Welcome to Hero of Rome, a litRPG historical fantasy set in Ancient Rome. If you’re new here, start the story in Chapter 1.
Enjoy the chapter!
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Marcus Antonius, Hispania's favorite problem-solver, takes a hands-on approach to a local tribe's attempt at independence, reinforcing the idea that Roman control is more of a 'forever' kind of relationship on the Iberian Peninsula.
For a terrifying moment, neither I nor the towering cyclopses moved. Just stay still, I thought, only to realize my rain-drenched legs were visible.
Instinctively, I tried to turn on my invisibility.
Nothing worked.
Shroud of Shadows (lvl 2):
Cooldown 80%: 1.6 hours remaining
Oh god, I thought as the blood-red text disappeared. Another awful realization struck me simultaneously: my armor, weapons, gear, and treasure were absent from my body.
System Message: "Max, you’ve been skulking around under the Shroud of Shadows for a solid 2 hours, enjoying the thrill of non-existence to mortal eyes. Bravo! But here's the rub: you're on cooldown for another 1.6 hours. You can't just blink back into obscurity whenever you fancy. You are not that experienced yet. Pluto demands patience, or perhaps it's just me enjoying the suspense of your predicament. Good luck with those cyclopses, by the way, I informed them that you slew one of their comrades."
“That one killed Serraticus,” one of the stinking giants said, prompting the others to growl.
Before I could scramble away, the one who pointed at me seized me by his hand and lifted me to the sky. The cyclops opened his jaws, blood and dark sewage dripping from his rotting teeth. I almost passed out from the stench alone.
“Ferox!” another cyclops said as he grasped my captor’s arm, this one rather large in the middle. “I ain’t have cooked meat in days. Plenty of corpses to chew on while he cooks.”
There was a mumbling of agreement from the other cyclopses.
“Fine,” Ferox huffed, sending nausea into my stomach from his exhaling. “I get first bite though.”
The others seemed content with my fate which I had zero say over. Ferox clumsily went to work tying me with rope around my hands and feet. It would be useless to do anything at this point, so I chose to be as patient as one could be amid monsters who were reveling at the thought of devouring me. Panic almost overwhelmed me to the point of inaction, but I reminded myself that I still had one trick up my sleeve to survive: the futures.
As the cyclopses descended onto the bloodied and desecrated hideout, I got a clearer view of how many opponents I faced: about seven. That was still too many to face alone, I had barely survived my first encounter with one. But at least it could be possible to isolate them and hopefully only need to attack just one.
Upon reaching the base, the cyclopses spread out and set to work scavenging for loot and bodies. I had to look away as several of them messily consumed armor and flesh from the fallen Roman soldiers and the bandits.
Try to think, I thought as Ferox made a makeshift cooking spit to hang me over near one of the cave openings to hide from the rain. Quicker than I expected, the fire was lit beneath my stomach and my skin began to feel the heat from the growing flame.
Health: 68/70
Health: 66/70
I needed to both gather my loot and not burn to death at the same time. If I broke from this spit and ran away, I would be unable to gather my loot inside the cave, leaving me at square one to fight Medusa and Cetus. If I did rush in there, then I would be trapped and face a grisly death as the cyclopses cornered me.
Health: 64/70
The futures exploded into my mind for the next thirty-two seconds. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, so I focused on those futures where I outwitted the cyclopses. I tried not to look at the end of many of the futures where they ended in the bloody jaws of the monsters.
“If I tell you where my treasure is, can you keep me as a slave?” I whispered to Ferox, whose yellowed eye turned to me with suspicion.
“Slave?” Ferox laughed, shaking his head. “I will give you favor of quick death if you tell me treasure.”
“Deal,” I said, quickly giving him directions to where my gear would most likely be behind a rock near my bed.
Just as I had foreseen, the cyclops scurried into the cave to be the first to retrieve my loot. The others were still distracted, chewing on the flesh of the deceased and squabbling over the remaining loot. He arrived twenty seconds later with my gear in hand, a disgusting smile wide on his cracked lips. The monster dropped my armor, weapons, gear, and loot to the floor, greedily sifting through it.
