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

Facing down a murderous Gold beast, the shrill cries of distant creatures washed over Kaius. Life mana burned in the air, drowning the iron-scent of blood, and the hearty depths of nature. Porkchop had warned him that it would be alluring and impossible to ignore for any beast. How many creatures would come to investigate the sounds of their battle, and then sense the sap? They needed to finish this fight quickly.

Whether danger, or simple noise, Kaius barely got a second to worry about the cries. The bladeraptor whipped its tail towards Kaius — though this time it didn’t glow with the shocking power of its Skill.

Ducking low, Kaius slipped under the blow. Hellblade Investiture burned on his sword. He hacked at the passing tail, blood wetting the edge of A Father’s Gift. The creature’s skill had absolutely demolished Porkchop — and he had the sturdiest defense of all of them by far. Even if the Skill was costly, it was too dangerous to ignore. The beast might still have the mana to use it again.

They had to get rid of its tail.

The beast screamed, whirling on him. Its cleaver-hands burst into a flurry. Kaius immediately found himself on the back foot. He spent stamina like water, Mercurial Reversal granting him the speed to keep up with the constant storm of blows. Every parry shook him like a battering ram, his joints creaking under the strain.

But he held. Just. All the while, stolen power built higher and higher in his blade. He savoured it, hoarding it jealously — they needed a decisive strike.

The decision cost him.

Porkchop roared, recovered enough from his earlier wound to charge back into battle. His challenge struck the bladeraptor like a physical blow, ripping at its attention. Yet it only redoubled its assault against Kaius. In a sudden burst of Skill-backed motion, the beast tore at him with its cleavers. Four hacking cuts came in the same time it would have slashed once. Kaius flicked his blade up, heart pounding as he caught the first. And the second.

The third and fourth slipped through his guard. One blow slammed into his ribs, crashing straight through the shimmering woven tabard that sat over his armour. His scalemail crunched, shattering under the heavy strike. Pain rocked through Kaius’s chest — blood splurting from the wound like a high pressure hose. The agony heightened a moment later, another cavernous wound opening on his right shoulder.

His pauldrons were thick, but the crushing power of the strike ripped into him. The joint splintered, his arm slowing.

Roaring hoarsely, he refused to back down. Porkchop was approaching quickly. He was a threat too large and too powerful for the raptor to ignore. As soon as it focused on his brother, he had to go for the tail. Its defenses were weak — all he needed was an opening.

Exactly as Kaius expected, the bladeraptor twitched as it heard Porkchop rapidly approaching. It spun, facing his brother down. As it did so, the creature’s tail snapped like a bullwhip — a sharp crack echoing. Gleaming blue feathers rocketed towards Kaius’s chest in an attempt to force him to back off. He lunged towards the tail, chopping at the frilly plumage. The power he had stolen from his continuous parries surged through his attack, his blow falling like a titan’s blade.

Smoky crystal cut clean through scale and bone. Kaius staggered at the severed tip of the bladeraptor’s tail smashed into his wounded side. The rest of the shortened appendage swung past him, dousing him in a torrent of red.

Kaius laughed as the creature screamed in fury, revelling in the taste of iron on his tongue. His wounds were healing, he’d stolen its strongest weapon, and the fight was good; what more could he want?

In that single moment of revelry, the bladeraptor stepped back and whipped its shortened back tail toward him. The blunted and bleeding tip smashed into his still-healing ribs, sending him flying through the air. Kaius hissed in pain, the ground whizzing beneath him.

Shunt exploded with a ringing burst, the wave of force righting him midair. It was a jarring stop, rattling him to his core — but he pushed the discomfort deep. A few dozen strides away, he saw Porkchop and the bladeraptor tearing into each other. It was a vicious brawl. Cleavers flashed, every heavy chop sending shards of orichachum flying. Porkchop stood strong, throwing every Skill he had at the Gold beast. Raking claws, crystalline bludgeons, and tearing fangs shredded the bladeraptor — but for every blow Porkchop got in, the beast slipped in three of its own. It was a storm of cutting fury, chipping away at Porkchop’s fortitude.

Kaius hissed at the sight. With the beast’s tail removed, they had neutered its greatest weapon — but it still moved like lightning in motion. Chunks of orichacum glittered in the light as they sprayed from Porkchop’s armour, the sound of cracking crystal growing.

Worse, they needed to finish this fight quickly. He could still hear those calls — they were getting closer. They needed their back line, but who knew how long it would take for them to recover? They might have already, but he couldn’t spare the attention to check on them.

Another Shunt sent Kaius rocketing forward, his grip tight and true on his blade. The wounds he had taken had healed. It had been a heavy cost on his resources, but all that mattered was that he could fight. It was fully focused on Porkchop — he had the perfect opportunity.

