RinoZ

Chapter 1459 - Brilliant Reports

It seems the Krath are planning on being more cautious this time around. That’s honestly more what I expected from them as opposed to their rather upfront and gung-ho approach we’ve witnessed till now.

Everything we know about them says that the slug tribes are the wiliest, most frustrating and downright nasty creatures a person can fight in the Dungeon. I didn’t think I’d even see a Krath for ages, let alone have them charging at me almost as soon as we arr...

B4C52 - Welcome Strangers

Rurin felt the clash of her blade against another person’s for the first time in her life and found she didn’t like it.

The Soldier was good, well trained and equipped, with a shining steel breastplate and helmet that radiated with enchantments. They blocked her slash and immediately moved to riposte, blade flickering through the air, almost seeming to ignore the intervening space.

However, they were not gold.

With one gauntleted fist, Rurin bashed the strike to the side...

Chapter 1458 - Krath Attack

Hmm. As pleased as I was to find the first signs of the Krath, it soon becomes apparent that something different is going on here. There’s too many of them. I haven’t even been here that long and I’ve found dozens of them! That’s too many!

They couldn’t have known I was going to come here, so they must have been here all along? Just what the heck is going on.

I briefly consider turning around and heading straight back to Victor for a report. I doubt she e...

Chapter 1457 - Slippery Slugs

Once I’ve got the all clear from the healers and assured Crinis that I’m not dead, nor have I been teleported to some distant, horrific part of the Dungeon, I’m free to go on my next errand!

Namely: find some Krath and make them regret showing their slimy faces around the Colony! There’s several locations where Solant suspects the Krath might be gathering, each of them toward the deeper end of our spreading influence. Which only makes sense, why would they head closer to ...

B4C51 - Walk in the Dark

Tyron took one last glance behind him at the Jorlin manor. There was little he could do to fully conceal his presence there. The signs of the Abyss, the ritual magick he’d performed, and the stench of death magick would remain, hanging thick in the air for any mage to find. The better ones might even be able to discern the types of spells he’d used in the fighting, at least, in a general sense.

But there were no witnesses remaining, none that remained alive, at any rate.

Chapter 1456 - Morrelia and the Legion

“I hate the fifth,” Morrelia groaned.

“So you’ve said,” Joshen noted, “several times.”

“Did you do officer training here, tribune?” she asked, peering at the surroundings with open dislike.

She’d hoped never to come back here after the hellish officer course. Somewhere down here, perhaps thousands of kilometres away, the facility she’d stayed in was still there, a new batch of trainees was being put through their paces, suffering just as she had ...

Chapter 1455 - Reporting Back

I’m not used to having to come back to my family with news of failure, though it feels like it’s becoming more of a thing lately, and I’m not happy about it. I can’t wait until we crush this stratum in its entirety so I can run around smacking the slugs about with my antennae. Without the benefit of their toxic environment, they’ll be helpless before me, forced to bow down and bury their sluggy faces into the dirt!

Whoa!

Need to be careful, that felt like the dark...

Chapter 1454 - A Slippery Foe

Totally thought I'd scheduled this post. Sorry folks!

The ball of mana is incredibly dense, and from this close, I can see the dark green energy twisting and spitting virulently. This venom mana is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Not quite like acid, not quite like the toxic poison of the fifth, it’s almost a blend of the two. I’ve no doubt that should it touch me, it would begin to eat through my carapace and body like an acid, and spread throughout my c...

Chapter 1453 - Frog (snake) in the Well

You want to get into a spell-war with me, snake? Then prepare to be crushed! Literally!

As well as figuratively!

I keep snapping new shields into existence just as fast as they get eaten away, all the while building and weaving the dense mana necessary for the well. Naturally, the snake is just as capable of sensing mana as I am, since it already detected my first bomb, it can tell that something big is coming its way. It too begins to weave, drawing out even more mana from...

B4C50 - The Tide of Death

Following the bone giant, a horde of smaller skeletons emerged, some bearing cauldrons of bone that they planted on the ground and began to activate.

“Charge!” bellowed Captain Janus. “Don’t give them time!”

Following his own words, the high level Soldier blasted forwards, sword aglow with bright light, but even he wasn’t fast enough. Clouds of darkness boiled out of the cauldrons and filled the ballroom in moments. Herath, frozen in place at being called by name, and ...

