A Litrpg and Gamelit Harem Adventure Bundle: (4 Novels) Page 11

  “You haven’t seen your faces yet, have you? They look like something died and you’re still trying to gather the courage to tell me.” She said, “Wait. Who died?”

  “No one, but it might happen if we don’t help them,” I replied and got up.

  “Them? Who’s them? What the hell happened yesterday?”

  I told her the same thing we told Kitty and that was all she needed to know. She interrupted me several times to ask questions which I promptly answered.

  When I finished she smiled at me. “What are we waiting for? Let’s save them. Anyone who inconveniences Tillian is a friend of mine.”

  “Can’t you see we’re waiting for everyone?” Brie reacted aggressively.

  “Can’t you see I’m trying to help instead of hiding behind closed doors?” Joannie grumbled.

  I had to ask them to calm down before they started a fight. They had to solve their problems before it would cause a rift between the team but they didn’t seem eager to talk, much less to find a solution. Luckily, Loras, Jones, and Rashida were already outside. They knocked on the door and informed us that they were heading out for a drink.

  I ordered them to stop.

  The moment itself seemed to stop at my request. I had shouted from the top of my lungs and even the people downstairs were asking what had happened. The first one to walk up next to me was Jones. He caught me off guard. I thought he was going to attack me, but he seemed to take me seriously. It was the first time.

  “What happened?” He said as the others got behind him.

  “You better come in and fast. We’re wasting precious time.”

  “Sure. Nice to see you’re already level 6,” Said Loras, “and thank you for your help yesterday.”

  I didn’t even remember that I’d leveled up and had yet to distribute my points. Once we were out of this forsaken place I’d have time for that. For the third time, I recounted yesterday’s events and made sure to add all the tiny details, except for the part where I non-accidentally killed someone. Everyone agreed to help except for Jones that was still thinking.

  “Do you trust them? Are you sure they’re not spies or that they won’t try to kill us when we least expect?”

  “We don’t know if they'll try to kill us, but we also can’t let them die. Will you be able to deal with the guilt of knowing you could have saved them and you didn’t?” Brie answered and glanced vigorously at Jones.

  “Sure. Let’s do it. Take this.” He said and gave her his invisibility items and everyone else did the same.

  We collected all of them and there were ten bottles of 15 seconds invisibility items, and nine of 30 seconds. It had to be sufficient to take them to the beach. We showed them all the information we had on the guards and divided the team.

  Joannie, Rashida, and Kitty would prepare the ship while I, Brie, and Jones would rescue Foxy and her friends. Once we got there, the ship would be ready to leave. When someone finally joined the pieces and understood what had happened we would be far away.

  It wasn’t the most brilliant plan of all time, but it had to work.

  We said our goodbyes and wished good luck to the other group.

  Chapter VI

  It was a ten-minute walk. We covered ourselves with our cloaks and walked toward the sewers.

  “Where are you going using those awful, patched cloaks on such a sunny day?” Said a familiar voice behind us. We turned around and the bartender from the previous day was staring at us, smirking and waving. His teeth were slightly yellow, and he had a dagger on his belt. With the shimmering, iridescent lights from the tavern, I hadn’t even noticed he had green eyes. He had surprised us, and we needed to snap out of it.

  “So… We were just wandering around. Nothing else.” I said, trying my best to improvise.

  “You wouldn’t have anything to do with what happened yesterday, would you?”

  “Yesterday? We have no idea what you’re talking about.” Brie replied in a heartbeat.

  “I’m sure you don’t,” He said and leaned forward. His face was next to mine, and he whispered, “You’ll have to face yourself before you fight the faceless man.”

  Jones stepped forward, and the bartender stepped away.

  “Good luck on your journey. I hope you’re successful.” He said before turning around.

  “What did he say?” Brie asked, clearly suspicious.

  “Wished me good luck,” I answered.

