“Hurry! It’s right behind you!” Kenva screamed, mana flashing within her as she used her Winter’s Mark. She loosed an oversized arrow a moment later.
The kolnir on his tail yelped as it slammed home, but he could still hear the drum beat of its palms slapping the dirt as it raced on.
It was gaining on them.
Ianmus waved his staff, solar mana coalescing around Kaius a second later.
He sped up, invigorated by the spell.
**Ding! You have been Enhanced - Sundrenched Strength!**
Still the Kolnir closed the distance, irreverent of the arrows and spells that rained down upon it. Kaius risked a glance behind him, getting an eyeful of crazed eyes and snarling teeth barely a dozen long-strides behind him. The beast howled, loud enough that it left a ring in his ears — drawing its troop towards them.
They’d just crossed the halfway mark. It was too fast.
Roaring in frustration, Kaius cast ExpedientShunt and sent himself hurtling forward at an upward angle. His pursued roared in anger, catching a face full of his backblast.
Twisting mid-flight, Kaius called on a Stormlash. Lightning bound the kolnir mid stride, forcing it to stumble as its muscles clenched. Kaius hit the ground and kept sprinting without looking back.
He hoped it would be enough — he only had one Lash left, and there was no telling when he would get the safety he needed to reinscribe.
The pursuit started again, though the beast’s footfalls were blessedly further behind.
“Keep going! You’re going to make it!” Ianmus yelled frantically.
He wasn’t so sure — his spell hadn’t gained him much, and the kolnir was closing again.
Pushing the thought out of mind, Kaius simply ran. The small opening to the root network loomed right as the kolnir on his tail let out a gleeful howl.
Porkchop reached the entrance, hurling himself into a dive. His brother slammed into the hole, roots scraping his ribs as he crashed into the far wall. Absorbing the blow on his shoulder, Porkchop dug his claws in and scurried his way deeper, away from the walls with openings that the kolnir might reach through.
Blue motes erupted from his Aelina glyph as Kaius cast another shunt. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an oversized hand swipe through his previous position.
He flew into the tunnel, burning off his momentum as his pursuer snarled in frustration. Stumbling forwards, in his haste Kaius slid in the loose dirt and fell onto his back — watching directly out of the natural cavern. The kolnir wasn’t giving up.
Singleminded and stubborn, it hurled itself after him head first. Jaws snapped shut barely a hand-span from his outstretched foot.
Kaius gasped, scurrying back out of reach.
An arrow slammed home into the beast's ear, drawing a furious roar. It tried to dodge, but with its shoulders wedged it had barely any leverage.
Kaius’s eyes widened.
“Porkchop! Slam it further in with a Shardwall! Now!”
“Are you fucking mad?!”
“Rotten roots, just do it!”
Porkchop growled, but didn’t hesitate any longer. With the little room he had, he slammed a claw into the ground. Earth geysered behind the kolnir, before a wall of jade slammed into the beast.
Forced forwards, the roots that held its arms to its sides flexed and groaned — but held. It was wedged a full stride deeper into the caved, its head offered and undefended.
Roaring in fury, it flexed — stressing the limits of its confinement with brute strength.
Kaius was having none of it. He cast War Haven.
Weaving the magic with his intent, the bolstering power of his spell sank deep into the roots, fortifying them. He split the power, shaping a stretched dome that sank close to the body of the kolnir. A cocoon that forced it to be still.
Empowered by his magic, the Kolnir could do nothing against the natural bars that bound it. Not without any leverage.
Kaius lept to his feet, racing forwards as his blade ignited with arcane potency and its runes glowed with internal fire.
He ignored the chimes offered by the system, as he had the others that had come since entering the jungle.
“Fucking kill it, we’ve got to move!”
…
**Ding! level 247 Kolnir - Jungle Juggernaut slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**
…
**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached level 136 > 138!**
**+3 End, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**
Kaius ripped his blade out of the beast’s eye socket, gazing past it out into the jungle as he heard another howl. One of the dead kolnir’s troop, hanging from a branch an easy quarter league away.
He could see its head turning back and forth, searching for a response to its call that would never come.
“Let’s go.”
Turning away from the body, Kaius pulled up the skill notifications that had been building since the first kolnir they had fought.
**Ding! Class Skill Notifications Consolidated!**
**Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 148 > 154!**
…
**Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite has reached level 115 > 122!**
…
**Latent Glyph of Aelina has reached level 129 > 136!**
…
**Mystic’s Rend has reached level 96 > 109!**
…
**Latent Glyph of Vyrthane has reached level 13 > 25!**
…
**Sigil of Vesryn’s Pact has reached level 7 > 15**
…
**Latent Glyph of Eirnith has reached level 9 > 30**
**General Skill Notifications Consolidated!**
**Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 151 > 159!**
…
**Explorer’s Toolkit has reached level 128 > 143!**
…
**Truesight has reached level 120 > 131!**
…
**Resonance Amplification has reached level 108 > 117!**
…
**Uncanny Dodge has reached level 145 > 146!**