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

Kaius trudged through the trees, his eyes locked on the murky red depths of Vainblood. It was only a few strides away. One moment, soft grass cushioned his footfalls as he wove through the haphazard brush that sprouted under soft shadows of the canopy. The next, the grass was gone, the dirt churned into a thick mud, and those pretty bushes with small, white flowers were replaced by hungry brambles totting curved daggers.

Even if the trees shot skywards, and the distance between trunks grew wide and sporadic, the air weighed down on him. He could taste it, an iron tang like he had swallowed an axeblade, thicker than any mouthful of blood he’d ever had.

No sign of the environmental effect though — Rapid Adaptation was silent. Unless it was just because of the dense mana and odd affinities?

Leaving idle musings for later, Kaius gripped his sword firmly in hand as he roved their surroundings. With Porkchop fording their path through the vicious tangle, they wove their way around cutting briars, corrosive brambleballs, and trunks dripping with carnivorous flowers.

While the trees grew wide apart, the undergrowth grew thicker the further in they got into the zone. Until, eventually, they hit a wide wall of hooked barbs.

Porkchop let out a low grumble, approaching slowly. He reached out, tapping one of the blade-like thorns with his paw. He jerked his leg back with a low growl — Kaius catching sight of a drop of blood on the tip of the thorn.

“Yeah, fuck that — you can cut our way through,” Porkchop said, swinging his head back towards Kaius.

He grunted, stomping forward.

Cleaving hard, he cut down at an angle, shearing through the briars that were as thick as his wrist. A Father’s Gift barely felt a hint of resistance — they might have been unnaturally sharp, but they weren’t much tougher than normal plants.

His brother used his Ghosthand artefact to haul on the branches, a path slowly opening for them.

Despite their care, Kaius was treated to the constant screech of thorns grating against his armour. Reaching the other side, he turned back and offered Ianmus a hand.

“Watch your step — and maybe use your mage armour.”

Ianmus nodded, a slight frown on his face. A moment later, mana surged through him as he used his Skill, a shimmering barrier sticking close to his skin. They made it half way through before the man stumbled on a hidden tangle. One thorn slammed into his defences, cracking them.

The mage stared at it in shock. “That is…moderately terrifying. I don’t match up to your or Porkchop’s defenses, but I know for a damned fact this skill could take a mundane crossbow bolt just fine. I barely bumped the thing.”

Kaius nodded — everything in this damn place seemed to want to kill them.

“How’s Kenva doing?” he asked Porkchop once they were through — she’d taken to the trees, so would have gotten to miss all of the fun they were having trudging through Vainblood’s undergrowth.

“She’s fine. Spotted plenty of Steel beasts, and a few Silvers, but nothing really worth our time just yet. So far, no major change in the landscape ahead, but we should hit the zone effect in about a quarter league — we’ll get a System notification.”

Well, that was something at least — it was good to know it was something more overt than simply the odd mana of this place.

“Hey, Ianmus,” he said, grabbing the mage’s attention. He’d been the one who’d spent the most time looking into the phenomenon. “How will my resistances work, with the whole bleeding thing?”

Ianmus met his eyes for a moment, before he returned his attention to their surroundings — regardless of how strong they were, all of them knew they had to be careful.

“It’s a little hard to say until we see for ourselves. Zone Effects vary massively — some are just oddities that only affect the environment. Likely, your resistance won’t prevent the effect directly. You’ll still be better off than the rest of us, though.

Kaius clucked his tongue, disappointed. As it was, he knew most of the recorded beasts in this zone had a propensity to leverage bleeding effects. If he could have ignored them thanks to Rapid Adaptation, he and Porkchop would have had a significant advantage.

As they moved on, Kaius slowly grew used to the oppressive taste of blood in the air, his early tension slowly melting away. In its place, a restless heat started to boil in his limbs. The sudden creaks of tree limbs shifting in the wind seemed less like a potential threat, and more like opportunity.

This place wasn’t so bad — a bit grim, maybe, but there was a gruesome beauty to it. A vibrancy of life, welling from every blade-like leaf and jagged briar.

“Hey Kaius?” Ianmus said, planting his staff on a jutting tree root as he hopped over it.

“Yeah?” he replied, following behind the mage.

“What are we doing after this?”

“What do you mean?”

“After we rescue Kanmost,” Ianmus said, grunting as he sank ankle-deep into a pool of red-tinged sludge. “Say we’re successful, and he finds some old record of Empire genealogy that points us towards the old holdings of your House — are we heading right there?”

Kaius hesitated for a moment. In all honesty, he hadn’t quite considered it. Ever since their encounter with the Castellan, the old coals of yearning in his heart had been stoked — he had roots!

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And yet, was it really urgent? There was so much on their plates: the integration, the Onyx — even the longstanding issues in the Dens that Porkchop had mentioned. All of those were real, current problems they needed to deal with. An old cache of simple history…if it had survived for who knows how many thousands of years, it could certainly wait a few more.

Ianmus seemed to misunderstand his pause.

“I mean, I’m really not against it — Empire history is fascinating, and it sounds like Unterstern were master artificers. Even if we ignore it’s meaning to you, which would be enough on its own, I would not turn my nose up at a cache of ancient artefacts — and maybe even records of old discovered Honours.”

