Runeblade-Chapter 293B3 : Hyythenal, Pt. 2

Kaius flew through the air, his heart desperately hammering in his chest as he stared at the ropey organs visible through the hole in Ianmus’s stomach.

The mage clutched the open wound with quickly paling hands, a twisted grimace on his face as he desperately tried and failed to hold his blood inside. The sight of it tore at Kaius from the inside, twisting at old fear and grief.

He couldn’t lose another — not Ianmus.

Then Ianmus’s eyes grew hard and focused, jaw clenching tight. A potion appeared in his hand, the vibrant red liquid being downed in moments as he snatched his staff out of the sand.

Bleeding off his excess speed with a secondary detonation of his Shunt, Kaius heard his brother let out a terrible roar—the sounds of stone and chitin clashing resounding from the centre of battle. It cut deep. He could feel Porkchop’s conviction and certainty, but even a greater meles could not fight this battle alone.

Hurrying as fast as he could, Kaius to a halt beside his wounded friend and watched as the mage cast a Ray of Tender Recovery directly into his intestines. The bleeding barely staunched.

There was a chance. There had to be a chance!

Kaius kept one his friend in the corner of his eye as he prepared to defend him from another spike — to take the blow for him, if he must. He could see the shattered remnants of Ianmus’s spine jutting from his back. Without a way to move, he would be fodder if another came.

Mana started to swirl around the half-elf as Ianmus constructed a freecast spell, one Kaius knew from exposure to Ianmus’s arts was more designed to regenerate wounds directly rather than top off missing health.

He could — would — survive! The mage just needed time, and safety. He could do that much, even if he felt helpless seeing his friend’s lifeblood gush.

“Hurry, friend — you can do this.”

Ianmus didn’t respond. A moment later, mana pulsed deep within the amulet on his neck. A thick shell of empowered granite rocketing out of the sand a moment later, sealing the mage within its confines.

Kaius only hoped it wouldn’t end up his friend’s tomb.

Kenva touched down, sliding to a halt next to him.

“Keep him safe,” Kaius said quickly, looking deep into the aen’s solid blue eyes.

She nodded, a genuine frown of fear and concern on her face as she drew an arrow and turned in a smooth motion to loose directly at the scorpion-beast who had injured their mage so severely.

More than anything, he wished he’d had the damned sense to inscribe a cast of War Haven before their battle. At the time, it had felt like an excessive expense, especially since they had managed to keep their backline safe in every other fight so far.

Now, his mind was filled with the image of the hole in his friend’s stomach, the blood that poured into the sand. All he could think of was that it might have been prevented if he’d just been a little less miserly with his mana!

Still, battle cared little for tragedy. Porkchop needed his help now. Kaius didn’t bother to wait around — the best thing he could do would be to join the front. They needed to kill that blasted scorpion as quickly as possible.

Every blow he could bait from it was one that couldn’t be directed at his backline.

Sprinting forward, he focused on the battle.

Porkchop was growling furiously, battering the beast with a continuous stream of slamming walls, floating fangs, and an arm encased in jagged crystal. Yellow ichor oozed from a dozen cracks in the scorpion’s carapace and a borehole that had been scorched black by the might of Ianmus’s opening spell, while one of the creature’s tails still hung limp from the arrow that Kenva had managed to slip through a join in its natural armour.

Yet, for all of his brother’s might and fortitude, for all of the scorpion's wounds, Kaius could see that Porkchop was still flagging. With every lunging stab of the beast's tail, and every slamming snap of its pincers, his brother was pushed back—grunting as his jade heavy-plate quickly grew chipped and pitted, and his blood seeped from the gaps in his armour.

Porkchop might have yet to take any truly severe wounds, but Kaius knew that was only a matter of time. His stomach clenched, fury and determination raging through his veins as a storm howled in his heart. No matter the creature's strength, they could win—he would make it so.

Deep twangs resonated from behind Kaius as arrow after arrow sunk deep into the beast's flesh and shattered like glass—Kenva unloading her bow into its open carapace with pinpoint precision in an effort to weaken it further with grievous internal wounds.

The beast chittered as ichor dripped slowly, Kaius’s senses sharp enough to hear every drop hit the ground as he flew forwards. The sound only heightened the Song that crooned within him, a violent harmony that urged his flight forwards.

Every step was a struggle, the soft sand giving away beneath the force of his steps—ruining his traction. Realising his advance was taking too long, he detonated another Shunt that sent a blast of sand flying behind him as he sailed towards his target.

Eyes wide with the thrill of his sudden movement, Kaius focused on the beast and analysed it.

Ruinbringer - Level 246:

Beast, Elite, Ambusher

He hissed as he saw that the creature was an elite—he knew that the fact they had travelled so far without seeing any depthsborn had to have a hidden cost. Rotten roots, it was just their gods’ scorned luck that the biome they entered was populated by elites, and ambushers at that.

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Thank the fates they had managed to sense the thing, because there was no doubt in their mind that they would have already lost someone if they hadn’t. Even the thought of it flushed his cheeks with scorching fury.

The beast let out another chittering roar as Porkchop blocked a sudden snap of its claws with his greatshield and lunged in to sink his fangs into the base of the natural weapon. Daggers of jade popped into existence a moment later, flanking his jaws before they shot forwards and cracked against chitin.

Natural armour held, only splintering under the force of the skill.

Kaius landed, touching the sand once again. Slashing a hand through the air, bright blue light flashed through the air in conjunction with the signature thunderous boom of his Stormlash. Lightning bound the scorpion, its body seizing.

