Soulstone: Awakening: A LitRPG novel (World of Ruul Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “I don’t think so,” she said, pulling my hand into the air and pointing at the scorpion-covered wall with it. “That’s the exit.”

  My heart sank. She was right. Dead center in the wall of scorpions was a doorway lined with glittering gemstones and polished skulls with golden symbols etched across them.

  “Maybe there’s another exit?” I offered, but even I didn’t believe it as I cast a furtive look around the room.

  “What’s the matter, boss?” George asked, nuzzling up against my leg like a cat. “Don’t like bugs?”

  “They’re not bugs!” Crash cried, whirling on the bunny, fists raised even though he’d have had to bend over to punch George. Only as he spun, his foot slipped on a bunch of diamonds, and he fell backward. His arms shot out as he tried to regain his balance while Two’ Manchu’s hands swiped at him in a desperate attempt to grab the falling priest. As the barbarian’s hands closed around empty air, Crash smashed into a heap of golden doubloons.

  For a moment it was completely silent, and as Crash lay there, eyes wide with fear, the wall of scorpions turned its gaze upon us as one.

  A cry of panic tore from my lips as I tore my scythe free just as the glimmering statues littering the treasure hall began to move. Their golden skin flaked off as the monstrous creatures within the statues tore themselves free of the metal cocoons like macabre butterflies.

  As they broke free, and turned their evil, rage-filled gaze upon us, all of the treasure melted into molten puddles of doom that shot into the air around us like super-heated metal geysers.

  “Imps!” Dark Heart cried, pointing at the creatures that had broken free of the statues and were now fluttering all around us. “Run!” she added, summoning her mana shield as the wall of scorpions began to shriek and chitter.

  Unfortunately, the word had barely left her lips when the scorpions surged toward us, blocking the doorway beneath a mass of glittering black shells, snapping pinchers, and poisonous tails.

  31

  “Do you know one of those OP skill combinations?” Two’ Manchu cried as the scorpions surged toward us. “Because I think we’re going to need it.”

  As the imps danced in the air all around us on wings of flame, their demonic devil tails glinting in the air, I was inclined to agree. If these imps were anything like the high level versions I’d faced in Titan Gate, we were going to need an ace up our collective sleeves fast because assuming they didn’t char us into ash, they could use those tails to cut us to ribbons.

  “Um…” Crash muttered, swallowing hard, and the look on his face made my heart sink. We were totally fucked. “Let me think…”

  “We don’t have time for that!” I called, gripping my scythe so hard my knuckles turned white with effort. “We need something now!”

  “Come on you apes, want to live forever?!” Dark Heart cried with a crazy amount of confidence and an insane gleam in her eye. As she gripped her warhammer and charged the closest imp, her mana shield threw blinding blue light across the floor.

  The imp hovered only a few feet off the ground, and as she charged, a sphere of writhing flame appeared in front of it.

  “Die, mortal!” it said in a scratchy, demonic voice that reminded me of the devil from Jack Black’s Tribute song. Then the motherfucker launched the fireball right at her.

  Dark Heart didn’t stop, instead, she shifted her weight on the balls of her feet while sliding her front foot forward and driving her warhammer into the center of the fireball. It exploded, sending flaming magic in every direction, but leaving her seeming relatively unscathed.

  As flaming debris rained down around her, the imp’s mouth fell open in shock, and she closed it with a Power Strike that obliterated the creature. My experience bar lurched upward slightly as an imp claw fell emptily to the ground. The quest item!

  “I’ve got an idea. I’ll hold back to scorpions while you guys kill the imps!” Crash cried, desperation filling his voice as he spun and planted his staff on the ground. “You shall not pass!”

  Magical energy exploded outward from him in a wall of seething flame. It spread outward across the length of the room, cutting the scorpions’ rush off in a wash of heat that melted the golden floor into slag. Sweat broke out on Crash’s forehead, and a quick glance at our party information told me that spell was drawing down his mana at a crazy rate.

  “By hold them off, you mean stall them for a few seconds,” Two’ Manchu said as he clapped the priest on the shoulder before glancing at George. “You ready to kick some imp ass, George or are you just gonna stay here and chew bubblegum?”

