Romin pulled the trigger of his Runic Blunderbuss as Wallop Blink-Charged ahead of him. The explosive burst from the shot striking the Endless didn’t even phase it, which wasn’t unexpected, the Rank of the weapon far too low to deal with an S-Rank opponent.

  Must make a note of that when I have a chance.

  The Runeocerous striking the twenty-foot-tall construct, on the other hand, was a bit more effective. Rejection jetted from Wallop’s rear-end—like a rule-of-the-universe fart—while Impact coated his horn. Thanks to the evolution his companion had gotten, courtesy of the horn and hide Seeyela had given them, the Endless flew back like it had… like it had just gotten hit by a charging Runeocerous.

  Snuff. (And that is how you do it.)

  “Yes, yes, very impressive,” Romin said, pulling the trigger again. “Did you want a treat?”

  Snuff. (Hells yes I do. Got any more of those cookies the cookie-guy made?)

  “You mean Jzak?” Romin said.

  Snuff. (The one with the hat, not the apron.)

  “Would it kill you to learn Jzak and Nivian’s names?” Romin sighed, jogging up to join his companion, and throwing a buff on him to improve his next charge. By the look of the Endless getting back up, it was going to be needed.

  Snuff. (That’s what you’re here for. That, and cookies. So, where is it?)

  “I don’t have a cookie. I was being sarcastic.”

  Snuff. (No need to be a bully. I’m so going to tell Bun-Bun, and you know who she is going to tell.)

  “Polis will agree with me,” Romin said. “Now, if you’re finished, I’d like to point out your opponent isn’t as dealt with as you suggested.”

  Snuff. (Oh, c’mon. Why are these things so… crunchy on the outside?)

  “Not everything needs to be treated like food,” Romin said.

  Snuff. (I’m a hungry, growing boy.)

  “Speaking of growing, Onslaught just came off cooldown,” Romin said, dropping the rifle into Shared Storage. “You ready to show these things a few new tricks?”

  Aside from the Endless Wallop had just punted two blocks from his charge, four more of the big constructs were stomping in their direction. Nearby, Seena and Li’l Ur—or, more accurately, a larger Ur’Thul—continued their battle with one of the Raze. Something the party leader did had gone off like a bomb, outright removing a tall building in the blink of an eye. In its place, the energy simmering off the pair was something else.

  Something that made Romin’s skin crawl, and his heart ache.

  He didn’t have any notes on the ability she was using—he’d checked—and it filled him with dread, even though he couldn’t identify a reason why. One eye on her battle as it began again, all he could do was hope it would be enough. The Raze had gotten significantly stronger since Hiral had done whatever OP thing he’d done with the Edict of Time.

  According to his notes, comparing power levels from things he’d fought since E-Rank, they were almost exponentially greater than the strongest things he’d ever expected to face. If an E-Rank-one had a value of ‘one’—the number he’d chosen when he first started taking notes—he’d put D-Ranks around ‘fifty’. C-Ranks tended to be in the one-fifty to two-fifty range. B’s went as high as five-hundred, and A’s could potentially reach a thousand.

  Yes, there were a few outliers—such as the Infested—that he rated even as high as fifteen-hundred. These Raze though?

  Their power, based on his scale, it was over nine thousand.

  Numbers aside, past Seena, Nivian was the only other one single-handedly taking on one of the Raze. In his towering Aspect form, he truly was a titan. A tank. An inspiration. Since they moment Nivian had led the party to save Romin and Finotol—all that was left of the original Bonder party—Romin had looked up to the man.

  He was everything Romin wanted to be… other than dead. That part was a little inconvenient, even though Nivian seemed to be making the most of it. But, when he compared himself to the Death Knight, he was… lacking. No matter what the rest of his party said, how could they be happy with him when Nivian should’ve been their tank? He had been, until the whole undead thing got in the way.

  Romin just couldn’t fill the man’s shoes. Even now, he and Wallop were struggling with handling a few of the Endless, while that… that… that pinnacle of a tank went toe-to-toe with a literal god-killer.

  Admittedly, Nivian was doing it from within the shell of the god the Raze had killed, but, details…

  “Hey, kiddo!” Laseen’s voice cut through the sounds of battle and Romin’s own thoughts. “I can see you comparing yourself to him. Stop it.” Needles and crimson thread shot from the vampire’s hands to heal her allies—anybody in the raid party—or skewer Endless who got too close.

