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382 series

Wife After Death: An Eldritch Horror Romance

Dukerino

A79/100
Heaven has been abandoned. The Kingdom has fallen into disrepair. Prayers are going unanswered. An eldritch being named Irene — her true name too dangerous to speak — and her sisters intend to fix it. To do so, they need a Warlock. Caspar Cartwright is a hapless hedge mage saved from the scaffold and sent back to the living with Irene's power at his fingertips and a mission branded into his heart: face the servants of the dead god, find the key, and open the gate to the Kingdom. A dark and unconventional romance between a mortal mage and something far older and stranger than humanity.
Royal Road4.79· 275
GrimdarkHorrorNon-human MCOverpowered MCReincarnationSlow Burn+2

Maidens of the Fall

Hungry

A79/100
Octavia blames magical girls for the collateral damage that killed her parents and left her disabled. In the decades since the wall between the waking world and the Dreamlands came crashing down, no firepower can match divine favour — only young women chosen by the Dream-Gods of Earth can turn back the Nightmares that creep through the open wound in reality cutting through England's heart. Octavia's greatest wish is to go unnoticed, to swallow her rage and her desire, ignoring a hopeless love for her best friend as university parts them forever. But then a magical girl attacks another in a terrorist bombing, and Octavia finds herself arrested — both witness and suspect. The only way out is a contract with a Dream-God, but this divine trickster isn't from Earth. Fugitive and public enemy, she discovers there's a whole other type of magical girl — and now she's one of them. Freedom and revenge no longer seem impossible, but things worse than Nightmares are seeping through the ragged edges of reality, and Octavia knows she's a pawn in a cosmic game.
Royal Road4.80· 243
GrimdarkHorrorLGBTQ+MysterySecondary WorldSlow Burn+1

Father of Monstrosity

Dosei

A79/100
Jakob was only seven when he was summoned to Helmsgarten's sewers by the Fleshcrafter calling himself Grandfather. For seven painful years, Jakob studied the depraved craft of his monstrous mentor, before being let loose on the populace of the metropolis. With the vague task of creating the ultimate being to rival Grandfather's greatest creation, he is left with nothing but the flesh-stitched robes on his body and the loyal wight Heskel. Together, the pair explore a civilisation utterly alien to them, raised as they were in the dark and damp of the city's underbelly. Along his journey, Jakob constructs monsters and constructs, dodges the noose of the guards, joins the Adventurers' Guild in his voracious hunt for knowledge, and parleys with Demon Lords and Great Ones. Many who believe him a weak child suffer eternally for their arrogance. And in the end, even Grandfather must face the realisation that his creation is greater than he could ever have imagined.
Royal Road4.72· 1.1KGoodreads4.38· 55
Anti-heroGoreGrimdarkHorrorIsekaiOverpowered MC+5

RE: Monarch

Eligos

A79/100
Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the throne once and for all—which goes terribly wrong. Cairn dies, then reawakens ten years in the past. He immediately begins planning for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him back. To succeed, he must unite the kingdom and uncover his killer's motivation—using as many tries as it takes.
Royal Road4.63· 1.8KGoodreads3.90· 30
Genius MCGrimdarkMysteryRegressionReincarnationSecondary World+3

The Thirteenth God

Django Wexler

A79/100
Taking down a god is not easy. In order to escape a prison at the edge of the world, con artist Kalsis Chiroptera agrees to do the impossible: overthrow the Princeps, the immortal ruler of all mankind. It seemed like a good idea at the time. With only a handful of survivors by his side — plus a cheerfully murderous golem girl — Kal has a long way to go before he is ready to challenge an empire. He will need allies, weapons, warships, and an ancient mecha that feeds on the bones of the world to grow stronger. A military progression fantasy featuring magitech, sandships, dark comedy, and a group of losers on a long road from dodging cannibal bikers to building a fleet of starships.
Royal Road4.82· 124Goodreads5.00· 1
Anti-heroBase BuildingComedyGenius MCGrimdarkMilitary+2

Path of the Deathless

OstensibleMammal

A79/100
Whatever kills Shiv only makes him stronger. An outcast in his town, considered an unholy omen, Shiv has spent years fruitlessly hunting monsters on his own — the System seems to spurn him and the authorities refuse to grant him a Path. When his town is attacked and Shiv is murdered in combat, he finds himself bestowed with a Unique Path possessed by no one else: the Path of the Deathless. Resurrecting upon death, he is cast into the Abyss. In that dark and wondrous place, he is finally free to chart his own destiny — if he can survive its countless dangers. In a world that stands against him, death is not the end. For Shiv, it's just another source of power.
Royal Road4.55· 2.3KGoodreads4.00· 2
Anti-heroComedyGameLitGrimdarkLitRPGPost-apocalyptic+3

