Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (english reading book TXT) 📗

I had put into the talent. The most destructive options were unavailable. Interesting... I spent several minutes studying the abilities I had. Developing that skill to the max probably allowed one to transform into a large shadow predator with all of its lethal endowments.

I needed four shadows to form the required elements. I stood up from the coffin, invisible and incorporeal, and dark wings composed of darkness itself manifested behind me—the same as Tormis had.

I shot upward, savoring the flight, and turned around on my wings, spinning, diving, and soaring, like a child who got a new toy. I didn’t need a flying mount anymore! Too bad that it only worked in the Shadow Plane, and my sojourn there was limited to ten minutes per day. I couldn’t linger.

The green lights of the Abyssal disappeared in the distance, and thick clouds of mist floated down below, huge serpentine shapes looming among them. Meanwhile, the Crown of Ice grew closer and closer, shining through the shadow like a dazzling star. Yes, distance felt very different in the Shadow Plane! Just thirty seconds before, the Crown was on the horizon, but there it was, close enough to touch. I had to avert my eyes from its brilliance, as looking at it hurt.

I circled around it and found a nice landing spot next to a weird gap between pointed facets that resembled a giant arched doorway. Just like the entire fortress, it was shrouded in an impervious iridescent veil—the shield that Thrainul had deemed indestructible.

Well, I was on location. As I returned to the material world, I sighed in regret, touching my back. The shadow wings were gone. Too bad; I really enjoyed flying.

So what should I do next? Decompress Svechkin? As I threw it into the snow, the jade fencer figurine transformed into a bandaged mummy clad in elegant leather armor. However, without a fancy head-dress, he no longer resembled a dandy musketeer. Without a word, I handed the Gravekeeper his rapier and plumed hat.

“Huh, it’s really the Crown,” Svechkin said, seemingly surprised. “How much time has passed?”

“Eight and a half hours. Did you expect to see the Magister instead?”

“Possibly. Eight hours is a good time, nice.”

“By the way, I’ve always wanted to know what NPCs feel like inside the statuette,” I said. “Or when awaiting respawn for a full day and night.”

“Nothing. Time stops,” Rocky replied dryly. “For me, a second ago, we were talking inside the cave on the Isle of Madness.”

“Hmm... Then how were you going to leave in twelve hours? Were you bluffing?”

“No. I have my own secrets. “ The Gravekeeper chuckled. “All right, let’s get to work. Funnily, you’ve picked the right spot—this is the entrance. Now we need to crack it open.”

The icy needles tangled together really did remind me of humongous arched gates. But how would we open them?

“Your Key can summon True Fire,” Svechkin said. “I know this for a fact—you wouldn’t have killed the Guardian without it. Whirlwind, Warrior, something with uncapped damage. It could overload the citadel’s defenses. Go!”

He pointed at the rainbow glow of the barrier that blocked our way. Actually, using Blazing Warrior had occurred to me back when Thrainul told me about players trying to break into the Crown; the idea was nothing new. The cooldown was already over, and I was ready.

Rocky flinched when my body transformed into blue fire. It must have been a frightening sight—a human-shaped mass of fire incinerating everything in its path. Too bad that Blazing Warrior worked only for a minute. As I saw clouds of smoke rise around me and felt myself falling into the ice, I charged forward.

The iridescent glaze immediately disappeared, bursting with a sorrowful ringing hovering on a single note. The northern lights in the sky flashed and went dark. A new line appeared in the combat log—the damage I had dealt had so many digits that I couldn’t count them. Yes, ordinary players didn’t stand a chance here.

As the glow disappeared, I saw something similar to domed gates frozen in ice under a thick layer of hoarfrost. Large and double-leaved, they made us look like insects crawling at the foot of a colossus. Svechkin shouted from behind, having wisely chosen to stay away from me.

“Forward! Go forward!”

I picked up speed and rushed straight at the frost-covered wall that barred my path. I went right through it, barely feeling any resistance. Around me, ice melted, hard as steel, and stone crumbled, while metal curled in the glow of heat. In the cloud of steam, smoke, and sparks, I finally fell out into an empty space, leaving behind a gaping human-shaped hole with incandescent edges. The Gravekeeper carefully worked his way through the gap, cursing under his breath.

We found ourselves on the other side of the gates in a high and wide corridor. The walls and ceiling formed a truncated triangle covered by dimly glowing metal plates of dull silver color. Right before our eyes, the light turned crimson and started blinking, signifying alarm, and a booming siren sounded somewhere in the depths of the Crown.

I stopped. Blazing Warrior was counting down the last seconds, and Svechkin cursed again, side-stepping my melted footprints—the floor was hopelessly ruined, some of the plates having lost all durability.

“Alarm! It was triggered by the unsanctioned opening of the citadel!” he said. “Romanova installed a defense of some kind. That’s just like her. We need to go deeper!”

“Traps?”

“Hell if I know what she could have put here,” the developer grumbled. He summoned his Key, and the glowing blue shuriken formed a spinning ring around his head.

“Keep close!” I said, activating the Greater Shield of Shadows. Whatever awaited us inside the Crown of Ice, a ten-million damage safety bag couldn’t hurt. Svechkin gave me a nod of approval, studying the translucent sphere around us, and repeated it upon seeing