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

Pressing heavily on the captured guard’s broken arm, Kaius skewered him with a stare as he waited for them to answer.

He’d expected that the compound they’d been taken to would have a significant force of men manning it—at least fifty, from what he’d seen—but to find out that it was in the hundreds?

They had a far harder fight ahead of them than he had expected.

“It’s mostly for smuggling!” the guard hurriedly answered Kenva. “That, and as a storage for goods—the floor above has warehouses that have ramps to the open space in the courtyard at ground level.” he stammered desperately. “We work in them in shifts.”

Kaius nodded, that would explain why he’d never seen the numbers the guard had mentioned. Most of them were busy turning a profit for their masters.

“A few of us think it’s a hidden bunker for the syndicate too, when things get a bit dicey in Deadacre.” their captive continued.

That caught Kaius’s attention. What on earth was the ‘syndicate’? He’d heard them mention an Old Yon, and that he had ties to the Onyx, but what did that mean? He’d assumed that this whole operation was owned and run by them—at the very least, from the little he’d heard and read about the shadowy organisation, it sure seemed like they’d have the resources and reach to do that.

But maybe he was wrong?

“Tell me about this syndicate, and that Old Yon you were talking about earlier.” Kaius pressed.

“I-I don’t know much, alright? They’re a gang of some kind, same as you see anywhere—except they’re far more…professional than I’ve worked with before. They keep quiet, don’t let people boast, and just go about their business. They run this place.” the guard explained—stammering slightly.

“And Old Yon?” he asked.

The guard gulped. “I know even less about him. Only learned he existed when I came here. He’s supposed to be the head of the syndicate, or one of them. No one’s really sure. They say he’s got ties to the Onyx though.” the guard hissed his final words, as if a simple mention of the Temple could summon them into the room.

“What does that even mean?” Kaius pressed, pushing more of his weight down so his captive gasped. “Who is this guy? Is the Onyx Temple giving him orders? How do they work?”

“I don’t fucking know!” the guard yelled, before his face blanched with fear. “Please, I’m just some cutthroat from Deadacre. I don’t know shit about lofty Onyx nothing, Old Yon could just be some grunt for all I know—people always saying they’re cells or some shit like that.”

Kaius sighed. The longer this went on, the more it turned out to be a colossal waste of time.

A rumble shook the building—the first one in a while. As dust rained down, Kaius looked up in contemplation.

“And that?” Kaius asked, pointing upwards.

“Supposed to be beasts or something.” the guard replied. “One of Ethric’s mates came down to wake us—well, wake Ethric at least, I was still out of it. He knew we’d been hitting the dust pretty hard last night, but he wasn’t making much sense. Something about them being rabid and mad, talking about dozens of different ones all working together.”

The guard shuddered. “It ain’t right, whatever it is.”

Ianmus cleared his throat before Kaius could answer. “And the way out? You mentioned these warehouses—any other tunnels or exits we can slip out of?”

Kaius cocked an eyebrow at the guard, waiting for his answer. He gulped.

“Not that I know of, but I don’t know much. And I wouldn’t use the warehouses—the main compound will be less guarded. No doubt they’ll be focused on defending the walls first, and the stock second.”

It seemed their captive was finally starting to believe that he was safe—as long as he answered. Taking a deep breath, the guard relaxed and started to answer further.

“Building up top is the size of some fancy manor or small keep, with a massive courtyard around it that has stone fortifications. There’s only one gate out, which is kept warded and locked tight, but you could probably scale the wall pretty easily—there’s stairs up to the top at every corner, and it’s not that tall.” he explained.

His answer banished some of Kaius’s tension. That, at least, seemed workable. They’d need to push hard and fast to capitalise on confusion and disorganisation, but if they could get over the wall and past the beasts, they’d be able to vanish into the forest while the guards were occupied.

Still, it was by no means going to be an easy escape.

“Why not make the place easier to defend? Surely there’s a risk of people jumping over the wall.” he asked.

The guard gave him an awkward half shrug. “The whole place is warded with an illusion formation—I think the wall was mostly just to stop beasts wandering in, though I heard it can make it a little hard to navigate close to them.”

“That’s just great.” Kaius heard Ianmus mutter beside him.

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He couldn’t help but agree. Between the swarming beasts, and the inevitable flood of personnel, they were going to need to lean fully on a blitzing assault to break free before their captors could rally against the horde above. If he had to lean on True Sight to lead them true on top of that? There would be a lot of opportunities for something to go wrong.

If they were lucky, there would be a conveniently located Depths portal that they could vanish into. With the chaos, and a decent lock out period, he was confident that they would be able to lose anyone who got it in their mind to follow them.

