The Runesmith-Chapter 287: Tactical Withdrawal.

“What’s that, it came from the direction of the forest… wait isn’t Wayland's workshop in that direction?”

“It is my lord… but we should focus, the monsters are acting strange, why did they all stop moving?”

A strange phenomenon was taking place outside of the city gates. The monsters that were moments before clamoring at the gate had stopped in their tracks. No one at first knew what could have garnered this response from them but soon enough the mushroom cloud in the distance told a tale. Each and every one of these skeletal beings looked at that explosion and soon enough started abandoning their posts.

“Something must have happened to the Lich… could it have died?”

“Close but that’s not it.”

“Master Aurdhan?”

Arthur, who moved closer to the edge of the guard tower noticed the Guild Master’s voice coming from behind him. The man didn’t look that tired but the large black skull that he was holding in his hand indicated a lot.

“If it was dead then the magic that is holding the monsters together would dissolve… but for a Lich to call its forces back like this…”

While Arduhan monologues about what transpired, Arthur’s eyes landed on the big black skull he was holding. It was clear that the man had finished off that one obsidian skeleton and didn’t look that injured. His body was covered in some faint scratch marks but they didn’t seem to have drawn out blood.

The man was built like a tank and wore light armor that didn’t really protect him from outside attacks. This didn’t mean that his skin couldn’t act like armor, Arthur knew that some classes offered passive buffs to defenses when certain conditions were met. For instance, barbarian-like classes would boost a person’s natural protection if they didn’t cover up their body too much or wore light armor.

“Nice one isn’t it? But you can’t have it, it’ll look good on my wall.”

Aurdhan laughed while arriving next to Arthur, both of them looked out into the distance where the skeletons started retreating to. Their forces had dwindled a bit but the black mage and the beast-type obsidian skeleton were still out there. In the beginning, there were five obsidian types and one of them was killed by the guild master.

Another one vanished from the map before the siege started and one went with the Lich toward the Runesmith’s home. The map wasn’t showing what was happening there as even before the explosion the signal died down for some reason. There was a high probability that something happened to the creator of this map and Arthur wasn’t sure what he should do.

“Isn’t that where our little Runesmith lives? Did that kid actually stay there? I thought he was the intelligent type.”

The guild master smirked while shaking his head before moving away. His work seemed to be done and he wasn’t here just to show off the evil skeletal skull to the lord. As he was going away a group of five people appeared, these people were unknown to Arthur but by a platinum emblem that their leader was wearing their identity was exposed.

“Well then, I did my part and these guys will take over.”

While walking away the large man passed next to the group of adventurers while waving his hand without turning around. It seemed that the backup that they were waiting for had arrived but even though the city was safe one of its citizens wasn’t…

…

“This is the extent of what this creature was capable of?”

A beautiful woman with beastly eyes stood in an empty corridor covered in monster remains. It was well illuminated by blue flames that were even now sticking to the obsidian bones that were still moving. These belonged to a monster skeleton that had the appearance of a large monkey with horns. What was left of it was just its upper torso with one hand and even now it was trying to crawl away from the person that gave it the critical injury.

“Would it have been this easy if it didn’t turn away for that moment? Were undead minions ever scared of dying?”

The person that defeated it was slowly fixing her black leathery clothes that covered her entire body. Within a moment the fox ears that were previously uncovered started vanishing as she activated her body-transforming skill. Without anyone else being here she could finally let loose to quickly take care of the problem inside the thieves guild tunnels.

However, even though she expected to easily win over the monsters here they acted rather strangely. The black skeleton wasn’t the only one that was in this narrow corridor, the white ones were also there. Thanks to the cramped spot they were in she decided to use one of her wide-range abilities. The white skeletons were instantly incinerated by her special flames but the obsidian one survived with only a slither of its HP left.

“It wouldn’t have been this easy if they didn’t stop… oh well, my job is done.”

