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

was open, more or less intact, and the opening was clear even beyond the frame, but here and there, in the filthy corridor beyond, clear marks had been left behind. The most distinct were boot prints and a smeared trail, as though something heavy had been dragged along recently.

We followed cautiously, due in part to having nowhere else to go, and eased our way through the next two rooms. The walls, floors, and ceilings gradually changed as we headed further into the depths. It hadn’t been apparent as much from above, mainly because over time, everything had built up, but inside, the slope of the city was clear. It was angled downward at about a ten-degree slant, and soon, it became a case of struggling to stay upright as much as continuing forward.

With each new room we entered, the general mulch from outside grew less and less, until the walls were consistently steel, the floors solid and dark, and the air was stale, as though it rarely moved.

We entered a corridor that culminated in a small square room, and finally found the thing we’d been tracking. The room was barely five meters to a side, square, with a sagging roof and light that glimmered weakly up from the far end.

Bane grabbed my arm, then whispered very quietly into my ear to look at the top right corner. I followed his verbal direction, and there, at the far end, perched a creature the size of a child, gazing downwards.

It was clearly reptilian in nature, with a well-developed humanoid upper body and a long, scaly tail. Its blunt, triangular face was angled downwards and illuminated from below as it hissed to itself, watching something travelling along beneath it.

I frowned, then realized what it must be watching, judging from the growing light and the rising noise from below.

It was another party. I had no idea if it was ours or from one of the camps, but I couldn’t allow this creature to get the drop on them. I looked to my archers, who were all waiting for a signal from me, and I nodded to be ready before fixing my gaze back on the creature and using my spell to ‘Examine’ it.

Critical success! Your opponent is unaware of being observed and has no defense against your ability.

Naga Fiend

The naga as a species are not inherently evil, but their lack of compunction regarding killing, the pleasure they take in eating raw meat, and their choice to regard all that lives as food, have resulted in in them being labeled as such by most sentient races.

Distantly related to the Merrow, the Naga’s Deepwater cousins, these Naga are split into three ‘Castes,’ of which this ‘Fiend’ is considered the lowest, both in mental capacity and strength. Its caste is most often used for advance scouts and general soldiers.

Weaknesses: Fire, Earth, and Life magics do 50% more damage.

Resistances: Water, Darkness, or Death magics used against this creature suffer a 25% damage penalty.

Critical Weaknesses: Neck, Eyes, Liver, Lungs.

Level:7

HP: 90

Stamina: 40/40

Mana: 0/0

“Kill it,” I said abruptly, and the air was suddenly alive with first the creaks of bows being drawn back, and then the ‘thwack’ of the strings slamming forward. The juvenile Naga jerked backwards from its attempt at hiding and was slammed into the back wall, three arrows protruding from its chest.

It barely had time to twitch before it was dead, pinned in place. A small handful of rocks falling from where it had been crouched alerted the group below, and lights were shone upwards in an attempt to see what was going on.

We moved forward slowly and peered down, being careful to remain as hidden as possible, until I felt… something… tingle. I froze as Oracle spun to me.

“Mage!” she hissed, and I frantically waved people back from the hole as a voice rose from below.

“It’s the goddamn Legion!” someone swore, then a low laughter echoed up to us, followed by chanting.

“Fuck; get back!” I ordered the group, scrambling away from the corner as a grey-green cloud started to coalesce and float upwards, filling the room steadily.

We scurried out as fast as we could, while the voice continued to chant and occasionally laugh from below.

We backed up the corridor a dozen feet or so before deciding we were safe, but the fog settled in place and filled the entire small room, making me wonder about its effects. I’d smelled something as we’d backed away from it; something familiar, like rotten eggs… I paused, considering the smell and the way that the cloud was hanging around, before grinning evilly.

“Well, what do we have to lose…?” I mumbled to myself, taking a deep breath and starting to form the magic. I poured mana into my recently evolved Fireball spell, dual casting it and planting my feet before looking back at the people surrounding me.

“Might want to run…” I called, the strain of holding the spell clear in my voice.

“Fuck!” Lydia grunted. “Everyone get back! That’s an order, Legionnaire!” she barked when Grizz moved as though to stay close to me. He glared at her, then nodded once and backed away as she did.

“Maybe see if you can come up with a shield…” I whispered gleefully to Oracle, who frantically started trying to build the spell, reading too late the knowledge in my mind, even as I released it.

The spell had begun to buck wildly in my hands, the stability of my old, tamed Firebolt spell being vastly different to the wildness of the Fireball, and as it flew forward, leaving my hands with a high-pitched whine, I felt Oracle frantically pulling sections of different spells apart and slamming them together, desperately trying to build a shield spell on the fly.

For the first time in our shared history, she wasn’t fast enough.

The Fireball slammed into the poisonous cloud, and the smell I’d recognized earlier was confirmed as accurate. Sulphur.

Somehow, a part of the poison cloud involved sulfur. I had no idea why, or how, but the rest of the compounds