Runeblade

A teeming black cloud surged across the sky, racing towards the Pegleg. Kaius could have almost mistaken the flowing blob as a flock of starlings — if not for the fact that he could pick out the individual beasts. Birds, bats, and insects alike, they moved with focused fury.

The flock was a mere fraction of the tyrant’s aerial forces. Their numbers had still swelled to hundreds of beasts.

More than enough to stop Ophelia from retrieving the last group of survivors. Kaius scowled, his mind racing as he searched for some solution. They were so close. Mere minutes, and they would have been able to store their landyacht and run back to Deadacre. With their stat advantage, there was no way their pursuers would have been able to catch them.

That plan was dead in the water. Without the storm mage, they were locked to the Pegleg.

Would they even be able to make it? Ianmus and Kenva would be directly exposed to the flying beasts, forcing him to defend them from above with full focus — and taking his backline’s attention away from defending their vessel’s legs.

No, he couldn’t be defeatist. They would hold on. This close to Deadacre, they only had to hold out for long enough to get in range of the defenders on the walls. The dragon’s teeth that the Mystral earth mages had raised would break the advance of the beasts. In comparison, the Pegleg would be barely slowed — its spider legs were almost perfect for racing over the fortifications.

The flying beasts though…

Kaius eyed the black cloud, already growing larger as the beasts closed the distance. Defiant heat raced through his blood — he still had Starfall.

The thought buoyed him as he cleaved through the neck of a bright red fox. Blood splashed onto the deck, steaming with unnatural heat.

The war magic would buy them time. It might not be large enough to cover the entire field of battle, and no doubt much of the fliers would survive, but it would scatter them — and break the horde that surged beneath them.

“Kaius, we’ve got a problem!” Porkchop called out.

The warning ripped his attention to the massing forces beneath their vessel. Shock raced through his spine — they were different.

The beasts still followed them with dogged fury, but the mindlessness was gone. No longer did they claw at each other in a single minded focus to reach the Pegleg. They were organised.

Kaius watched as three unified groups formed — regimented like a battalion of professional soldiers.

The largest, central group charged forward, right into Porkchop’s waiting arms. Through their bond, Kaius saw the beasts flow around him — latching onto anything they could. More of their number threw themselves suicidally at Porkchop, forcing him to deal with them with his full attention.

They did little to wound his brother, but the simple weight of so many bodies all but locked Porkchop in position.

A Shardwall ripped out of the ground. The beasts split, leaping to the side to attack Porkchop from another angle.

Kaius’s attention snapped to the other groups — peeling away to the sides.

They surged in a heartbeat later. Racing right for their landyacht’s legs.

His eyes widened in realisation. With Porkchop pinned, he couldn’t react to the three pronged attack.

How? Where was the unthinking fury? Had the Tyrant taken direct control?

He didn’t have time to think on it any longer — each flanking group dived for the back legs of the landyacht.

“Take left!” Kaius called to his back line, diving for the right hand side of the deck. Hearing the crack of arrows and spells behind him, he reached for his own magic.

At the head of the group, Kaius watched a wolf swell with power — muscles growing until it’s skin was so distended it looked like its skin might rip. It lunged.

Kaius fired a Nail. Steel ripped through the beast’s skull.

**Ding! You have slain Shadehound - Level 102 Darkfang Pursuer! Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying a foe of significantly lower level!**

The beast's carcass slammed into the steel leg of their landyacht. Many more followed. Heavy oxen-like creatures with armor plating. Long-legged herbivores with skulls of bone. Powerful lizards with crushing tails.

Kaius unleashed on the beasts, lightning and thunder crackling in the clear sky. He spent everything he had. If the beasts managed to destroy their vessel's legs; if they were grounded, there was no way they could keep the remaining villagers alive.

There were so damned many of them. He crushed their advance alone, yet the damage was done. Deep cracks and rents spread through the lower half of the leg he had been defending. With every step, its lowest joint seized, jerking. Great gouts of sparks erupted from the damage every time the limb was forced to bear the peg-leg's weight.

