B2 Chapter 149: Testing Gains Finale.

The irontusk taking its eyes off his brother to stare at him with wariness proved to be folly. Insistent on keeping as much of the beast’s attention on him as possible, Porkchop plunged his claws into the irontusk’s shoulder, tearing a chunk out of its hide.

A loud rumbling cry echoed across the plains as it screamed in pain and frustration, whipping its head to batter his brother with its tusks, forcing Porkchop back. Unfortunately for it, his brother’s armor protected him from the majority of the blow – new stone charger leather padding absorbing the impact handedly.

Ceaseless in his rampage, Porkchop lunged back in, knife-like claws leaving parallel lines weeping red in their wake as he dragged them across its face.

Then another Sunbeam scoured its eye, recently regenerated flesh boiling once more as concentrated light popped the delicate organ. The irontusk screamed, shaking back and forth as it sought to drive Porkchop back.

Despite the constant harassment, Kaius knew in his bones that it had identified him as the true threat.

Pushing through its agony, its remaining eye swiveled back to him again, black and beady. The motion was constant – forced to pick between the mountainous beast in its face, and the ever present threat of his lightning.

It was a tragic sight, scorched, torn, and soaked in its own blood. Blackened and bubbled flesh made all the more grotesque by the writhing power of its health that raced to seal its wounds. Still it stood strong, ready to meet their challenge.

A mountain of weight heaved, the irontusk’s musculature rippling as it lurched towards him. Kaius readied himself, the scent of future danger filling the air as he waited for the creature’s coming move.

Its first foot smacked the ground. Doom screamed, and the ground shook, bucking underneath his feet like a raging bull. Kaius blanched, struggling to keep his footing.

It didn’t stop him tapping into his glyph. Baleful orange showered the ground in burning light as two spell-hymns burned in quick succession.

Thunder drowned out the irontusk’s constant call, lightning lashing the beast once, then twice – as fast as he could move through the motion.

The irontusk stayed steady, somehow unaffected by the shifting ground. Nor did it do much more than twitch in the face of his magical storm, even if he was sure that he had wrought havoc on its delicate internals.

It dropped its head, levelling its tusks, and bucked.

The metallic ivory of its natural weapons transmuted into spikes of true iron in an instant, lengthening into lethal spears.

The beast’s tusks glinted in the sun as they lanced towards him. A third skill, right on the back of its ability that shook the earth – and another where he had seen no accompanying flare of mana.

Kaius tried to dig his feet in, to twist his body and dive to the side. The ground dropped away, leaving him flailing.

Backed by insensate fury and primal strength, the beast’s right tusk hit him in his armoured stomach. Enchanted scale screeched with fury. Steel gave way before iron, buckling.

Lancing fire exploded through him, followed quickly by the creeping cold of shock as blood gushed from the ravaged channel of flesh and organs.

Agony bloomed.

Rapid Adaptation reacted quickly to the stenching presence of iron-aspected power, rejecting its presence and flaring with power as it sought to rebuff the assault.

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has added a new Resistance: Iron Magic!**

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 23!**.

…

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 25!**.

“Thank the gods,” he thought, shoving the pain down as he kicked back to unimpale himself.

Another resistance to aspected abilities, one that would toughen him against all such wounds in the future. The effect was slight beyond measure right now, but in the future it would grow into a significant boon.

That was for later, though. Right now he still had a tooth in his gut.

The irontusk heaved, ripping its head upwards before more than half a stride of its tusk had retracted from his chest.

Kaius tried to gasp, failing as the wound left him floundering, unable to pull in air.

The hook of the creature’s malevolent tooth snatched his rib. The bone held, and he left the ground as he was sent ragdolling through the air.

Kaius whipped his head around as he tumbled, vision sharpening as he tracked his trajectory, every sight available to him in crystal clarity.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 30!**

He watched his brother howl, incessant rage flooding the bond as he hit the undefended side of the irontusk in a windmill of tearing claws and slicing teeth. Kaius kept spinning, taking in the look of horror on Ianmus’s face, so far from the front lines of the battle. Their latest companion had already reacted, a cloud of Solar magic condensing around his head as the man worked the raw potential of the energy.

Health bloomed, igniting like a match in a grain mill as restorative energy tore through him. Flesh writhed, sealing blood vessels and reknitting skin and muscle alike. Between his growing Vitality and his Lesser Regeneration, the blow was little more than a flesh wound.

He could have survived it half a year ago. Now, it would barely slow him.

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 23!**

…

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 24!**

The ground approached. Kaius kicked, gasping as he took another sweet breath and forced his body to twist.

Landing in a crouch, he charged the irontusk, already fully focused on the ceaseless assault his brother laid against it. He watched its wounds, the way they writhed, sealing themselves.

They had ravaged the beast continuously, and while it was still slowly flagging, it was regenerating enough that it was in no way weakened.

He arrived, whirling his blade overhead to bring it down with his full body weight. A Father’s Gift cut deep into its thigh, splitting hide and muscle alike. Spinning away from the cut, Kaius unleashed another Stormlash, quickly binding its chest before he jumped back from a retaliatory twitching stomp.

Acrid and foul, the stench of melted flesh and burned hair filled the air.

The irontusk bellowed, goring his brother with a rapid buck of its head as its curved teeth transmuted and lengthened once more. Between the two prongs of their assault, it was growing desperate.

One tusk glanced off the thick jade plating on Porkchop’s chest, but another found purchase, punching through the gaps in his armour.

Porkchop coughed, blood foaming as the beast’s tusk punctured a lung.

It didn’t stop his brother in the slightest.

He wrenched himself off of the tusk without a moment’s hesitation, ignoring the gush of his lifeblood soaking into the dirt and filling the air with the scent of iron. With his powerful healing skill, the bleed was already stemming. Diving back in, Porkchop plunged his claws into the beast’s muzzle as it struggled to respond with its skill still in effect – the added length making its natural weapons cumbersome and unwieldy.

Claws of green crystal were stained red in moments. Porkchop ripped, tearing the beast’s nose half free.

Kaius didn’t let the moment go to waste, flying into a flurry of blows as he hacked and hacked at the widening wound on the giant’s leg. He might have barely come half way up its thigh, but he had learnt one thing against the Guardian.

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A bigger beast was just a bigger target.

Two more Stormlashes were interwoven into the sweeping blurs of his blade, Liturgical Bladeform guiding him through the rhythm of weaving his magic into his fighting style. The rhythm of steel and spell was coming to him, and while it was still a new dance, it was becoming more natural by the minute.

Chopping once more, he felt his blade bite bone. Feral delight split his face as the leg collapsed, muscle too severed to fully support its weight.

Squealing in panic, the irontusk flew into a fury. Relentless in its retaliation, it hammered Porkchop with the sides of its tusks before twisting as much as it was able to force him back.

Kaius ducked, slipping under the arm-thick bar of greyish ivory that threatened to crush his ribs. It whistled overhead, wind blowing with its passing.

Then, summer light bloomed, filling him and Porkchop both with the shining vitality of the sun.

**Ding! You have been Healed – Solar Manipulation!**

His health shot up. Not instantly, but a rise more prodigious than anything he could manage with the simple tonics they had used in the depths.

Still, it had been a lengthy spell to cast – much had happened in the time since Ianmus had started to channel. The weakness of free casting, but its flexibility was proven in how Ianmus was able to adjust it to heal them both on the fly.

Gasping at the radiant warmth that suffused him, Kaius twisted, and thrust. The point of his sword punched deep into the irontusk’s neck that loomed above him. Blood spouted, coating his face in the sticky scent of victory.