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

“Of course, Legion Prefect.” She straightened her shoulders and called over two of the bridge crew. “Tal, Viktor, get the cabin next to here, the big one, cleared out, right goddamn now!” The pair saluted and ran from the bridge.

“Grizz, Westin, Holtic, go help,” Romanus ordered, and all three saluted before sprinting to assist the other two.

“I’ll be okay…” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “It’s nothing you did; it’s Amon. The bastard never does things by half…” I squeezed my eyes shut, missing the glances the small group shared.

“Amon? As in, the Eternal Emperor Amon?” Romanus asked after several seconds, and I nodded, wincing as my head felt like it might fall off.

“Yeah, I can talk to him. Most of the time, he’s fuck-all use, but sometimes... wow… that hurt. Felt like downloading a kilo of ice cream into my brain. Talk about brain freeze…”

“Iced… cream?” Augustus asked in confusion.

“You guys don’t have that, huh?” I asked, glancing up at him blearily as he shook his head in confusion. “Well, you’re in for a treat a’ some point, then. My ex loved the stuff an’ insisted we learn t’ make it ourselves. Remin’ me when winter comes. Hell, remin’ me when I learn an ice spell,” I mumbled, slightly slurring my words.

“Lord Jax, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that looking at my collar would do…” Athena started, and I shook my head.

“No, nothing you did, don’t worry. It just made me aware of an issue we needed to address. How many freed slaves do we have with us; still collared, I mean?” I asked the group in general, and Alistor was the one to respond.

“One hundred and seven, Lord Jax,” he stated flatly.

“Then I have a hundred and seven reasons to get this sorted damn quickly,” I replied, making sure Oracle was safe as I stood up by cradling her to my chest. “I’ll sort this in the next few days, or at least, I’ll do my best. I promise, Athena.” I nodded to her. “As to the captaincy, if Elise picked you out, then yes, that’s good enough for me. The chief engineer should damn well know what the ship needs.” I paused, looking around. “I assume she is the chief engineer, right? When I spoke to her before, she was, anyway…”

“Yes, my lord,” Athena responded smiling widely. “Thank you! I won’t let you down. Elise is the chief engineer, and she’s been swearing constantly about some Skillbooks? She’d have been here now to greet you, but we couldn’t find her. She and her team are constantly running from issue to issue, trying to get the ship up and running properly.”

“Is everyone okay?” I asked Augustus, turning to him. “Oracle said they were, but I’ve no idea what’s going on here, and...”

“Point,” he said, shaking his head in apology. “Jax, how about we fill you in on everything first? Then you can make some quick decisions and go back to bed and get some rest?” His offer made me nod in agreement. “Prefect?” Augustus asked, and Romanus nodded to him to continue.

“Very well. So, if we roll back to the last few hours in the city, Jax, when we were boarding the ships and while Jian had his little ‘accident,’ Prefect Romanus and the rest of the Legion were taking the shipyards. They essentially stormed the security posts, wiped the floor with the city guards, and took command of the Battleship. We also made off with three cruisers, including the two that were in their berths and the one that we boarded straight from the Skyking’s lair. That’s the ‘Star’s Glory,’ which is a crappy little trader vessel, but it’s armed and it flies, so to hell with it. And last of all, three fast scouts, one we claimed, and two that were at rest. Mal came through for us, stripping the Stockpile down to the nails and rat shit. We’ve got more parts than we know what to do with. He brought us the essentials from the main Stockpile, and practically every manastone in the city, from what I can tell. There are several dozen tons of hardwood and planks, several dozen barrels of pitch and naphtha, all the nails we could ever need, and best of all, the sneaky bastard even raided the ships’ weapons store when we got to the shipyard. Made it out with ten cannons, two of which can’t be fired unless they’re integrated into the superstructure, they’re that powerful. The Legion and other crews also cleared out the rest of the stockpiles in the Shipyard as best we could. We’ve got everything from spare engines to toilet-seats. Lights to navigation equipment. Even the cooks have a dozen new knives each. Foodwise, we could feed these refugees for at least a year, provided they like beans and bread.” Augustus shrugged casually, as if to say it was all the same to him.

“Once you were injured, I took direct command,” Romanus interjected, taking over from Augustus. “I ordered the ships be boarded, and we took off, bearing south-east, after a discussion with Augustus and a disreputable man named Mal, who claimed to be your ‘right hand in all this mess.’ We had two of the cruisers with captains who knew what they were doing fire on the shipyards when we left, and, as we’d already been declared apostates, we took the opportunity to, ah… demonstrate our disapproval of the Dark Legion as we passed over their marshalling grounds…”

“We shit over the side,” Augustus clarified, making me laugh out load.

“Now, now, Maniple Primus… but yes, we, ah… did relieve ourselves thoroughly as we passed overhead. “Anyway… moving on, we set a course out to sea, waited until we were out of sight of the land, then adjusted course for the Sunken City. We’re currently about three hours out from landing. Unfortunately, we are merely limping along, due to the unfinished condition of the Battleship.