(Second Book Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

Kaius’s heart caught in his throat as the Siege Ogre flew across the open space between them. There might have been a stone statue between them, but the Guardian cared little, it may as well have been made of straw for all that it slowed it. Stone shattered into dust.

Every quaking step may as well have taken it another league forward. Something that large should not have been that fast.

His legs burned, legs pumping with skill enhanced alacrity as he pushed off, sprinting to the side. Dread shot down his spine, it was too fast.

It was going to hit him.

Crying out in desperation, he threw himself away from the ogre’s thundering advance, clear of its stomping legs. It swung its iron banded club. Airborne as he was, Kaius could do little other than to hope and pray his dodge had been enough. It wasn’t, the club sailed towards him.

Bones shattered as the crudely shaped trunk clipped his hip, sending him into a chaotic spiral as he skittered across the ground in a flail of limbs. Everything shrunk to a pinpoint, pain suppressed in the shock of the sudden wound. As if from a distance, he watched his sword fly free from his grasp, clattering against paved stone as it spun away.

The world blurred as he tumbled, his head ringing as his helmet thwacked heavily into the ground.

Skidding to a stop by a jagged shard of stone the size of his leg, Kaius groaned. His left leg was twisted, waves of mind bending agony rolling over him. It was just barely held in place by a surge of potent energy from Lesser Regeneration, forcing shards of bone to hold in place as his Health roared free to infuse the site of his injury. Distantly he felt a blare of panic and rage race across his bond.

Gritting his teeth, Kaius pushed himself to his feet and bit back a howl as his forcibly held together hip barely withstood his weight. His Health acted fast, remoulding pulped flesh and realigning bone as his skin rippled under his armour.

Unfortunately his cuisses had held up less well, one of the larger armour plates that encircled his hips half crumpled. It would recover, but it would take time, until then he would have to suffer it digging in uncomfortably. Thankfully it wouldn’t hamper his movements too much, the ogre’s heavy blow had just barely clipped him, and had nearly torn the plate off laterally rather than crushing it inwards.

Porkchop’s howl of bloodlust tore through his pain-addled mind. Without looking, he knew that Porkchop was uninjured, only fury flowed through their bond. For now. Trusting that his leg would hold up to the strain, he forced down the agony of his quickly healing hip and ran for his sword. Resting against the base of a nearby statue of a dwarven warlord, it took him precious seconds to close the distance.

As he ran, he checked his resources.

Resources:

Health - 334/510 (4.1/min +15/min)

Stamina - 367/410 (4.1/min +15/min)

Mana - 16/560 (5.6/min)

Free Mana - 16/560

Reserved Mana - 0

He growled as he took in the damage that the Ogre had done to him. Dropping a hand to his waist, he quickly withdrew one of their precious healing draughts.

Ripping the cork free with his teeth, he barely managed to avoid spilling any of the precious liquor as he poured it down his throat. It tasted of old wounds, clean linen, and the respite of a healer’s care.

**Ding! You have Imbibed a Tonic: Lesser Blooming Rejuvenation**

Another howl echoed out across the peak of the dwarven city, this time closely followed by a frustrated groan. Scooping his sword up, Kaius spun and trained his wild eyes on the Siege ogre. It was slumped over by the system enforced barrier that had closed around their confrontation. Kaius growled in frustration. Without that blasted field of blue, the siege ogre would have sent itself surging off the edge to its death.

Still, whether from the collision itself, or from some deleterious effect of its skill, it was dazed. Unfortunately, it was quickly rising.

He ran.

Porkchop hadn’t taken his assault lightly. Kaius’s bond-brother had charged in after the Guardian, and was now tearing strips of thick muscle from the back of its leg, still focused on disabling the limb. Even from a good forty strides away, Kaius could see the milky white cartilage and silvery ligaments of the ogre’s knee.

Even if it was stunned, it didn’t mean that the ogre was no longer a threat. Shaking its head to throw off its confusion, it groaned in frustrated agony as Porkchop tore another strip of woody flesh away from its joint. It flailed, spinning to clumsily wave its oversized club in Porkchop’s direction. Kaius’s bond-brother snarled, lunging inwards to slip under the blow.

The ogre teetered, the weight of its weapon pulling it off balance. Then with a heavy thud, it got its good leg under it.

Before it could rise, Kaius skidded to a stop by its injured knee. He plunged A Father’s Gift into the joint, sawing at one of the ropey ligaments that held the leg stable. Even with an inscribed blade and enhanced strength, it still felt like trying to cut through steel cable.

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Stepping inwards, Kaius shoved his entire body weight into a thrust, the point of his sword cracking into the back of the ogre’s knee cap as he punched through the joint. The ogre howled, the agony of the puncture enough to fully rouse it. Kaius just barely managed to rip his sword free, drawing its edge against vulnerable ligaments, before it hauled itself upwards.

With a slow, thundering step, it turned on them and swung towards Kaius with its club. Danger flared in his mind; He dodged back, wincing as his hip twinged during his pivot to avoid a crushing blow to his chest.

