wardenraime

Chapter 254 - Discovery

For almost an hour Leon had been moving unseen through the Talfar camp. He burned down a small storage center for medical supplies, but he hadn’t realized that there had been a group of Talfar warriors behind the tent gathered around a small fire, and the loss of hundreds of healing spells and other medical supplies was initially blamed on them.

There was the possibility that the Talfar warriors that would have to investigate the incident might realize what happened, as the undisciplin...

Chapter 253 - Switching Targets

The first indication that Leon had that Arthwyn had cottoned on to his actions was the sound of several chariots driving in his direction. He stopped and crouched low to the ground. He was still invisible, but he wanted to present the smallest possible target, nonetheless.

A few seconds later, three light chariots materialized out of the smoke. Each was pulled by a pair of horses and had a team of three warriors within—one driver, one archer, and the chariot leader, a swordsman....

Chapter 252 - Something Stupid

‘I shouldn’t be doing this…’ Leon thought to himself as he leaped down to the ground from the roof of the gatehouse on the east side of the wall. He knew that what he was doing was reckless, stupid, and irresponsible, the exact kind of thing that Trajan had been trying to ensure he would never do after his exploration of the stone giants’ Cradle.

But every time he thought about turning back, he thought about Anzu’s broken leg and wing. To a lesser degree, he thought about...

Chapter 251 - Continued Assault III

As the siege towers drew closer to the outer-most wall, the Legion trebuchets redirected their fire from the hordes of Talfar soldiers to these siege engines. As one round from a trebuchet exploded over one of the siege towers, though, it became clear that the wood and iron they were made of had been enchanted to increase their chances of actually reaching the wall.

This had its limits, of course, as the siege tower closest to the river was bombarded by the fleet and disintegrated under...

Chapter 250 - Continued Assault II

Leon, Alix, and Anzu stood upon the wide ramparts of the first wall, surrounded by other Legion soldiers watching the siege towers slowly inch closer and closer. Even with each pulled and pushed by hundreds of peasants, the ten siege towers were slow and cumbersome things.

The Legion soldiers, including Leon and Alix, readied their bows to fire as soon as the towers entered effective arrow range. When Leon’s group arrived at the central gatehouse where Minerva had set up her command ce...

Chapter 249 - Continued Assault I

“Our rough headcount indicates we lost one hundred and seventy-three during that attack, along with four hundred and thirteen soldiers who were stationed in the vale, and we only rescued eighty-nine,” the Legate reported.

“The number we rescued doesn’t matter that much, so long as it isn’t too devastating,” Trajan responded. “The important thing is to show that we don’t leave our people behind when it can be avoided.”

“Still, might it not have been better to simply aband...

Chapter 248 - Trajan's Response

Within the Bull Kingdom, most buildings were single-story structures, two stories at the most. Larger cities like Ariminium or the capital had many buildings that were taller, but these were the exception. Because even first-tier mages could jump high enough to climb on these buildings, there were very specific laws prohibiting running along rooftops.

Trajan, his Legates, and Leon all ignored these laws as they sprinted toward the keep of the Southern Horn. They left more than a few bro...

Chapter 247 - Constantine's Stand

The successful killing of Bran was a thing worthy of celebration, but any jubilation Leon or Trajan felt in the vampire’s death was quickly quashed when they heard Constantine’s horn.

Trajan wasted no time; he turned to one of the administrative Legates he’d brought with—about half of the Legates he’d brought to the ambush weren’t experienced combat veterans, but they still had sixth-tier strength and that’s what Trajan had wanted—and ordered, “You’re in command here, deal wit...

Chapter 246 - Stalking a Lion

It had been almost three days since Bran first stepped into his shadow and infiltrated Ariminium. He found Leon quickly enough by sneaking through gates whenever they opened until he reached the keep, then waiting until Leon showed himself. But Bran didn’t make his move right then, rather he decided to wait until Leon wasn’t surrounded by hundreds of other mages who would rush to his aid.

And so began more than two days of stalking, with Bran following Leon’s every move.

Most o...

Chapter 245 - Losing Patience

As Trajan was meeting with Owain at the Bull’s Horns, August was meeting with Legates back in the capital. Much like at the Bull’s Horns, the capital had three Legions permanently stationed around it. Further out in the Central Territories were four more Legions, but as the Central Territories was the most peaceful region in the entire Kingdom, this was more than enough.

That being said, despite having the smallest contingent of combat soldiers in the entire Kingdom, there were dozens...