“It’s not that,” Kaius replied, smiling at his friend's care. “I was just weighing up our options. In all honesty, I want to say Wight’s End makes the most sense for our next stop. It’s where all the most powerful gather, and the sheer wealth that flows through it means that the Onyx are sure to have a strong presence there — the problem is I'm not sure if it’s wise.”

They might have been uncommon talents, but the rumours about Wight’s End were imposing. Nestled in the deepest, more remote peaks of the Drozag ranges, even getting there would be a struggle — they’d have to take one of the dwarven deeproads, and brave whatever monstrosities made their home both on and beneath those mana-rich mountains.

Plus, the city itself was the home of third-tiers. Maybe even higher. They were strong, but they would have to be morons to run in there with bright eyes and bushy tails.

“Well, that seems like an easy problem to solve,” Porkchop replied, leading them left to dodge a patch of blightballs that cut off a route between two towering trunks. “We could hit a Delve — Ekum did say we needed to finish off the fiftieth layer before we reached the third tier. We could make a bit of progress towards finishing off the integration, and getting stronger before going to Wight’s End.

“Is that even wise?” Ianmus asked. “Things are only barely stable as they are right now.

Kaius immediately knew what Ianmus meant. Hells, things might not be stable at all — not even a week ago, Flowers had told him directly how precarious the situation was in Greenseed with trade so heavily impacted, and the rising impossibility of managing large swathes of field lands. Bloody Deadacre had nearly been levelled by the Tyrant! And he was gods’ damned sure that more of those things were lurking in the forgotten reaches of the continent, ready to ruin someone's entire life.

If they progressed the integration again, who’s to say that Vaastivar would survive? They might — he and his team were strong, and growing stronger by the day. But society? People were trying, and putting in the work, but they were slow. Slower than them, at least.

And yet… did they have the luxury to slow down? Ekum the Pale had said that the world would burn if they took their time — that no matter the death and fire that follower their path, it would be worse if they did nothing.

They hit another patch of briars, and Kaius took the lead to cut them through.

“There’s no given that things will stabilise if we wait,” Kaius said, grunting as he cleaved through the tangled vines. “For all we know, the beasts will continue to grow stronger at a faster rate than the average delver and city guard. Rotten roots, Tyrants might grow more and more common over time — we’re fucked if that happens. Progressing the Integration might be dangerous, but it will bring new opportunities as well. Honours, power, and places to gather it. Think about the impact of Aspects and the Crucible alone — something like that could make all the difference, and not just for us.”

Porkchop stepped forward, nodding as he took the lead once more. “Yep — and like it or not, if we want to keep walking the Path, we have to progress it. From where I’m standing, this world needs its own version of Guardians willing to cut a path forward, not wary indecision. Plus, if we’re going to Refine as much as we possibly can, we’re going to need a lot of challenges — the kind we can only find in the Depths. We already have enough Honours that we’re ahead of the curve. Like it or not, we might have to delve beyond layer fifty if we want to keep pushing ourselves.”

Ianmus sighed. “I don’t like it — but you’re right. It’s just hard to stomach. So much of the world has been struck by misfortune and misery already. It’s hard to fathom what might come with the next change; what trials we might face.”

Kaius stepped forward, clapping his friend on the shoulder and gripped it firmly. “Regardless of what happens, we’ll be facing it together — and we haven’t failed yet. Plus, we’re not fools — we can warn the Guild, give them time to brace before we advance the Integration again.”

Ianmus nodded, but Kaius could tell the man was still troubled. It was reasonable, if he was honest with himself. Who knows what could happen. A change to the Depths?

Surely not — it was already a vicious challenge to most people. Beyond that, it was also the only really viable source of predictably metered danger available to delvers. Without the safety of a lo- layer delve, how would the next generation ever prepare for the reality of their new world? They couldn’t just run off into the wilds — any random Iron beast would obliterate them, and those were more common than not these days.

At the head of their formation, Porkchop came to a sudden halt. Kaius readied himself immediately, falling into his guard as he reached for his glyphs.

“Oh, woah — that’s uncomfortable.”

Kaius relaxed. “The Zone Effect?”

“Yeah. Come check it out.”

Sharing a glance with Ianmus, the pair of them approached. Kaius felt what his brother meant immediately. The mana in the air grew viscous, prickling against his skin like a thousand needles. Rapid Adaption almost jumped within his soul — aware of the sudden change, but unable to find anything to actually fight against.

Frowning, Kaius turned his attention to the System notification that popped into view.

**Ding! Zone Effect in place: The Weeping Rend - Blood! All forms of bleeding worsen! Blood and Slaughter abilities are strengthened!**

The description matched the records they had found in the guild — he could only hope the other dangers they would face were just as similar.

“Oh, hey,” Porkchop said a moment later. “Kenva’s found a Gold beast — she’s going to scout it out a bit more then head back to us.”

Kaius blinked away the notification, grinning at the good news. A Gold would be perfect for some levels — and it was a much more approachable problem than something as big as the fate of the bloody world.

“Well then, let’s find somewhere nearby to wait for her.”

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