  George took a long hard look at Two’ Manchu before grinning. “It turns out I’m all out of gum, Tubby!”

  “That’s the spirit!” Two’ Manchu cried, pumping a fist. “I’ll go left, you go right!”

  As the bunny rabbit nodded to the barbarian, Two’ Manchu tried to slice an imp into twain with his new axe.

  Part of me wanted to help them, but none of this would matter soon. Sure we could fight, and maybe we’d kill a few monsters before Crash’s mana gave out, but that wasn’t the answer. No, there had to be a way to win that didn’t involve brute force because there was no way Crash could hold back that many scorpions long enough for us to stop all the imps. Hell, even if it did, we’d then have to fight the scorpions.

  As Dark Heart spun on her heel, she scooped up the imp claw and tossed it to me. “Take this!”

  I reached out and caught the imp claw as she charged the next closest imp, already focused back on the battle. As I stared down at the claw, I wondered why she’d given it to me, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

  “You have acquired quest item, imp claw. It has been deposited in your quest items tab,” Elizabeth said as the item vanished into my inventory.

  “Thanks!” I called to Dark Heart, then I threw myself to the left as a fireball struck the space I’d just occupied.

  “If you’re thankful, kill something!” she yelled backward, her warhammer whipping out like it had a mind of its own and taking down another imp. Every single time she swung the weapon, an imp died, and as I watched her turn them into glittering shards, I was instantly glad she was in our group.

  “Will do!” I said, spinning to confront an imp that had been trying to sneak up behind me, and from the looks of things, it’d brought a friend.

  “Die, human!” the imp screamed in a voice that was like the death cries of a tyrannosaurs rex.

  “Die yourself! Blade Rush!” I cried, surging forward with all the speed my magic-powered legs could muster. My scythe whipped around as energy arced along the blade.

  As the metal blade struck the imp, the creature exploded into a million shards and my experience bar lurched up again. It was a bit crazy because I knew the imps were level eight like me, but I’d just one-shot one. Was this the power of leveling up skills? If so, maybe Crash was right. Maybe it was better to pick a few skills and just focus on leveling those ones?

  I mean, okay, given enough time, I could max every skill, but at the moment, that wasn’t going to help me. No, at the moment, I was going to use Blade Rush because it was level three, and I needed these fuckers to die so I could get back to figuring out an escape plan.

  As I turned toward the next imp and utilized Blade Rush to charge the monster, the imp threw a fireball at Dark Heart. The blast struck her in the small of the back, sending her stumbling forward as she tried to Divine Hammer the imp in front of her.

  The blow missed, causing her to overextend, and as she did, the imp she’d been attacking blasted her full in the face with fire. She careened backward as I struck the imp in front of me with Blade Rush, obliterating it.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, turning to engage the imp attacking her as it summoned more fire, but before I could make it to her, two more imps attacked me. I threw myself to the left and rolled across the ground as their fire scorched the ground beneath where I’d been standing. Wow, talk about a close call.

  “Do I fucking lo
ok okay?” she cried, scrambling to her feet as another fireball flew at her. She deflected this one away with her shield, but even as she did, she was knocked backward a few steps. Her foot slipped on the gemstones strewn across the ground, and as she fell, the imp leapt on her and pummeled her with its fists.

  “Die! Die! Die-die-die-die!” the two imps sang in unison as they attacked me again. Hopefully, Dark Heart could be all “I’m a strong, independent woman” and save herself because at the moment, she was on her own.

  “No, you die!” I screamed in an impressive display of maturity as I got back to my feet and slashed at the monsters with my scythe to create some distance.

  They fluttered backward, easily avoiding my attack, which was good because it gave me some much needed space. Unfortunately, it gave them space too. Their hands began to glow as they summoned more fire, but I ignored it as I flung energy bolts at them. While the right bolt missed, my other blast caught the left one full in the face, snapping the creature’s head backward and extinguishing its summoned fire.

  The right one, unperturbed by the plight of its ally, flung its fireball at me, but I sidestepped it. Burning agony spread across the whole of my being as my health bar dropped by five percent, but I ignored it and slashed him across the back with my scythe.