Chapter 1452 - Bomb vs Bomb

This is outrageous! How dare you, snake! This is my secret, personal technique! Have you been peeking at my notes, stealing my private writings and copying my homework? This can’t be allowed!

Gandalf! Intervene in this situation immediately. 

My gravity bomb screams and howls as always, but even through that din, I can still hear the spell unleashed by the snake monster hiss and spit as it shoots forward. My mana sense is screaming about the dense, potent ma...

Chapter 1451 - Snake Assault

The problem with trying to get my mandibles on these newly spawning monsters, is that they’re rare and only just beginning to appear in these tunnels. There are plenty of areas within the safe-zone where they aren’t appearing yet, and when they do pop up, the Colony is, of course, dealing with the problem as soon as they can. 

What this means is that, even though I go looking for some monsters to chomp on, I can’t find any. Though I search high and low, every time I th...

B4C49 - Nothing Runs Rampant

Herath Jorlin stirred in his sleep. Something tickled at the edge of his awareness, a touch as light as the fluttering wings of a butterfly brushing against his cheek. He would never have noticed at all, left to his wine-induced slumber, if only it hadn’t persisted.

His brow furrowed in his sleep as the subtle feeling of wrongness continued to grow, to poke against his magickally sensitive mind. 

Restless, he began to toss and turn, until finally he sta...

Chapter 1450 - The Old Way

The Eldest is sleeping now, which is only right. They will wake eventually, of course they will, but hopefully, by that time, we will not need them to achieve the work.

If all goes well, we will complete our objective without having to disturb the Eldest at all. My only regret is that I will not get the chance to share the triumph of my greatest campaign.

- From the personal notes of Solant

“We’ve got weird monsters popping up in the tun...

B4C48 - Guard Duty

Not for the first time, Preston wished he were out fighting. He turned his head away from the empty road in front of them toward the Soldier beside him, a footman named Rylat, with the tanned complexion of someone from further south.

Probably explained his odd name.

“Do you think the heretics will attack us here?” he asked.

Not for the first time, Rylat scowled behind the visor of his helmet and gripped the haft of his spear tight.

“Preston, you are on dut...

B4C47 - Great Changes

Drenan Ebert, leader of the Hooligans Slayer team and bronze ranked Hammerman, was not quite sure how to react to the scene in front of his eyes.

It could have been the skeleton with the snake bones dangling from his pelvis that had him so off-balance, but likely not. After all, he’d met Dove before, in a limited capacity. Perhaps it was the large gathering of heretical priests and their followers, openly praying to their three dreadful gods on the outskirts of the town. He’d...

Chapter 1449 - Kicking into Full Gear

Sorry the chapters have been late! I was... uh... distracted by Satisfactory and Frostpunk 2.

I repent.

Have all the chapters for the week!

Bod tomorrow.

It was truly impressive to see what the family was capable of when they really put their minds to it. I’m so used to my siblings’ unified way of thinking, thanks to the Vestibule, that I’ve stopped considering what it actually looks like to others when all the ants wor...

Chapter 1448 - Rising Once Again

“What do you estimate to be the level of fortress completion?” Solant asked softly, her eyes fixated on the maps and models laid out before her.

“It’s almost impossible to give an accurate figure,” Tungstant groused. “We’ve never done anything in such a piecemeal fashion as this. Some parts are nearly complete, while others haven’t been started!”

“That’s why I asked for an estimate.”

The carver paused for a moment to gather her scattered though...

Chapter 1447 - An Unusual Medical

Well, this is awkward.

I knew it would be. I mean, obviously, it was going to be awkward, anyone could have foreseen that. But now that I’m here, in the moment, I really wish I hadn’t been so ready to acquiesce to this particular demand.

Anthony of the past, why are you always such a pain in my business zone?

To say the tension is high would be a bit of an understatement. The Legion weren’t permitted to send many soldiers to see me. Four, to be precise. H...

Chapter 1446 - Strategy of the Slugs

Zluth was instinctively uncomfortable, and judging by the body language and expressions of his fellow Krath, they felt the same way. Of all the dangers in the fifth, there were none more deadly than the slug tribes, even to each other, and as long as he had lived, Zluth had never seen so many different tribes gathered in one place. It was almost unnatural, but the circumstances demand that the tribes do something they very rarely did: put aside their enmity and fight toge...