Now.
With a twist and a surge of adrenaline, I slid from the spit, crashing hard onto the stone beneath. Ferox turned for a brief second to look at me with my gladius in his hand. With prophetic precision, I kicked my bound feet at the gladius, severing the bonds, before turning to cut the ones on my hands, all before the cyclops could react.
The thirty-two seconds of foresight were over.
Blind, I swung my shield at the monster’s eye. Ferox roared and stumbled back in pain, dropping my gladius as he reached for his bleeding eye.
Intelligence (+10): lvl 3 (10/40)
Glory (+10): 670
With no time to lose, I threw my bag of loot on my back along with the armor, tied together with a rope. Holding my gladius, shield, and pilum, I would be unable to fight.
The blinding of Ferox drew the attention of the others. As a bumbling pack, the other six dropped their loot and rushed to destroy me.
I had no plan for this.
Just as the colossal beasts were about to crush me, the whinny of a horse halted them. From the corner of my eye, I could see the black horse and its rider thundering through the storm into the hideout, the rider wielding a warhammer that glowed with an ethereal light.
“Titus!” I screamed with relief, racing to him.
One of the cyclopses in Titus’s way received a powerful smack underneath the chin from Paxbreaker, tossing the creature backward. The rest of the cyclopses fixated their rage and attention on Titus as if his magnetic warhammer captivated their feeble minds as well as their bodies.
My feet were a blur as I ran to him. Without breaking pace, Titus grabbed me by my hand and swung me onto the back of the horse, while simultaneously turning his steed around to rush out of the exit. His timing was perfect: a swoosh of air behind me indicated a cyclops was a hair away from dragging me back to dinner time.
Party (+1): 1
Titus has rejoined your party.
A collective roar boomed from the desolate hideout as we escaped. I had to blink several times to ensure I did indeed escape and that all of this was real.
“Titus!” I said, leaning my head against his back in exhaustion. “You saved me.”
“We are brothers of Rome,” he said as we tore through the dark mountains. “I will take you to safety, we can talk later.”
“Wait,” I said, prompting him to slow his horse. Through a sporadic explanation due to my incensed nervous system, I told him of the treasure I had buried at the waterfall nearby.
Titus gave a curt nod and steered his horse in that direction, cutting through the shadowed trees.
“Good foresight,” he said when we arrived. I gave a quick glimpse into the futures to check for monsters; thankfully, we would be undisturbed for the next half minute. “All of that would have been taken had you left it at the camp.”
“I know,” I said, my hands shaking as I retrieved the bag of denarii. With everything retrieved, I promptly wept by the waterfall, my tears disappearing into the uncaring rain. It all hit me at once.
The betrayal, the executions, the loss of my new home, all of it.
I didn’t notice when Titus dismounted and placed a sturdy hand on my shoulder, sitting beside me.
“Max, this pain you feel… it’s a forge for the soul. Though we suffered today, it will make us stronger.”
A heavy sigh escaped me. “I just… I trusted Camillus, yet he betrayed me to some nihilistic cult. How could I have been so blind?”
Titus shook his head. “She is of no concern to us now. What matters is bringing Bulla and the others back,” he said, conviction strengthening his tone. “Especially if you are to slay Medusa and Cetus.”
Although I disagreed with his dismissal of Camilla and her group, and I was perplexed that I still covered for her identity, I found myself nodding to his stoic wisdom. “To the dungeons then?” I whispered.
“Indeed,” Titus said, rising to his feet and giving me his hand. “Come, brother. Let’s prepare for tomorrow’s raid. Assaulting a Roman facility is no easy task. We will need your invisibility and foresight, along with my strength.”
I took his hand, feeling unnaturally strengthened as he helped me to my feet.
“For vengeance,” I said.
“For justice,” he corrected, helping me mount his steed.
We are going to have a very intense day tomorrow.
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