The beast pulled back, and Kaius eyed the regrouping mass with incensed frustration, his jaw-clenched tight.

Another assault like that, and the damaged legs were sure to fail. Just defending from that one push had drained a fifth of his remaining Stormlashes. They needed a plan — one that would let them break the charge and buy some time.

As soon as the aerial beasts arrived, there was no way they could defend another attack like that.

“Ideas?!” he called.

“I’ve got one!” Ianmus replied back — unleashing beams of solar magic from his keyseal as he devoted his attention to weaving a new spell with sorcery. “I can blind them. Kenva, can you hit the front lines with Ensnaring Seedburst when I do? It’ll kill their momentum.”

“Easy! Just give me warning when you’re ready!” Kenva replied, never halting from her constant barrage.

Kaius readied himself. If his backline could blind and snare the beasts, it would be the perfect moment to use Starfall.

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Defending his friends, he watched the mana Ianmus worked go brighter and denser. The weaves were tight, but simplistic — more raw power, than a complicated shaping. A hundred levels ago, that amount of mana would have taken Ianmus ten minutes or more to channel — now it came together in less than one.

It was still enough time for the approaching flock of aerial beasts to reach them.

Kaius’s stomach knotted as the teaming cloud poured down. The beasts screamed in rage, everything from wasps as large as his thigh, to owls that left trails of mist in their wake.

He flicked a glance towards Ianmus; the mage was still channeling.

Blast it all, if he waited any longer the fliers would be on them. Ianmus might lose his concentration entirely. Better to use Starfall early than risk their plan.

He reached for his spell.

“Now, Kenva!” Ianmus cried.

Five shots snapped off in quick succession, each one imbued with the ranger’s mana and stamina. Vines sprouted across the front line of chasing beasts, curling over everything they could reach. Thorns wormed their way into flesh, digging around scales and finding softspots that let them drink deep.

Ianmus thrust his hand forward.

Light consumed all.

Even with Truesight, Kaius was forced to squint. Blinded utterly, the charging beasts slammed into their vanguard that had been pinned by Kenva’s skill. Bones snapped; their lines collapsed.

Kaius snapped up — the diving fliers were screeching, scattered and stunned by the sudden blast.

Perfect.

Responding to his will, a tightly wound packet of mana on his wrist ruptured.

Kaius directed his spell high, up above the milling flock. A void opened in the sky, like a chunk of reality had been torn free, large enough to cover a full third of the forces that chased them.

In the aftermath of Ianmus’s spell, it was hard to see the falling lights.

The howl of their descent was far less missable. Where the stars passed, beasts died. Smote fliers fell to the ground in smoking silence, joined by so much scattered viscera as each burning orb detonated in the massed beasts below.

**Ding! You have slain Boneash Moth - Level 118 Nightwing! Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying a foe of significantly lower level!**

…

**Ding! You have slain Terrorspine Skink - Level 105 Goliath of Steel! Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying a foe of significantly lower level!**

**Ding! Runeblade Helion has reached level 219 > 221!**

**+6 Int; +5 Con, Str & Will; +2 Vit & Dex; +1 Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

**Ding! Class skill ready for evolution!**

Kaius grinned, unable to help the hot thrill he felt at the devastation. Yet even with his next Skill available, his glee was short lived.

Chained to the tyrant's will, the surviving beasts rallied immediately. Mirroring their previous assault, beasts surged towards the sides of their vessel — now joined by flying allies that dove towards Kaius and his backline.

A high-pitched scream rocked his chest. Kaius spun, snapping his blade up to cut through a bat that swooped at his side. He risked a glance towards Deadacre.

The walls were close. No longer hidden behind the horizon, he could see the fortifications left by the earth mages of Mystral. Yet the distance they enclosed mattered little, they were still too far from the defenders of the city to assist — leagues. There was no way common guards would be able to fire so far.

