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

Successive detonations and the pained screams of maimed beasts filled the clearing, a backdrop to the pounding pace of Kaius’s sprint. His heart roared in his chest, all pain of his wounds forgotten as he pushed himself to his absolute limit.

Ianmus’s spell had confused the beasts, and his own had brought ruin — but it was only a matter of time until they raced after them. He’d seen how quick the beasts were. Fast. Too fast, for how weak they were. Not all beasts were stitched from the same cloth; pedigree mattered much for strength. Much like a Heroic delver facing off a Common one, some creatures were made of sterner stuff.

He suspected those hounds were from the Crater itself. Maybe only the outskirts of it, but being steeped in the power of an Adamant spirit had to count for something — some of its preeminence might have rubbed off on them.

Plus, more beasts could be approaching by the minute. If he and his team wanted to enjoy the fruits of their labour, they had to get out. Now.

As the grass and dirt tore beneath his feet, the tree line grew ever closer, and the stars continued to fall.

A hundred strides from the bleeding hues of the trees, the first hound died — torn to shred in the bombardment of his warmagic.

**Ding! You have slain Blatharn Nightmaw - Level 234 Ripper of Flesh! Reduced Experience for slaying a creature of significantly lower Level!**

More followed, chimes sounding in his mind one after the other. He counted them — six. That left a full twelve still living. In his heart of hearts, he knew the creatures would be injured. Confused by Ianmus’s spell, his own magic had hit them completely unprepared and undefended. Yet, he could not still the cold clutch of worry in his heart. Their fight had taken much from them — drained him of most of his potent magics, and supped deeply on the health of their vanguard.

He held faith they could win the fight — but what about the beast that still roared to the west, drawing every closer? He could hear its pounding footfalls now — shattering branches and crushing stone with every step. The very boughs of the trees rustled, deep in the forest to his right. How big was the creature? How powerful? Nothing weak would dare strike for a morsel as tantalising as the helix tree’s sap.

And what of the others that no doubt lurked in the forest? Fighting here would just give them time to draw closer.

Just ahead of him, Porkchop hit the treeline. A wall of briars cut his brother off. He simply summoned his armour and charged. Thick, dagger-like thorns scraped along the edge of Porkchop’s heavy plate, and Kaius felt pain flare in their bond as those same barbs tore bloody tracks through the pads of his feet.

It still saved them time. Kaius flowed in his wake.

Punching out the other side, they ran into Kenva and Ianmus. They’d circled the same briar, cutting their lead.

Far behind, Kaius heard howls — joined by a crashing snarl. The battle in the glade kicked off, and continued unabated. Within minutes, more cries joined the crescendo — the yowling snarl of some kind of cat, and a shrill scream of a hawk or eagle.

It left Kaius confused. They had the sap — why fight over nothing.

A moment later, he realised that life mana was still emanating from the clearing. It was reduced and thinner, but still more than potent enough to draw in more monsters into the helix tree’s charnel pit.

“I thought you grabbed the sap?!” Kaius yelled, pulling in beside Kenva.

“I did!” she replied, before looking over to give him a sly grin. “Most of it! Maybe a tenth of it was left after filling up the bucket, so I thought it was best to leave it and give our audience some scraps to fight over.”

Kaius laughed — that was smart. They might not have to fight their way out. If they put enough distance between them and the glade, they’d be able to break away and find somewhere to hide. The sooner, the better — he wanted to check out his waiting Skill evolution.

A moment later, he noticed the smell of life mana was stronger closer to Kenva. A glance revealed her hand was covered in a thin coating of sticky sap — he’d missed it because of how much of the stuff was already around them.

He wasn’t the only one drawn to the subtle glow.

A dark red blur launched out of the tree over their head, lunging towards Kenva with claws outstretched.

Porkchop roared, Intercede the Weak launching him forwards as he smashed the unknown beast to the side. As it tumbled through the golden grass, Kaius got his first look at it — and snapped off a reflexive Nail. It looked like a cross between a cat and a bear, with a lithe almost mustelid-like body. Nor was it large — only half as big again as the rare lynx he’d seen in the foothills of the Wildguard mountains with the Sea. It’s aura gleamed argent, but the colour was thin, verging on the darker hues of Steel. The beast must have barely crossed through to the second tier.

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His spell punched into its chest, rich blood spreading through its already red fur.

Kaius fired off three more, Kenva adding to his salvo with an explosive arrow backed by Bare thy Heart.