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Thunder cracked, echoing through the golden fields of the clearing. Writhing arcs sunk deep into the back of the bladeraptor, a sparking Lash connecting Kaius to his target. He was approaching rapidly, flying at it from above. He raised his blade high over head — the speed of his descent would only aid his blow.

Mountains of stamina flooded his blade as he dipped into Hellblade Investiture. As a second tier skill, it was a monstrously hungry thing — reaching the second tier had increased the cost to four-hundred stamina a second. But the weight of its power had grown just as substantially.

The red light of war burned bright in the runes of his blade.

Swinging a moment before impact, Kaius descended on the beast like a divine punishment. Scale, muscle and bone parted like sun-softened butter. Viscera spilled in a wave, Kaius cutting a ravine clean through the side of the reptilian beast. He would have preferred the neck, but the creature was damn fast — and few things welcomed the headsman with open arms.

It jolted, screaming. Ignoring the shock of his landing that ripped through his legs, Kaius flowed through his blow — a heavy stab taking the beast through the chest.

In that very moment, a mark of knotted black lines snapped into existence on the beast’s throat. Its appearance was joined by the tortured screams of the wind being bound to the will of another.

Kenva’s Winter’s Mark, a prelude to Howl of the North Wind. Relief surged through him, cooling the last remnants of his worry for his backline. He laughed, relief and bloodlust welling up within him. His friends were in the fight. Good. No doubt Ianmus was already halfway through preparing a spell.

An arrow shot over the top of Kaius’s head. It was a savage thing, packed so full of mana that he was genuinely shocked that it didn’t explode. Howl of the North Wind surrounded the projectile in a cutting magical wind.

The raptor’s throat…popped, vanishing in an explosion of gore. On impact, the wind erupted, tearing the wound open further, and throwing the now-gurgling bladeraptor back. Kaius’s blade slid free of its chest, blood slopping to the ground.

Thank the hells. Ianmus and Kenva could both put out a hell of a lot into their attacks — they were perfect for a wily but fragile creature like this. Once Ianmus had his glyphs charged up and ready to go, they could mop this up.

Unsteady and teetering, its throat a bloody ruin, the beast could do nothing when Porkchop lunged in. His shoulder slammed into the creature’s wounded chest, throwing it to the ground.

Kaius was by its side in an instant, a hail of nails exploding from his outstretched hand. They ripped into the soft scales of the creature’s underbelly.

Blood bubbled from its throat as it gurgled. Black eyes bore into Kaius — strong and furious. The bastard wasn’t even close to dead, even with a gushing wound in its bloody throat!

Before he could react, the bladeraptor lashed out with one foot. The blow was lightning fast. One hooked claw punched into the top of his stomach and ripped down — gutting him like a fish.

Kaius gasped, going cold as a wave of gore and viscera fell from his wound. He clutched at his stomach with his off hand, feeling the heat of his ruptured guts as they writhed against his palm. His entire everything filled with an itching heat, health searing through the wounds as it burned to knit his shredded organs back together. A little higher, and that kick would have ripped right through his heat.

“I need a moment!” he pushed through his communication ring, storing his blade in his ring. Staggering back, Kaius hurled crackling bolt after bolt at the beast, his other hand clutched tight to his open belly. Gods, there was an awful lot of blood. Even thickened like tar by Greater Regeneration, and his bleeding slowed by Rapid Adaptation, it fell like a waterfall.

“I can see that!” Porkchop growled back, throwing himself bodily into the bladeraptor that smoked from Kaius’s constant arcane assault.

The beast was a ruined thing. Craters pitted its flesh, and one side of its ribs was caved in where Porkchop had hit it with a Jadecrash backed by his full weight. Missing its throat, blood ran in a constant stream, saturating the feathers that scattered across its body.

Yet it fought strong, and its flesh boiled with the power of its regeneration. It might have lacked in defenses, but the beasts was an untiring monster.

Worse, their fight had been loud — and the field was still full to the brim with the tantalising scent of life. Vainblood still churned with the excited screams of distant beasts. Who knew how long it would be before their curiosity overwhelmed wariness, and they came to investigate. Him and his team were giving this single bladeraptor everything they had, and were just barely wearing it down.

Kaius grit his teeth.

A wall of warmth slammed into him from behind.

**Ding! You have been healed - Solar Manipulation!**

Kaius gasped as the free-cast spell ripped through him. His recovery redoubled, the open wound on his belly reknitting. His guts writhed, sucking back in as the magic went to work.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Ianmus grinning at him — sweat beading on his brow. Two keyseals burned bright at the tip of the mages staff, but he’d still manage to free-cast anyway. The mage’s practice was paying off.

The bladeraptor noticed it too. Kaius barely got a moment to register the creature looking from his rapidly healing wounds, to the distant mage with potent mana brimming at the tip of his staff.

Soft soil cratered under the bladeraptor’s powerful feet, energy surging into its legs. A single leap took it rocketing across the clearing, right at his backline.