B3 CHAPTER 311: ROOTS, PT. 2

The pale worm swayed like a thread caught in a gentle breeze, sweeping around as it blindly searched for prey. Kaius could feel the feverish heat that flooded through Porkchop’s body, a crawling miasma that spread from the bite on his leg.

His brother’s words hung heavy in his mind. Venom.

Kaius stood his ground, trusting in his brother’s fortitude as he slowly raised his sword. The worm seemed content to writhe aimlessly. He doubted it would last — something had triggered it.

“Spire’s light!” Ianmus rushed to Porkchop’s side, solar mana already flaring on his staff

The worm struck, racing towards the sudden noise — even with his mental stats and the growth of Truesight Kaius still saw little more than a streak of cream.

He was still ready for it.

Beyond simple class levels, he’d grown much in the last few months. Forged by Dissonance fueled his advance, Liturgical Bladeform powered his cut. Striking with a speed far beyond what he should possess, Kaius brought his blade down just behind the worm’s spiked beak.

Soft flesh parted before the black and red edge of A Father’s Gift. Its head fell to the ground as its body cracked like a whip, hosing purple blood across the cave.

Ignoring the pained panting of Porkchop behind him, Kaius stepped back and fell into his guard — ready for the battle to continue.

The worm’s body continued to spasm uncontrollably, puddles of ichor growing beneath it. He wound tighter, tension flooding him. Nothing was ever so easy — not down here.

It started to slow as its lifeblood fell free. Its flailing had churned the disturbed earth around it, coating it in a thick layer of mud made from its own juices.

He risked a glance to its head. It too was squirming blindly, rolling in the dirt as what remained of its pale flesh knotted uncontrollably. Clean as his cut was, he could see its gelatinous flesh bubbling — Health burned in a tide as it tried to recover from the total severance.

“Shoot it!” he hissed urgently, snapping his head to Kenva.

The ranger’s face was twisted with a mix of shock and disgust, but she reacted to his words instantly.

An arrow shot through the worm’s head, shattering to eviscerate what remained of its soft flesh.

**Ding! level 247 Pale Rootborer - Envenomed Parasite slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**

…

**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached level 139 141!**

**+3 End, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

…

**Ding! Class skill available for selection!**

The chime didn’t relax him, nor did he feel the radiant victory that usually came with earning his next skill. He watched the cave walls, a toxic miasma of tension holding him rooted at the head of their formation. Another worm could come from anywhere!

The first had died far too easily — even in the unlikely circumstance it’d had a thousand Constitution, a worm’s body being twenty times as durable was still a fragile thing. That fragility only worried him more. Monsters often had natural physiques that defied comparison to mortal animals, even without stats — if this one’s gifts eschewed fortitude, it’s talents likely lay in other areas.

Like whatever had caused Kenva to miss it despite the soulsight granted by her Farseer.

Like its venom.

The toxin coursed through Porkchop’s veins. His brother held strong, fortified by his reserves of Health and Vitality. No matter how fragile the worm might have been it was still a beast of the second tier. He could feel the weight of his brother’s agony as he fought against the affliction.

Every moment that passed, he felt a tug grow stronger on his soul — joined by the steady chimes of ignored skill increases. With the immediate danger gone, it was almost overwhelming. Their bond, Vesryn Pact and Rapid Adaptation had forged some kind of channel the moment Porkchop had been struck. It was a sharing of energy that grew thicker and stronger by the second, but one he only loosely understood.

He’d need to dive into his soulspace if he wanted to understand it further — he couldn’t. Not now.

When no other pale tendrils erupted from the earth, Kaius lowered his blade — but not his guard — and rushed to his brother’s side. The worry he had suppressed crashed over him at what he saw. Porkchop was lying on his side, fangs exposed by a grimace of pain. Someone had peeled back the flap of leather that covered his wound. The sight of it cut Kaius to the core.

It was a blackened and necrotic crater stuck in a continuous boil as Porkchop’s body desperately produced new growth. Blood and puss weeped free, falling in chunks like spoilt milk.

Ianmus was crouched next to the wound — golden mana streaming around his staff — while Kenva stood sentinel over them both.

Kaius charged over, laying his hand on his brother’s side. It was hot. Scorching. Porkchop’s chest rose and fell like he’d run a league, batting against his palm.

Fear tightened its grip.

“Talk to me!” Kaius yelled.

Porkchop’s eyes swivelled to him, the white bloodshot.

“My leg feels like it’s being caressed by a dozen butterflies, and it’s delightfully warm — like a hot bath. You should give it a try!” Porkchop tried to chuckle — it came out as a wet hack.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Kaius leaned over and smacked him across the back of the head.

“Be serious! How’s your health? Are you fighting it off?”

“Fine — I feel bloody terrible. Health is a quarter down, but Ianmus is keeping it topped off. That formation of yours is helping too — it’s fighting back. Slowly, but it’s getting stronger.”

Relief burst through him as Kaius sagged. Porkchop was going to make it, thank the gods.

“How long until it's gone?”

Porkchop stilled. A glimmer of fear returned. “How long, Porkchop.”

“When I said it was slow, I meant it. At least an hour, maybe more if your skill stops levelling so quickly. I’m not going to be much help until then.”

Kaius cursed. They couldn’t stay out in the open that long, not with Porkchop disabled. They weren’t strong enough to handle another battle like they’d had against the kolnirs without him. Even if these worms were the first depthsborn they had seen down in these tunnels, he doubted they were the only ones. They wouldn’t even be able to avoid them — not without the space and obscuring jungle they’d had above ground.

