(Second Book Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

B5 Chapter 557: Foul Murder, Finale

Kaius stared helplessly at the deep grey smoke that rolled out of the rear of Kanmost’s house, his fists clenched so tightly that he could feel his bones creaking. The smoke was almost solid, so dense that it moved like a river that flowed up into the starry night above.

What in the hells did Kenva mean that he shouldn’t jump in — what the fuck had happened in there?

Guards swarmed like ants. The second the explosion had rocked the street, the sergeant had lost all semblance of his earlier fury and had stormed into the building, the three other guards following in lock step. They’d drawn their swords, not their batons. If Kenva didn’t get out right now; if they caught even a single glimpse of a defining feature, no amount of goodwill from the Guild would be able to save them from having to put a thousand leagues between them and Baanswell.

An instant later, a black cloaked figure leapt away from the rear of the building. A twinge in Truesight let him know the person was using a stealth skill, but neither that nor the smoke saved her.

When he caught a cloud of leaves taking to the sky, he made his choice. No way was he letting Kenva chase after that woman alone. If Kenva got too far away, their communication rings wouldn’t work. Kaius refused to leave her isolated, especially when there was no telling if Lord Flowers or his father had kept more capable men hidden nearby.

For that very same reason, he couldn’t just run across the street. He’d be spotted instantly, but that was a problem he’d already anticipated.

All it took was a single glance at the closest alley across the street. Felmenia burned bright on his legs, and he was there. The instability of his spell shattered space with silent fury, the only sound of his arrival a slight pop. Kaius gasped, blood filling his mouth. Spatial ripples ravaged his body — little more than shallow cuts, but ones that tore through muscle, ruptured organs, and scored bone as much as they left scratches on his skin.

Health surged, sealing the wounds rapidly — he didn’t even break stride. Unfortunately, he could do little about the scoured brick,and the shredded scraps of leaf litter and rubbish. They would be found, but few knew about Fractured Warp, let alone its painful side effects.

Kaius sprinted between the buildings, ignoring the chime of Felmenia increasing as he saw Kenva veering to the right. He turned through an access lane in the middle of the block heading in the same direction. He needed information, but she was still too far.

“What’s happening? Should we come?” Porkchop asked through their bond, his concern spiking in response to Kaius’s pain.

“Teleported across the street,” he explained in a quick burst. “Keep falling back for now. Maybe try to be spotted once you’re far enough away. We might need an alibi.”

“Fine,” Porkchop growled. “Just don’t get caught.”

There was no way he would let that happen. Kaius took another left, approaching the next road. It was thin — nothing like the triple wide thoroughfares he’d seen closer to the centre of the city. There was no pounding of feet, or barked commands. The guards hadn’t been able to marshall a pursuit. Yet.

He grit his teeth, deciding that saving his two remaining Warps was far more important than the risk of being spotted. Slipstep surged through him, and he burst into the soft yellow wardlights. Two pumping steps took him to the next alley a little down the street, distance devoured by his spell.

Three more blocks, and he was close enough that he felt his Ring of Unseen Empathy connect with Kenva’s own.

“Kaius!” Kenva yelled into his mind. “She has the books! Most of them at least — I’ve got one, probably the oldest. I must have interrupted her right as she found them.”

Kaius grit his teeth, kicking off a wall to change direction without slowing down. They needed those damned books.

“Who are they? And what about the dead one?”

Two competing parties muddied the waters — he could only hope that their target knew something about Kanmost.

“No bloody clue,” Kenva replied, before she paused for a moment and shifted course again. “Hells, the rogue’s making a break towards the wyrdwall.”

Kaius hissed at the news. Burning another charge of Slip Step, he raced across another street, desperately trying to keep pace. Outside of the neighbourhoods close to the city gates, most of the outer regions of the city were damn warrens. Endless tangles of narrow streets and overlapping alleyways, with thousands of dark corners and hidden crevices to get lost in.

Even if Kenva still had the mana and stamina to maintain Leaf on the Wind, which Kaius doubted, there were so many damned awnings and interconnected buildings that it would be almost impossible to follow.

“I’m going in,” Kenva said.

And he wouldn’t be able to follow anywhere near as easily if he couldn’t track her in the sky. Gods’ scorn, what a mess.

“Go for it — but whistle if you need help or lose the trail.”

…

“That won’t happen,” Kenva shot back, swooping down to the ground below.

