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

filling his eyes as he stared from me to the still corpse of his nephew on the floor.

“Perhaps a little clearer? And from the beginning?” Tang whispered, and Hannimish closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath before letting it out in a long exhalation and looking at me again.

“Lord Jax, I’m sorry. We received a communication before you arrived, warning us that there was a third party in the war between Narkolt and Himnel, and that we were to report immediately if we had any information,” he began.

“I reported your approach to the city when you became clear in the distance, and I was ordered to do nothing to antagonize you, to see if you could be reasoned with or bought. We reported on the meeting and were ordered to attempt to salvage anything of value we could from the site. We were not to cross you, but if we could retrieve whatever was here first, then we were to return to Narkolt with it, or failing that, to see what kind of accommodations could be reached with you.” He shook his head sorrowfully, looking down at Joshua again. “The fool boy had a second diary, one he refused to share with me. Once we descended into the city, he… he split off. He seemed to know what he was doing, and had the majority of the guard with him, so I let him go. I thought I was granting him some independence…” Hannimish choked down a sob and pressed on with gritted teeth.

“Then I received new orders. We were warned to get off the city, to escape, and abandon anything else. We were to warn you if we felt we could work with you; if not…” He closed his eyes, inhaling shakily. “I used a second device, a tracking wand, to find him, and when I did, he became irate, screaming that he couldn’t leave, not yet… then he told me what he’d done, and how he would use it to force you to give him what he wanted to become. I tried to stop him, tried to reason with him…” He faltered, his shoulders heaving with silent sobs. “My god, what will I tell my sister?!” he whispered, his hand coming up to cover his mouth in what seemed like genuine shock and horror.

“How did you communicate?” I asked him.

“Conjoined Diaries…” he admitted absently, still looking at the corpse.

“Expensive, but effective,” Grizz said, stepping up and holding the naginata out to me. “They create a pair of books that are absolutely identical, then use a lot of magic to pair them up. Whatever you write in one appears in the other, and vice versa.”

“Sounds useful...” I said, and Grizz grimaced.

“Yes, and no. Like I say, awfully expensive, plus there’s no security on it. You’d never know who was on the other side.”

“That’s why we used cyphers and confirmation codes,” Hannimish said woodenly. “That way, you can confirm their identity.”

I shook my head, thinking of easily half a dozen ways to get around that in seconds, but I kept my mouth shut.

“So basically, you were ordered by… who? Someone in your city?” I asked, and he cleared his throat and wiped at his eyes before responding.

“City Lord Rewn. We are distantly related, and old friends. He ordered me to attempt to reach an accommodation with you regarding your rank and position; we were to turn to violence only if you attacked first. Lord Ren seeks allies against Himnel, not another enemy…” Hannimish said, clearly shifting his voice to a more formal and less… hurting… timbre. “I am empowered to request a meeting with you, at a neutral place, where you and Lord Ren could reach an understanding.”

“Ha, after this?” I grunted, lifting my left arm into the air where he could see it, waving the truncated stump around. “You think I’ll trust you now? Besides, half of the ships on their way here, filled with the fucking SporeMothers, are from Narkolt. You want to explain that?” I asked, then I turned to Grizz without waiting for an answer. “Grizz, search that cocksucker. Find the Diary and pass me that goddamn knife… carefully,” I said, moving to the side and sitting on a low wall, the shock and horror of what I’d just done finally catching up with me.

I squashed it down, ignoring the pain and the horror that I’d just maimed myself, and told myself firmly that I’d be able to be healed. I had an amazing pair of healers; Hellenica had already regrown one hand for me. There was no need to be worrying about this shit… not right now.

Hannimish started talking again, but Tang and Grizz, seeing the state of me, shut him up and led him and his guard aside, searching them roughly and making sure they were disarmed.

Grizz stomped over, crouching down in front of me and offering a healing potion. I eyed it and snorted, mistrusting the bright, glimmering liquid.

“The good lord Hannimish actually told me which pouch had their best potions; there’s a pair of these and a pair of mana, all ‘Greater’,” he said quietly. “How are you doing, boss? I want to send Tang back to get the others and bring them here; that okay with you?” He popped the top off the potion and held it up.

I took it, drinking half of the ruby liquid, and feeling a new heat radiate outwards from my belly, banishing a portion of the lethargy and shock I suddenly realized I’d been sinking into.

“Yeah… yeah… you do that, Grizz. Thanks, man,” I said, passing it back to him. He stoppered the bottle and set it down on the wall next to me, before offering the mana potion next.

That, I drank all of, feeling my mana leap upwards and the regeneration increase at a phenomenal rate as he passed me the last item. Joshua’s accursed dagger.

Death’s Kiss

Further Description Yes/No

Damage:

25-500

Details:

The ‘Death’s Kiss’ dagger was crafted long ago by an order of assassins serving the