Path of Spirit (Disgardium Book #6): LitRPG Series, Dan Sugralinov [the reader ebook .TXT] 📗

would be the first and last — after laying a route for us, he could portal us into the trap cell deep within the mountain himself, then we’d all be able to teleport there through the depths.

The goblin girl in the red boiler suit, Proverix, waved us over and we all followed her into the woods.

“Wait for me!” the gnome shouted after we were already walking among the gigantic trees. A barely visible cannon gleamed in the distance.

It really did look like a colossal cannon. Its twenty-yard barrel was aimed at the earth, and a metal ladder led to the very top. Chief Magineer Fitzbos and Bomber climbed up it and opened the hatch. Bomber climbed in and Fitzbol closed the round door behind him, spinning the hatch seal to lock it tight.

For a few minutes, Bomber complained in group chat that he was claustrophobic, scared and lonely, and asked what was happening. In the meantime, Fitzbos returned to the goblin woman in the red boiler suit and shouted into her ear:

“Proverix, confirm readiness!”

The goblin girl asked the gnome if he was ready.

“Seismic activity unchanged!” he declared importantly.

“Confirming initiation!” Proverix shouted, looking at a control panel floating in the air beneath her nose.

“Three, two, one… Fire!”

Chubby junior magineer Jabatik jabbed a big red button at the base of the cannon, knelt down on one knee and covered his ears. I noticed he was crossing his fingers.

Rings of light began to roll down the barrel one after another, getting faster and faster. The growing hum made my ears pop, but no explosion came — on the contrary, the silence was deafening.

“Object delivered!” Fitzbos declared triumphantly, staring devotedly at Kusalarix.

She puffed smoke at him:

“Pray to Maglubiyet that he returns.”

A few moments later, Bomb popped out of thin air nearby. Seeing our looks, he smiled broadly and gave a thumbs-up.

“It’s the perfect trap! I made sure to check the map — it’s a separate zone.”

After his skill cooled down, the warrior took the whole group to the trap. Now we all had the route.

“We’ll have another five traps ready by the end of the day,” Kusalarix told me after we got back. “We’re puttin’ one of ‘em on Kharinza.”

“In three days, we’ll be able to start building a temple on Terrastera,” I said. “Can the builders get it done in twenty-four hours? Less, even — I’ll need a little time to dedicate the temple to Tiamat.”

“They’ll get ‘er done,” the goblin woman answered. Then she took me by the arm and led me off to the side. “I got something to discuss in private, Scyth. Best in my office.”

Nodding, I watched with a smile as the boys decided which of them should go back to Mengoza. This was their first time in Kinema and they all wanted to see the city.

“I won’t be joining you,” Crawler said. “Irita and I are going to take a look at the Bazaar, see what we can get for the workers and the clan. So Bomb and Infect, you guys play rock-paper-scissors for it.”

I didn’t see how that ended before Kusalarix and I teleported to her office. She didn’t even sit down before getting down to business:

“The League has a message for ya. I mean, a message has come to you through the league, but it ain’t from us. One of the undyin’ made a very generous donation to Maglubiyet and asked the League to help him contact you. His exact words were: ‘I am just like Scyth, and I wish him only well. I need his protection.’”

Kusalarix offered me a Faded Coin.

“You don’t have to take it. Decide for yourself. It’ll link you to the undying one who left the message. His name is Hiros.”

Hesitating, I took the communication device and put it away in my inventory.

Then I said good-bye to the goblin woman, activated Depths Teleportation and selected the edge of the Lakharian Desert as my destination — the place where I’d once fought Ervigot.

Hinterleaf hadn’t said anything, which meant the legates hadn’t yet come to the imprisoned Mogwai’s aid. My stats still weren’t done redistributing, so there was no point in going back to Oyama. I’d taken Flaygray and Nega to Latteria, and they’d only just begun their search for a mortal who sold his soul to demons. The castle construction would go on without me. This was the first free time I’d had in maybe two full months.

My curiosity overwhelmed my fears of falling into an ambush. Choosing the desert as my destination, I’d already made my decision. I had to find out who this Hiros was and what he wanted.

I activated the communication coin.

First a narrow window opened allowing us to talk to and see each other, but all I could see was a brick wall. The window expanded into a fully-fledged portal, but nobody emerged from it.

An instant later, a fountain of blood sprayed from my eviscerated chest.

The instant Sleeping Vindication explosion tossed up tons of sand, but dealt no damage to whoever had made mincemeat of my flesh. I stepped back, seeking my enemy with my eyes, took damage and, when I’d finally decided to run, I took a mighty blow to the head.

Losing my balance, I fell to the sand and realized with horror that I’d lost a third of my health already, my armor was full of holes and more and more were appearing, and I saw nothing and no one before me.

 

 

Chapter 20. Audacious Demonstration

I WAS USED TO fighting without seeing my enemy. How many times had I been covered in mobs and just waved my fists around?!

Although the situation was different now, not a pile of enemies but a single invisible one, I fought the same way, striking blind in the hope of my Hammerfist finding