  His words resonated through my mind. How could he know? Was he really just a bartender? I had so many unanswered questions, and he just disappeared into thin air. He never reached the corner, and there wasn’t an alley where he could have hidden. He vanished just like that.

  I wanted to go look for him but Brie elbowed me and told me to forget about it, time was running out. We hastened our pace until we got to the sewers’ entrance. Sunbeams crept through the small cracks in the ceiling making us able to see the tunnel more clearly.

  The smell was awful, but at least I didn’t see any mice. Brie took the lead as she was the only one who knew the route. I was glad she had chosen to come with us because I’d be lost as soon as we stepped foot in here. After a while, the ancient door finally appeared before us. We knocked on the door and waited for Foxy to open it.

  “Who’s that guy?” She said and pointed at jones.

  “You better not point fingers at me, kid.” He replied with an aggressive tone.

  “Calm down everyone. He’s on our team. The rest are preparing the ship. Are you ready to leave?”

  They all grabbed their backpacks and said “yes” in unison. Foxy stayed behind, staring at the room where they spent two weeks while everyone left the decaying place.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as I walked up to her.

  “I am. This place may be rotting, but it saved our lives. It deserves a proper goodbye.” She muttered, tears fell down her face, and she tried to hide them.

  “Everything will be fine from now on. You got to believe me.” I replied, trying to make her feel better.

  She stared at me and asked me if I was sure, if I believed my own words, and even after I told her I did she seemed to have a few doubts. I could understand why. She had a rough path, and it became difficult to believe in empty promises. I’d have to show her that I meant what I said. It was the only way.

  “Foxy, there’s something I need to ask you.”

  “You want me to pretend that I didn’t see you killing a guard, that’s it right?” She said nonchalantly.

  “Yes… It’s better if my team doesn’t find out about it. It would be hard to explain why.”

  “Sure. You’re afraid of yourself aren’t you?” She asked me, and grabbed my hands, “I know you didn’t need to kill him, but you did. That’s something that won’t go away. I won’t ever forget myself for killing two of my friends. I’m not the one who pierced the sword through their hearts, but stealing from Tillian was my idea. You need to find a way to live with yourself, or the guilt will consume you.”

  Before I could even answer, Brie told us to hurry up. “You’re walking too slow. This only works if we’re fast enough to get to the ship without anyone realizing we left.”

  An order was an order.

  We quickened our pace and joined the rest of the group. We took less than 10 minutes to get to the entrance when we were faced with another problem. Their eyes weren’t used to the sun anymore. While we were in the alley, we were safe because it was between two buildings so the sun didn’t reach us.

  “No problem. You’re going to walk with your face looking at the ground. You’ll be invisible so no one will catch you. But you have to walk as fast as you can. Stay behind us and we’ll protect you if something happens.” Brie said.

  She was the personification of a hero. Part of me wished to be her while the other knew that for as long as I had those thoughts I would never be a real hero. I’d become the opposite if I succumbed to the pressure, to the voices, and to the chains they had around my faint heart. As
always she took the lead, and we followed her. We were half-way there when three guards rounded the corner, and one of them told us to stop.

  Fuck. This couldn’t be happening. If there were only three guards near us we could fight them off. However, that wasn’t the case. Five more stood still a few meters away from us. Fear went away, my eyes widened, and I put my hand near my sword. No one dared to kill them except for me. I had to do what was necessary.

  “We are heading to the tavern,” Jones replied.

  “So soon?”

  “You know what they say. Morning is the best time to drink.” He added, hoping they would go away

  Foxy put her hand on mine and stopped me from wielding my sword. Despite not being able to see her I could feel her soft, delicate hand gripping mine. I took a long, deep breath and calmed down. Jones would figure a way to get us out of there.

  “I never heard that.” One of the guards said.

  “Neither did I” another one completed.

  “You must be from a different part of the world. Nothing wrong with that.” He said and tried his best impersonation of a smiley person.