The ogre’s injured leg half buckled, unable to fully support the forces involved in swinging its oversized weapon. Snarling in fury, it whirled the weapon up over its head before it brought it down in a heavy smash, this time switching to target Porkchop.

Porkchop raced in, howling in agony as his long tail was smashed flat in a spray of red. Feral with rage, Kaius’s bond brother launched himself up to plunge blue tinged mana claws into its groin.

It flinched, nearly dropping its club as it swatted at Porkchop, forcing him back with the threat of a heavy hammer fist.

Kaius darted in, slashing at the exposed wound on its knee. Despite all his enhanced strength and speed, and the honed edge of his enchanted blade, the Guardian’s tissues resisted his cut.

Shuddering in anger, the ogre let out a low growl and heaved on its club. Almost feverish in its incensed fury, its face scrunched, oversized tusks punching up past its lips as it clenched its jaw. It snatched up its club in both hands, hefting it over its head with deceptive ease.

It slammed the club down, trying to squash Kaius flat. He barely managed to dance away, the ground quaking as he moved, hampering his footing. Doom flared once more, and it brought its club up and down again, obsessed with ending the buzzing threat. Punishment for being so incessant on taking out its leg, Kaius supposed as he pushed his full focus into avoiding the flurry.

Porkchop didn’t let the moment go to waste, slipping in behind the ogre as it was focused on Kaius. He snarled, hammering the Guardian.

The ogre snapped its jaws, and kicked back, trying to force Porkchop off of it. Even with that attempt, it still didn’t pause its attempt on Kaius’s life.

Leaping upwards, Kaius allowed a low side sweep of the Guardian’s club to sail underneath him. As soon as his feet touched the ground he dashed in, moving into a high stab to puncture the already closing wound on its palm.

Despite the thrilling rush of battle, the heady joy of the Bloodsong, Kaius knew that they had barely wounded the creature. Barely slowed it. It was too tough; he could see its wounds closing. Slowly, sure, there was only so much flesh that health could heal at once, but it was closing.

Mana pulsed in the ogres chest once more, flowing down its arm to settle in its hands and club. The shockwave skill, it had to be. Kaius’s mind raced. With the reach of the club, both he and Porkchop were in dire danger.

Doom flared. He made his choice.

Kaius lunged in, feinting another stab at its injured leg. So used to his focus on its wounds, the Guardian reacted immediately, spinning its club around to shove it point first towards where he would have landed.

He never arrived, digging his heels in and kicking off the hard stone to throw himself to the side.

The club hit the ground. Stone shattered. The blast expanded. A shard of a flagstone the size of his head spalled off the ground, screaming through the air to scythe through the edge of the Guardians ankle with ease, just barely missing Porkchop as it glanced off the bone and spun off to shatter against the barrier of the arena. It was almost instantaneous, but with True Sight he just barely caught it. Then the pressure wave hit him, sending him spinning back once more.

It was only marginally better than getting kicked by a horse, rattling his bones and the soft organs in his chest. His ears whined, a stinging pitch that drilled into the brain.

Then it was gone, swept aside in a rapid burn of Health.

Even as he tumbled through the air, his vision didn’t blur, giving him a nauseating spinning view of the entire top of the city as his mind struggled to process the rapid change in perspective. A dull thud echoed through the base of his skull.

Distantly, he heard the ogre scream.

He hit the ground, tumbling once over his shoulder before he got his feet under him and dropped one hand to the ground. Sliding back, he came to a slow stop, his sword held out to his left.

A savage grin split his face, his eyes locked on the ongoing battle. Shielded as he had been by the bulk of the ogre’s leg, Porkchop had escaped the skill relatively unscathed. After the stone shard had torn through the Guardians ankle, he had capitalised on the moment. Kaius watched as his bond brother’s stride long claws burst into brilliant blue, extending them another half a stride, before he plunged them into the crippled ankle up to the base.

The ogre howled, falling as its leg finally gave out. As tough as it was, it was simply too large to support its own weight with both its ankle and knee savaged.

The moment was here.

Kaius raced in, feeling the steady stream of effervescent alchemical power that flooded out from his stomach, surging through his system to support key muscles as he moved faster than he ever had before. His foot touched the ground for a fraction of a moment, before he kicked off with the full power of his enhanced body to sail through the air at what should have been blinding speeds.

He was there. Flat on the ground as it was, the Guardian tried to swat him. He simply raced around. Skirting the edge of its reach. Keeping it grounded was the only important thing.

Porkchop had switched to tearing into its knee. Kaius knew that it was to stay safe from its flailing leg, the Guardian kicking out in an ineffectual attempt to shake them off. Kaius raced to its ankle, hopping over a blind kick. His sword swept up overhead as he moved into a high guard.

A Father’s Gift came down, biting deep into an achilles that was thicker than his leg.

The ogre didn’t like that. It flailed, strips of warty skin weeping greenish grey blood that smeared on the stone below, stinking of iron and unwashed skin. Darting back from another blind kick, Kaius slipped in behind the limb and brought his blade down on the ligament once more.

Cutting just a little bit deeper.

Soon he would be through, and the battle could start in earnest.