Until now, Edge had used only Overdrive as a finishing move.
It was generally the wisest course of action, given the ability’s considerable downside. But this was a fight that he couldn’t win using conventional tactics. Not with fifty monsters howling for his blood, along with a stage-three elite.
At first, this battle had seemed like an impossible challenge, but after wracking his brain for hours, he had come up with a single idea that just might give him a chance. It was tim...
2025-04-04 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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There was a disorienting, intensely weird moment of viewing his body from the inside, then Nick snapped back into his own skin.
While he still had some measure of control, he reached into his pack and withdrew Blightbane, holding the hilt in a white-knuckled death grip. The instant that his fingers touched the sword, his mind erected a wall of dissociation around the center of his being, preventing the prolonged vision from changing him on a fundamental level.
The alien memories s...
2025-04-04 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Edge centered himself within the pocket of open air, then activated Conceal.
He doubted that his skill would stop the elite monster from finding him, given the disparity between their stages, but hopefully it would be good enough to lure it in. He couldn’t see it coming thanks to the mist, and letting the massive monkey get the drop on him would be a terminally bad idea. All it had to do was fling a few boulders from within the fog and he would be dead before he knew what hit him.
...
2025-04-03 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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The good news was that while it would be risky as hell, Edge had come up with a plan to kill the gorilla general.
The reason why he thought he had a chance was due to the monster’s intensive specialization. Based on what he had seen so far, its entire skillset revolved around its army of aura-buffed thralls. If they were removed from the equation, he only had to worry about the elite’s natural weapons and superior attributes. It would still be a dangerous fight, but one that he thou...
2025-04-02 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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For the first time since the Crimson Blight had taken control of the shark, Nick remembered what it was to be afraid.
This was a worthy adversary. He would still fight to remake this world in his image, but he would have to proceed with caution. He possessed the element of surprise and had spread his thralls across a significant portion of the globe. Once he finished bending this species to his will, he would rule the planet forever.
By this point, his consciousness was linked to ...
2025-04-02 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Edge awoke an hour before dawn.
It didn’t require any special effort on his part, since that was when he usually got out of bed these days—if he wasn’t exhausted or hungover at any rate. There was a terrifying moment of disorientation where he couldn’t figure out where he was or why the stench of the filth hung heavy in the air, before it all came flooding back.
He let out a sigh of relief when he realized that nothing had found him while he was asleep. He felt even better...
2025-04-01 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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In that instant, the Crimson Blight’s senses expanded, overwhelming Nick with sheer sensory overload until he began to adjust to the realities of an alien nervous system—the perspective of a creature who viewed the world so differently from his natural state.
At last, he had eyes to see the ocean around him. Skin to feel the currents gliding across his scales. And, most important of all, fins to move. This was a pivotal moment in his development. He had transferred his consciousness...
2025-03-31 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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With that, Edge’s consciousness slid back into his body.
After conferring with his skills, he felt calmer, and his mind was clear. Putting the dynamics of his situation into words had helped him face his long list of problems head-on. He was still afraid, but he no longer felt overwhelmed.
If he was being honest with himself, part of him was buzzing with excitement—eager to use the Savage Garden as a whetstone to hone him to a razor’s edge.
He chuckled at the pun, then...
2025-03-31 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Now that Edge had met Intimidating Roar, who would henceforth be known as Chibime, the next item on his list was to conduct a strategic review—a practice that Lilly had taught him while they were clearing the maze.
The goal of the review was to internalize each power and piece of gear at his disposal, so that he could pick the best tool for any given situation without having to stop and think.
Edge was about to bid his skills farewell and return to his body, when inspiration str...
2025-03-30 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Six nerve-wracking hours later, Edge spotted the canopy of the jungle looming in the distance.
He let out a sigh as his knees went weak with relief. After several close calls, he had arrived at the boundary of the swamp without attracting the attention of another nightmare made flesh. Despite the long odds, rough terrain, and an endless parade of monsters surrounding him on all sides, he had crossed a wide swath of the Savage Garden solo.
I’m going to make it after all. If I...
2025-03-29 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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After studying the map provided by his wayfinder, Edge knew that he had washed up on the tip of a thin strip of land, which ran alongside the river like a miniature peninsula. His first goal was to follow it back to a larger landmass that he hoped would lead him out of the swamp.