  Steam spewed from the wounded imp as a horrific scream erupted from its mouth. The sound grated in my ears as I attacked again, driving the point of the scythe into its back once more as the left one recovered and lunged for me. As its claws tore into me and my health bar dropped, I sidestepped again, coming up behind it.

  “Power Strike!” I cried, bringing the scythe upward in an arc that sliced the imp in two. As the twin halves of the imp fell away and exploded into shards, the remaining monster lunged through the glittering remnants of its friend. Its claws lashed out, catching me across the chest as I sidestepped once more.

  The creature was already whirling around as I appeared behind it, and as I brought my scythe around, the bone handle crashed into the side of its head with a bone-crunching snap. The creature flew sideways, hit an immense pile of molten gold, and exploded.

  “Kahn, get down!” Two’ Manchu cried as his huge body hurtled through toward me.

  As I dropped to my belly to avoid the incoming barbarian, Two’ Manchu’s axe slashed through the space where I’d been, slammed into an imp that had been sneaking up on me. His blow knocked the creature to the ground like a tiny flaming comet whereupon Two’ Manchu kicked it like a soccer ball. The tiny creature flew backward, and as it did, a bolt of concentrated ice slammed into it, turning it into an imp-sickle that fell to the ground and shattered into a zillion pieces.

  As I tore my gaze from the creature’s demise to try to find Dark Heart, Crash screamed and collapsed to his knees. My eyes widened in horror, and my gut clenched as his mana reached zero. Sweat clung to his brow, and his chest heaved as the wall of fire he’d summoned died away.

  Instantly, the scorpions surged forward, throwing their bodies across the river of molten metal Crash’s spell had created. The smell of burning carapace filled my nose as the creatures screamed and died moments before being trampled by more of their brethren.

  “Fuck!” I cried, sprinting forward and grabbing Crash under the armpits. I pulled him backward as the first of the scorpions surged over the backs of their scorched brethren and crossed the river of molten metal.

  “Give me some mana,” Crash whispered, seizing my wrist with one clammy hand. “Fast!”

  “How can I give you mana?” I cried, struggling to pull him backward, but he was too heavy and the ground was too strewn with debris for us to move very quickly.

  “Don’t resist.” Crash smirked and shook his head before shutting his eyes. “Mana drain.”

  As he said the words, sheer, unrelenting agony hit me all at once. I cried out as blue energy erupted from my mouth and hit Crash in the center of the chest. My heart hammered in my chest as blue light pulsed between us for a second before my mana bar drained completely away and his refilled. As the last of my mana emptied into Crash, the pain stopped and dizziness swept over me.

  “Thanks!” he cried, kicking away the closest scorpion as I collapsed to the ground next to him. The world swam as he raised his hand once more and a new firewall erupted from the ground between the molten river and us. The rage-filled screams of scorpions filled my ears as they snapped, crackled, and popped in the flames.

  “I didn’t know you could steal mana like that,” I wheezed, trying to suck in air I knew wasn’t real. Even still, I could feel the blood pounding in my skull. The heat of the flames washed over me as Crash glanced in my direction.

  “It was a skill never released to the public for balance issues,” he replied, not bothering to look at me as he concentrated on holding the wall in place. “You need to use Body to Soul and fill yourself back up so I can drain you again.” He snapped his fingers. “Snappy, snappy, mana mule.”

  “What if I get hit with low health?” I asked, taking in a deep breath and trying to calm myself. Behind me, I could hear the battle with the imps raging.

  “Don’t get hit,” Crash said as I used Body to Soul. Stars flashed across my vision as my health dropped and my mana surged upward. I did it again, causing my health to dwindle down to forty percent. Then I healed myself with what mana I’d regained. By the end, I’d net myself twenty percent mana.

  I repeated the process again and again until my mana was halfway full, and I would have continued, but at that point, the flames sputtered out. Again the scorpions surged forward.

  “This is a stupid plan,” I said, taking Crash’s outstretched hand. Once again, blinding agony filled every inch of my being as my mana transferred into Crash and I collapsed to the ground breathing hard.

