Runeblade

After they finished their food, Kaius moved on to reinscribing his runic hymns as he sat by their bags in the little laboratory adjacent to the grand hall that held the menagerie of abominations. He decided to stick with thirteen casts of Explosive Arcane Dart. It was the best fit for the ridiculous regeneration of the abominations of this biome. He was curious if fire would work as well, or better, but unfortunately while his runic training had been intensive, it had also been equally focused.

His grasp of High Lothian was good enough to do simple modifications to the shaping of Arcane Bolt, but inventing entirely new spells was a bit out of his wheelhouse. He could only hope his class would provide some solution to that. Either through a knowledge skill, or an alternative method of learning new hymns.

Without Father, he would need to pay for runic tutoring. Not only would that be ruinously expensive, but finding someone who was skilled with both High Lothian, niche spell arrays, and formation design would be hard. Let alone the fact that anyone with that sort of skill set would have approximately zero desire to take on some unknown apprentice. Sure, they probably would if he spilled the secrets of glyph binding. Unfortunately, now that he had gotten an Honour for discovering the art, he had no doubt that there would be others. Training an established runewright in its use as a trade from hymns would be as good as handing away Honours on a silver platter.

He took a last minute check of his gear, making sure that everything was buckled tight and in place. Unfortunately, their brawl with the Lover Boy had left both him and Porkchop absolutely covered in gore. Blood soaked scale was not exactly comfortable, but there was no way he intended to back track to a rest stop before they had dealt with the final Champion.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts so that he could focus on the battle ahead.

"Ready?"

"Of course." Porkchop replied.

"Good, let's do this then." Kaius said with a nod.

They set off, reentering the hall to be greeted by the still intimidating presence of the Guardian tree of flesh and bone that sat behind a warded wall of glass on the far end. He shuddered, watching the dense mesh of veins writhe across the floor of its enclosure. He was very glad that all they would have to fight was an ogre. Much more straightforward in comparison.

They pressed on, quickly approaching the far containment cell that held the feline abomination, Man Eater. Just like the last time, as soon as the cat-like creature saw them it threw itself at the glass wall of its prison, the half dozen of the bladed tentacles that sprouted from its back striking at the barrier like a scorpion's tail.

Gods it was fast.

"Getting in there is going to be a bitch." Kaius murmured, watching the way the Champion prowled at the edge of its enclosure, tracking them. "It's going to be gunning for us as soon as the door opens."

A low growl rumbled in Porkchop's chest. "It can try. I'll force it back. Give you some room to hit it with a few needles." He suggested.

Kaius nodded, and stepped forwards to open the first door of the airlock. He could feel the Man Eater watching him, holding itself still as malice bubbled just beneath the surface. "Fucking cats." Kaius murmured.

He yanked open the door, ushering Porkchop inside as he closed the door behind them. Shutting them in the airlock.

The Champion had moved, stalking forwards to wait a few paces away from the entrance to the enclosure.

"Be fucking ready, Porkchop. Those tentacles look vicious." Kaius said, his heart rate rising in tandem with his aggression.

Porkchop simply growled, bracing himself by the door.

He drew his sword, leaning over his friend to spin the wheel that held the steel door locked. He leaned back, letting momentum and well oiled mechanisms slowly retracted the bolt.

With every clack of the lock, Kaius felt his tension ratchet higher. Round and round the wheel span, until it slammed home with a thunk of finality.

Porkchop roared, throwing his weight into the door, forcing it open. The Man Eater yowled, pouncing towards his friend. They met with a slam, Porkchop using his heavier weight and stocky build to push the creature back. It wasn't easy, the bone tipped sinews that burst from its back striking like vipers as they plunged their dagger-like blades into Porkchop's back again and again.

Kaius was already moving, barreling out of snapping off two arcane needles as he ran out of the airlock. The Man Eater reacted, noticing his assault instantly as it leapt back, flying through the air to land a full ten strides deeper into the room. It hissed, tentacles fanning out to vibrate in an impressive threat display.

Porkchop coughed, blood splattering on the floor.

What a great fucking start. Kaius watched the cat as his spells impacted the far stone wall, biding his time. A moment later they detonated, showering the room with shrapnel. The Champion jolted, head whipping back to investigate the source of the noise.

It was the moment he was waiting for.

**Ding! Explorer's Toolkit has reached level 18!**

Gesturing towards the Champion, golden light spilled out from underneath his vambrace as he shot off another needle. It saw the light, leaping out of the way of his assault. This time staying focused through the sound of his spell exploding behind it.

"Fuck!" He called out. "It's too fast. We need to corner it."

"Then help me press the damn thing!" Porkchop said, rushing towards the abomination.

Kaius growled and chased after him, sword held in a flexible mid-guard. He eyed the flailing tentacles on its back. They were ruthless, and no doubt would be almost impossible to fully parry. They needed to come off.

The Champion hissed, slowly backing away from them. Retreating into the corner. Then it flickered, blurring for a moment in a surge of mana, only for two ghostly clones to appear next to it.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 16!**

As soon as Porkchop started to rapidly look between the ghostly copies in frustration, Kaius realised that he had seen through its deception. Something that it had no way of knowing.

"It's on the left, but pretend it's on the right!" He called, his voice shaking as he faked a frantic tone. "I'm going to bait it!"

Porkchop immediately focused on the right most illusion of the Champion, raising his hackles and letting out a deep growl as he slowly approached. Kaius raised his hand, aiming for the same fake, letting a faint tremor shudder through the limb.

Like all cats, it reacted predictably. Faced with a choice between a pissed off greater beast, and a man that looked like it was quaking in its boots? It chose to take out the weakest link.

