The first boggarts spilled around the bend in the passage in a gibbering tide that was preceded by the dull flickering glow of torches. The light was inconsistent and dim. A dull radiance that only just barely managed to beat back the darkness, leaving much of the passage draped in gloom.
Barely any of them held torches at all, really—most seemingly having been driven to furious madness by the sudden alarm and assault.
It mattered little to him, but hopefully it would make the boggart’s advance all the more difficult.
Most of the mob were boggarts, their charge slowing as the crowd was crushed together by the narrowing tunnel—forced to march eight abreast in the confines of his team's chosen battlefield. They were an unending tide—more pressing from around the bend to push on the backs of the dozens of bogglings that choked the visible stretch of cave.
The sudden force of the walls pressing them inwards hit the approaching plague like a physical blow—many of those in the middle falling to the ground as their allies to their sides were forced inwards. Pained screams rang out, bones breaking as those that fell were trampled by their allies.
Even a few bugbears faltered. By far the minority of the force, they were still easily visible by their stature, scattered inconsistently though the mass—urging their lessers onwards.
Kaius grinned with feral glee as he saw that his plan had worked—that the memory his Glass Mind had impressed on him of a panicked stampede of deer through a tight gully had proven relevant.
Orange light spilled across him, snarling cries rising to a near fever pitch as the plague spotted them.
Boggart spearmen and slingers loosed their projectiles. Most were empowered in some way, mana flashing in his eyes as the lesser creatures drew on system granted skills to imbue their weapons with myriad powers.
Kaius took it all in. His skills and Glass Mind aiding him in tracking their passage—and how best to defend himself.
**Ding! Explorer’s Toolkit has reached level 50!**
Even empowered by skills, the tight crush of the chokepoint had severely hampered the boggart’s ability to put any real force and skill into their blows. He dashed to the side, twisting with unnatural speed as he guided the stone weapons he couldn’t dodge into glancing safely off his armour.
**Ding! Uncanny Dodge has reached level 41!**
**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 46!**
It wasn’t perfect—the slings in particular still bruised flesh and cracked bone, a dozen flares of hot agony radiating through his arms and ribs. However, such slight wounds could barely even slow him, the slighest trickle of Health enough to wash away all evidence of injury.
**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 61!**
Cutting another soaring spear out of the air, Kaius was treated to the sight of his stone-clad brother unleashing a maddening roar—one that resonated with unnatural potency, sinking deep into his ears.
Bulwark’s Challenge rolled over the rapidly approaching tide like poison. It amplified the visible boggling’s aggression to untold heights—small eyes widened, growing bloodshot as the monsters let out a feral scream of madness.
As a single unit, their attention focused on his brother, more of their number falling beneath the feet of their brethren as they fought madly to race towards his brother. The debilitating strength of the skill was evident in the shaking of their limbs, and their stumbling lack of coordination.
Porkchop didn’t wait for them to come—nor did Kaius.
The dusky passage lit up pure blueish white, overwhelmed by the brilliance of the lash of crackling lightning that appeared in his hand. Almost all of the boggarts howled, those lacking the skills to protect their vision finding themselves blinded by the flash.
**Ding! Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 48!**
He struck, slashing at a bugbear at the head of the charge. The heat and paralysing fury of a typhoon seared straight through its meagre defenses, boiling flesh and driving the resonant force of his mana deep into its body. Two streamers arced outwards, gracing two lesser boggarts with the same pain.
**Ding! Resonance Amplification has reached level 43!**
Clear as his vision was, he saw the terrible state of the creatures—blackened and smoking, they fell beneath their fellows feet, slowing the approach of the horde further.
Porkchop charged. His amulet might have been a comparatively small boost to his top speed now, but it still had one use—it got him up to speed in the barest of moments.
Trusting in his armour, Porkchop smashed straight into the front lines—caring not for the prickling row of wood and stone spears that were trained on him. Crude implements of war shattered on sacred jade, the full weight of the charge crushing bones and pulping flesh.
Then a jade wall erupted from the ground, crushing a full third of the front line backwards—forcing the boggarts into a disarray.
The skill expended its energy quickly against the endless tide of meat—but it did its job well, creating space for Porkchop to tear into the remainder.
His charge wasn’t without injury—half a dozen different streaks of red flowing from between the gaps in Porkchop’s armour.
Kaius raced in, blurring across the battlefield as he flowed through a precession of thrusts and cuts. Each one parted flesh—cleaved through limbs and left lifeblood flowing in its wake.
**Ding! level 58 Boggart - Skulker slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**
…
**Ding! level 64 Bugbear - Hungry Clubber slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**
**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 50!**
…
**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 52!**
**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached class level 53!**
**+3 End, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**
The bogglings tried to mount a resistance—a few managing to lean on a myriad of skills to turn his blade, or punish his assault with a quickened stab, or an acidic slash. He simply pulled back, more than happy to focus his efforts on those more vulnerable.
**Ding! Uncanny Dodge has reached level 42!**
…
**Ding! Uncanny Dodge has reached level 44!**
**Ding! Truesight has reached level 49!**
With how crowded they were, it was impossible for them to track him effectively—especially not with Porkchop’s skill still pulling on their attention, forcing their fury towards his indomitable presence.
His blade moved like a living thing, smashing aside the probing strikes of a particularly ambitious bugbear totting a warpick, his heavy parries leaving it open to retaliation—something he capitalised on with ruthless efficiency, slipping around its allies’ club swings and spear thrusts to roll his sword into a riposte.
**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 47!**
…
**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 48!**
**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform has reached level 53!**
Blood sprayed, another body falling limp on the floor.
**Ding! level 62 Bugbear - Swift Raider slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**
The press started to regain some organisation—the sudden fury of his team's assault waning as the barking commands of bugbears brought some semblance of order. Those further back—an unending tide that stretched out of sight—stopped pressing forwards, giving the vanguard time and space to breathe. Until he blitzed passed, gutting them open, that is.
Kaius held himself back from unleashing Stormlashes into the pit—he was perfectly poised to take out the bugbears that were leading, but every spell cast was one that was unavailable to him for the rest of the battle.
Somewhere, out there in the masses of bodies, were the warchief and his shamans. He’d need power for that kind of threat.
Tightening his footwork, Kaius directed his mind to economy of motion. Short cuts and brisk stabs, unburdened by frivolous movements. Every point of stamina was precious, and with his Glass Mind utterly focused on the movements of his enemy he was freed to spend his effort like a miser.
It was basic—mechanical and routine, but it brought with it a solid rhythm. A tempo that let him force the boggarts to pay for every hairsbreadth of ground with a mountain of cooling bodies.
**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform has reached level 56!**
**Ding! Uncanny Dodge has reached level 49!**
**Ding! Tempered by Dissonance has reached level 50!**
**Ding! Explorer’s Toolkit has reached level 52!**
**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 62!**
**Ding! Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus has reached level 65!**
**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached class level 54!**
**+3 End, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**
He could do this as long as he needed to.
…
Ro watched the tide of boggart’s and larger bugbears stream past her.
It had finally happened, as she knew it would.
Now she had a choice to make—too much pressure and her vexing charges might break, letting some of the tribe flee. Or worse, one of them might fall.
The dead couldn’t learn.
Still, this much was far from enough. Too easy and they wouldn’t be pressed up close to the edge. Those kinds of lessons stuck with you, wormed their way deep to influence you forever more. The kind of teaching that would save them when there was no one coming to help.
She’d act to stymie the flow soon. But not yet.