Runeblade

Kaius could feel Old Thousand Eyes dropping from the cavern ceiling at a steep dive, drawing closer by the moment. It would only take seconds for it to arrive, but with his mental stats raising his perception so high the time stretched.

It was agonising, like watching a headsman's axe head straight for his neck.

Running as fast as he dared, Kaius sailed a half dozen strides with every step. It was nowhere near enough. Even at a dead run, it would still take ten minutes to reach the relative safety of the far shore.

He restrained from burning any of his Aelina spells. Far more important that he save them to dodge.

Ahead of him, he watched Kenva start to pull away — running away from Porkchop's shielding bulk. It didn't look like a conscious thing, just the primal instinct to run as fast as possible when pursued by a predator.

It would get her killed. Spread out, a flying enemy like the Champion would pick them off one by one — together they could at least attempt to cover for each other.

"No! Keep close — enough distance to evade but no more!"

Kenva looked back sharply, noticing the longstrides she had put between her and the rest of the group. She slowed, just barely enough to stay within four or five paces of Ianmus, their slowest member.

The Champion kept coming.

A league.

A half league.

A quarter.

A shrill shriek cut through the mist, so high pitched that it would have been inaudible to him if his stats were any lower. It cut like broken glass, a ragged gasp slipping out as Kaius involuntarily slapped his palms over his ears. His party fared no better, Ianmus half stumbling at the sudden sonic assault.

**Ding! You have challenged a Champion: Old Thousand Eyes!**

It was here.

Kaius snatched a glance and saw a twisted monstrosity. Calling the thing a grotesque bat would have been a kind understatement. Its head was oversized and bulbous, more akin to a flat nosed cat than a flying mouse. Bald and disfigured, it was covered in raised ridges that surrounded hundreds of eyes no bigger than an acorn — each sunken deep into its skull.

The eyes weren't clustered, instead scattered evenly across the entirety of its skull.

A second pair of wings were wrapped tight around its body, just behind the first — almost hidden in the ash grey fuzz that covered the creature's muscular body.

It opened a maw large enough to bite him in half, a dozen eyes on its lips blinking as tightly clustered needle-teeth were revealed — each pointing at a slightly different angle.

Kaius felt a flush of cold.

The Champion flared its wings, pulling out of its dive to swoop straight for Kaius.

His instincts were good. His mind was fast. He wouldn't make it if he tried to leap out of the way. It was all too clear from the insistent flood of images from his Glass Mind. He could react fast enough — his body was just too slow.

At the speed of thought, Kaius burnt a charge of Expedient Shunt. The spell detonated behind him, momentarily clearing the mist.

A shriek rattled him to the bone, the beast shading him with its wings as it flashed above him. It snapped at him, close enough that he felt the heat of its rancid breath on the back of his neck. Icy adrenaline pumped through his veins, his focus narrowing to a razor's edge.

Another scream, this time drawing one of his own from his lips. It felt like fire, like having his head hammered on by a blacksmith, like a redhot spike of iron had been driven into his ears to boil his brain.

He stumbled, fumbling his landing as everything went silent, hot blood dribbling out of his ears. The world went sideways, his sense of balance rebelling against him as his gorge rose.

It was only by the dint of his Dexterity that he managed to keep his feet under him.

His team were similarly affected, grabbing at their ears as their mouths opened with silent cries on their lips. Each of them wavered like they'd drunk a dozen flagons of gutrot, their pace slowing.

Kaius couldn't watch for the Champion, needing to focus on his steps to keep himself steady. His Glass Mind went to work, closely following his innate sense of the Champion's distance and bearing. It was banking a couple of hundred long-strides out over the water, circling through the mist to come at them for another pass.

As a miniscule amount of his health burned, the sound of the roaring river returned.

"It's coming for another pass! On our left!"

His scream was cut off by another shriek. The stabbing pain returned, but the beast was far off enough that it didn't have the punch to deafen them once again.

Ahead of him, he saw Kenva turn and draw her bow mid-step, mana supercharging her arrow as she loosed a spear sized shot in a single fluid motion.

Another scream came from the beast, this time one of pain — her shot had landed.

Kaius scowled when he felt the creature still approaching, undeterred by its wounds. When it was within a hundred long-strides, he reached for Drakthar.

Pale blue light illuminated the mists as his spell crackled and burned its way towards the grey streak that approached, a wardrum of thunder booming.

The Champion spasmed, its wings snapping half closed. The stun of his Lash lasted for barely a moment. It was enough for the beast to swerve to the side, carrening downwards towards the raging white water below.

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His heart leapt — hoping beyond hope that they would be so lucky! It was a joy cut short, the beast's wings snapping open to pull itself out of its unintended dive.

Kaius snapped his head to the right and saw it swoop away from them, flying close to the water. Beating its wings, it started to rise, banking around for another turn.

Mana swirled around Ianmus's staff, his running pace momentarily slowing as a hastily woven Sundrenched Strength erupted to land across all four of them.