Porkchop used the moment to hammer its still weakened claw again, while Kaius cast Slip Step and lurched forwards. Energy coated his blade, empowered by both his Rend and his Bladerite.

“Ianmus only needs five minutes!” Porkchop suddenly called in his mind, grunting as its tail struck him in a staccato flurry. Cracks resounded, his brother grunting as thin fissures spiderwebbed their way through the handspan thick jade plates that made up his armour.

Kaius kept his focus locked on his target, blanching at the fury of the scorpion's assault. Still, he felt the slightest tension loosen in his shoulders all the same. They hadn’t lost him. Ianmus was still alive.

When a snapping pincer scythed towards him, he lurched to the side—only for the claw to jerk, catching the edge of his waist. White fire ignited as sharpened chitin cut through his Rare scale like it was made of butter, blood spilling in a wave as his flesh separated.

Feeling heat drench his side and his muscles writhe with regenerative force, Kaius kept moving. He flowed out of his inside guard in a slamming hack—aiming for one of the splintering cracks that were slowly healing on the ruinbringer’s thorax.

His wound might have been almost as bad as the one Ianmus had suffered, but he was a frontliner with the skills to withstand and recover from far worse—he had a beast to kill. He could survive being a little slow until it healed.

“Thank the gods, but the fight isn’t over yet!” he called back to his brother, teeth bared in a bloody grin.

Doom flared in his mind—cold dread threading up his spine as Uncanny Dodge screamed a warning. He moved without thought, abandoning his attack as he ignored the pain in his side to dig his feet deep into the soft ground—it brought him to a halt just in time.

The ruinbringer’s tail pulsed, rearing back before another spike flew straight for Porkchop. An eye blink later another grew from its tip. It fired straight at Kaius’s chest, its tail snapping back and lancing forwards once again.

Kaius blanched and swept his sword up, blade held at an angle to cover as much of his profile as possible. Even with all of his inflated stats, he only just managed to intercept the attack in time, his sword’s honed edge barely biting into the hardened bone-like chitin of the stinger. Muscles burned as he forced his blade upwards, a hoarse yell forced out from behind his clenched teeth.

Gossamer-thin arcane wire howled its instability to the world, detonating a moment later. Caustic power flooded the creature's tail as the explosion forced the stinger upwards, aiding him in overcoming the ruinbringer’s strength.

The stinger flew over his head, and he slid back—leaving deep furrows in the desert.

He had to blind it! If it couldn’t aim its spines, they would all be far safer.

Screaming a warcry to the world, he broke the bind and slipped a hand free from his sword grip. Straight and true, he shot a Nail straight at the glinting facets of the ruinbringer’s eyes. The air cracked as his spell flew, ichor squirting as the spike of twisted steel wedged itself halfway into the beast’s head.

A moment later, the spell unravelled into twisted spikes and forced open the cracked carapace with a wet crack.

Hungry satisfaction buoyed his spirits, the scorpion’s sudden screech of frustration and pain widening his grin.

Before Kaius could lunge in to press the opening, he was beaten to the punch. Howling as it tore through the air, Kenva’s lance of hardened mana shot past his shoulder to sink deep into the wound he had opened on the ruinbringer’s face.

Ichor and innards blew back from the wound as the arrow shattered into a spray of deadly shards that pulped its flesh, but the beast seemed only enraged by the injury that would have slain a lesser creature. Kaius frowned—it was a tough bastard, he’d give it that.

Hissing in fury, it lunged forwards—claws clicking as it reached out to snatch him.

Porkchop interposed himself in front of the ruinbringer, an arm covered in jagged crystal slamming away the attack. Energy surged through his brother, Jade Crash empowering itself from the absorbed blow, before Porkchop smashed down on the pincer with a rumbling growl.

Seemingly uncaring of its ruined vision, the beast turned on his brother. Its tail lanced out to stab at his face. Kaius’s eyes widened as he saw Porkchop duck and slide his greatshield through the air to block. Twisted metal screamed. The spiked tip of its tail punched a full stride through the slab of steel, chipping the jade that covered his brother’s back.

The tail. They needed to take out the tail.

“Kenva! Follow my shot!”

He didn’t wait to see her response, not with how dangerous it was taking his eyes off their enemy. Besides, he knew that she would do what she must.

Just ahead of him, Porkchop read his intentions through their bond and let loose the cacophonous howl of his Bulwark’s Challenge, forcibly ripping the ruinbringer’s attention towards him.

Not knowing how long the skill would last, Kaius attacked. Nail after Nail flew from his outstretched hand as he ran sideways to flank the creature. Orange sparks fell from his glyph like typhoon rain, showering the earth with the evidence of his violent intent.

The first spell slammed home with a crack and spurt of ichor, sinking into the base of its working tail. After four landed, he switched targets—noticing that its other stinger was slowly healing from the initial hole that Kenva had torn through it. Two more Nails sunk into the thin strips of flesh that held it in place.

Intent on keeping up his tempo, Kaius switched to Stormlash and smote the scorpion—storm mana ravaging it from the inside out as the sudden pulse of reverberant force from Resonance Amplification caused more ichor to gush from its wounds.

Hateful Nails bloomed, tearing open carapace and spreading more of the bitter scent of ichor through the air. One tail fell free to spasm uncontrollably in the sand, his spell enough to destroy the scraps of tissue holding it in place.

Waiting for the moment, Kenva attacked—an oversized arrow imbued by the distinctive shimmer of her charged Horizon’s Lance spearing through the tattered wounds left by his Nails.

Its final tail spasmed, falling to the ground in a spray of ichor.

Kaius smiled, wide and hungry. The scorpion was unable to launch its spines. His backline was safe—now he could fight without fear.

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