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Top 25 Horror Novels on Royal Road (2026)

Updated November 2026 · ranked by average reader rating

Horror Novels are among the most popular stories on Royal Road.

This guide ranks the best by average reader rating. The current top picks are BELOW, Seeking Strays and Endless Delirium [Grimdark, Dungeon Crawler] (Book 1 Written). Some of them are already finished, so you can binge without waiting for updates.

The 25 best Horror novels on Royal Road

  1. BELOW

    by Silv3rtongue
    4.90 · 22 chapters · Ongoing

    YOU HAVE DIED YOU HAVE SINNED YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED THE ABOVE ALL IS CLOSED TO YOU A nameless SINner awakes in a hell beyond hells, trapped in a world designed to elicit eternal suffering for no clear purpose. Punished for the SIN of…

    ActionFantasy GrimdarkHigh FantasyLitRPG

  2. Seeking Strays

    by Lost Rain
    4.89 · 82 chapters · Ongoing

    Protect my sister. That’s all that ever mattered to me. Come hell or high water, I’d do anything if it meant my sweet little sister could have just one more day of a peaceful life. Anything. There was just one issue—I was burning the…

    ActionAdventure Anti-Hero LeadAnti-Villain LeadArtificial Intelligence

  3. Endless Delirium [Grimdark, Dungeon Crawler] (Book 1 Written)

    by Stygon
    4.81 · 81 chapters · Ongoing

    [Note: By popular request, I’m clarifying that the feather on the cover is a weapon, NOT a quill. This will make more sense at Chapter 2] The Fifth Integration begins. Descending upon Earth and the Fifth Universe as a whole, an infantile…

    ActionAdventure ApocalypseDungeon CrawlerDystopia

  4. Lost and Found (Warhammer 40k SI)

    by Latscryjml
    4.81 · 110 chapters · Ongoing

    Lost and Found: Living as a Relic of Ages Past. Aboard a Grand Cruiser once lost now owned by a Rogue Trader dynasty with a heavy Adeptus Mechanicus presence. A soul wakes up shortly after the formation of the Cicatrix Maledictum, in a…

    ActionAdventure Female LeadGender BenderGenetically Engineered

  5. Blood Hunter Vee

    by darkwatch0
    4.80 · 78 chapters · Ongoing

    Her family is dead at the hands of monsters. Her life is shattered, and her village is gone. Now, she'll become the monster that the creatures of darkness fear... Violetta is a farm girl, no one of importance living in a tiny village at…

    ActionAdventure Female LeadGameLitHigh Fantasy

  6. A Cursed Cleaning [STUBBED!]

    by Ellen Taylor
    4.78 · 2 chapters

    THIS ENTIRE BOOK WILL BE STUBBING ON AUGUST 15th, 2025 “In seven days, they will come. In seven days, they will destroy. If you want to survive, you must get your house in order. Follow your to-do list, and you will be protected.” She…

    FantasyHorror Female LeadGameLitLitRPG

  7. Remnant Knight [Hulking Eldritch Knight Lit-Rpg]

    by jollybane
    4.78 · 34 chapters · Ongoing

    Calder is a behemoth of a man with a gentle manner. He tends the tombs, comforts the spirits, and trains with legends of the past while caring for his grandfather. He wants to live peacefully in his frosty coastal hamlet, to be with his…

    ActionAdventure ChivalryDungeon CrawlerHigh Fantasy

  8. A Hive of Bone and Chitin [A Biomancy and Hivemind Litrpg Adventure]

    by Vareniya
    4.77 · 70 chapters

    When an extradimensional invasion destroyed Earth, Anya did not die. Being isekai’d? That was fine. But why did it have to be a world where every god dumped their heroes? To be Godtouched is to be an omen of unrest and calamity for the…

    AdventureFantasy Female LeadLitRPGPortal Fantasy / Isekai

  9. Sunny Days Endless Hell [Base-Building, Apocalyptic Slice of Life]

    by Zarinthel
    4.76 · 85 chapters · Ongoing

    The world is corrupted by miasma, and a strange fog covers the sky. Blood still splattered everywhere from killing her first mutant zombie, Zan Xinyi becomes the unwilling host to her very own system: The 1 Gacha Game System. It doesn’t…

    FantasyHorror Female LeadLitRPGPost Apocalyptic

  10. Acolyte VS Adjudicator: Fallout [Book 1 Complete]

    by Charris, Mab Rowan
    4.73 · 80 chapters · Ongoing

    Someone needs to destroy the planet. Someone else has to save it. Humanity loses either way. Lenora Graves was picked for her last name—and little else. She wakes up dead and gainfully employed. Her new job? Lead the zombie apocalypse and…

    ActionComedy Anti-Hero LeadFemale LeadLitRPG

  11. Cursed: A Lycan LITRPG

    by Marco_Polo-88
    4.73 · 61 chapters

    In the remote mining village of Balean, you're born with two things: dust in your lungs and a life of crushing poverty. At 17 years old, Alexi is choking on both. He is the sole focus of a single, desperate hope, one his parents have paid…

    ActionAdventure Dungeon CrawlerHigh FantasyLitRPG

  12. Murder in the Temple (LitRPG | Progression Fantasy)

    by Malory
    4.73 · 50 chapters

    Welcome to Soar, where your Level, your Class, and your god decide how you live and how you die. Unless you’re Jana Lowe. Then you're all kinds of screwed. Murder in the Temple (stubbed Dec 25) Death of a Curator (stubbed Feb 2) The…

