B3 CHAPTER 312: ROOTS, FINALE

Kaius stared at the field of pallid tendrils waving through the air, standing at the threshold to the cavern. They looked disgusting. It was perhaps a little ridiculous that he was more unsettled by their demeanour and form than the deadly danger of their venom. In his defence, they looked like someone had wacked an insectile beak at the end of a shrivelled tube of skin.

Taking a critical eye, he planned his approach. They were spread evenly through the cavern, but he knew from the last worm that they could strike at targets at least two longstrides away. It looked like no matter where he was, there would always be at least two close enough to attack him.

Hateful Nail was an option to thin the herd, but he only had a handful of casts of it left — they were better saved for beasts that he couldn’t cleave in a single slash. Besides — a close quarters battle would be perfect for training his more physical skills.

Mystic Rend in particular would come in handy. After crossing past level one-hundred in his last battle with the kolnir, it could support three strikes before the imbued arcane energy would disperse.

Not to mention, its blast had grown…forceful. While it was only marginally larger than it had first been, each detonation was several times more potent than it had been before. More than enough to pulp worm-flesh.

A wave of solar magic splashed against his back. Vigour rushed through him, bolstering his physicality so that he could better match the worm's blinding speed.

Porkchop layered the enhancement with his totem, the jade pillar erupting right next to the cavern’s entrance.

**Ding! You have been Enhanced: Sundrenched Strength!**

**Ding! You have been Enhanced: Totem of the Glade!**

With nothing left to wait on, Kaius brought his sword into mid guard and stepped into the cavern.

He approached the closest worms, the world tightening until all that mattered was the battle in front of him. Everything at his disposal was tuned to the coming conflict.

Mystic’s Rend pulled on his free mana, a thin whine filling the cavern as a flickering wire of energy surrounded his blade.

The first worm struck suddenly. One moment it was undulating lazily, the next it was stabbing straight for his chest as he moved a handspan forward.

Instinct and training saved his life. Wrenching his blade up into a parry, he caught the worm right behind its head — barely a handspan before it pumped him full of toxic venom. Mystic’s Rend tore through its fragile flesh, purple viscera flying upwards.

Still wiggling, the worm’s beak slapped against his cuirass, falling to the floor. Without the power generated by its body, it was helpless against his armour. In all honesty, it felt like a light punch.

An arrow splattered it a moment later.

**Ding! level 247 Pale Rootborer - Envenomed Parasite slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**

…

**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached level 142 143!**

**+3 End, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

Kaius ignored the chimes of his level rising, focusing on the confirmation of the worm’s death.

Eying the next closest worm only a handful of strides away, Kaius took a step back. Regardless of his lack of injury, that had been close — if he’d been a heartbeat slower, he would have already been envenomed.

“What are ya, scared! I’ve seen weasels with more guts than you!” Porkchop lightheartedly teased, though he couldn’t hide the undercurrent of agony that crossed their bond.

The heckling was followed with a hacking chortle. Kaius rolled his eyes, but moved in all the same — even if taking the worms out one by one was the safest option, he knew they would need to push if they wanted to reach the second tier by their self imposed deadline.

There were a lot of skills to cap between now and then, after all.

Sensing his motion — somehow — two more worms snapped towards him as soon as he came in range. His heart lurched as he slipped to the side. The dodge pulled him out of range of the leftmost rootborer, its body straining towards him at full extension. The other slid past his chest — only to flop to the ground as he snapped his blade down in a wicked hack.

Before he could move to engage the first worm, Kenva loosed a shot directly at it.

It contorted at the last moment, the projectile shattering harmlessly into the dirt behind it.

“What in the hells?” Kenva called out, finishing the worm he had severed a moment later.

**Ding! level 247 Pale Rootborer - Envenomed Parasite slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**

…

**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached level 144 145!**

**+3 End, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

Kaius mirrored her confusion, backing off. They were fast bastards, but how had it sensed Kenva’s shot? Everything pointed to them ‘seeing’ based on vibration or something similar. For them to not only feel the passage of her arrow, but also react fast enough to avoid it? That was insane!

“Take another shot at one towards the back!” he called, keeping his eyes trained closely on the worms.

Another arrow soared towards the rear of the cavern — almost too fast for him to track.

Just like the last shot, the worm continued to drift in place uncarring of the incoming attack — until the very last moment, where it snapped to the side, bending a section of its body out of the way.

Kaius frowned. He’d managed to hit two of them just fine. What could possibly be different?

“Focus on the ones I sever for now — I'm going to test a few things!”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

He dashed in. UncannyDodge gave him a warning the barest of moments before the worm struck. The premonition came with a burst of energy that made it almost easy to spin on his front foot.

Tempted as he was, he didn’t cut the worm mid strike. He waited — spinning his head to bring his blade down the moment after it had reached full extension.

The rootborer snapped

to the side, too fast for him to correct his strike. The second his sword sailed past, it folded over itself to launch its beak straight at his chest once more.

Its speed was enough for him to break out in a cold sweat — even with his hefty physical stats, there was no way he’d be able to keep up.

Kaius leapt back, the worm stretching itself taut as it strained to reach him. Sweeping his sword up from a low guard, he tried to slice through its fleshy body.