Beyond the muddy shoreline, the earth rose steeply before leveling out near the height of his head. Trees grew along the periphery, with long roots that dipped down into the water below. When he climbed up to s...
2025-03-28 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Two days later, when there were only a few hours left on the safe room’s clock, it finally happened.
As Nick was stepping out of the shower while toweling himself dry, the last sliver of the Species-Experience Pill absorbed into his core. Shivers ran down his spine as his body began tingling from head to toe. He felt hot, then cold, then both at the same time.
These physical phenomena were accompanied by an exquisite sense of anticipation. Of a catalytic transformation only hear...
2025-03-28 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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When Edge regained consciousness, he was lying along the muddy shore of a fast-flowing river.
He was dazed and confused—thoughts muddled as his mind struggled to adjust to this stark change in circumstance. He watched a line of ants crawling across his hand, wincing at the pinch as they tried carving out chunks of his flesh, only to have Regeneration heal the wounds before the bugs could carry them away.
Edge brushed them aside, then sat up and took a long look around. The first...
2025-03-27 17:00:27 +0000 UTC
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Sasha crept across the forest floor, sticking to the shadows as she followed the beasts’ trail away from base camp.
For this assignment, she was working alone, although there were several crews within earshot if she ran into trouble. Not that she expected any. Sasha was hunting inside the scouts’ perimeter, so there shouldn’t be any aggressive predators in the area, though she wasn’t taking that for granted.
The reason why she was operating solo was simple. Her quarry wasn...
2025-03-26 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Two hours later, Nick was ready to exchange his hard-won pile of resources for some awesome new gear and a few choice upgrades to his favorite items.
First and foremost was repairing Blightbane’s pommel. As it happened, the lump of luminescent metal he’d found in the mine below Blackmist Bog was a solid choice. Gretta could modify the material so that it grew heavier as the blade repaired itself, ensuring that the sword would maintain a proper balance going forward.
Since Nick...
2025-03-26 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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“We need to get out of here,” Mel cried. “We can’t fight that thing and a swarm of minions.”
“We’re dead if we do.” Tessa shook her head. “I’ve been analyzing its mana signature, and I’m certain that monster can see in the fog after all.”
“Fuck me.” Byron hefted his lance and deepened his stance. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”
Lilly laughed at the quip, although her eyes were wide with fear. While the sound of her vo...
2025-03-25 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Edge didn’t get a chance to see what happened next.
He was rolling along the grass—earth and sky changing positions at an alarming rate. He bounced across the clearing like a rock skipping across a pond until his back slammed into a boulder, sending a fresh jolt of pain rippling throughout his body. Regeneration was knitting his bones back together, but it was going to be a few minutes before he was back in fighting shape.
The moment that his vision stopped swimming, Edge scan...
2025-03-24 17:17:22 +0000 UTC
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The impact knocked Edge to his knees and set swirls of fog skittering across the barrier.
He rose to his feet and tightened his grip on his naginata, bracing himself for an attack that didn’t come. He looked up, casting his gaze across the second elite monster residing within the Savage Garden.
To his astonishment, instead of charging, the creature stopped to examine the hunters in turn. It seemed just as surprised that the crew was holding their ground with weapons at the ready...
2025-03-24 17:00:18 +0000 UTC
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“Come in. Thanks for the warning.” Nick sat up and tried to look alert, intensely curious as to what was about to happen.
Without further preamble, the door cracked open, and a bipedal bird walked into the room. The creature was seven feet tall and covered in brilliant blue plumage. She had yellow skin, a long beak, and bright green eyes. All of that was strange enough. But what really made Nick do a double take was the pair of arms mounted above her wings—polished chrome limbs th...
2025-03-24 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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His prediction proved itself to be a genuine premonition only five minutes later. Because that was when Edge spotted a monster clinging to the branches of a sprawling tree, just beyond the bubble of open air.
Its appearance reminded him of a great ape, although its features were twisted into a grotesque facsimile of the noble creatures. Its limbs were too long for its body and bent at unnatural angles—like it had several extra joints distributed randomly across its skeleton.
The...
2025-03-23 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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An hour after they finished harvesting the valuable parts from their kill, the hunters discovered an elevated bluff that offered a prime view of the wetlands below. Since it was a defensible location where nothing could ambush the crew, they stopped to each lunch while surveying the surrounding terrain.
