The Runic Alchemist

It was far, but the ice mountain Lucian had created had been broken down, and he had clear enough sight to see perfectly what was happening.

Sam had finally zapped the crow and its rider with his lightning bolts, sending them crashing down. The other flying tribesmen had seen it happen firsthand and knew they were no match for Sam. He wasn’t actively attacking them, so they too just maintained their distance, not meddling with him in any way.

Lucian and Drakyn were fighting with their lives on the line. Hundreds of tribesmen had encircled the barrier and were trying to break it, but simple attacks were meaningless, and none had enough power to do anything big. The giant dinosaur-like being was slowly heading that way, though. The weight and force of that thing could probably crack it in a few hits.

Damian looked back at the castle wall and spotted Maelor, not doing much, surrounded by impressive ladies. Damian let the princess’s group fight and quickly used Waygate to reach Maelor. He grabbed him without a word and pulled him beside him in the middle of the battlefield.

“What the hell?” Maelor complained.

“Keep these people safe. Use a Waygate to reach me if it gets too much for everyone,” Damian said.

“You’re supposed to keep us safe!” the princess complained.

“This is me keeping you safe,” Damian replied without even looking at her.

“I was busy,” Maelor said, activating his golden armor skill and conjuring two golden swords in each hand. Damian just gave him a look, and he rolled his eyes. “This will work too. I guess I did miss the exercise.”

Damian used a Waygate and reached near Sam. Watching from afar was okay too, but having this close view was just better. He sat down beside the metal woman and Sam—watching the duel going on beneath them.

The pieces of steel armor on Lucian’s body were dented all over. The Drakyn was also cut in multiple places across his body. One spawned fire every few minutes after exchanging blades, and the other conjured endless ice. Still, the power of an old emperor-ranked creature with intelligence was something else. His swordsmanship skills were taking full advantage of his massive body filled with overwhelming physical strength. Lucian saved herself multiple times from him by the inch of her life.

She was good, but her offensive skills and spells were not as powerful as the Drakyn’s natural power and racial abilities. Damian had offered Lucian a lot of unique, game-changing runic tools when she was preparing for this, but she had refused them all. Even the aura-enhancing armor was something he had to convince her to take on. She knew that if she were on her own in this trial, she wouldn’t have such convenient things in her hands.

She wanted to fight. Struggle. Get injured—even.

There was one thing she had said to him once in the cave that convinced Damian she had to do all of it on her own:

‘I can’t move forward. I need this.’

She had revealed to him that it was her trials, more than anything else, that taught her unique swordsmanship techniques. The ability to channel an attribute into an aura attack was something only she and other espers could do. For a spellsword, that feat was unheard of. Einar had her scarlet aura, but it didn’t contain the fire as powerfully as Lucian could channel her ice into hers.

To her, this trial was supposed to show her a way forward. According to her, this was not the limit of her swordsmanship skills. It had nothing to do with the rank of a person—both Damian and Sam were third-rankers, but even they couldn’t perform swordsmanship techniques better than Lucian and Einar. Certainly, they had more power and speed, but the skill itself was something they were not masters at.

“She will die,” suddenly a deep voice beside them said.

The metal woman had an expression on her face that Damian had a hard time deciphering. Was she worried? No. Just curious? That wasn’t it either.

“No, she won’t,” Sam said. “We are here.”

“A stranger killing their king will not matter much,” replied the strange being in the middle of the two. Sam and Damian exchanged glances—the lady was indeed saying the truth.

If Lucian failed, the only way to make sure they had completed the trial successfully would be to launch a heavy assault by him and Sam, making the tribesmen feel like they were seriously outmatched. That wouldn’t be possible without showing an example of their true strength though—killing a lot more than what the body count of the whole battlefield currently was.

“Things happen…” Damian said. It was like a confirmation that indeed people would die if she lost.

He wasn’t being cruel—it was a calculated response.

The metal woman sighed. Lucian was taking a beating currently, as both blue fire and ice mountain skills had already been used, and the two were just trying to overpower each other with their swords and little spells. Lucian was at a disadvantage in that.

“Bring me to her…” Finally, the metal woman said.

Damian expected her to use some skill or something—or maybe make a weapon for Lucian. That had to be her role in this trial. But this was unexpected. What was the use of her on the battlefield when she couldn’t even move on her own?

Still, Damian didn’t question her and held her, slowly flying down. He used a simple Waygate to go through the barrier and came out beside Lucian. The Drakyn felt a threat from his aura and immediately backed away from Lucian.

Lucian’s one knee was on the ground as she used her sword to support herself. Her clothes had red spots all over. She had healed herself in between, but blood still remained. She spat a mouthful of blood and looked up at him—and the metal woman in his hand.

Damian let her go. She floated in the air beside him—staying a few inches above the snow-covered land.

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