Their projectiles shredded the bearcat, strips of bloody fur ripping from its body to reveal the gleaming pink of bone. It howled, writhing as blood pooled beneath it. It was already half dead, any one of them could have killed it in a minute or less. But they couldn’t stand and fight — not this close to the clearing. The sounds of their battle would only bring more creatures down on their head. Who knew how many had been lurking on the fringes, waiting to capitalise on their competitors exhaustion to snatch away the helix tree’s sap in the final moments of the battle.

“Keep running!”

They did — though Porkchop went out of his way to stomp on the bear-cat’s spine. It snapped with a wet crack. The creature might heal, but they would be long before it did.

“Your hand, Kenva!” he yelled to the ranger. “They can sense the sap!”

She hissed, glancing down at the remnant traces.

“Hells, I thought I already got all of it.”

A rag appeared in her hand a moment later, and she scraped every scrap of the sap off that she could. Mana-rich fluid soaked deep into the fibers — it glowed almost as much as her hand had been. She tossed the rag to the side, right into a patch of briars. It hung from a single spike.

“What are you doing?! Won’t they find our scent?” Ianmus asked, looking at the rag as he passed.

“They just care about the mana! Anything that’s following will focus on the rag, not us!”

“At least wash your hand with this!” Ianmus replied, tossing her a bottle of alchemical cleanser they had gotten from Yanmi so many months before.

That would be perfect for cleaning off the mana rich sap!

Kenva uncorked the bottle with her teeth, slathering pouring a heavy stream over her hand. Even a drop of the stuff diluted in water was enough to clean most grime, but the stain of the life mana was strong — it was the right move. They had cases of the stuff.

When Kenva vanished the bottle into her ring, Kaius breathed out a sigh of relief. The sap was gone — there was no trace of it on her hands that he could see with his mana sight.

Now they just needed to put enough distance between them and that clearing that they could check their skill notifications without interruption.

…

Kaius staggered over to a towering trunk and collapsed against it, panting hard. His stamina had bottomed out a half hour ago, but he hadn’t been comfortable stopping until the sounds of battle coming from the clearing were little more than echoed on in the distance.

Porkchop lumbered after him, an exhausted Ianmus sliding from his back with a groan. The mage had the least physical stats of all of them, and had run out of stamina long before the rest of them. When Starlit Alacrity had started to burn through the very dregs of his mana pool, carrying the mage was the only way he would have been able to keep pace.

“That,” Ianmus panted, lying flat on the ground. “Was awful."

“Oh please,” Kenva said, sliding down to sit with her back against an overgrown root. She was breathing as heavy as the rest of them, and clumps of her auburn hair were stuck to her sweat streaked brow. “A little run never hurt anyone.”

“Fuck you, yes they have.” Ianmus swore. “Besides, I was more concerned about the beasts that were trying to eat us.”

Porkchop snorted, collapsing down to lie next to the mage. “We got away, didn’t we? All objectives achieved, no less — the expensive tree juice is ours, and so are our next skill evolutions.”

“Just let me be tired,” Ianmus sighed.

The somber resignation in the man’s voice made Kaius laugh. Still, Porkchop wasn’t exactly wrong — they had gotten everything they wanted. Well, most of it, at least. It had gotten a little hairy towards the end, but hey — he was used to that by now.

Still, they could have done a bit better. In hindsight, they probably should have expected more beasts to descend on their battle — but that was neither here nor there.

Silence stretched long over their temporary redoubt — a hidden nook, closed off by roots and briars from the rest of the forest. They were all tired enough that it was nice to simply breath, and enjoy the afterglow of a battle well fought.

The heavy fatigue only lasted so long. Health roared through his body, fixing a thousand tiny aches from their frantic flight, and his stamina crept back up — the energy bringing crisp alertness in its wake.

Kaius stretched, and took his own seat on the ground. Now that his heart rate had slowed, a bubbling excitement built within him. His next skill was ready, this time Mystic’s Rend. He had high hopes for this evolution — it was one of the four cornerstones of his swordwork, and the main one that made use of his free mana.

He shuffled, feeling restless. Looking at the rest of his team, he saw Porkchop needling the ground with his claws, Ianmus balling his fists rhythmically while he lay flat on the ground, and Kenva drumming her hand against her knee.

They were just as impatient as he was. Kaius laughed.

“Notifications then?”

His friends grinned.

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