Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 538: Girl Power

CH538 Girl Power

***

Alex’s words caused a pin-drop silence to descend upon the already tense scene.

He had seen the bandit leader’s gaze roaming over his wives’ bodies and was barely keeping himself restrained. He knew that if the man said one wrong word, he would throw caution to the wind and butcher this group where they stood.

He was only holding back for one simple reason.

A bandit force numbering close to a hundred, with about ten Gold-rank warriors among them, even at just One-Star Gold, was not ordinary.

There was a very real chance a greater power stood behind them. They could be an advance unit of a larger organisation.

They could be members of a shadow faction disguising themselves as bandits.

Or both.

Alex did not want to drag Fortuna into a needless storm if it could be avoided.

’I am getting tired of repeating this dance,’ he thought irritably. ’Can’t you keep your eyes to yourself and focus on business? What are you people, beasts that can’t think with your brains and only with what hangs between your legs?’

He paused.

’No... that’s insulting to beasts. Most of them at least know how to recognise danger and how to avoid it.’

He exhaled, then looked at the clearly angered bandit leader.

”Look, we don’t have time for this, so let’s skip the nonsense,” Alex said calmly. ”I don’t know why men of your strength chose this path, and frankly, I don’t care. But you should be smart enough to understand that robbing my party will cost you.”

His gaze sharpened.

”There’s no need to lose your lives over a poor haul and wounded pride.”

He tilted his head slightly.

”So, with that out of the way, tell me what you are really after.”

The bandit leader burst out laughing.

”Did you hear that, boys? He says we can’t take them, yet he’s asking what we want!”

He looked over his shoulder.

”Anyone care to enlighten him?”

”We want your money! Your goods!” someone shouted.

Then came the lecherous addition.

”...and your women!”

”There you have it,” the bandit leader grinned. ”Hand them over, and you get to walk away.”

There was open disdain in the bandit leader’s eyes, as though he were bargaining with insects.

Alex was about to speak when Zora reached out and held his arm, stopping him from saying what he was about to say.

She shook her head at him, giving him a knowing look.

”I see...” Alex nodded slowly, a smile forming on his lips. He turned back to the bandit leader, ”You drive a hard bargain. If that’s what will save our lives, we’ll comply.”

The bandits were caught off guard. They had expected insults, defiance, maybe desperate threats.

Instead, they surprisingly got a smooth surrender.

But the moment Fortuna’s members turned to look at Alex, a chill ran down their spines.

Calm Madness.

They recognised it instantly.

Alex turned slightly and beckoned to Silver with a small tilt of his head.

The huntress urged her mount forward and stopped beside him. Alex gestured for her to stand together with his wives.

”Which one of them do you want?” Alex asked mildly.

The bandit leader blinked, then looked through the women, clearly unable to choose. Then an idea hit him.

”What do you mean which one?” he barked. ”Send them all over. Now!”

”Alright,” Alex nodded agreeably. ”I’ll send them over. But may I give you one piece of advice?”

The bandit leader smirked, amused.

”Oh? Let’s hear it.”

”Be careful what you wish for,” Alex said.

He cast one last sideways glance at the women.

Then he nodded.

”Go on.”

Without hesitation, the women urged their horses forward, riding towards the bandits roughly fifty metres away.

They had barely crossed half the distance when something suddenly happened.

[Shadow Dash]!

Udara slipped from her saddle, her form melting into the darkness of the horse’s shadow.

[Amazonian Might]!

In the next heartbeat, she erupted upward from the shadow beneath the bandit leader’s mount.

Her shortsword thrust up through the horse’s neck.

The blade pierced through flesh like a hot knife through butter.

But Udara did not withdraw.

Instead, she used the spasming contraction of muscle around the embedded blade for leverage, twisting her body mid-air.

With brutal precision, she flipped, dragging both horse and rider down.

The bandit leader hit the ground pinned beneath the collapsing corpse.

Udara landed with him, sword first... Straight through the heart.

He died instantly.

’To defeat a bandit group, take out the leader first.’ Alex’s voice echoed in her mind.

The nearby bandits finally reacted, weapons flashing as they rushed Udara.

But she was already gone.

[Shadow Dash]!

With a light, effortless backflip, she pushed away from the corpses of the bandit leader and his horse and sank into the shadow of another mount.

A blink later, she emerged from the shadow of her own horse and vaulted smoothly back into the saddle.

”Fire! Shoot her dead, now!” a Gold-ranked bandit roared, face twisted with rage.

The archers moved.

But two people were faster.

[Icicle Shower]!

Zora’s spell descended from above.

Before the archers could even draw, jagged spikes of ice punched through skulls and throats. They collapsed where they stood.

And she did not stop.

[Ice Breath]!

Fen, who had been resting lazily against her thigh, suddenly leapt up, maw opening wide. A torrent of freezing air blasted toward the bandits, crystallising the air between them in an instant.

Zora’s eyes flashed.

[Icicle Storm]!

Zora’s spell shattered the froze air, sending ice shard flying horizontally towards the bandits.

Only the Gold ranks managed to raise meaningful defences as lesser bandits were ripped apart, torn down by the sharp, gleaming ice shards.

At the same time, Silver had already drawn her hunter’s bow to its limit.

A steel arrow rested against the string.

Just as another Gold-rank stepped forward, apparently assuming command after the leader’s death, having barely deflected Zora’s assault and opening his mouth to curse—

Silver released.

[Attack Boost]!

[Speed Boost]!

Eleanore’s blessings wrapped around the projectile mid-flight.

The arrow accelerated.

At this distance, there was no dodging.

It tore through the man’s chest and heart before he could even process the danger.

He dropped without finishing his sentence.

The women wheeled their mounts and retreated cleanly, returning toward Fortuna’s lines.

The surviving bandits tried to surge after them— but something else arrived first.

Boom!

[Dream Dive]!

From the heavens, Queen Senu’s true body unfolded from its spatial compression and descended like divine punishment.

Her talons speared down, punching straight through another Gold-rank’s head.

Blood erupted.

But the queen eagle had not come for a single kill.

[Omnidirectional Spatial Rend]!

She spun.

Invisible blades burst outward in every direction, carving through space to cleave through the clustered bandits, dropping scores in moments.

Alex watched the massacre with cold eyes.

’I warned you to be careful what you wished for,’ he thought.

’That’s what happens when you let your filthy eyes wander toward my queens.’

”Finish them,” Alex ordered, giving a small, dismissive wave of his hand.

***