Chapter 29: Training

A month. A whole bloody month. More than a month, in actuality. Kaius was sure that his bruises had bruises, Health or no. A whole damn month of being Porkchop’s chew toy. Tossed around the graveyard like a sack of flour. He never seemed to run out of energy. Never seemed to get tired of having the upper hand.

Hells! Kaius was pretty sure that the fact he was so totally out outmatched made the whole thing more fun to Porkchop! He had gotten better at least. He didn’t get thrown around nearly as much in their most recent tussles. Kaius chose to simply ignore the fact that Porkchop was definitely moving a lot slower than he could.

It was so worth it. His growth had been explosive. At first, he had been worried that without the mortal threat of true combat his skills would stall. That his timeline would be set back, no matter how much sense it made for his safety.

The sheer physical superiority Porkchop had over him had reduced that drawback to almost nothing. The meles was seemingly a prodigy at controlling his strength. No matter what he did, the meles was just that much stronger and faster than him, pushing him to his absolute limit. As Kaius’s skills had grown, so had the pressure. Kaius improved his Parry and Footwork just enough to start avoiding blows? Porkchop sped up. His Armour and Block skills improved to let him hold his ground? Porkchop would hit harder, forcing him back.

Now he only had a few more levels left before he was ready to merge his next legacy skill.

He stood out in the opening they had created in the graveyard, Porkchop directly across from him. He’d discarded his breastplate in favour of chain. He’d fully capped Heavy Armour Mastery over a week ago, the process leaving the metal of the armour bent and dented. Almost entirely useless now.

The field was torn to shreds, great gouts of earth ripped free from the ground from the way Porkchop dug his claws in to gain traction. Shattered cobblestones littered the edges of their impromptu area. They’d done their best to clear them, but he’d been thrown through more than one after an overzealous blow.

“Last one, yeah?” Porkchop asked, anticipation flowing over their ever strengthening link.

“Yeah. Just a level of Block and Medium Armour Mastery.” Kaius called out, his own excitement visible in the smile on his face.

“Ready?” Porkchop asked.

“Ready.” He nodded, settling into his stance.

Porkchop dug his claws into the earth and tore another rent into the ground, stout claws kicking up a cloud of dirt. Accelerating to full speed in a single bound.

Kaius held his trusty scabbard at the ready. No longer awkward in his grip after a month of full contact sparring. Reaching him in under a second, Porkchop feinted a tackle. Kaius pivoted to the side, stepping to avoid the charging hulk of muscle and fur.

Dragging his claws on the ground, Porkchop used the leverage to bring himself up short. A heavy paw lashed out, coming down over Kaius’s head. He reacted, slamming out with his ‘blade’ to block the strike, maximising his leverage by catching the blow close to his hands.

Porkchop simply pushed down harder.

The weight of the beast was overwhelming. Forcing Kaius’s guard back, his hands shaking. He was allowed to struggle for a bit, to strain into the block. Then Porkchop smacked him with his other paw, claws raking against his chainmail.

He wasn’t gentle. Even when pulling his blows.

Kaius stumbled back, gasping from the impact. Steadying his footing he dove back in, warding Porkchop off with a stab to the face. He reacted like it was a naked blade. Darting to the side before closing in to batter Kaius once again.

Claws clattered on Kaius’s sheath. A hasty block that barely held.

Porkchop gave him no quarter, slamming his other paw towards him. Kaius stepped back, catching the blow. He tried to carry through into a stab, aiming for his friend’s undefended chest.

Porkchop dropped back down to all fours, drawing back and then throwing himself forwards into a heavy shoulder barge. Moving faster than Kaius could bring the point of his scabbard around to ward off the approach.

A fluffy black and red shoulder hit him in the chest.

Hard.

Wind exploded from his chest. He gasped, stumbling to the ground. Porkchop dove forwards, massive jaws clamping over his shoulder. Gently.

Well, gentle enough not to pierce the chain or crack his bones at least.

Porkchop heaved. Throwing Kaius across the field with casual ease.

A panicked yell left his throat as Kaius sailed through the air, dazed at the sudden rough treatment. He landed on a stray tombstone with a crash, stone cracking painfully against his spine. Heat flushed through his body as a trickle of health was consumed to recover from the impact. Porkchop was already approaching, charging him with manic glee.

“Shit!” Kaius just barely managed to roll to the side before the oversized ball of fluffy murder pounced on his chest. He rolled to his feet, bringing his scabbard up just in time to block a heavy swipe of the meles claws. A clack echoed through the yard.

The scabbard reverberating painfully in his hands, Kaius stepped back, thwacking Porkchop over the head as he disengaged from their bind. Huffing in annoyance, his friend redoubled his assault.

Kaius gave ground.

Every step back was a struggle, his strength barely enough to hold up a semblance of defence in the face of Porkchop’s animalistic aggression. A standing headstone bumped into his rear. No more retreat.

Porkchop reared up, paws descending towards him in an overhand slam.

Kaius blanched.

His hands slid down his scabbard as he quickly shifted his grip closer to hold it like a quarterstaff. He all but threw his scabbard upwards, holding it like a horizontal bar to block the blow.

Heavy claws hit Kaius’s defence. He bucked. Falling down to one knee, arms trembling overhead as they burned with the strain of holding the meles back. Kaius grunted, straining against the overwhelming weight. Transitioning to a roar as he drove his feet into the ground. Forcing himself to stand.

He shoved against Porkchop’s claws. Trying to get the meles off him. He dropped his left arm, suddenly pushing sideways rather than up.

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With a yelp Porkchop fell to the side, landing roughly on all fours.

Kaius let out a victorious yell. He adjusted his grip on his scabbard. Readying himself to rap Porkchop over the head.

**Ding! Warforged has reached level 20!**

**Ding! Block has reached level 20!**

He stopped fast. Scabbard hovering a handspan from the meles head.

“I got it! And Warforged too!”

Porkchop span on him, hoofing in excitement as he butted his head against Kaius’s chest.

“Yay! Why did Warforged take so long? We have done so much fighting?”

Kaius laughed, still thrilled at the unexpected gain.

“It’s a skill for multiple weapons. I’ve just been using sword styles for a long time now. Not really enough to really stretch the skill. Blocking like I had a quarterstaff must have been enough.” He explained, grabbing Porkchop in a playful headlock as they walked back to the centre of the clearing.