    ComedyHorror Anti-Hero LeadDungeon CrawlerDystopia

  13. The Cabin Is Always Hungry (A Dungeon Core Horror Slasher)

    by HoppyCobalt
    4.73 · 113 chapters · Ongoing

    Mark Castle loves horror movies. But when he died in the hands of a cult, he is reincarnated and forced to become a dungeon core… And makes his domain as a lonely cabin in the woods. With newfound powers, he starts his revenge on the…

    ContemporaryFantasy Anti-Hero LeadAnti-Villain LeadDungeon Core

  14. The Firstlings

    by C.H. Mouser
    4.73 · 53 chapters

    Humanity is on the cusp of the Dawn. Known as the Integration. The Dawn of the Spell. Aaron and his siblings are a new race called the Firstlings. Born in the dark tunnels of the Labyrinth, they are run from their nest into a world of…

    ActionFantasy First ContactGrimdarkLitRPG

  15. Bloodsworn

    by Dominick R
    4.72 · 114 chapters

    The Dragons have been slain, the Giants pacified and the Elves have retreated to the depths of the old growth forests. The Dwarven forges quenched and stilled. Magic has fled from the world as the Empire of Man stands firm and tall above…

    ActionFantasy Artificial IntelligenceGrimdarkHigh Fantasy

  16. Dragon Spar: The Game Maker LitRPG Series [Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG - Book 1 Complete, Book 2 Updating]

    by keeganashleylive
    4.72 · 57 chapters

    What happened when my Dad was plucked from this universe and kidnapped into a post-apocalyptic, gritty fantasy, video-game-like world? I went after him, of course. Things turned dark. Lies swarmed thicker than the zombies and dragons…

    DramaFantasy Anti-Hero LeadDystopiaFemale Lead

  17. Eldritch Exorcist

    by Hastum
    4.72 · 230 chapters · Ongoing

    There isn't just a grain of truth behind superstition. It's a boulder of truth, and it's about to roll onto the world. The world has forgotten the ancient ways of magic, ritual, and the occult. The arcane power that was once abundant is…

    AdventureFantasy Anti-Hero LeadLitRPGLow Fantasy

  18. Level One Zombie [A Dungeon Crawler LitRPG]

    by Matthew-McKay
    4.72 · 109 chapters · Ongoing

    Frank isn’t exactly a model citizen. He's also not here to save Earth; he just wants his favorite curse word back. Too bad the World Dungeon drops him in as a zombie with a level cap of 1 and a profanity filter that turns every F-bomb…

    ActionAdventure Anti-Hero LeadApocalypseDungeon Crawler

  19. Paladin Of The Forsaken Lands (Monster Crafting "Nature" Paladin Lit-Rpg)Bk 2 Stubbing November

    by jollybane
    4.72 · 106 chapters

    Vrax should be dead by now, And he damn well knows it. Yet he's still here. Delving into the eldritch unknown of the Forsaken Lands, at level zero. Being an overtly picky asshole, and praying for the System to give him the perfect class…

    AdventureComedy Dungeon CrawlerHigh FantasyLitRPG

  20. Discount Dan

    by Shadow Alley Press
    4.70 · 58 chapters

    Noclip In, No Way Out… All Dan wants is to find a way home. He’d settle for a beer, a bite to eat, and a place to sleep off his hangover. But, in an endless, ever-changing dungeon cobbled together from twisted carnivals, abandoned…

    AdventureComedy GameLitLitRPGMale Lead

  21. Flesh of Gods [Book One Complete]

    by vgvalmai
    4.70 · 116 chapters · Ongoing

    When the world ended, Nathan was drinking tequila through a vuvuzela at a bonfire party. He didn't even finish the countdown. Now Earth is gone. He's saved in the nanosecond before extinction by an alien corporation, fitted with a…

    AdventureComedy First ContactLitRPGMale Lead

  22. All I Wanted Was To Get A Skill At Level 10 Like Everyone Else

    by Clo
    4.69 · 52 chapters

    "… But Someone Had Other Plans For Me" Not originally from this world. Experimented on without consent. Exiled by her own people. In a world ruled by levels, skills, and well-defined progression, Nivi, a young coeurl beastkin, is falling…

    AdventureFantasy Female LeadGameLitGender Bender

  23. A Farm Girl's Guide to Necromancy (Redux)

    by Compass Rose
    4.68 · 52 chapters · Completed

    Farm girl Ashley Hart inherits her family farm—and the mountain of guild debt that comes with it. Unable to coax a single carrot from the dying fields, she does the only thing she can: write a forbidden grimoire, the Mortis Agrariae (“Of…

    AdventureFantasy Anti-Hero LeadCraftingFemale Lead

  24. Dreamer's Throne

    by WildCard
    4.68 · 47 chapters

    It doesn’t matter how terrifying dreams get, so long as they stay dreams. When Garrett comes to after a close brush with death, he realizes that he’s in a new world, and worse, he’s missing an arm and paralyzed from the waist down. A fact…

    AdventureFantasy Anti-Hero LeadGameLitHigh Fantasy

More Horror novels to explore

Want everything in one place? Browse all Horror stories.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Horror novel on Royal Road?

Right now BELOW by Silv3rtongue is the highest rated, with an average rating of 4.90 out of 5 and 22 chapters. Seeking Strays by Lost Rain comes next.

How are these stories ranked?

Stories are ordered by their average reader rating on Royal Road, and the guide is refreshed as ratings change.

Are there completed Horror novels I can binge?

Yes, including A Farm Girl's Guide to Necromancy (Redux), The Unmaker and Re:Chimaera [A Monster Evolution Time Loop LitRPG] (COMPLETE).

Where can I read these Horror novels?

Every story is free to read on Royal Road. Open a story's page and use the Read button to go straight to it. FicGems doesn't host any chapters.