B2 Chapter 173: The First Job, Finale

The assassin spider watched them from a wary distance, lurching back and forth on its five remaining legs. Ichor coated it utterly, newly fused chitin and scorched ash showing the remnants of their assault. Stubbed limbs wiggled with a furor, the beast still instinctively trying to use them in unison with its remaining limbs.

Glistening compound eyes stared at them with malevolence. Watching.

Waiting.

The moment stretched as they evaluated each other, watching for a moment of distraction or weakness.

Kaius knew that it wasn’t over, not by a long shot. With all its low-born intelligence and base instinct, this was a killer. An apex predator. Shadow drenched rogue or not, it would not take their challenge lying down.

He didn’t want it to.

Oh, they were battered and bruised. Venom still coursed through his veins, sapping at his energy and destroying him from within. Blood still poured from the hole their enemy had torn straight through his brother, pooling on the hard packed dirt like liquid ruby.

It only heightened his delight. His conviction.

His adamant-bound certainty that they would win. That this was merely another step on his journey. Wounds that would have killed them with a certainty mere months ago now barely slowed them, their endurance enabling them to persevere even as their skill empowered health boiled to seal their wounds.

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 27!**

The spider was tough, and strong. But it wasn’t enough to stop him. Eventually, nothing would be. His destiny lay at the pinnacle.

Every broken bone, pint of blood, and stride of rent flesh was in service of that. A slow and painful climb, but one that never stopped, and never retreated.

The spider was an obstacle. Its destiny was to be consumed, refined, and used to lay a block on his foundation that would one day tower to the heavens.

Every wound, every drop of blood spilled, only refined him. Made him sharper, tougher, and more enduring. If need be, he would hammer on the barriers to his ascension with mangled stumps until they shattered and then use the bloodsoaked shards to pave his way forward.

Mentis called out in delight, and he knew it to be truth.

The resonance inflamed the Blood Song within him, drowning out the feverish battle of Rapid Adaptation and the venom within him. It met the resonance in a symphony, backed by the staccato percussion of his pounding heart and the heavy rush of his lungs pulling at the iron-scented air with jealousy.

A lesser man might have pulled back from the rush of pure vital focus and joy that came from the Song. He did not, and nor did his brother.

Porkchop’s own song thrummed across their bond. The vibrant fuel of battle surging within him. The need to feel chitin crushed beneath his claws, ichor spraying to coat him wholesale. There was a depth of primal violence there, directed and constrained by a mind that bent raw aggression towards his own ends.

A bloody, satisfied grin split his face. Pondering upon the cry of his pillar could wait, now it was time to focus on the coming bloodshed.

The moment ended as the assassin spider broke first, and their battle restarted in earnest.

A chittering cry roiled from deep within the spider, sounding like the grinding crush of rocks being rubbed together. Ominous, and filled with fury.

Sacs beneath its mandibles swelled once more as it reared back, quickly followed by two streams of venom that sprayed out in a thick cone.

Porkchop was ready, as soon as their opponent had so much as twitched, he was already plunging his claws downwards, stamina flooding his body.

A wall of jade erupted, spat venom splashing harmlessly over its pure surface. The wall rocketed out, pressuring the spider.

Kaius raced in as light beams split the sky once more, Ianmus having repositioned to land his shots perfectly—searing the still open wounds in the creature’s carapace to slow its healing. Rounding the wall, he caught sight of it once more as it lurched sideways to dodge Porkchop’s sudden attack.

Starting slightly, he saw it…twist, blurring slightly as mana started to glow from within. His eyes ached for a moment and his head throbbed, but only that, and the spider appeared clear once more in his vision.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 38!**

“Kaius! It split in three!” Porkchop called, frustrated rumbles echoing across the road.

An illusion, he realised. One that hadn’t affected him. “I see it.” he responded, a feral glee welling up within him.

The assassin spider charged, sure in its obfuscation. Utterly certain in its primitive mind that he had fallen under its spell, it made no attempt at discretion, racing directly for him with its fangs writhing through the air.

Kaius raced in uncaring. At the final moment, right when the spider was poised to skewer him through the chest, he moved.

The air screamed as it was torn by the speed of his slashes, blurring blade smashing aside the thrust with ease. He stepped in, lightning streaming from his hand, scouring his opponent from within. Bending at the waist to slip past a lunging bite, he tapped into his Bladerite, sword lighting with internal fire.

A smooth step to the side, and he returned to a two-handed grip as he snapped into a high guard and hacked at the spider’s grotesque face.

It lurched, just barely managing to move one foreleg into the way of his assault, chitin crunched as he cut his way halfway through.

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Squeels resounded, furious and pained.

Thrashing, the spider fell into a barely controlled storm of stabbing limbs and gnashing bites. The wound on its leg bubbled, healing enough to take its weight—though he still saw the chinks in its armour.

Kaius’s heart quickened, black and grey blurring through the air as he hammered blows aside, leveraging all of his skill and strength to transfer his weight and momentum into a tight dance of parries.

Step by step he was forced back.

**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 38!**.

Each blow carried the weight of a mountain, his blade ringing like a struck bell as his opponent hammered his guard. With every peel, his blade jumped in his hand from the force of the collisions, forcing him to tighten his grip. Not for the first time, he cursed the siege ogre for taking his fingers.

Worse, he couldn’t block everything. It was his single sword against a flurry of stabbing limbs and a hungry maw. Kaius saved himself from the worst, but for every three attacks he turned away, one found him out of position. He was too slow.

Steel-hard chitin punched through his armour effortlessly, lances of agony blooming as they tore through his flesh, lacerating his muscles as if they were softly woven cloth. Burning health did what it could, his flesh roiling as it worked to heal the grievous wounds, but he was flagging. Slowed as he was by the remnants of the venom, the wounds only worsened his ability to keep up.

At least the pain was nothing, not with how familiar he was with its touch.

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 26!**

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