Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 573: Help

The Mushroom Forest rumbled as Jakob ripped roots up from the ground in swathes. Fury burned in his eyes as the worked ground bubbled and churned beneath his feet. Then he thrust his hands forward with a wordless cry of fury and anger.

Roots exploded forward in a wave.

“Run!” Alexandra yelled, launching herself toward the roiling roots hurtling toward them. Her motions were fluid as her sword danced through the air, slicing through everything in its path.

Yulin fought at her side. The Torrin’s blade was more akin to a whip of metal than a solid weapon. It seemed to flow and ripple like liquid, growing and shrinking in length as she spun it around her.

There was no time to appreciate either of their fighting styles. Despite their best efforts, Jakob was pushing them back. For every root they cut down, two more took its place. Thorns burst free from the white foliage, as long and sharp as swords.

They lost ground with every passing second. Alexandra and Yulin couldn’t hold Jakob off on their own. Despite their skill, Yulin was still a Rank 2 and Alexandra was only Rank 3. The fact that they were holding off Jakob for this long was already impressive — but they couldn’t just hold him off.

Isabel grit her teeth as she dug through her mind in search of a solution. They needed backup, but backup wasn’t coming. And despite Alexandra’s order to run, that wasn’t going to do anything either.

Jakob had control of plants. Right now, they were in a clearing. Running into a forest would just make it even easier for him to attack them. The only advantage they had was numbers, but that wasn’t going to last for long when Jakob started to pick them off.

How can we beat him? There has to be a way we can pull this off. What would Professor Vermil do if he were here right now?

“Todd, can you do that thing you just did again?” Isabel asked as she fought to catch her breath. Muscles in her neck throbbed in tension as a wave of pain and weakness rolled through her from the wound in her shoulder, but she pushed it down.

“No,” Todd replied grimly. “I drained every scrap of energy I had to use that attack, and that includes the power I recycled to get the explosion that concentrated. There are too many flaws in it still.”

Great. So both of us are functionally out of energy. That only leaves Emily and James.

The ground before Isabel twisted. Her eyes widened and she leaned back. The reaction wasn’t nearly fast enough. A thin root burst up from the dirt, its tip sharpened to a point, and drove straight for her throat.

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A glimmer of light swirled in the air and a shield formed before Isabel. The vine struck it and the magic shattered, but it bought her the extra half-second she needed to throw herself out of the way.

“You are wasting all of our time,” Jakob snarled, taking a step forward. The intensity of the roots bearing down on Alexandra and Yulin intensified, forcing both of them back.

One of them scraped along Alexandra’s arm, ripping her shirt but failing to penetrate her skin. Another one shot for Yulin — but James intervened with a disk of light, blocking the attack and giving the girl a moment to reposition.

An arrow of ice streaked through the air in a blur. It shot past the roots and slammed into Jakob, only to be blocked by his shield flickering to life. He barely even reacted. The professor just took another step toward Alexandra and Yulin, intensifying the strength of his assault further.

“You’re trying really hard just to kill a few students. That’s not a good look, man,” Todd taunted, stepping away from Isabel and raising his voice loud enough to make sure that Jakob could hear him.

“Wait your turn,” Jakob growled. He swept a hand through the air and a root blurred up from the ground behind Alexandra, striking her square in the back.

The force of the attack launched her into the air, and another vine whipped out and batted her out of the sky like an insect. She slammed into the ground with a loud crunch.

Isabel’s heart flew up into her throat, but Alexandra rolled to the side as another root crashed down on the spot where she’d landed. She shot back to her feet, clothing damaged but only bleeding from a few small cuts rather than a severe laceration. Her Body Runes were protecting her against the brunt of Jakob’s magic.

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“We need something more,” Emily hissed as she sprinted over to stand by Isabel. “I can’t break his shield, and I can’t get close enough to use my pattern without him attacking me. Alexandra and Yulin have his attention, but that won’t last forever. James is trying to back them up, but he’s also low on magic.”

“I know,” Isabel said, her fists clenching at her sides. Frustration crashed against her insides like a raging ocean. All the years of having to hide from the noble families. All the years of knowing what had been done to her and Todd, the years of waiting for revenge — and she’d managed to do was stab one of the bastards that had destroyed their families.

