Wallenberg took in the views as they drew closer to the Death Lord Mega Mansion, up from the sky of all things.
He looked behind Princess Bianca and saw the opening in the city where gray fumes and orange sparks from the Slag River rose into the air. He saw the sprawling and maze-like bazaar that was the Violet Market, teeming with locals, goblins, and people from around the World of Castles and Caverns. He saw the hardy dark trees and rugged structures of the troll district where Lord ...
2024-11-01 19:01:19 +0000 UTC
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Wallenberg and many other young men had once gone through selection tests as children. The Crossdeath Captains would call them out of their shanty homes and have them report their stats and conduct some exercises.
These events would usually happen for those between the ages of eight and twelve, who were usually Level 1s. Anyone who was a Level 2 at that early age would’ve already ended up in the militia’s young cadet program.
One time, there had been a Level 3 ten-year-old, an...
2024-10-31 22:48:25 +0000 UTC
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Wallenberg had to beg Princess Bianca to let him down from her shoulder to avoid the horror of emptying his stomach on her person.
Once back on his feet, he remained steady on his feet with the help of Princess Bianca. Someone else passed him a cup that could fit well in human hands, thankfully, instead of handing him another troll mug.
He smelled water and drained the entire cup to quench his ravaging thirst, then a smooth and red hand took the cup from him and refilled it with a...
2024-10-30 20:28:17 +0000 UTC
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“You looking red there, puny human,” grunted the massive troll as he towered over Lord Gilbert.
Wallenberg shrank backward, becoming deathly afraid. The troll was fifteen feet tall and the most muscular troll around. He made Lord Gilbert look truly puny, and Lord Gilbert was relatively a large specimen of a man. But there was no overcoming the mighty height and physique of a troll.
The immense and muscular troll standing over them, just like all trolls, had huge ram horns spir...
2024-10-29 22:31:18 +0000 UTC
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Wallenberg looked up as acid rain appeared in a flash above them. He was back on his feet after promising he wouldn’t run away and would answer some questions later for Lady Hannah.
Wallenberg was deeply scared of Lady Hannah’s intense curiosity, but the acid rain concerned him more.
He tried to point it out, but then he noticed how the first few acid drops hurtled away at weird angles.
As all other citizens and visitors sought for cover, the foreign lords, foreign ladie...
2024-10-29 02:47:03 +0000 UTC
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It would usually take a day and a half to travel safely from the edges of the Old Goblin Forest that bordered the Blood Prairies to the center of the Crossdeath Region. But Wallenberg’s new associates cut the travel down to only half a day while dragging him along.
They arrived with the two suns setting behind them.
Will o’ Wisps appeared, some as small as the tip of Wallenberg’s pinkie, others as large as a man’s head. They emitted a purplish-blue light and made soft murm...
2024-10-26 16:23:30 +0000 UTC
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As Wallenberg ran with all his heart, he dug into his alchemy belt. He grabbed a rounded vial that contained a cloudy stink bomb he’d used to escape from powerful beasts or monsters. He snatched up one of his spare spears he had lying around nearby as he dashed down a small game trail.
“Wait, don’t run! I feel like we were meant to meet!”
No, no, no! Why does her voice sound like she’s right behind me?
Wallenberg told himself not to look back. He rarely lo...
2024-10-25 20:17:30 +0000 UTC
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Wallenberg couldn’t believe what he was hearing as five strangers jogged through the fog and forest surrounding the Crossdeath Region. The five strangers were singing … loudly … without respect or fear of the Death Lords and the cruel men and women on their payroll.
Wallenberg’s thoughts raced: These foreigners will get themselves destroyed by acting like this! Don’t they know the unbeatable Death Lords and their Crossdeath Militia will kill for less!
Wallenberg...
2024-10-25 19:21:31 +0000 UTC
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Ezda felt excited by her new god’s interest in local lore. “There is, of course, the fear of corruption by tangling with the corrupted goblins at Grimrock. There is also the evil human city between us and the foot of the Grimrock Castle Mountains. This city is a favored servant of Carrowmore and known as Crossdeath.”
“Oh, ho, ho, ho! This sounds like fun! I think I’ve read up on Crossdeath a little. We even tangled with some of their spies and whatnot. But I didn’t delve too...
2024-10-24 22:45:22 +0000 UTC
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The Blood Prairie Savages’ strong hold and ancestral home centered on an immense skull that dwarfed the nearest castle mountains and fortress hillocks.
It was wedged between four such low-lying mountain structures while resting upright on its upper jaw. Each eye socket had bone scaffolding where their main defensive force lived.
There was more scaffolding around the bleached-white cranium of the immense skull-home. More defenders looked out in all directions of the stronghold.
