Runeblade-Chapter 222B2 : Growing Problems, pt. 2

Snapping to the left, Kaius planted his weight and brought his blade up into a hanging guard.

The dog-beast that had been trying to rush him yelped, cutting itself deep on the angled edge of A Father’s Gift.

Focused and calm, he reset his blade, and slashed through its skull.

**Ding! Savage Hound - Level 30 Slain, Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying an enemy of Insignificant Strength!**

They were weak. Easy to kill. Even if there were a few dozen of them, they had nowhere near the numbers or organisation to overwhelm him like had happened with the bogglings.

A roar sounded from behind him, supported by half a dozen terrified yips as Porkchop tore his way through a milling group of the pack.

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Neither of them were using their skills—there was no need, and with the watching guards they’d give too much away. They didn’t need stories of unknown magic and warbeasts summoning suits of armour to make their way around town.

Not that all of the guards were standing in defence of their fallen by the gate.

As Kaius hacked his way through the handful of dogs that circled him warily, he spotted two tribunes—the lowest of common command ranks—leading their men into a charge. In groups of four—the highest one could go before more intensive experience penalties set in—they raced into the fray with leveled spears and heavy tower shields.

Curious at their sudden nerve, Kaius identified one of the front runners—hoping the rudeness would be forgiven in the current circumstances, if it was noticed at all.

Human - level 38

Striker

Disciplined and focused, the men were silent in their approach other than the rhythmic pounding of their heavy boots.

Absorbed as the hounds were in the aggressive devastation that he and Porkchop wrought in their midst, they missed the charge right up until the first of them screamed in agony as a stride of steel and three of wood punched straight through the back of its waist.

Kaius moved, seizing the moment. A thrust punched through the ear of a hound to his front that had snapped its head over to the newest threat in surprise.

**Ding! Savage Hound - Level 32 Slain, Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying an enemy of Insignificant Strength!**

He stepped out of his lunge, a dragging slash severing the shoulder muscles of the hound to the left of the corpse leaking blood from its ears. Movement caught his attention—heart pulsing to the rhythm of his blade. A carry through chop cut through the spine of a hound that lunged in with a snarl.

**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 64!**

With their bodies broken, both the hounds fell limp.

Driving back their baying allies, Kaius finished them off, bone crunching as his bladepoint slid effortlessly through their skulls.

**Ding! Savage Hound - Level 34 Slain, Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying an enemy of Insignificant Strength!**

…

**Ding! Savage Hound - Level 29 Slain, Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying an enemy of Insignificant Strength!**

Mechanical work—but it was good to get the blood pumping.

Watching out of the corner of his eye, Kaius noted the smooth precision with which the tribunes commanded their men. Curt shouts preceded practiced teamwork, spearmen charging forwards with their shields held out to drive the hounds back, while one of their companions separated one beast from the greater pack with a flurry of jabs.

Another barked command, and the team smoothly rotated through their formation, turning to pincer the isolated hound in a sudden flash of violence.

They stepped back, revealing a limp body leaking blood from punctured holes in its chest and head.

One of the tribunes caught his eye, giving him a nod of respect and gratitude.

Kaius grinned back, before a yelping dog covered in bone deep claw wounds sailed through the air, landing at his feet.

Relaxed and smooth, he drove his blade down—feeling the kicking impact as it drove clean through the stunned beast and rammed into the hardened dirt beneath.

When another hound tried its luck, Kaius kicked it in the chest. Ribs cracked as the beast went flying back, tumbling uncontrollably as his enhanced strength sent it flying into a handful of hounds that had started to harry the guardsmen that had moved to help them cull the threat.

It was a simple fight, but one that still had joy to it. Half a year ago, a pack of this size and level would have torn him and Porkchop to shreds. In comparison, now he was cutting his way through their numbers with contemptuous ease without a single class skill.

Seeing the direct results of his labour laid out so plainly was enough to warm Kaius’s heart, a small smile creeping up his lips as contentment put a spring in his step.

It didn’t take much longer for the hounds to break. With half their number laying shattered and cold on the ground, it was obvious even to their simple minds that they were utterly outmatched now that Kaius and Porkchop had joined the fray.

It was a sudden thing—the way the pack’s snarling barks turned to fearful yips, the pack turning tail and sprinting for the plains.

Porkchop tried to draw them back in with a Bulwark’s Challenge, but it seemed with their spirit thoroughly broken, there was too little aggression for the skill to inflame into madness. If anything it made the problem worse—the hounds nearly falling over themselves in their haste to escape the apex predator who had roared at them in fury.

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Kaius frowned as he watched them flee. Letting them escape felt wrong. The beasts had already proven themselves willing to assault men, and farms lay in every direction. No doubt they’d rally and start their hunt anew soon enough.

Unfortunately, there was little he could do.

Weak they may have been, the dogs were swift, quickly tearing away from Deadacre in a cloud of dust. Catching them was unlikely, and they’d no doubt scatter as soon as he set out in pursuit.

Thankfully, the archers on the city walls had no compunctions about spending arrows like they were yesterday’s bread.

Bolt after bolt was loosed, blurred streaks enhanced by skills as they buried themselves in hound-flesh with unerring accuracy.

A third of the pack either dropped dead, or stumbled and fell—dying shortly after as follow up shots picked off the unmoving targets.

There were at least a dozen more who managed to escape, however, and Kaius could only hope that this disaster had beaten some fear into the beast’s brains.

As much as he tried, he couldn’t quell all of his discomfort. None of them would have lived if he’d used his Stormlash—the threat could have been ended there and then.

