The Runesmith

Roland looked at the monster that had gained an enraged status after it had been frozen. Some of its health had dropped but it was now quickly regenerating back up.

The monster started looking different than before. It switched to a deep red coloration; its horns and dorsal spine increased in size. The largest difference was the sword-like tail which was now burning up. It looked as if it was covered with magma which was also radiating from some cracks in the armor-like plates the monster was covered in.

While Lucille and Robert were stunned by the monster's second form Roland raised his rod. The runes glowed in a chilling blue light before a large ball of ice formed in front of it. This ball was then shot off while spinning around.

The monster was still slow as before but this time around when this ball of ice snow collided with it, it started to quickly melt. The Xornotaurus roared out and opened up its mouth. In it, Roland could see the flame-producing sac organ which this type of creature was known for.

‘Shit…’

He quickly started running sideways, if he was a second late he would have been charred. The concentrated flamethrower-like breath collided with the spot Roland was previously in. Even the hard rocks started to melt from the high temperature.

The monster didn’t stop with its magma-like projectile attack. It followed after its prey by swinging its head sideways and trying to hit Roland as he was running. His armor was lighting up in green as he switched on his agility buffing runes to make a fast getaway.

Without his runic shield in his hands, he was not confident in blocking this attack with a regular magic shield. Even though he had that runic program in his armor it wasn’t specialized for it.

“D-don’t worry Sir Wayland!”

While feeling a burning inferno at his back he heard a woman’s voice from afar. It was Lucille shouting out, Robert was next to her with the shield raised and sword in one hand. The young ice mage started concentrating and gathering mana.

She closed her eyes and chanted as fast as she could. The blue crystal on her magical rod started pulsating with energy and slowly the spell started to take shape. It looked to be a large spire of ice, it was quite thick at the base and became thinner the further it went, culminating in quite the sharp top.

“Ice Lance!”

After completion, the girl shouted out and pointed her magical weapon at the monster in the distance. The large spear of ice flew forward, the added distance only gave it more time to gain speed. The attack headed right at the monster's side. Lucille hoped that even the monster’s thick plates would not be able to resist such a heavy and fast-moving object.

Regretfully the monster would not allow this to be tested as it noticed this large human-sized icicle coming its way. It turned its body while swinging that giant sword-tail at the incoming ice lance.

It managed to slice it in two while only part of it collided with its heated up plates. Due to the loss of size and momentum the damage was minor. The monster now looked to Lucille and Robert while Roland was given a well-deserved breather.

Agni appeared at his side and started whining. It was clear that the tamed beast would not be able to last even one hit.

“Agni… go and hide…”

The ruby wolf curled up its tail as it felt without use. He was smart enough to know that he would only get in the way so it decided to bide its time for the moment that he could be useful.

While Agni was moving away Roland looked at the lava-covered ground that was melted by this creature. He did not think that his armor would offer him enough resistance against this monster’s attack. Even if he pumped all of his mana into his ice shield he would only last a few seconds before it gave out.

‘This thing is resistant to ice…’

This was one of the worst possible outcomes. Previously they enjoyed a rather easy time against the lesser monsters in this dungeon. It was enough to just lower their temperature slightly and they would just shut down.

This one on the other hand had some kind of internal heating organ. Even when they brought its temperature below 0 degrees it could just heat itself back up. The monster was also a large one and they only had one-handed swords with not much weight behind them.

Roland had brought things along as a large two-handed axe and hammer for such an occasion but it was left behind with the porters. The bag that he had with him only had his runsemithing tools along with provisions.

The spatial bag he had lacked the capacity and carrying a backpack in the dungeon was too much of a hindrance while fighting. Thus he was only left with some bombs, spell scrolls, and what he had on himself.

None of these things would probably be able to cause long-lasting damage to this monster. It was heavily armored and had quite thick legs. There was also the huge burning swordtail, which was a problem in itself. Would he be even able to resist it with his runic shield? Or would he be sliced in half with one swing?

It didn’t seem like he would have much time to reorganize his thoughts though as the monster gave out another giant scream. He expected it to fire another flaming breath or charge at Robert and Lucille. Instead of doing that it took out a wider stance while arching its back.

‘What is it doing…’

He could soon spot the tips of the backplate spikes glowing brighter than before. Roland took a step back before looking at Robert and Lucille.

“Don’t just stand there, scatter both of you!”

Lucille was surprised at Roland's outburst while Robert furrowed his brows while looking at the monster. He seemed to understand the situation as he quickly sheathed his sword and lunged towards Lucille.

“Sir Robert? W-what are you doing?”

“Forgive me, my lady…”

The knight lifted up the noble lady with both his hands and started running. Almost at the same time, those glowing back spikes shot up into the air. They were clearly heated up and produced dark smoke.

There were four large spikes that at the apex of their trajectory exploded. This produced many smaller red hot embers that plummeted to the ground in various directions. Roland saw this and started dodging at max speed.