Chapter 1445 - Krath Assembly

“Is it really necessary for me to be here for this?” Goszi burbled unhappily. “My foot aches like I dipped it in an acid swamp. I’m too old to be traipsing around the tunnels on a long journey.”

Zluth didn’t bother to dignify that with a response. The older Krath took every opportunity to make himself seem harmless and elderly, while in reality only one of those things was true.

“Pay attention,” he hissed, stabbing one of his thin arms towards the other ...

Chrysalis BOOK SIX!

PUNCH IT WITH A WHOO!

Book six, full of demon invasion action is here for your enjoyment! Grab a copy today!

Also, ratings and reviews are SUPER important for the series visibility. If you have the time, please click through and leave a rating or review. I will execute a single pushup in your honour.

Link: Chrysalis 6: Antvance into the Unkn...

Chapter 1444 - An Unlikely Alliance

“Can I ask how progress is going in the fifth stratum? The Legion is quite familiar with just how temperamental it can be,” Chyron stated.

There was only the slightest pause before Jern replied. He must have been passing on the Commander's words as she spoke them.

“You may not. That information is only for those who are part of the expedition.”

Meaning, if they wanted to know, then they would have to commit their support for the invasion. Not an unexpected rep...

B4C46 - Engineering

Tyron had never expected that choosing to specialise in skeletons would require him to become such an expert in physiology. It was entirely possible there were medical professionals out there who knew less about muscles and ligaments than he did. Bleary eyed, he stared at the diagram in front of him, covered in intersecting lines, each representing a thread of magick of a specific thickness and tension. For the extreme levels of force these magickal joints would need to bear, his measu...

Chapter 1443 - An Unusual Meet and Greet

“Tribune Morrelia, Tribune Joshen. I trust you are prepared for our upcoming engagement?”

Morrelia just nodded, but Joshen snapped out a salute.

“Of course, Commander. Your briefing was very thorough.”

Arrayed in his spotless dress uniform, her fellow Tribune was, as usual, the very picture of a dedicated officer. Morrelia, on the other hand, had just come from the field, and she looked like it. Chyron gave her a critical glance, but she just shrugged careless...

Chapter 1442 - Under Pressure

The core shapers are absolutely delighted to get their greedy little mandibles on the core I bring back. Investigating the nature and capabilities of the fifth stratum monsters is incredibly important, especially the more highly evolved ones. Bella acted like I handed her the greatest treasure in the world when I dumped the core into her mandibles.

“Hey. The turtle wasn’t that impressive. For a tier seven? Barely passable.”

“Not all of th...

B4C45 - Unfortunate Souls

“I had no idea it was going to be so cold up here,” Timothy shivered.

Rurin eyed her fellow rebel leader with disbelief.

“You didn’t think it was going to be cold? In the Barrier Mountain range? These things scrape the fucking sky and you can see them from Woodsedge on a clear day. Are you out of your mind?”

The Mage glowered at her, which didn’t appear all that fearsome since he tugged his cloak tighter about his shoulders at the same time.

“I sai...

Chapter 1441 - Maybe I Should Get a Shell

I mean, really now. How hard can it be to destroy one nasty turtle? Pretty darn hard, as it turns out!

I send bomb after bomb at the lousy thing. Obviously they aren’t large ones, or overly empowered. The Colony is close enough that if I were to unleash my full strength, they, the fortress currently under construction, and most definitely myself, would be in serious trouble. There’s no need to risk my own life in order to destroy this turtle, but wearing it down is taking 2024-09-10 02:57:18 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 1440 - Turtle Soup

So, a giant turtle wants to throw down with me? Hah! It’s nothing but a snack in my eyes. Though… it’s a pretty darn big snack.

Now that it isn’t covered by the goop, I can get a better sense of its core, and it’s definitely weaker than mine. This is a tier seven monster who didn’t manage to max out its core at some point along the line, or didn’t push the limits as far as it could have. I have the advantage in evolutionary energy, but that doesn’t mean everything...

B4C44 - Kinks in the System

“Are you sure about this?” he asked for the third time.

Yor glared at him, her fingers flexing into claws.

“Yes,” she said, her voice tight. “Yes, I am sure.”

“I knew they were letting the golds out, but why are they taking them to the Tower? And how did you learn about this?”

“Via the usual methods,” she saidsays flatly.

The issue with using the vampires as a source of information wasn’t how well they were suited to the task...