Runeblade

B2 Chapter 172: The First Job pt. 3

Driven by its rudimentary instincts, the massive assassin spider dropped its illusion and pounced forward. It hit the road at a dead sprint, seven remaining legs moving with mechanical precision as it tried to remove the threat that had injured it so.

With the spider revealed, Porkchop stared at the approaching beast with disgust.

“Mother of Matriarchs, it’s fucking hideous!” he growled, claws digging deep into the earth as he readied himself to meet its charge.

Laughing at his brother's reaction to the manic scramble of the assassin spider, Kaius risked a quick look back to check on Ianmus. The mage was bent over, panting, but seemed far more stable than he had been after his use of his free cast beam against the bramble ball.

Their plan for him to hold some mana in reserve had worked. That was good, they’d need his assistance for the coming battle.

Ianmus downed one of the mana potions that he had given him, grimacing at the taste. A moment later he took a deep breath and met Kaius’s eyes, giving him a nod.

Returning the gesture, Kaius flourished his blade and refocused on the oncoming threat. Even down one leg, the assassin spider was fast, having closed enough of the distance that he could hear the mad chitter of its fangs clacking together.

“Ready?” he asked, keeping his left hand free to cast.

“Ready.” Porkchop confirmed, bracing himself even more as powerful muscles rippled while he locked his claws into the earth.

As the assassin spider got within fifty strides of their formation, Kaius watched his brother tense, and felt his will shift through their bond as he activated his skill. A wave of rippling vitality coursed through Porkchop as he slammed his front claws deeper into the earth.

In that same moment, a wall of raw jade erupted behind the sprinting assassin spider. Jagged and imposing, it glimmered in the shining sun as it shattered the earth in its passage. The slab of crystal—a full head taller than Kaius and half that again wide—rocketed through the earth, shedding a trail of cracked stone and pluming dust in its passing as it moved to Porkchop’s will.

Right towards the back of the pony-sized spider.

Kaius watched the very moment it realised something was approaching. It hissed in surprise, trying to lurch to the left. Yet, for all of its speed, the beast was too slow to dodge. Hardened crystal met empowered chitin with a crack, and the assassin spider fell into an uncontrolled stumble.

That was his cue.

Kaius tapped into the roiling power stored in his glyph, the thin whine of arcing lightning joined with the acrid bite of ozone and searing light.

Kicking off, Kaius dashed to the right of his brother and whipped his Stormlash towards the hissing tangle of chitinous legs and dripping fangs.

Lightning arced through the air, following the guidance of Kaius’s will to bind itself to the approaching spider. Thunder cracked the sky. Its deafening thump kicked him in the chest and set his heart aflutter with the rush of glorious battle.

Fine hairs on the creature's body burned in the path of his arcane might, electrical mana and potent reverberations wreaking havoc its internals. Vital fluid steamed from the gaps in the spider's carapace, squealing like a teapot.

It seized.

Just barely—with its levels and power Stormlash wasn’t quite enough to completely incapacitate it. It was enough. Already struggling to keep its many legs beneath it as Porkchop’s Prismatic Shardwall forced it forwards, it collapsed. His brother’s skill did the rest.

His brother tapped into his amulet and charged. In a single instant, Porkchop went from a standstill to an explosive advance as he hauled on his deep grip of the earth. A boulder of flesh and jade smashed into the spider, squeezing it between Porkchop’s assault and his immovable Shardwall.

Chitin cracked, oozing ichor. Despite the titanic forces involved, the assassin spider reacted instantly. Letting out a chitter, it lunged for Porkchop with fangs that oozed a viscous fluid. Kaius watched his brother roll his shoulders smoothly, the bite clacking against a hard plate of jade before Porkchop snapped his head to sink his jaws around the nearest available spider leg.

There was a sickening crack, and Porkchop brawled on. With furor and primal potency he occupied the spider's attention, weathering spearing stabs from its leg and poisonous bites. Most ricocheted off his brother’s armour.

But not all.

For every five blows that Porkchop shifted, taking on his heavy plate, another slipped past his defence. His under-armour did much to blunt the concussive force, but it was only of middling help against the assassin spider's needle-like tips of its legs. After-all, it was padding designed to absorb shock rather than deflect a piercing point. Thankfully, he’d been able to avoid any bites. The spider’s fangs dripped with venom, and Porkchop had taken more than one stabbing strike of its legs in order to deflect a bite with a stone armour plate.

