Bacon Macleod

B3 Chapter 281: Re:Depths, pt. 2

Kaius watched the stone that Kenva held tightly gripped in her bloodstained hands. Under the firelight from the nearby braizer it really did gleam like solidified blood—rich and oxygenated.

At first he’d thought that Kenva’s great secret was that the Hiwiann could create the bloodstones. Some ritual, or other edifice, that had them develop a latent blood magic unique to their culture.

It wouldn’t be the first ancient legacy of such a kind. The dwarves, with their ...

B3 Chapter 280: Re:Depths, pt. 1

Kaius stumbled as twisted space thrust him across the threshold that separated the world above from the Depths below. First through the breach, he heard the sounds of his team behind him a fraction of a second later.

*Welcome to the Great Depths*

Layer: 25

Biome: Temple-palace of Hyythenal

He blinked away the notification that thrust itself upon his vision with eager insistence.

The room was unlike anyth...

B3? Chapter 279: Freedom, Finale

Kaius gasped, trunks blurring as he raced through the forest, every heavy step kicking up a torrent of dirt as the ground gave way beneath his strength.

They’d broken free of the encirclement, but even after putting a league between them and their prison, they still had beasts hot in pursuit. They just wouldn’t give up, worked into some unnatural furor by something unknown. 

It rankled, and worried him.

“Come on!” Kenva screamed from ahead, vines exploding from ...

B3? Chapter 278: Freedom, pt. 1

It seemed that in the same stroke he had taken Conte’s arm, Kaius had broken the compound's spirit. 

As he turned from the site of his duel to join his team in their dash for freedom, he saw a sea of white faces—full of fear. No one moved to stop him—focusing instead on securing their own lives in the face of an endless swarm of beasts.

Even that was flagging as the men fell to despondency. They fought with a frantic desperation that had been absent only moments ago—h...

B3? Chapter 277: Flight, Finale

Kaius saw the exact moment his least favourite jailor realised that his men weren’t doing shit to slow him down. 

The foppish bastard cursed, his breastplate clanking as a beast clawed him while he was distracted. Dispatching the cat-like thing with a quick stab, he yelled something to his hunter companion that was lost in the general clamour of the battle. 

He’d already analysed them, and knew just what he would have to deal with. Level two-thirty-four and two-twent...

Chapter might be 15-30min late today

I stayed up till 4:30am reading Sky Pride (warby out did himself on this one, and I already thought Slum Rat was peak)

Just dragged myself out of bed and am getting round to editing it now, and it needs a bit more of a rework than normal to fine tune some of the beats I want to hit.

Gnash your teeth and curse my beta-reader if you want, he's the one who suggested sky pride :P

Or just go read sky pride while you wait, it's bloody good xianxia played straight sorta in the w...

B3? Chapter 276: Flight, pt. 3

It had become imminently clear to her that Kaius and Porkchop had an immensity to their strength not seen since the oldest stories of her people. 

Despite the concrete proof of it unravelling in front of her eyes, Kenva still struggled to believe what she was seeing. 

Safely nestled between the bulk of a floating greatshield and a monstrous greater beast draped in heavy-plate, Kenva looked out over the raging chaos that had descended on the site of her months-long impris...

B3? Chapter 275: Flight, pt. 2

Kaius cursed the goddess Ellantyr for her scornful hoarding of luck.

All across the battlements, warning cries spilled forth from desperate defenders—those not immediately fighting for their life pointing in their direction. The only blessed advantage they had was that the chaos of the melee had spawned a fog of war — few had the freedom to notice yet another call spilling across the field, and fewer still had the wherewithal to look in their direction.

With hundreds of men, t...

B3? Chapter 274: Flight, pt. 1

The last ascent to the courtyard felt weighty, every footfall crashing through Kaius’s body. 

He knew that each one brought him a step closer to the final barrier to his and his team’s escape—a mirror to the gradual increase in the quality and furnishings of their surroundings. 

The militaristic simplicity of smooth hewn stone and simple wardlights faded with every long-stride they ascended—replaced by bevelled edges, and intricate wrought iron light housings.&nb...

B3? Chapter 273: Expected Barriers, Finale

The black armoured vanguard approached them slowly, his menacing grin widening with every slow, clanking step. 

He thought that they were scared.

Kaius stared at the tier-two warrior, inwardly wondering what was wrong with the man. He had to know that they had killed men of his calibre during their capture.

Right? Surely, he had to be aware. By the blasted Depths, they’d been drugged and half dead from a battle! Against their full team, fully rested, with an addit...