Nor would the elites of the city be able to risk abandoning the walls. It was entirely possible this was all just a ploy — bait to pull away their strongest before the Tyrant struck at the city. It was entirely possible that it had its own Silvers and Golds hidden away, even if Dross had seen no sign of them.

Surrounded by flying beasts, Kaius was in a constant state of motion. He unleashed what spells he could to the beasts below to help take some pressure off Porkchop and wipe away the creatures that were desperately trying to cling to the Pegleg's limbs.

They were persistent, a deadly threat he struggled to keep at bay. Ianmus and Kenva were no better off, forced to fire the flocking beasts, lest they be overrun.

Just a little bit more — much closer and the Golds in the city would be able to assist without risking their defences.

“Kaius!” Porkchop screamed, using their bond to yank Kaius’s attention to the left hand side of their landyacht.

He locked onto the threat, ice flooding his spine. A beast, built like an ox with a steel grey coat. It had a single horn that needle tipped and as long as his arm — and was so packed full of mana he was surprised it hadn’t detonated.

He knew the creature. A pikenose — native to the frontier. He’d heard more than one of his fellow delvers complain about them. Armour breakers.

Rotten roots, the Pegleg was tough, but it had been battered by constant assault. The pikenose would rip it open like it was made of tin.

Fuelled by a sudden jolt of shock, Kaius snapped his hand towards the beast.

Making a mockery of its bulk, the pikenose leapt straight for the side of the landyacht. Kaius cast a Hateful Nail.

Only for claws to wrap around his forearm, slamming the limb down. A raptor of some sort, diving from above. Kaius hurled it to the ground, ignoring the stinging crack of his bones as he stomped on the creature's chest.

The damage had already been done. His Nail plunged into the pikenose’s front leg. Unfurling, steel wires ripped the limb clean off as it bellowed in pain.

It slammed its horn into the landyacht’s hull. Metal plating let out a tortured squeal as the creature bucked its neck.

It was joined by a gutwrenching scream of terror and agony.

As the pikenose fell, Kaius watched in horror as a man came with it. One of the surviving hunters, screaming as he was skewered atop the beast's horn like a prized catch. Blood fountained from his mouth as he desperately reached for the lost safety of the Pegleg.

Kaius locked eyes with the man.

He saw only a terror-filled accusation.

The hanging moment ended; man and beast fell, disappearing as they were trampled.

“No!” Kaius screamed — he’d promised them! They’d almost made it!

The sound drew Kenva’s attention.

“Shit!”

He grit his teeth, burying the cutting wound deep beneath a surge of hot fury. He had to move. More beasts were already racing for the hole — if one of them got inside, the rest of the survivors would meet the same fate.

Kaius locked eyes with Kenva. She nodded, slinging her bow over her shoulder as she drew two daggers from her belt.

“Go! I’ll keep Ianmus safe!”

Giving his friend a nod, he detonated a Shunt. Grabbing the edge of the Pegleg, Kaius swung down — into the narrow and jagged hole the pikenose had made.

He did his best to ignore the terrified screams behind him, focusing on his fury, the throbbing tempo of his bloodsong — and the wolflike beast that launched itself straight at him.

Kaius booted it in the chest, sending flailing down to the teaming horde below.

He fell into a slaughter, cutting and hacking as beast after beast threw itself in him. With the hull breached, the beasts grew hungry — focusing on the easiest entry they had.

The exertion was numbing, as was the constant blur of his blade. It kept him grounded in the present — where he didn’t have to think about the man's eyes. Wide, bloodshot, brown.

His next kill hit the ground, forcing apart the beast's formation. Kaius caught sight of hardpacked, cracked earth. The dead circle, they were just over a league from the walls.

They’d been so bloody close.

Barely a minute later a man-shaped missile in bone armour raced forwards, their form covered in a cone of roiling energy. Arc’theros hit the beasts in an explosion of gore.

The rescue left only a bitter taste on his tongue.