She could see her target, a warping blur that took turns seemingly at random, cutting through thin alleys and vaulting over walls seemingly at random. One thing had become painfully clear from her pursuit, the rogue knew the city like the back of her hand, and she was a master at running it.

Every few moments, the woman would vanish, and Kenva was forced to slow her pursuit as she searched for the trail. Every time, the woman gained ground — but Kenva caught back up, surging after the slightest hint of a flickering shadow, only to lose the rogue again the next time she vanished.

And as far as she could tell, she hadn’t been spotted.

That gave her enough of an edge, even if the increasingly tighter alleys would kill much of her speed advantage. She was agile, but she’d trained for racing through forests and dancing over rocks.

Even Baanswell’s greenery would be working against her. Where elsewhere there might have been streets lined with towering elms, and creepers climbing over walls, here it was overgrown. Matted vines hung between the narrow gaps between brick buildings like tangled nets, and every so often a gnarled trunk would burst through the pavement like an aggressive cancer, entirely blocking off the way ahead.

Trailing in the sky a few blocks behind the woman, Kenva watched the rogue take a corner at a full sprint, only to drop into a slide as she hurtled through a hole in a backyard wall. Popping back up, she crossed the space in moments. Kicking off the top of the next wall, the woman leapt for a tree, and swung up to a balcony. In moments she’d clambered to the roof, only to jump down into an unconnected dead end lane.

Kenva grit her teeth, unable to help being impressed. The only way the rogue could have pulled off a route like she had is if she’d run it before. Still, that meant they were on her home turf — she refused to believe the rogue could memorise the layout of the entire city like that.

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Best she take the woman out before she could warn whatever group she worked for of their existence. Leaf on the Wind had burnt through damn near two-thirds of her Resources anyway.

Waiting until the rogue slipped into a deadshot alley free of most obstructions, Kenva raced down. Turning corporeal moments before she landed, she summoned her bow and drew. The only cover were the metal bins, half full of firewood, that lined the backs of the houses they raced past.

Her target was running down the middle of the street, far too focused on running, and utterly unaware of her presence. Cover wouldn’t help.

Kenva drew an arrow, aiming right at the rogue's leg. Charged with Vineburst, it would take the woman's leg off and bind her.

Right as she got to full draw, a moment before she fired, there was a flare of mana on the rogue’s ear. An artefact. It shattered and the rogue hurled herself to the side, diving behind the nearest bin.

Her arrow missed. By a bloody hairsbreadth, but that wasn’t good enough! A danger-sense artefact — or maybe one that had boosted an existing Skill, it had to be.

“Shit!” the rogue screamed as vines burst out of the alley and lanced towards her.

In that very same moment, a ball of alchemical fire billowed out from where the rogue had fallen. It pushed back the night, blackening brick and scouring the surrounding buildings free of moss.

The sound of more breaking glass was followed by a chaotic eruption. Thick slime splattered the alley in clear goo, reaching far enough that she felt the wet spray on her face. Smog followed, thick and impenetrable.

No way she was risking losing traction on that mess. Cover wouldn’t save the woman from Bear Thy Heart — but with the skills potency, she could very easily demolish half of someone's house. She wouldn’t be responsible for killing some poor sod sleeping in bed.

Kenva went high. Halfway up the alley walls, she kicked off again, and raced along the rooftops, the clank of tiles muffled by the thick green shag that coated most of them.

Gripping her bow tightly, Kenva felt her frustration swell. Never in her life had she faced such a wily bloody rat! Any other field of battle and the woman would have lasted as long as it took Kenva to draw. What kind of lunatic kept slime vials!

But a rat in its warren was a tricksy beast. It would make it all the sweeter when she caught it by its tail.

From above, she could see the heavy smoke had settled, spreading into the adjoining alleys like an unnatural fog. Kenva was way too far to see the woman’s soul as well. It made it impossible to tell which way the woman had gone. Gritting her teeth, she redoubled her pace, leaping from roof to roof. A commotion like that wouldn’t go unnoticed — she had to find the woman's trail before any guards came to investigate. She couldn’t just call Kaius, either. With their rapid flight through the city, her team leader would have fallen behind. If she waited for him to catch up, she’d never find the rogue again.

She needed height.

Leaf on the Wind took her high, burning more of her rapidly dwindling Resources. At least the skill was levelling like mad — never had she used it so frequently in such long stretches.

Much like she had every other time, the rogue had vanished into the dense maze of looming buildings. They worked against Kenva — cutting off the angle of her sight unless she was all but directly over them. Plus, the woman was dead silent.

