but is clearly leading the fleet.”

“How big are the ships, I mean…” I said, pausing and trying to think of the best way to phrase it.

“They are all cruisers, save a single fast scout. Your fleet is larger, but with inexperienced hands commanding, and with the Battleship to protect, you will not win without great casualties.”

“Fuck,” I grunted, my mind spinning as I tried to think of a way out. If we could get back up, then we could run for it. The ships were supposed to be worked on to be ready to take off today anyway, but we’d need to get the Legion back out of the city…

“Jax!” Oracle said, flying in the window, eyes wide in concern. “The gnomes! Giint is leading them; he’s bringing them straight for us!”

“Shitfuck!” I snarled eloquently. “What else could…” Grizz’s hand slammed over my mouth, stopping me before I could say the words that guaranteed a worse event coming. I glared, then realized what I was about to say and nodded in understanding as he grinned and stepped back, releasing me.

“Sorry, Jax,” he said simply, and I shook my head.

“It’s fine, I know why you did it. Right; Jenae, is there a way off the Prax? From down here, I mean?” I asked. There was a long pause before she responded, concern clear in her voice.

“There is a chance. It’s not nearby; it’s on the far side of the Prax, and you’d need to cross through the undead territory, where a Lich holds sway, but yes, the Gnomish Airship is still there. It was prototype that appears to have been well ahead of its time. Although it is archaic in comparison to more recent designs, it is Gnomish…and therefore far better built. It lies