novelraw Chapter 299: The Power of Runes
Chapter 299: The Power of Runes
The trailing flames of the alchemical cannon shells ripped the night, casting flickering lights; the thunderous explosions and the heavy footsteps of the steel golems wove together into an overture of destruction.
The two armies, like two raging torrents filled with death and iron, inevitably collided with a thunderous crash on this nameless patch south of the Serpentine Earth Rift!
The instant they closed to melee range,
this land, once silent and desolate, instantly turned into a blood-soaked meat grinder that devoured life.
The Albert family's heavy armor infantry, tempered by years of blood and fire into perfect coordination, instantly formed an impenetrable dense shield wall, stubbornly absorbing the first mad surge of the monsters. The gnoll warriors' fine-steel curved blades bit into the giant tower shields that had been multi-reinforced by alchemy, but only sent up a series of futile sparks; then spears like coiling vipers thrust through the gaps in the shields with deadly precision and pierced throats.
A furious ogre warrior let out an ear-splitting roar.
He strode forward, swinging his massive wolf-tooth club covered in spikes, the weapon tearing the air with a brutal gale as it slammed down—flattening a heavy-armored soldier and his shield like a ragdoll and sending them flying.
The heavy-armored fighter who fell to the ground didn't have time to struggle upright.
He was instantly overwhelmed by the swarming, blood-crazed lower-tier monsters behind him, only managing a short, choking cry before being ripped apart into pieces.
The ogre who had just won his kill snickered while searching for the next prey, when a thunderous ironhoof sound suddenly rose from the flank.An elite lance cavalryman struck like lightning. The tip of his lance concentrated magical energy into a razor-sharp point and drove it with deadly accuracy through a gap in the ogre's helm.
Pf! Scalding blood erupted like a fountain.
On the other side, the centaur knights charged madly as well; their heavy greatswords and sharp spears ruthlessly reaped the lives of the enemy's elite warriors.
And those steel golems that moved like mobile fortresses—
every swing of their heavy iron fists or cleaving of their massive blades brought with it a gust of gore.
When these iron behemoths from different factions smashed into each other, the sound that rose was a spine-tingling, teeth-grinding cacophony of metal twisting and tearing.
"Storm... converge!"
General Rod the Dire Wolf bellowed, and the ancient runes on the giant rune sword in his hand flared with a piercing blue-white light.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
Arm-thick bolts of blinding lightning seemed to answer the call from the sky, striking with perfect precision into the densest pockets of the monsters.
The lower-tier foes were obliterated in an instant, leaving only charred wreckage on the ground.
Then the rune knight hoisted his humming greatsword and leaped, the wind runes on his boots flashing swiftly. He moved as fast as an autumn gust sweeping fallen leaves, cleaving with surgical accuracy through the powerful monster leaders that had been staggered and incapacitated by the lightning!
Sluuuck!
Rod’s heavy blade easily tore open the belly of a nearby ogre warrior, entrails and blood spilling out in a grisly torrent.
Without pausing, he spun and slammed his shield; the heavy edge of the shield, like a warhammer, smashed the skull of a gnoll chieftain beside him.
At the same time,
a flash at the corner of his eye caught his attention: three especially feral silhouettes had already ripped through the frontline formation.
Roar!!!
The Brutal White Tiger leapt in, its movement like a silver streak tearing across the battlefield.
Where its massive claws slashed, it left not wind but a death storm of armor fragments and thick blood mist.
Three heavy cavalrymen and their mounts that tried to intercept it were instantly bisected at the waist; the horses’ dying screams had not even ceased before the tiger’s whip-like tail swept horizontally, battering several infantrymen who attempted to flank it into shredded, rag-doll bodies—bones cracking audibly.
Hiiiii—!
The Ice Deer Lord emitted an ethereal yet deadly shriek; its crystal-clear massive antlers stabbed into the ground, and an arctic tide of magical energy exploded through the fissures and spread outward.
Soldiers within twenty paces were frozen in an instant into icy sculptures in various poses, even their eyelashes rimed with heartbreaking frost.
The Ice Deer Lord then raised its bowl-sized iron hoof and charged, trampling those ice statues into a spray of glittering ice dust!
Sssskkk—!
The Giant Snake Lord slithered forward, its hard scales scraping the ground and leaving corrosive, tar-like trails of toxic saliva.
It suddenly raised its cruel head and exhaled a huge cloud of thick, viscous purple-black venom vapor.
The all-consuming poison penetrated seams in the finest armor like concentrated acid poured onto flesh. Nearby human soldiers screamed in agony as skin and muscle rapidly rotted away.
However, the human side had no lack of powerful defenders.
Sienna shimmered with the alchemist’s magic energy like tangible, lightning-shaped currents.
Precision-crafted metallic components flew out from her dimensional tools in sequence, clanging and spinning under the sweep of magical energy; in moments they hovered and combined behind her into dozens of alchemical guns of varying shapes, calibers, and lengths.
This was the alchemical gunsmith branch—the artificer’s craft.
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!
As Sienna’s cold eyes locked onto targets like a hawk, a deadly storm of metal, flame, frost, and energy was unleashed toward the three wild beast lords.