While his brother held the spider occupied, Kaius did not wait idle. Another searing flash blanketed the woods as he summoned another Stormlash; cooking the monstrous spider from within, and stunning it for just barely a fraction of a moment.

**Ding! Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 21!**

Enough time for Porkchop to react to another biting strike, poison glistening on the surface of his armour.

Nor was Ianmus resting on his laurels, even if he had more than earned a moment of respite due to the potency of his overwhelming first-strike.

Kaius kicked off the ground, his surroundings blurring with his sudden acceleration. He felt the invigorating rush of Ianmus’s skill settling over him like a mantle.

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

Solar majesty ignited the furnace within, fueling even greater feats of physicality. Kaius raced on, moving into a position known to him only through the free flow of Porkchop’s intent that streamed across their bond.

Porkchop roared, smashing the spider to the side with a terrible swipe of his claws. Empowered by mana and hardened even further, chitin crunched, and the assassin spider lurched to the side. Without a moment of hesitation, he smoothly punched a blurring claw into the earth. Jade erupted from the ground with a deafening boom, cracking the spider in its mandibles.

Squealing through the earth, the Prismatic Shardwall slammed bodily into the spider, shunting it back.

Right into Kaius’s waiting arms.

It was a symphony of violence. Planting his lead foot, he pirouetted, leading with his off hand. Lightning burst into existence with the might of nature’s scorn, lashing the monstrosity.

A Father’s Gift trailed close behind, burning with internal fire as his Bladerite ignited the runes held within its glassy fuller. Driving his weight though a pivot of his hips, he slashed.

The empowered edge of his blade met the chitin of the Elite assassin spider. Common or not, his was a bound weapon—empowered by a Unique skill—and would not be denied. Ichor sprayed like a fountain as one of the spider's limbs was split nearly in twain, coating his shining scales in ochre treacle.

**Ding! Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite has reached level 8!**

**Ding! Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite has reached level 9!**

**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 29!**

Kaius wasn’t done, not by a long shot. He rolled through the momentum of his swing, transferring his weight as he braced with legs of oak and a core of steel.

His three-fingered hand swung up towards the spider, nearly brushing the ground. A crackling bolt extended and bent through the air, directed by his will to lash the spider’s thorax. More ichor steamed from the rents in the spider’s armour, internals roiling against the power of his magic.

Slapping his off-hand back on his blade, he reversed his carried through swing. There was no leverage, no smooth economy of motion. He didn’t need it. Brute force and his vambrace of Varkhossian Deflection was more than enough.

Tapping into his vambraces filled him with the stored power of a meles’ casual fury, and his blade ripped back through the leg he had half shattered, severing it cleanly and carrying through to score its thorax heavily.

**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 30!**

Quickly shaking off its fugue from the sheer intensity of their combined assault, the assassin spider squealed. It was a shrill sound, one that communicated the sheer hatred it felt at their assault despite its alien nature.

Remaining needle-like legs dug into the ground, and the spider lunged with mandibles outstretched. Right for Kaius.

He dove, but there was no need, for his brother was already there. Porkchop tackled the spider, only for its fangs to finally find purchase between his armoured plates. Hollow daggers quivered, and viscous fluid pumped deep into his brother’s body.

The poison did nothing to stop his brother’s charge, nor his prodigious weight that he brought to bear with deft ease. The assassin spider was knocked back, stumbling as it was forced to give ground.

Porkchop still howled, pain clawing its way free of his throat as the venom coursed through his veins. Seizing from the affliction, Porkchop’s right front leg gave way and he stumbled, giving their monstrous foe a prime shot as his poorly defended flank.

Heart quickening as a chill dread shot down his spine, Kaius leapt to his brother’s defence with a cry on his lips.

He moved, covering ground like he never had before.

**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 30!**

Light beams snapped overhead, Ianmus reacting as fast as he could. The duo of searing lances each devastated one of the spider's eyes. Unfortunately, it was far less hampered than a normal beast would have been, six more remaining to watch them with calculating disdain.

One leg speared forwards, sinking deep into Porkchop’s less armoured flank. Thick crimson welled from the wound, staining leather under-armour and chitin alike. The assassin spider reared back, mandibles wavering with glee as it prepared to lunge.

Another two Stormlashs gave it pause, overloading its nervous system for a bare moment and cooking it from within.

It was all the time Kaius needed. Arriving at the beast with blade held in a low-guard, he swung upwards and pivoted into a stab. Right into its poorly armoured abdomen.

