The Runesmith

Chapter 628: Back To The Grind.

“Just a bit more…”

The ground shook and trees fell as a stampede of green-scaled monsters charged toward a single destination. When they arrived, all of them hurled themselves at a disc that held a small smoking pallet. Compared to these monstrous creatures, it was tiny, yet the scent was enough to drive them mad.

Chaos erupted as the beasts began fighting over the foul alchemical mixture. Although they were creations of the dungeon, each had a small measure of free will. They shoved one another with their massive bodies, some using their large forelimbs in a desperate attempt to reach the source of the smell first.

“Now!”

This was the moment Roland had been waiting for. As soon as the creatures entered the blast zone, he activated the trap. His visor glowed briefly while he used his skill to trigger a single rune that functioned as a detonator. Once it ignited, several other runes flashed to life, filling the area with a brilliant blue light that quickly shifted to red as a tremendous explosion shook the ground.

Flames erupted across the battlefield, consuming the plant-based lesser dragons. The fiery blast rolled through the clearing like a living storm. Heat waves shimmered and twisted the air as the roar of the explosion echoed through the forest. Trees were uprooted, and clouds of ash and embers swirled upward in a spiraling inferno. Within moments, the entire area was transformed into a blazing crater.

“The sound barrier is holding… Perfect.”

Roland’s voice remained calm as he monitored the entire situation from his position. Although he could not conceal the tremors caused by the dragons running, he was able to control the flames and explosions. The overlay on his display continued to shimmer as it presented all the important data for the situation, and soon the world system responded.

Congratulations, you have leveled up!

Congratulations, you have leveled up!

“Woof!”

Agni barked beside him, gaining levels just from standing there.

“I know, Agni. Just enjoy the free levels for now. It will get harder to keep this up once we move to another location and once the other adventurers become aware.”

His experience points were rising rapidly, but this was not the same as his previous experience farm. Back then, he had been the only person in the hidden section of the dungeon and did not need to worry about being discovered. Here, even though the area was quite large, small groups of adventurers continued to go out on hunts.

A lone cockatrice had already alerted some people to his presence, and he was certain they would eventually sweep through this area. However, he did not plan to stay in one place for long. As long as he moved quickly enough, he could remain ahead of the competition.

‘I should visit that fort of theirs. At least there it seems to be a non-combat zone.’

Through his monitoring golems, he had kept watch over the area even when he was not physically present. Many of the people here were on the same level as the Albrook guild master. The majority were Platinum-ranked adventurers like himself, but there were also many Mithril ranks among them, and the leader of the settlement appeared to be one of them.

‘The leader keeps the peace and rarely ventures outside alone. I wonder why.’

“Werf!?”

As he was pondering his next step, Agni started jumping around as if bored of just standing in this place.

“You sure are growing fast…”

Roland wondered what his wolf would become when he reached level two hundred fifty. Even though Roland was still ahead in levels, Agni was starting to catch up. Roland planned to wait until level two hundred seventy-five before taking his next tier-three class, but Agni had no such restriction. If they continued at this pace, his fiery companion would reach the next evolutionary stage before him.

“I just hope you won’t become even bigger.”

“Woof?”

“Nothing. The explosions have subsided. Let’s go down there and check if any of them survived.”

Roland and Agni descended from the ridge where they had been hiding. The air was still thick with smoke and embers, but with his suit active, he could see clearly through the haze. The once green glade had turned into a vast field of ash and scorched earth. Trees lay uprooted, and the bodies of the plant monsters were still burning. Agni’s nose twitched as he sniffed the air, low growls rumbling in his throat.

“Don’t worry, I see it, boy.”

As they reached the ground, a ferocious beast leapt out from the smoke. Its eyes glowed brightly as it tried to activate some kind of power, but whatever it was attempting failed to take effect. A layer of mana shimmered across Roland’s armor, protecting him from petrification, though the creature kept charging forward.

“I got this, Agni.”

The monster kept coming, its body resembling a strange mix between a rooster and a green lizard. Agni barked once and leapt aside. Roland raised his right hand, lowering his wrist slightly, and from a concealed compartment, a double-edged blade slid out. Crimson flames erupted around it, forming a sword of blazing plasma.

