Gregor was a changed man. He seemed like a god of war as he cut through Gnolls left and right. Chris’ eyebrows rose. Even he would be hard-pressed to defeat Gregor in his current state. The man hadn’t just grown in stature, he’d grown in strength as well. He tore through the monsters and knocked their twitching bodies into the …

Chris jumped down after the body of the last guard; the bodies of the Gnolls were stacked in a ramp so high that it would be possible to leap back up. He summoned his Beastblade and cut through the mangy monsters. It didn’t matter that the guard was dead, or System-generated; he had been used badly, as a sacrifice to …

The guard had been dead before he’d hit the ground. There was no one nearby, and Chris doubted anyone was able to cast magic with any proficiency yet. Poison. It had to be. Gregor beat him to the punch, his forehead crinkled and he pulled his axe free of the throng below. “This was poison. A coward did this.” Chris …

Chris got some odd looks as he strode back toward the wall. Many people had seem him carried armless into the building. When he walked out, he was as fit as a fiddle—arm and all. How many times had he lost his arm, anyway? No wonder he got some odd stares. It wasn’t every day you saw someone regrow a …

“Sir Christopher,” Bruce acknowledged. “Did y—” “Yes, I did.” “Why?” Chris’ brow furrowed. Why wasn’t he dead? “You save my life,” Bruce said. “Twice.” “Uh huh.” The knot in his forehead failed to unclench. “And the quest to kill you?” There it was. Chris took a deep breath and began to speak. \\\ “And you’re sure you don’t know any …

Nkhra, the Great Mother of the minor Gnoll clans, despaired. So close. They had been so close. She had smelled the weakness on the tall pink skins, the fear smothered beneath the spicy smell of mana frenzy. Their packs had been weak. And the Area Guardian… Nkhra growled. When the Area Guardian had arrived, such would be an easy victory. …

Chris was going to die. He’d tried everything. His Beast Soul Weapon, the one shaped like a khopesh on a pole, which he had dubbed the Beastblade since having two Beast Soul Weapons would make things confusing… His Beastblade would not summon inside the tomb of living creatures that bore down on him. He got the same story from his …

“Get back, the barrier’s going down! Now!” Chris shouted. They were only five hundred meters away from the town, but that was still a long way to go in a minute, even if some of them had invested minorly in dexterity. People began streaming back toward Hartshire. Hopefully the head start would get them all there safely. The gates were …

The Beast Horde was coming to Hartshire. What had felt like several hours in the Dungeon had been closer to four days. Maybe there was an inherent delay to portal travel, or maybe it was a dimension that ran at a different speed. There was a week left until Starter Protections went down, but this Beast Horde would bypass that. …

Chris looked at him levelly. “Good Sir Philip, I would never consider trolling you. Sleep well.” Without a backward glance, and without heed toward his guest’s splutters, Chris placed the lantern on the floor for Philip, then gathered his things and strode out the door. He stopped by the Spawning Vat and gave the spigot a twist, preventing it from …