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

He woke to a roar. Suffused with mana, it struck him like a physical blow, pressing him tightly to the wooden slats. Foreign magic surged through him, speeding his already panic-fueled racing heart.

**Ding! You have been afflicted by Terror — The Last Heard Cry**

Niles barely processed the notification. His eyes snapped open, locking onto a hulking rust-coloured beast that was surging out of the tree line. It was massive — with a square jaw of hooked fangs that looked like they’d snap a common wolf in two.

Cold dread chained him in place as his vision narrowed until there was nothing but the monster and its prey. Him. It was coming for him, he could feel it in the cold certainty of his marrow. All reason fled, buried under the high-pitched whine that filled his ears.

He stared at its racing form, imprisoned in its terrible features. The deep ridges that covered its face, protecting its black, beady eyes; the hunch between its shoulders, anchoring muscles that bulged with every movement; its flattened nose, flaring with every racing step as it chased after their vessel.

The blood, gushing from the tattered remnants of its squat neck.

Skill-forced fear vanished in an instant. Niles blinked, nearly missing the creature’s collapse. Far beyond it, a geyser of dirt erupted as a glowing streak slammed home.

Niles let out a slow breath, desperately trying to calm his racing heart. The shock of his rude awakening faded, and he remembered where he was. He was safe — on board an ancient vessel that strode across the Frontier faster than any beast-drawn carriage, and accompanied by the strongest delvers he’d ever met.

Bathed in the midday sun, he realised he must have fallen asleep, rocked by the gentle swaying motion of the Pegleg’s stride. Nor was he alone. Straightening, Niles rested his back against the small cabin that led to the landyacht’s lower decks, and flicked between his chaperones.

Porkchop, a badger-shaped greater beast larger than any dire bear sprawled out comfortably across the centre of the deck. The sun glinted off his dagger-sized claws in a crystalline sparkle. He hadn’t even twitched at the sudden noise, a comforting sign that there was no real danger. He wasn’t even wearing his under armour — only a smattering of enchanted jewelry hinting that he was no mere unthinking creature.

Beyond the giant’s slumbering form, the rest of Porkchop’s team lounged. Kaius, their leader and the only spellsword Niles had heard of, sat next to Ianmus, their mage, at the very front of the vessel, dangling their legs off its nose. Their ranger, Kenva, stood just behind them, slowly lowering her bow.

All three were dressed in rustic traveling clothes — a far cry from the avatars of war that Niles knew they were.

“That’s another one,” Kenva grumbled. “You’d think the damn things would have enough sense not to charge after the landyacht, but no, a giant metal spider is apparently too tempting of a target.”

Niles blinked; from how totally that beast had disabled him with a single Skill, it had to be powerful. Above the hundredth level, at the very least — a threat that would have once been a target for only the most experienced delving teams. It was likely a remnant of the Tyrant’s army — one that had settled into this forest when its master had met its end outside of Deadacre, at the hands of the very people in front of him.

She’d killed it instantly. Even though he knew his chaperones were strong, it was easy to forget just how monstrous they were — until something like this reminded him.

It was hard to think, but it was somehow becoming mundane. In the five days since they’d left Deadacre, they’d been attacked a handful of times a day. Each threat was dealt with the same way — instant annihilation.

At the front of the Pegleg, Ianmus leaned back and looked at Kenva.

“It’s only been a little over a month since the Tyrant. Territories are still being established — only the gods know where that thing came from. Things will settle down, given time,” the mage said.

Kenva just huffed, eying the distant carcass with distaste before she sat down next to her friends.

Their conversation softened to the point it was lost in the wind, leaving Niles with his thoughts.

Slumping back, he rested his head on the wall behind him as the forest flowed past him.

What was he even doing here? He’d run into this group by pure chance in an alle way months ago, and now they were taking him to a city full of other ‘promising unclassed’? It felt like a story, even if he’d lived through it.

On one level, their strength was inspiring — but it was also intimidating. Even with his new skills, and the Honours he’d gained in the siege of Deadacre, he still couldn’t see how his chaperones had gotten as strong as they had. If anything, his recent advantages only made it seem more impossible — they didn’t feel anywhere near enough for him to do the same.

He wanted, needed, that strength. If he’d learnt one thing from the hell he’d lived through in the last year, it was that the world had changed. The only thing he could rely on to keep himself strong was his own ability.

Pausing mid thought, Niles’ gaze lingered on the trio at the front of the Pegleg, and the slumbering giant behind them. Perhaps he could expand that — companions who were as stalwart as they were strong were worth their weight in gold. Hopefully, if the little his chaperones had told him about Dawntown was to be believed, he might be able to find some.

Ahead of him, Porkchop yawned, his black fangs catching the sunlight. Somehow, it looked endearing — even if he’d watched the greater meles tear beasts limb from limb, it was hard to think of him as anything other than a gentle giant after spending the last week with him.

Settling back down, Porkchop rested his head on his paws. He looked at Niles with one eye, the striking gold flecked through with green grabbing his attention.

“You look troubled.”

The words sounded right in his mind, and carried a deep, growling quality that was as soft as it was inhuman.

Niles sighed, looking up to trace the thin clouds that hung in the blue sky above.

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“I just can’t see the path forward. Even with my Honours, and my Skills, and even if I can somehow get more of them through Dawntown, I can’t see how I can ever get as strong as you.”

It was just a simple fact. Porkchop and his team were unparalleled. It went far beyond Honours, though he had no doubt there were plenty of them. It was their skills; their classes. He didn’t know exactly what they had, but it was obvious that they were the kind of people that appeared once in a generation, if that.