The moment one of these glowing chunks collided with something on the ground a small explosion occurred. They were slow-moving enough for Roland with his agility buff to react in time, on the other hand, Robert and Lucille weren’t as lucky.

Robert raised his shield while one of these projectiles collided with it. The explosion rattled his hand and tossed him along with the girl he was carrying to the side.

The Arden Knight didn’t let this be their demise though. He firmly grasped the runic shield that he was given and activated its magical effect. A large shield of ice appeared while he held it in place.

Roland could see the many explosive projectiles colliding with this shield while he was trying to evade them himself. The shield of ice was quickly faltering and only more mana could mend the holes back up.

He was in no position to help them though, from afar he tried casting a few runic spells but there were far too many of those flaming balls coming down. It looked like a small meteor shower raining down from the sky.

Robert was somehow able to defend himself and Lucille but he was slowly reaching the limit of his mana. This shield was not designed for someone like him in mind, it would quickly drain a non-mage in a matter of moments.

The monster was also there and it could see the stationary targets. It opened up its maw once more, the target this time was Robert and the melting shield of ice that he was holding.

The explosive rain was almost over but it didn’t seem that this monster would be letting up, it had clearly produced this attack to somehow tie its targets into one location. This time around it wasn’t a breath of molten lava, the charge up was not there.

Before Roland could interrupt this attack a large ball of fire traveled from the creature’s mouth.

“Watch out!”

He shouted while Robert turned the shield to intercept this ball of flames. A loud explosion resounded through the area. There was a lot of dust created by the previous attack along with this one. Roland could not see what happened to his two party members.

After raising his magic rod higher he produced many frozen arrows. From the other side, he also activated his armor and created a few arrows made from hard rock. The magical attacks flew forward and successfully interrupted the monster’s second flame attack, however it also made it turn its massive head back towards Roland.

Smoke and steam were pushed out into this room raising the temperature to an uncomfortable point. Even with these frost runes turned on he was starting to feel the heat.

The monster opened up its mouth and started charging, this time it used a different tactic by firing off more concentrated flame balls. These were quite hard to evade, with the constant increase of smoke it only made things harder for Roland.

He found himself moving his hand forward and activating his shielding spells, just as one of the flame balls exploded next to him. This sent him flying into the nearby wall, his deep steel armor plates started rattling and bending out of shape before he fell back down to the ground.

Roland felt a metallic taste in his mouth as his HP decreased by a large chunk. It seemed that fighting this monster at range was impossible. It had a wide range of attacks while also did not take much damage from any spells that he could cast.

The earth's spells bounced off while the ice ones melted almost instantly. Using fire spells and wind ones didn’t feel advised as well, which left a few that could cause some damage.

A T-rex-like head emerged from the smoke, its aim was his head. Roland quickly opened one of the pouches on his belt. A series of small cards were tossed out which quickly turned into balls of electricity.

The monster instead of biting through Roland’s armor got electrocuted. The lightning spell’s energy seemed to be able to cause some harm to it as it was able to ignore the armored plates.

Regretfully it didn’t seem to be packing up enough of a punch as even when the monster was stopped in its tracks for a moment it quickly recovered. It turned around and instead of using its mouth, it utilized that giant flaming bladed tail.

Roland’s armor started glowing in green as he quickly backed away. He wasn’t fast enough and he could only brace himself while protecting his head with both his sword and the thick magic rod.

Even with both of these items and while also wearing deep steel gauntlets, the monster’s tail shredded right through them. He was tossed back again with both of his weapons breaking. The mana stones on his gauntlets burst and the metal bent as he tumbled back while almost getting both of his hands broken.

“Gah…”

After rolling for a while he ended up almost in the middle of the room. His gauntlets had the runic components needed for him to cast spells. After the attack one of them became unusable, nothing more than scrap metal. The other one was badly damaged and the runic components were unusable. Thankfully he had his runic mending skill which he activated instantly.

The Runic mending caused his mana to drop further and give him a migraine. The gauntlet was not the only damaged runic part as his back and chest plate had been damaged as well. Missing mana stones, arms that were bleeding, and a monster with over 60% of its HP was standing before him.

He had barely enough time to stand up before the monster had charged at him again. With his injuries and his armor being mangled up he now had a tougher time in evading the attacks. The monster was becoming slower as well but it was clear that if this continued for longer that he would be the one losing.

This was a clear difference in levels. This monster was resistant to most magic that he could throw at it, even the electric spells only fazed it for a moment. There was a big difference in levels as well as size and the versatility that this monster showed didn’t help either.

Roland quickly found himself going through all of his spell scrolls. Various elemental magics rained down on the monster’s thick hide and he could see it losing its health points. It wasn’t enough, it was clear that this monster was some kind of special evolution that might be comparable to his Runesmith Lord class’s rarity.

With not much else to do, he went for his trump card. He threw the previously created runic scroll that he made from the ruby salamander’s hide. It was aimed at the ground while he retreated, the moment the Xornotaurus approached the trap was activated.

