Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) by Jez Cajiao (beach books .txt) 📗

mana migraine, suddenly down to the dregs of my mana, thanks to the casting, and I reached out a shaky hand, gripping the dagger in my right leg, and yanking hard enough that I almost passed out.

I heard a boom from nearby and a screech of fury from the Drow, as the world was lit by a huge Fireball that screamed past us, slamming into the deck of one of the ships that was closing in to board us, and I felt Oracle!

She was close, and that knowledge alone lifted my heart and soul like nothing else.

I dragged the right-hand dagger free of my leg, then went for the left. As some feeling returned to the first limb, I reached down, wrapping my fingers around the rough grip, and hauling back, tears filling my eyes as the pain flared, and I furiously blinked them free, looking up as I heard a shocked gasp, and the fast footsteps of the fight close by all but stopped.

I looked up, the dagger forgotten, as I saw Stephanos slowly fall backwards, a dagger like the one I now held, driven up to the hilt in the center of his chest.

I locked eyes with him, as he slowly toppled backwards, his body paralyzed, even as his heart shuddered, pinned by the needle point of the dagger.

“No…” I whispered, shock and horror filling me, even as I saw Giint lunge forward to  be kicked aside almost contemptuously by the Drow, no match for it.

He turned to me, sneering, and smiled evilly, wiping his mouth, where I could see the sheen of red blood. My blood.

I screamed in fury and did the only thing I could, triggering ‘Soaring Majesty’ and hurling myself at him.

He caught me as I left the protective circle of my flames, and twisted at the hip, throwing me off the side of the upper deck to crash into the lower, almost making me pass out from the pain of all my wounds flaring at once.

I laid there, stunned, looking up at him in horror as he leapt casually from the upper deck and landed lightly next to me, reaching down to grab me by the throat and drag me upright to hang in the air.

He slowly increased the pressure on my throat as I flailed at my bags, trying to reach a weapon, only to have him contemptuously slap my hand aside each time.

I reached up, making one last attempt as the world started to grow dark, punching at his throat and having my hand smacked away again… before something hit him and sent us both sprawling.

I forced myself to roll back over, coughing and looking up, and, I saw, my heart surging with hope, Lydia!

Lydia was alive and conscious!

She was half dressed, armored to the waist, wearing only a tunic on the top, but she looked by far the healthiest of us all, and she was different. By the gods, she had changed, I realized, as I saw the great golden wings that shimmered in and out of reality on her back. The feathers flared and moved, as though blown by a heavenly breeze that I could neither see nor feel.

She wore her shield on her left arm and carried her mace in the right hand, and she fairly glowed with power.

The Drow glared at her, then blurred forwards, reaching out with a dagger in either hand, only to have the left smashed free and the right blocked, before Lydia ‘Sparta’ kicked him in the chest, sending him skidding backwards in a spray of water.

The Drow staggered, clearly shocked and unprepared for the counterattack, and Lydia rushed him, her mace and shield flashing.

He dove aside, rolling to his feet, clearly wounded already, and spat on the floor in fury. Hissing angrily, he glared at me and spun around, running for the side of the ship.

He reached it barely ahead of Lydia and leapt, bracing one foot on the edge of the railing, and diving out as he ripped something from his belt and snapped it in half. He was suddenly enveloped in a black glow, and he faded from sight, even as he fell.

I laid there in shock, filled with horror at the death of Stephanos, joy at the sight of Lydia upright, and awe of the changes in her, when I felt Oracle reach out to me.

“Jax! I’m here!” That was all she said, but as I looked up, knowing instinctively where she was, a ship rocketed past, and she flew from it. A huge roar of a cannon being fired reminded me of the fireball from before, and I realized this was the second time I’d seen this ship fire in defense of us.

I reached up one hand weakly, and Lydia was there, crashing down to one knee on the ground nearby and hauling me upright into a hug.

“I thought I was too late!” Lydia said brokenly. “I was for poor Stephanos… I… I…”

“No,” I said, hugging her back, hard. “You saved me. I failed him, not you.” I whispered, closing my eyes, and seeing the look on his face as he fell again and again.

“Our lives for yours,” came a voice nearby, and I opened my eyes, seeing Yen as she stepped in close, taking in my damaged body, and the glowing wings that even now were furled on Lydia’s back.

“It shouldn’t have been… but… ” I said quietly as Lydia helped me upright, and I looked up, seeing Oracle covering the last dozen meters in a blur.

“But it has to be,” Miren said softly from nearby, her tear-streaked face showing she’d seen her friend fall. “Without you, all of this is pointless. He saved you, and he’d never regret that.”

“I know,” I managed to grunt out, accepting Stephanos’ choice and his bravery.

Oracle slammed into me, staggering me back a step, even with her barely corporeal form, with as little mana as I had for her right now.

I felt her as she leaned into me, and I held he,