Chapter 244 - Infiltration

Given the number of chapters released today, I haven't been able to go through them as thoroughly as I would like, so if you notice any misspellings, missing words, or canon inconsistencies, please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments! I would love to fix any mistakes I may have made!

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Owain’s anger had cooled by the time he returned to his tent in the Talfar camp. The high-ranking Warrior-Chiefs of the army had been waiting for him and Arthwyn to come back, but as so...

Reminder: Rewards Increasing on Wednesday!

Just as a reminder, here's what the tier rewards will look like on Wednesday:

$1: 2 chapters

$3: 5 chapters

$5: 8 chapters

$10: 15 chapters

$15: 23 chapters

$20: 30 chapters

$25: 30 chapters, and your name in the credits

As I said when I announced these changes, there will be more on June 1st, so don't get too upset that the lower tiers are getting more for their money right now, it will balance out next month, I promise! In fact, I fully expect...

Chapter 243 - A Royal Proposition

The atmosphere around the Bull’s Horns was so tense it could almost be cut with a careless swing of a blade. The 19th Legion manned the walls, the 21st prepared themselves in the Northern Horn, and the 23rd readied for battle in the Southern Horn. The fleet had deployed to the mouth of the Tyrrhenian River to watch for any approaching Talfar soldiers using boats seized in Florentia and to bombard any units of their army that strayed too close to the shore.

The people of Ariminium could...

Chapter 242 - Peace Offer

Trajan glared at the letter in front of him as if its very presence profaned him and his Kingdom. It was a simple letter with an honorable request, but given recent events, Trajan couldn’t help but be furious that such a thing was even asked.

Leon and Minerva were both with him, along with most of the command staff of the Bull’s Horns, including Aquillius and the other two senior-most diplomats.

“Not good, I take it?” Leon asked, seeing Trajan’s dark expression.

“No,”...

Chapter 241 - Bleeding Leech

The deck of the flagship was silent on the quick cruise back into Ariminium’s port. Out of the twelve Tribunes and three Legates that Trajan had taken with him on the mission, five Tribunes and one Legate had been killed, while the rest had no shortage of injuries. Fortunately, both he and Leon had little more than superficial injuries. What was more, there were at least eight hundred casualties in the four battalions that Trajan had taken on the mission, with more than a quarter of those be...

Chapter 240 - Hunting a Vampire III

'They just keep coming…’ Minerva thought as she stared down at the battle raging below her from a raised observation tower on the wall of the Northern Horn. The Legion lines rippled every five minutes or so as those soldiers in the front line shuffled back, and those in the second line stepped up. Fighting like this, the 21st Legion down in the vale could fight for an entire day if they had to.

Unfortunately, Minerva could see that the Talfar forces were commanded by a skille...

Chapter 239 - Hunting a Vampire II

Number of chapters available to each tier are increasing on Wednesday, May 1st! More details here!

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There was a palpable feeling of dread that settled over the ship as it departed from Ariminium. Trajan almost had to threaten the fleet’s Legate in order to get it to move, but remembering the last time he tried to refuse the Prince, the Legate wisely decided to ‘loan’ his fleet to Tr...

Rewards Increasing on May 1st

Well, it's about 11:30 pm and I need to work up some motivation to finish up the last 3-500 words of a chapter I'm working on, and I can't think of anything better than to announce what you all are going to be getting a little earlier than I intended.

It's basically just what the title says. I'm going to have my biggest chapter release yet, and every tier will get in on the action.

$1: 2 chapters

$3: 5 chapters

$5: 8 chapters

$10: 15 chapters

$15: 23 chapte...

Chapter 238 - Hunting a Vampire I

Coming off the heels of his nightmare, Arthwyn expected a gargantuan force of the Bull’s Legions to be arrayed against him, an army to match that which had pushed back Talfar’s previous invasion. Instead, he saw barely even a single Legion’s worth of soldiers between the camp and the first several towers in the vale just east of the Horns.

“Is this it?” Arthwyn snorted derisively. “Twenty battalions? This is what you show me?”

The assistant that had woken him felt a brief s...

Chapter 237 - Arthwyn's Nightmare

The acrid stench of smoke filled the air, and Arthwyn could hear the pleading of dying Talfar soldiers in the distance. Above that, though, he heard the sounds of clattering armor and the beat of battle formations.

Briga was on fire, and the Legions of the new Bull King were pressing further into the city. Block-by-block they had pushed, seizing the outlying residential districts and the college district in less than three days. The market district fell the following day, and half of Ar...