B3? Chapter 272: Expected Barriers, pt. 1

Heart pounding in his chest, Kaius raced through hallways soaked in red light. Every turn they took he expected to see a battalion of men waiting for them.  

As of yet, his suspicion had been proven foundless, but now that they were on the second floor—which was far above their starting point—the battle raging above had grown into a consuming cacophony. 

By now they were getting close to the final set of stairs. Every step they took brought them closer to the ch...

B3? Chapter 271: Ill Gotten Gains, Finale

Strapping his greaves onto his trusty leather boots, Kaius breathed a sigh of relief and comfort. 

Spending so long without his equipment had left him feeling vulnerable and naked. Now, draped in shining scale, with his sword back on his hip, he felt whole once more.

Though, it was still a little strange to feel the dense layered fabric that covered him from neck to his mid thigh under his cuirass. His new gambeson had proven to be a much welcome addition. Made from innately ...

B3? Chapter 270: Ill Gotten Gains, pt. 1

Sifting through the mound of artifacts they had stolen, Kaius rapidly picked out everything he recognised.

With the clock ticking down, their full accompaniment of smaller rings and amulets would have to wait. It was a decision that would hit Porkchop the hardest, but luckily his brother was the least reliant on external items to function in their role.

That, and Porkchop’s doorsized greatshield had been bloody easy to find. 

Ianmus and Kenva were clustered around the...

Chapter 269: Grand Larcency, Finale

Kaius was utterly prepared for everything to go to shit.

They’d backed up a full third of the way down the hall—as far as Ianmus was confident in still being able to make the shot—to create some distance just in case. Porkchop had taken front and centre, his armour summoned, and his body braced to cover the much more fragile members of their party. 

Watching Ianmus channel, all Kaius could do was gnaw the inside of his cheek. His part was done, and now he had to sit and...

B3? Chapter 268: Grand Larceny, pt. 3

Surrounded by the desolation of his assault, Kaius tuned out the remnant agonies of his battle and the slaughter he had smeared up the wall.

Ire and fury had faded from him—dissapaiting much like all evidence of his wounds. He knew if he continued to ruminate on the anger he still felt for his captors, it would pull at his mind—distract him. 

That couldn’t happen. There was work to be done, and his indulgence had already cost them enough time. 

His attention ...

B3? Chapter 267: Grand Larceny, pt. 2

A/N: I’m finally doing it—endurance is being retconned to Constitution (I’m going to have to do this for the eventual ebook anyway). I’ll slip up, so let me know if that happens (beta and normal readers alike)

Suspicion had saved the last remaining vault guard from his initial assault, but it wouldn’t save them from his last.

Kicking off the ground with explosive force, Kaius brought up his leading leg to absorb his impact as he collided with the ...

B3? Chapter 266: Grand Larceny, pt. 1

Kaius stood up, his knife sliding free from the dead guard’s skull with a wet squelch.

The sound cut deeper than any blade, revulsion crawling up his spine as competing thoughts bounced around the inside of his mind. 

They had to do it—even if they’d bound the man, taken the time to back track to the cells and lock him up properly, there was no telling what skills the man might have had—nor what the simple delay could mean for their escape. Keeping him alive was a ris...

B3? Chapter 265: Escape, finale

Pressing heavily on the captured guard’s broken arm, Kaius skewered him with a stare as he waited for them to answer. 

He’d expected that the compound they’d been taken to would have a significant force of men manning it—at least fifty, from what he’d seen—but to find out that it was in the hundreds? 

They had a far harder fight ahead of them than he had expected. 

“It's mostly for smuggling!” the guard hurriedly answered Kenva. “That, an...

B3? Chapter 264: Escape, pt. 5

Their captive was a weak man with a weak will, that much was clear. The second Porkchop had bitten through his companion's skull, Kaius knew that they had broken them. 

Using his weight to keep the man pinned, Kaius felt the bones of their broken arm grind as they tried to pull away in a flinch—unable to deal with that wet crack.

Porkchop opened his mouth, letting the limp body fall free. Snaking his paw out, he caught the guard's corpse and lowered it to the floor gently i...

B3? Chapter 263: Escape, pt. 4

It was strange, how a simple wooden door could loom so large. Now that they had been pointed out to him, Kaius could hear the hastened movements of people behind it. 

In the drenching red of the wardlights, the door seemed to almost whisper a promise of coming violence. He knew, of course, that they could hide in one of the empty rooms to their sides—with the current emergency, he doubted that the guards would stop to check behind them.

And yet…they needed information.&nb...

