Magus: A Supernatural LitRPG Saga (Apocosmos Book 2) Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (good english books to read .txt) 📖

"And I thought the dog was the clever one here," she said, lifting her chin up defiantly.

"How good is your night vision?" Louie asked.

"As good as my normal vision."

"Alright, walk ahead of us and let us know if you see--" I stopped mid-sentence as I heard a very soft swish and Louie yelp. With lightning-fast reflexes, the doppelgänger brought down her fist on a large bird that had grabbed Louie. The great dark-brown bird, surprised by the strike, let Louie go and flew away almost as silently as it had attacked.

"Are you okay?" I asked Louie as I fell on my knees, simultaneously checking his HP.

"I'm fine," he said, his red bar having barely taken a hit. "That was one big silent bird. I hate pigeons."

"That was an owl, boy," Rory said. "Ye can hear a pigeon coming a mile away. Owls are silent predators."

"But they're not invisible," I said and turned to look at the doppelgänger.

"I don't have eyes in the back of my head," she replied, frustrated, while scanning the trees around us for signs of the owl returning.

"Perhaps you should grow one," I retorted.

"I was never able to walk straight with an eye on my back," she explained, almost too casually. "But we wouldn't have this problem if I wasn't forced to walk in front of you."

"Okay, change of formation." Rory took the initiative now. "Half-Celt, ye get the left side of her and I get the right. Louie lad, ye walk in front of her."

"It would be better if I had a weapon," she persisted as we continued moving. "At least a bow."

"So you can attack us and run away?" I asked, as I tried to make out the increasingly dark path in front of us.

"I could just change myself to blend in with the dark and run now if I wanted to."

"Aye, but ye're not staying out of the goodness of yer heart. Ye don't want to guide us, but ye'd need a weapon to defend yerself if ye leave us."

"No, that's not it," Louie jumped in and stopped walking. "You can't return empty-handed, can you? You need to take the book back to Abrathion."

"Of course!" she replied, her voice a bit higher than normal. "You may not know it but that thing is extremely valuable."

"Well, perhaps we could pay you the same amount if you tell us where to find Leo." I tried reasoning with her.

"You can't possibly match his offer," she replied and waved her hand dismissively, putting one foot in front of the other again.

"Because it's not money, is it?" Louie said and refused to continue walking. "You wouldn't go this far just--"

The snapping of a twig some distance to our left cut our conversation short. We all turned our heads to see the source of the sound but I could see nothing apart from high bushes moving back and forth lazily as the night breeze shuffled their leaves. The doppelgänger however, held her hands in front of Rory's and my chest. Before we were able to utter a word, she put the finger of one hand in front of her mouth.

I opened my eyes wide and pursed my lips, trying to communicate that I had no idea why we were just standing there quietly, waiting for whatever monster was lurking there to attack us. Or at least something to that extent. Rory, on the other hand, wasn't as patient or obedient as I was. But when he opened his mouth to talk, the woman brought her right hand to his mouth with incredible speed and pressed his lips shut with her slender fingers.

Normally, I would have expected Rory to explode instantly at this but it looked like it had completely taken him by surprise. With her other hand she pointed two fingers at her eyes and then alternated with her index showing her ears. Whatever was approaching us was drawn to our whispering conversation and Rory seemed to have understood that, because he didn't offer a single complaint when she released his lips, even if he looked like he was about to cut her down. This wasn't the first time we would face a creature that attacked anything that made a sound. We knew exactly what to do.

We remained unmoving as the as-yet-unseen predator drew closer. Each of its steps was dampened by a thick layer of grass, with the occasional dried branch the only thing that gave away its position. That was until it stepped underneath a thin ray of moonlight that was able to seep through the thick jungle canopy above us.

The beast looked like a puma on steroids, its dark fur absorbing any light that fell on it, as if it was Vantablack. I was only able to make out its shape because of the unnatural way it moved--not fluidly like the feline it resembled, but spasmodically as if it had broken all of its joints. By far its most disturbing features however were the complete absence of eyes and its large, white, protruding fangs.

Name: Caecus Malum

Type: Magic Creature - Beast

Level: 48

Disposition : Aggressive

HP : 1298/1324

Physical Attack: 375

Magic Attack: 260

Speed: 174

Attack Range: Melee

XP : 4785

Description : This feline beast is a descendant of the great celestial panthers, native to the realms of the Elysium Fields, Tian Tang, and Albios. Long ago, the great beast known as Felkrum committed fratricide and was exiled from all goodly realms. Not having any experience with ill-mannered beings, Felkrum was subsequently deceived and blinded by a band of imps. Defeated, but too stubborn to give up, he moved to the realm of Rìoghachd na camhanaich where he thrived in its eternal darkness. Caecus Malums, his spawn, are one of the few apex predators of the realm.

The monster was huffing and salivating excessively but was otherwise ignoring us. Yet it moved closer, the blackness of its body demanding a bigger portion of my view, and I was now