Solid armor-piercing rounds, searing high-temperature fireballs, ice rays that froze the air—
each attack struck cunningly at vulnerable spots: eyes, joints, old wounds.
The wild lords were torn open, blood and flesh erupting from their hides. Under the sustained, targeted assault on their weak points, they truly felt their lives were threatened and were forced to check their ferocity and switch to defensive measures.
The protector-mage Sanchez never stopped chanting.
He radiated a surging, sonorous guardian magic. His rapid, efficient incantations, paired with parchment scrolls ripped open at crucial moments, layered one wide-area protective spell after another over the warriors.
Protection against slashing! Protection against bludgeoning! Protection against energy impact! Protection against physical penetration! Protection against elemental corrosion!
He nearly omnidirectionally boosted the soldiers' physical and elemental resistances, temporarily turning them into nearly unkillable steel bodies.
The Brutal White Tiger's claws struck a heavy-armored warrior with brutal force but could not shred him as before; instead, the sheer strength flung him far away.
The warrior rolled several times on landing yet scrambled up quickly, shook his head, and charged at the tiger again.
The Ice Deer and the Giant Snake fared similarly.
They drew focused attention from the humans’ champions.
For a time, the three wild beast lords’ threat to the human battle line was greatly reduced.
But.
Aside from the wild beast lords, three far more terrifying evil dragons were circling above.
White Dragon Trixie closed her wings and dove like a falling ice meteor; her frost-white breath flowed like an icy waterfall, sweeping over the humans’ defensive positions.
A dozen heavy infantry who couldn't dodge in time were turned into lifelike ice sculptures, their resolute faces and raised shields frozen in the murderous mist. The Ice Deer Lord then drove its forehooves upward; its crystalline antlers focused a bone-chilling radiance and slammed into the ice statues—boom! Frozen flesh and sturdy armor were shattered together into a sky of glittering ice dust.
The red dragon Samantha skimmed low across the battlefield as well, laying waste with destructive dragonfire.
Where the crimson flame passed, soldiers screamed as they became human torches; their shrieks rose above the explosions. The stench of charred flesh in the air was sickening, overpowering even the smell of gunpowder.
Seeing this, Sienna immediately reconfigured the floating cluster of alchemical guns behind her toward the red dragon.
Multiple small firearms instantly disassembled into basic components, then under the tug of magical energy recombined in an instant into an extraordinarily long, energy-lined giant sniper cannon. The barrel locked onto the rampaging red dragon in the sky.
Just as her finger was about to squeeze the trigger—
"Ni—!"
A sudden, stabbing pain exploded through her head as if a thin red-hot iron needle had plunged into her brain; her concentrated spirit scattered slightly.
It was the iron dragon Sorog.
He had used a spiritual energy assault to disrupt Sienna's shot. At the same time, his gigantic claw seized an alchemical golem engaged with the ogres, tore out its core engine with brutal force, then flung the heavy wreck like a stone toward the alchemist.
Boom!
The wreck was intercepted by the energy shield that Sanchez had hastily formed, detonating into a fireball.
The war raged with exceptional ferocity.
What troubled and surprised the human commanders was this:
none of the three evil dragons, without exception, were driven mad by the intense battle and landed to give enemies the chance to swarm them.
They cunningly stayed aloft, striking from the sky—primarily relying on those terrifying breath attacks to destroy human lines at range, only occasionally using their massive bodies to perform a fierce dive-bombing collision; after one strike, they would immediately lift back into the air.
They never lingered to brawl.
"Seal the airspace!"
Sanchez's face turned grave as he tore open a scroll engraved with a complex array.
Hum!
The surrounding air instantly thickened as if turned to glue. A powerful anti-flight spell field descended, forming a suppressive pressure specifically aimed at flying creatures and flying abilities.
Soldiers, officers, and the sturdy alchemical golems all locked their sights on the three airborne shapes and waited, ready to launch a thunderous assault the moment the dragons lost flight and plummeted.
Yet things did not go as planned.
The three great dragons exchanged glances and, as if by agreement, bared their huge maws in mocking smiles.
The alchemical devices mounted on different parts of their bodies—dragon horns, necks, wing roots, and so on—simultaneously glowed with a gentle but steady light, neutralizing and dispelling the surrounding sealing field and restoring normal air flow. Their flight was only marginally affected.
Humans often carry many anti-air scrolls and barriers when they regard dragons as the ultimate enemy.
History is full of arrogant dragons who fell because they relied only on innate gifts and refused to prepare for such contingencies.
But the Ignas Dragon Cluster, under the long-term influence and strict demands of the red iron dragon Garoth, had learned a measure of caution despite each dragon’s distinct personality: many of them were early equipped with corresponding anti-seal alchemical devices.
Ignoring the skylock spells,
the evil dragons continued to wheel and ravage overhead. Each breath and dive strike continued to inflict massive damage and terror on the human army’s lines and morale.
Elsewhere,
General Rod the Dire Wolf moved as if he had eyes on his back—he suddenly sidestepped to avoid a centaur's long-awaited lance thrust, then, at the same time, spun and swung his sword. The heavy rune greatsword sliced through the centaur's torso.
Monster chieftains roared and leaped toward him constantly,
but under the rune knight’s fierce and ruthless counterattacks, they were quickly turned into cold corpses.