Runeblade
B3 Chapter 302: Cold Desert Night, Finale

B3 Chapter 302: Cold Desert Night, Finale

Every single one of Kaius’s instincts still screamed at him in urgency.

He might have made it to the vaulted stone tower, but the ruinbringers were still right behind him. Even injured by the deluge of storm magic he had pumped into them, the stun that Stormlash left in its wake was not potent or long lasting.

Already he could hear the maddened squeals of the beasts as they shook off their wracking convulsions and rose to their feet.

His feet pounded on the stone as he peeled off to the left, circling the exterior of the tower. Scatterings of loose sand coated the stone, blown over the chest high wall that surrounded the veranda.

While it wasn’t quite as bad as running on the desert floor, it still played hell on his traction.

Worse, the terrace was far wider than he’d hoped. His pursuers would have more than enough room to follow — if only one abreast.

Turning mid step, he caught the briefest glimpse of a scorpion watching him from the sand outside — its carapace scorched and cracked. Doom screamed in his mind. Its tails twitched, he ducked.

Two spines smashed into the stone level with where his head had been only moments before, showering him with jagged shards that ruined the polished smooth exterior of the building.

Casting his hand behind him, he burnt the last of his charges of Zone of Discombulation to cover the path behind him in a shimmering field. The ruinbringers would have to slow to thread their way onto the exterior of the pagoda. If he was lucky, the spell might just give him enough time to reach the stairs.

He tore his way around the corner at a full sprint, leaning as far forwards as he could to keep his profile below the covering wall.

The stairs were right up ahead, open to the air on one side. Right at their peak, Kenva leaned out over the edge with her bow at full draw — just high enough that the swooping geometric eaves of the next floor covered her from easy return fire.

“Hurry!” she screamed, her drawn arrow lengthening into a mana-infused javelin.

She loosed as a deep thwack cut through the night air, a streak of glowing blue racing over his head to sink deep into something behind him. The sound of crunching chitin was quickly followed by a furious scream.

Uncanny Dodge screamed in his mind once again.

He reacted instantly, unleashing an Expedient Shunt below him.

Kaius went airborne, feeling his trousers rustle against his legs as three spines narrowly missed him.

Another cracking explosion carried him further, adjusting his angle as he stretched out his hands for the lip of the stairs. Kenva ignored him, another glowing javelin fired directly at his pursuers as she ignored the spine that buried itself into the stone by her chest.

He slammed into solid stone with every bit of speed he could muster. Ribs screamed in protest as the air was driven from his lungs.

For a moment his questing hands found nothing but air as his legs kicked aimlessly against the stone, searching for traction.

His stomach clenched. Another moment and he’d need to burn his last Shunt, his best chance of dodging the ruinbringers ongoing bombardment.

Then the hard corner of the stairs slammed into his fingers.

Every muscle in his arms and back burned as he threw himself upward, clearing the edge in a single smooth movement.

“Go!”

Kenva spun from her angle, tearing ahead of him with vine-bound steps.

Sprinting after her, Kaius flew up to the next landing and found Porkchop waiting for him — clad in his suit of crystalline heavy-plate as he braced himself for whatever raced after him. Impenetrable claws crunched the floor of the landing beneath his feet as a low growl rattled out of his throat.

“Run, brother!” Porkchop crunched his lead paw further into the stone.

Kaius turned his head as the air popped, catching a Shardwall erupt from the ground before it tore its way down the stairs.

One of the ruinbringers impacted it with a furious crunch, the beast chittering in fury as it was forced back down the stairs.

Kaius gasped — they needed some way to halt them, even with their constant pace the ruinbringers were just too damned fast.

War Haven!

He still had one inscribed — a preparation for their next ambush, if they ran into another scorpion buried beneath the sand. It had completely slipped his mind in their desperate sprint for the vaulted tower.

Spinning on his front foot, Kaius continued sliding backwards under the momentum of his sprint. As he turned, he saw another wall of jade rush down the stairs. It drew another round of furious screeches from their pursuers.

“Come, Porkchop! I’m going to block the entry way!”

His brother reacted instantly, heaving on his self-made clawholds to spin his heavy bulk as he ran for him. A moment later, the glyph on his chest burned a forest green as he cast his spell.

Kaius bore down his will on the inscription, shaping the domed barrier of War Haven as tight as he could while still covering the stairwell up into the landing. Every stride of space he saved was potentially another hit that the forceshield would block.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It snapped into position not a moment too soon, a ruinbringer coming to a slamming halt as it rammed into the barrier. Waves of pulsing light spread through the shimmering wall, knotting his stomach as he prayed it would hold.

It did.

Kaius cast a final Zone of Discombobulation as a parting gift, swallowing the stairwell in a thin mist of confusion. More skills chimed in his mind, level ups waiting for his attention

His last glimpse was of a ruinbringer shuddering in confusion, swaying slightly as its tail tapped the barrier of force in front of it — each touch coming harder and faster than the one before.

Following the veranda to the left, Kaius saw his brother sprinting ahead — and Kenva positioned around the next corner, her bow at the ready.

“Just go! I’ve blocked them with my barrier, but it wont hold for long!”

The ranger nodded curtly, vanishing around the corner.

Kaius followed close behind, the next turn revealing the back of the next set of stairs.