2024-10-24 21:24:33 +0000 UTC
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Before the Floridians arrived, Ezda was taking stock of changes and improvements while waiting at the entrance of the stronghold. She recalled how she went from Level 94 to being a Level 96 Blood Brute after surviving the Chimera Tyrant Lair.
She’d gained a new trait and new skill levels. She’d even come out with a few new achievements, adding more raw stats to her Willpower, Strength, and Agility, which was huge for her even if her build prioritized the physical stats with Mysticis...
2024-10-24 20:44:38 +0000 UTC
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He didn’t bother using Aura Mastery + Identify on his cursed item.
He wanted to hear Ruvaria talk about her gift for him, which he prompted with a nod.
For Zarian, Ruvaria explained, “The Barbed Crown of Ravthar the Absolute King, Mythical Quality.”
Zarian stiffened. This thorny and hungry thing in his hands had once belonged to Ruvaria’s father.
The smile on Ruvaria’s face brightened beautifully, knowing fully well the importance of this gift and why she was...
2024-10-23 23:00:05 +0000 UTC
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With a wave of her hand, Ruvaria summoned five objects that floated around her. “These are cursed items of great power. With these five, you will either succumb to their curse and suffer horrible fates that will bring your adventures together to an end. Or you all will become far greater, far deadlier, far scarier. Woe be unto your enemies.”
“Amen,” Gilbert said, taking his cowboy hat down from his head and pressing it to his chest.
The first cursed item was an ominous gob...
2024-10-23 22:57:39 +0000 UTC
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Zarian noted how Hannah was done with studying the Spatial Satchels now. She’d turned her attention to crafting on the fly by turning mundane earth and stone into enchanted objects made of numerous cubes.
She made spears. She made swords. She made axes of all kinds. Then she pushed herself to make near-instant cannons with a cannon ball already loaded that would get shot by layers of explosive enchantments.
She worked on perfecting her designs to the most miniscule detail. It wa...
2024-10-23 03:16:45 +0000 UTC
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Zarian noted it took four days for Naomi to fully recover from her debuff. Having her back to peak performance led to some interesting, brutal, and badass developments.
They were on their third day journeying to the central stronghold of the Blood Prairie Savages. The stony forests and trees became sparser. Patches of crimson grass dominated more often, choking out the colorful wildflowers and wild hedges that were more prevalent further south of the Walled Continent.
Their rune c...
2024-10-23 03:15:14 +0000 UTC
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Hannah pushed her hands down on the rune cart’s roof and sat up. She breathed hard and deep, eyes squeezed shut, before she committed her aura in what must’ve felt like an impossible battle against an aura titan.
Zarian stood over her the whole time, barely easing the pressure until he felt Hannah giving it her all.
Only then did he pull back bit by bit, making her work to gain ground and find an equalizing point. After a long enough while, Zarian let Hannah overpower his inva...
2024-10-21 22:27:27 +0000 UTC
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The lakeview hotel was already gone when Zarian returned to tell the others how seriously bad his little sister was. Para regained consciousness by then. She was just learning about the truth, too.
However, Zarian didn’t give everything up at first. He started by alluding to the connection between Ariana and The Dragon, removing prior predictions of her being a demon or devil. He waited to see how the others would react.
“There’s a bright side, guys!” Bianca said. “We ha...
2024-10-21 21:00:31 +0000 UTC
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Loner buckled and dropped to one knee. Everyone except for Zarian was more or less open about their concern for their favorite skelly boy, but nobody stepped in. Zarian was already next to Loner and waiting as the goblin skeleton went through a metamorphosis.
His bones blackened and thickened. He grew a few inches taller. Then a flash of white and blue symbols appeared all over his bones, contrasting the dark color.
The blackened bones and new rune enchantments made the skeleton l...
2024-10-19 23:31:08 +0000 UTC
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Zarian had to go fishing on the other side of the lake away from Gilbert.
The Knighted Healer was still steaming mad after the Zombie Jesus joke. He needed distance from the Madness Wizard before he could finally cool down.
The others milled about near the hotel.
Bianca helped carry Naomi out on the recliner chair and set her by the edge of the lake. Naomi was still heavily debuffed and wasn’t in the mood to move much or do any fishing.
Hannah sat on the edge of the ...
2024-10-19 22:33:53 +0000 UTC
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“We know you screwed up again,” Gilbert replied. “I knew it the moment you faced down that Sinfeast false idol and didn’t call on us.”
Zarian swallowed his shame and kept speaking. “I want to avoid that for the next time. Things got way out of hand. Again.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “The growth was great. Really, really great. But what it could’ve cost us was too much. So I have ideas about an auxiliary SOP we should use. It’s going to be important now, b...
