nrsearcy

Chapter 153 - The Ritual

Zeke reached down, offering his hand to Talia, who took it. As he helped her to her feet, he looked into her eyes, and he saw more humanity there than he’d seen in the past. Even with her body reforming right before his very eyes, and with blood dripping down her chin as she chewed a human heart, she seemed less monstrous than ever before. Alien, perhaps, but not a monster.

Aside from Talia’s clash with the demon lieutenant, whose pieces and parts still littered the obsidian ground ...

Chapter 152 - The Demon Lieutenant

Talia wove through the forest of obsidian stalagmites, her motions fast and fluid. With her recent levels, her agility and dexterity had jumped by leaps and bounds, the stats further increased by Zeke’s [Avatar of the Beast] as well as her own [Alacrity of Undeath]. When she was fully enhanced by Zeke’s skill, both her agility and dexterity were more than thirty points higher than her baseline, and with her stats compounded by the doubling effect of 2022-09-15 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 151 - Wrongness

Carlos sat beside Tucker, the hulking alchemist, trying to ignore his constant stream of questions. He wasn’t fooled by the man’s affable tone; he knew an interrogation when he heard one, even if Tucker’s method included a host of inane, seemingly innocuous comments.

“You’ve really got that boy band, Tiger Beat thing going here, don’t you?” the man said, gesturing in Carlos’s vague direction. “Good for you. Bet you’ve got to beat the girls away with a stick. Me, I al...

Chapter 150 - Leakage

Despite the fact that the immediate danger had passed, and their enemies lay dead on the rocky, uneven ground, it didn’t take a genius to realize that they were still neck deep in trouble. During his time in the caves, Zeke had developed something of a sixth sense for underground spaces. It didn’t extend into supernatural territory, but the combination of his enhanced senses and a wealth of experience in subterranean environments had given him the ability to intuit and predict what might ...

Weekly Check-In

Another week in the books, and we're just getting into the demon mini-arc.  I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I liked writing it.  Anyway - as always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, this is where to stick them!  Ask away!

Chapter 149 - Evolution and Adaptation

Leaving the man-made halls behind, Zeke marched forward down the rugged tunnel, barely bothering with even the basic concept of stealth. With his heavy armor and physical bulk, he just wasn’t built for it. Nor did sneaking around sit well with his personality. In a pinch, he could make a passable attempt, but it always left a bad taste in his mouth and conjured memories of his actions in the troll caves. He didn’t precisely regret assassinating whole villages of the vicious monsters, but ...

Chapter 148 - Through the Keep

Abby drew her bow, a conjured arrow glittering in the tunnel’s firelight, as she held her skill, [Thunder Strike] on the brink of activation. A staccato of footsteps echoed from around the corner, announcing the impending arrival of a group of the strange Jaguar warriors who populated the keep. It would be the first time she tried to activate the skill underground, so she wasn’t sure if it would work. There was nothing in the skill’s description to say it wouldn’t, but common sense di...

Chapter 147 - Real Monsters

Carlos stood at the gates, staring with horror at the massacre in the courtyard. He had killed plenty of people in his life. He was a member of an assassin’s guild, after all. His powers weren’t exactly clean, either, often leaving a charnel house of blood, gore, and viscera in their wake. He was a killer, and not a gentle one. But Talia was clearly on a different level altogether.

He watched as she plunged her clawed hand into the chest of one of her victims, yanking a mass of red ...

Chapter 146 - Infiltration

Talia’s hands tightened into fists, and the already pale skin of her knuckles whitened even further, the faint green tint from her blood disappearing as she stared out into the distance. The desert landscape looked peaceful, almost like a lifeless alien planet. However, she knew that beyond every dune, and in every rocky nook and cranny, danger lurked. Even below the surface, there were monsters waiting to pounce.

Monsters like her.

Before the encounter with Carlos, Talia had th...

Weekly Check-In (9/3/2022)

Another week in the books, and this one brought with it an expansion of the Patron benefits.  So, I hope you all enjoyed the influx of chapters.  We're coming up on a really cool mini-arc, and I'm eager to see what you all think of it.  

