THE RUNIC ALCHEMIST

“They’ve all lost their minds..” Sam muttered.

“We should get out of here..” Lucian said simply.

“Agreed,” Alex added. “Otherwise, We’ll be caught in it too..”

Einar replied, “We already are. Two of them are coming straight towards us..”

“We can still fly away. Hurry!” Lumi said, looking around frantically.

“Those dumb ones with Kamisen are still stuck there..” Sariel reminded everyone.

“Kishi..” Einar muttered, turning aroun and trying to find her friend in the chaos.

Lucian suddenly remembered as well and started scanning the chaotic mess of second-rankers killing each other. Spells and sword arcs flew in every direction, smoke and sand rose from the battlefield, and even some monsters had joined the fray, attacking anything in their path.

Damian listened to everything while keeping his eyes locked on the Highsword battle. Amidst the chaos, he noticed something—everyone around him was panicking and reacting with shock except.. Reize. His gaze snapped to her, and she immediately looked away, as if unable to face him.

She looked.. guilty?

“What did you do?” Damian asked.

His voice wasn’t loud, but at that moment, everything around them seemed to freeze. Everyone turned to her, following his gaze, sensing that something was wrong.

The two third-rankers were closing in fast. Damian didn’t recognize either of them, but he was certain he had sensed one of them trailing behind him throughout the dungeon run. Their intent was clear—and it wasn’t friendly.

“Sam,” Damian said, his tone firm. “Take her along with Dreamlight and get those idiots from the second-rankers. Keep an eye on her. Looks like today is the day for betrayals..”

Reize’s face contorted with pain at his accusation of betrayal, but she remained silent. Her lips quivered, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

Sam nodded and was about to ask something in return when Damian suddenly launched himself out of the open door, flying straight at the approaching Highswords. Two full mana containers hung at his sides. The enemies halted in midair the moment they saw him coming. One of them, a mage, instantly fired off a spell he had been muttering all along. The other, a spellsword, unleashed the largest aura slash he could—aimed more at Dreamlight behind Damian than at Damian himself.

‘Good.. I was just thinking killing them without talking would feel bad. It won’t anymore.’

A massive runic circle flared to life, glowing with a mix of red and dirt-yellow light, and suddenly, over fifty burning, meter-wide rocks came hurtling toward Damian. The seven-meter-long aura slash led the attack, cutting through the air like a scythe.

Damian responded instantly, activating one of his wormhole spells. A rift tore open just meters away from both attacks, redirecting them to an opening that appeared right behind the two attackers.

They reacted quickly, trying to evade, but the attack was too fast. Several fiery rocks crashed onto their own caster, while the spellsword struggled to cut through the onslaught. He managed to deflect some, but a few still struck him, leaving burns across his armor. Both barely avoided the redirected aura slash.

“The fuck are you people up to?” Damian asked, launching five firebirds from a single runic spell. The birds flared with searing heat as they streaked toward the two enemies.

The spellsword slashed at them desperately, but his aura blades were useless. The firebirds simply reformed, undeterred. Meanwhile, the mage conjured a thick wall of water around himself, using it as a shield against the relentless flames. Even so, some fire licked through, burning him slightly as he hastily cast more spells.

“It’s all your fault, bastard!” the mage snarled. “You and your damned spell! We should have taken you out before you made that artificial core shit!”

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“And who is ‘we’?” Damian asked, genuinely confused. All the while, his hands continued drawing more and more runic circles, mana threads holding them in place beside him.

“The one true ruler of all lands… We are darkness…”

The spellsword’s voice rang out as he flew through the burning firebird without hesitation, unfazed by the searing flames. With a blistering speed, he swung a devastating overhead slash at Damian. But he was merely a distraction—the mage was already deep in a rapid chant, his voice a blur of whispered incantations as a rustic black-and-red runic circle crackled to life near his hand.

Damian still had his aura armor active, but he didn’t bother using it. Instead, he activated one of the pre-prepared runic spells—aimed directly at the spellsword’s face.

A massive laser blast erupted forward.

The spellsword’s eyes widened in shock. He gripped his sword with both hands, channeling all his aura into it in a desperate attempt to block the attack. For a few seconds, he managed to hold out—but it wasn’t enough.

The laser melted through his sword, and the moment his guard broke, it slammed directly into his chest. The impact sent him hurtling downward, his flying spell failing as he plummeted into the sand dunes below. Smoke rose from his burned armor and exposed skin, but his body remained intact.

That was the body of a third-ranker.

Still, he had lost consciousness from the sheer force of the blow.

The monsters had already fled the dunes, sensing the tremors and explosions from the raging Highsword battle in the distance.

But there was no time to rest.

The mage’s spell was already upon him—a massive wave of thick, liquid, black fire erupted from the runic circle, following the mage’s precise hand movements. Damian had never seen a spell like this before.

He dodged.

At high speed, he weaved through the air, his movements far beyond what a normal flight spell could achieve. His was a modified version—powered by four wind runes, a gravity rune, and a weight-adjustment spell bound to his armor. Unlike others, he had complete control over his flight, allowing him to maneuver with unmatched precision.

The mage poured his full control into the fire wave, but it was useless. Damian was too fast.

He closed the distance between them in less than thirty seconds.

And just before he reached the mage—

His flaming spear appeared in his hands.

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