New vigour burned in Kaius's marrow, speeding his steps and stoking the faintest glimmer of confidence in his heart. They hadn't seen its full bag of tricks, but they could do this — all they needed to do was make it to the other side of the river. The undergrowth should, would, be enough to hamper its flight.

Old Thousand Eyes did not take kindly to Ianmus's spell. The Champion flared its wings, its maw twisting into a vicious snarl as it hung in place and stared at their mage. Mana surged, building in its throat.

Kaius drew a deep breath — of all of them, Ianmus was least able to dodge.

"It's going for Ianmus!"

Porkchop didn't respond. Strong legs coiled beneath his brother, the surge of Stamina palpable through their bond.

The Champion barked, a visible line of force tearing through the air.

Lunging, Porkchop placed himself between their mage and the approaching attack. The cutting edge of the ability smashed into Porkchop's back, sending him stumbling as he let out a pained growl. Blood dripped from his mouth, staining his teeth.

Furious at his brother's persistence, Old Thousand Eyes tucked its wings in tight and dove. A snapping bite slid of his brother's pauldron, before the Champion flew past once more.

"Don't get hit by that skill! It went right through my heavy-plate — without my under armour and Constitution my organs would be soup."

Kaius grit his teeth, keeping a wary eye on the Champion's flight.

They kept running.

Again and again it banked and dived, harrowing them with screams so forceful they cut like knives, and dazed like a hammer to the skull. It was a constant harassment that drained their resources slowly but steadily. Fast and nimble, with endless open sky to maneuver through, the wagon-sized bat was almost impossible to pin down.

They did their best to strike back, pelting the Champion with spells and arrows whenever it came into range. It was frustratingly ineffective.

The Champion had caught their measure, flaring and baiting attacks when it could, and banking and swooping when they so much as twitched. Sure, they'd managed to land the odd Lash or Lance, but it did little more than drain a small fraction of the creature's Health. It had as much time as it wanted to fully recover — able to fly out of their effective range.

Ianmus wanted to help — of any of them, he was the best positioned to hit it before it could dodge. Kaius refused. His channeling was too focus intensive — would be too slowing.

Their assault could wait until they reached the far bank. Saving their Resources until they got there was far more important.

Not that that was easy.

As much as they tried, each and every one of them suffered under Old Thousand Eyes' constant harassment.

In the five minutes he'd been running, Kaius had had his arm broken from being clipped by the Champion's wing, had a chunk torn out of his shoulder when one of its jutting fangs had gouged him, and had his back torn open from a glancing blow of its claws.

The last one had been a surprise. Its legs had been tucked up tight into the dense fur that covered its body — hiding the knifelike natural weapons it sported. When he'd dodged another snapping bite with a hasty cast of Slip Step, the Champion had banked, raking him as it passed.

Porkchop had his dome rattled twice, lacking the skills to avoid what the rest of them could. It was only by dint of his bulk and armour making his brother an unpalatable target that he hadn't been chipped away at endlessly.

Ianmus and Kenva had suffered the worst of it though. After testing their defences again and again, the Champion realised that they were the weak link — slower, weaker, and more fragile.

Half of his and Porkchop's wounds had come from shoving their backline out of the way to take a hit that would have left them crippled and immobile — a death sentence in their current circumstances.

As much as he might have wished it wasn't so, they had almost nothing to show for their constant attempts at wearing the Champion down. Other than its sonic scream and the cutting wave of force, it had saved the rest of its skills.

He knew not why it would reserve itself — it ran counter to the blind aggression he was used to from depthsborn. It didn't matter — the Champion was fresher than they were.

If the jungle didn't provide the advantage he hoped…no, there would be a solution. There always was.

They'd find out soon. The arch of stone had long since begun to dip as the green growth of the jungle grew visible to Kaius's team.

"Run! Run! We're almost there!" he screamed, diving into a roll as he fired a Hateful Nail. It slammed into Old Thousand Eyes' stomach.

They ran, diving into the brush less than a minute later.

For a moment, Kaius felt nothing but relief as his heart pounded in his chest — a constant drum fueled by the exertion and stress of their flight.

It was only a moment — the fern overhead burst into shards, a beam of concentrated sonic energy ripping through the undergrowth, and scouring a line in between him and Kenva. A new Skill.

The Champion itself followed close behind, diving for the range with its claws outstretched.

Trained and ready, vines exploded from her calves to launch her to safety. She was a hair too slow, the Champion tearing a rent through her leg as her blood spilled to the earth below.

Beating its wings, it rose back into the open air between the forest of ferns and the jungle canopy far above. Kaius felt sick to his stomach. His hopes had been dashed — it hadn't been hampered even a tenth of what he'd expected.

The jungle trees were spread too wide and were too tall: it had all the space it needed to continue chipping away at them.

There had to be something! This couldn't continue, it was a slow grind that would wear them down to dust. They needed to bring it down, ground it so that they could destroy its greatest strength — its mobility.

But the blasted thing was too fast! Too strong! If they stood and fought, it would be able to pick them off, focused as it was on their vulnerable backline.

He grit his teeth and ran — something would come to him.