Runes shone with the fire of his Bladerite, and he ripped his sword to the left.

A great rent opened in the fleshy sack of the spider's rear, brown goo flowing forth in a deluge. The spider squealed, doom flaring within him as two of its spear-like legs rose off the ground to harry him with a pair of stabs. Silver and grey blurred, his blade smashing aside one leg as he spun around the other.

**Ding! Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite has reached level 10!**

**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 37!**

Doom flared once more. The spider turned to face him, Porkchop mewling as its leg that pierced him shifted within his body.

Heart thundering in his chest, Kaius kicked off the ground, moving to create distance as he tried to ward off the coming attack with another Stormlash, whipping the bolt overhead to strike the spider directly on its face.

**Ding! Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 22!**

Uncaring of the oncoming attack, nor the bolt of light that popped another of its eyes, the assassin spider remained totally focused on him. Sacks normally hidden behind its mandible swelled to the size of a waterskin. A skill, Kaius realised. A moment too late.

The sacs collapsed in on themselves, and a gout of viscous fluid squirted from each of its fangs in a high pressure stream.

Squirting streams of venom covered the distance separating him from the spider in an instant. Crossing the air, the viscous fluid became a thick spray, far too wide for him to dodge effectively.

Kaius did the only thing he could do. He turned, scrunching his eyes shut and snapping his mouth closed.

It wasn’t enough. The venom covered him utterly, worming its way through the gaps in his armour to saturate his padded clothing beneath. As soon as it touched his skin a stinging burn ignited, feverish welts covering his body as his back boiled.

Moments later he felt the venom sink in, seeping into his body with supernatural swiftness.

**Ding! You have been afflicted by Venom: Wracking Weakness**

Muscles wasted beneath its onslaught, contracting uncontrollably as the venom started to dissolve the very structures of his body.

Gasping at the sudden agony of it all, Kaius’s head snapped up as his back seized, much like his brother’s had. It felt like leaden weights had been attached to his limbs, the assassin spider's skill attacking his musculature.

“Kaius!” he heard Ianmus call, panicked.

Doom flared, and he forced himself to move, diving to the side just before a spear tipped leg lanced right through where he had been standing a moment before. With every second he could feel Rapid Adaptation working. Not only had it lessened the immediate effects of the venom, it burned it from his system. A purging inquisition that raged through his body, hunting down unwanted outsiders with extreme prejudice.

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 26!**

Oh, he was slowed, and the acid like tendrils of venom were agony, but he wasn’t out of the fight yet.

“Heal Porkchop when he’s free!” Kaius called back, sparing their backline no more of his attention.

Flashing steel smashed aside a flurry of probing spikes, before he smote the spider with Stormlash once more. Each and every one of the spells seemed to be affecting the spider more as storm mana and penetrating vibrations were directed through its armoured carapace, destroying it from within.

It seized.

Enough time for Porkchop to finally react. His brother cared not for the pain, nor the deleterious effects of the venom coursing through his system. Pushing himself to his feet, Porkchop forced the spider’s leg deeper into his body.

It punched through. Its off-white spearpoint dripped with his blood as it erupted from his stomach. Roaring a challenge, Porkchop snapped his head up to grab the leg that had him pinned in his jaws.

Right by the joint. It creaked, then he smashed it with jade claws. It shattered.

Kaius was already moving, fighting through the forced sedation and damage to his internals. The venom had already stalled, slowly being forced back as his health kept the damage at bay.

Another Stormlash kept the spider pinned, making it squeal as it backed away from him. Three launching strides carried him through the air. Landing at his brother’s side he kicked backwards off his shoulder, grabbing hold of the shattered spider's limb that still speared Porkchop through his torso.

In a single smooth motion he wrenched it free, tossing it to the side. He landed next to his brother, both hands on his blade.

Moments later the revitalising energy of the sun surrounded Porkchop with a golden aura, sinking into his body. The sopping wound in his torso sealed itself quickly—his regeneration skill doing its work. He rolled his shoulders with a low growl, staring down the spider.

Kaius watched it closely as it chittered, lunging forwards only to skitter back a moment later. It was poorly and battleworn, the remnants of its torn limbs wiggling ineffectively with the movement. Barely healed wounds covered its body, sticky ichor and burnt hair making it even more of an offensive sight to his eyes than it had been at the start.

The weakness. He could smell it. Another obstacle destined to fall beneath his ceaseless march.

Somewhere deep within him a pillar began to keen.