The Runic Alchemist

They slid down the mountain, not quite free falling like their chief had, but it still looked painful. But Damian doubted they even felt pain any longer. Why would they make such a big decision like it meant nothing..? Didn't they hear..? Just eating the damned mana stone was a death sentence..

But it was done; no one could turn back time now.

Damian couldn't look away as the white tiger faced the three times his sized elephant. The elephant roared in challenge as the white tiger responded. The two titans roared, their earth-shaking calls echoing through the forest. Damian wondered what the people waiting in the forest must be thinking, hearing those roars ring out one after another.

Without a fail the elephant began to form a runic circle, its belly glowing brighter by the second. Kazak, however, stood calm on his tiger, deep in concentration. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, a faint purple glow momentarily flickering in his eyes before he radiated a powerful red aura. Damian could feel it from the cliff, even with his barely awakened aura sense. Then, with lightning speed, Kazak threw a punch that seemed to break the very air, launching a deep red projectile of aura, like a red missile, straight at the elephant.

Chapter Stay:

'That's… impossible,'

Damian thought, his mind racing. He'd fought many pugilists, but he'd never seen anyone manage such a feat. Sword slashes imbued with aura were standard, but to create a projectile from a bare-handed punch? That was a concept he'd thought unachievable. Pugilists traditionally coated their fists and bodies with aura to strengthen their punches, making the air their weapon, not the aura itself. Only one person had done anything similar—Bonecrusher, when he dispersed the tornado at the camp.

"He's truly at the level of a third-ranker," Damian murmured.

Kazak's punch landed on the elephant's hide, causing it to flinch, but little else. The elephant's thick skin seemed to absorb the blows with ease. Undeterred, Kazak continued, punch after punch, as red streaks of aura missiles hammered the giant beast, forcing it to recoil.

This time, the elephant felt it. Even Its spell broke, the runes dissipating into the wind.

The other beastmen finally arrived, Kazak shouting orders down to them that Damian couldn't make out. But the beastmen didn't heed his instructions; they attacked the elephant without regard for their lives, striking it up close at its softer spots, the weakness or two. They weren't completely out of their minds yet, it seemed. Though they definitely were not quite in there, just a spirit of their vengeance.

Kazak and another warrior, a second-ranker who had also brushed the threshold of Transcendence, clashed relentlessly against the elephant. Kazak's white tiger tore into the beast's hide with its fangs, while the other warrior pounded it with fists, each punch crashing against the elephant's form, holding nothing back.

Then, abruptly, the elephant released a massive wave of energy, forcing the attackers backward. In the brief respite, another runic circle appeared, this one with different runes and alphabets and numbers all together, it was another spell. Damian didn't even bother trying to copy it, he was too focused on the spell's potential effect on the still running beastmen.

A huge sphere of bright purple-pink net made of energy soon engulfed the elephant, radiating a scorching heat that burned the earth itself. Kazak shouted for his beastmen to climb onto the white tiger, but only the other ex-second-ranker and ex-first-ranker managed to obey in time. The third beastman charged blindly toward the elephant and was instantly vaporized, his body blackening as it hit the charred ground.

Kazak roared in anger, but he had no choice but to retreat from the deadly sphere's range.

"Goddammit, that's just absurd…" Royce muttered beside Damian and Mira, his frustration clear.

They didn't have Damian's night vision, granted by his mimicry spell, but the light from the attacks and the two enormous beasts illuminated the scene well enough for them to somewhat make-out what was happening.

"There has to be something we can do…" Mira said, her voice tinged with worry.

"Going down is madness," Royce declared. Damian and Mira nodded in agreement. They cared about their comrades, but not enough to do suicide.

"Spells… Do you have anything that could work, Royce?" Damian asked, he himself frantically started thinking of anything that could be feasible with his limited mana and the supplies he had. He could make more mana dust.. That was an option.. What else.. Exploding arrow spells.. It won't be very accurate or much effective with his mana.. He could use the mana dust for that though.. Other Elemental spells.. Oh, how he wished he could have already received that grimoire with elemental spells.. Wasn't that also a weapon for mages..? Why would Vidalia keep swords and spears and not grimoires with her on the battlefield…?

Damian also had his runic ring that had his strongest attack, that he could manage with his mana. It was for emergencies only though. It held his 80% mana filled wormhole spell.. It should take him with his calculations from here to just a sly of the mountain's feet. But going down was not an option at all. He was saving it for escape anyways…

Okay, little suffering was nothing when the beastmen had sacrificed their whole lives.. Damian took out the spatial storage Old man Shin had given him and made a pile of all the red mana stones he could find inside.

Royce and Mira stared at him as if he had gone mad.

"Royce, how much mana do you have left?" Damian asked, holding the largest red mana stone in his hand.

"About 68%… What are you planning?"

"Can you make giant javelins? As big as you can but still within Mira's capability to throw at that damned thing from here?"

He turned to Mira. "Can you throw them?"

She grinned. "Damn right I can! But giant wooden javelins alone won't do much."

"It will—if they explode in its face," Damian replied, his expression dark.

"Oh! You mean like the spear blasts you used on those hidden soldiers in Ashenvale?" Mira asked, excitement flashing in her eyes.

Damian nodded, crushing the red mana stone as he activated Mana Extraction. Familiar pain coursed through him, filling his body and mind, but he steeled himself. It was nothing compared to watching good men die, defending their home, and the worse part that he feared-not succeeding.