Herald of death

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Ethan Reed, a renowned global hitman, finds himself embroiled in a mission amidst the emergence of a perplexing system that plunges the planet into turmoil. As monsters begin to manifest, individuals who seize their newfound capabilities stand to alter the very foundations of human civilization.

For Ethan, the arrival of magic on Earth rekindles a long-cold trail of personal vengeance he believed buried forever. The secrets of his past pull him into a conflict where his pursuit of retribution entwines with the fate of the world itself.

Release Schedule:New chapter (~2 500 words) every week (except during writathons when I aim for one chapter a day).

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Tales Forge

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 895
Views: 491,324

Chapters(187 total)

What readers say about Herald of death

“The spy genre litrpg I didn't know I needed. I am a huge fan of the spy genre. Bond. Bourne. Mission impossible. I've read and watched it all and this story has the style down to a t. Style: Our hero, Ethan Reed, is a paid hitman with all the gadgets and sk…”
FiddlesoupRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“What I can only call a secret agent is thrust into a LitRPG Apocalypse. He's known as a reaper, and he has the personality to match. The MC comes across as almost a killing machine, taking everything in stride, calculating and ruthless. An injury for him is…”
L.R. Monroe (Emrys)Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

FiddlesoupRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The spy genre litrpg I didn't know I needed.
I am a huge fan of the spy genre. Bond. Bourne. Mission impossible. I've read and watched it all and this story has the style down to a t.
Style: Our hero, Ethan Reed, is a paid hitman with all the gadgets and skills you could ever want. Fancy cars and fast driving. Check. Snipers. Check. Assault rifles and grenades. Check Deception. Check. Now what if I told you the system kept track of every one and gave you levels and classes for it? That's the situation we find ourselves with here. Its a unique twist on two genres I absolutely adore.
Character: like any good spy protagonist he's brooding, quiet, and deceptive. One of the most striking parts of his character, and something the author does especially well is how analytical the hero is about everything and how that is reflected in the narration. Its a brilliant bit of character work not often seen in the genre.
Story: the story so far revolves around the hero being a super spy/hitman on a mission in France when the system integrates itself. Our hero gains contact with his handlers and is told to continue the mission despite the apocalypse. And things get crazier from there.
Grammar: solid grammar and formatting.
L.R. Monroe (Emrys)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What I can only call a secret agent is thrust into a LitRPG Apocalypse. He's known as a reaper, and he has the personality to match. The MC comes across as almost a killing machine, taking everything in stride, calculating and ruthless.
An injury for him is just something to handle. The possibility of death doesn't even seem to phase him. In more ways than one.
The System in this book is one of the few times I have seen where the characters previous skills directly translate and are given an appropriate level. This makes the MC uniquely powerful because his previous experience as a spy and seeming assassin directly translates into power from him.
The Systems arrival changes his original mission and a seemingly easy target becomes a lot harder to handle.
There are no glaring issues with grammar. The style is neat, action heavy from the start, and really puts you in the head space of the MC.
If you're looking for a ruthless, stylish, cool MC that has no problems dealing death, then look no further. This is him.
It's also unique because you mostly see regular Joe's become powerful with the arrival of the System. That doesn't happen here. Here we see someone already efficient at dealing death become even more powerful than he already is.
It makes sense in a way, too, because of the MC's pre-established skills. The story is definitely action packed, with power and brutality seeming to be the focus. I think readers have a lot to enjoy with this one!
Mister HandRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is one hell of a read.
The comparison to John Wick has been made by others, but for a good reason: it's very Wick-like in all the best ways.
The writing is slick. Present tense is tricky to write in, but the author does it well. It's the perfect choice for the story. The pace is full-auto, non-stop. The writing keeps up with quick, clipped sentences, sharp word choice, evocative verbs, and clear but minimalist descriptions. It reads like a film script, pure action, pulling you along. Chapter ending cliffhangers keep you clicking next, next, next.
The story brings a lot of new twists to a classic LitRPG setup: the world changes with the appearance of monsters, dungeons, and Status abilities. This happens in chapter one, paragraph one, wasting no time getting down and dirty. The MC's life as a top assassin puts him at a serious advantage in this new age. Not only does he already know a lot of skills to help him excel in the new world, but he's also equipped with gear, weapons, and a support network that all help him adapt quickly. It's a terrific setup that pays off.
I found his professionalism particularly fresh. Regardless of the appearance of goblins and wyverns and kobolds and the voice of a System in his head, he does not veer from his mission. Job comes first, apocalypse second. The world continues and we get glimpses into how the world tries to adapt around him. This is fantastic storytelling.
My cristicisms are few, and mostly boil down to personal preference and aren't worth noting. The positives outweigh them by a landslide, so it's five stars across the board.
I'll be reading this one to the end.
OverXelousRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I enjoyed reading this and will definitely be adding it to my to-read list. It's full of action, and the pace is quick with shorter chapters. The MC (Ethan Reed) is a total badass, right from the start. He handles the entire apocalypse with a cool head and his pup right by his side.
If you're looking for something light and action-packed to read, I'd definitely check this out!
Written_SageRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's a good story. Tons of grammatical errors, but not so bad as to ruin it. I just wish I knew ahead of time it was a villain protagonist. Bad guys already win irl, I prefer stories where they don't. That's just me tho. I stopped at chapter 36 I think?