Again it danced away, wavering out of reach as it waited for him to re-enter its range.

Still…Zone of Discombobulation had to be working, he was sure of it. While its speed was untouched, both this and the previous worm reacted just a hair slower than the one that had envenomed Porkchop.

It wasn’t much, but he would take every edge he could get. He could only hope the confusion the spell induced might be enough to bait the worms into attacking each other once he really got into the thick of things.

Regardless, he was sure of one thing — it seemed that once the creatures had committed to striking, they were locked into the motion until they had finished.

“Shoot the ones that look like they’re about to bite me! They can’t dodge when they attack.”

As soon as he heard Kenva’s grunt of acceptance, he lunged in — activating both of his sword Skills. Sliding around the rootborer’s sudden reprisal, he severed it while it was locked in. Ichor hosed from its contorting body, soaking through his armour and into his gambeson.

Oh, he had them now! Feeling the limber strength of his body, he raced through the room, clearing it of threats. At first, he danced at the edges, only facing the worms in ones or twos. Then, when he got a handle on that, any and all that came within his reach.

It was hard — tough. Against more than one, his openings to retaliate to their strikes were limited. It was only the screamed warnings of Uncanny Dodge and its frankly obscene boosts to his flexibility and speed while evading that kept him breathing. Beaks slid past him by a hair's breadth as he bent and twisted. More than a few still sparked as they glanced off his armour, each hit making him break out in a cold sweat. Glancing blow or not, it felt like getting kicked by a mule — his ribs creaking and flooding his chest with a deep ache.

Soft their bodies might have been, but they could clearly generate plenty of power.

More and more blood drenched him, each worm seemingly filled with more high-pressure viscera than their bodies should be able to contain. Every few moments an arrow landed near him. Most often they culled the beasts he had already severed, but several times a well placed shot cut a rootborer out of the air — saving him from a blow that would have otherwise landed.

Chime after chime sounded in his mind as the slaughter continued — a tempo that matched the rhythmic bursts of his Rend.

With every level, he grew faster, stronger, and more easily able to match the pace of the striking rootborers.

He pushed deeper, surrounding himself in a tangled mass of bodies.

At first it was almost imperceptible, but gradually, more and more, he felt The Struggler’s Madness take hold. Fire ignited in his marrow, seeping deep into his flesh as he was forced to the limits of his ability.

It didn’t make him stronger, nor did it make him faster — it was a simple guidance. First, most visible with Tempered by Dissonance. Even though the skill filled him with instincts, and bolstered his abilities, he wasn’t always best able to leverage them in the moment.

That changed. Slowly, almost imperceptibly slightly, but it was changing. He angled his shoulder just a little more, allowing the weight of the rootboorer’s blow to spin him. That motion in turn was carried through a twist of his hips, bringing him under the strike of another.

He could feel it in his blade work — the way Liturgical Bladeform

chimed just a little more often.

It was sublime! A feeling of physical superiority that left him grinning wildly, despite the bitter ichor that made its way into his mouth.

It didn’t last. After slaughtering his way through half of the cavern, he made his first mistake. An unusually dense patch of worms. He severed one, slipping down and around two more — and in doing so presented the remainder with his back.

“Kaius!”

He heard the scream, felt the danger UncannyDodge screamed in his mind. Both came too late.

Something sharp and hard smashed into the back of his ribs— punching straight through his armour and crushing the flesh and bone beneath.

Caustic agony spurted into the wound.

**Ding! You have been afflicted by Greenhell Necrosis - Venom**

An arrow slammed into the creature's beak, slaying it outright and ripping the remnants from his back — he still gasped, stumbling forwards.

Right into the range of the other worms.

He shoved the pain down. Ignored the way his flesh started to curdle and rot. There was no time to aim a spell. The worms were fast enough to catch him even if he used a Shunt.

He cut.

Two more spurting beaks fell to the earth. The third speared deep into his thigh, releasing its own deadly payload.

Kaius hacked off its head, leaping back as he ripped its still-squirming corpse out of his leg.

He breathed heavy, the cries of his team sounding distant and far. More chimes lay forgotten as arrows finished off the worm's remnants.

Rapid Adaptation surged.

It had always been strong — a legacy Heroic Skill that was the jewel of Unterstern. Even when he lacked a class, it had saved him many times over — proven its worth.

Now it was capped, it shone as bright as the sun.

A wildfire of energy exploded from the Skill shard that orbited around his soul, tearing through his body to descend on the vicious toxin that tried to melt his flesh.

The affliction was potent, he’d give it that. It hurt worse than even having salt rubbed into his degloved and filited leg. It had even managed to down his brother — a greater beast with twice his already prodigious Vitality.

Corralled and burned, the venom only managed to slow his healing. Granted, it was enough that the wounds would take five times the Health to recover from, but that was it. A few burning holes in his flesh wouldn’t slow him — not with Tempered by Dissonance and Lesser Regeneration.

Kaius grinned.

“I bloody well told you he’d be fine! He’s embarrassed, but his mother was a troll — it’s where he gets his stature. And his looks.”

His smile turned into a wild laugh, and he ran straight back in.