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

“I see you have your own trump cards!” he mumbled. “Really, a shadow incarnation in the third layer? Interesting... Send it forward, fifty steps or so.”

The corridors of the Crown were odd and unlike anything I had seen in Sphere before. The architecture wasn’t medieval in the slightest; mostly, it resembled the interior of a modern research building or even a spaceship. Futuristic design, cove lightning, smooth surfaces lined with metal, perfect cuts... The symbol of a woman’s head with a winged headband glistened on a matte-silver surface, her face frozen in a dignified half-smile.

The passage led into an inner courtyard shaped like a six-sided well. It split into six exits, three of which were locked. The same winged mask smiled from the metallic door leaves, and light originating from an unknown source shimmered somewhere above. When I tried to enter the hall, Svechkin stopped me. The shadow scout had already reached the center of the empty room...

Everything happened quickly enough to confuse me. A spectral whirlwind sprang into motion above the shadow, and graceful figures coming out of nowhere flickered around it, sliding through the air so naturally that I thought they must have wings. I only noticed flashing spells, elusive movements that blended together, and the glow of weapons I had never seen. The invisible warriors came into life for a few moments and disappeared again, leaving a pool of ectoplasm—my shadow, summoned with a level seven talent, hadn’t lasted even two seconds, despite its sky-high resistance values. It said a lot about their damage.

“Run! Quickly!” Svechkin gave me a push, and we took off, rushing into the hall. The developer’s intuition didn’t fail him, as a fountain of fire bloomed right in the spot where we had stood. It was a battle spell of some kind.

The booming sound made my ears pop. Led by Svechkin, we ran through the hall and up pure white stairs toward the closed doors—the largest ones in the center. Spectral figures surrounded us, raining down surprisingly powerful attacks on the Shield of Shadows. One percent down, two, three—even the entire PROJECT raid hadn’t hurt me as much! The dome’s health trickled down at an annoying speed.

“Stand aside!” Svechkin pulled at me, and I obeyed. A second later, another fiery fountain exploded right next to us. He must have had some kind of danger sense ability, or else how could the Gravekeeper predict attacks?

On the stairs, we faced the most furious resistance yet. I immediately destroyed the closed doors with a Bolide, and the invisible opponents banded together, doing their best to stop us from entering the gaping maw of the doorway. Silver and blue, futuristic armor flashed through the haze of the shadow shield, fitting the warriors like a glove. Wearing solid helmets with arrow-shaped visors, they spun around, fast as lightning, their weapons glowing with magic. In a way, those creatures reminded me of the Forged, the Forgeworlds constructs, yet they were completely different. The Forged were firmness and power personified, while the invisible flying fighters were speed and agility. Their swift, elusive movements felt strange to me, but I couldn’t figure out why.

Like an implacable steamroller, the Greater Shield of Shadows knocked them back as they charged at us. There were two types of enemies: some kept their distance, and some rushed in to close quarters. Melee fighters and mages? More and more of them came in, the reinforcements diving at us from above on their white bird-like mounts. However, the claws and beaks of those “birdies” gave off a metal glow, and their feathers clanged like a chain of clashing swords.

“Hurry, the Maidens are coming to life! The Stronghold is waking up!” Svechkin yelled, spurring me.

The Maidens? The Stronghold? I had no idea what he was talking about. At last, we burst through the doorway created by the Bolide and ran up a wide staircase. The shield had already lost half of its health. It wouldn’t last much longer, forcing us to use our flaming weapons against those strange creatures. For some reason, I didn’t want to engage them—after all, they were our allies, the knights of the Seven Brothers, the faction guarding the Crown. But how was I to explain that to them?

Then the staircase ended, and we charged into a large hall, spacious and well-lit. That’s when I realized why Svechkin had mentioned Maidens—honestly, I should have figured it out earlier, having seen the graceful silhouettes of our opponents. The hall looked like a throne room with one exception: on the opposite end of the entrance, instead of a chair, stood a rectangular stone sarcophagus surrounded by a blue glow. The alcoves in the walls of the hall were put together like a honeycomb, each slot full of translucent liquid resembling crystal or ice while a frozen human figure rested in its depths.

They were girls, young and pretty, their hair flowing down their shoulders, cold expressions on their delicate faces that seemed alien thanks to their elaborate tattoos. They looked like real-life valkyries. Each was clad in form-fitting scale armor, carried a winged helmet with a solid visor in the crook of her elbow, and leaned on a sword, an axe, or a spear. Their gear gleamed dull silver, indicating mithril, while their cloaks, mantles, and capes were various shades of blue, ranging from cyan to raven black. The symbol of a winged mask and a seven-pointed star was everywhere.

They were also coming to life, one after another. Apparently, our invasion had triggered that process, and it couldn’t be stopped. The crystal ice in the multilevel alcoves disappeared, and the valkyries stirred. As if following a telepathic command, they put on their helmets and charged into battle, becoming indistinguishable from those who had attacked us.

“She’s there. Can your shield hold for a little longer?” Svechkin asked me hoarsely, pointing at the sarcophagus on the platform. “I’d rather avoid killing