The Runesmith

“By Solaria’s tits, what the hell was that?”

Orson called out while grasping his ears. The strange sound made the entire restaurant shake with the people inside. The windows were shattered along with dust being pushed into the building as if an explosion went off outside. Roland on the other hand was fast to grab the helmet that he had attached to his hip and put it back on.

Quickly he activated his radar to see if there were some problems in the vicinity yet due to the large number of nearby people it was hard to make out anything. The only thing that he could confirm was that there weren’t any monsters in the vicinity.

“That sound came for far away…”

Commented Senna that had begun to move towards the shattered window to peek out. The others along with Roland weren’t far behind her. While they all were armed none of them chose to pull out their weapons just yet. They were still in a large city filled with soldiers if there was a problem with some terrorists then it was up to them to protect the people and not the adventurers.

“There is nothing there… where did that sound come from?”

Grisalde asked while being confused. It wasn’t only them, most of the people that were in this restaurant decided to look outside. There they only saw some people holding their ears while getting up from the ground. It didn’t seem that it was a magical attack as there was no damage in the vicinity, the only clue was the strange howling sound that caused some of the windows to shatter.

“Something is coming, cover your years!”

Senna shouted out which made Roland activate a protective barrier of blue mana. While it was meant to defend against physical and magical attacks it would also work against shockwaves produced by sound. He made it in the nick of time as another strange soundwave connected with the surroundings that shattered all the windows that had remained intact previously.

“The hell is that coming from? Is it outside of the city… no it’s coming from the sea?”

Orson cried out while grimacing as he didn’t have a mana shield protecting his eardrums. Just as he said the sounds were coming from a faraway location and judging by the destination it was coming from where the city port was. Yet buildings were covering their view from seeing further.

“Is someone attacking the port? Who would be dumb enough to do that?”

Dalrak commented while scratching his beard. The city wasn’t small and it probably had a large force of soldiers and tier 3 class holders protecting it. Unless it was a large force of invaders they would not be able to survive the counterattack.

“Could someone be setting off bombs as a distraction?”

Orson proposed a solution that was plausible but not very probable.

“That doesn’t sound like bombs and it’s coming from beyond the port. Could a sea monster have appeared by the coast?”

Roland added his five cents as the strange sounds could be signs of a monster battle. It wasn’t odd for ships to be equipped with large cannons and magical weapons that could kill huge monsters. Though the ships used various ways of hiding away from large monsters from time to time, if one appeared it needed a full subjugation team to take it out.

‘Strange… wouldn’t there be some information about it being sighted, would they be able to assemble a battleship big enough to create these loud explosions?’

He didn’t like it, the whole thing was suspicious and it also seemed that the sounds were getting closer and more frequent which was probably about to cause some panic. Without enough information he could not make the right decision, he needed to get to higher ground and see what was happening.

“Wait here, I’ll go check!”

Senna had apparently the same idea as Roland as she quickly jumped out the window and headed for a large clock tower that wasn’t that far. He decided to follow the halfling and even though he could not just climb the building from the outside like she was doing there was the usual way of doing it. Thus after quickly running up some stairs and ladders, he found himself high enough to see what was happening.

“What the…”

The moment he got up there he had to activate the mana shield for another incoming shockwave. What he saw made his jaw drop as the various howls and explosions were not actually happening at sea level but up in the sky. He had read about flying technology in this world, magical islands that ignored the laws of gravity.

“Oh, you’re here Wayland?”

“Yeah… isn’t that a…”

“It does look like a Solarian Galley but what is that worm thing around it?”

What both Senna and Roland were seeing was a battle between a flying ship and some kind of monster. First, the ship was flying the Sun religion’s flag which was a dead giveaway to which faction it was associated with. It was quite long and made from some shiny goldish metal that could perhaps be orichalcum. To the sides, it had something that looked like wings but one of them was being shoved to the side by some black worm thing.

This creature was in the process of wrapping itself along this flying vessel. Only thanks to some kind of energy shield that the monster was trying to squeeze was this ship able to not be crushed. Yet while at first glance the monster worm seemed to be winning the energies from this ship were burning into its darkened flesh.

A wave of energy exploded from within this flying ship finally driving the creature back. It was forced to uncoil itself, probably saving its life in the process. Thanks to this Roland was able to see this creature in its full glory.