  “I don’t think I have ever seen you around here.” The chubby guard affirmed.

  “We arrived yesterday. We went to talk to Tillian.” Brie replied and gave a step forward.

  They looked at each other. Their faces transmitted regret and fear.

  “We’re sorry. You’re free to go. Don’t tell him this happened please.”

  “We won’t, now let us passed. I’m dying for a good, sweet drink.” Jones said and began walking.

  They let us go and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as he pretended to be walking to the tavern which was located near the city’s entrance. We could feel them gazing at us, making sure we weren’t lying and ready to start a brawl there if needed. Foxy and her friends kept drinking the invisibility potions until there were only six left.

  The scorching heat burned our wrists and hands and made us sweat like we were a healthy river. My outfit was soaked, I had sweat falling down my forehead, and into my eyes. A few meters looked like several kilometers and objects that were motionless now waved from side to side. Even my feet seemed to be stuck on the ground and every step forward was a tremendous sacrifice. Jones seemed to thrive in the worst conditions and walked faster than usual while the rest of us were breathless and in desperate need of water.

  “We are almost there,” Jones muttered.

  He was right, we were maybe twenty, thirty steps away. The guards were still staring at us. Fifteen more had joined those three that had stopped us.

  “The tavern is right there. As soon as he walks past it, the guards will start chasing us. We’re going to run as fast as we can, okay?” Brie explained.

  It was the final lap. The race was coming to an end, and we had to sprint our way to the victory. Their armor was made for these conditions, suited to this type of ground and heat. They could still catch us if we didn’t reach the ship in time. Rashida could use his arrows to cover us, but first, we needed to get to the beach.

  From where we were, all we could see were their friend’s heads impaled on spears. There was dry blood on the sticks, and their eyes had leaped out of their sockets. The invisibility items ended, and Foxy and her friends’ body appeared before us. Foxy was clenching her fist, and her veins were protruding along her arms.

  “Get ready. Take one last breath.” Brie said, and took a long deep breath before shouting, “RUN”

  The pain and the sun weren’t enough to stop us. Our bodies ached and our knees trembled but we didn’t stop. I looked over my shoulder and saw that over twenty guards were running toward us. They were shortening the distance, and we still had to go through the forest.

  “Keep running, I’ll cover you,” Jones said and stopped.

  The guards were getting to him when suddenly a scintillating green light spread through his hands. He whispered a few sentences in a dead language and the crows, snakes, spiked shrubs and even liana’s trees all worked together to prevent guards from entering the forest.

  Jones fell on one knee, breathless and unable to get up.

  “Go, go. I’ll help him.” I shouted to Brie.

  I went back and tried to help him get up but he couldn’t move. Half of his body had become clay while the other was paralyzed and had small lightning bolts running through it.

  “Powerful, dark magic has a price.” He said, “I can control the trees, but to have the animals on my side I needed to resort to an old enchantment… I found it in an old cave where evil resided… but I never thought I would need to use it.” He said, taking brief pauses to breathe.

  “I’m not going to leave you here,” I said as I tried to think of a way to take him with me.

  The guards were still busy, but Jones was out of magic. There seemed to be more guards coming, we didn’t have much time left, so I did the only thing I could think of. I knelt in front of him, turned around, and told him to get on my back.

  “I’ll carry you, but we need to be fast,” I said.

  I got even closer to him and he wrapped his hands around my chest, and his legs around my belly. His breath was warm and made the few hairs I had near my ears stand up.

  I could still see Foxy’s taller friend, who was the tail of the group, and I focused on following him. If I stopped seeing him I’d get lost. Jones was heavier than I expected, which was slowing me down considerably.

  “Sorry about this. I thought I could handle the consequences.” He said and gripped his legs tighter around my body.

  There was no way I’d quit, we had come so far, and it wasn’t our time. I could feel it in my bones. We still had lots of adventures ahead of us, more frightening enemies, and songs dedicated to us to hear. There was only one thing to be done.

