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

as he struggled in vain to nock the next arrow. Dove Takes Flight severed the other archer’s right hand at the wrist just as he was drawing back.

The arrow made a pathetic flop once the tension of the bow relaxed and with a reversing cut, Jacob took the other hand from the man. A boot to the chest sent him careening over the edge to the main street below into a group of players.

His only hope was to use the overwhelming odds in his favor. Contrary to popular movies, real fighting made it hard for a large group of people - particularly melee fighters - to gang up on a single opponent.

Swords got crossed, people took collateral damage, and a smart opponent could use that against his or her attackers. After all, the lone fighter could swing nearly anywhere and hit an enemy. Not so for the others, who had to be as mindful of their ally’s weapon as their target’s.

Grasping at the rapid flow of blood from his torn throat, the first archer gurgled in pain and fear. His eyes were wild with it and Jacob was all too happy to use that to his advantage.

A hard kick into the man’s knee snapped it backward with the sound of somebody biting into celery. Arrows from below skipped off the loose tiles, sending several slipping and sliding to crash on the stones below.

Another hard boot to the first archer’s chest sent him sailing over the roof. Knowing that he was making a point more than being effective, Jacob jumped after him.

Reversing the grip on his flaming [Longsword], Jacob timed their fall so that he would perform Planting the Flag at the same moment as they landed. The archer’s body actually bounced a little, forcing him to cry out and impale himself even deeper on his blade.

Already half-drowned in his own blood, Jacob didn’t bother to finish him off.

Three down, ten to go.

The next two arrows struck him in the thigh and shoulder respectively. Jacob gritted his teeth through the pain. It only took off a quarter of his health.

As the knights rushed toward him, clearly much slower than he was, Jacob reached the reloading archers. They wisely split up, forcing him to choose a target.

Jacob broke left, Lightning Cracks Stone severing the man’s left arm at the bicep. He dropped the bow with a shout of pain and in that brief moment of stunning pain, he reversed the motion. Wind Parts the Grass didn’t quite sever his right hand but since it was dangling from a thread of scorched muscle and sinew, he felt it was good enough.

He didn’t have time to be perfect.

A heavy bolt thudded into his back, draining his health by half and forcing Jacob to cough up blood inside his helmet. He staggered to one knee, dismissed his sword, and crushed a [Cinder Ampoule].

He was back to full Health by the time his knee tapped the cobblestones. Jacob committed to the motion and used it to propel himself forward in a roll that pushed him forward and around the archer who conveniently took the next bolt in the chest. A bit of the heavy quarrel stuck out of his back.

And that brings us down to nine.

Dashing back and forth drained his Stamina more, but it was the only way to avoid the relentless bolts and arrows. How many ranged attackers does he have?

Diving Falcon impaled the next archer, but that killing move earned Jacob two bolts in his ribs. Crushing another ampoule he pressed on.

The three knights that came to face him were almost as easy as one of the Vacant. He rolled through their clumsy attacks as he came up spinning. Falling Maple Seed lamed two of them, the third escaped the worst of it but Hummingbird’s Kiss took him in the heart.

The man died before he could conjure a [Cinder Ampoule].

But no matter how well Jacob fought, there were simply too many of them. He used the ampoules without the slightest hesitation. They went fast, almost as fast as he flowed through his Forms, laming, crippling, or outrightly killing those who came against him.

But his opponents also had [Cinder Ampoules]. And as their numbers dwindled, they formed a fiercer defense.

Metering his Stamina to within a hair’s breadth of emptying and leaving him vulnerable, Jacob went through their ranks like Death itself. Five men were dead, three were moments away too blinded by pain to use an ampoule, and he was closing in on his next victim.

Three bolts struck him as he stabbed down into one of the pesky crossbowmen. Planting the Flag took his life, bringing the total remaining to four. With only one [Cinder Ampoule] left, Jacob thought he might as well take one of those annoying crossbowmen out.

They remained spread out while the melee fighters came in at him. The so-called leader stayed back and watched it all like the true coward he was.

No matter how badly he wanted to kill the man, one look at that armor suggested he wasn’t going to be a pushover like the rest. Better to thin the herd, more than half of them would think twice when they saw him again.

Dismemberment tended to leave a lasting impression.

And since everything felt real in Pyresouls - there was a reason the waiver was as thick as a brick - the players would no doubt wish to avoid a repeat performance and look elsewhere for their victims.

As Jacob tried to dismiss his [Longsword] to summon the last [Cinder Ampoule] nothing happened.

You are Paralyzed!

Well, shit.

That was unexpected. Paralysis powders and poisons were hard to find and didn’t have a terribly high chance of working. Had they been using paralysis bolts the entire time on him?

It hardly mattered if they were. There was nothing he could do.

Arcs of yellow lightning chased up and down his limbs, binding them in a net of painful spasming. He couldn’t drop his sword if he wanted to. Nor could he summon or dismiss any item.

He