“Where’s Ianmus!”

“Up here!” the mage’s voice came from the top of the stairs. “I’ve opened the door, but fell back in case it was occupied.”

Kaius grinned — if he judged based on the mechanism of the door when they first entered, waiting would have pushed them far too close to being caught for his comfort. Now though? They had to make it. At least, they would if his spell held.

Porkchop reached the stairs right before him. “I’ll go first! I’ll be able to survive just fine if I run into anything — at least long enough for the rest of you to close the door and help me.”

Kaius pushed his acceptance along their bond, taking the stairs four at a time. His brother was right, plus even if it was full of depthsborn, he doubted they would be so unlucky as to run into more Elite creatures.

Racing alongside Ianmus and Kenva, he felt a shudder through his Vyrthane glyph — the thin connection it held to his ongoing spell shattering like glass.

Yawning dread rose — they had the lead, but the ruinbringers were far faster than them. It was down to the wire.

Below him, he heard the rolling clacks of over a dozen chitinous legs slamming into the stone landing, their foes in pursuit.

“Go! They’ve broken free.”

Ianmus and Kenva’s faces grew taut, worry obvious in their expressions. In unison they activated their movement skills, blurring ahead.

Turning the corner, Kaius saw the yawning opening of the doorway.

“It’s safe!” Porkchop’s voice came strong in his mind, releasing the hard grip of anxiety that had settled deep in his chest. Now he just had to make it.

Doom screamed in his mind.

The dread returned.

Kicking off the wall to his right, Kaius lept towards the wall that surrounded the pagoda’s landing — just barely avoiding a barrage of spines.

A deep ache set in as his shoulder slammed hard into the railing. Itching fire spread through the site of the impact, ripping away his pain. It did nothing to stop the impact from slowing him.

He could hear them closing. The furious hisses, and snapping clacks of the ruinbringers’ calls grew closer by the moment.

Scrambling at the ground, a searing beam tore past him — followed quickly by a streaking oversized arrow. Ianmus and Kenva, covering for him.

He was so close, but with all of his spells burnt he was forced to rely on his physical abilities alone. Powerful he might be, but the beasts were stronger.

Nails chipped as he clawed the ground, streaks of blood staining the pale tan floor as he hauled himself forwards. Kicking off, he got his feet under him and ran straight for the opening.

Too focused to survey the room, he only had eyes for his team. Ianmus had one hand on the inside of the doorway ready to activate the formation while he thrust his staff outwards, a continuous stream of sunbeams firing into his pursuers. Kenva was beside him, adding her own fire power to the mix.

A basey growl echoed from the room as Porkchop lunged out towards him, his mouth open wide. One paw slammed into the earth, a Shardwall tearing down to slam into the unseen depthsborn so close behind him. They squealed, furious at their hunt being denied.

“Sorry about this!”

The words came fast. In the blur of the moment, his brain lagged, taking half a moment more to process.

Then his brother's jaws clamped around his left shoulder.

Bones shattered and flesh tore as dagger-sized fangs punched through his armour with ease. A ragged gasp of surprise clawed its way out of his throat as white hot agony and surprise shook him to his core.

What in the hells was wrong with him?

Right as he was about to question if his brother had gone mad, Porkchop reared up and flicked his head to the side.

Kaius went airborne, tumpling through the air in a wild flail as blood sprayed from the ruined mess of his shoulder. The world twisted in an incomprehensible blur, the spin too much even for his mental stats and enhanced vision to track. He yelled, part in confusion, part in panic as he flew straight through the open doorway.

He hit the ground a second later, tumbling into a slide. New heights of agony shot through him as his injured shoulder ground against the rough stone — his blood leaving a slick trail behind him.

Coming to a slow halt, Kaius gasped and pushed the discomfort to the back of his mind. Pain was a sensation — he needed to move. Leaping to his feet, he ripped A Father’s Gift from his scabbard and settled into a duelist’s stance.

Only to see the door grinding closed, a furious clacking pincher trying and failing to hold it open. His team, Porkchop included, backed up from the questing limb — unwilling to lose a leg in the final moment of their escape.

Undeterred by the ruinbringer’s frustration, the slab continued sliding down, wedging the chitinous limb between the floor and its inexorable weight.

For a moment, it seemed like the beast’s chitin would hold. Then it squealed — a high pitched noise like a kettle left boiling. Spider-webbing cracks spread across its thick carapace.

The door slammed home, ichor gushing as it severed the creature’s limb.

They were safe.

Kaius gasped, slamming his blade home in its sheath as he bent over to cradle his shoulder. He saw the streak of blood he’d left on the stone — a full twelve strides long. The rough floor had done its work, tearing open the wide holes his brother had created further.

A shock of pain coursed into his chest as his fingers found ragged holes in his flesh, thickened blood weeping steadily. It was healing, pulsing in time with his heart beat as fragments of bone wormed their way through his flesh to reforge his joint into a singular hole.

Rotten roots, it still hurt like hell.

“What in the everloving fuck, Porkchop!?”

He gave his brother a scowl.

Porkchop gave him a toothy grin, fangs still stained red. “I think you mean, ‘Thanks, my valiant brother, for coming to save my slow ass’.”

His tongue snapped out, licking clean the remnants to leave them their normal shining polish jade.

“Oh, piss off!”