**Ding! Parry has reached level 4!**
**Ding! Parry has reached level 5!**
Refusing to let something as mundane as stinging pain and numbing reverberation steal the moment to retaliate, Kaius pivoted in his slide. His blade slipped free from the bear's paw, the deadly limb continuing its light show past his torso. A twist of his hips and he cut deep into the neck of his opponent, a great torrent of blood falling free to join the growing pools that littered the grey stone.
The bear huffed in agony, attempting to ward off another strike by rearing up to slam, the gushing wound on its neck drenching the fur on its belly. Kaius rewarded the attempt with another probing stab to its undefended midsection.
The thrust caused the Champion to abort its slam early, yelping in pain as it snapped at him. Kaius danced back, watching the wound on its neck. With a start he realised that its wound had stopped writhing, only managing to seal itself half shut.
Its Health was depleted.
"Wait…," Kaius thought, staring closer at the wound even as he stepped around another furious palm strike. The healing might have drastically slowed, but it had not stopped. His eyes widened.
"The Vitality required alone.." He thought to himself in wonder. No… It must have been bolstered by a passive skill. To regenerate Health so fast at such a low level? Such an investment of stats would have left it weakened in all other areas, even for an empowered depths-born like a Champion. Something that was clearly not the case.
The bear roared, voice coming through strong and pure as its voice box recovered.
Whatever the reason, it meant he could not rely on his usual tactic of whittling down an otherwise stronger foe. Depleting their resources until they were bled dry.
He needed to press the attack. To keep the pressure on the beast.
A step forward and a twist took him inside the Champion's guard, narrowly missing another savage bite that snapped at his arms. Now facing the beast, Kaius slashed his sword. He allowed its momentum to work against it, a savage draw cut parting the flesh of its side.
Volume was important now, anything he could do to add to the burden that its monstrous regeneration was trying to heal.
To his surprise, the bear kept running, creating distance as it tore off to the other side of the cavern. Before Kaius could start to chase, it wheeled back around and roared in fury. It dug its claws in and charged, impressive bulk heaving against the stone as it approached him at a barrelling pace. As it crossed the floor of the cavern, it left a streak of red blood that darkened under the yellow light.
Kaius's sword dropped behind him as he moved into a rear guard. He readied himself for another slash, hoping to go low and disable one of its legs. The bear drew close. Kaius sidestepped. The bear's claws glowed. In an instant empowered keratin bit into stone, its limbs straining against its bulk to radically change its direction.
Where he would have slipped past the charge, the Champion's altered movement slamming into him, one shoulder driving heavily into his sternum. It knocked the wind from his chest, his ribs shuddering as they creaked ominously. Kaius fell back onto the stone, gasping mutely as his jaw worked ineffectively to draw breath.
**Ding! Light Armour Mastery has reached level 4!**
Leather padding or no, the blow hurt, phantom pains of his earlier injury flaring up like forgotten embers fed fresh wood.
The bear reared up, slamming down towards his prone form. Kaius rolled, just barely avoiding the chest-caving stomp. He rolled again when it followed it up with a swipe, heart hammering away at the instinctive rush of adrenaline that came with being in such a compromised position.
Mid roll he pushed against the ground, launching himself up. As soon as he got traction on the stone he kicked off, trying to create distance. Sweat drenched his brow. The bear was having none of it, roaring in triumph at finally having caught him off balance.
A heavy swipe of claws raked across his chain coated back, tearing through the poorly wrought armour, and tracing dripping lines of white hot fire across his flesh. The blow sent him stumbling, a ragged cry slipping from his mouth as his feet raced under him to prevent another fall.
**Ding! Medium Armour Mastery has reached level 4!**
Kaius skidded to a halt, just barely getting control of his stumble. He turned to face his opponent, leaping to the side to narrowly avoid a crushing blow.
"Shit." he thought, slipping under a follow up strike to leave a dripping cut on the bear's front. If he'd been any closer, that last wound would have ended him, the Champion's strength more than enough to snap his spine in two.
Squaring off at each other once more, Kaius and the bear circled. Padding feet matched the heavy impacts of the bear's paws, each trying to spot a weakness. Kaius could see that the bear was flagging. With each strike he landed, the bear's intense regeneration grew more and more overwhelmed as it spread itself thin trying to heal the increasing systemic breakdown it suffered from.
Its fur, once a luscious coat of granite and gold, now hung limp and ragged. Those few parts not drenched in its own vital fluids were slicked with sweat. Wounds crossed its body, revealing thin fat and split muscle. When he looked closely, he could see the growing tremble in its arms. The exhaustion of extended combat, the burden of its wounds, and its own body size working against it, draining it of its ability to fight.
Kaius knew that this was it. Whatever came next, the Champion would be pulling out all the stops.
The final confrontation.