Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) James Callum (best large ereader .TXT) 📖

him, draped in viscera, and soaked through with black and red blood. She had a wild light in her red eyes, her hair plastered to the sides of her face and a long jagged wound that ripped a hole down her left sleeve.

A stream of blood ran down her left arm as it hung there, limp and lifeless. The steady drip of her bright-red blood down her fingertips to the stone below distracted Jacob for a moment. As her blood mixed with that of… whatever coated the stones and Camilla, it sizzled violently and emitted a red vapor.

Camilla mouthed, “Not a word.” And then pushed past him into the hall. Bloody, fetid muscle tissue clung to her foot and dragged a streaking trail after her.

A quick glance into the room made Jacob shudder.

Jacob caught up to her and gently pressed two fingertips to her spine. Partly because he didn’t want to risk losing anymore Health from a startled Camilla. The softness of the touch caused her to pause and look over her shoulder at him.

He tried to smile, but the burning pain from the action as it stretched wide the bleeding wounds on his face brought forth a grimace instead.

Pointing, he motioned to the length of intestine on her shoulder. Camilla looked at it with disgust and brushed it off. It made a silent splat on the ground, oozing out some foul thick liquid in the process.

Jacob made sure to give it, and many other hunks of gore and viscera that continued to fall off Camilla’s borrowed robes, a wide berth as they ventured deeper into the asylum.

As far as Jacob was concerned, those robes were hers now.

14

Together, the pair made it deep into the dark recesses of the asylum. So far down below the hallways were as much natural cavern as worked stone. Gaping wounds in the stone walls led to expansive lightless spaces of unknowable size.

Strange, lizard-like creatures crawled forth from such spaces, ambushing them at times and at others being caught unawares by the duo. The higher Jacob’s skill with his sword grew, the slower the skill up messages came.

He had hoped to be back to 75 Sword Skill by the time they reached the next Pyre but it didn’t seem likely.

They were still silenced but despite Camilla’s strongest resource being taken away, she made do with a large rusty cleaver. The same one she managed to find when a couple of Patients took her when Jacob wasn’t looking.

A slight smirk came to his lips, a light to his forest-green eyes. Camilla was full of surprises and it ended up that she didn’t need his help after all. The dynamic between them was becoming more and more like a partnership.

Jacob helped bandage up Camilla’s bleeding arm to the best of his ability, enough to stop the bleeding at least.

They developed rudimentary hand signals to alert each other and constantly kept in visual contact to avoid being separated again. The unfortunate side effect was that, at times, they would both be caught in an ambush.

Like right then.

Jacob, in his haste to find a Pyre, went around the next corner without checking it. Something inside him said there would be a Pyre nearby. He felt it in his bones, almost as if he were standing at the farthest edge from the warm flames.

A flicker of movement to the side had him rolling forward, too committed to the motion to reverse. In doing so, he inadvertently separated from Camilla who just turned the corner at that moment.

Out from two holes, one between him and Camilla, and one behind Jacob crawled those sticky-footed lizards. Their mottled red-and-yellow skin shimmered wetly.

Having faced them a few times already, Jacob immediately pivoted on the balls of his feet and at the same time shifted to a two-hand grip on his [Longsword].

As he spun about, raising his blade high and tightening his core muscles to bring it down, the Gekk reared up to bite him.

With a concerted snap of his core muscles, Jacob brought his [Longsword] flashing down. Lightning Cracks Stone cleaved the opened fang-filled maw in half. Even as the monster fell, another came at him.

Jacob was already in motion.

Stag Rushes Through the Field closed the gap to the next Gekk, and he seamlessly transitioned his blade, pointing it low and to his left. This lizard was smarter than its brethren, and it managed to back up several sticky-footed steps.

Wind Parts the Grass caught it but only drew a line of yellow ichor from its fast-retreating underbelly as it reared up on its hind legs and backpedaled comically fast.

A quick glance at the corridor walls confirmed that Jacob had enough room. He was at less than 20% of his Stamina, using another Sword Form might deplete it and leave him vulnerable.

The safer thing would be to let the creature back up, take a moment to reorient himself and regenerate Stamina. But if he could kill it quickly enough, they could be gone before reinforcements ever arrived.

That was the problem with Gekks. They would make a reverberating croak he could feel in his belly that summoned more of their kind through the walls. At 78 Health, with his last [Cinder Ampoule] used up getting this far down, he wasn’t interested in a protracted battle.

Especially when he was certain that there was a Pyre nearby.

So Jacob didn’t do the smart or safe thing. He lunged forward, swung his sword out at maximum extension, nearly clanging it off the corridor walls and twisted.

Already raised on its hind legs and unable to move back any faster, Leaf Circles the Whirlpool freed the creature’s head from its neck. Sparks flew from the tip of his [Longsword] as it skipped off the stone walls.

Exhausted and breathing hard, Jacob paid no more attention to the Gekk’s body. It backpedaled a few more steps, not quite aware that it was dead yet before it fell bonelessly to the floor.

Turning back, he saw Camilla split a Gekk in half like she was