  “Hurry! I didn’t get nearly enough this time,” Crash said, calling back a new firewall, and as I tried to unscramble my brains, I realized why he hadn’t just pulsed the spell. The initial cast took ten times the amount of mana that maintaining it did, which was sort of lame because if it hadn’t been that way, we could have killed all the scorpions with relatively low cost.

  “This isn’t going to work,” I said, shaking my head as I used Body to Soul once more. “Next time I’ll have less to give you and then we’ll just be dead.”

  “Then think of something else,” he said right before a fireball hit him in the back of the head. He fell forward and his concentration along with the new firewall evaporated. I spun to see an imp readying another fireball. The creature had broken off from the group that had surrounded George, Two’ Manchu, and Dark Heart, probably because there were so many of them surrounding them that it couldn’t get to them. Fuck.

  “Get back!” I cried, launching an energy bolt at the imp. It met my magical attack with a fireball that engulfed my spell and kept coming, reminding me of basically every episode of Dragon Ball Z ever. Only in this case, I was Bardock, and this motherfucker was Freeza.

  I pulled Crash to the ground, allowing the spell to pass over us and blow the scorpions hurrying to cross the molten metal floor into smithereens. Even still, for every scorpion that died in that blast, ten more took its place. No, there was no way we were going to win this. At least, not like this.

  As I scrambled to my feet, the imp lobbed another fireball at me. Again, I dodged and again it hit the scorpions. A cry of rage erupted from the arachnids, and as the first few crossed the molten divide, they ran past Crash and I. As I avoided another fireball that hit the only scorpion angling toward me, the pair of scorpions that had passed by us leapt through the air and tackled the imp. Their claws and stingers lashed out, tearing the imp limb from limb.

  As an idea filled my tiny brain, I spun on my heel, took one look at the oncoming horde, and decided to go for it.

  “Crash, get up!” I cried, grabbing him by the arm and hoisting him to the feet as more scorpions came rushing forward. “I’ve got a plan.”

  “What’s your plan?” he wheezed, sucking in
a huge gulp of oxygen as I pulled him back toward Dark Heart and the others.

  “Make the imps shoot at us, then dodge the fireballs so it hits the scorpions. I think we can get them to fight each other.” As I spoke, Crash looked at me like I was crazy, but then he nodded.

  “Fuck it. I’m sure I’ve heard of worse plans. Let me drop agro first.” He raised his hand and silver light spilled over his form. Instantly the scorpions stopped, standing there for a split second in confusion as Crash summoned his spectral blades. “Not sure where I’ve heard a worse plan, but surely somewhere.” The blades lashed out stabbing the imps surrounding our friends in the back and causing them to turn toward us as Crash drew agro from them.

  The fire in their hands came flying, and as it did, we dove for cover. The fire destined for us smashed into the scorpions nipping at our heels and reduced them to charcoal in the space of a second. More chittering ripped from the arachnids’ throats as the imps trying to barbeque us readied another volley.

  Only they never succeeded in blasting us because since Crash had dropped all his agro, the scorpions locked onto the imps, and an eye-blink later, attacked the flying devil monsters with reckless abandon.

  “Guys! Hurry!” I cried, getting to my feet as the scorpions momentarily ignored us to focus on the imps. In seconds there was an all-out war between the monsters which was good because we needed to get out of here double quick.

  “We’re coming!” Dark Heart cried, slamming her shield into an imp who had turned its back on her to deal with the scorpion horde. As its body crashed into the snapping arachnids, Two’ Manchu hoisted George under the other arm like a rodent football and grabbed her around the waist.

  “Geronimo!” he yelled at the top of his lungs before leaping through the hole in the impish line. He crashed down beside Crash and me and shot me a grin. “Good plan, but we’re getting low on imps,” he added as he dropped the bunny and the girl and began running for the far door.

  “Noted!” I said as the other ran after him, leaping the pools of molten metal. I cast one last look at the fight between the monsters before turning back toward the door. As I did, my eye caught something shiny. The dragon egg was perched precariously next to a pile of molten treasure.