Rise to Omniscience

Aaron Oster

A79/100
Morgan grows up on the streets of City Four, constantly shunned by other citizens and beaten by city guards because of his friendship with the city lord's only daughter. The lord wants him dead, and Morgan is nearing his sixteenth birthday with no awakened abilities in a world where might makes right. Faced with a life-altering decision, Morgan must find his own path in a world where power is everything — and where his choices will impact everyone around him.
Goodreads4.32· 3.2K
GoreGrimdarkLitRPGSecondary WorldSkill CollectionStats+1

Fox's Tongue and Kirin's Bone

MuffinLance

A78/100
Humanity is dying, hunted to extinction by creatures of legend. One boy was born to save them all. That boy just got knifed in the back. He looked a bit too much like Aaron, you see. Now it's Aaron's job to step up, lest his Death correct that little mix-up. But Aaron's skills as a street rat run more towards stealing and stabbing than towards saving. And the more he learns of what brought dear dead Markus to that fatal alleyway, the more he has to wonder just what the world's savior was really up to the night the wrong boy died. A dark fantasy set in a world drawing on a fusion of European and Asian mythology, featuring court politics, gray-on-gray morality, and a slow-burn empire-builder plot.
Royal Road4.72· 972Goodreads4.56· 159
Anti-heroBase BuildingGenius MCGrimdarkMysterySecondary World+1

The Wraith's Haunt

Hugo Huesca

A78/100
Dark forces have extended Edward Wright an offer of incredible power at a terrible cost — and Edward has chosen to make them regret it. When he is swept into the world of Ivalis as a Dungeon Lord, the Dark's most powerful servant, he has no intention of serving anyone. Through only his wits and guts, Edward must rise to power if he is to survive. But in the battle between Dark and Light — where both sides are cruel, uncaring monsters — he may have no choice but to forge his own path.
Goodreads4.20· 4.3K
Anti-heroBase BuildingDungeon CoreGrimdarkIsekaiSummoning

Peculiar Soul

TMarkos

A78/100
Not everyone gets a soul. The rise of industry and mechanization has sent the world's population booming, striving relentlessly for the fixed handful of souls that level armies and steer the fate of nations. Michael is the scion of a lord — and the soulless cannot hold such a title. For five years he has endured pain and failure attempting to claim one of the souls freed by its vessel's death, earning only his father's contempt. The remnants of a crumbled empire fight in a grinding, bloody war against their ancient enemy. At last, one more opportunity has come. But not everyone gets a soul quite like his.
Royal Road4.61· 1.8K
GrimdarkMilitarySecondary WorldSoft MagicUrban FantasyWeak to Strong

Discount Dan's Backroom Bargains

James Hunter

A78/100
Dan has accidentally 'noclipped' into the Backrooms — a bizarro extra-dimensional world cobbled together from twisted carnivals, abandoned shopping malls, janky laundromats, and condemned insane asylums, overrun with horrific nightmare creatures known as the Dwellers. No one ever gets out. If Dan wants to survive the week, he's going to need to harness the strange game-like magic of the Backrooms, make some very sketchy allies, and carve out a little safe haven to call his own — and fast, because the Flayed Monarch of the 999th floor has marked him for death.
Goodreads4.32· 3K
Base BuildingComedyDungeon CrawlingGrimdarkHorrorLitRPG

Fostering Faust

Randi Darren

A78/100
Alex is dead — and headed somewhere only the worst of the worst go, all for a single choice he made about a product his company owned. He is given one alternative: return to the living in another world, with his soul belonging to another, bound to make pacts with others that seal their secrets forever. The world he is sent to is the dark ages. To keep his soul out of hell, Alex must ask how much he is willing to take from others — and how much he will give of himself to survive.
Goodreads4.35· 2.9K
GoreGrimdarkHaremIsekaiReincarnationSecondary World+1

Beware the Trickster

Mangowo

A78/100
Life was perfect: naps in sunbeams, stolen snacks, and expertly timed accidents to torment her favorite human. So when licking a strangely alluring gemstone suddenly flooded her fuzzy head with memories of her former human existence, Clover — now a fox — simply filed it under "things to not give a damn about" and went back to napping. Fate had other plans. When the curtain of her pampered ignorance was ripped aside, revealing a world steeped in ancient horrors, eldritch hungers, and flesh-warping occult progression, she reacted with remarkable calm. Because the real horror was anything threatening her nap-snack-torment equilibrium. Now this newly enlightened vulpine has a simple goal: get stronger — not for glory, but purely to achieve peace through overwhelming power.
Royal Road4.73· 639
Anti-heroBase BuildingComedyGenius MCGrimdarkHorror+6

Underland

Maxime J. Durand (Void Herald)