  “But, I…” Romin started, even though he knew he should be concentrating on the battle.

  “You ain’t him,” Laseen said. “And nobody is asking you to be. He’s got his own path, and you got yours. You’re the only one keeping you in his shadow. Choose to get out of it—and be you, and blaze your own trail—and you will. Though, even I gotta admit it’s a big shadow,” she finished, her signature cackle trailing her as she zipped along with some new, blue-flaming-half-skeleton additions that had risen out of the ground and joined the battle.

  “Get… out… of… his… shadow…” Romin said as he jotted the advice down in his notebook, only to jerk his head up when Wallop shoulder-bumped him.

  Snuff. (Is now really the time for that?)

  Romin tapped the notebook in preparation for countering his companion’s point, until he realized just how good a point it was. They were in the middle of a fight with the fate of the world—the universe?—in the balance. Probably not the best time to be writing things down in his notebook.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  He should make a note of…

  “You’re right,” he said instead, the notebook going back into Shared Storage to stop himself from writing in it. Around them, the five Endless had closed to encircle the pair, though Wallop didn’t look worried. He’d heard Laseen’s advice as clearly as Romin had.

  The old vampire didn’t mince words, and she was usually right despite how blunt she was. Romin—and Wallop—would never blaze their own trail if all they ever tried to do was follow in Nivian’s footsteps. The Death Knight could still be a role-model, in terms of ideals and his desire to protect his friends, something Romin very-much respected, but the Bonder and his companion needed to be their own tank. Their own man.

  Men?

  What was the proper syntax on that? If he wrote it down, he could…

  Snuff. (Seriously?)

  “Sorry,” Romin grumbled, the Endless all now lunging in their direction, clawed hands extended, and bolts of energy firing from their shoulder cannons. “Time to blaze.”

  Snuff. (Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaze!)

  With a pulse of solar energy, two became one, Wallop’s might and durability joining with Romin’s. Their body grew in size in an instant, then further still as Pick on Somebody Your Own Size activated, and a pair of shoulder-mounted, brass miniguns fell into the Onslaught’s large hands.

  Spinning in place, miniguns spitting bolts of solid-light, energy blasts bouncing off their armored hide, explosions erupting all around them, and five Endless seemingly moving in slow-motion as they closed, the Rune-o-man Onslaught swore they would blaze their own path.

  Around them, their Primal Chord of the Lost Oath accepted their vow, power filling them, and the battle resumed in full-swing.

  ***

  “Hold on,” Yully said to the big Shaper beneath her hands, blood practically pouring out of the wide gashes running down his chest. Poor Dole had been caught between a pack of Endless and one of the Raze before the army of Spites came rushing out from between buildings like some kind of horror-show. Thankfully, they’d been on the raid party’s side, giving her a chance to get to the injured man.

  Unlike the other two—Ilrolik and Loan—Dole had focused a lot more of his stats and tattoos on abilities to enhance his chains, sacrificing durability in the process. For somebody to stand almost seven-feet tall, it was downright odd to see him as a backliner. And downright bad when something like one of the Endless finally reached him. In a battle like this, a veritable free-for-all, it was more than a little inconvenient not to be built like that hot Death Knight.

  If he wasn’t dead—or Undead—the things she would do to him…

  Yully shook her head to banish the thought. Daydreams about the young—much younger—man who’d grown up would have to wait for later. She had work to do. Even if the work was on an islander. Just imagining her reaction to somebody a year ago suggesting she’d be working with them almost made her laugh. The blood on her hands stifled that pretty quickly. Even more so, the genuine worry in her chest.

  Dole, despite being a Shaper, didn’t have that overwhelming pride his class was known for. He was quiet, conservative, and loved gardening, of all things. The number of conversations she’d had with him on the topic over Nivian’s stew wasn’t something she could count. He was quick to laugh, faster to apologize when he did something wrong, and slow to get angry.

  And he would live. She’d make sure of that, activating an ability to mend the shattered ribs and the torn organs beneath. Just another minute, that was all she needed, and he would be back on his feet.

  “Any time now,” Devison said, an image of the man darting in front of her, only to be followed by the actual man like he was the echo. One, two, three, his image dodged phantom blows coming from the four arms of the Endless, before it slipped inside the guard to land a powerful, jumping kick. And, like that was a prequel to what would actually happen, the exact same events played out, this time with Devison’s real body bobbing and weaving to score the hit.

