Frontline Empress - Chapter 19: The Battle of Beasts and Bandits (1)

How long will it take for a murdered thief to distill into something monstrous? In this story the darkness only grows stronger, and its reach only grows wider as it expands by devouring the life that surrounds it. This is a dark fantasy where evil is a where, not just a who that focuses on slow progression, undeath, and atmospheric storytelling.

Welcome! If you want to jump in without any spoilers, feel free. Otherwise, here's a story primer, with a list of more specifics on what to expect from my work further below.Our story follows a fallen knight haunted by his past, in a world afflicted by war and supernatural wounds. Alken is the Headsman of Seydis, an executioner tasked by the divine powers of his homeland to hunt dark sorcerers, warlords, and traitors of all varieties, lest they drag the world into calamity.Once a paladin, this role ill suits him. Forced to cross lines that shake his beliefs, tempted by dark forces, and seen as an ill omen wherever he wanders, his path is often a bloody one. The longer he spends in the shadows of his world, the more he comes to realize just how many have been disenfranchised by the existent order. During his lonely battles through a land haunted by the restless dead and ancient magics, his journey becomes increasingly strange and personal.Enter a realm where the dead stir in every shadow and brooding demigods wage a millennia long war for a ruined heaven, where blessed knights wield gilded flames and sorcerers battle with weapons forged of their own souls. Enter a world of faustian alchemists, of saintly demons, and of time-weary elves.From Oathbreaker you can expect— A setting heavily inspired by Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Fromsoft games, and authors such as Michael Moorcock and Kentauro Miura. — A first person POV from an older protagonist who already knows a lot about his world’s history and cultures, who shares this information with the reader as it becomes relevant.— A mix of action adventure and quieter moments where the focus is on character development. Lore is shared piecemeal, usually only as it relates to a particular arc or character beat.— A heavy focus on mystery, both with the setting and the protagonist. The main character’s backstory isn’t shared up front, and a lot of the narrative involves learning about him a bit at a time, either from his own narration or other characters interacting with him.— A semi-soft magic system where many mages manifest unique powers tied to their own soul, or gain unique powers through eldritch pacts.— Romantic elements. These don’t crop up much until later in the story.— A variety of supernatural beings, such as elves, vampires, gargoyles, chimera, and trolls. Many are familiar, some are not, and most of the familiar ones have my own twists put on them.—Nobledark fantasy. This means that the world is often themed around tragedy and horror, but it’s not dedicated to being gritty. There are elements of high fantasy intermixed with the scarier stuff.—Episodic arcs. Each story arc usually has a specific locale and antagonist or set of antagonists, but certain overarching plots tie them together.— A long running narrative. I don’t have a specific projection of how long or how many arcs or books, but you should expect this to be equivalent to a long running serialized work.This is my first web serial! I hope everyone enjoys it. For trigger warnings, readers should beware that there are some heavy topics in here. When I think something might upset certain readers, I’ll put a warning in the author notes above a chapter. If I miss or overlook anything, feel free to let me know in the comments! I am currently publishing the same story on my wordpress, which is linked below and in my profile. I release three chapters a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Thanks for reading!(I originally had a link to a wordpress, but I'm in the process of overhauling that space. It's not a priority since my readership is all here, but just in case anyone noticed and was wondering)

One day, billions of young and middle-aged people around the world were pulled into an underground palace survival game.

If you want to survive, you have to fight with dungeon creatures to get resources.

When others are struggling to kill a mosquito, Liu Yang has acquired the skill of instant kill…

[You slashed at the underground palace ant, and the instant kill skill was triggered, and the underground palace ant died. 】

[Congratulations for killing an ant in the underground palace and getting wood x1. 】

[You cut off the tail of the underground palace mouse with one knife, the instant kill skill is triggered, and the underground palace mouse dies. 】

[Congratulations for killing the underground palace mouse, get stone x3, small map x1, apple x3, and spiritual energy x1. 】

[You hit the butt of the wild boar with one arrow, the instant kill skill is triggered, and the wild boar dies. 】

[Congratulations for killing the violent wild boar, you get an ordinary wooden home upgrade scroll x1, and spiritual energy x1. 】

……

So, Liu Yang took off.

When others are still exploring carefully, he is armed to the teeth and invincible.

When others were beaten to death for a piece of bread, he traded so much food with others.

Even with fine wine in hand, beautiful woman in her arms, so chic…

ps: This work is very different from other survival genres. Please do not substitute the settings of other works when watching.

- Description from novelbuddy

The dead broke small streamer Zong Qi received a random message one day.

Zong Qi: ? tr*sh commercial, deleted

That night, he got pulled onto the set of a horror film and was informed that if he didn’t shoot it… He’ll die.

He was lucky that the actors were all working as hard as they could, and the director only needed to stand around and watch the show.

But because he had been given way too much, Zong Qi didn’t hesitate at all before making his own changes.

Under his false identity was an ‘evil mastermind’ that fought with the actors on everything.

The immoral things he’s done on set include but aren’t limited to–

Personally putting makeup on the ghost, teaching actors how to mess and change the script, switching ‘sides’ at crucial times…

People as arrogant as him usually don’t have good endings when their identities were revealed.

What Zong Qi didn’t expect was that instead of the actors joining up for revenge, an unlucky bastard’s whose plans had been spoilt by him countless times appeared instead.

The man took off his glasses, revealing a pair of closed eyes, his face beautiful and cold.

The brush dipped in paint hooked past the young man’s neck, full of danger.

“You dirtied my brush.”

He smirked, drawling, “As punishment, I’ll dirty you.”

- Description from Novelupdates