Runeblade

B2 Chapter 173: The First Job, Finale

The assassin spider watched them from a wary distance, lurching back and forth on its five remaining legs. Ichor coated it utterly, newly fused chitin and scorched ash showing the remnants of their assault. Stubbed limbs wiggled with a furor, the beast still instinctively trying to use them in unison with its remaining limbs.

Glistening compound eyes stared at them with malevolence. Watching.

Waiting.

The moment stretched as they evaluated each other, watching for a moment of distraction or weakness.

Kaius knew that it wasn’t over, not by a long shot. With all its low-born intelligence and base instinct, this was a killer. An apex predator. Shadow drenched rogue or not, it would not take their challenge lying down.

He didn’t want it to.

Oh, they were battered and bruised. Venom still coursed through his veins, sapping at his energy and destroying him from within. Blood still poured from the hole their enemy had torn straight through his brother, pooling on the hard packed dirt like liquid ruby.

It only heightened his delight. His conviction.

His adamant-bound certainty that they would win. That this was merely another step on his journey. Wounds that would have killed them with a certainty mere months ago now barely slowed them, their endurance enabling them to persevere even as their skill empowered health boiled to seal their wounds.

The spider was tough, and strong. But it wasn’t enough to stop him. Eventually, nothing would be. His destiny lay at the pinnacle.

Every broken bone, pint of blood, and stride of rent flesh was in service of that. A slow and painful climb, but one that never stopped, and never retreated.

The spider was an obstacle. Its destiny was to be consumed, refined, and used to lay a block on his foundation that would one day tower to the heavens.

Every wound, every drop of blood spilled, only refined him. Made him sharper, tougher, and more enduring. If need be, he would hammer on the barriers to his ascension with mangled stumps until they shattered and then use the bloodsoaked shards to pave his way forward.

Mentis called out in delight, and he knew it to be truth.

The resonance inflamed the Blood Song within him, drowning out the feverish battle of Rapid Adaptation and the venom within him. It met the resonance in a symphony, backed by the staccato percussion of his pounding heart and the heavy rush of his lungs pulling at the iron-scented air with jealousy.

A lesser man might have pulled back from the rush of pure vital focus and joy that came from the Song. He did not, and nor did his brother.

Porkchop’s own song thrummed across their bond. The vibrant fuel of battle surging within him. The need to feel chitin crushed beneath his claws, ichor spraying to coat him wholesale. There was a depth of primal violence there, directed and constrained by a mind that bent raw aggression towards his own ends.

A bloody, satisfied grin split his face. Pondering upon the cry of his pillar could wait, now it was time to focus on the coming bloodshed.

The moment ended as the assassin spider broke first, and their battle restarted in earnest.

A chittering cry roiled from deep within the spider, sounding like the grinding crush of rocks being rubbed together. Ominous, and filled with fury.

Sacs beneath its mandibles swelled once more as it reared back, quickly followed by two streams of venom that sprayed out in a thick cone.

Porkchop was ready, as soon as their opponent had so much as twitched, he was already plunging his claws downwards, stamina flooding his body.

A wall of jade erupted, spat venom splashing harmlessly over its pure surface. The wall rocketed out, pressuring the spider.

Kaius raced in as light beams split the sky once more, Ianmus having repositioned to land his shots perfectly—searing the still open wounds in the creature's carapace to slow its healing. Rounding the wall, he caught sight of it once more as it lurched sideways to dodge Porkchop’s sudden attack.

Starting slightly, he saw it…twist, blurring slightly as mana started to glow from within. His eyes ached for a moment and his head throbbed, but only that, and the spider appeared clear once more in his vision.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 38!**

“Kaius! It split in three!” Porkchop called, frustrated rumbles echoing across the road.

An illusion, he realised. One that hadn’t affected him. “I see it.” he responded, a feral glee welling up within him.

The assassin spider charged, sure in its obfuscation. Utterly certain in its primitive mind that he had fallen under its spell, it made no attempt at discretion, racing directly for him with its fangs writhing through the air.

Kaius raced in uncaring. At the final moment, right when the spider was poised to skewer him through the chest, he moved.

The air screamed as it was torn by the speed of his slashes, blurring blade smashing aside the thrust with ease. He stepped in, lightning streaming from his hand, scouring his opponent from within. Bending at the waist to slip past a lunging bite, he tapped into his Bladerite, sword lighting with internal fire.

A smooth step to the side, and he returned to a two-handed grip as he snapped into a high guard and hacked at the spider's grotesque face.

It lurched, just barely managing to move one foreleg into the way of his assault, chitin crunched as he cut his way halfway through.

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Squeels resounded, furious and pained.

Thrashing, the spider fell into a barely controlled storm of stabbing limbs and gnashing bites. The wound on its leg bubbled, healing enough to take its weight—though he still saw the chinks in its armour.

Kaius’s heart quickened, black and grey blurring through the air as he hammered blows aside, leveraging all of his skill and strength to transfer his weight and momentum into a tight dance of parries.

Step by step he was forced back.

**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 38!**.

Each blow carried the weight of a mountain, his blade ringing like a struck bell as his opponent hammered his guard. With every peel, his blade jumped in his hand from the force of the collisions, forcing him to tighten his grip. Not for the first time, he cursed the siege ogre for taking his fingers.