A77/100
Once, the sun shone brightly on Azlant — until the Whitemoon came to steal mankind's light and condemn it to eternal darkness. Valdemar Verney is a sorcerer with a dream: to find a new world for his people to settle, one where the sky isn't a ceiling made of stone. But in the underground empire of Azlant, dissent is never tolerated. Brought before one of the undead Dark Lords, Valdemar is offered a choice he cannot refuse. Meanwhile, swordswoman Marianne Reynard is given a mission: to investigate a dead cult with a few mysteries left to unravel. Both are looking for the truth, though they might regret finding it — for many cultists, monsters, and cosmic horrors stand in their way.
Royal Road4.71· 1.1KGoodreads3.45· 69
GrimdarkHorrorMysterySecondary WorldSoft Magic

[Maid] to Kill

zechamp

A77/100
Mud, oil stains, giant rats in the sewers, a society of greedy nobles engaged in heinous schemes — Fayette will cleanse it all. When the knights and mages try to stop her, they find that household skills put to violent use are nothing to scoff at. A broom right to the head. A society in need of a thorough cleaning. Guillotines, eventually.
Royal Road4.61· 1.7K
Anti-heroClass SystemComedyGrimdarkLitRPGSecondary World

Mystery Walk

Robert McCammon

A77/100
Born and raised in rural Alabama, Billy Creekmore was destined to be a psychic. His mother, a Choctaw woman schooled in her tribe's ancient mysticism, understands the permeable barrier between life and death — and taught the power to Billy, who now helps the dead rest in peace. Wayne Falconer, son of a fervent tent evangelist, uses his own unique powers to cure the sick, on his way to becoming one of the most celebrated miracle workers in the country. Billy and Wayne share more than a gift — they share a dream and a common enemy. Their separate journeys are mystery walks leading toward a crossroad where ancient evil has taken shape, and the fate of mankind hangs in the balance.
Goodreads3.99· 5.3K
GrimdarkHorrorMysterySoft Magic

Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon

Matt Dinniman

A77/100
Duke is offered $15,000 to paint a mural — with a catch. He must first see what his client wants painted, which means entering a private server: Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon, a survival horror full-immersion game where fantasy races clash with technology, giant monsters guard the gates of heaven, and players take the role of battlefield surgeons keeping those behemoths alive. But this server was not built for the game. It was built by the world's most sadistic minds as a place to bring victims, exploit the game's full-pain and realistic anatomy systems, and push them far beyond any normal breaking point — then bring them back and do it again. Trapped, Duke has one goal: survive, win the game, and become the most ruthless monster in the room.
Goodreads3.85· 5.6K
GoreGrimdarkHorrorLitRPGVRMMO

Savage Divinity

ruffwriter

A77/100
A modern man finds himself reincarnated in the body of a young slave with no skills and quickly fading memories. Follow his journey to find normalcy while living in a savage world filled with myth, legend, monsters, and demons. In a land where the strong rule, the weak serve, and bloodshed is a way of life, peace is a luxury few can afford. The story is eastern-themed, character and world-driven, with mature language and themes.
Royal Road4.13· 3.7KGoodreads3.93· 147
CozyGrimdarkHaremReincarnationSecondary WorldWeak to Strong+1

Song of the Gift-Giver

Selkie

A77/100
When Merlin sundered the world to separate the magical from the mundane, he made a small mistake: he copied every mundane body but not their souls. That night, they rose as undead — and the world has never known peace since. Camelot is now an institution for teaching fine young wixen about magic, and it is not a safe place to learn. Felix has never held a wand or cast a spell — until Paracelsus, the Immortal Alchemist, breaks into his home to tell him he's a wizard. Meanwhile, Erik Morsin, groomed to be the next Duke of Ireland, is a member of the most hated family in King Arthur's nation. Four other students round out a group whose lives will intertwine at Camelot — though only five can bond as a coven. A mild LitRPG set in a magic school, planned across eight books.
Royal Road4.75· 378
Base BuildingCozyGrimdarkHard MagicIsekaiLitRPG+5

The Ogre's Pendant & The Rat in the Pit

J.M. Clarke (U Juggernaut)

A77/100
The land is conquered. A thief and a demon killer run afoul of its new overlord and the wizard that serves him. Now the wizard seeks his life's ambition — an artifact that will make his word law. Hearing this, the demon killer and thief begin to have ambitions of their own. The race is on for who will reach the artifact first, and an entire barbarian horde is in the running. Yet the prize lies within the Forest of Giants, grown from the corpse of an empire. There are tales of things that stalk the trees. Tales of those that hunger endlessly. Tales of ogres. A fast-paced, dark fantasy adventure.
Royal Road4.78· 198
GrimdarkMilitaryOverpowered MCSecondary World