Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

CH653 Flameshooter Peacock

***

Working in coordination with the wolves under Fen’s command —and making full use of the cover they created— the Fury soldiers cut their way through the enemy lines, killing everything that stood before them.

Considering the devastation inflicted upon the front and much of the mid-line, the boundary between massacre and mercy killing had become disturbingly blurred.

Many of the Lost Heathens being cut down would likely have died regardless if they did not receive immediate medical treatment.

And given that they were kilometres away from any meaningful first aid—let alone specialised treatment—one could argue the Fury soldiers were doing them a favour by ending things quickly.

Above them, Senu remained just as active.

”[Spatial Rend]!”

She introduced the Lost Heathens to the brutal reality of aerial superiority, raining down near-impossible-to-defend spatial attacks that sliced through flesh, armour, and obstacles alike.

Each strike tore open another section of the defensive line.

By the time Alex reached the entrance of the core building, the enemy’s resistance had already been carved apart.

Thanks to the chaos and disarray Silver had created earlier, he made short work of the remaining guards stationed at the door.

No sooner had Alex arrived than Fen’s wolves surged into the area as well, attacking the guards positioned around the building’s perimeter and allowing him to enter without obstruction.

Udara moved ahead of him, slipping through the structure like a phantom as she silently cleared every hostile within the warehouse and storage sections of the building.

Alex ignored the loot for the moment. His focus remained fixed on tracking the energy signature of the Lost Heathens’ sorcerer.

To his surprise, the man had already abandoned the building. His energy signature was moving rapidly—retreating through the rear of the structure.

’How is he getting past the wolves?’ Alex wondered.

[Third Step — Wraith’s Crossing]!

His figure vanished once more as he gave chase.

The sorcerer and his small group had managed to slip past Fen’s encirclement using a concealment spell.

After that, they employed a haste-type spell alongside a network of hidden escape routes and tunnels built beneath the base to flee the settlement entirely.

Once outside, they quickly mounted prepared horses and rode hard into the night.

The sorcerer glanced back at the base, now shrinking further into the distance.

Anger and humiliation burned in his eyes—yet beneath both emotions lurked something far stronger.

Fear.

He had never heard of anyone capable of intercepting and stealing another person’s mystic arts... only to turn around and cast it back with even greater force.

It was not that such a feat was impossible. Rather, the level of mastery required to accomplish it was far beyond what any ordinary mage could hope to achieve.

’I need to inform the Leader. He has offended someone he never should have,’ the sorcerer thought grimly as he urged his horse to run faster.

[Chain Bolt]!

Without warning, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck the ground directly before them.

The electricity instantly spread, arcing from the earth into the horses and violently paralysing them.

The animals collapsed, nearly throwing their riders with them.

The men reacted quickly, vaulting clear just before the horses hit the ground.

”You are surprisingly agile for a spellcaster.”

A calm voice suddenly echoed through the darkness.

Alex stood a few metres away from the group of four, his expression unreadable.

”Hold him off,” the sorcerer ordered sharply.

His three Gold-ranked guards immediately rushed forward.

Alex was just about to engage when he sensed a familiar presence.

[First Step — Ghost Step]!

’I’ll leave this to you, then,’ he thought.

He stepped back at once as a figure slowly rose from within his shadow.

Udara caught the outstretched sword arm of one of the guards mid-slash and twisted smoothly into a judo throw, sending him crashing over her shoulder.

Without pause, she planted her hands against the ground and used the momentum to deliver a powerful back kick (donkey kick?), kicking the other two guards away before they could close in.

The first guard scrambled into a desperate counterattack, but Udara’s figure suddenly vanished from his sight.

She reappeared behind him just as he struggled to regain his footing, driving her short sword cleanly through his back and out through his chest.

Before his corpse even hit the ground, she slipped back into his shadow, disappearing once more and emerging near another of the guards.

Her blade thrust forward for another killing strike, but this time the guard reacted quickly—blocking the attack and immediately creating distance between them.

Udara was about to continue pressing the assault when she sensed something hurtling towards her. She halted instantly and raised her guard.

[Amazonian Might]!

Clang!

A heavy spear came flying at terrifying speed.

Udara managed to parry it aside, but the sheer force behind it still drove her backwards, her boots carving a long drag mark through the ground.

She rolled her wrist once, loosening the strain.

Even with the innate strength granted by her Amazonian heritage, that thrown spear had not been easy to handle.

The two remaining Gold-ranked guards glanced briefly at their fallen comrade before shifting their eyes back to the seemingly delicate woman responsible.

Neither of them dared underestimate her.

They exchanged a solemn look and silently came to the same conclusion—

They would take her on together.

Alex observed the exchange with quiet interest, but he made no move to interfere.

His attention shifted back to the sorcerer.

The man had already completed the hand seals for his next spell—or rather, mystic art—his palms pressed firmly together.

[Flameshooter Peacock]!

A blazing orb of flame formed between his hands. It dropped to the ground before him and rapidly transformed into a magnificent flaming peacock.

For a brief moment, Alex almost paused to appreciate the elegance of the mystic art.

Then the peacock unfurled its radiant tail feathers.

Alex immediately sensed danger.

[First Step — Ghost Step]!

Boom!

He barely escaped as a concentrated fireball launched from one of the ’eyes’ embedded within the peacock’s tail feathers.

’Wow... that’s actually an interesting con—’

Before he could finish appreciating the construct, the rest of the peacock’s tail erupted.

One after another, tennis ball-sized flames fired in rapid succession from each feathered ’eye,’ turning the entire mystic art into a barrage platform.

[Ghost Step]!

Boom!

[Ghost Step]!

Boom!

[Ghost Step]!

Boom!

Alex was forced to stay constantly on the move, his body flickering across the battlefield as he narrowly evaded the relentless rapid-fire assault.

The more Alex evaded the attacks, the grimmer the sorcerer’s expression became. With every dodge, he became increasingly certain that Alex was no ordinary spellcaster.

’Even the Empires may not possess a young sorcerer of this calibre... To cultivate someone like this... only ”that” place could produce such a monster...’

A heavy premonition settled in his heart.

By this point, Alex had already evaded nearly a hundred of the flaming projectiles.

’Fortunately, each individual flame ball isn’t particularly powerful. It only becomes truly dangerous if someone is struck by dozens of them in quick succession... which, I suppose, is precisely the purpose of this mystic art,’ Alex mused as he slipped past another wave of attacks.

***