B3? Chapter 262: Escape, pt. 3

Feeling the chill of the air on his still damp skin, Kaius tugged his pants over his hips and muscled the buttons on his fly closed. 

Despite his struggles with the non-compliant clothes, he still stared over the bunks in front of him to keep his eyes trained on the door—the constant restless gnawing he felt in his chest urging him to move faster. 

Even with Ianmus and Kenva now fully dressed and keeping watch, every second would matter if someone discovered them. ...

B3? Chapter 261: Escape, pt. 2

Opening his eyes, Kaius saw his companions standing by the door to their jail—prepared to defend against potential intruders. 

Porkchop was covered in his jade plate, ready and waiting to descend on anything that threatened to enter. 

Kenva was just behind him, staring intently through the wall, watching for guards, while Ianmus stood the furthest back—eyes focused as a small amount of Solar mana wove its way around his hand.

He stood, an action that drew their...

B3? Chapter 260: Escape, pt. 1

Tugging gently at the corpse of the jailor, Kaius grimaced. 

Hateful Nail was not exactly the cleanest of spells, and rolling the body onto its back was enough to slop his mashed brains out of the cavernous holes in its head. 

An ugly reality of a dark deed, the face was ruptured, flaccid features split and twisted—still held in the vaguest of mockeries of a person by barbs of wire that punctured and wove through the corpse's flesh. If that wasn’t enough, the potent ...

B3? Chapter 259: Trusting Strangers

Watching the jailor swagger his way into their prison, Kenva forced herself to stay still and steady. Even if she was nervous about how this would go, and still struggled to fully believe that Kaius had a way to slip out of the cells and deal with their captor, she was absolutely sick of cowering. 

Her rise, burning bright across the Frontier as she forged her own path according to the traditions of her people, had only made the fall all the more crushing. Before Kaius and his team...

B3? Chapter 258: An Unexpected End

Laughter spilled across the polished marble room, the delicate sound of joy quickly echoed by a dozen other mirthful women. 

They danced—hips swaying through the slowly raining petals as the warm sun shone through their silks, framing the subtle curves of their hips and breasts. They moved slow, but carefree. A voyage of love and light as they fuzzed in and out of sight. 

A goblet was offered, the colour of honey and studded with rich rubies and gleaming diamonds. The ...

B3? Interlude 6: Myriad Developments

Deep in the bowels of the earth, surrounded by dripping stone and stagnant eyes, She woke. Seven eyes snapped open, and She knew her purpose. 

Gnarled fingers dug into rock, as She rose to her full height. Her deep breath tasted existence—it was weak and untempered. With understanding, came zeal.

Her soul flared with unbridled purity, and She knew Her purpose.

Under Its righteous demands, She would burn a path that only the worthy could walk.

“Come.” She dem...

B3? Interlude 5: Strange Tidings

Dvei stalked forwards, using his greatshield to push through the long grass while he kept his morningstar held and ready. They’d learnt the hard way that outside of the sturdy walls of settlements, nowhere was safe.

The early morning sun did little to cut through the biting winter chill, every step forwards paired with the crunch of last night's frost.

A low rise was up ahead, covered in a thicket of trees.

It was the start of the small woods that homed their target—a pa...

B2 Chapter 257: Confinement, Finale

With his arms crossed in his lap, sat with his eyes closed and drove out all distractions. The sapping chill of the cold stone against the threadbear burlap of his smock. The itch between his shoulders. The just barely audible rustle of footsteps in some far off hallway.

All of it was driven out, in favour of focusing on the slowing rhythm of his heart, and the steady bellow of his lungs. 

An old centring trick—one Father had taught him young, to get him through the trials ...

B2 Chapter 256: Confinement, pt. 3

Resting against the back wall of his cell, Kaius idly traced the shapes of clumped moss that had grown in the damp. He was thinking about their cell mate—Kenva. At first, they’d kept their distance, but the more time that passed, the more he was convinced that the woman could be a vital asset in their escape. 

It was the little details. The way her eyes flicked to the far wall, as if she could see something through solid wood and stone. Her sudden reactions to unexpected noise�...

B2 Chapter 255: Confinement, pt. 2

It had been almost a full day since he’d woken in his cell.

Mostly, it had just been sitting and waiting. Ianmus and Porkchop had woken a few hours after that, and he’d briefed them as quickly as he could—using Porkchop as an intermediary just in case they were being listened to. 

They’d looped Kenva into their conversations—asking her more sensitive questions, but had been careful not to mention any details of who they were, their builds, or their plan to escape.&n...