Kenva scowled, dropping to the rooftops. Dancing between them at a dead sprint, she searched for a trail — and caught sight of a faint red streak on the mouth of an alley beneath her. She dropped down. It tapered like a brushstroke — pointing the way the rogue had run.

Following the path, Kenva found more hints: crushed leaves, and disturbed refuse showing her the way. The woman must have been panicked — these were sloppy mistakes.

It didn’t take long for her to catch up. From a vantage on the corner of an intersection. Kenva saw the woman take a hard corner. The rogue didn’t look unscathed by their trick with that alchemical fire. Other than her artefact cloak, most of her clothes were blackened, with patches having entirely burnt through to reveal bubbled and weeping flesh.

Decisive, but this ended now.

Kenva vaulted the gap in the roofs, racing to the alley she’d seen the woman run into.

Up ahead, the rogue lurched to the left, diving into a thin gap between the buildings that was choked with purple flowered vines. It had to be a stride and a half wide at most.

Perfect. She wouldn’t even need to use a skill — without a way to dodge, a normal arrow would work just fine.

Dropping down, Kenva drew before she even hit the ground, ready to release the second she saw the glow of the woman's soul. This close, even another bomb wouldn’t help her.

But the alley was dark, absent of that telltale glow. She stared in shock. Impossible! Even with the woman’s mobility, it had been seconds.

Riding the breeze up to the roof, Kenva raced to the other end, before she took flight when she saw no sign of the woman. Tightly searching the area, she leaned hard on Spirit-blessed Senses and Farsight to pick up any trace of the rogue.

Nothing. She was gone — but how. Some sort of illusion or body double skill? She’d heard of stranger diversion abilities used by those who eschewed direct combat.

Scowling in fury, she returned to the narrow slit between buildings, pouring over the side where the woman had entered. Traces were everywhere. A tiny streak of black where the soot from the woman's burnt clothing had brushed up on some mossy brick, a scuff in the mud, and a single vine that had been pulled ever so slightly away from its anchor on the wall of the alley.

Two quick leaps took her from ground, to a hand-span wide windowsill, to the roof. She checked the other side.

Absolutely nothing. The woman had never left, but she was still gone. Kenva scowled, and returned to the other side, before pushing her way in. She found the woman's traces quickly. They were minute, but there. Even if the rogue was skilled, she was still Steel, and Kenva had grown far beyond what could ever be called a normal Silver. A drop of half-dried blood here, a slightly flattened patch of moss there — it might as well have been a glowing trail.

One that stopped dead, halfway through. There was a grate in the base of the wall; some sort of storm drain, though just big enough she might be able to squeeze through. A boneless rogue definitely would have been able to.

There was one problem: the thick metal grate was bolted tight.

Crouching down, she gave it an experimental tug. It swung upwards on a hidden hinge, well oiled and utterly silent.

Kenva grinned — how nice of the rat to lead her directly to its nest. Peering in, she found some sort of sewer system only a short drop away.

She shimmied in. The chute was tight, with only a little wiggle room — but it opened up at the bottom.

The second she touched down, the flag stone beneath her feet gave way with a subtle click. Alarmed, she lunged forward and to the side.

Agony flared white and hot as something sharp slammed into the back of her shoulder. It punched straight through, a spike of steel stained red by her blood. Instincts kicked in; she spun and drew a shortsword with her uninjured arm— gasping slightly as the spike slid from her back.

Only to see the stride-long spike slowly retreating back into the wall. Beneath it, the flagstone slowly reset. A bloody pressure trap.

Realising there was no attacker, Kenva winced as the full pain of her wounds washed over her. Sheathing her blade, she clutched the hole in her shoulder. Blood welled beneath her hand, rapidly soaking her tunic.

“Piss on the gods,” she swore softly to herself. Summoning a handful of rags from her ring, she set about staunching the bleed. Pressing down, she bit back a groan as a shrill whine filled her ears. With her Honour-swollen Constitution and Silver fortitude, it wasn’t overly dangerous, but she still lacked the healing and defensive skills of her frontline.

Kenva looked down the tunnel she’d found with a pensive frown. The rogue couldn’t have gone that far, and with the slurry of mildew and dust that coated every surface, she’d be far easier to track than in the city above. Given the trapped entrance, no doubt she had a bolthole somewhere nearby.

The cloth she was using soaked through, growing sticky against her palm.

Perhaps she best go fetch Kaius anyway. He was more used to getting stabbed.