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

from some bruises, and a single dead gnome, we all made it without any major injuries.”

“What happened to the gnome?” I asked curiously, and she simply pointed back to the barricade.

I winced, seeing the still form impaled on the same wooden stanchion that had swept me clear of the vehicle. Clearly, he’d gotten caught between the body and the wood, and boom. His race to escape ended prematurely.

“Fuck,” I said, shaking my head in sadness. The gnomes’ lives might have been short and brutal, like the majority of them seem to behave at the minute, but that didn’t mean I liked seeing one of them like that.

“Yeah, Frederikk is pretty upset. Apparently, the design was supposed to prevent that from happening. He’s furious that they failed, more so than at losing a gnome, but I guess that’s the influence of the way they’ve been living coming through…”

“He doesn’t care that they lost someone?” I asked incredulously.

“Oh, he cares, but it’s also a case of him having to kill dozens of them over the years for going feral. He’s more or less okay with the deaths, but he’s seriously pissed off about the design failure… Oh, and he’s annoyed that you ‘fell off’ as well.”

“I ‘fell off’?” I gaped. “That crazy fucker rammed a wall!”

“It was designed as an easy point to break through, apparently, but yeah. I’m not happy about the method either, but…” She gestured upwards.

I grumbled and turned, about to ask what she was talking about, when my words died in my throat.

The ship.

It was their ship, and just like the Fenris I had in storage in the Battleship, this was a work of art, especially compared to the shoddy, ugly, utilitarian things that the realm had currently.

I admired her in awe, my eyes following the curved hull, the sinuous lines of the stored rigging, and the elegant flow of the deck. From where I stood, I could see truly little of the ship, but damn, it was beautiful.

If I were to compare it to anything, I would have said that the current ships made me think of the boxy car from the Bond movie that went underwater and had the jets, and this… this, in comparison, looked like a dolphin.

Literally. If one was a bad adaptation of design, and the other was an animal that had evolved perfectly for life in its environment, that was the difference.

I moved back quickly, wanting to see more.

The hull was long and sleek, with a flat bottom and stabilizing fins to rest on. The glossy wood curved up gracefully, bellied out, then flowed back in to support a beautifully carved railing that encircled the deck. A raised cabin stood proudly at the back, with forward-sweeping staircases that flowed down to the deck, melding gently into the superstructure. Two sets of sails were affixed on the sides, but they were folded in now and gave the impression of wings curled up to a birds body, all integral, as opposed to the ‘stuck on anywhere’ appearance of the human-designed vessels. Even the engines looked almost organic, the way they flowed up and out.

Add to that, the entire thing was composed of dark oak and copper banding, and even green with age, and covered in dust and debris, with several honest-to-god trees growing up around the ship‒and in one case, up from the hold‒and vines covering half of it, I immediately fell in love with it.

“Holy shit…” I whispered, shaking my head as I looked the ship over.

“Yeah, she’s a thing of beauty…” Arrin agreed, grinning appreciatively up at the hulking form.

I looked more carefully, and soon spotted a series of ladders that rose up the side of the ship. They were recessed, but like everything else, they were carved and designed beautifully.

I eased over to the side of the ship again and reached up, sweeping away debris from the recessed section to clear it for my hand. I tucked my fingers in, feeling the hand grip that had been carved there, and judging from the depth and the height of the recessed section, I could tell that it’d be great for feet as well as hands… then swore.

I had one goddamn hand. How the hell was I going to climb with only one frigging hand? Considering the arch of the ships, I’d be climbing outwards as I went, and I would just fall off!

“It’s okay, boss,” Grizz said reassuringly, clearly understanding the problem. “I’ve got you.” He reached into a bag and pulled out a substantial coil of rope.

“Great; thanks, Grizz,” I muttered, trying not to be rude. My triumphant arrival on the deck of this beautiful work of art was going to be getting hauled up the side like a sack of sodding potatoes.

“Look on the bright side,” Yen said quietly.

“There’s a bright side?” I groused.

“At least you’re conscious. Lydia and Bane are still out, so they’re literally getting dragged up there…”

“Wonderful,” I muttered, then shook my head and told myself to stop being such a whiny little bitch.

“Seriously, though, thank you, Grizz,” I repeated, forcing a smile. “Everyone else is okay, right?” I asked again, and Yen confirmed it.

“They are, although the gnomes are a mix of pissed and pleased; not only did that design fail, which the older and more sane gnomes are upset about, but they know we’ve got little time, so they can’t salvage the remains of their vehicle.”

“Fuck!” I hung my head, momentarily lulled by the scene of beauty and peace before us. “No, we don’t. That damn thing had to have made enough noise to wake the dead!” I snarled, galvanized to action. I turned, looking to Yen first.

“Yen, get everyone aboard, right fucking now. Tell the gnomes to leave anything they have to, save any artifacts that are clearly magical and within easy reach, but tell them if they can’t get it aboard in five minutes, leave it.” I ordered, getting a decisive nod and a respectful smile as she hurried away.

“Arrin, get your arse