Runeblade

Concussive booms rang out, the Champion roaring in agony as its limbs were blown clear of its body. Just like the last time, the giant collapsed, it's only remaining limbs a single arm and leg on its left side. Kaius watched red blood pour from the wounds, running into the channels between the stone brick floor. This time no regenerative force coagulated on the wounds, the Champions lifeblood pumping out like a pressurised hose.

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 13!**

Porkchop wasted no time and raced in, snarling in non stop fury as he started to tear into the giants defenceless right side. It swung at him, trying in futility to force him back with wild blows with its remaining arm.

Kaius felt his ribs and shoulder snap back into place, with a quick look at his resources he knew he could risk it. Another good hit would fuck him up bad, but it would be survivable. A worthwhile risk if it let them take out the Champion before its Health regeneration started to seal its wounds.

Resources:

Health - 89/380 (2.8/min)

Stamina - 168/280 (2.8/min)

Mana - 39/430 (4.3/min)

Free Mana - 39/430

Reserved Mana - 0

He jumped to his feet, wincing as his body protested. While his bones were no longer broken, he was definitely not fully healed. It didn't stop him as he raced in and started to hack at the giant's neck.

If previously it had been hard to cut into, now it felt like trying to chop wood. Whatever buffing skill it had used had made it tough, the inflated and steaming muscles separating strand by strand as he chopped.

As he cut into the beast, the giant's screams of fury turned into a soft gurgle as he reached its throat. It clawed at the ground, leaving a trail of red in its wake as it slowly crawled to try and get him in reach. Porkchop raced behind it, snatching its ankle in his jaws and yanking it back.

It was cathartic, to just cut and cut and cut as his blood ran hot with fury. Every blow sprayed him with pressurised blood, the vile liquid staining his lips with alchemical taint. He smiled, and cut.

Eventually the Champion could hold its skill no longer, shrivelling as it deflated when the light of Mana in its body gutted out. He cut again. This time his sword bit deep.

Two more strokes took off its head.

**Ding! You have slain a Champion: Subject #38949 'Lover Boy' - level 26 Flesh Hulk!**

Kaius stumbled back from the corpse as soon as he got the notification signifying their victory. He sat down heavily, flopping on to his back to stare blankly at the ceiling as his heart rate started to slow. Then he laughed. A loud laugh, the kind that came from deep in the belly and couldn't be contained, no matter how much it stung his still tender ribs.

Gods that had been a good fight. He'd missed that, hadn't had one like that in weeks. Even the goblin shaman hadn't been an all out brawl like this had been. Not that that had been a bad fight, but there was something special about getting fucked up by something bigger and stronger than you and still cinching the win.

Porkchop limped over, his lip torn and leaking blood, with one eye nearly swollen shut. His friend all but collapsed on the floor as he settled down next to him, groaning with discomfort.

"Got you good, eh?" Kaius asked, taking in the state of Porkchop's injuries. As much of a tank that he might have been, Lover Boy had been a big fucking bastard and had left Porkchop looking like he was ninety percent bruise.

"Says you. Pretty sure I saw your brains come out of your ears when you hit the glass." Porkchop snorted, though he quickly winced.

"Well, that would explain why I couldn't think for shit for a moment there," Kaius chuckled. "Gods, that was fun."

"I think there's something wrong with you." Porkchop said, only half joking.

Kaius rolled his head, taking in his battered friend for a moment. "What, and you don't like a good fight?" He asked. "But probably. I don't really care though. Not anymore."

"Course I do." Porkchop snorted. "But that's pretty normal for a greater beast. You're just some guy." He teased.

Kaius rolled his eyes. "'Just some guy', he says."

Before he could offer up a witty retort, there was a clatter as an iron hatch in the corner of the ceiling swung open. Several somethings clanged their way down the metal chute, only to hit the stone below with the distinctive ting of unbroken glass. Kaius craned his head up, trying to catch sight of what they had received for their victory.

Unfortunately, the limp body of the skinless giant was in the way, obscuring his view.

"Wanna go look?" Kaius asked, looking back to Porkchop.

"Maybe in a bit," Porkchop groaned. "I'm feeling a little sore for some reason."

"In a bit does sound good." Kaius agreed, returning to look at the ceiling. Even if his Lesser Regeneration meant that he was already almost completely healed, Kaius felt as though he had been wrung out. Exhausted in a way that simple Stamina wouldn't fix.

…

Once some of the life returned to him, Kaius groaned and pushed himself to his feet to check on their loot. Hoping and praying that this time they actually got something useful. Porkchop kept resting. Though he was definitely the tougher of the two of them, his recovery skill was wrapped up into a wider legacy skill than Kaius's. He'd have to wait a wee while longer before his wounds had fully healed.

