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

We took the corners far faster than any we’d done so far. My insane level of Agility, Tang’s scout training and elven heritage, and Grizz… being Grizz, meant that Stephanos was falling further and further behind, when Tang called out over the sound of our running feet.

Two more corners, then we’re there!” he said, and Stephanos dug down, refusing to give in.

We sprinted along, the magelights on both Stephanos’ and Grizz’s armor sending crazy shadows bouncing, and the harsh breathing echoing in our ears as our steel-shod feet clattered and banged over the metal of the Sunken City.

There was a definite thick, salty taste to the air now, and as we broke around the final corner, we all slowed subconsciously before Grizz barked out to pick up the pace.

The room ahead of us was clearly huge, vanishing to either side and soaring above into the darkness. The sound of lapping water came from the right somewhere, and in the center, surrounded by concentric rings of low walls, stood a rounded pagoda that glimmered softly with ancient magic.

It alone in the entire city seemed to still be powered, with a soft golden glow emanating from the walls to illuminate the eleven men and women standing around the building.

As we arrived, the majority spun, falling into place to guard the two who were arguing in the center.

They stood before the doors of the Vault, the younger man being shouted at by the older, and I recognized them as the Narkolt nobles as we closed the distance.

Hannimish and Joshua were shouting at each other, seemingly oblivious to everything, until one of their guards frantically interrupted them.

Joshua backhanded the man across the face with a snarl without a thought, and I saw the shocked look on Hannimish’s face. The guard seemed to barely notice, clearly used to abuse, and pointed to us.

Joshua bellowed, pointing to us, and the guards spread out, ready to take us on.

“Looks like they got reinforcements!” I grunted as I drew alongside Grizz, wishing we could afford to wait and wear them down from a distance.

“Yeah, that means we get to have a real race!” he said cheerfully. “A gold coin says I kill more than you.”

We were a little over forty meters from them and closing fast.

“Hell no; make it something that matters!” I countered, again amazed by the improvements in my body. Running for more than ten minutes in full armor and I was barely winded; that was amazing! I’d be winning the Olympics at home, a little voice informed me casually, all of them.

“Okay, a day with Primus Restun!” Grizz offered, and I staggered slightly, my foot landing wrong as every muscle tensed slightly in fear.

A full day of being trained one on one with Restun? That was horrific, evil, even… but damn, now THAT was a forfeit.

“Done!” I said, glaring at the guards before me. There were nine total; two had lifted bows and were readying themselves to provide ranged support, and seven had spread out to form a loose half circle. Of the seven, four held shields and short, wicked-looking curved axes, with the remaining three wielding swords, two of which had no shields and instead carried greatswords.

I angled myself for the right outer edge, knowing that Grizz would do the same with the left, and I fed a burst of magic into the naginata at the last second, closing the final few meters.

Lightning crackled out from my hands, flooding the weapon, and I leapt into the air, spinning my body and kicking out at the shield that my first opponent had raised. Simultaneously, I swept my right hand downward, aiming for a second man with my naginata.

The speed of the attack, and the act of shifting from aiming for the outside into the middle at the last second, meant that I managed to avoid most of the weapons that were aimed at me. Stephanos provided last-minute distraction to the archers in the form of flashing arrows that hammered toward the nobles.

I’d slammed into the guard’s shield hard. The weight of my body and armor, combined with the speed I’d been going, sent my target flying, while I used the shield to kick backward, landing upright. My naginata had channeled a powerful lightning spell down its length and along the sword that had been sticking out for me, stunning the wielder, and then the fight devolved into a blur.

I swung the naginata base around and grabbed it with my left hand, yanking the weapon across to catch the semi-stunned wielder’s weapon on the haft, then slashed the blade across, slicing across the top of his left pauldron, then the top of the breastplate, and finally slitting his throat.

As he dropped his weapon, hands going to the new wide red smile I’d given him, I twisted to my right and jumped back as a greatsword wielder swung for me.

I dodged to the right, then struck at him, well aware I was allowing myself to become surrounded, but not having the time to play it safe.

My naginata was deflected by his sword, and he struck again, moving through a series of fast, well-executed blows in sequence, driving me backward.

I lunged to the left, then right, I swung desperate parries, and still he drove me back.

I channeled a second Lightning bolt into the Naginata and slapped at his sword, and he yanked it back, having seen what would happen if he didn’t.

I tried two more strikes, each time spinning and striking out at one of the figures to either side of me, and panicking as I went.

I nearly triggered ‘overdrive’ each time, but I knew I had to save it, and that, at the rate we were going, I might not manage to get them all off the island before the SporeMothers arrived. If those got here, I’d need the damn thing then, and there was no guarantee I’d be able to beat them even