Things can’t end like this, but right now, the only thing we can do is lighten the load on Alexandra and Yulin while we look for an opening.

“What do we do?” Todd asked.

“Take attention away from the others,” Isabel said, flexing her fingers and setting her jaw. “Jakob might be able to control a lot of roots, but there’s no way he can split his attention in every single direction. We need to get Emily close enough to use her Formation. She’s the one that has the best chance of breaking Jakob’s shield.”

Todd gave her a sharp nod, and the three of them burst into motion.

***

Noah stared at the fight unfolding before him, invisible hands clenched around his throat. His students were fighting for their lives, and they were putting up a damn good showing — but it was apparent that they were not going to win.

Sticky crouched nearby, the portal still gathering before her. Her body trembled with exertion and her face was creased in concentration. She was throwing every single scrap of power and ability she had into controlling the artifact, but it wasn’t going to be enough.

They didn’t have time.

Jakob had far more magical energy than the students. Even though his runes weren’t perfect, they were far from trash. He could keep fighting for a lot longer than Isabel and the others could. Time was running thin. It would only be minutes before the students just didn’t have any magic left to work with.

“There’s no way you can help?” Noah asked Sievan, pacing back and forth as desperation and fury swirled within him. All the power he’d gathered meant nothing if he couldn’t be there when it mattered.

“I cannot,” Sievan said. “Even the greatest of demons cannot form a connection between the mortal realm and the Damned Plains on their own. We must be summoned or go through an existing pathway. The Key in Sticky’s hands is one of the only ways to do that, and no others are near us.”

This can’t be happening.

“Can we help Sticky?” Lee asked. Her eyes were locked on the vision of the students and her skin was pallid and sickly. The small demon’s hands clenched at her sides, her claws digging into her palms and drawing blood. “There has to be something we can do!”

“I’m almost there,” Sticky said through clenched teeth. The Key trembled in her hands. “I’m going to make the portal. I’m going to be helpful. I promise.”

“Do what you can, Sticky,” Moxie said through clenched teeth. “Just get that portal opened. You aren’t at fault for this, but we’re going to fucking kill the people that are.”

Only if we can actually get there. I can’t wait for this portal. I need another way onto the mortal plane. One that doesn’t take me a bunch of time when I cross between the planes. There has to be a way. There’s always —

Noah froze.

That’s it.

“Mascot,” Noah said, his voice as sharp as a blade. “I need you.”

And then Mascot was there, crouched upon his shoulder. For once in the cat’s life, there was no smug amusement or playfulness in the cat’s eyes. The little monster was dead serious.

“What in the planes is that?” Sievan asked, his eyes going as wide as saucers.

Noah ignored him. Sievan couldn’t help, but Mascot could. A flicker of hope built in his chest.

“Can you get me there?” Noah asked, pointing to the scene playing out before them.

The cat stared at Noah. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if his request had been misunderstood. He’d always been fairly confident that Mascot could understand what he was saying, but the cat had never actually directly acknowledged any of his requests.

Mascot shook his head.

Noah’s stomach fell. The cat had been his only idea, but Mascot couldn’t bring people along with him when he teleported. There wasn’t even time to write a letter to send to Jalen. By the time Mascot found him and Jalen read the letter, he’d still have to find where the students were in the exam. It wasn’t proctored. Nobody was watching. Even if it only took him a minute, it would be too late.

Mascot was the only one that could slip through planes like it was nothing. If he couldn’t get Noah there, then it was over. There was absolutely nothing he could —

No. Fuck that. I’m not accepting this. There has to be another way.

He was dimly aware of his students surrounding Jakob in the vision. They had split apart to stretch his attention, but the professor had clearly seen combat before. He’d built a ring of spiked vines around himself to keep them from getting close while he bore down on Alexandra and Yulin.

James was doing what he could to protect the girls, but they were all running out of magic. Blows were connecting more often, and Yulin was already limping badly. There were only minutes left in the fight at best.

There’s a way to make it out of this. I refuse to accept any alternative.

The grimoire on Noah’s back shuddered. It somehow slipped itself off his arm and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

There was a jerk on Noah’s back. It ripped itself open to a blank page, and worlds scrawled across its surface in black ink.

I can help.