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

them had lasted this long. Something had changed, and it had done so in an unbelievably bad way. Clearly, whatever had mutated the gnomes had either been very gradual, over lots of years in little ways, or it’d been a significant effect that was much more recent.

I looked back up and down the street, trying to figure out the best way to go, and two things struck me at once.

First, my mana was dropping like a stone, and I tugged out a mana potion, downing it and licking my lips at the minty taste, then casually throwing the vial at a half-hidden gnome. Second, there wasn’t an easy way up from here; in fact, the only way I could see was at the far end of the street, where a dangling rope ladder swayed, gnomes fighting to climb up already.

I took a few steps out further into the street and looked around, frowning as I tried to make sense of the layout and determine whether I could climb up, when the decision was made for me.

In the distance, the mobile siege tower-thing had started up again, and it rolled into a position where whoever was controlling it clearly saw me.

It turned, noisily clanking around until it was lined up on my position, then raised one arm, pointing it in my direction.

“Well, that’s not happy-making,” I muttered to myself as the ‘arm’ shuddered, with blasts of gas and plumes of electricity rocketing out, and a half second later, the first of the Badunka Riders erupted from the end of the ‘arm’.

This one was a two-wheel design, looking more like a traditional motorbike, if you discounted the jets of blue-white steam that rocketed out of the sides, the blades that reflected the dim light, and the screaming trio of gnomes that hung on for dear life as it flew through the air. It vanished from sight behind a building just as a second racer flew out of the arm, this one bouncing off the end of the platform and twisting before slamming into the side of a second building and erupting in flames.

The third and fourth Badunka Riders flew free and vanished from sight as well; then the structure began turning away, facing the side of the cavern and clattering away out of sight behind a building. I swore, hearing the roaring of the mad little bastards approaching on their bikes.

The gnomes that had been creeping forward and hiding themselves poorly around me, suddenly turned and began sprinting frantically, clearly wanting to be nowhere near the Badunka Riders when they arrived. I took advantage of the sudden desertion and turned, searching for the best combination of a low roof and intact walls out of the nearby buildings.

I spotted a low-hanging corner of a roof three houses along that looked like it wouldn’t collapse as soon as I touched it. I flicked the lever to power down the cudgel as I started to run, shoving it into my bag and jumping to kick off the wall of the building next to the one I wanted, and launching myself as high as I could.

My fingers caught the lip of the roof, and I grunted, pulling myself up and feeling my boots scraping on the wall as I tried to find purchase. It took a few seconds of huffing, but I managed it. Just as I pulled my ass up over the edge, the building shook, and a wash of heat and flame tossed my legs upwards, flipping me further onto the roof.

I slammed down on the metal and rolled, my armor clanging as the building shook again. I peered over the way I’d come and cursed.

The first Badunka Rider had found the street I was in, and his creation had a small seat on the back. Another gnome was balancing on the small perch as he fired blasts at me from a wand that sparked and bucked in his hands.

“Goddamn crazy bastards!” I growled, rolling to the side and coming dangerously close to the edge of the roof as I dodged another blast.

The passenger howled in triumph and gestured again, firing another flaming orb that flew through the air like a mortar, slamming into the building next to the one I was on and taking out an entire section of the wall.

I shoved myself to my feet and looked behind me, seeing a row of blocked-off passages nearby that formed the ‘wall’ of the cavern, which then stepped back a couple dozen feet overhead from my position, to form the second level, where the building I wanted stood further up the slope.

I ran at the closed-off passages, jumping, grabbing onto a section of the wall, and heaving. Frantically scrabbling my feet as I went, I managed to drag myself up, searching for the next handhold, the next grip or crack, and I climbed.

I climbed in full Legion armor, the weight alone obscene, and I had a momentary mental image of me doing this on TV back home, watching as swarms of fans gasped and ‘oh-ed’ and ‘ah-ed’ as I went, slipping, up the side.

“God, I’d be rich if I had a camera…” I grunted to myself as I went, imagining the social media posts.

I reached out and grabbed onto a large section of the wall that had a crack in it, and as my fingers wiggled in, holding on as best I could, I felt it shift slightly. A scream suddenly rose from inside, on the other side of the crack, making me try to pull my hand free, but finding my gauntlet caught on a jagged section of metal.

I pulled again, and a third time, finally yanking it free and almost falling off the wall with the force, until something hit the other side of the wall, and the edge of an axe blade crashed through where my hand had just been.

Whoever was in there was majorly pissed at me for climbing their wall, and I swung back, digging my feet in and