B2 Chapter 184: Mistakes, finale.

Kaius drank in the battlefield, every fibre of his being in tune with the moment.

The infernus hound was battered, its coat reduced to a raw patchy mass of oozing flesh and blackened skin thanks to his spells—it’s clear resistance to fire no help against the power of Storm. Rents had been torn open in its hide from blade and claw alike, revealing glistening strands of muscle that bulged and tensed with every move.

Yet its health was burning—the cuts slowly sealing with supernatural vigour. That, and the beast was far tougher than others they had faced. Despite its wounds, despite the ragged state of its body, it fought on unhindered.

He could only count his blessings that it had no additional regeneration abilities. The healing was slow, and they were steadily wearing it down.

Porkchop mauled the hound, falling into a controlled assault. There were no wild, unthinking lashes of his claws. Instead his brother moved with intention. He rolled and flowed with the flow of the battle, always moving just right to take as much of a blow as he could on his heavy plate.

Every opening was punished, snapping jaws smashed shut and clawing limbs batted away as he plunged his own thick natural weapons into the infurnus hound’s delicate flesh.

The beast was barely keeping up. Kaius felt it as his Toolkit thrummed, an opening they could capitalise on.

And as he knew, his brother knew too—the strength of their bond rendering communication pointless.

A deafening crack echoed off the hard stone walls as he raked the beast’s form with another Stormlash. Surprised as it was, there was no moment for it to brace.

**Ding! Resonance Amplification has reached level 30!**

Whining in agony, smoke rose from its body as he savaged its internals.

With a great heave, Porkchop lunged in with supernatural weight behind his steps. Colliding with bone shuddering force, the hound was shoved to the side, unsteady and stumbling.

Already in position, Kaius swept A Father’s Gift into a high-guard. He slashed with everything he had, back engaging as he pivoted through his hips.

Careening through the air, his blade burned with the inner fire of his Bladerite, before its jagged crystalline edge cut deep into the muscles and structure of its knee.

Growling in fury, the hound snapped at him with finger-length teeth.

Transferring his weight to his front foot, Kaius twirled his blade with a twist of his wrists. Honed steel slammed into the beast’s muzzle, slamming it away and scouring bone.

Another flash of burning lightning scoured its flesh, giving him the time he needed to dance back.

Before he could move back into rengage, a burning beam of light appeared within a handspan of his chest. It lanced across the room, stinging his eyes with its luminance before the spell wrought havoc and terror on the infernus hound.

Potent and charged with minutes of channelling, the beam of solar energy lanced straight into the leg he had just injured.

Kaius should have been blinded by the brilliance, but with his True Sight at work, he watched flesh immolate and dissolve, ligaments sear, and bones blacken.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 39!**

A terrible wound, the worst they had wrought in their battle by far, but far less injurious than he had been expecting. Infused with flaming magic, the beast seemed to have some sort of resistance to the blinding heat.

Regardless, the beast was hobbled, its leg falling limp as every structure in its lower thigh boiled and burned.

The beast whined, lunging away from the beam, before the spell finally winked out.

A potent attack. One that had almost gotten him.

“Cutting it a little close, don’t you think!” Kaius called back to the mage without looking, already racing forward in unison with his brother to press their advantage.

“Best shot in Sunspire!” Ianmus yelled back, his breathing laborious.

Whatever the drain he had felt, the mage was obviously not ready to take his leave of the battle. Before Kaius had made even three more steps, a familiar bloom of invigoration grew within him.

**Ding! You have been Enhanced – Sundrenched Strength!**

Porkchop reached the infernus hound first, a rolling growl reverberating in his barrel chest as a jade wall slammed into the beast from behind, shunting it directly into the reach of his claws.

The hound lurched, tapping into a skill as it blurred back out of reach. Far less agile than before, even with the added speed it was a stumbling run with one of its legs almost completely hobbled.

Fixing them with a furious snarl, mana bloomed within the beast’s chest. With the increased acuity of his mana sight with his growing levels, Kaius knew that it was something different.

Something that needed to be channeled.

Uncanny Dodge screamed a warning.

“Wall!” he yelled to his brother, sprinting to his side.

The sense of danger grew.

Skidding to his brother’s side, he hunkered down behind Porkchop’s flank as a wall of jade erupted in front of them.

Not a moment too soon.

The hound detonated.

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With the beast as the epicentre, an explosion of fire bloomed. As the potent magic hit Porkchop’s Shardwall, the jade rocked back, cracking with the force of the collision.

Even saving them from the worst of the blast, fire washed over it in a spilling wave—draping over them in a cloak of pain and bubbling flesh.

Kaius held his breath as agony assaulted him from every angle. His clothes smouldered, and the metal of his armour grew to searing heats. Even with the magic resistance of his Serellian Scale, he was barely protected.

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 29!**

**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 32!**

Health tore through his system—spreading itself thin to regenerate burnt flesh. It only served to keep his agony fresh, nerves constantly regenerating to be tortured anew.

In the end, it was Rapid Adaptation that let him persevere. Fire was one of the oldest of his affinities, and with the surging power of his skill battling against the pervasive aspected magic, the infernus hound’s flames struggled to penetrate more than skin deep.

And yet, the fires didn’t end, the hound continuing to channel as his health burned precipitously. It was committed, burning every last scrap of its mana in an attempt to take them out.

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 30!**

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 30!**

Porkchop didn’t have the same advantages. Oh, his brother weathered the storm with sheer grit, toughness, and health, but it was wearing him down far faster.

The fires gutted out, and with the storm of fire gone, Porkchop’s injuries were revealed in their full gorey details.