Rolling his shoulders to work out some of the kinks, Kaius saw that the shoot had delivered them a handful of potions. He stared at the square glass bottles in surprise, shocked that they hadn't broken after a fifteen stride fall onto solid stone. It seemed whatever glass the depths made the bottles from was made from strong stuff.

That, or the depths themselves had protected them during their fall. Either or.

He walked over, avoiding puddles of blood and viscera as he crossed the stone brick floor. Crouching down, he gathered the bottles. They were familiar, and a quick identify told him what he had expected.

Lesser Blooming Rejuvenation Tonic

Solar Revitalisation Tonic

Four of the former, and one of the later.

He raised his eyes at the haul. "Hey Porkchop!" He said, rattling a few of the bottles over head. "Think our mysterious benefactor is back. More healing potions."

Porkchop snorted. "How convenient it happened as soon as you joined the fight. I am now firmly in the camp of either they or the Depths just hates beasts."

"How about we give it one more fight before we start getting all despondent, aye?" Kaius said with a grin, returning to take a seat by Porkchop's side. "Besides, even if it is that, it's not like you haven't been benefiting. Having two of these revitalisation tonics means that we can both take one before we fight the Guardian." He shook the orange tonic.

"That is true." Porkchop chuffed, before he pushed himself to his feet with a groan. "Come on, I'm healed enough to walk. We've both got at least a couple of hours until our resources are full, and then you'll need to reinscribe. May as well test out that stupid pan and have a hot meal."

Kaius grinned. He'd been hoping Porkchop would say that.

"I am feeling pretty peckish.." He thought as his stomach gurgled at the thought of food.

…

It turned out that the pan was awesome. Once he had activated it, he discovered that the Depths had imprinted the device with an ingenious set of controls that let him intuitively control the pan's heat with a little bit of Mana Manipulation. That, and it was so slick that he was pretty sure that it would be impossible to get food to stick to it.

He'd ended up making a couple of massive toasted sandwiches of cheese, egg, and salted ham. Though he did give porkchop an extra half dozen thick cut slices of meat, a sandwich wasn't exactly the most filling thing for a beast three or more times his weight.

"Why are you so good at this? Didn't you live in a forest?" Porkchop said, moaning through the sandwich.

"I'm not that good, nothing like a dedicated cook at least." Kaius relied, chewing through a bite of his own as he leaned up against a stone wall near his bag. "But yeah, Cooking is one of the skills I needed for Explorer's Toolkit."

He swallowed, thinking on how to respond more fully. "It was actually a bit more than that. Mostly cooking was, is, my only real hobby. It meant an hour or two a day where I could just mess around and have fun. Father didn't really care about what food tasted like, only that it was edible, so as long as I didn't waste anything I had a lot of freedom" He continued.

"That can't be all of it. You know how to use way too many things that you would have had almost no access to." Porkchop prodded.

Kaius smiled. "That obvious, eh? Well, there was this barmaid in Three Fields, daughter of the innkeeper Hurrin. Illendra was her name. She was a handful or so years older than me, but was just near damn the only woman even close to my own age, so of course I was smitten. She never really thought of me that way, though she was plenty friendly. Treated me closer to a cousin, or little brother. I figured out pretty quick that offering to help out in the kitchen whenever we stayed in the Stout Oak was a damn good way to spend a lot of time around her. Father let us stay for a whole week once, because of how fast my skill was levelling" He chuckled as he reminisced.

"'Was smitten'? Not anymore?" Porkchop asked, cocking his head.

"Mmm," Kaius nodded. "All feels pretty distant after everything that's happened. What about you? Any girls with pretty fur that you were fond of?" He asked, changing the subject before he started to linger on his fathers fate.

Porkchop snorted. "Dens are family units, so no. The age you're old enough to meet other dens is the same age you're allowed to go wandering. I chose the latter."

"Fair enough." Kaius said through another bite of his sandwich.

"How're you feeling about the next one?" Porkchop asked.

"What? The cat?" Kaius asked. "A little nervous. Not because I don't think we can handle it. Just had a moment with a cat in the glade back before I fought my first Champion. Bloody thing ripped my throat out, and had me convinced I was a goner."

Porkchop looked at him with concern. "You going to be alright?"

"Oh yeah!" He said, waving his friend off. "Just the sort of thing I'll feel better about once I smear that nightmare kitty's brains on the floor."

Porkchop snorted. "Spoken like one of the Patriarchs."

He grinned. It wasn't entirely bluster. Ever since that damned cat had slammed into the glass wall of its enclosure he'd been eager to put it in the ground. Damned thing had nearly given him a heart attack. Plus, he should finish capping off the components of his final legacy skill in the fight. A culmination of years of work, it was tempting to storm in there right now.

Unfortunately, he hadn't finished regenerating his Mana, nor reinscribed his spells. That, and he had food to eat.