Runeblade

Kaius peered into the room. A rounded chamber, fifty long strides or more across. The ceiling was far higher than the rest of the catacombs — though its walls were still filled with the same grave-niches he’d seen all throughout the complex. Pillars encircled the space, propping up the ceiling, and dozens of openings littered its sides — leading to tunnels spiralled away into the black.

It almost looked like they might have once been covered in engravings, though they were heavily weathered by time.

He didn’t bother to look closer. The queen held his entire attention, laying at the far side of the room, a little to their right.

It was an undulating mountain of flesh; a grotesque refinement of the larva it spawned. At least forty strides long, its head was bulbous, and made of black plates that pulsed. Expanding and contracting, the poor coverage of its chitin revealed flashes of golden flesh.

Kaius had no idea how it could even move. Six legs lay haphazardly scattered over the first quarter of its body, but the things looked far too spindly to support its bulk. Behind those lay what could only be described as a fleshy sack; half molten as it oozed over the red brick of the ground below.

Disgusted fascination gripped him as he watched its naked thorax pulse and undulate in a constant ripple. There was a building intensity to it as the contractions grew larger; the timing between them shorter.

A heartbeat later, the crescendo arrived. The queen's thorax scrunched as a gaping sphincter opened on its rear.

From that pit of horror, an amniotic deluge flowed, and with it came more of the creature's horrid spawn. A tide of maggots, dripping with slime.

The newborns quivered, writhing as they acclimatised to their sudden life. Soon, they moved — an undulating carpet that crept for the closest tunnels.

Kaius watched them leave, still held frozen by what he had just witnessed. Swallowing thickly, he suppressed his urge to gag. By the gods was he glad that they had decided to circle around and approach from a different angle. He had no doubt that killing any larve so close to their mother would alert the creature.

At least this way they could survey the battle ground.

“Gods,” he whispered, the sound masked by the constant squelching coming from the room ahead.

“Definitely one of the more disgusting sights I've ever seen,” Ianmus agreed.

“Ignore it, I spotted the guards,” Kenva said, pointing past the queen.

Following her queue, Kaius saw them almost immediately. They lurked in the shadows, towering figures that stood taller than their mother. If their queen was the epitome of sloth, her guards were the killing edge of a blade given life.

Half again as tall as he was, they looked like a mantis covered in black plate, with only thin golden lines revealing the colour of their hidden flesh. Standing as still as statues, their bulbous black eyes hid malevolent depths — he could almost feel their willingness to die in service.

Folded tightly to their chests in a cross, their blades looked as dangerous as any greatsword. Sickle-shaped, they tapered to an edge so fine it looked almost transparent.

Kaius’s eyes drifted lower, settling on their powerful legs.

“Speed focused, you said?” he asked Porkchop.

Before his brother could reply, the queen’s abdomen contracted once more — spilling its grizzly contents across the floor. Kaius grimaced, they needed that thing gone. He would have thought it miraculous how quickly it could birth its spawn, if it wasn’t so dangerous.

“That’s what the Matriarchs said,”

Kaius nodded, before he analysed the creatures.

**Golden Ceratin Royal Guard - Level 290 Obsidian Blade**

Beast, Elite, Minion, Skirmisher

**Golden Ceratin Royal Guard - Level 290 Obsidian Blade**

Beast, Elite, Minion, Skirmisher

**Golden Ceratin Queen - Level 312 Mother to the Kingdom**

Beast, Elite, Hive Queen, Bastion

Their levels were manageable. Just. The queen was a higher level than even the final Guardian they had faced in their most recent delve, however she wouldn’t be the primary threat. From what Porkchop had said, the creature was almost entirely geared towards the production of her young, plus a few defensive and supportive abilities. The queen could have had all the stats in the world, and it wouldn’t have helped with how bloated and immobile it was.

The royal guards were another matter. Two-ninety was strong — and a speed focused foe would stretch his capabilities. It was the average level of the deepest Depths layer they’d reached — a place where every fight had required the full cooperation of his team. Could he hold one alone?

A wide smile spread across his face at the thought of it. He’d grown in the weeks since their last delve. He was well into the second tier now — all of his general skills and two of his class skills had reached that new level of power.

He’d be a fool to use Starfall — the area it covered was larger than the room itself, and he didn’t fancy getting caught out by his own spell. That said, his empowered Drakthar still made the rest of his spells more potent. Beyond that, he had Hellblade Investiture.

His prosthetic might be an issue, but he’d learnt from their tussle with the nightscale — he was fully loaded on spells, including his mobility ones.

“We tie up one each. You confident?”

Porkchop gave him an affronted look,“You think I'm going to let an overgrown bug show me up?”

“That’s the spirit,” Kaius said, before he looked behind him to his back line. “You two focus on taking down the queen. We’ll call out if we need help.”

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Kenva nodded, while Ianmus drummed his finger on his staff as he looked up at the layered keyseals that sat at its tip.

“I’ll use one of my new spells — Sanctified Lilyfield should work well.” The mage said.

Kaius grinned, excited to finally see his new keyseal in action. Much like Keyseal of the Rising Dawn, The Nights’ Watch came with a first and second tier spell. The former was relatively basic — Silver Plating. It gave Ianmus’s target an additional layer of magical protection.

Sanctified Lilyfield was much more interesting. Supposedly, it would cause giant, illusory lilies to sprout from the ground in a large area. To the mage's allies, they would barely be visible, and would be utterly incorporeal. To hostiles, they would swamp the field, bogging down movements, and hampering attacks.