Roland waited for the right moment. As he had done many times before, he was not looking directly at his opponent but at the mana phantom it generated. This method had granted him victory in previous battles, but it had its flaws. When an attack was too obvious or when the opponent could instinctively react to any countermeasure, the phantom lost its edge.

The cockatrice, a lesser dragon, lunged with wings spread wide and vines whipping outward in an attempt to distract from its main bite. Roland sidestepped the charge, his boots sliding across the ashen ground as one of the vines grazed his armor and left a streak of sizzling acid.

“Too slow.”

His right arm snapped forward. The plasma-coated blade mounted to his forearm shone brightly as it sliced through the air in a precise arc. The motion was clean and efficient. With a single strike, the execution was complete, and the creature’s head separated from its body in an instant.

For a moment, the creature did not realize it was dead. Its momentum carried it past Roland, vines still twitching, body skidding across the charred soil before collapsing. Then it tried to rise, its vines flailing in a gruesome display. Roland did not move. He simply retracted his blade back into his forearm armor with a hiss.

“It’s just like a headless chicken now.”

“Rrrr…”

Agni padded closer, ready to pounce on the monstrosity, but he never got the chance. After a few weak flaps of its wings, the cockatrice collapsed for good.

Floral Cockatrice has been slain.

With the notification, he knew that it was over. His level did not rise from this one, but considering how many monsters he had killed in a single rune trap, the two levels he gained were more than enough. Some people were stuck gaining one level for weeks or even months when he could gain two in just one day.

“I should move into another area after the next one.”

He nodded to himself before activating one of his spatial runes. The space before him expanded, and a group of humanoid golems emerged. They resembled metal puppets, their most distinctive feature being their human-like hands.

‘While the golems gather up the loot, I should do something about all this smoke.’

These golems made a porter unnecessary. Although many of the dragons had burned in the initial explosion, there were still plenty of materials worth salvaging. For that purpose, he had brought five of these metal puppets. Each one carried a sharp carving knife and a spatial bag for storage.

They were borrowed from the union since, as usual, he was short on time. They were not perfect, but they were good enough to cut apart the dead monsters and gather materials. Their metallic bodies were also far more resistant than those of ordinary people, so there was no risk of poisoning. Repairing them with his skill would also be quite simple.

Just as he had done many times before, Roland assumed the armor change position. Within moments, his red armor shifted into an azure one. Once it was fully formed, he adjusted the spell to summon water and flood the area.

“Awooo!?”

Agni jumped back in fright as several large orbs of water appeared above the explosion site. When each orb was in position, Roland released the spell and let them drop. The massive spheres of water crashed down together, hissing and steaming as they struck the scorched ground. Thick clouds of white steam spread in all directions and gradually thinned as the embers faded.

When the steam cleared, the monster carcasses became visible. Green body parts were scattered everywhere, and the acidic blood of some creatures still sizzled on contact with the earth. Not everything could be recovered by his golems, but for the moment, he left the remaining work to them and moved toward an open area. There, he projected a map of the surroundings onto the ground and took his time to study it.

“I’m here.”

He pointed toward the location he was currently in, not far from his hidden base of operations. Before, there had been no map to rely on, as he could only identify a few landmarks while descending from the entrance point in the mountains. Now, after more than two weeks of his golems slowly exploring the area, most of the region had been mapped.

“Even with the lure, going up against those wyverns will be difficult.”

His initial entry point had been on a mountaintop where the wyverns patrolled. Mountains completely surrounded the valley, and those flying creatures dominated the skies as the most powerful monsters in the area. The plant-based monsters were becoming less worthwhile to hunt since their levels capped around two hundred forty.

“If I go north, I’ll reach the adventurer camp. It’s not the time to go there yet, though. That leaves the meadow or the lake formations.”

At the moment, the plant-based drachinids were the easiest for him to defeat. The next creatures with exploitable weaknesses were in the lakes. What made this area particularly useful was the absence of adventurers. They seemed reluctant to venture into the water and had no boats to fight the creatures hiding beneath the surface.

“Makes it perfect for me. Once I’m done with that place, I could check out that waterfall.”

There were hidden ruins and entrances scattered throughout the entire valley. His small spider drones were slowly crawling through the area. Their compact size and inorganic nature made them uninteresting to the dungeon monsters that preferred targeting adventurers. Although there was still work to do, Roland was confident that with this partial map, he could make steady progress.

