Chapter 76: Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Kaius flew backwards, giving ground before the goblin attendants assault. He could feel it, the energy that had seeped into his bones from the spell the shaman had cast on him. Sapping their strength, weakening the very foundation of his body.

His health flooded out, saturating his arm in itching heat as it fought to seal the crack in his bone. With every blow he blocked and parried yet more cracks joined it. Kaius stepped back just a little too hard to avoid a swipe. A small bone in his foot broke.

This was untenable. The affliction might not have been enough to straight up crumble his bones, but it had absolutely gutted his defence. Worse, hisHealthwas burning in every clash as it fought a losing battle to keep him whole.

Rapid Adaptationwas already moving, tasting the flavour of the foreign energy as it tried to get its measure. It was slow going though. A novel mana, and a novel effect. Kaius’s resistance wouldn’t kick in for some time.

No, he needed to stem the drain on hisHealth, and he knew exactly how to do it.

Falling back, he gave ground before the attendants, parrying only the attacks that he had no chance of dodging. As he retreated, he split his focus. Wrapping his will around the flood of restorative energy that had coated his bones.

He coaxed it, guiding it to seal cracks with directed application. Forcibly increasing his efficiency. It was hard at first, his only practice had been under the influence of aPsychopathic Assaulttonic. Even if he knew the theory, splitting his focus so utterly in the depths of a sword fight was ruinously difficult.

The attendants slipped through his guard, hammering his armoured torso. Kaius grit his teeth as his ribs shattered, hot iron flooding his mouth. Still he pressed on. Guiding hisHealthto regenerate him with growing efficiency.

**Ding! Adamant Body has reached level 18!**

A moment later he got the notification he had been waiting for.

**Ding! General Skill Available! Would you like to learn: Efficient Healing (Rare)?**

Kaius groaned in relief, dropping his hold on hisHealthto refocus entirely on his battle ahead. Immediately his latest skill went to work, stemming the torrential drain of his resource. Empowering how much hisHealthcould heal.

**Ding! Efficient Healing has reached level 2!**

With his latest skill andFast Healing, Kaius was just able to suppress the curse that had weakened his bones so badly. Oh, they still cracked, still shot shards of agony through him with every crushing blow that he deflected, but he was healing fast enough to keep up.

He needed an opening. There weren't any.Explorer’s Toolkitwas completely silent, the attendants too fast, too good at covering each other for him to find one. He would have to make one.

He pressed the attendants, soul-wrenching cracks shuddering through his arms as he threw his whole weight into a heavy downwards slash, forcing the goblins to block.

**Ding! Efficient Healing has reached level 3!**

**Ding! Efficient Healing has reached level 4!**

**Ding! Efficient Healing has reached level 5!**

One of the attendants slipped in low, bringing its crescent moon blade towards him with a hurried slash to his left leg, rushing to capitalise on his sword being bound up in the defence of its ally. There was a nudge in Kaius’s mind, and awareness. He could block. He didn’t

Gleaming bronze cut deep into the muscle of his thigh, thick blood welling in the wound. The attendant screeched in victory, joyous at having finally dealt a decisive wound.

Kaius snapped out with his left hand, grabbing the goblin by the face, feeling its teeth sink deep into the meat of his palm. The pain meant nothing. The other attendant shoved against his sword, easily pushing his one handed grip back. Kaius grinned savagely.

Arcane Bolt.

A flash of gold and azure. Wet flesh exploded from his palm in a cone, coating the pavilion floor in dark green gore. Kaius’s blood sung in his veins as the headless body of the attendant collapsed to the ground with a splash.

**Ding! Level 20 Goblin Adherent slain**

The final goblin elite was already moving, its curved sword descending towards his own in a heavy slash, ready to take advantage of his one handed grip.

Kaius twisted with his whole body, tapping into the well of energy in his vambraces. He felt the cracks spider webbing through the bones of his arm and shoulder asA Father’s Giftexploded into motion, rocketing in an upwards diagonal on a terminal course for the attendant.

Steel met bronze in a cacophony of destruction, Kaius’s sword shattering the goblins blade in a shower of sparks.

His arm snapped. Pulverised in the force of the collision.

The energy empowering his swing cared not for his injuries or his agony, forcing his slash to continue unabated, carving through the flesh and bone of the attendant with ease.

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**Ding! Level 20 Goblin Adherent slain**

Kaius let out a horse cry as his swing finished, his arm flopping loosely to his side as he just barely managed to keep his grip on his sword. The attendant pitched forwards, organs squelching as they spilled to the floor. The exposed muscle of his thighwrithed, reknitting itself.

**Ding! Efficient Healing has reached level 6!**

Palming his sword to his other hand, Kaius leapt over the fallen goblins bodies, rushing to support Porkchop in his battle against the shaman. It was facing away from him, too focused on avoiding Porkchop’s deadly claws and teeth to have noticed that he had slain its minion’s.

Thanks to his skills that enhanced his regeneration, he felt the shards of bone in his arm quickly reknit. It mattered little, the shaman’s curse was keeping his skeleton brittle. Every movement sent new fractures cracking through his limbs.

**Ding! Fast Healing has reached level 19!**

Rapid Adaptationwas moving quickly. Flooding his body to contain and absorb the energy. It wouldn't be long before he had his resistance, and it could start to fight off the affliction.