Kaius breathed deep, slowly drawing his blade as he gripped it tightly. He met his brother’s eyes.

“I’ll take right, you take left?”

Porkchop nodded.

“We open with a heavy strike on the queen — either we injure her, or the guards dive for the attack and make our jobs easier.”

“Sounds good,” Kenva replied, while Ianmus simply gripped his staff tighter, brow furrowed in intensity.

“Go!”

They burst into motion.

Kaius raced in, hearing the scream of his heart as the battle rush hit him like an alchemist's tonic. Everything came into instant clarity — even the awkward weight of his prosthetic was forgotten.

A step. That was how long it took for the royal guards to react. Gods, they were fast. Twin scythes as long as he was tall unfurled. Silent specters, they leapt over the queen with silent agility.

Another step, and their attacks flew.

A blitz of Hateful Nails erupted from Kaius’s hand in a burst of rapid cracks, mana vented so quickly it looked like he’d set the limb alight. Over his shoulder, he felt the concussive blast of Kenva’s arrow racing past his head.

There was no time for her to charge Howl of the North Wind — Bare Thy Heart took its place, a crackling arrow of verdant energy as large as a lance that boiled with explosive potential.

Solar mana pulsed, and captured stellar might shot on the tail of the rest of their opening salvo. Preeminent Halo.

In the wake of their attack, the ambient mana in the room went wild — eddying currents swirling into a chaotic storm in the face of so much raw energy.

The royal guards were ready for them. One charged, lunging forward as its bladearms swept high. With every step, spire of rock erupted from the ground to push it forward faster — all while its weapons sparked with crackling fury.

“Mine!” Porkchop said, letting loose a bassy roar. His Bulwark’s Challenge hit the creature like a physical blow — ripping its attention away from the rest of their party.

The other royal guard threw itself at their attacks.

Kenva’s arrow arrived first — only to be cut out of the air by a slashing limb. The arrow detonated, rocking the creature back a step — and revealing a hairline crack on the creature's scythe.

It recovered by the time Kaius’s Nails arrived. Both of its scythes moved in coruscating arcs, intercepting all seven of his projectiles. The metal spikes sparked with every impact, spinning off into brick walls of the cavern, each releasing a cloud of dust and ancient brick shards.

When the creature lunged for Ianmus’s spell, Kaius held his breath. They couldn’t be that lucky, could they?

He scowled as it thrust out its cracked blade — just barely nicking the tightly packed orb of golden fire with the tip of its weapon.

Golden fire consumed the limb utterly. The insectile warrior screamed, a chittering squeal that stabbed Kaius in his very marrow.

Before the creature could recover, he loosed a shunt — sending himself straight at the beast with his blade held high. Hellblade Investiture flooded his sword.

Ghostly lilies sprouted, a field of fouling beauty. Kaius struck. Entangled in his friend's spell, the creature couldn’t get its bearings fast enough. He aimed for its left hand side — right where Ianmus had taken off its arm.

A cutting scythe intercepted his thrust, flicking his blade off course. Shuddering resonance rocketed up his arm, cracking bone. Pain arced like lightning. Kaius clenched his jaw tight, fighting through it.

The bastard had some sort of retributive skill. He refused to be out done.

Slipping his off-hand free, he hurled a Stormlash at the creature. Simultaneously, he spun through his hips, hurling his blade in a vertical arc — Liturgical Bladeform guiding his meld of spell and steel.

Lightning bound the creature. It seized, just for a moment. More than long enough for his slash to cleave home into its shoulder.

Infusing the strike with Mystic’s Rend at the last moment, Kaius felt the crack of the beast’s carapace giving way — right before the unstable arcane infusion granted by his skill detonated.

It screamed, backing away as it watched him warily.

Kaius bared his teeth, relishing in the purifying aggression that washed over him. It saw him as a threat, far too much of one for it to make a play at his backline without dealing with him.

It was right. He was.

Already, Ianmus and Kenva were throwing everything they had at the distant hive queen. Arrows sprouted from its bloody flesh, and smoking tracks were carved across golden skin. Yet the wounds healed astonishingly fast, and worse, the creature was putting up a surprising defence. Again and again, Kaius watched sudden sheets of stone erupt from the ground, intercepting his friends' attacks.

The guard in front of him tensed. So did Kaius.

In unison, they moved — the beast propelled by stone, him by a burst of force. Blades clashed again and again, a constant din filling the cavern. It was joined by a sudden screech of tearing metal.

Sliding under a cleaving blow that would have taken off his head, Kaius looked to the source of the sound — a massive scratch down Porkchop’s side. His brother was embroiled in an all-out brawl. Stabbing blows landed on his back again and again, struggling to penetrate his thick armour.

In turn, Porkchop was throwing everything he had at his own guard, yet it avoided most attacks with ease. An impasse.

“How’re you holding up?” Kaius asked, feeling out the flow of his foes movements.

“Feeling like it’s kinda bullshit that I got the one with two bloody scythes, to be honest!” Porkchop replied, freezing for a moment as he blocked a flickering stab at his neck withThe Stone That Weathered Time, the skill flooding his body with protective energy.

“I don’t know what to say, other than you picked that one.”

“Fuck you!”

Kaius laughed; he’d come help soon, but before that he’d have to put down his own opponent.

It was his brother’s luck that he’d had a full set of spells inscribed before the chaos had hit. With Redoubt of the Speaker, he was confident on finishing off his half-crippled guard. As soon as he’d figured out its tempo, he’d strike.

After all, he didn’t want to miss.