The Runic Alchemist

Damian received the flying spell from Vidalia as they stepped into the wormhole and faced the two third-rankers. He sensed several second-rankers approaching from below, but since none of them could fly, it was meaningless unless they somehow brought the fight to the ground.

To their surprise, the third-ranker duo didn't hesitate for a second. Moondancer stayed in front of them, surrounded by her flying javelins, her dark, faceless hood obscuring her featureless face. Threadripper, smirking at Vidalia, flew his mount toward the nearest defense mechanism pillar.

'He wants to break out by destroying the mechanism... But why did they attack in the first place? Why waste their one chance to use the waygate for this weird attack?'

Damian wondered as he watched the retreating figure of the silk-clad nobleman dressed even in even more ridiculous outfit than Tristan himself. Had this guy really come to fight?

'The waygate is their target. They were just toying with me. I must stop him, but if I go after him, Moondancer could wipe out half the army. Then the barrier will be pointless... The others will have to handle him,' Vidalia's voice echoed in Damian's mind, and he realized the mental link was still active.

Not wanting to distract her, he blocked the link and conjured an invisible, adult-sized box to trap Moondancer, sending it toward her using mana threads. Somehow, she sensed the spell and moved away, launching javelins in their direction. The distance was too great for him to maintain the mana thread toll, so he let it go. How had she sensed it?

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She wasn't even a mage and the spell was invisible, he didn't even chant.

Then Damian noticed a ring on her finger, glowing whenever his runic spell got too close. That explained it.

Vidalia, busy deflecting the javelins to protect them and the soldiers below, raised her hand, chanting another spell. Thick, flexible green vines shot from her hand, hurtling toward Moondancer, trying to ensnare her with hundreds of tendrils. But the dark third-ranker was prepared and summoned a giant sword with her powers, cutting through any vine that neared her.

At least it stopped the javelins for now, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Since Moondancer could sense nearby mana, Damian figured he needed a spell already activated to catch her off guard. He pulled out one of his modified air blade runic rolls, spread it open, activated it, and aimed it at Moondancer's ominous figure. To make things even harder for her, Damian created a normal air blade runic circle with his hands and activated it too.

With Vidalia providing mana, Damian could launch nearly endless air blades. Still, he used the bare minimum, relying on his efficient mana-handling training to send a barrage of blades in no clear formation, all flying at high speed toward Moondancer, who was dodging Vidalia's vines while riding her wyvern.

The air blades made too much noise, and both Moondancer, her mount and Vidalia noticed them immediately. Vidalia pressed her advantage, further harrying Moondancer leaving her no place to go. Realizing she was in trouble, Moondancer created layers of solid darkness around herself, entombing her own form with her flying beast.

Damian wasn't concerned with that. With her movements sealed, he used his invisible box runic roll once again, sending it beneath her. But she still sensed it and moved her entire massive protective shield, shifting up, down, left, and right to evade the spell. She wasn't making this easy at all. He had to abandon the tactic again and continued his air blade assault.

Vidalia stopped her vines and instantly started chanting three-three four- four lines at once summoning multiple fiery birds. All of which flew towards the black solid box Moondancer had trapped her self in and started spitting fire with blinding intensity, melting the solid shadows of the Moondancer's hasty defense.

Seeing Vidalia's fiery birds gaining success, Damian switched spells too, stopping the air blade spell and instead using his fire pillar spell to cook the dark third-ranker alive in the tomb of her own making. The fire began melting the solid shadows around Moondancer, and it was clear she was being roasted alive.

But even then, she kept moving, still using her dark wyvern to fly and keeping last of her layers intact, making it harder for them to aim their spells.

The fiery showdown continued for a while until Vidalia finally stopped, seeing that the fire had done enough damage. She pulled out her sword, leaping atop the still-melting black layers and hacking the solid shadows away with her aura blade, unleashing a fury unlike anything Damian had ever seen.

To help, Damian stopped his fire pillar spell and released his golem onto the shadow layers, the heavy spear assisting Vidalia in breaking through the darkness bit by bit.

Suddenly, the last layer shattered, and pitch-black javelins along with five other dark creatures burst forth from where Moondancer had been, hurriedly scattering in all directions. She was trying to run away, hiding inside her beasts. The creatures rampaged through soldiers and nobles alike making no difference in choosing it's prey.

It might have worked if Vidalia was alone, but Damian could pinpoint exactly which one she was hiding in. Instead of shouting, Damian jumped onto the back of a strange land creature—a grotesque amalgamation of various animal parts. Vidalia flew his body closer as she followed too, striking at the creature with her aura blade, effortlessly slashing through the shadows.

Finally on the ground, with Moondancer pinned beneath them, Damian used his invisible box roll once more, successfully positioning the large black runic circle under Moondancer's feet. She must have sensed it again because she tried to unleash a massive wave of darkness to knock Vidalia away and escape the spell as one last effort, but Vidalia was prepared this time.

She summoned her vines once again, binding Moondancer in place and slicing through the darkness coming her way with a glowing golden sword that seemed to sprinkle radiating light particles with each of her attack. Damian activated his spell.