As always, let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  I'll be watching football most of the day, but I'll keep checking back so I can respond as quickly as possible.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Chapter 145 - Fury

Constance slammed her hand down on her desk, activating her skill, [Touch of the Sun Goddess] without thought. In an instant, the wood began to smolder, and before she could retract her mana, it erupted into a brief conflagration. She let it burn itself out, and only a few seconds later, it had been reduced to a pile of ashes. It matched her mood. Behind her, the painting of her patron goddess stared down at her subordinates, radiating fury and disappointment.

Looking u...

Chapter 144 - Interrogation

Zeke led his the assassin through the tower, taking more than a little pleasure in the man’s obvious surprise. Since being reborn into the new world, Zeke hadn’t had a lot of chances to just show off, and he had to admit that it felt good, seeing Carlos’s awestruck expression. The tower itself hadn’t changed much over the past few weeks, but the sculptures ringing the ground level had grown more detailed. In addition, a couple more had been added, one depicting their three-week war ag...

Chapter 143 - An Uneasy Alliance

Chapters were out of order for some people, so I had to delete and re-upload to get things back on track.

Carlos was dead. He knew that the moment he saw the expression on the hulking warrior’s face. And it didn’t take a genius to figure out what had gone wrong, either. Judging by the way his expression had changed, the man, whose chitinous, rust-red armor looked half-melted, had run afoul of the Crystal Spiders, and the disagreement had pushed him into kill-on-sigh...

Chapter 142 - Mirage

Chapters were out of order for some people, so I had to delete and re-upload to get things back on track.

“You really don’t see that?” asked Zeke, staring off into the distance.

Standing next to him on the balcony, Abby used her hand to shade her eyes as she followed his gaze. After a few seconds, she said, “All I see is more sand. Sorry. Maybe it’s just a mirage.”

Zeke sighed, then turned away. It had been almost a month since they’d defeated ...

Chapter 141 - Captive

Carlos clawed his way back to consciousness, pushing through some ephemeral barrier that he supposed was a skill. One of the benefits of investing so much into his intelligence and wisdom stats was that he was incredibly durable against magical attacks, both physical and mental in nature. His mystic path further enhanced those resistances, even if he hadn’t unlocked the stat yet. Few achieved that benchmark before level twenty-five, and even then, it was difficult and dangerous. Even so, wh...

Chapter 140 - Inedible

Abby knew something was different. From her perch on the fourth-floor balcony of the tower, she could see that clearly enough. Zeke had gone from cracking the jeweled feathers on the giant amalgam’s back with each swing to leaving craters with every impact.

“He reached the peak,” said Tucker from beside her, almost as if he could read her mind. She still didn’t like the man, but she couldn’t deny that his grenades were very effective. Without them, the giant, stone raptor woul...

Chapter 139 - Strength in Numbers

As I've hinted at a few times over the previous couple of weeks, I've decided to go ahead and increase the Patreon benefit by another five chapters.  This affects both tiers, so, as of today, Monarch-Tier patrons get early access (over what's published on Royal Road) to thirty chapters, while Boss-Tier patrons get twenty.  Hope you all enjoy.

Zeke slammed his shield into one of the raptors, cracking its elongated beak and sending it sprawling into its fellows....

Chapter 138 - The Smell of Death and Decay in the Morning

Talia sensed Zeke’s return well before she saw him crest the horizon at a dead sprint, carrying Tucker over his shoulder. She’d never seen Zeke move so quickly, so it didn’t take her long to surmise that something was amiss. So, when, a few moments later, when she saw the flock of creatures in hot pursuit, she wasn’t terribly surprised. Not that the emotion would’ve meant much regardless; even when she was shocked to her very core, she hardly felt it. Indeed, even the most intense e...

Chapter 137 - The Circle of Life

As Zeke dashed toward the emerging sand crab, he couldn’t help but marvel at the monster’s size. At least thirty feet across, its scuttling legs were as big around as Zeke’s waist. However, he was far more concerned with the beast’s overlarge claws, which were already darting out to snap at him. The first strike, he blocked with his shield, but it sent him staggering backward, his momentum halted in an instant. Even as he skidded backward, ducking the monster’s second attack, he sta...

Weekly Check-In (Plus a Rant)

RANT ENGAGE!

I admit, I'm a little bummed out after this week.  The chapters I released on Patreon are fun, and I think they've been well-received.  However, I've come to realize that Royal Road is definitely not a healthy way (for writers) to release books.  There's a part of me that acknowledges that looking at comments is always going to be a losing prospect, because even if they're overwhelmingly positive (and they are), I'll always focus on the negat...