Unfortunately, both Rieker and Ro had cautioned him on being liberal and open with his spell casting until he was into the second tier. Too much risk of the curiosity it would incite leading to people asking questions that would make them suspicious of what else he was hiding.

Checking in on Porkchop, he found his brother uninjured. He’d gotten a few nips and scratches on his forelimbs, but nothing that he hadn’t been able to heal almost instantaneously.

Most of the damage had been borne to his under-armour. The soft padding that it was, the hounds hard claws and skill-driven bites had torn the leather—a small price to pay for hiding Porkchop’s armour skill considering that he could see the rents repairing themselves when he looked closely.

“That was fun, a little easy though.” Porkchop said.

Kaius simply smiled and clapped his brother on the shoulder, mindful of their audience. Confident that Porkchop was fine, Kaius made his way towards the waiting guards that had regathered at the city gates.

With the hounds driven off, Kaius got his first good look at them. They looked haggard and exhausted—drained from their ordeal. Each guard was drenched in sweat, mingling with the ever present dust into streaking grime that clung to their skin.

Nearly all of them had blood soaked deep into their tabards and padded leggings. Kaius doubted that all of it would have been from the hounds.

Especially since he could still see Ianmus hard at work, mana flowing around him in a constant stream as he channelled healing spell after healing spell, triaging those most injured.

It wasn’t a pretty sight. Ianmus was bent over a man with their hamstring half ripped out, the muscle exposed to the air while another guard pressed the wound closed, stopping torn arteries from bleeding the injured man dry.

Those lying in wait had cloths pressed tightly to wounds, staunching their own bleeds.

That was the problem with Health. It would heal almost anything, but until your Vitality and Endurance got high enough, it was still all too easy for a wound to kill faster than it closed.

Not for the first time, he felt thankful for his Lesser Regeneration—backed by his stats, it took far more than a little exposed muscle to put him down.

He approached, giving the guardsmen a respectful wave.

They nodded back, before someone familiar stepped out of their ranks.

The same sergeant who had interviewed them before they’d first entered Deadacre a few months prior.

“Sergeant,” he said, nodding his head respectfully.

“Delver,” the sergeant replied. “I remember you, Kaius right? I knew it was a good idea to bend the rules a little—thanks for getting us out of the fire. Names Jon, not sure if I gave it last time.”

“Nothing to it,” Kaius waved off the man's thanks. “Anyone would be happy to help. Though, I must say, I’m surprised to see a group of that number assault the walls—hells, for beasts to try a group of armed men at all—it seems a little out of character.”

The sergeant winced, scanning over his men.

Kaius followed his eyes, noting they settled on a limp form lying up against a wall, their eyes closed. A glimmer of sympathy ran down his neck. He didn’t envy the sergeant—fatalities of those under your watch had to be painful, especially when you were duty bound to send your charges into the thick of the danger regardless.

“We’re doing our best, but it's getting worse. Something about the mana—it’s not just making them stronger, it’s driving some of them to madness.” the sergeant said as he looked sadly at the body, before steeling his expression and turning back to Kaius.

Kaius had hoped that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t deny it. They’d been noticing it more and more. While most of the creatures of the plains seemed more than happy enough to give Kaius and his team a wide berth, a growing number had seemed to be crazed, chasing them down at the slightest opportunity.

For them, it was little more than an annoyance—even with their increasing strength, few of the beasts in the plains were truly strong, and it seemed most of the species were little more than common empowered animals. They didn’t have the power to prove truly dangerous in the face of Honours and Heroic classes.

A small comfort for the everyman, stuck with Common and Uncommon classes and less than a handful of skills.

For that’s what they were, Kaius realised as he looked at the guards. Just men. Not soldiers, and definitely not warriors. People who’d taken a steady job, and apprenticed themselves to gain a class that would give them the opportunity to grow their strength a little in relative safety.

No doubt before this year they’d never had to deal with anything worse than a unruly wagon-pulling beast, or common drunks.

Now here they were, throwing themselves at half a hundred hounds, and losing people for it.

“Are you keeping up?” Kaius asked—if the guards were falling behind the beasts in levels, things would only get worse.

“We weren’t—not until the captain mandated my tribunes engage individually with their teams. Even now, it’s only just.” the sergeant muttered bitterly, taking in the dozens of dead hounds. “The goodfolk of Deadacre keep asking why we don’t just shut the gates and let the archers handle it—they don’t get it.”

Kaius nodded. If they did that, when the time came when they had to have men defending the walls—or worse, beasts breached them—they would have been left far behind, becoming little more than fodder.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Kaius asked genuinely.

If there was something, he wanted to at least try—after all, he wouldn’t exactly enjoy living in Deadacre if it was overrun by beasts.

The sergeant barked out a forced laugh. “No…no, you delvers are already doing what you can—the guild’s got Copper and Bronze teams combing the city's surroundings to keep the beasts in check, but it's impossible to catch them all. No, strong men like you are better off focusing on the bigger threats my boys will never have a hope of handling.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I'll get my boys through this. If I have my way, they’ll be double in level by this time next year, at the least.” the sergeant met his eyes, giving him a nod, before a loud creak echoed from the city gate drew his attention as it started to inch open. “Looks like the coast is clear. Thanks for the help, and thank your mage-friend too for his healing—it saved lives.”

Kaius nodded, clasping the sergeant on the shoulder, before he walked towards where Ianmus was waiting by the slowly opening gates.

The guards parted as he approached, each one giving them a nod of gratitude and respect.