Edge took out his spyglass while devouring one of Violet’s sandwiches. He was eager to discover what was living in the next zone before Team Arrow entered it sometime within the next f...
2025-03-22 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Edge awoke with the rising sun, filled with a heady surge of anticipation. He spent a few minutes listening to the vibrant melody of the jungle before slipping out of his bedroll. He took a sip from his canteen, ducked out of his tent, and walked over to the communal showers the crafters had finished building while he was asleep.
While he scrubbed the grime from his skin, he reviewed his performance from the day before. He had an hour until he was scheduled to enter the dungeon—plenty...
2025-03-21 17:02:01 +0000 UTC
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The insects launched another assault shortly after the crew left the glade, but this time, Edge was ready.
He had kept Penetrate Foliage running and saw them perched within the branches ahead, waiting until the hunters drew near before activating Conceal. The mosquitoes vanished when they took to the air, and he called out to warn the others while getting ready to steal more skills.
He repeated the same trick with the next monster he caught. Edge grabbed it by the wing, protected ...
2025-03-21 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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When Nick’s senses unscrambled, he found himself standing in a large, well-furnished room.
This time around, he had been granted a brief vision of the grand tapestry of cosmic forces that connected every world within integrated space. The System must have generated that portal, since this reward isn’t tied to Darkstone Tower.
“Not bad.” Devin took a quick lap around the safe room, then kicked off his boots and took a seat at the table. “I’m going to relax for ...
2025-03-21 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Fifteen minutes after the crew stepped back into the maze, it finally happened. So far, the hunters hadn’t been attacked while crossing the warren of trails connecting the clearings, but Edge had known that it was only a matter of time.
When the ambush occurred, the monsters were on top of them before anyone knew what was happening. Even Tessa hadn’t sensed them coming. One second, the zone was silent as a tomb, and the next the buzzing of oversized wings filled the air. He cried ou...
2025-03-20 20:33:34 +0000 UTC
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Shit. This is bad. Edge wracked his brain in the fleeting handful of heartbeats he had left, trying to come up with anything he could do that would help his crew escape from a powerful monster.
He could Conceal himself, but there was no guarantee that it would work against an enemy that was far above his stage. Even if it did, the skill wouldn’t help the rest of his team survive whatever was headed their way.
Making a bad situation worse, there wasn’t substantial cove...
2025-03-20 20:32:08 +0000 UTC
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Once the demon was lying dead in the dirt, the crew harvested its teeth, claws, tail-barb, and horns, then used Tessa’s powder to get rid of the remains. Edge put the horns into his pack, and after making sure that nothing else was lurking nearby, the hunters sat down to recover from the grueling ordeal.
“Those horns look valuable, and the rest of these parts should sell well too.” Fox took a rag out of her pack and started wiping down her boltcaster. While she spoke, Edge cleaned...
2025-03-19 17:02:00 +0000 UTC
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Edge darted in and engaged the demon, meeting its attacks head-on for the first time in the fight. With the potion enhancing his attributes, he could block its blows without breaking his bones, and was strong enough to knock it off balance.
He stabbed and thrust and swung like mad, occasionally tossing a Double Slash into the mix to fuck with the monster’s timing. With his body boosted and the demon’s diminished, some of his attacks made it past the creature’s guard. His electrici...
2025-03-19 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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It felt like Nick had swallowed a sliver of the sun.
Molten power slid down his throat and into his stomach, then dissolved and began to spread. His awareness was drawn inward, following the resplendent energy flowing through his veins.
By this point, he had experienced a wide variety of incredibly strange and indescribably extreme altered states. From the System remaking his body on a cellular level and jumpstarting his mana pool, to the Crimson Blight invading his body.
No...
2025-03-19 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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This marked the beginning of a brutal melee.
The demon let loose with a furious barrage of blows, attacking with all four limbs along with its tail, horns, and teeth in a seamless combination. Every strike was powerful enough to dish out some serious damage. If someone took more than a glancing blow, they wouldn’t be walking away.
By the skin of their teeth, Jumo and Edge kept the monster at bay, dodging most of its attacks and blocking the rest. Each impact reverberated through...
2025-03-18 17:02:01 +0000 UTC
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