SlaughterBot

302: Scratches in the Wall

[Author note: Patreon now 16 chapters ahead! I'm hoping within a couple months I'll be able to get it up to 20 ^^]

The crowd roared and chanted, and for once everyone in it seemed happy. Those from Shenra cried out Xuejing’s name, and those from Earth bellowed Nicolai’s. Both felt they’d an able representative.

Apart from those who’d bet on Zixiao or one of those with him, of course. And Pal.

‘Sneaky fucker,’ he muttered, sat tense and leaning forward in h...

301: Wonderful

After a couple minutes slipping from rock to rock, Nicolai was in position behind the Cultivator’s fortification. He was using a method he’d come up with himself to observe.

By pushing his Soul Sense through the rock between him and them, and having just the tiniest dot of it emerge from the far side, he was able to make use of its vision. He’d learned this from watching how the Gorothune had peeked at things, noted it had only exposed a tiny piece of its Soul Sense. If he hadn’...

300: Moving Up In The World

Zixiao and the others peered down at the valley below. Lush greenery packed between thick orange walls, and on either end a tide of blood-red mist squeezing ever tighter.

‘Still down there, right below,’ muttered Maodan, the oldster standing beside him and leaning over so far that it’d just take a quick shove to send him plummeting.

Zixiao had had Luo make some larger holes in the fort so they could look through and down, when the mist had pushed all the other competitors in...

299: Friendly Faces

There were definitely more hiding in this valley. He anticipated they were all lurking in bushes and by the walls. Apart from him, Jex, and the Nara Cultivator, the Modules estimated between ten and fifteen others.

Nicolai wasn’t concerned about them. Ultimately, he had to assault that position above because he was sure they had more than thirty-two up there. Some of them had to be taken out in order for the Tournament to end.

And he had two capable individuals to help ...

298: The Valley

‘That is him, isn’t it?’ spoke Hanwei.

Jian started slightly, surprised. Hanwei had been silent for some time, ignoring his father’s attempts at small talk as he focused on his sister’s performance.

His father glanced at the screens, then nodded, face widening in a genial smile that revealed gummy teeth. Jian guessed he was glad to have something to discuss, a way to wheedle the Nara Clan Cultivator.

‘Yes, indeed. Already they have run into one another. Perhaps y...

297: Red Mist

Nicolai settled into the very same position Pal had occupied, up until the moment he’d popped his Burst Shield with one spiritual palm strike from his bionic arm, then finished him with a stab from the bionic’s built-in talon.

He really needed to get himself a shield-penetrating Artifact he could actually use in any situation, he reflected. It wasn’t ideal, having to pop a Burst Shield then get them in the space before they could activate a standard shield, especially when attempt...

296: Mindgames

The barbarian was striding forward, a grimace of focus on his malformed, half-metal features. Those arms were tough. Xuejing’s Artifact Blades were capable of cutting through iron when active, and she’d had some success against some barbarian tools and weapons. Others, like this, were made from some strange and unusually strong type of metal.

Xuejing had thought to see how she fared without the lightning—a part of her felt it to be a little like cheating—but against an enemy thi...

295: Storyteller

In the high-up, quickly-made fortress, questions and accusations were being thrown around. Zixiao stood in the middle of it all, weathering them with a wide, calm smile.

‘This ruins everything,’ grumbled Luo, frowning heavily at him. ‘What was the point in me building all of this? We are going to be forced out!’

‘It seemed obvious to me,’ spoke Maodon in a musing tone, ‘that the Tournament wouldn’t let us just hide up here. But you were so confident. I didn’t wan...

294: Battle Royale

'What the hell is that?' said Pal, staring at the distant movement—the shifting and rising of earth, and the odd motion of a waterfall.

Zooming in with his bionic eye, Nicolai saw faint signs of Cultivators over there, though they were swiftly being covered. He noted the fleeing Cultivator was heading directly over there.

'They’re making a fort,' he murmured, and smiled.

Pal cursed. 'These bastards got pretty clever. I thought they’d form into a team and come and fight...

293: Tracking

Zixiao chuckled, gazing around at the frowns now adorning the brows of those around. While he did so, Xuejing watched him. Him, and all the rest. Fellow Shenrans all, but not allies, not outside of this moment.

A scattering from various clans and minor Sects, lone Cultivators, perhaps even demonic rogues acting upstanding. Apart from the notable few she recognised by reputation, she knew none of the Cultivators here. Their being together here was a matter of convenience, a banding toget...

292: Campers

‘Tracks,’ said Pal in a low voice.

Nicolai nodded. Footprints and disturbed undergrowth showed the direction the group of Cultivators had headed. Based on the scale there had been quite a few. No less than ten, no more than fifteen.

One wrapped in a shimmer poncho, the other active-camouflage, they crept silently through the brush.

Several minutes later Nicolai raised a hand, outside his poncho so Pal could see. Pal halted, and Nicolai made out the shape of his head look...

291: Jungle Warfare

The arena was different to last time. Rather than an empty city, Nicolai appeared in an exceedingly mountainous patch of jungle.

He was on a grassy bank before a large pool, in an area made secluded by the cliffs rising all around. A waterfall poured down the cliff ahead, churning the pool. The ground rose to his right, forming a ledge that led up the side of the cliff, arcing around the pool until it found an exit just to the side of the waterfall. Up above, he didn’t see the coliseu...

290: An Offer

The stands were already filling. Just as last time, they were full of Cultivators and cyborgs together, all excited about the tournament to come. Many were here to gamble on the results, others to see further examples of how technology and cultivation compared, the strategies used.

Though there was also a large minority of people who were here simply for fun, the majority had some kind of purpose for spending their limited time here.