Ahead of him Porkchop roared once more as the Shaman showered him in a hail of razor sharp bone. His friend looked ragged, the constant assaults enough to cut his barding to ribbons and leave his fur matted with blood. Yet the shaman did not look fresh either. While its pain lash was enough to stop it from falling into Porkchop’s embrace, it had been savaged by glancing blow after glancing blow.

Its robes hung in tatters, stained by a constant slow leak of green blood. Its staff was splintered, battered from desperate attempts to ward off claws.

Kaius had no doubt that it would fall soon. They could do this.

Letting go of his sword, Kaius snapped his left hand up to fire off his finalArcane Bolt. There was a crack as stored mana expended itself, embers of gold rising from the disintegrating runic hymn on the back of his hand as an azure shard shot for the back of the shaman.

At the last second it hissed, diving to the side. The bolt scraped along its ribs, blood spraying free as it cut a furrow through the Champions side.

Fuck. He’d been hoping to pin it down with his last spell, but itdefinitelyhad some way to sense mana. When this was done, he needed to go over his runic hymn. It had punch, sure, but four spells was not enough. Not when he could barely hit the enemies that he needed it most against.

The shaman hissed, its mana surging for a few seconds as it cast a spell. A lash of mana flung through the air, straight towards him. Reacting on instinct he tried to bring his sword up to parry. It did nothing, the glowing whip phasing through his blade to land on his cuirass. Power surged, his armour attempting to rebuff the assault.

It wasn’t enough to fully negate the spell.

Mana punched through his skin, pulsing as it touched his nerves. White agony exploded through him, feeling like he had been flayed and dipped in acid. He stumbled, nearly falling to the ground as his legs locked up, a hoarse cry escaping his throat.

“Holy shit.” He coughed, picking himself up to advance closer on the shaman whose stressed eyes rocketed back and forth between him and Porkchop.

“I told you it hurts!”

“Yeah, well. It’s not an affliction, so there's that.” He yelled to his friend, stepping into thrust towards the champion. Slippery as it was, it used its staff to throw itself to the side, narrowly missing being impaled.

Kaius stepped forwards, readying another slash. The shaman thrust its staff towards Porkchop, hitting him with another shower of darts that forced him to bunker down. With its off hand it thrust towards him, mana pulsing as it hit him with another spell.

**Ding! You have been afflicted by Skeletal Weakness: Curse of Brittle Bone**

The damaging energy in his bones redoubled. Kaius tried to lunge forwards and finish it, only for his leg to collapse under him as his bones shattered. With a gasp he fell to his knees as the shaman cackled at his agony.

**Ding! Efficient Healing has reached level 7!**

**Ding! Efficient Healing has reached level 8!**

Porkchop roared. Kaius watched his friend blur, rocketing forwards directly through the densest path of cutting bone. His amulet, Kaius realised. he’d enhanced his charge.

He hit the shaman with the unstoppable fury of an avalanche. The shaman went down hard, hitting the stone floor in a long slide. Porkchop roared in fury, interposing himself between Kaius and the shaman.

Kaius felt his health flooding his broken bones, but it wasn’t enough. The affliction had made them so weak that any movement was enough to splinter them again. He needed a resistance.

He felt it. The very momentRapid Adaptationlatched on to the foreign mana that surged through his system, savaging it like a rabid dog. Locking it down, and slowly eliminating it.

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has added a new Resistance: Bone Magic!**

**Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 20!**

His resistance against the affliction bolstered, Kaius felt his bones strengthen,Healthreknitting them back together. He pushed himself to his feet. Care would have to be taken, they were still weakened, the bone magic still present. Yet it had been lessened enough for him to move.

To fight.

Leather creaked as he tightened his grip on his sword. Porkchop’s ear swivelled as he heard him get up. A second later his friend rushed forwards, eager to finish off the injured Champion. Kaius rushed after him, sword held in a close guard with his point trained on the rising shaman.

The goblin squealed, mana flaring around it as two lashes of condensed pain shot out. Squarely hitting him and Porkchop in the chest. He pushed through the agony, barely losing his footing for a moment as he braced for the surge of liquid fire.

He pressed on.

The shaman showered them in razor sharp bone darts. Kaius raised his arm, warding his eyes as bone plinked off his armour and cut into his exposed legs and head.

There was a blur to his right as Porkchop lunged forwards. The shaman shrieked and the bone darts cut off. Kaius moved quickly, dropping his arm to see the shaman had thrown itself backwards, hitting Porkchop with another lash of pain.

Kaius lurched in, pivoting on his foot to attack the shaman with a heavy chop. Rage twisted its features, black eyes scrunching as it raised its staff to block. Another building pulse of mana, and a second later it hit him with another whip of magic. Kaius locked up.

The shaman's chest was heaving. Bloody and tattered, it looked to be on its last legs. Fast and magically potent it might have been, its mana seemed bottomless with how many spells it had been throwing out. All the mana in the world couldn’t hide the glacial pace at which the wounds on its face healed, nor the way it hissed as he pressed his sword harder into its staff.

Porkchop charged from behind him, flattening the shaman once more. It tried to roll away. Escape. Stomping on its chest with a sickening mush, Porkchop pinned the shaman in place with one paw as it vomited green blood.

It was the moment he had been waiting for. A quick sprint brought him in close. He cut.

The shaman’s head rolled free.

**Ding! You have slain a Champion: Spiritcaller Grikx - level 24 Bone-totem Shaman! **