Chapter 136 - The Weight of Instincts

Tucker knelt beside a scrubby bush, then bent down until his face was only inches from the otherwise barren earth. The bush itself was unremarkable – just a typical example of desert vegetation, hardy, spiny, and with limbs of weathered wood. However, at its base was the target for which Tucker had been searching for the past three hours. Sweat dripped down his brow, staining the brown dirt as he reached forward and between the bush’s scraggly branches. With fingers steadied by decades of...

Chapter 135 - Elite

The first thing Zeke did when he got back to the tower was remove his all-but-ruined armor, which had been melted into so much slag, take off his clothes, and jump in the shower. Not only did the cascading water feel amazing, but by the time he’d finished, he felt clean for the first time in weeks. After he stepped out of the shower, which was constructed of the same crimson-and-white, marble-like stone that comprised the rest of the tower, he took a moment to look at his reflection in the ...

Chapter 134 - The End of the Grind

Rivulets of sweat dragged furrows through the blood and grime that coated Zeke’s face, evidence of hours of exertion. He ignored it just as thoroughly as he ignored the pain of his many wounds and the tug of exhaustion pulling against his mind and body. Instead, he did what he’d been doing for nearly four weeks, mechanically swinging his mace or thrusting his shield, shattering one fire ant after another. Meanwhile, clinging to his armor were various patches of viscous fluid, each of whic...

Chapter 133 - Welcome to the Jungle

The moon hung high in the sky over Jariq, bathing the Jungle in silvery light. More importantly, it cast the Jaguars’ territory in deep shadow, making it the perfect playground for someone with Carlos’s skillset. So, he barely even had to think as, cloaked in his skill, [Umbral Phantom], he flitted from one path of darkness to another, narrowly avoiding the vigilant gazes of the controlling gang’s various sentries. Even as he passed them, stepping from one rooftop to an...

Weekly Check-In (8/21/22)

I didn't post the check-in yesterday because I wanted to release an extra chapter this week (still not sure why I made that decision, but I don't think anyone's going to complain about it).  So, I'm posting the check-in today.  As always, this is where you can ask whatever questions you want, make comments about the overall story, or complain about whatever's been bugging you.  I'll try to respond as soon as possible.

Also, I intend to increase the number of available cha...

Chapter 132 - The Grind

I decided to go ahead and publish an extra chapter for this week.  Oh, and if you haven't already, please head over to the story's Royal Road listing HERE, and leave a rating or review.  Doing so helps me out!  Anyway, enjoy the bonus chapter!

Over the following week, the group descended the mountains, and gradually, the climate ...

Chapter 131 - The Tempest

Marc led Carlos along the winding path through the bazaar, passing various stalls where shouting vendors hawked their goods. Fruits of every type dominated the available wares, but there was a smattering of other items, most of which were intended for everyday use. Stalls selling incidentals like those intended for personal hygiene, materials to mend clothing, and low-end magical gear were the most popular, but crowds gathered around booths with a variety of scarcely identifiable carcasses as...

Chapter 130 - A Slight Adjustment

Zeke sat on the balcony, his eyes closed, and legs crossed. His mind was entirely occupied by the task before him, so much so that he barely even noticed the argument taking place below him. Not that it needed his attention, of course. Abby and Tucker had been at one another’s throats for the last couple of days, and that wasn’t likely to change anytime soon. The two just didn’t get along, and they took almost any opportunity to make that abundantly clear. If Abby said up, Tucker would ...

Chapter 129 - In the Shadows

Carlos hated being out in the open, exposed for all the world to see. Certainly, he wasn’t any more of a center of attention than anyone else in the market, and he knew that. However, from his perspective, it felt as if every single eye within the square was following his every move. It was all he could do not to use [Umbral Phantom], wrapping himself in shadows, before casting [Umbral Steps]to escape their prying eyes.

But that would out him to the p...

Chapter 128 - Thunder and Lightning

“Do you want to talk about it?” asked Zeke, sitting on the edge of the bed. The night before, Abby hadn’t been in the mood for much discussion, and she had been far too exhausted for other activities. So, after spending almost an hour in the shower, she had gone straight to bed, which had left Zeke on pins and needles about her gains, especially after her cryptic statement about not knowing whether or not it had been a worthwhile endeavor. She had gained a level, so even if that was all...