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

As Kaius watched the gate to the cage slam open, and the infernus hound step free of its prison, he felt a familiar tingle start in his fingers. His breath quickened, vitalising his body with the sweet air of the training hall as he prepared himself to do battle.

His blade was in hand a moment later. There had been no conscious decision, he just had a need for it, and his body moved.

The infernus hound padded out onto the stone, moving cautiously. As if unsure of the fact it had really been released.

It was a moment of calm, one he would not waste.

Kaius ripped open his resource panel, assessing what he had available.

Resources:

Health - 2450/2450 (13.5/min)

Stamina - 2320/2320 (18.3/min)

Mana - 3170/3190 (21.5/min)

Free Mana - 70/70

Reserved Mana - 3120

A lot—he had a lot available. Thousands of each resource, and twenty-six casts of Stormlash. If they didn’t give Rieker a good showing, it would be fucking shameful.

Ignoring the ever watchful gaze of the guildmaster, standing off to the side with his arms crossed, Kaius assumed command.

“Ianmus. Alpha strike, try to take out one of its legs when you have an opening. Porkchop, with me. Keeping it away from Ianmus is your priority.” he snapped off orders, striding forwards with purpose.

His companions nodded. Mana streamed around Ianmus, moving far more vigorously than it ever had in the past. The mage’s third skill, it had to be.

At the upswell of magical energy, the infernus hound’s head snapped to them. Its hackles rose, and a gravelly call of anger resonated from deep within its chest. Orange glowed from within its throat, the previous thin streams of smoke replaced by gouting jets of flame as the beast readied itself to charge.

“Ready yourselves.” Kaius said softly, settling into his stance as he continued his advance. “It’s coming.”

The hound charged, a baying promise of violence on its lips.

….

Rieker watched the greenhorns with interest as they squared off against the pup he’d found in the outlands the night before.

It had been an interesting night. Ro, with all her usual energy and fire, had burst in—swearing so much that he’d thought they were under attack.

Nope, she’d just found a once in a century genius, and some wayward greater beast, who’d somehow done the impossible.

At first he’d brushed her off. Afterall, he’d seen many so called ‘geniuses’ - all of them had fallen beneath his hammer in the end.

Then she’d told him that they’d killed a level eighty, while they were in their twenties. That had caught his attention. That was definitely not something you saw every day. Or at all. Ever, really.

At the very least, he could see why they pushed so hard.

That leader of theirs especially—Kaius—he had the hunger. Beyond a drive or a want, he needed strength. Oozed that desperate clawing grasp as he latched on to everything that would bring him another step towards the peak.

The greater beast too, though that was much less of a surprise. No doubt the meles had a full legacy, and he must have shared at least some of his knowledge with the boy. Almost certainly an interesting story.

Not that he cared. It wouldn’t be long before whatever brought them here was ancient history.

He cared if they had what it took to reach Adamant.

Leaning against the wall, he watched Kaius bark out his commands. Decent awareness. Decisive. Simple, but effective.

The boy raced forwards, the meles at his side as they charged towards the pup.

Judging by the way the infernus hound’s chest was swelling, they were about to get a face full of fire. How would they deal with that?

Right on cue an enormous gout of orange flames burst from the hound’s throat, a searing wave that barrelled directly towards the racing pair.

Rieker watched with interest as Porkchop plunged his claws into the ground. A wall of jade erupted a moment later, blocking the attack. Flames hit its surface, gouting upwards and to the sides as it was diverted.

With unspoken, and flawless, communication he watched the boy race forwards, hidden in the shadow of the wall as it rocketed towards the source of the flames. Right as it was about to slam into the hound, it noticed the walls approach and cut off its flames with a yelping snap of its jaws—leaping to the side to avoid being sent sprawling.

Had the boy learned beast-speak? Another oddity.

Whatever the reason for their coordination, it seemed to him that the hound’s desperate dodge was exactly the moment that Kaius had been waiting for. The boy dived free of the shadow of the jade and…dropped his offhand from his blade?

Perhaps he would get to see what this whole ‘spellsword’ thing was about. As cute as the boy’s Mask had been, it didn’t stand a chance against the likes of him—something Ro was already hard at work finding a way to correct.

After all, he wasn’t about to waste his hard work and investment on these kids if the passing curiosity of a powerhouse was enough to see them vanish into some dark cell.

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Violent orange sprayed from the boy’s hand in a shower of glittering sparks, halting Rieker’s thoughts dead in their tracks. Narrowing his eyes in interest, he watched as an impossibly dense bolt of storm and lightning mana condensed in Kaius’s hand.

Shock jolted down his back at the spell, raising the hair on the back of his neck.

No channeling, no nothing.

With a fiery light in his eyes, Rieker watched the boy bind the beast—shuddering reverberations and electrical potency frying the hound from the inside out.

Stunned with minor convulsions and pain, the hound froze.

Barely for a moment, but enough for the boy to act.

Rieker found his cheeks starting to ache from the force of his smile as Kaius ran in to plunge his blade deep into its chest, undaunted by a beast twice his size and level. Before the hound could rouse itself from its stupor, the boy hammered it with another lash—leaping back from a pained swipe of the beast’s claws.

Now, wasn’t that interesting? He’d been around the block, and he knew for certain that whatever the boy had used, it was new.

Then Porkchop hit the distracted beast like a brick wall - smashing it back with the bulk of his summoned stone armour.

Too strong. Too fast. The pair of them. It was ridiculous. Insane. Impossible.

