B4 Chapter 488: Plight of the Living, pt. 6

Surrounded by the dying cries of beasts, Kaius’s pillars started to flare.

Every minute of their battle was more chaotic than the last. It was only by dint of their overwhelming strength, the speed of their flight, and the mindless aggression of their opponents that they survived.

If they were a little weaker, a little slower, they would have been overrun in moments. If the Tyrant’s army had any semblance of coordination, they would have been outmanevered.

For all their advantages, they still struggled. Since Ophelia’s last trip, the Pegleg had been hammered. Slick with the gore of the fallen, its hull was dented — even torn in places, when they’d been too slow to slay beasts with armour-penetrating abilities. Kaius was astonished that all eight of the landyacht’s spider-like limbs still functioned. Bloody hells, two of them sparked with every step.

It was, perhaps, the single most frustrating battle of Kaius’s life. None of them were suited for a protracted battle on open ground like this. They couldn’t even use their speed!

Yet a dozen souls relied on them — shielded by the dubious security of their vessel.

That pressure, that responsibility, weighed heavily. It was a pressure that hammered in time with his heart, sinking deep into his very soul. A new kind, one he wasn’t used to.

He was no stranger to the risk of death, but it was something he had always faced personally. A looming spectre he could fight off with faith in his own capabilities, and trust in the strength of his companions. He knew what was too much — when they should flee, regroup, or fight to the bitter end.

This? A ceaseless battle against an army? Every instinct screamed that the best they could hope for was the grinding defeat of attrition. They should use their superior speed to flee for the walls of Deadacre, where fortifications and allies would balance the scales.

He only had to sign away the lives of twelve innocents if he wanted to do that.

So he fought on, and essence flowed within him.

The energy boiled, absorbed by his pillars haphazardly without the direction of cycling.

His Aspects may as well have been an iron fortress for how little they changed. Kaius could feel the bottleneck of the first stage of refinement like never before. He was so close — but there was no time to sit down and force the transition. Not in the middle of a battle.

Kaius saw a flash out of the corner of his eye — a beast, dead behind the Pegleg. Some kind of giant, scaled rodent, its natural armour gleamed like burnished brass. Mana was coalescing in its claws — yet another Skill.

Heat flushed through his veins; Kaius kicked off as a Shunt exploded behind him. Ianmus was right in the beast’s sights, and he wasn’t going to take any chances.

A secondary detonation halted his advance, and Kaius touched down at the rear of the vessel. The rodent swiped — fingerlength claws raking a path through the air, a gleaming trail of energy hanging behind them for a bare moment.

Three carving arcs of energy shot straight for him. Kaius narrowed his eyes, lashing out with his blade in a rising parry. The beast’s skill might have been ephemeral in nature, but A Father’s Gift cared not one whit.

His sword cut the energy blades like they were solid, shattering the ability mid-flight. Shards of remnant metal-attuned mana crashed against his scalemail — leaving a sting like he had been slapped.

Kaius moved on, darting to his left where a beetle the size of his torso was clambering over the edge of the deck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an arrow pulp the rodent utterly.

Diving into a lunge, Kaius thrust through the beetle’s head. Sparks erupted from its shell — racing up his blade. He grunted roughly, muscles in his arms seizing. The beetle’s retributive strike proved its undoing when Kaius’s spasm caused him to rip his blade sideways. The creature’s carapace ripped open with a crack, ichor spilling in a wave.

**Ding! You have slain Brassy Glintshell – Level 108 Steelback! Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying a foe of significantly lower level!**

Continuing his nonstop movement, Kaius felt the familiar heat of essence through his bond. Porkchop’s aspects were flaring as well, incensed by his own war on the ground beneath the hull of their landyacht.

It didn’t take long for that same welling of power to surge within Ianmus and Kenva. It was visible thanks to Truesight — a tiny mote of unmistakable strength that ebbed and flowed within the depths of their core.

It might have been miniscule at their current stage of the path, but there was no mistaking essence. It had a tangibility, and a visceral potency that mana lacked.

“The other’s too?” Porkchop asked, feeling what he had noticed through their bond.

“Yeah,” Kaius replied, even as he fired off one of his precious Nails at a lithe beast that leapt for Kenva’s back with its horn leveled.

“At least these mindless weaklings are good for something.”

Kaius grinned, as his heart pounded in time with the flow of essence within him. He did have to admit that it felt good to cut loose a little. Nothing quite hammered in how much he had grown like slaughtering Iron and Steel beasts by the dozen. Barely more than a year ago just one of these creatures would have proven a life or death battle.

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Hell, two years ago even finding one would have been a notable occurrence in the Frontier. Beasts used to be rare in previously low-mana zones, let alone ones of this strength.

He just wished that they weren’t the only things separating their charges from certain death.

Risking a glance towards the east, Kaius focused his Truesight. His eyes widened as he just barely made out the familiar grey stone of Deadacre’s walls peaking over the horizon.

“I see Deadacre!” he called, redoubling his efforts as the sight of their goal soothed some of the burn in his limbs.

They were close! Ophelia would be returning soon, and they would be able to make their final dash to the city alone and unburdened.

Ianmus and Kenva both smiled, buoyed by the news.

“Thank the gods! My head is pounding.” Ianmus replied, simultaneously casting a ray from his hand as another bolt of solar magic erupted from his keyseal.

No wonder the mage had a headache, he’d been channeling without break since they’d first reached the fleeing villagers over an hour ago. No doubt the mana restoration tonics he’d been quaffing whenever he got the opportunity hadn’t helped things.

Falling into a rhythm, Kaius flowed through the battle — wrecking havoc against any beast that dared try for his backline. It was a hypnotic dance, no individual beast strong enough to push him to the point of madness — even if the constant crush forced him to a pace where he had no time to think.