(Second Book Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

In the day and a half since his minor revelation on his Mentis aspect, Kaius was completely unsuccessful in exploring the strange reaction further. In the handful of times he’d meditated, he’d only managed to get a similar reaction once more, the others leading to nothing but frustration. Though even that was fading as he resigned himself to the discovery of his Aspects being an inscrutable and lengthy process.

His days, at least, were far more exciting. The light covering of trees slowly grew denser, slowly enclosing the ever shrinking patches of open grasses until they were little more than clear meadows scattered through a light forest.

It was an interesting experience. In some ways it was familiar, a lesser cousin to the Sea. Trees as far as the eyes could see, and the familiar smell of wood, rotting leaves, and abundant life.

In others, it was utterly alien. While this might have been a wood, it was a far cry from what Kaius considered to be the real thing, and even further from the deep reaches that Porkchop had called his home. Here, even the grandest and most venerable oak was a pale reflection of the specimens he considered typical. Their tallest just barely matching the average growth of the endless mat of life that covered the north-western reaches of Vaastivar.

It was still nice to be back in the comforting embrace of a forest again, though; even if this one left so much blue sky visible through its thin canopy that he may as well have been in an open field. That was the main difference, Kaius decided.

The story behind how the Arboreal Sea had gotten its name was a rather simple one, and one that had delighted him as a child. The trees were so large, so densely packed, that when you looked up all you saw was a sea of green—that, and the undergrowth was so dense in some parts that looking down was yet more endless green.

Still, even if the Hanset Woods were small and insignificant in comparison to his home, they were still dense enough that navigating required some active focus. Kaius took the lead for the group, relying on Explorer’s Toolkit to keep them on a steady heading, and to steer them clear of any potential ambushes.

It had already done so. Five times. Once was a simple mundane beehive, though one of impressive scale. He’d steered them around that, though he’d had to be rather forceful when Porkchop had gotten fixated on the prospect of ‘free honey, literally just sitting there’. Unfortunately for his brother, neither he nor Ianmus had Porkchop’s thick hide, and were in no mood for warding off a swarm of stinging insects.

The others had been genuine ambushes. First, a bear, then a bloody warg of all things, then another bear, and two separate packs of wolves. Ridiculous, but also fun. All but the bears had been lower level than them, so he’d only been able to squeeze a handful of skill levels and a single level for his class.

Still, it got the blood pumping, and the bear meat was good for a stew, what with the plentiful seasonal berries they had been gorging themselves on.

Eventually, the sun still rising on its arc through the sky, Kaius spotted what he had been looking for. A gap in the trees, sun shining brilliantly on a strip of land that had been clear cut. Easily a hundred-fifty strides wide, felled stumps littered the gap—only torn free to make way for a wide packed dirt road that had been scattered with gravel. The road between Intshire and Holsbourrough, if his navigation had steered them right.

Hurrying forwards, Kaius reached the edge of the treeline and poked his head out. Leaning on True Sight, he peered far in either direction, searching for threats—and any sign of their wayward giant spider.

The coast was clear, the road entirely empty apart from a single deer sprinting across the gap between the trees, a solid quarter league to his right. Turning back, he gave his waiting companions a confident nod.

“Thank the gods, it’s so good to be able to see more than a dozen strides in front of me.” Ianmus sighed.

“You’re weird, for an elf.” Porkchop replied, cocking his head at Ianmus.

“Half-elf remember, and no matter where my father is from, I’m a city boy through and through.” Ianmus replied with a grumble.

Kaius chuckled at the man’s discomfort. While he was right that there was no reason people of elvish descent had to like forests, it was still a little bizarre that Ianmus seemed so actively disconcerted by the close press of the forest proper.

While the rest of their trio continued to bicker good naturedly, Kaius went to Porkchop’s side and retrieved his notebook.

He flicked through the pages, mentally tallying their overland route and cross referencing it with his notes of the guild maps and recognisable features that he had used as way points. No doubt they were a couple of leagues off in either direction, but he’d chosen this stretch of road to cover for that variability.

Either way, their target should just be a handful of leagues to their right, along the road. As many as ten, and as little as two. With their walking speed significantly faster than an unenhanced man could ever manage, they would undoubtedly reach the spider by the afternoon at the latest.

Nodding to himself he stowed his notes and clapped, drawing both of his companions attention.

“This way.” he said, leading his group to the road.

“Alright, this stretch of road is straight enough that I’ll be able to see a good league any given moment. We should be able to spot the spider plenty easy, since the mission briefing mentioned that everyone who had survived an encounter with it was ambushed on the road itself.” Kaius said, discussing their plan.

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“And you’re sure that you’ll be able to spot it with your illusion piercing skill?” Ianmus asked, double checking that he was confident.

Kaius nodded. From what they’d heard, the spider mostly relied on staying still to make full use of its illusions. If whatever skill it was using was not powerful enough to manage anything better than a blur while using it, then it shouldn’t be that powerful of a skill. Unless its skill level was significantly higher than expected, he should have no problems.