What would he get? Some Rare swordsman class? Maybe an Unusual if he was lucky? That wasn’t enough for what he had seen — for what the world demanded.

Porkchop chuckled softly, “It is true that Kaius and I had certain…advantages that others do not. Our legacies for one.”

So there was some unassailable advantage; he was doomed from the start. Niles slumped as he let out a resigned sigh.

“But,” Porkchop continued, “It is action and achievement that matters, even more than a Legacy. Kenva and Ianmus have caught up with us, even if their starting position was less favourable.”

“Truly?” Niles replied, straightening. “But surely what I do now must matter. I doubt that the two of you had a…mundane unclassed period.”

“That is…true, and it did give us advantages that the other half of my team lack, but it isn’t everything. Nor would I wish those experiences on you — the System rewards risk, and our advantages were born in lethal circumstances.”

Niles frowned — it couldn’t be that bad, could it? From what they’d told him, the plan in Dawntown was for him to find a team and undergo something of a semi-guided delve in his last year as an unclassed. By any reasonable standard, that was already an insane risk — what in the hells had Porkchop gone through for it to be worse?

Porkchop looked at him and huffed in amusement.

“I met Kaius in the second layer of the Depths after getting chased through a portal by bandits. He’d already been there for nearly a month, in much the same circumstances. Thanks to the fact that my people unlock the System earlier than your kind, I’d already completed most of my Legacy, but Kaius only had a fraction of his skills.”

He stared at Porkchop in astonishment. They what?

“I’m guessing it wasn’t like what I’m going to do in Dawntown?”

“It was not,” Porkchop said plainly. “No one knew we were there, the biomes were total unknowns, and we had two years until we would get our classes.”

Niles paled — that was terrifying. The only reason he felt even remotely comfortable entering the depths himself was that he’d been assured that it was a first layer delve, and he’d be trained for months on every single facet of the surrounding biomes, from their environments to detailed breakdowns of all threats they contained.

Porkchop nodded knowingly. “It was tough, but we survived. A big part of that was we discovered Honours early, and did everything in our power to gather as many of them as we could. After a year, we’d fully completed our skill sets and gathered enough Honours to feel strong. We decided to leave early. We might’ve been able to scrounge up a few more Honours if we waited, but Kaius had been separated from his father in the attack that had driven him into the portal. He needed to know.”

“You fought a Guardian,” Niles whispered.

One from the second layer at that. It was almost impossible to believe, even if they had managed to gather Honours. Those monsters were terrifying, strong beyond their levels. Every rule of delving he knew said it was insanity to face one without a full team and a significant advantage in levels.

Yet the simple fact that Porkchop was laying in front of him meant that they’d done it anyway. Slain a Guardian as an unclassed — madness. No wonder they were so powerful, their feats were legendary, and no doubt so were their classes.

His eyes flicked to Kaius, the black markings on his temples just barely visible. Clearly, the man had a potent Legacy — but to be driven into the Depths by bandits, and separated from his father? A strange story for one from a hereditary Dynasty, but it wasn’t his place to pry.

The mystery of it was tantalising, though. One that inspired a dozen different guesses. They must have been in hiding. It made no sense for his father to have been overwhelmed by common bandits — perhaps some old injury? Or a surprise attack?

“Did the two of you find him? Kaius’s father?” he asked softly.

“No,” Porkchop replied, pausing for a moment. “We found out swiftly that he’d succumbed to old injuries driving off the bandits. The phase change occurred right as we left the Depths. Our first move was to visit one of the villages near the Arboreal Sea. Kaius had friends there, and it seemed like the best place to get our bearings and try to pick up the trail. The Elders there were the ones to let us know.”

Niles nodded, a familiar dull ache rising in his chest. He knew that particular agony well. Old memories flashed through his mind. Mother’s smile — and her eyes wide with panic as they had fled in the dead of night, with howling shadows racing through the trees around them.

Taking a deep breath, he shoved the memory aside.

“The village,” Niles asked, quickly changing the subject. “Was it one of the ones that helped found Dawntown?”

Porkchop accepted the change in topic readily. “Yes, actually — we were the ones who suggested it. We’d received warning from… something very old and very powerful that the phase change was a lethal threat, and one that would escalate. It was clear that we needed stronger fighters, and Honours and Legacy Skills were key. It only made sense to share them — and that eventually led to Dawntown and their training program for unclassed. I’m excited to see it, we haven’t had the opportunity to visit it yet.”

Something old and powerful? That grabbed his attention — especially because it sounded like something had known the phase change was coming. Why warn them, though? And where would they have had the opportunity to meet such a creature.

He had his suspicions. It was mighty convenient that the phase change occurred just as they left the Depths. A coincidence, or perhaps killing the Guardian was what the System had been waiting for. He remembered the notification as clear as day — it had been plain the Integration progressed because a criteria had been met.

It would make sense for the System to give the pair who caused the change more information. If it was true, he didn’t plan on prying. That was a dangerous secret to know — much better it remained baseless speculation. Besides, Kaius and Porkchop had saved Deadacre, and done their best to prepare Dawntown. That was far more than he expected some trumped up noble would do if they were the ones strong enough to meet the System’s requirements.

Suddenly, their strength seemed less intimidating. It almost felt foolish to expect that much from himself. He didn’t want to change the world, just get strong enough to protect himself and those he cared about. With everything that had happened, that might have meant being as strong as he could get — but maybe he didn’t need to worry about matching up to present company.

That said, he did still have more questions, mostly about Dawntown — he was a little nervous about what to expect, especially if he would be arriving with a party of heroes.