The guild master of the thieves guild gave out a sigh while strutting forward. Her leather boot landed on the enlarged black head of the skeleton and after applying some force it was crushed. Within she could see a tiny flame that looked similar to a will-o'-the-wisp that quickly evaporated.

With this, her task of defending the guild was finished. She could already feel some of the hidden assassins approaching. They were quick on the uptake and probably eager to see their guild master in action from a safe location. Regretfully they would not be able to gain any information about her true appearance which she could not easily reveal.

“The directions they were looking… wasn’t it that troublemaker’s home?”

She gave out a little smirk before slowly walking back toward her people. After giving them a piece of her mind it would be time to relax, it seemed that the fighting outside was coming to a close and a party of capable people did arrive. It would be best to leave this up to them now that they were here but this didn’t mean that her faction would stand by idle.

“Those bones should be enough to reimburse me for these destroyed tunnels, not like the adventurers can carry them all.”

….

Roland was too focused on the problem before him to notice the trouble coming from the outside or the message from the world's system. The cage that he prepared to kill the Lich had exploded before him as he overloaded the entire runic structure with various spells. It was all in the hopes of defeating the monster Lich inside.

A tier 3 monster had been defeated but it was not the one that he was aiming for. Just before the Lich’s demise, an Obsidian Skeleton Beast Soldier made it inside the cage. It grabbed its creator and tossed him outside of this cage right before everything exploded. The minion died instead of its master that was now gathering itself. Roland had used a large chunk of his own mana to try and deliver a killing blow but it only caused him a headache.

“Grrrr…”

Agni started growling while standing next to Roland. Without being ordered to the Dire Ruby Wolf let out a tremendous howl. The gem that was starting to take the form of a horn started glowing. Red light bounced off the smoke coming from the area the trap exploded as a magic spell was formed.

Just like the Lich, Agni was a similar beast that was capable of silent casting. It took him a long time to create the spell effect but it seemed that the wolf had already been getting ready to blast away while the explosion was taking place. A small magical circle appeared around the ruby gem before a beam of heated energy shot out. It pushed the smoke away and revealed the target at the end, an injured white skeleton standing on one leg.

The gem-encrusted staff was used as a crutch to stand but the creature was very much alive. It was not a human nor a living organism of any kind, something like losing a leg would not diminish its fighting capabilities that much as it was still a magical casting monster.

Agni’s beam of fire collided with the Lich dead on but the difference in stats and tiers was apparent. Even when the monster’s mana mantle had been dispelled the fire resistance was still there. It was an attack that would turn anyone below level hundred into a pile of ashes but to this Lich, it was like a light slap to the face. The drop in health points was minuscule and it only made it angrier than it already was.

“Fuck…”

Roland noticed something, it wasn’t a spell chant it was something else. Some type of hidden skill was activated and as the monster opened its boney mouth a massive amount of green mana formed inside of it. With his mana sense, he was able to notice it before it was too late.

Magical classes came in all shapes and sizes. Monsters and people that were part of the magic caster type didn’t only rely on their spells, there were various skills that could augment their fighting style. One of those special skills was the Lich’s tier 3 summoning skill that it could use without the need for a body.

There was one common skill that magic users usually came equipped with. One of these skills was called spell stockpiling. It allowed a magician to store a spell in a skill slot for later use. The quality of the stored spell depended on the type of stocking skill of the caster, sometimes the spell would have a drop in power and speed but one effect would be kept. The stored spell could be activated without the need of being cast and it couldn’t be interrupted by normal means.

Either the Lich was using this type of skill or he had some type of racial ability. Nevertheless, it was generating a massive blast of magical energy from inside of its mouth that was being aimed at Agni who just fired off his own spell and was momentarily incapable of dodging.

A green energy beam flew forth in a straight line toward the ruby wolf. It was much faster than any beam spell attack that Roland had ever seen before or was able to produce. Even when he saw through it there was just not much time to react, even though he had ordered the leftover spider drones to attack the lich and put themselves in the line of fire they were not capable of performing this task in time.

