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

I sank my ‘senses’ into Bane’s body, starting with his kidneys, liver, and his major organs, following the arteries round to each organ, checking and slowly repairing them where needed. I concentrated on repairing the larger injuries first, then moved to smooth the surrounding tissues, relaxing them, and soothing away the swelling. That, in turn, reduced the strain on the overall system that was forcing nutrients through the swollen and damaged areas.

Then I moved onto the next one. I rebuilt teeth, coaxing minerals to regrow over the remnants of his old teeth, then smoothed them out and polished them to a gleam.

I soothed nerves and regrew tendrils, and I returned his skin to a glossy black and grey sheen, even as I subtly repaired the patterning of the skin.

Hours passed in a fugue of concentration and focus, stopping only to slip into meditation, then back into the fugue state.

I slowly worked him over, going from one area to the next, hour after hour, until I finally finished with him, the last injuries in his brain were ones that had hugely concerned me when I found them.

He’d begun to bleed into his brain at some point, but because it was a clear fluid, not blood, and it’d actually served to speed his neural network up tremendously, the spell hadn’t tried to heal it, and Oracle and I had totally missed it.

Once we found it, we realized why Bane was still unconscious, as every signal sent in his brain was essentially repeating over and over again, rattling around in the mental equivalent of a computer overload.

Oracle helped me with it, and we judged what we thought the problem was, and starting to force the substance to be absorbed into Bane’s surrounding brain tissue.

It was the most terrifying part of the entire healing, as I was morbidly convinced that at any second, I was going to erase his mind.

Eleven hours after we began, he finally stirred, and I almost collapsed with relief when he spoke quietly, in a very raspy voice.

“W… water…?” Bane croaked out, and I summoned a fountain right next to the bed for him and helped him roll over to immerse his face in it.

He drank and breathed down the water for several long minutes before leaning back and letting out a sigh of relief.

“Jax?” he asked quietly, and I nodded, knowing he would see it. Just because he didn’t have any eyes meant shit to a creature that had evolved for life underwater.

His sonar, or ‘Worldsense,’ as he called it, was working again, and I reached out as he held one hand up, grasping his cool, rough appendage in mine.

“Where are we?” he asked, and I shrugged.

“At sea. Or over it, anyway. We found the Gnome’s ship, and we’re headed back to the fleet. We’ve even got Mal as an escort,” I said simply.

“We won?” he asked, and for the second time that day, I had to bite back tears.

“Yes, and no,” I said, the pain in my voice clear. “We beat every fucker they threw at us, but Stephanos…” I said, breaking off. “He…”

“He died,” Oracle finished softly, taking over from me. “I was still on my way back, and I saw the fight. Stephanos stepped up and protected Jax from a Drow, giving him the time to recover, and the Drow killed him.”

“Are we safe now?” Bane asked quietly, and I nodded.

“As safe as we ever are,” I said.

“That good, eh?” he said, a low sub-sonic thrummm echoing around the room as I pulled him upright and hugged him.

“Damn glad you made it, mate.” I told him quietly, slapping him on the back.

“So am I,” he said simply.

“About what happened…” I started awkwardly, releasing him, and stepping back.

“The asshats tortured me, and I imagine you killed them for it?” he said and I nodded fervently. “And that prick, Joshua?”

“Oh, he’s dead,” I said grimly. “I did that one myself.”

“Then thank you,” Bane said sincerely. “Now, I find I really, really need some food…”

“Hah!” I said, barking out a quick laugh. “Always thinking with your stomach my friend!” I gestured to the door. “Come on; I’ll help you find some food.” I said, walking with Bane to make sure he didn’t collapse.

Each step he took was shaky, and he could barely climb the ladder to the upper deck before collapsing in exhaustion, but with my help, he managed to get to the wheelhouse. We got him some food, and I left him to rest in the bed at the rear of the room as I stretched out on the floor, closing my eyes in utter exhaustion for an hour.

Mal had caught up a few hours ago, having ignored the black ship at first, in favor of chasing down the merchantman and boarding it.

He’d basically looted it senseless, and being the sneaky amoral bastard that he was, when a pair of Drow appeared in the crew, ready to wreak havoc, he was paranoid enough that he’d been waiting for something. The pair had sprouted a dozen arrows a piece before they’d made it three feet.

He’d stripped the ship of the best of its goods for himself, tied up the crew, and put his own people in charge, then had escorted the merchantman back to join us, only noticing at the last minute that the black ship had never actually sunk. By that time, it was too late; they were far enough away that when they used their illusion magic, they disappeared without a trace.

He pulled alongside our ship and waved to us, shouting something about how he’d come to save my ass again, and I did the only thing I could.

I used ‘Soaring Majesty’ and leapt upwards, flying over the intervening space to land on his deck and stealing his thunder with the casual use of my new ability.

The side effect of giving all who saw me fly a boost to their morale was even better, as it literally made him furious, while