Chapter 236 - War Council

Two days after the evacuation of Florentia, Trajan called all of his command staff for a meeting to keep everyone coordinated. This amounted to the three senior diplomats of the Diplomatic Corps, the three Legates in charge of each of the combat Legions at the Horns, the thirteen other Legates in charge of logistics and administration, and the twelve sixth-tier knights in Trajan’s personal retinue. Each of these commanders brought their senior-most Tribunes, averaging out to about three or f...

Chapter 235 - Weapons to Fight a Shadow

‘First things first,’ Leon thought as he stared at his sword and armor. When he’d been taken to the hospital, most of it had been taken off, and he’d had to carry all of it home. Now, Leon had to decide what to do with all of it, which is to say whether to pull it into his soul realm or not.

In the end, he decided on only pulling his sword into his soul realm, and to just wear his armor in case Trajan sent word that he was needed. He didn’t actually think he would be neede...

Chapter 234 - New Found Determination

I added some new channels to my Discord server to make it a little less restrictive, so if Discord's your jam, be sure to check it out =)

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The pristine white walls were blackened and scorched by lightning, the furniture had been burned and shattered by Leon’s power, and Leon himself was lying down on the pile of dust and splinters that had been, only a few moments before, his hospital bed. And yet, Leon opened his eyes with an almost paradoxical serenity. It took him a moment ...

Chapter 233, Waking Up

Darkness and pain. That was Leon’s entire world. Artorias, Elise, and Valeria had all disappeared, and his home dissolved away, leaving him curled up on the ground in an enormous black void.

By this point, he had become vaguely aware that what he was seeing wasn’t real, but his mind was so taken up with the regrets and insecurities that Bran’s demonic power had poked that he barely even cared.

He’d buried his father after mutilating his corpse. He’d gotten far closer to Valer...

Chapter 232 - Response II

“Hmm, Avidius always was over-cautious and indecisive,” Trajan mused, “I have no idea why my brother made him into a Consul…”

Before him was a hovering light projection of August. The younger Prince had arranged for a call with his uncle to discuss the situation with Talfar, but it had been delayed both by August’s difficulties with the Legions in the Central Territories and by Trajan’s evacuation of Florentia.

“Is there nothing you can do to help, Uncle?” August...

So, what's next? More chapters, that's what.

All right, so there’s a new tier with 5 more chapters. What’s next?

Well, what comes next is that I start writing like a madman, and get more chapters out to all tiers over the next few months. The most common complaint in my Patreon exit surveys have been that 1 dollar per chapter isn’t enough, or that there simply isn’t enough content for the money put forward.

I hope that by September, each of the tiers will have access to double the chapters they do now. To put forward som...

Chapter 231 - Response I

Leon’s dreams were terrible. The hateful and betrayed looks Artorias, Elise, and Valeria had given him when he had been affected by Bran’s demonic illusions stuck with him, refusing to let him go despite Bran’s retreat.

Artorias stared accusingly at him with cloudy dead eyes as an ugly, gnarled, and withered tree burst out of his chest, his burial worthy of a god turned into a hellish nightmare.

Elise barely glanced at him, and when she did her eyes were filled with scorn and d...

Chapter 230 - Battle for Florentia III

“Who… are you?” Bran asked, his eyes filled with nothing but the black-armored Leon. The vampire didn’t wait for a response and was upon Leon before the young man could react. Bran wrapped one hand around Leon’s throat and easily lifted him into the air, while the other ripped off his helmet, exposing his face to the Marshal.

As the vampire memorized every detail of Leon’s face, from his black hair and golden eyes to his long straight nose and strong jawline, Trajan and t...

Chapter 229 - Battle for Florentia II

Bran practically had the run of Florentia. The vast majority of citizens were down at the docks waiting to evacuate, while most of the Bull Kingdom’s soldiers were defending the roads leading into the city.

The city had no walls, so the latter wasn’t going to work forever, but for the moment the forces of the Talfar Kingdom were being stymied in their attempts to dislodge the Legion.

But Bran had little interest in any of that. He could easily use his powers to flank the battali...

Chapter 228 - Battle for Florentia I

“Your Lordship sees them, don’t you?” a middle-aged Warrior-Chief asked Marshal Arthwyn.

Arthwyn smiled as he glanced at the sixth-tier officer. The man had been his subordinate for more than twenty years, and they trusted each other greatly; Arthwyn never would’ve tolerated such a patronizing question, otherwise.

“Of course I fucking see them,” Arthwyn whispered. He didn’t want any of his other subordinates or the lower-ranked warriors around them to hear him breaking the ...