  I opened the door to the evil voices.

  They spread through my mind and their screams echoed through my frail body. Fear dissipated, and so did every other emotion, my body regained its full strength and went beyond that. Adrenaline ran through my veins, and I ran faster, Jones’ body now weighing the same as a feather.

  I caught up with the group in less than a minute.

  Everything was in slow-motion, and the colors were brighter. It was like I had unlocked my full potential at the expense of my dignity and feelings. Out of nowhere, a huge wave of wind coming from the city made everyone fall. A loud ringing noise came from the depths of the forest. Dozens, if not hundreds, of steps, were marching in our direction.

  Tillian’s power was close and the voices got louder.

  “You can feel and hear the darkness coming, can’t you?” Jones asked.

  “I can,” I said in a monotone voice.

  “You have evil within you. I felt it as soon as I saw you. It was why I didn’t want you on this trip. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to endure it. It can be painful to have those voices in your head, telling you to do inexplicable and gruesome things to those you love, but right now you need to be stronger. The beach is right there.” He said and pointed to the last line of trees ahead of us.

  The clearing creaked through the empty spaces between each tree, and its leaves. Brie helped everyone get up while Jones climbed onto my back once more. It was now or never. Things had changed, we weren’t running to get out of there anymore, we were running for our lives.

  The first thing we saw when we set foot on the beach was three corpses on the sand. Our friends had probably killed them to get to the ship. Yesterday’s memories lingered on my corrupted mind. The blood dripping from the guard’s throat, his deafening scream, the look on Brie’s eyes…

  I stood still despite hearing the steps getting closer. Rashida had his bow ready, and Joannie had two daggers in her hands.

  She had probably stolen from the dead bodies.

  “You need to be stronger Kratom. It all depends on you. Do you want to be a hero? Do you want to save Online Fantasy Harem? It doesn’t matter what your goal is, but it matters if you fight for it.”
Jones shouted.

  Fuck. I needed to snap out of it.

  We were meters away, just one last burst of effort and I'll make it. I ran to the ship the faster I could, with dozens of guards hot on my tail. Rashida was using his icy arrows to paralyze them and block their passage. We all got onto the ship and were ready to leave when we heard the guard’s bodies being crushed.

  Tillian stood behind them.

  He had slaughtered his subordinates’ bodies just so he could get closer to us. Hesitation wasn’t his thing, nor was forgiveness.

  Thankfully the ship started moving.

  “This isn’t over.” Joannie said, “You better get down.”

  Dozens of archers flooded the beach and Tillian’s ordered them to aim at us, and not at the ship. He didn’t want to damage the ship or watch us sink. Instead, his desire was much darker, he wanted to kill us despite knowing what our mission was. The archers were waiting for his signal.

  “FIRE.” He shouted.

  The sun hid behind the arrows. There were hundreds, and they were all heading toward us. Tillian let out a maniacal laugh, causing fear among those of us on the ship. Foxy grabbed my hand, apologizing for it at the same time.

  Everything was happening at the same time, and it was all too fast. I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable death. Even if Brie used her fire magic, it wouldn’t be strong enough to stop all of the arrows. We had fought bravely but sometimes being the good guys wasn’t enough.

  Seconds passed and nothing happened.

  I hadn’t felt pain, and I surely wasn’t dead. I cautiously opened my eyes and saw that the arrows were gone. Silence fell upon the whole place as everyone tried to figure out what had happened.

  “There” Someone shouted.

  Everyone looked around, trying to discover where “there” was. My eyes stopped at the sight of a familiar figure. He stood still, on the left corner of the beach, with his scorched hands above his head.

  No one said anything until Tillian’s voice made our knees buckle.

  “Arrest him. That motherfucker. How dare he interrupt us. You’re going to die, but I promise you it will be slow, it will be agonizing.” He shouted and then burst out laughing.