TLDR; villainous MC ain't for me. Good story otherwise.
MSMRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Basically John Wick, pre-retirement, suddenly faced with a system apocalypse. Neither he nor his employers think the sudden dungeons, monsters, and overall collapse of society is a decent reason to put a pause on his mission.
Style: This is my biggest problem with the story; the formatting makes it hard to tell when he's thinking something to himself, when the System is telling him something, when he's activating an ability, or when it's something else weird going on. And then he gets the ability to telepathically communicate with his dog, so I think it's going to get even more confusing.
Grammar: There are a few mistakes here and there, some typos, but for the most part the grammar is solid. Some word choices make me think the author isn't used to writing in English (the story takes place in France, so French maybe?), but nothing actually wrong.
Story: The premise for this one is solid. A world-renowned assassin finds himself in an unexpected situation, analyzes everything to its fullest extent, and proceeds with the best options he can for his long-term survival. The fact that it's a LitRPG system makes it a good choice for such a rationalist fic.
Character: I like the main character, but I think he's coasting too much right now on being basically John Wick, and trusting we'll care about him because of that. I feel like we don't get enough of his inner thoughts, even if those thoughts are just "I need to calm down and act rationally."
Good start, looking forward to more.
WinterwispRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Overall, this is a story worth reading for anyone who's looking for lots of action and set-pieces full of movement and a mixture of our modern world and a medieval fantasy setting. There's a little bit of Hitman, a little John Wick, and lots of LitRPG devices in the story, with something new around the corner in almost every chapter.
While, ultimately, this story is not my cup of tea, I've enjoyed my time reading it, enough to recommend it to those who are looking for the above. If my description sounds interesting, then this is a story for you, and you should absolutely try out the first chapter and see for yourself.
Story: It's a classic meeting of two worlds, but without the sudden apocalyptic collapse of modern society in the face of fantasy invaders. We meet our protagonist and quickly learn that there's more to him than your average joe off the street. Action immediately ensues, and doesn't really slow down at any point in the story. The pacing is breakneck and there's always action on the horizon, as Ethan works his mercenary ways. While I enjoy action as much as anyone, the lack of variation in the pace made the story exhausting to read. Even when there's a moment that is supposed to be slow, the story pushes forward, as if worried I'll lose interest if nothing's about to blow up. Reading it in short bursts may be the best way of enjoying the story, I think.
Character: Ethan is generally a fine MC, with believable reasons for being a good fighter. I like that he has a animal companion from the start, as it humanizes him a lot more than many of his initial actions does. There's some internal conflict introduced later, which is a good addition, but Ethan--and all the other characters--suffer from the same issues as the story. Because everything is moving so fast, and Ethan has to go from set-piece to set-piece, I don't really feel any emotional connection to him as a character. He has motivations and goals, sure, but I don't feel like I know him. He's a charac
omegaoverrideRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
The MC gets a system. Monsters appear. Pretty standard stuff. Tech doesn't stop working because if magic which is super nice and the system has skills for firearms so they aren't immediately useless. The MC is a highly trained assassin instead of some mook naive school kid which is refreshing to see what a skilled killer can do with a system on his side. The story is awesome but there are quite a few misspelled words and some grammar issues which might make it hard for some people to read but I'm sure the author is working on it so give it a chance anyway.
WeydeyRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
First off this reads more like a screenplay than a book, better in some places than others. Feels like a first rough draft or a detailed outline. The author is close to having something really entertaining here but it needs a lot of editing and polish to get there. The author did just enough research on subjects to barely pass. Uses the right terminology in the wrong places or makes their own inaccurate conclusions based on incomplete research. This is especially true for firearms here. Knows enough to sound impressive to the layman but sound stupid to those who actually understand the subject. The writing and character interactions are slightly off too. Not sure if it's an English as a second language or translation issue, but everything is just slightly off. Like while the words used are technically correct, nobody talks like that. Honestly the more I think about it the more this feels like A.I. trying their hand at story writing. Just like a.i. art its close but undeniably off.
M T ConboyRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
So, having read 10 chapters of the work so far, I've definitely enjoyed myself. More than once I was pleasantly surprised with an action taken by the author, and most of the ideas in the writing are delivered well.
Once or twice, I had to go back and reread things slower than I normally would to get the full meaning and even then, found myself confused. I'm sure that with some editing those kinks can be worked out! Fair to say it reads a little like a storyboard or a movie script than a novel at times?
Ethan, our main character, is very interesting, but we don't get much time in his head or nearly any personal thoughts, so it's hard to get a read. Given who he is, it makes sense, but there's not much there yet.
The story definitely makes you want to know more of what's going on behind the scenes, because there's just so much going on!
I can feel the potential of this novel and I hope it gets the polish it needs once the writathon is done, but overall a great entry! Also, give us waaaay more time with Russ!
I've tried to avoid giving anything away as it's best to read the story and see if you like it, especially with some of the choices made. Good stuff.