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

The bladeraptor was a living missile aimed directly at Ianmus. Icy shock ripped through Kaius’s veins. Not again — he refused to make the same mistake he had made against the gorespike. He’d been ready for this.

Roiling mana erupted from the swirling runes of Vyrthane, the glow of the glyph burning through the scales on his chest. Kaius reached for Warhaven instinctively. The spell loomed, begging for direction.

Kaius flexed his will, a shimmering orb snapping into existence mid-air. Three longstrides across, it may as well have been made from adamant.

The bladeraptor slammed into the obstruction, screaming in fury as half-healed ribs splintered further. It tumbled to the ground.

Porkchop reached the creature as soon as it got to its feet, an Ethereal Phalanx forcing it back as spears drove deep into its chest. Kaius followed, Slipstep ripping him across the open ground. A Father’s Gift cut a deadly crescent, cleaving through the creature’s side.

“Go for the legs!” Kenva said through their communication rings a moment later, loosing an arrow. “Ianmus almost has a Preeminent Halo ready!”

Kaius switched his focus, hurling Stormlash at the bladeraptor’s legs. The creature’s flesh blackened and smoked, weeping cracks spreading from the point of impact. A moment later, Kenva’s arrow slammed into the ground next to the creature. Questing vines as thick as Kaius’s wrist sprouted from the earth for ten strides in every direction, dozens of them wrapping tight around the beast’s legs — rooting it in place.

With Porkchop brawling with it, he had easy access to the limbs. He exploded forwards on a wave of force magic, blade held high. As he flew, three Nails shot from his off hand — punching through the vines and sinking into the creature’s knee. Wires unfurled, worming their way through the joints.

“What about your other keyseal?” Kaius asked the mage directly — the man could comfortably support two, and they had been planning on using the mental afflictions of Witching Hour. He touched down, thrusting at the creature’s leg as Mystic’s Rend screamed on the edge of his blade.

“I’ve only got enough mana gathered for one Sermon of Iniq!” Ianmus replied. “We still need it if something else attacks — but I’ll be able to cast a Whispered Lullaby soon!”

As if to prove the mage prescient, more screaming calls echoed from deep within Vainblood. They were louder and more defined compared to the earlier calls. Beasts were approaching — multiple groups. Kaius cursed, ripping his blade free of the creature’s leg. It hissed, striking like a viper. He lurched to the side, barely avoiding the vicious bite thanks to the warning of his skills.

More calls, closer still. Two distinct groups — one a heavy basso coming from the west, further away from the edge of the Midnight Crater. Others came from the east, around the rim. A dozen or more beasts, letting loose a constant scream of high pitched yips — some kind of hound or wolf? He didn’t know. Worse, it was hard to tell how far the groups were. They might arrive in seconds, or long minutes.

Kaius cursed, swiftly hacking at the head of the bladeraptor. His quick strike glanced off the creature's skull, but cut a weeping line under one eye. They’d only just managed to get the upper hand on this battle, and now more were coming? They needed to end this quickly.

Even with Porkchop throwing himself at the beast’s front, Kaius was still hard pressed to stay in close to the bladeraptor. Bone cleavers slashed at him every second, and he was forced to constantly dance in and out of range as it snapped at him with needle fangs.

He burnt spell inscriptions without a care for the cost, a storm of Hateful Nails punching deep into the raptor’s side and legs. The metal spikes studded its flesh like grotesque adornments devoted to battle, every one sprouting twisting wires that wormed through muscle and hide both.

The rest of his team put in their work. Porkchop weathered a constant siege, his armour cracked and his blood flowing as Skill-backed cleavers sheared through his armour — every blow cutting deep into his flesh. More than once, the raptor ripped free of the grasping vines that bound it, its scything claws burning with internal power as it cut. Each time, it would try to break away, and give itself precious time to heal from their constant assault.

Porkchop never let it happen, diving forward to wrap his massive limbs around the creature's neck, he would hold it firm — and open himself for retaliation. Twice, the creature savaged Porkchop’s belly in the exact same way it had disembowelled Kaius. His plate saved him from evisceration, but his flesh was still torn open — and an ocean of blood stained the ground red.

It bought them precious time for Kenva to fire more Ensnaring Seedbursts, tying down the raptor’s mobility once more. Whenever she could, heavy arrows punched into the creature’s body, brimming with explosive mana. Each one was the size of a javelin, and the potency of Bare thy Heart left gaping craters in its wake.

Ducking beneath a cleaver that was poised to take off his head, Kaius kept Stormlash at the ready. With so many of his Nails threaded through the bladeraptor’s body, a single one of the spells would rip through every one — making it all the more potent. Even better, the weight of the nails had slowed the creature’s speed, making it all the easier for them to handle.