With a clear plan in mind, he only needed to prepare. After a successful day of hunting, it was time to retreat. For a while, he monitored the area and noticed that some adventurers were lingering suspiciously close to the entrance. Fortunately, they were not ready to move in, as the hidden spores and toxic gases were dangerous to anyone not properly equipped to handle them.

It took about twenty minutes for Roland and his golems to collect anything of value before heading back to his lair. Once they neared his underground hiding place, Agni’s armor began to shine. The section covering his face produced a thin layer of mana that shielded him from the spores.

“It’s easy to place runic traps on the ground, but it won’t be as easy in water. I might have to get a bit more creative with this one.”

“Woof!”

“Stop moving, just go through the portal…”

“Worf!”

Agni’s size did not fit well with his compact hiding place. He could barely squeeze through the entrance, and the same was true for the gate he created. Fortunately, everything was just large enough for the wolf to get through, but he had to shift into his other form, which did not have as many sharp edges as the ruby one.

“Stop squirming…”

“Awoo!”

“... Should I make this thing bigger? What if he grows and we can’t go back…”

For a moment, Roland stared at the open gate and decided an adjustment was needed. It would be some time before Agni evolved, and he could always postpone it until they returned home, so for now, he stepped through.

“Woof!”

“Just go outside and play there, Agni. I am going to get busy for a while.”

Once he was back home, he let Agni ride the elevator up alone while he checked the many screen panels in his workshop. They had spent an entire day in the dungeon. It began with him setting the trap for the green monsters and then luring them in with Rastix’s alchemical concoction. He planned to do it one more time before moving toward the lake area, but if he wanted to farm monsters there, he would need to make some changes.

“I never really fished before, but if you want to kill fish at a large scale, there is nothing better than some explosives…”

Roland remembered videos from his old world of people throwing explosives into water. From what he understood, the fish did not die from the initial blast but from the shockwave that followed. The shockwave ruptured internal organs and those organs that controlled buoyancy, which made the technique somewhat unreliable because even if a fish was killed, it would not always float to the surface.

“Attacking from outside isn’t the best option…”

Roland also knew that attacking water from outside with brute force was inefficient. Water was denser than air, so any mana attack that relied on pressure would lose much of its power. There was a reason modern-day ships used torpedoes or underwater mines instead of machine guns, since bullets couldn’t travel far once submerged.

He looked up at his screens to pull up the armor he had been wearing. Even though it was designed to boost water magic, it was not a scuba diving suit. It was waterproof, but he did not have a way to travel without using up too much mana.

“This will take a bit of prep time, but I do not need to dive in deep, only far enough to place the bait.”

With his mind abuzz with ideas, he pulled out his notebook. In it, he started sketching a few promising designs for potential underwater combat. Creating something like a runic torpedo wouldn’t be that hard, and he could even implement a guiding system that would be managed by his suit.

The armor he was wearing was good enough to be submerged, but with a few adjustments, he could also make it fast, even underwater. To fly, he only needed the floatation spell and some propulsion, but underwater, there was no need for that. Instead, he could focus on generating more power.

”Should I make one of those underwater propulsion devices to hold on to, or maybe something that attaches to my back? I could make a small submarine, or maybe an underwater scooter…”

Roland was uncertain, since he had little experience with underwater equipment. The seas in this world were largely unexplored and filled with terrifying monsters, many of them much larger than those found on land. Ships usually traveled along special routes that avoided most dangers, and those that ventured into risky waters relied on concealment magic to stay hidden from underwater predators. What he was trying to do was new and could one day help others in their own explorations.

“It shouldn’t be that difficult, just a few propellers here and a few adjustments there…”

His hand moved quickly over the pages as he sketched the devices he wanted to create. The lesser dragons in the dungeon did not respawn very fast, so he had close to a day to prepare. Roland turned the page and continued drawing. Lines became measurements, runes appeared beside them, and in the margins he noted the results of quick calculations done in his head.

“Perhaps I won’t even need a proper motor, just wind runes generating torque instead… I could make it into a spiral, but… that solution will use up more mana.”

He continued to crunch the numbers. Using direct spell runes was not ideal, but given the short amount of time he had, it was probably the best choice. Soon, the plans for his improved water suit were complete, and it was time to begin the real work.