2024-10-18 19:29:43 +0000 UTC
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“There,” Zarian said, checking the new folktale added to Gator’s pages. Once he had a decent preview of it, he dismissed the mean and grumpy grimoire. He turned a stern eye to Morph. “You need to toughen up. Gator is going to test you for sure when you’re both out.”
The timid grimoire shivered and cried. He scrambled deeper into Para’s many arms as the cloak continued to mother the grimoire.
“He will,” Para said. “Just give him time. He’s a sweet and innocent...
2024-10-18 19:28:25 +0000 UTC
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Feeling hyped, Zarian couldn’t stay in bed anymore.
He drained the last dregs of his cool coffee and used Aura Mastery to send it flying out of his room. He guided it down to the kitchen on the ground floor, where Bianca took it and washed it super fast.
He used more Aura Mastery to send a verbal thanks all the way to Bianca’s ear. When she replied, he used Aura Mastery again and captured the sound of her words to bring all the way back to him.
“De nada,” sa...
2024-10-17 22:10:29 +0000 UTC
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<Achievements opened!>
<You Got a Friend in Me (Epic): This is an achievement for accomplishing your quests of doing nice things for your friends and seeing them get developed. Thus, you get this: Scroll of Friendship Revival.>
Zarian blinked after rereading the achievement and realizing he had forgotten how incredible this reward was. He reached into Para’s pocket dimension and pulled out the scroll that the System had delivered to ...
2024-10-16 23:02:10 +0000 UTC
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<You’ve defeated Greater Boon Avatar of Sinfeast, Level 119 Transfusion Warper Master!>
Zarian frowned at the defeat notification for the Greater Boon Avatar. He would’ve preferred his enemy’s true name to be displayed as Chimera Tyrant Ogrul, the Last Orc Shaman.
Sinfeast didn’t deserve any mention, but Zarian told himself to let it go for now. There would be more chances for him to deliver on his promises to Sinfeast and make the evil god want to k...
2024-10-16 22:26:41 +0000 UTC
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Zarian woke up ravenously hungry and had a panic attack.
Prior to waking, he dreamed of looking down on a world covered in little castles with little caves under the surface. His friends were down there. The Ride-or-Die kiddos were down there. Ruvaria, Foodie, and Arnold of Ambrose were down there.
Then, with no concern or mercy, he’d eaten the entire world along with everyone on it. It had a nice crunch. An array of flavors popped and crackled as he chewed.
Then the dream...
2024-10-16 22:00:59 +0000 UTC
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Once Zarian finished with Sinfeast, there wasn’t much left of the avatar body and only a few scraps of divinity remained inside. Zarian left those there to send a message to the whole of Sinfeast that existed in God Land.
He let the Star System drag the torn apart, close-to-dead body from the void and back into reality. The body landed on the middle of the bridge, which remained standing despite all the damages the sunken citadel had suffered.
Zarian stood on top of the beaten a...
2024-10-15 19:06:29 +0000 UTC
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“No!” Sinfeast screamed, whirling around. He desperately struck at the spot where he last heard Zarian.
But Zarian used Void Waltz again. He stepped in and out of the void midair, ending up behind Sinfeast once again. His arms and sides returned to normal as he took over his body again.
Para changed the tail into multiple tentacles with scythe-like ends, each one covered by hungry dark aura, Void Authority, and Void Layer. She whipped the tentacles out to pop artillery shots a...
2024-10-15 19:05:20 +0000 UTC
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A few notifications appeared for the inhabitants of Corma and for many other concerned parties. Zarian cared little for the notifications while filled with nearly blinding anger. But many who thought themselves affluent and powerful cared deeply.
Once again, they found themselves at the mercy of the Darkruns.
<A World Boss was unleashed! A World Boss was unleashed! A World Boss was unleashed in the center of the Chimera Tyrant Lair, inside the Blood Prairies region on t...
2024-10-15 17:14:53 +0000 UTC
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Ezda collapsed with a groan. Her body was dying after being horribly ravaged by the invisible trap and a short but intense battle with Level 100s. Her Shifter Form +2 and Blood Growth +2 could only do so much for her.
Her toughness and vitality had run their course. Ezda knew she was going to die, but she hoped her One True God of Absolute Killing would think of her last moments as decent enough.
“Woo, done, finally,” the alpha said, setting his feet down. He turned to face he...
2024-10-14 18:40:11 +0000 UTC
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Zarian caught sight of Ezda in her giant hyena form. She was running over the edge of the citadel pit with whirlwind speed, and the spider scouts up there weren’t able to signal for her to stop in time.
Descending into the cavernous pit, Ezda had on a big goofy smile as foul air and drafts of warp energy flowed past her. She was heading straight toward one of the ward triggers.
The idiot, Zarian thought wearily.
He was in too deep with the finishing touches f...
2024-10-14 18:36:57 +0000 UTC
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