  Strong enough to send the Endless flying—where it got mobbed by those flaming Spites—Devison turned and leapt right over Yully, the quick sounds of more fists and feet on crystal landing a short distance behind her.

  “You keep doing your job while I do mine,” Yully said without looking up. “And try not to lose any feet. These things don’t even have mouths.”

  “I’d say I’m doing an excellent job, thank you very much,” Devison said, a pair of images darting out from him this time. Each existing only within a second or two of his actual future, the ability to use them as kind of guiderails in a fight was truly potent. Especially in battles like this, where the enemies didn’t have a wide range of abilities to use. These Endless, they didn’t do much other than punch, claw, tail swipe, or fire those blasts from their shoulder cannons.

  For Yully, they were far too much to handle. She wasn’t a fighter! Devison, though, Devison was actually pulling his weight. For once. No, that’s not fair. I’m hard on him, but more times than not, he’s losing a foot saving my life…

  Admitting that, even to herself, almost made Yully lose her focus on the Shaper beneath her hands.

  “Thanks,” Dole said, his eyes suddenly open and growing more alert with each passing heartbeat. Across his chest, the worst of the wounds had closed, blood barely bubbling out of the injuries. It would still take another thirty or so seconds until she was confident he wouldn’t immediately stand up and die. Men could be hard-headed like that, after all.

  “It’s fine,” Yully said. “Gives me some leverage over Wule when I remind him I was busy healing his party.”

  “Think he’s got his hands full…” Dole said, head turning to look at where one of the Raze battled Nivian. Wule couldn’t be far away, his powers needed to keep his brother standing in front of that absolute monster.

  While he dealt with one of the Raze, Seena and her pet lich dealt with another, leaving four more causing havoc on the battlefield. Yanily—so different now that he’d grown up and wasn’t spending all his days jumping off roofs or recovering from that—somehow kept a third Raze busy. More like Seena than Nivian, Yanily seemed to be annoying the giant enough it wouldn’t leave the spearman alone until it squashed him.

  And, if there was two things Yully had learned over the years, Yanily could be both very annoying and very capable. The fact he was combining those two traits right now meant she almost felt pity for the Raze.

  A fourth Raze fought against most of the remainder of her party, with Loan and Ilrolik leading the charge. Luckily, those two Shapers were both absurdly stubborn and durable, promising to hold out—with Sera, Drahn, and Igwanda backing them up—when they’d all seen Dole go crashing down.

  Drahn and Igwanda, now there was a couple she’d never expected. To call her brother racist would’ve honestly been pretty tame. He’d had a hate-on for islanders nearly as big as Fallen Reach. Until, at least, he’d been saved—and humbled—by a certain islander busy rewriting the rules of the universe or some-such nonsense. When he’d come back from that trip to the surface to save Nivian and Wule, he’d been a changed man.

  So much for the better. Like his eyes had been opened to a world he didn’t even know existed. And people he’d ignored. When the Undead-lizardwoman had started getting close to him, Yully hadn’t known what to think.

  Not until she saw how happy he was with her. She wouldn’t be surprised if they started talking about getting a dog. Probably give it some stupid name like Arrow…

  All that left Bash, Left, Right, and Laseen dealing with the fifth Raze, since Seeyela was off running an errand for Hiral. Shockwaves and explosions rocked the corner of the city where they all fought, and she had to admit she was glad Dole got thrown in this direction instead of that one.

  Speaking of…

  “There you go,” Yully said. “All patched up. Try not to go and ruin all that hard work I just did.”

  “I’ll try not to…” Dole said, but cut off as a shadow fell over them.

  What could…?

  Yully looked up, realizing one of the Raze had been unaccounted for. One that now stood looming over them, its foot stomping down in their direction.

  Of course it would be a foot that kills me…

  Wanna Support Rune Seeker? Check out the Ebook and Audio Here! Thanks for your support:

  Amazon:

  Audible:

  Rune Seeker, Vol. 1 by J.M. Clarke, C.J. Thompson, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble?

  Rune Seeker (book 1) Book By Jm Clarke,cj Thompson, (Hardcover) | Indigo

  If you wanna chat about the book? Come to discord!

  If you're already on that discord? Go to "Get Roles" and you can get Rune Seeker updates, if you want :)

  Note my patreon does not have Rune Seeker chapters.