“Our main goal will be to get it to attack us. It’s an ambush predator that makes use of webs. Confronting it in its nest is probably the worst thing we could possibly do.” Kaius explained, before he turned his full attention to Ianmus. “What’s the range on that beam attack that you used against the bramble ball, and how accurate are you with it?”

Ianmus thought for a moment. “If you want me to cast afterwards, it’ll have to be about half as much mana. About a league, if my mental maths is right. As for accuracy?” Ianmus gave him an easy and confident grin. “I went to Sunspire; target shooting is one of the primary ways the student body is made to compete with each other. I won, always. Give me somewhere to point, and I’ll hit it.”

Kaius nodded. That was more than enough for him. “Once I’ve spotted the spider, you open with that, and we’ll draw it in. Or, if it runs, track it down before it can regenerate its pool. After your spell, just focus on enhancing me and Porkchop, and taking out its eyes if you get the chance.

Ianmus nodded at his words, and he turned his attention to Porkchop.

“Our job is to give it a warm welcome. We focus on the legs, try to remove as much mobility as we can. It’s supposed to be a quick bastard, so the faster we do that the safer we will be. As soon as it draws close, you use your new skill and yank it towards you. I’ll keep it fried with Stormlash while you take out as many as you can.” Kaius explained.

Porkchop nodded. “What of after, when the battle is in full swing?”

Kaius shrugged. They’d fought together enough at this point that he was confident they could handle it. He’d always been of the opinion that too complicated of a plan of attack just slowed people down, and could cause issues if people waited too long to abandon it if it was no longer viable. Fundamental roles worked far better.

“You hold its attention and hit it hard, I harass and smash it in its dangly bits, Ianmus heals us and zaps it in the eyes, nice and simple.”

“And if it goes after me?” Ianmus asked, a mild frown on his face.

Kaius nodded. “It’s unlikely, as we’ll be very in its face, and the immediate threat. Porkchop, if it does, use your new skill. Everyone happy with that?”

Receiving nods in return, Kaius took the lead once more as they walked down the road, his eyes focusing with trained intensity as he kept watch for the slightest hint of something being out of place.

….

His head throbbing from the intensity of his extended use of True Sight, Kaius finally spotted what he had been waiting for.

There, maybe three-hundred long-strides down the road, a faint waver crossing the body of the road. He halted, throwing a hand out to get his companions to do the same. Wordlessly he focused, ignoring the eye-watering spike of pain that accompanied the action.

Whatever it was, it was faint. Barely visible, a shimmer in the air like heat rising off sunbaked rocks. True Sight protested, his brow furrowed.

The shimmer intensified. He grit his teeth, willing his skill to reveal the truth of what was there.

It shattered the illusory shimmer.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 37!**

Threads glowing with mana popped into his vision, so thin that they would have been invisible without True Sight. Glistening in the midday sun, they stretched across the road by the hundreds.

A glistening carpet woven at waist height, threaded between the trunks and stretching more than a hundred strides down the road.

It didn’t look like a trap. Not really. The threads were too thin, and far too far appart to hold anything of significant size. Kaius knew that spiders didn’t just use webs as a sticky trap, they were also sensors. Strings to let the beast know when something passed.

He whipped his eyes to the forest’s edges, searching for his opponent.

It tried to hide, masking itself in the same magic that had hidden its snare. It didn’t work—he had the measure of the ability now—and it shattered like glass before the power of his legacy skill.

It was a hideous thing, mottled white and bile yellow, covered in a dense carpet of finger-length hairy bristles. Lurking in the crown of a tree, it watched them with eight glistening eyes the colour of ruby wine. Too many legs for any sane man to be comfortable held up its impressive bulk, distributing its weight between eight different branches.

Let alone the fangs, as big as his forearm with venom actively dripping to pool in the boroughs of the trunk beneath it.

What’s more, breaking the spider’s magic revealed the totality of the destruction it had wrought. Shattered waggons littered the tree line, lines of carved earth showing where they had been crudely dragged from the road. Easily a dozen of them, if not more. There were no bodies, no remains. No doubt consumed by the spider.

The lost souls who had fallen beneath its fangs would have their succour, he would make sure of it.

“I see it.” Kaius murmured, keeping his stance relaxed as he looked away from the beast. No need to give the game away just yet.

“How big is it? Is it really the size of a horse?” Porkchop asked, morbid curiosity flooding their link.

Kaius chuckled. Perhaps a draught-horse, but it was far larger than the average gelding, that was for sure.

“Please tell me it’s as big as a horse, I don’t like the sound of that laugh.” Ianmus said, blanching the thought.

“Let’s call it big-horse sized.” He relented, though it was a little funny how much it bothered them. He hated spiders as much as the next person, but they were going to smash the damn thing. What better way to work through the discomfort?

“Level and tags?” Porkchop asked.

“Checking now.”

He flicked his eyes back to the spider, bringing up its system information.

Veiled Assassin Spider- Level 81:

Beast, Ambusher, Elite

Kaius bared his fangs, the system’s words brewing a storm of competition deep within his belly.

Now wasn’t that interesting. Maybe fifty levels higher would be enough for another Honour?