Kevin McLaughlin

Chapter 90 - The Mycelial Net

Alex hovered there in the middle of the room, unable to continue. He had three strands of the green goop wrapped around his right leg. Below him, more rose slowly from the mesh of green that covered most of the floor.

We’d hoped flying over the mess would avoid trouble. It worked for me. Why hadn’t Alex been ...

Chapter 89 - Fire and Water

I picked up a piece of the ‘chest’ from the floor, examining it. Only the outside of the thing looked like a wood surface. The interior was a fleshy yellowish color, sort of like the inside of a shelf fungus, the things that grew on the sides of trees. This one had taken on a highly unusual shape on the outside, bu...

Chapter 88 - Burning Out

The pain in my hands was spiking further. A bit of grey mist rose from them, and the faint hissing was turning into a sizzling sound that reminded me uncomfortably of cooking bacon. I needed to get my hands free, fast. Fortunately, I wasn’t entirely without options.

Strength alone wasn’t going to work here. I...

Chapter 87 - Everyone Loves…

We pressed on through the chamber, everyone as alert as we could be. None of us wanted to get close to the fungi which seemed to be growing from every wall and most of the floor, but oddly enough the stuff didn’t seem to grow as well in the spaces between the stalagmites. Maybe it was the water dripping down from abo...

Chapter 86 – Crystals of Life

I spun back toward the team and felt my stomach drop.

Spots of angry red had already blossomed across exposed skin. The damage was evident on foreheads, wrists, and even the V at the throat where a collar didn’t quite meet. Eyes streamed. Kelly had both hands clamped over his face, gas mask belatedly half-on, h...

Chapter 85 - A Draining Experience

We hadn’t gone very far before we noticed the path ahead of us had some sort of illumination in the distance. Whatever it was we were headed toward, there was light, at least. The others wouldn’t be reliant on their glow sticks to see. The march was slow, because we were being extra cautious in our approach. All of...

Chapter 84 – Into the Green

Alex left the rest of his people arrayed across the steps. They fanned out to either side of the entrance, gas masks on, weapons up, eyes on the darkened opening. It was a sensible precaution. If this place was going to keep spitting out nightmares, leaving some people behind to ensure the rest of the city was safe, or...

Chapter 83 - White Crystals

My outstretched fingers were closing on the creature’s blackened, crispy body. Between the gasoline and the spells, we’d done a serious number on the thing. It smelled and looked something like badly burnt toast. I felt like I ought to be looking around for the smoke detector or something.

As soon as my finge...

Chapter 82 - Fungus Among Us

Suddenly the thing surged forward. It rushed at Alex. Maybe it was all the orders he was shouting that got him the unwanted attention, but whatever the cause, the creature was headed right for him.

I took two steps in, getting ready to block its advance, but Alex’s voice stopped me cold.

“Castle, no!”...

Chapter 81 - Rampant Growth

The doors swung inward, revealing a huge open space inside the structure. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this! I’d figured there might be monsters inside. Maybe some new challenge to face? But there was no sign of life within, just a huge, vaulted hall that stretched back the full length...

Chapter 80 - Dungeons and…

I eyeballed the structure as I approached, trying to get a feel for what I was looking at. Was it a new feature of Alex’s Domain? That was a reasonable guess, but I’d just eaten breakfast with him that morning. If he was going to do something weird, I had a feeling he’d have told me then.

If it wasn’t Ale...

Chapter 79 - A Test of Might

I spent a few minutes psyching myself up for what I was about to try, because I’d never done anything quite like this before.

According to Alex, once someone hit tier five in a clear crystal stat, they’d reached the theoretical human maximum in that area. When someone was at a tier five Intellect, for example...

Chapter 78 - A Blinding Flash

I had a plan to wipe out the remaining pill bugs, but it wasn’t going to be a simple, one-step process. In theory, I could just wade into the creatures, smashing them all up, but their ranks gave me pause. The ones I had seen were all in the tier two to four, but there was no telling how high some others might be, ba...

Chapter 77 – Audience in the Tunnels

The ratkin guide moved with his head low, his tail tight to his legs, and his ears pricked for trouble. Even with NightVision turning the tunnel into a dim twilight, I had to keep reminding myself to watch my footing. The last thing I needed was to face-plant in front of my new escort.

“What’s your name, anyw...

Chapter 76 - You Squish Bad Bugs?

Our conversation about that dreadful first day had gotten me thinking. I’d left some unfinished business during those early days. Where was the Rat King these days, anyway? What was he up to? If he and his people had been behaving themselves, that was fine. But what if I’d left a menace down there that had grown? I...