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He still had to wait. If he used Stormlash now, the bladeraptor would be wary of him using the same trick twice. He had to wait until Ianmus’s spell was ready for the killing blow — then he could use it to hold the creature in place. It wouldn’t be long, he could feel the burning weight of solar mana that had gathered in the mage’s keyseal.

Racing in, Kaius hacked at the creature’s arm — aiming to sever one of its cleavers. Without them, Porkchop would take far less wounds — and any health his brother could save now was important. They might need him to cover their retreat.

Reacting to his slash, the bladeraptor whirled on him, hacking out with a strike of its own. Kaius’s skills blared at him: Moment of Flow warning him of danger, and showing him the path to safety; Sergeant’s Insight insisting he would survive, and that the creature had over extended — that he had an opening he could not afford to waste.

Kaius listened to the latter. A wedge of sharpered bone slammed into his chest, burying itself deep. Blood sprayed, coating the already sodden bladeraptor. The dual fires of his wound and the searing itch of his healing erupted in through his ribs and chest.

Turning through his hips, Kaius continued his strike. Hellblade Investiture burned on his blade, stamina dipping ever lower. He cut clean through the creature's elbow. It screamed, the severed limb spraying Kaius’s helm with red vitality. The blood dripped through the grate, running down his face.

Kaius flashed away. Ripping the beast’s cleaver out of his chest with his off hand, he tossed it to the ground with contempt. His wound was healing; a worthy trade.

“It’s ready!” Ianmus cried.

Reacting immediately, Kaius hurled a stormlash towards their target. Lightning latched onto the nails studding its flesh, arcing between them with a high pitched whine. They glowed cherry red, smoke drifting from the embedded metal as the bladeraptor shrieked — a cry that was echoed by the pack by the Crater’s rim. They were closer. Much closer.

As fresh vines sprouted from the ground, and Porkchop tackled the bladeraptor with Breaker of Men, Kaius looked away — seeing a eighteen strong pack of obsidian skinned wolves racing through the forest. The things were oddly proportioned, with overlong snouts and small pointed horns jutting between their ears. They were also Silver. Low Silver, but there were eighteen of them.

They had maybe twenty seconds before the beasts hit the clearing.

“Kenva, the sap! Now!” Kaius roared, looking to the archer.

She vanished into a cloud of leaves, racing towards the double helix trunk that held their prize. In the same moment, a searing ball of solar fire erupted from Ianmus’s staff. The mage’s Preeminent Halo was blue — so hot and bright that it almost hurt to look at. Even the mana within it was different. Energetic, almost angry — he recognised the shift of it, a metamagic he hadn’t seen the mage use with his keyseals yet. Armourshredding Spells. Ianmus must have wanted to be extra sure the beast died.

“Follow Kenva, flee to the south!” he called to the mage. There was still another beast coming from the west — they didn’t want to run right into it. “And get ready to use your Sermon as soon as those wolves are close enough!”

The mage nodded, taking off at a sprint. Silver light shone on his heels, leaving a burning trail thanks to StarlitAlacrity.

Kaius turned his attention back to the struggling bladeraptor, a burning orb of death drifting ever closer.

Right up until the last moment, Porkchop hammered the creature — until the Halo got so close his brother would get caught in the expanding orb of fire. Kaius cast Stormlash, smiting the beast. Porkchop used the window to dive away, rolling across the grass.

Starfire erupted, swallowing the bladeraptors head, neck, and half of its chest. The beast stiffened. When the spell vanished, a blackened ruin remained. Steam boiled from its charred skull, and its spine and ribs were on full display. Half-cooked viscera slopped onto the grass.

**Ding! You have slain Butcher-hand Saurian - Level 371 Ferocious Bladeraptor! Increased Experience for slaying a creature of significantly higher Level!**

**Ding! Runeblade Hellion has grown from level 259 > 262!**

**+6 Int; +5 Con, Str & Will; +2 Vit & Dex; +3 Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

**Ding! Class Skill available for Selection!**

More notifications rang in his mind, begging to be witnessed, Kaius shoved the impulse deep.

Across the clearing, Kaius saw the rapidly approaching pack. They raced towards the edge of the tree line, gunning straight for the helix tree. They had to go!

“Time to move!” Kaius roared. Ianmus and Kenva were already running, halfway to the tree line.

Sharing a single look with Porkchop, they took off after them — running as fast as they could.

A single look over his shoulder told him they weren’t fast enough. Shining black hounds snarled, their crystalline fangs gleaming in the sun. Kaius clenched his teeth — only to see a haze of silvery fog fall over the beasts. It roiled, sibilant whispers drifting through the formless mass. Each and every one was a curse and a pleading cry, a litany of trembling secrets that spoke of the hidden truths of a dark moon.

The black wolves staggered, lurching in the fog. Snarling and snapping, their eyes grew glazed as maddened fury overcame them. They looked rabid, almost on the verge of attacking each other.

Kaius didn’t want to bet on that being enough.

He dropped his last remaining Starfall on top of them and kept running.

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