Without much time to think could only react by swinging his oversized hammer into the line of the beam. The runic shield that would be probably the better option was still on his back. At this moment the only thing he could do was access a few lesser runic structures that would produce a shield around his forward side. With his mind racing, he tried accessing all of his runic knowledge to somehow augment the defensive capabilities of his hammer. Everything happened in a fraction of a second in his mind while causing a few bursts of capillaries and a nosebleed.

The hammerhead was surrounded by a layer of protective mana that was good at absorbing magical attacks. With sheer willpower, he managed to connect with the green beam of light right before it collided with Agni’s face. The collision of these two energy types produced a large shockwave of mixed colors.

This magical hammer was not designed for taking tier 3 spells like this. The runic spells inscribed to aid in shock absorption and dispersal almost instantly became overloaded. The shock traveled up to his hands which started cracking and only stopped at the forearm area. Yet he could not relent, if he decided to pull his weapon back then Agni’s head would be blown right off.

Roland shouted out in a mix of indignation and pain while swinging forward. The green beam from Lich’s mouth was pushed back and transformed into smaller rays while shooting to the sides. These thinner attacks connected with various items and structures around the whole smithing compound causing massive amounts of damage. The wind generators went up in flames and even his house was riddled with holes.

The destruction of his home was something that he wanted to avoid but it was not time for this. He had been successful at bouncing the attack away but this cost him dearly. Both of his hands were numb but one was certainly broken while the other probably had multiple cracked bones.

“G-grrrr.”

“I’m fine…”

Agni started growling ferociously at the skeletal monster behind the destroyed gate. But before he could get in front of Roland to act as a guard dog he stopped. His master’s hammer dropped before him to halt his advance. The weapon that he worked to create had turned into a malformed blob of metal.

“Agni, I told you to get back, I didn’t save you just for you to die.”

The ruby wolf curled up his tail in shame while Roland started backing off in the direction of his home. While the Lich was still alive it was momentarily indisposed. It was missing a leg which would make it slower and was also injured greatly. The command that he sent to all the remaining golems in the compound and the turrets that were still operational were still in effect.

His plan of defeating the Lich with the holy rune trap literally went up in flames but this didn’t mean that it was over. While Roland was on the retreat he wasn’t considering this a loss just yet, this depended on what his monstrous opponent would do. Would it follow after him into the place he was retreating or would it withdraw? The monster was already enraged but it was also injured if its danger assessment capabilities were in working order, then it would have probably chosen to fight another day. For some reason, this monster really had it out for Roland and even now with one missing leg, it decided to float toward its target who was already running.

Before the monster could muster up another attack it found itself being pelted by some mana bolts from ranged turrets and spider drones. One of these golem creatures actually jumped straight at the monster in an attempt to grapple its chest. Before it could do that and explode it was pushed back by an invisible energy.

While casting powerful tier 3 spells would cost the monster some time, he could almost mimic runic casting speed if lower tier 1 spells like the mage hand he was using now were concerned. He was using this to push the blue golem away before it could overload its runic battery and produce a large explosion.

Everything here was just a distraction that couldn’t really halt its advance. Roland that it was after had been a point of interest for almost all of its life and it just couldn’t comprehend how he could escape each and every time. The monster's psychological state was deteriorating due to being poisoned by the holy energies. It couldn’t think straight anymore, its mind started to regress into something primal and it wanted to see the one that hurt it, pay.

It was missing a limb which was a momentary setback. Luckily there was a replacement bone nearby in the form of the obsidian skeleton remains. While most of those bones were charred by the holy energy and explosions there was enough bone matter to repair its limb. The monsters used the mage hand spell to pull in the bone chunks and with its special self-mending skill was able to produce a replacement.

Even with the strange mechanical contraptions trying to blow it up, the Lich continued to move forward. The mana mantle that was around its body started to slowly recover and it took a step toward its destination. The black leg that it produced wobbled a bit but after a few steps, it managed to get used to the new limb. Finally, it could give chase and it would not stop until completing its urge.

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