The creature had no eyes, only a huge mouth with a plethora of teeth at the front. Its body was around three times as long as the ship it was chasing. This long body was pitch black with various tentacles with some sorts of spikes that were concentrated closer to where that toothy mouth was. How it was able to traverse the skies was a mystery as it clearly had no wings helping it glide.

‘Wait… what is that?’

With the help of his helmet, he was able to zoom in on the fight that was taking place. He was focused on the flying monster worm that was thrashing its tentacles around while shaking itself off from the flying ship. Roland could barely see something akin to thick straps made from some dark material.

“Wait… is there a cabin strapped to that monster’s back? I can’t really make it out.”

“Oh, so you can tell? Oh right, you have your spells. That’s probably where the tamer is…”

“You can tame a huge monster like that?”

“It must be an exceptionally high level tamer… or perhaps it's a summoned creature?”

Senna gave him an idea of what this could be but this also raised a lot of red flags. The battle in the sky was continuing and the direction they were going was not the city but the forest where the cult’s relic was hidden. After putting one and one together Roland realized what this was about.

“Did the cult send this creature?”

“It might be…”

Senna was of the same mind as she nodded. Both of them looked at the continuing battle that was now changing. The ship started using its side cannons to pelt the monsters with some magical spells. Even though the creature was taking some damage it was quickly regenerating the missing limbs that it used as projectiles.

“This doesn't look good. It might be better to leave this damn city before it’s too late…”

Roland nodded at the comment as the sky battle was slowly getting further and further away from their location. This was not something at the level of gold ranked adventurers, anyone that was not a tier 3 class holder would probably be nothing but a meat shield.

He could only speculate about the flying ship and why it was there. The relic in the forest was quite large with more length than width. The ship was somewhat longer as well, the church was probably intending to transport the runic device to a safer location. The cult must have quickly reacted by sending this monstrosity to destroy the flying vessel.

The fight in the clouds wasn’t the only chaotic thing that was happening. At this very moment, Roland felt a spike in mana coming from the direction of the church. An actual radiant barrier of bright orange appeared around the whole building. The source seemed to be coming from inside and it was cleary and effort against any corrupted creatures that could appear.

‘Shit… could those cult bastards have gone through with it?’

The cat was out of the bag for the cultists. Roland had convinced himself that the cult that liked to perform their tasks silently wouldn’t just go all out against the church here. It would be more logical to wait to gather more information before going nuclear. Even if the church was sending a flying ship, they could have intercepted it when it was transporting the relic in a more favorable location.

Now when they have revealed themselves the church would do everything in its power to stop them. Probably more flying ships and more holy knights would be arriving soon. With that many opponents on the horizon, there was only one way of holding them back.

“Hey… w-what’s wrong with you?”

“...ghhhh….”

While thinking about the worst possible scenario he started hearing a strange moaning sound coming from below. There some people were down on their knees and holding their heads. Their screams filled the streets as the transformation started taking place. Strange tendrils started shooting out from their ears and eyes as the Abyssal Larvae were activated.

“Shit, what’s happening to those people? Is that some type of zombification?”

Senna asked while focusing her gaze on the large number of the afflicted. Their heads were taking a grotesque appearance while their skin turned a pale gray. The sounds of their skulls bursting and bones being reallocated was truly disgusting. Even if he wanted to help them it was already too late.

“N-no get away…”

“Ahhh… what are these things… run!”

People were screaming as the monsters appeared. The corrupted retained their humanoid shape from the neck down but then turned into pulsating masses of flesh and waving tentacles. One of these tentacles was a lot longer and had something resembling a scythe blade attached to it. This one bladed appendage was clearly its means of attacking and while the main body was quite slow the tentacles were moving at quite the rapid pace.

Abyssal Spine Eater

L 62

The streets quickly turned chaotic as people started running for their lives. The monsters that just hatched had various levels and iterations. Some of the tentacles were thicker and more robust and were probably due to the larvae having more time to grow. These creatures were no joke as anyone below tier 2 would not be able to stand a chance.

“Hey Wayland, stop spacing out, we must go!”

“Ah yes.”

