Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 775: A Bear’s Revenge I

CH775 A Bear’s Revenge I

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“Give me your head, you pig!”

Alain’s furious roar shook the meeting hall.

A brilliant golden aura erupted from his body as Gold-ranked Combat Energy surged outward, flooding the room with overwhelming pressure.

The cloaked figure wearing the eagle mask drew a sheathed sword from beneath her cloak—somehow having smuggled it past the estate’s guards—and tossed it towards Alain.

He caught it cleanly.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Alain charged straight at the Winkler clan head.

“Protect the Clan Head!”

Several voices cried out simultaneously.

Silver-ranked Combat Energy exploded from multiple clan elders as they threw themselves between Alain and their leader.

Unfortunately…

Even had they been fully armed—which they weren’t—their Silver-ranked strength was nowhere near enough to halt a Gold-ranked combatant.

Alain’s blade flashed.

The two men rushing to intercept him were cut down almost instantly.

Although they failed to stop him, their sacrifice bought the others a few precious moments to react.

Instead of trying to protect the clan head directly, three more Silver-ranked Winkler warriors attacked from Alain’s flanks and rear, launching simultaneous palm and fist strikes towards his exposed sides and back.

Alain was forced into a choice.

Abandon the attack and defend himself… Or kill the clan head first.

Contrary to every expectation, he chose the latter.

“Give me your head, you pig!”

His earlier roar echoed through the hall as Alain resolutely completed his strike.

The sword swept cleanly through the stunned clan head’s neck.

His head separated from his shoulders.

The three attacking Silver-ranked warriors froze.

They had assumed Alain would prioritise protecting himself and had deliberately held back a measure of their strength, intending to follow up once he defended their opening assault.

Instead… he had willingly exposed himself to guarantee the clan head’s death.

The unexpected resolve stunned them for the briefest instant.

Only then did they fully commit to their attacks.

That fleeting hesitation—and the restraint they had shown moments earlier—proved fatal. It gave Eagle the opening she needed.

The cloaked operative vanished from where she had been standing.

An instant later, she appeared directly behind Alain.

Her second sword swept out horizontally, intercepting two of the incoming attacks before they could land.

Unfortunately, owing to the shortsword’s shorter reach, Eagle failed to intercept one of the incoming attacks.

A palm strike from Alain’s left slammed into his exposed side, blasting him across the hall.

Eagle’s figure flashed after him.

To her surprise, however, the surviving Winkler combatants did not attempt to capitalise on the opening.

Instead, they turned and fled.

That brief exchange between Eagle and the two Silver-ranked warriors had already revealed everything they needed to know.

The cloaked swordswoman… was a Gold-ranked combatant.

At the same time, the strike that had landed on Alain had accomplished little.

His Gold-ranked aura coating absorbed the majority of the attack.

As expected, Alain quickly rose back to his feet. Though the blow had clearly rattled him, it was nowhere near enough to maim—let alone kill—a Gold-ranked warrior.

Faced with two Gold-ranked opponents, retreat was the only sensible option left to the surviving Winkler elites.

Unfortunately for them, choosing to flee did not mean Alain and Eagle intended to let them escape.

Boom!

Alain stomped the floor.

The ground cracked beneath his foot as his body shot forward like a cannonball.

Within moments, he caught up to the slowest fleeing Silver-ranked elder before the man could leave the hall.

His shortsword drove cleanly through the elder’s back before bursting out through the left side of his chest.

The man’s body stiffened.

Then it collapsed lifelessly.

By then, however, the remaining clan elders and Silver-ranked warriors had already escaped the meeting hall.

Alain immediately moved to pursue them.

But before he could take another step, Eagle appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

Without a word, she tossed something towards him.

Alain caught it instinctively.

It was a bear-shaped mask.

Eagle pointed to the eagle mask covering her own face.

Understanding dawned on Alain. Though clearly reluctant, he slipped the bear mask over his face.

Almost at that exact moment, the clan head’s personal guards stormed into the hall.

Rage blazed once more behind the eyeholes of the bear mask.

Bear charged without hesitation.

Working in perfect coordination with Eagle, the pair cut through the guards ruthlessly.

Moments later, they stepped out of the hall.

Bear’s gaze immediately settled upon a nearby weapons rack, where the meeting attendees had deposited their weapons before entering.

He tossed Eagle’s shortsword back to her.

Then, after briefly inspecting the rack, he selected a longsword for himself.

The weapon felt far more natural in his hands.

Even amidst the chaos, someone had taken the opportunity to steal Alain’s treasured sword—a pseudo-artifact he had personally acquired after advancing to Gold rank.

Although he clicked his tongue in annoyance, there was no time to dwell on it.

Just as Bear was about to pursue the fleeing Winkler higher-ups, he caught Eagle pointing towards the sky from the corner of his eye.

High above, an eagle circled silently over the estate.

Bear immediately understood.

Following the bird’s guidance, he quickly located two fleeing Winkler elders.

The pair had rallied a group of guards around themselves, hoping to use them as a shield.

It did nothing to dampen Bear’s resolve.

In his eyes, the clan leadership’s betrayal had become the betrayal of the entire clan.

Any guard foolish enough to stand between him and his vengeance was cut down without mercy.

The two elders seized the opportunity while Bear was occupied with the guards. They lunged simultaneously from behind, hoping to finish him with a surprise attack.

As though he had anticipated it all along, Bear suddenly disengaged from the guards before him.

He turned smoothly. Then, with a simple forward thrust, he extended his sword.

The seemingly ordinary movement completely caught the first elder off guard.

Unable to halt his own momentum, the elder impaled himself upon Bear’s blade.

Before the second elder could react, Bear twisted the skewered body and used it as a shield.

The second elder’s sword plunged straight into his companion’s chest.

If Bear’s blade had not already killed the first elder, his fellow clan elder certainly had.

Bear kicked the corpse into the second elder, forcing him backwards as he ripped his sword free.

At the same time, three guards closed in.

Bear retreated a single step before swinging his sword in a broad arc— Golden Combat Energy coating the blade.

The strike blasted the three guards backwards, shattering their weapons upon impact.

Other guards immediately rushed forward to reinforce them. But it was too late.

Bear was already moving.

“Sword Energy!”

A crescent of golden sword energy erupted from his blade.

It tore through the charging guards at the waist while clipping the second elder, severing one of the man’s arms.

The surviving guards froze in horror.

None of them noticed the spectre that had silently appeared behind them—

Eagle.

Her twin shortswords danced through the air with graceful precision, looking elegant, fluid and unstoppable.

By the time she completed the final step of her dance, all four guards collapsed lifelessly behind her.

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