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

Black carapace lay shattered and broken, the final royal guard reduced to a lowly wretch. Ichor weeped from its wounds, as its health desperately tried to recover the damage. Two of its legs had been torn free, and its right scythe had been snapped in two.

It still fought with single minded focus, giving its very life to take them down.

A doomed endeavour — with him and Porkchop working together, a high Silver beast had no hope. It lacked the size and physicality of the nightscale, and its greatest strength — speed — was neutered when they pincered it at every turn.

It was still strong, and he and Porkchop bore their scars from the battle.

His armour was ragged, a great rent torn in its front and back from the impalement he’d withstood to deal the guard’s twin a lethal blow. Lesser cuts dotted the arms and sides, a coat of drying blood the only remnants of the wounds that had once sat beneath them. Every bit of him dripped in sweat, and his stamina was far lower than it normally would be after such a short battle.

At four-hundred stamina a second, using the full might of Hellblade Investiture was a hungry thing, but well worth it.

Porkchop had resummoned his orichalchum heavy plate multiple times at this point. It had been far too risky for his brother to do so earlier. Even if it only took a few seconds, that was a massive swathe of time in a battle like this.

Even fresh, the plate was slick with Porkchop’s blood. His healing might have been even swifter than Kaius’s, but the bone deep cuts that had stretched up his back took time to heal.

“Won’t be long now,” Porkchop growled, facing down the creature.

Kaius slowly edged to the right, forcing the beast to flick between them as it chose which was the greater threat.

His brother wasn’t wrong. Another clash, maybe two, then they could help their backline with the queen.

That monstrosity had proven annoyingly persistent. Even with Ianmus and Kenva constantly unloading their strongest attacks, it withstood them stubbornly. Not once had it halted its production of its young, a constant tide that crept towards the ruin below.

Every look at that carpet of yellow grubs made his stomach knot. They needed to finish this quickly.

The royal guard made its decision. Leaping high, it pounced towards Porkchop, both scythes raised high for a stab. The blades sparked, layered with the skills that let the beast so easily punch through their defences.

Porkchop roared, lunging forwards to meet it. The ground rumbled beneath his feet, and an ethereal shield line appeared in front of him — a vanguard for his assault.

Knowing he would only have a narrow opening, Kaius dashed in from the side.

Shields slammed into the royal guard, lowered spears driving deep into its stomach. Porkchop tackled it a moment later, chitin crunching as spikes rose from the ground. They cracked against its armour, drawing out a pained hiss.

Yet the guard’s blades still landed home. Its unbroken blade punched deep into Porkchop’s shoulder, grinding through a gap between plates. Lacking a fine point to make purchase, its broken blade deflected in a shower of sparks.

It descended into a brutal brawl, Porkchop wailing on the creature with heavy, raking strikes of his claws while the royal guard levered at the blade in his body, and used its broken one to slash at every bit of exposed flesh it could.

Kaius grit his teeth, fury rising. Reaching for his Stormlash, light lit up the chamber, revealing the deep red of its brick. Leashed to his will, lightning smote the creature again and again — never extending through the guard’s blade to scour his brother.

Hacking at the creature with his free hand, Kaius attacked its flank — and made his way to its head. It was stunned — an opportunity he couldn’t miss. Whirling his blade overhead, A Father’s Gift burned bright red as his stamina started to drop.

Cleaving into its head, a shudder ran up his arms as chitin splintered. Ichor sprayed, misting through the grating of his helm to splatter against his face.

The royal guard shuddered, falling still — though still too stubborn to accept it was already dead.

Roaring in victory, Porkchop surrounded one paw with a jagged lump of orichalcum — his Jadecrash, changed by Orichalcum Infusion.

The blow came down, splattered the creature’s head with a crunch of finality.

**Ding! You have slain Golden Ceratin Royal Guard - Level 290 Obsidian Blade! Experience Gained! Increased Experience for slaying a foe of significantly higher level!**

**Ding! Runeblade Hellion has grown from level 237 > 239!**

**+6 Int; +5 Con, Str & Will; +2 Vit & Dex; +1 Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

Neither of them wasted time celebrating.

Turning on his heel, Kaius dashed towards the queen as Porkchop extricated himself from the blade stuck in his shoulder.

The ceratin queen was pockmarked, its golden flesh pitted with weeping holes. Some were simple caverns, leaking a slow tide of brown-yellow fluid. Others were blackened and cauterised. All writhed, flesh pulsing as it grew and recovered at a visible rate.

The queen’s abdomen pulsed, ejecting another wave of young. Kaius ignored the newborns, thrusting his hand towards the queen’s oversized and bulbous head. The quicker they could end this fight, the better — and it couldn’t heal if it had spikes in its wounds. Four Hateful Nails snapped out in quick succession.

Kaius watched them rocket towards the creature with hungry anticipation — one that fell as thick plates of glittering stone snapped into existence in the path of each of the projectiles.

His spells shattered the stones utterly, stone shrapnel showering the chamber — but the defence worked. Each and every one of his nails deflected, spinning wildly away as they unfurled into twisted metal brambles.

“Don’t bother! The closer you get to its head, the better it is at blocking. It’s tougher than it looks, too” Kenva yelled, drawing an arrow to her cheek as a howling wind surrounded the projectile.

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A damn shame — far easier if they could have just ripped off its head. He supposed his friends would have already done that if it was possible. Continuing his advance, he arrived by the creature’s side at the same time as Porkchop.

As one, they unleashed on its soft looking flesh.

Ramming his blade forward, Kaius watched on in shock as the golden skin of the queen distended under the point of his sword. Even with Kenva’s warning, it was more than he expected. Stretched to its limit, his blade popped through the creature’s skin as a ripping sensation resonated up through his arm.