More importantly, if Porkchop was only holding steady with Ianmus’s healing…could the mage hold on for so long?

“Ianmus.”

The mage looked up, a focused frown on his face.

“You can’t cleanse the affliction?”

He gave Kaius a curt shake of his head, “No, solar affinity isn’t as potent or versatile as life, nature or sacred for healing. A cleansing spell would take me fifteen minutes or more to free cast due to the added difficulty, and there’s little guarantee it would even work against something this potent.

It went unsaid that Porkchop might not even be able to last the time it would take to cast the spell — not without the infusions of healing that Ianmus wast providing. Kaius grit his teeth, frustration building.

Another ray spilled from Ianmus’s staff. It grew dim, accumulated mana spent, before slowly growing bright once more as the mage channeled mana.

“I’ll be able to keep this much up, at least — I can pace myself just fine, and we still have plenty of Mana potions.”

It was something, even if it did nothing to solve the problem of them needing to move. They were still sitting ducks.

“How’d they slip past you? I thought you would have been able to see them with Farseer?” Kaius asked, switching his attention to Kenva. The ranger still watched the cavern ahead of them like a hawk, ready to shoot down anything that erupted from the earth.

She winced.

“Everything living has a soul — most mundane animals and plants only have the slightest glimmers, but they do have them. The jungle trees are another story — I'm pretty sure they’re naturally in the second tier. Their roots are everywhere; the bloody worm looked like just another tendril until it moved.”

The explanation tasted bitter as it went down. As reasonable as it was, it only told him that they were blind. He eyed the cavern, wary of what may lie in wait beneath it.

“What about now that you’ve had a look at it? Can you see anything else similar?”

“Yeah, the problem is that I’ve been seeing roots of that size and length the entire way down this bloody tunnel. If I’d gotten a chance to actually study it I’d be better off, but right now I've got nothing.”

Kaius bit off the urge to curse. He knew what he had to do. He just didn’t like it.

The second he’d taken a step into that cavern, he’d felt the presence of a safe room. If they reached it, they’d have all the time they needed for Porkchop to recover, and for them to rest and consolidate their current gains.

If only there weren’t a cavern full of an unknown number of beasts so potently venomous they could disable his party's bastion with a single strike.

Without Rapid Adaptation being capped he would never dare — not when a single slip up might have meant both his and Porkchop’s certain death. But it was. The defence it gave him against afflictions was potent — by the end of his captivity he’d been able to shake off a second tier anaesthetic without feeling anything more than a little woozy.

His other skills had improved too — he was fast and agile enough to match the worm’s speed thanks to Tempered by Dissonance and Uncanny Dodge.

It still wasn’t a guarantee. Even with a resistance, he wouldn’t be able to withstand an unlimited number of bites, not if each one filled him with more venom.

He had to do it anyway. It wasn’t just the safe zone. The worms had been soft — easy to kill. It represented an opportunity that they weren’t at liberty to turn down. It would pressure him, but he could use that to hone himself into something stronger. Levels would also help his brother fight off his affliction, which was reason enough on its own.

Kaius rose to his feet.

“What’re you doing?” Kenva asked, watching him cautiously.

“There’s a safe zone down the other passages — I'm going to clear our way there. It’s too dangerous to stay here, and I'm the only one with the resistance skill to do it.”

His team looked at him like he was mad — he thought he was too. To his surprise, they didn’t argue — only giving him firm, but worried nods.

“Ianmus, enhance me with Sundrenched Strength, and take some shots at any worms if you get the chance. Kenva, take out as many as you can — we need as much of this experience as we can get.”

“Don’t be scared! Just remember, it feels like the caress of a butterfly!”

He rolled his eyes. Kenva snorted too. She turned to him after.

“You’re a brave bastard, but try not to die — I've found you annoyingly pleasant company.”

He didn’t plan on it. Even if he was putting himself at risk, he wasn’t exactly going to waltz directly into a field of ambush predators. He had a few ideas of how he could even the odds.

Kaius slowed right before the limp corpse of the pale worm that draped across the cavern floor, peering at it closely. It hadn’t erupted until Porkchop had gotten close, and had only reacted after that when Ianmus had moved and shouted. Even if they were blind, they could see somehow. If it was by vibration, he could work with that.

He just needed to bait them out.

Rolling his shoulders, he steadied himself. Focusing on the cavern in front of him, he focused on his Glyph of Eirnith. He had four more casts of Zone of Discombobulation left — three should be enough to cover the cavern floor.

Motes of burning spell-hymns drifted from his temple as he layered a field of confusion over where he suspected the worms lay in wait. They popped into existence, an almost invisible haze.

To his displeasure, the ground lay quiet and still — it hadn’t been enough to trigger an eruption. He winced. He’d hoped that he would have been able to save the last of his Nails for a hardier threat, but it didn’t look like he was going to be given that option.

Eight shards of steel screamed through the air, throwing up clouds of dirt as they dug deep into the hard-packed earth. They bloomed a moment later, metal groaning.

A field of squirming pale tendrils erupted a moment later, nearly two dozen sprouting like loosely packed grass. They drifted back and forth like they were drunk, primitive minds susceptible to the influence of his spell. Chimes sounded in the back of his mind as Eirnith brought them under its sway.

Kaius grinned, happy to see his plan had worked.

He best get to it.