Chapter 75 - Space to Heal

I woke with a start, surprised to see sunlight dappling the bed covers. I'd slept through the night. I shook my head, trying to clear it. For a moment, I couldn't remember the last time I had slept all the way through the night.

Then, as it always did, all the memories of the past week came rushing back—the vic...

Chapter 74 - Dark Awakening

This one gave me the feels to write. I love dogs, and hate seeing bad things happen to them. I'm not sure how Cerberus's story ends, but time will tell. I hope this chapter works as well for you as it did for me! -Kevin

It had been an awful week for Cerberus.

His owner, George, always cal...

Chapter 73 - Home

I took a step back and shot Alex a mock glare. “Alex, I’ve got to know. Ever since you took up residence in this building, whenever I come around, you've been here waiting for me on the roof when I arrived."

"I have," Alex replied. "What's the question?"

I could tell from his grin that he knew what I wa...

Chapter 72 - New Powers and Old Friends

Collecting all of the crystals from the dead zombies was every bit as disgusting as I’d guessed it would be, and it took about ten times as long as I would have liked it to. There had to be an easier way of doing this sort of thing, right?

Maybe it was the way I was taking them down. It was exceptionally diffic...

Chapter 71 - Cutting Loose

As I hovered over the mass of zombies, I realized a couple of things I hadn’t before.

First off, I really hated smacking into bodies at high speed. They splattered, when I did that. It was messy, gross, and was incredibly bad for my wardrobe. Just looking at what was left on my hands and forearms from the attac...

Chapter 70 - Dead North

We're back! Here's the opening chapter for book two of Castle's tale! Enjoy! :) - Kevin

Only two days had passed since we finished repelling the Karabos invasion, saving downtown Boston from a watery grave and rescuing thousands of people from becoming dinner for the lobster-like creatures. Jus...

Chapter 69 - Sunset Over Boston

Apologies for the missed day yesterday, folks! Got a very mild bout of con crud coming home from the convention, and I'm a little under the weather. I'll get that missing chapter caught up for you later this week. In the meantime, please enjoy this FINAL chapter for book one!

At the end of the ...

Chapter 68 - Locus of Control

Alex flew straight toward the creature, firing the biggest Ice Blast I'd seen him create as he approached. The gigantic spear of ice stabbed deep into the joint near one of the crab's largest claws. It didn't lock the limb down entirely, but it was obvious the creature was already having difficulty moving it around as ...

Chapter 67 - Fear In Its Eyes

Apologies, folks. Not sure why this wasn't still up, but I've added it back again! Maybe I deleted it by accident somehow, or Patreon had a bug? I honestly don't know, but it's here again now! -Kevin

Claw met fist in the ultimate test of strength and magic. Our blows connected with each other w...

Chapter 66 - Fist and Claw

As the sheet of liquid fire plummeted from the sky, the Karabos leadership reacted with remarkable speed. They dashed away from the impact point as fast as their legs could carry them, all of them rushing off in different directions. Most of them were clear of the impact area by the time the rain of burning gasoline hi...

Chapter 65 - Rain of Fire

I paused while the others retreated, my thoughts racing as my Regeneration finished the job of restoring me to health and my mana ticked steadily back up toward full. They’d bought me some breathing room, some of them with their lives. Now it was up to me to use it, not waste it.

I had a plan. I had no idea if ...

Update for this week!

First off, as you've probably already noticed, I created the Category for Cameron Castle's story. I've also got a temp cover up which we'll be using for the Patreon and Royal Road presentations.

This coming week is going to be a little weird. I'm off to a writing conference, for starters. I'm the president-elect of Nove...

Chapter 64 - Sound Retreat!

Alex fired yet another ice blast. The spell created a short javelin of solid water that shot from his hand, stabbing one of the Karabos through the chest. The enemy went down. But there were so many more where that one came from!

He’d long since lost track of how many of the things he'd killed. It seemed like t...

Chapter 63 - Riding to the Rescue

Not content to just lay on the ground waiting for the next Lightning Bolt to fry me, I strained to raise my head. There was the Karabos with the Lightning Bolt spell. He was just a few feet away. If I could stand, I could be on him in a flash and end the threat, but my muscles were barely obeying my commands.

Spa...

Chapter 62 - Three Strikes

There was no time to waste, so I swooped down quickly and landed not far from where MacGregor stood. He looked shocked to see the Karabos at close range, but the creature sank immediately to its haunches, bowing down and pressing its claws against the ground in a way that made it clear it wasn’t presenting a threat t...