Its flesh was unforgiving, a thickened mass that fought him for every handspan. Hells, it was like trying to cut through boiled leather with a butter knife!

No matter, they’d get it done. Tough as it was, he’d yet to see the queen actually fight back — a living punching bag wouldn’t best them.

“Anything to look out for?” he called out.

“Nope! Ianmus is just waiting for his Halo to be ready! We’ve got a plan to take out its head.” Kenva replied, still charging her shot.

Kaius nodded, and continued his work. Flowing into a cut, he flickered Hellblade Investiture at full power, tearing inwards. Mana rushed into his blade, rapid pops ejecting spray after spray of pulped flesh. Its skin might have been tough, but Mystic Rend worked hell on its interior.

Still, neither he, nor Porkchop, were making much progress. The queen had specialised to an unbelievable degree — toughened to the extreme. Sure, she was utterly helpless without her guards, but it was still impressive.

“Ready!” Ianmus called out.

Kaius and Porkchop pulled back, making distance.

“Unload at its head!” Kenva cried, loosing her arrow.

The screaming projectile careened forward — a lethal strike aimed straight at the creatures eye. A shudder ran through the queen as mana flashed, brighter than Kaius had seen before.

All at once, dozens of stone disks appeared, hovering in the air. They were stacked, and aligned perfectly with Kenva’s shot. One by one they shattered, but Kaius could already tell the defence would hold.

Kenva wasn’t done — her arms blurred, arrow after arrow firing as fast as she could manage. Most were mundane, but some burst mid air — turning into a cone of needles that shot for the creature.

More and more stones snapped into existence — but they were slow. Some appeared off centre, arrows glancing off them to slap off the distended plates that covered the creature’s torso.

Kaius realised with a start what they were doing. After fighting against the creature for so long, they must have gotten a handle on how many plates it could reliably summon and control. Overwhelm it, and they’d have an opening to hit it with a Halo.

Nail after Nail rocketed from his hands, burning embers of mana flowing from his glyph in a wave.

The queen screeched, forced to summon even more stone to defend itself. It was holding. Just.

Ianmus added to the assault, snapping off sharp bolts of solar magic from his keyseal.

Attacks started to land, the queen twitching as its stunted legs heaved at the ground. Stone flowed beneath it — slowly dragging it towards one of the tunnels. It was trying to flee!

Before it got further than a stride, Ianmus’s Halo roared out from the depths of the golden seal atop his staff. It crackled, drifting across the chamber.

The queen watched it come — but it couldn’t do anything. Stop defending from the rest of their assault, and it would die just as certainly.

Its nerve broke, a disk of stone popping in front of the Halo. Its defence came far too late. The spell was within a longstride of its head — far smaller than its area of effect.

A wave of scorched air rushed over Kaius’s face as the spell expanded into a globe of roiling plasma, consuming the queen.

It slumped a moment later, its head a smoking ruin.

**Ding! You have slain Golden Ceratin Queen - Level 312 Mother to the Kingdom! Experience Gained! Increased Experience for slaying a foe of significantly higher level!**

**Ding! Runeblade Hellion has grown from level 239 > 241!**

**+6 Int; +5 Con, Str & Will; +2 Vit & Dex; +1 Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

**Ding! Class Skill available for selection!**

**Ding! Class Skill Notifications Consolidated!**

** Infused Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 235 > 256!**

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**Hellblade Investiture has reached level 205 > 217**

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**Latent Glyph of Vyrthane has reached level 195 > 200**

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**Latent Glyph of Eirnith has reached level 192 > 200**

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**Mercurial Reversal has reached level 176 > 189**

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**Runeblade Hymnfocus has reached level 135 > 143**

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**Latent Glyph of Muthryn, Throat of VOS has reached level 120 > 145**

**General Skill Notifications Consolidated!**

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**Rapid Adaptation has reached level 212 > 232!**

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**Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 234 > 267!**

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**Sergeant’s Insight has reached level 221 > 238!**

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**Tempered By Dissonance has reached level 211 > 227!**

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**Truesight has reached level 220 > 232!**

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**Tonal Weaving has reached level 213 > 224!**

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**Spellblade’s Harmonic Control has reached level 219 > 234!**

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**Greater Regeneration has reached level 223 > 250!**

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**Moment of Flow has reached level 208 > 231!**

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**Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus has reached level 208 > 221!**

Another skill — another step closer to the peak. That was good; they’d have need of that strength. His skills had grown significantly as well. They’d barely had a moment to rest in the last week since he’d last checked his skills, and that had left its mark.

“Check your available skills quickly,” he said, as he walked over to where Ianmus and Kenva were standing. Summoning a rag from his ring, he wiped off his blade, before sheathing it.

“Won’t that slow us down?” Porkchop said, eying the procession of grubs that was trailing out of the room.

“The added strength will be worth it, especially if we get evolutions that can help us clear the grubs faster,” Kaius replied. “I’ll check if they’re still holding now.”

His friends nodded, eyes going glassy as they checked their notifications.

Before he brought up his own, he pulled out the disk the Castellan had brought him.

“Castellan, update me,” he said, threading some mana into the disk.

“My lord, the civilians are holding. There were some initial loses, but they’ve formed battle lines. So far, there have been casualties, but few deaths, though I fear it is only a matter of time. The grubs have a stealth skill, as their numbers grow so will the injuries. I still need another thirty minutes to complete my preparations to act as need be, but I am unsure if they will last that long.”

Kaius hissed, they’d need to be quick, but another skill evolution truly could be pivotal.

“We’ll be there soon,” Kaius replied, before he cut the connection.

He pulled up his options, scanning them as fast as he could — hopefully an improved Aelina would have some way of getting them there faster.