He loved it.

Even a Unique class couldn’t explain this, and that was what he had suspected. Heroic maybe?

Unlikely, even a new style of magic and a completed legacy wouldn’t be enough—at least he didn’t think.

But that still wouldn’t explain what he was seeing. These greenhorns were fighting like they were seasoned Silver. At least in terms of raw physicality—their skills were dogshit and he could smell that lack of experience that only hard lessons could bring. He’d fix that.

Harassed as it was, the infernus hound tapped into one of its skills. It flashed through the air—though it may as well have been swimming through treacle to Rieker—and appeared at Porkchop’s side before he could react.

Mana flashed, and the hound raked the air, three arcs of condensed fire flying free. They slammed into the meles flank, filling the air with the reeking stench of immolated fur and melted flesh.

The greater beast…didn’t give a flying fuck. It just pushed straight through the pain, plunging its claws into the similar sized hounds chest. Kaius wasn’t far behind, sword glowing with soul-infused stamina as he flew into a blurring kata of heavy slashes interspersed with the cracking flash of lightning.

That sword skill was interesting indeed. Few skills made use of a connection to the soul, but the chances of the boy having a linking skill already were so low he could handidly discard it. Whatever it was, it was decent enough—no doubt it would grow all the more terrifying as Kaius grew through the tiers. A link, at some point, was almost a given.

His mastery skill was similarly good. The style was rigid—obviously new and skill imposed—but it was a good skill. Fluid, adaptable, and fast. He’d seen it a million times before. Too many beasts, not enough skilled opponents. It’d get him killed before he got too deep in the Depths—too many lower-races and other sapient tool users amongst the depths-born that would exploit the fuck out of his wooden rigidity.

He could beat it out of him.

Gods, to think he thought he was worried they would disappoint him.

Deep within his belly, Rieker started to laugh. A booming thing that filled the room with his mirth.

Where the fuck did these monsters come from? Who the fuck did he blow in a past life to find some seeds like this?

They were green. Raw as fuck. More rock than ore.

But he would shatter them. Melt them down. Turn them into weapons.

In all honesty, they already were.

He watched as the hound howled in fury, incensate from the nonstop assault that had been leveraged against it. Another flame-breath was coming—Rieker could smell it. The beast wanted space, and that was how it was used to getting it.

Fire bloomed, hosing the two greenhorns. Porkchop reacted quickly, diverting the flames away from him.

Kaius…the strange giant from the south did something that surprised him.

He tried to dodge, but the hound was too close, and too fast. Even with all of his impossible speed, it wasn’t enough.

And then he tripped.

Tripped!

Who the fuck can fight like that and trips?

Too coincidental. Too perfectly timed to save him from a serious case of immolation. It reeked of a fate ability. Yet another impossibility about him.

I mean, for fuck’s sake, he’d fought his arse off for years to earn a Unique tier two class, and he’d only gotten one at level two-sixty-one! And his wasn’t even evasive!

Pure bullshit.

Rieker shook his head, not even attempting to hide his manic grin as the boy ignored the flesh on his back melting off his body in favour of rolling to his feet and punishing the hound’s audacity with another impossible bolt of lightning.

Nor did he miss that Kaius had a smile to match his own. Manic. Lusty. Wanting. A man after his own heart, it seemed. Someone who appreciated the finer things in life.

The jade that had shielded Porkchop shot forwards under the meles direction, slamming the hound bodily towards Kaius—who wasted not a moment capitalising on the weakness.

His strange crystal sword glowed with inner fire once more, stabbing deep into the hound’s neck. Blood foamed from its muzzle with a whine, eyes wild.

Narrowing his eyes at the sword, Rieker tried to puzzle through what was off about it. It wasn’t a simple Common longsword, that was for sure—but whatever shielding enchantment it had was potent. The strange soul skill wasn’t enough to explain everything.

Despite his curiosity, he was no smith, and had no way to puzzle through its secrets with eyesight alone.

The battle raged on, the roars of bloodlust and splashing viscera warming Rieker’s heart. Flashes of blue lit up the room, broken only by the flickering orange as more fire spewed from the infernus hound.

They were really pressuring it now—the beast was drawing on more and more of its repertoire. Hosing breaths of flame, blades of fire shooting from its claws, bursts of blurring speed, and now a flame infused charge—one that Porkchop withstood with calm focus as he accepted scorching burns to plunge his crystal claws into the beast’s chest.

Fantastic focus and vigour, with no fear of injury. Whatever those boys had been up to in recent months, it had been violent indeed. Most new classers took years to get over their rather natural fear of injury.

Rieker’s eyes flicked to their backline, the half-elf watching the battle with enraptured attention. That in and of itself was impressive, considering the storm of solar mana that raged over his head, bound to the man’s iron hard will as he wove his spell.

An all in attack—a risky play for most, but understandable considering the strength of the frontline. After all, it was his only viable way of keeping up, for now at least.

While Ianmus in no way held up to the might of his companions, he was still impressive. From a normal perspective at least. Skilled—in the way that came with studious practice—and focused. Two important traits for a mage. With the two lunatics dragging him upwards by his scruff, he’d go far.

Good thing he wasn’t being dragged. He could see that same desire in the half-elf’s eye, hear the man’s heart pounding in his chest. He wanted this. Just as much as the others. Even totally reliant on them to survive, he had faith.

A good batch. He couldn’t wait to see what terrors he could turn them into.