All three howled, the beasts illusory doubles racing towards Porkchop, while the real Man Eater pounced.

Kaius grinned. "Gotcha." he said with vicious glee, pivoting on his lead foot as soon as it left the ground. Burning motes poured out of his hand as he unloaded spell after spell towards the beast. It was moving too fast to aim carefully, so he substituted with volume, firing all but one of his remaining needles towards it.

It flailed, trying to evade.

"Can't dodge in the air, fucker." Kaius thought, grinning widely.

Most of his shots went wide, but the Champion's flailing led to a full four needles peppering its flank. Then they detonated, and Kaius was treated to a blast of pulped muscle and blood as ragged holes were torn through the beast. Not enough to put it down, not with how tough it was as an abomination. But enough to slow it.

Porkchop was already on a collision course, spinning to assist as soon as the Man Eater had pounced. The advanced as one, boxing the Champion in as it hit a patch of its own viscera and stumbled on uneven footing, its grievous injuries impairing its dexterity.

With a hiss its bladed tentacles went haywire, cracking as they split the air with dizzyingly fast whips.

Doom sang to him.

He jumped back, narrowly avoiding two boney blades that had tried to eviscerate his neck.

**Ding! Dodge has reached level 18!**

**Ding! Danger Sense has reached level 18!**

More followed. Kaius fell into a rhythm, pivoting and twirling as he danced around the writhing assault. Whenever he could, he counterattacked the tentacles, cutting clean through the thin ropes of muscle and sinew. It did little good, whatever regenerative ability the Man Eater had it was focused heavily on its natural weapons. Every tentacle he cleaved through regrew in moments, sprouting a new bone dagger at its tip to attack him one more.

Then it split again. Kaius saw through the ruse, but it used Porkchops momentary confusion to launch itself at Kaius. After seeing through its illusion once, it had firmly identified him as the greater threat.

**Ding! Danger Sense has reached level 19!**

He fell back, protecting his neck and face as he did his best to dodge and edge parry the attacks. He was good, but no unclassed was 'seamlessly defend from six prehensile knives' good. Bone spurs smashed into his scale again and again, squirming as they tried to work their way through the gaps in his armour.

**Ding! Dodge has reached level 19!**

Nicks started to accumulate, bone spurs stabbing at the slightest gap in his defence. The pain built. Individually the wounds were nothing. Together, they were maddening. Thankfully he was at no risk of death by a thousand cuts, Lesser Regeneration keeping pace with his growing wounds.

Then, as he deflected a tentacle that had stabbed towards his eyes, he felt his vambraces click as they accumulated enough energy.

Kaius roared, allowing a bone spur to worm its way through the gap between his cuirass and cuisses as he stepped in towards the Champion with a wild horizontal slash. A Father's Gift ripped through the air, cutting through two thirds of the tentacles as its point tore towards its face.

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 14!**

The Man Eater leapt back, avoiding the blow. Straight into the waiting maw of Porkchop. His friend's fangs sank into the beast's flank before he ripped out a chunk of flesh. It howled, flaring mana before a thick black fogg suddenly covered the enclosure.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 17!**

"Shit, Kaius, I can't see!" Porkchop called, whipping his head back and forth.

Kaius did the same, though he had instantly noticed that he was able to pierce the gloom with the help of his skill. Not perfectly, but enough that he could see the Man Eater retreat into the blackness. It prowled, slowing to move silently as it began to circle behind him. He smiled, perfect.

"I see it." He said, letting a shake enter his voice. "Get closer to me, I wanna see if it falls for the same trick twice."

Porkchop moved over, and Kaius spun to keep the Champion in the corner of his vision. Never letting his eyes linger on its stalking form. One by one tentacles sprouted from the lesion on its back, flicking through the air with deadly intent.

"It's letting its blades regrow. Be ready." Kaius said, faking a quiver.

He kept turning, spinning his head to look 'blindly' through the fog, taking his eyes off it. Just for a moment. His throat constricted as he felt six phantom blades cut through his spine and remove his head.

**Ding! Danger Sense has reached level 20!**

"Now!" He screamed, spinning and firing his last remaining needle towards the charging cat. His spell punched into the side of its chest, the cat wailing as the following explosion mangled its leg. Then it committed, leaping towards him with its tentacles poised to strike. Kaius leapt back, narrowly avoiding being skewered as all six bone spurs shattered the stone where he had just been standing.

**Ding! Dodge has reached level 20!**

Then Porkchop activated his amulet, hitting the Champion like a raging bull. The Man Eater slammed into the stone wall behind it with a sickening crunch of bone, collapsing to the ground as Porkchop dived onto it.

"Pin it!" Kaius cried, racing forwards.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" Porkchop snarled, ignoring the striking tentacles that plunged into him with a fury.

Kaius sprinted up, raising his sword high. Then he cut, tapping into the well of power in his vambraces. His blade rocketed, cleaving through flesh and bone with ease as he bisected the Champion at the shoulder.

The darkness vanished, and still the Champion fought on. Organs gushed from its severed chest cavity as it wiggled the nubs of its arms, craning its neck as in an attempt to sink its fangs into Porkchop.

Kaius stood over the moving corpse, staring at it with cold eyes. Despite everything, vital fluid had congealed around its wounds, flesh bubbling as it started to regenerate from the wound. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

"You want the kill?" He growled, hand tightening on his sword.

Porkchop snorted, backing away from the back half of the Champion. "You're the one with the cat complex. Go ahead."

Kaius grinned. Then he started to hack.

**Ding! You have slain a Champion: Subject #41893 'Man Eater' - level 27 Night Stalker!**

**Ding! Significant Feat of Strength performed under Observation. You have been awarded an Honour: Birds of a Blood Soaked Feather**