Kaius collapsed with a scream, his calf slipping from the undead's slacked fingers and folded. Shards of bone cut through his flesh, agony setting its grip on his throat. He gasped
Noxious impulse surged through his nerves, hammering into him with an overwhelming cacophony of sensation. The pain seemed to concentrate on his eyes and ears, narrowing his senses until all he could see was a thin pinprick of hazy grey accompanied by a high pitched whine.
He collapsed on his back, chest heaving as he tried to suck in air. His vision blurred further, tears welling in his eyes.
The final vapours of his Health burned free, trying to set what it could of his shattered shin bone. It brought momentary relief from the initial stab of agony that accompanied an unexpected wound.
A relief quickly followed by a terror filled realisation.
"The Blood Rot!"
His attention dove inwards as he pushed himself up onto his elbows with a start. He relied on the innate awareness that every thinking creature had of its soul space to search his body for the Champion's magical disease.
He found nothing.
Rapid Adaptation had cleared the inflection.
Kaius slumped back down with a sigh of relief, yelping as his jostling moved his still shattered leg. He looked at the twisted limb and winced. While he could just leave it to heal on its own, at least partially setting the break would drastically reduce the amount of Health required to recover.
Eyes drifting past his ruined leg, his attention settled on the limp form of the champion. His sword was still stuck fast in its head. A growing pool of black blood seeped forth from the corpse. He needed his sword. Injured as he was, he was fucked if something came across him in this state and he had no way of defending himself.
Kaius growled, staring at his weapon.
"This is going to suck." He sighed. "Nothing for it, I suppose."
Balling up the hem of his tunic with resignation, he pulled on the material until he could comfortably bite down on the wad of fabric and leather. A few sharp breaths to steady his nerves, and he shoved himself upright. A hoarse yell escaped him as the movement shifted his leg.
Refusing to give up the momentum, he gasped and snatched the handle of his sword, falling back to the floor to pull the blade with him. It slipped free with a wet squelch, clattering loudly onto the stone floor beside him.
"Just a little more, you can do this." He thought.
He pulled himself up into a seated position and shuffled backwards, biting his wadded tunic so hard he half expected to hear the crack of a breaking tooth. Finger-length by agonising finger-length he hauled himself away from the growing puddle of blood that expanded from the Butcher's corpse.
Once he had made it a couple of long-strides away, Kaius collapsed back down with tears streaking down his cheeks. He let go of his sword, preparing himself for what he had to do next.
He sat back up, staring at his twisted leg with dread. He reached out towards it, before freezing half way. A frustrated growl was dampened by the fabric in his mouth.
"Last bit. Then you're done."
A sharp breath brought him focus and he lunged towards his foot, twisting it back into position. A half strangled scream sounded in his ears as if from a great distance, agony coursing up through his leg and shorting out his mind. Kaius collapsed back down with a whimper.
He spat out his tunic.
"Fuck. Me." He ground out, panting between words.
Despite the agony, he couldn't help the low rumbling chuckle that started from deep within his chest. Even if he did wince every time the movement jostled his slowly healing break.
He had no right to have come out on top. The bastard even had a class! What the fuck was that!? He'd never heard of Champions in his life!
He'd killed it. Killed something with a class, something that was supposed to be as close to impossible as you could get, the advantage of stats and skills too high to overcome. Oh sure, he knew that the Guardian he was eventually doomed to face would have one, and would be exponentially harder than this battle. However, he had only planned on that with all of his skills in place. Even then! Even then he had mostly planned on waiting until he had his own.
Yet here he was. Broken. Bleeding. But well and truly alive. After facing something with a class.
"Unbelievable." he whispered.
The encounter had shown him something. That the Depths held hidden dangers far beyond what he was taught. For the first time in his life, Kaius felt dissatisfied with Father's traditional methods. Sure, if all had gone as expected, he would have never in a million years stepped anywhere close to the Depths before his father had given him sufficient lessons on its hazards.
Lessons that were supposed to happen in the final months before his class selection, with practical training following it.
Yet here he was, nearly two years early. Of all people. Of all people! Father should have known to plan for the unexpected. Or was it a simple coincidence that they lived deep in the forest, weeks' journey from the closest small frontier villages? While having a perfect set of legacy skills?
Kaius snorted at the thought. Father had always been cagey, but he supposed the knowledge of exactly what had happened to their dynasty was another lesson that had been left until he was older.
It hurt to think of his father's failings, after all he had done for him, but it was just so frustrating to think how different his approach would have been if he had known that Champions existed.
For one, he probably would have waited until he had merged his fourth skill. He might not have gotten so injured with Adamant Body.
Kaius's eyes widened suddenly. His skills! He'd levelled Sense Weakness! He was finally ready to merge the skills!
A wide smile split his face. He couldn't do it here of course. It required a centred mind and a period of meditation in his soul space to feel how all the pieces flowed together. Something he felt very little confidence in doing here. For one, it would be impossible to do while dealing with a broken leg. He was also a little worried about beasts coming to investigate the blood and noise.
No, it would need to wait until he was in the relative safety of his base camp.
He also had something a little more pressing on his mind, other than healing his leg. Kaius turned his head, twinkling eyes landing on the stout stone building that sat to the right of the lodge proper.
"Loot."