Large thick vines sprung out from this spell scroll and attacked the enemy before it. The large monster was momentarily wrapped up but even now Roland could see that it wouldn’t hold it in place for long.

In his spatial bag, he had a certain attachment. It looked like welded together iron pipes that could connect to his working gauntlet's top part which was closer to the vambrace. This attachment had mana stones placed on the rear sides of these deep steel pipes, runes were clearly visible on the entire structure.

He took aim, with this item on his forearm he pointed with his right hand at the roaring monster. The armor accessory that looked like a circular row of pipes started shining. The mana stones lit up along with the runic components and sparks started flying.

Roland could feel his mana reserves being drained rapidly as he tried keeping awake. This thing was something he created as a last-ditch effort as it had many drawbacks. The armor he was wearing lit up in red as all the runes reacted.

The monster started shaking around and the thick vines that were made from plant matter began to burn up. It looked at its small enemy, Roland at this moment was pointing with his right hand at it while holding the forearm with his left. His whole suit was radiating magical energy and the monster’s instincts were telling him that it was in danger.

It opened up its mouth and got ready to burn its enemy to cinders but before it could breathe out, Roland's magical attack was activated. It created a bright multicolored beam of energy that flew forward and then collided with the mass of magma.

The monster’s attack was drilled into by this lance-wide attack and connected with the monster's head in almost a fraction of a second. A huge explosion followed the clash of these two ranged attacks and made everything hard to see.

“D-did that do it…”

Roland’s hands dropped down as he couldn’t move a muscle. He had burned through almost all of his mana with that one attack and was unable to move. The magic beam clearly connected with the monster's head and pierced through it. He was even able to see it connecting with the chamber walls.

“Hsssss….”

A strange hissing sound was suddenly heard by him and the smoke cleared. The creature was revealed with quite the slack jaw. It looked like the attack connected lower than he had anticipated, leaving it very much alive. It looked like it had somehow twisted its body and neck to the side at the last moment to evade this beam. Part of its neck was damaged but its brain was still intact.

“F-fuck…”

Without a big chunk of its mouth, the monster slowly approached. It was quite injured and its HP was almost gone but it could still move. This was not something that Roland could do. His legs felt like they were stuck in concrete, he could not move a muscle, and keeping his eyes open was the most he could do.

The creature lumbered towards him at a slow pace but the large strides quickly brought it over to where Roland was standing. This looked like it was the end, one swipe with its large claws or that swordtail and it would be over.

Suddenly a howling sound could be heard and from the side like a bolt of lightning, a certain Ruby Wolf came. He lunged himself on the monster’s damaged mouth and started biting. He utilized his attacking skill that injected flames into its mouth while also using his tail to pierce the monster’s eye.

The angry monster started shaking its massive body around while trying to dislodge the small wolf from its head. Its small raptor-like arms came into play as they were long enough to swipe at the intruder.

A yelp was heard as Agni’s body was slashed by the monster and he was forced to let go. The Ruby wolf’s body tumbled to the side while the enraged monster looked to the annoying opponent.

This loss of focus was used by another person. As if he was waiting for the right moment, Robert came charging from the side and delivered a precise shield bash to the monster’s side. Being already injured this much this was enough to tip the beast over.

This wasn’t the end as Roland heard Lucille's voice chanting a spell. When he glanced at her he could see a massive ice spike hovering over her head. It was a lot larger than the ice spear she created before.

The spell was released, the injured monster protected itself once more by swinging its giant tail at this glacial lance. The spell connected with the beast which did quite some damage to the long sturdy tail but it was not enough. Lucille was still only a low-leveled frost mage, she just didn’t have enough magical energy to deliver the finishing blow.

But this wasn’t over, Roland saw an opportunity. With his hands shaking he reached into his satchel once more from which he pulled out some round orbs. This was the last remaining ammunition that he had and he would need to trust his older brother with this.

“Robert… throw it into its mouth…”

With a last resort, he threw three orbs towards his half-brother. He instantly tumbled forward and collapsed on the ground while the items landed a few meters away from Robert.

Robert was also in quite a bad condition, the previous monster attack blew away the shield with a chunk of his armor. His shoulder on the side that he held the shield had been broken along with his arm.

He was still in better shape than his younger brother. The orbs that he saw before him were something he had seen before. Remembering the explanation that Roland had given him he quickly took them into his good hand.

The monster slowly stood up and glanced down at the person that rammed into it from the side.

“Eat this, you overgrown Salamander!”

Robert chucked the bundled-up spheres at the monster that lacked a lower jaw. With good aim, the three runic items made it into its mouth. Before the monster could realize what it had swallowed it could feel its neck expanding.

With a very characteristic sound, the neck of the monster exploded. Its head was tossed up into the air and landed close to the knight that tossed the runic grenades into its mouth.

The battle was finally over, the three humans remained victorious, each one injured more than the other and still all trapped in this dungeon...