Worse, he couldn’t block everything. It was his single sword against a flurry of stabbing limbs and a hungry maw. Kaius saved himself from the worst, but for every three attacks he turned away, one found him out of position. He was too slow.

Steel-hard chitin punched through his armour effortlessly, lances of agony blooming as they tore through his flesh, lacerating his muscles as if they were softly woven cloth. Burning health did what it could, his flesh roiling as it worked to heal the grievous wounds, but he was flagging. Slowed as he was by the remnants of the venom, the wounds only worsened his ability to keep up.

At least the pain was nothing, not with how familiar he was with its touch.

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 26!**

…

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 28!**

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 28!**

Burbling laughter welled up from his throat as he smashed aside yet another stabbing limb, before just barely slipping away from a venom soaked bite. A dozen weeping wounds soaked the cloth and leather of his travelling clothes, a creeping warmth of sticky lifeblood binding them tight to his skin.

He was utterly outmatched. If he let go of his blade for even a single second, the next blow would send his sword spinning from his grip, he could just barely hold on even as it was. His only saving grace was that the furious assault had charged his vambraces once more.

Without his magic, he couldn’t keep the pressure up, letting the monstrously powerful beast bring its inflated physicality to bear against him. With so much pressure on him, he couldn’t even safely empower an attack.

Alone, he would die.

But he wasn’t alone.

A wall of jade slammed into the spider's side, yanking it to the left. Porkchop dove on the assassin spider, stride long claws punching deep into its poorly defended abdomen. Ichor and guts fountained, staining jade a sickly yellow.

“Took you long enough!” he pushed through the bond with his brother, sighing in relief as his empowered healing finally had the time to start properly sealing the wounds he had accumulated while keeping the spider occupied.

“Not my fault! The illusions still hurt somehow, I thought it was the real one!” Porkchop replied, even as he threw himself bodily into an oncoming bite, the spider's fangs screeching as they failed to find purchase on his armour.

Another jade wall erupted, slamming into its undercarriage with a crack. The spider jumped, and Porkchop punished the moment of weakness with a savage swipe of his claws.

Looking back to Ianmus, Kaius found the man racing in a circle, a panicked look of determination on his face.

“Take the hit! It’s an illusion!” he screamed, before turning his focus back to the real threat. It would hurt, but Ianmus had proven himself no pushover, and a few of his solar beams would be enough to destabilise the working.

Racing in, Kaius took note of his resources. A third of his health left, nearly the same for stamina, and eight charges of Stormlash left. Plenty.

He sensed it, stronger than any other time he had in this battle. An opening. A weakness.

He heaved on his sword, rolling his shoulders into a heavy overhand chop. A snarl clawed its way free of his chest as he tapped into his Bladerite. Cleaving the spiderleg he had damaged earlier, steel crushed the wicked limb, severing it cleanly.

**Ding! Explorer’s Toolkit has reached level 36!**

Destabilised by the sudden loss of a fourth limb, the spider teetered.

Smelling weakness, Porkchop launched himself at the beast as light beams seared the spider’s carapace every few moments. The forceful tackle took the beast to the ground, and Kaius saw his moment.

Leaping over a flailing limb, he rounded on its face as his blade swept up into a high-guard. As it rose, he tapped into his Bladerite once more and dropped his off hand from his grip. Blue light flashed as he bound its head in crackling storm mana, a woven cage of magic that boiled ichor and charred chitin.

Left stunned and immobile, the spider sat insensate as he gripped his blade with both hands and tapped into the stored vambrace.

The executioner's blade fell.

Chitin split, severing one mandible completely. Neural tissue and sticky fluid fell forth.

It seized, limbs flailing as deep within its primitive mind the creature sought to outrun its fate. Somehow, despite cutting halfway through its head, the spider still lived.

Kaius’s mind raced, and he found a solution.

“The legs.” he said coldly through his bond, backing up.

Porkchop felt his intent and launched himself at the nearest stabbing limb, taking a flailing strike on the shoulder as he bit down hard.

Lowering his sword, Kaius raised his hand. Thunder shuddered through the woods as another of the weapons of the Stormlord appeared in a shower of baleful orange sparks.

Sealing the spider's fate, he lashed the beast, wracking convulsions overcoming it. Another leg was torn free, Porkchop savaging its writhing form.

He waited. Just enough time for the convulsions to subside, for its health to just start to be able to seal its wounds.

Another peal of thunder. Another flash of condemning blue light.

Then another.

Another.

The hammering blows of the storm and fury continued until all of his runic charges were spent, and all that was left before him was the limbless quivering body of a shattered and broken creature.

Approaching slowly, he watched it. The way its remaining red compound eyes reflected the light, watching him in turn. Even now it was filled with hateful aggression, one remaining mandible striking ineffectively as it desperately tried to attack him.

Another step and its venom sacs swelled, emptying impotently on the road in front of it. Noxious venom pooled, welling up in its mouth parts.

It was time.

Porkchop eviscerated its abdomen, claws raking through the soft sack with a sucking squelch. At the same time, Kaius plunged his blade into its head. Each one resounded with a heavy crunch, ichor welling with a wet slop. Three stabs it took, until he finally heard the dings he had been waiting for.

**Ding! level 81 Veiled Assassin Spider - Cloaked Trapper slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**

**Ding! Significant Feat of Strength performed under Observation. You have been awarded an Honour: Ruthless Underdog II**

**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached class level 25!**

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

…

**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached class level 39!**

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