Roland nodded as this was not the time to be gawking at what was happening below. The populace turning into monsters could only be the start of it. Perhaps they were only meant to distract the inquisitors from the relic but this didn’t mean that a more dangerous foe couldn’t appear again. He was reminded of the tier 3 ball of tentacles they faced in the forest, if these creatures could combine into a stronger form was possible.

‘Why is my luck so bad…’

After coming to this city he had hoped to leave his troubles behind. He was not expecting the cultist to go through with a plan like this in broad daylight. They seemed more of the silent killer types that would try doing their business away from the regular populace seeing them. But they certainly weren’t hiding now, the illusory relic must have been important enough for them to alter their plans.

Roland and Senna were lucky enough to have gone up the old clock tower. There weren’t many people in it and on the way down they didn’t run into any opposition. Only when they arrived at the last floor did the fighting start.

‘I shouldn’t use spells too much, I might hit the civilians.’

This was not a dungeon where he could indiscriminately pelt monsters with a large number of spells. He was in possession of deadly force that could easily go through buildings and kill the people that were hiding inside. This was not something that he wanted to have on his conscience.

Thus for the time being he decided to use the sword and shield that didn’t find much use in the previous encounters. His shield had various rune patterns on the inside with a glistering outer shell.

On the outside, there was also a golem eye for whenever he needed to see what was going on when protecting his head. The shield had been banged up after the run-in with the cultists in the forest but he had managed to mostly repair it while traveling back.

His first opponent made itself known by a strange screeching sound coming from its tentacle head. It had one large long whip-like tendril with a blade attached to it which was swinging in random directions around its body. The creature was blocking the path outside while approaching a woman that was grasping a child.

While Roland didn’t see himself as the heroic type he could not just let a mother holding her child be eaten by some monster. He quickly activated his runic armor to augment his agility so that he could swiftly place himself between the two parties. This was just in the nick of time as the bladed tentacle shot out for the woman’s head.

Instead of colliding with flesh, it hit a blue shield of mana that was surrounding his shield. The moment the blade collided Roland could feel his wrist straining slightly. The monster before was only level seventy but its power was no joke. Yet the moment the appendage bounced back he stepped in quickly, his sword was quick to aim for the fleshy part as he sliced the monster’s only way of attacking.

A black fountain of blood shot out from the severed tentacle while the creature backed away. Its way of walking was very uncoordinated which made it a very easy target for the slaying. Thus while the fleshy blade was flopping around on the ground Roland continued with his assault. The runic blade that he was holding started glowing red and its blade was surrounded by mana of the flame variety.

With his flaming hot blade, he performed a basic slash that was aimed at the monster’s neck. While it tried using the other softer tentacles to protect itself they were far too mushy. Roland didn’t feel much resistance after cleaving right through the monster that quickly dropped down to the ground.

‘It does look like the head is the weak spot but to be on the safe side…’

Roland recalled a phrase from an old zombie movie that he once watched. It was always better to perform a secondary attack on these types of creatures with regenerative powers. The name of this monster also bothered him so while the monster did a flop forward he stuck his flaming blade into its spine.

“GAHHHhhhh”

The moment he did a bunch of smaller tentacles shot out as if they were trying to push his sword out. Yet before they could do anything they were consumed by the magical flames and quickly suffered a critical hit. Only when he received a message from the game-like system did he relax.

Yet this was not over yet, this was only the first of the many enemies that awaited him outside. What were his options here? With the city in a state of chaos, there wasn’t much he could do. He could either try to escape to a safe location or attempt to get out of the city.

‘Should I try going to the docks or is it too late?’

His old plan of taking the ship out seemed to be in shambles but depending on the time he might be able to make it out. The whole place would be in chaos so the ship captains would probably attempt to leave as soon as possible. These monsters didn’t look like they could swim either.

There was an option of seeking help at the church or the noble district but it was very slim. The church had surrounded itself with a holy shield that might not be accessible to the common folk. The sturdy walls and gates at the noble district would be a good defensive position too but he was convinced that they would not let an adventurer like him inside. Which left the docks as one option and then the other would be to abandon the city.

“Hey, Wayland, help me out here we need to go help those three idiots or they might die! ”

His deliberation was interrupted by Senna who was peeking outside. While he could try going through the city alone he would need to abandon the small party he was involved with. By himself, he might be able to slip through the streets faster but in a larger group, it was always a bit safer…