In reality, even if the stone portals were omnipresent across Vaastivar and the world, they weren’t so common that you could trip over one around every corner.

Relying on such a stroke of luck as their primary plan would be the choice of a fool. No, the would need to make sure they were spotted heading directly towards Deadacre, and then split west at the soonest opportunity.

Hopefully, with enough luck, that might buy them enough time that they might actually stumble across a Depths portal, even if it would likely take a few days.

Glancing down at the man he had pinned, Kaius pondered his captive. In all honesty, the man was useless. They’d gathered a few tidbits, but nothing that had really changed anything.

He only had one question left, and he doubted the man would know much.

“The vault.” he said, startling the guard. “The one near the base of the stairs to the next level—have you ever seen it opened? Heard whispers about what they keep in there?”

The guard hesitated, up until Kaius grabbed him by his tunic and shook him roughly.

“Well?” he asked?

“I—only a few rumours. Nothing certain,” the guard replied, looking nervous.

“Let’s hear them.” Kaius said, making it clear that he expected the man to answer quickly.

“It’s always under guard, especially when it’s opened, and well…men talk, you know? Even if they know that they’ll be flogged for letting it slip, it always happens.” the guard started.

Kaius groaned, impatient at the man’s preamble.

Seeing the frustration in his face, the guard gulped.

“It’s supposed to be Old Yon’s personal stash, alright? No idea if it’s true, but apparently it’s barely more than a cupboard. Just a few nicknacks that some of the leaders here take away for a few hours and then put back.” the guard answered, shying away as Kaius frowned.

“A cupboard? You’re sure?” Kaius asked—he knew that his sword was in there, but if none of their other gear was, it would make escape just that much harder. He sincerely hoped that it wasn’t just a stash of trophies.

“When was it last opened? And what did they put in there?” he pressed, causing the guard to flinch.

“Just after you arrived! I promise!” the guard pleaded. “It was the same shit as always though, just the head of the compound taking a few rings for an hour or two.”

Rings? Why the fuck would someone go through that much effort for a bit of jewelry? It didn’t make a lick of sense, unless…

Kaius sat upright like he’d been hit by a bolt of the Stormlord’s best as realisation flooded him. He grinned, wide and hungry.

“I think I know what’s in that vault.” he said through his bond, trusting Porkchop to pass his words on.

“Oh?” Porkchop replied curiously, head tilting at him.

“Shady smuggling and trafficking ring? With ties to a powerful organisation? And all it’s got in its vault is a few rings? There are spatial containers in there, surer than the sun shines.” Kaius replied, glee still radiating over him.

They needed that. Let alone their own gear, who knew what other things this ‘syndicate’ thought valuable enough to store in them. Small as they were, they’d be able to clean the entire place out. If they were lucky, they might even be able to make off with most of the organisation’s wealth.

Or at least a significant chunk of it.

Considering how complex and dangerous trade had gotten, he doubted that a clandestine group like that would easily be able to recover from such a loss in resources. Hells, if they were spatial rings, he wouldn’t be surprised if those artefacts alone represented a significant chunk of their wealth.

Spatial artefacts were not cheap—especially if they could store anything of appreciable size. They were simply too rare, and so costly and troublesome to make that very few crafters bothered to make any with tier one materials.

Kaius looked back to the guard he had pinned. It was time to finish up.

“Anyone else have any questions?” he asked his team.

The heavy silence lay unbroken, their faces grim and committed. It pulled a sigh from him—made him feel far more tired than before.

“Well, that’s great, right? Listen, if you want to tie me up and shove me in that closet,” the guard jutted his chin to the armoire backed up against the wall beside them, shooting him a desperate grin. “I won’t fight you. I know when I’m beat.”

“You know we can’t risk doing that right?” Porkchop pushed along their bond, the words sitting heavy on his mind.

He knew. By the gods, he knew. Too much was riding on this—for all he knew, the man had a Skill to slip out of bonds, or break free. A compound like this? As warded as it was? There was no doubt in Kaius’s mind that there would be somewhere close that the man could raise an alarm, call for aid.

And then they’d be pincered before they could even get their gear.

A black act. One that sickened him. One that was his duty, his burden, as the leader.

The guard’s smile faltered. “Hey? I talked right? I talk, you lock me up.”

Kaius said nothing, his palms growing slick as a sickening disgust welled in his stomach.

“Let me do it.” Porkchop said, stepping forward.

“No.” Kaius slammed his knife down, ramming its full length into the guard’s eye. He stiffened—just barely for a moment—and fell limp. “I won’t make you a murderer of unarmed men.”

**Ding! level 67 Human - Back Alley Blade slain - Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying a foe of Insignificant Strength!**

He stared into the corpse’s glassy eyes and realised that he’d never even asked the man’s name.