There was a new reason now, too, in that people...

289: Nara Clan

The scam was simple, which was important. Based on what the Person in the hole had said, and Nicolai’s understanding of the rules, this wouldn’t be considered using some tricky loophole. It was simply… good business.

Nicolai took up position amongst the crowd of Earthborn. He put the details on what he was selling into the Local, where it would be arranged and listed by the software of all the people here.

This included various random things he didn’t even have, all of whi...

288: Tea

Nicolai led Wu—and the drone following her—to the Trade Link, and there they both made several cheap purchases. He’d discussed what they needed, both for losing her tail, and the plan to come. After that, he checked the drone hadn’t followed them inside, then they both entered their portals.

When they emerged and met back up, both wore baggy robes, several sizes too large, padded by additional clothing underneath. Nicolai gave her a quick spray of coolant, and the same for himse...

287: Market Quest

Nicolai opted to pause and break in some of his new Symbiotes before continuing to the Market. He did so back in his base, and there also discovered a benefit of the Infiltrator. The Modules within it were able to break-in Symbiotes, though quite slowly.

He gave Aiming the Stone-Shell and Iron Talon Symbiotes to break in, while he focused on the Red Tendon Crickets. The first two he considered of less immediate value, but the Red Tendons were something he would like to have available im...

Note - edited latest chapter just now, if you read it in the first 3 hours after it was released, check again ^^

Gio made a very good point, he should've gone Slayers Guild first lol. I decided I can just shuffle stuff around and fix that rn. So if you read chapter 285: Auction right when it came out, and you didn't see him go Slayers Guild, then read again cuz I've fixed it so he does!

285-6: Profits + Auction

[Author note: this chapter ended up getting very long due to later edits, so I split it when posting to RR, thus the double chapter title]

Nicolai made a quick detour, opting to head to the Slayers Guild before the Auction. Arriving, he nodding to the same imposing guard who stood with arms crossed outside it as last time. The man nodded back to him. Inside, he headed straight for the Guild storage.

It was a large half-moon of a door, made from some kind of seamless ...

284: Blood Hunted

The Information Guild was already busy, though most of that business was people entering or leaving. Three-eyed People simply appeared from the sides of the room, striding over to speak with any new arrivals looking to buy or sell.

As Nicolai entered, he and the Modules scanned the area hopefully, looking for the same woman as he’d met with last time. Ideally, he wanted to see her this time, too.

Threat Analysis let out little blurt of angered code when she turned up behind him....

283: War of the Houses

A flash of blue light announced Nicolai’s arrival, stepping through the portal. Sunlight poured down from a brilliantly blue, cloudless sky. Ripples caught at him, and Threat Analysis was quick to work, scanning and analysing them for anything of interest, while sending the drones attached to the chains wrapping his body humming into the air.

There were many other portals likewise flashing. He was in the large square, the same place he and everyone else had appeared last time. This wa...

Rewritten Chapters 268-282 (Everything--for new Patreons!)

This is all the rewritten content, with POV fro

Rewritten Chapters 268-274 (Nicolai only--for people who already read the old version)

This is all the rewritten content, but only foc

Welcome Back

Hey everyone ^_^

Well, here we are, I'm happy to be back here and I hope you are too :) I'm pleased to say I have finished the rewrite, and also made a lot of progress writing the story forward.

Chapters resume posting on the regular M-W-F schedule tomorrow!

Also, I want to apologise because, I said my intentions were to try and post the rewritten stuff after about two weeks. But you'll notice I'm doing it literally the day before lol. It turns out tendoniti...

Announcement: 1 month break

Hey guys, so, here we are! As you know, the story will now be paused for 1 month from today (15th August), with posting resuming on the 15th of September.

I have paused the Patreon so your membership will be put on hold, though you’ll still have access, and the cycle resumes when it unpauses.

The reasons for the break is a combination of health issues plus my backlog being too small, but also the whole A3 thing which I'm currently rewriting. I'd like to thank everyone for all th...

282: Into the Dark

The Angelic Blade hummed to life, releasing a hungry pulse. He could feel it in his hands, against his spirit. The Blade sensed what surrounded it. Once it would have seen these beings as peers, but never would it have seen them as allies. Now, still possessing the same vicious, hungry personality, but formed from Angelic Energy, a natural enemy of demons, it all but burned with the need to strike, the need to kill.

Nicolai examined it. Then he turned and thrust, the motion casuak. The ...

281: Reckoning

[Author Note: I have now decided on the route forward and will indeed be removing A3 in its current form. Actually, feeling very excited about the new plan ^_^! Anyway, I decided to remove mention of it from these two chapters, since it's a little weird to me to see stuff about it when I know, and now you know, that it won't be staying.

Also! Reminder/update that the 1 month break is going ahead as planned. I've settled on the exact dates too--break is starting from the chapter posting ...

280: The Vipers Nest

Nicolai moved to stand before the cave opening. A place where the ground rose up a little and turned stony, forming a small hill in which there was a large, dark opening. Gazing into it with his bionic eye set to thermal, he saw the shapes of Scale Vipers, hiding within.

He unshelled his Soul and thought about murder. Kill kill kill, he chanted happily, imagining he was filling the cave with led, blowing it up with bombs. A grin twisted his face as he stretched out a hand, and ...

279: Burrow Symbiote

After getting far enough away that he’d left all disturbances behind, he checked out the Symbiote he’d seized from the Gorothune. It was a stumpy, translucent little bug that seemed like a cross between a beetle and a worm, with a cluster of wriggling feelers ringing its head. It crawled blindly around on his palm, looking for a dark spot to hide in.

Wormtooth Wriggler Symbiote

Type: Earth

Tier: 1

Node: Leg/Foot

...