The Runic Alchemist

Damian and Vidalia stepped through the purple wormhole, emerging right outside Threadripper's tent, while the rest of their group entered the one targeting Moondancer. The area was bustling with nobles and knights—not many commoners—hopefully enough to at least force Moondancer to hold back on her devastating area-of-effect attacks, providing a better chance for the second-rankers to engage her.

Threadripper, on the other hand, was a legendary swordsman renowned for his precision with his two rapiers. His title of master swordsman wasn't just for show—he wasn't known for simply killing his enemies but for slicing them apart with terrifying efficiency.

The moment they emerged, Vidalia wasted no time. Without hesitation, she began slaughtering the unsuspecting nobles and knights milling around the tent, clearing the field, giving no chance for future disturbace to happen in their task here. A dome of pure energy soon formed, covering a 100-meter radius above them, fortunately encompassing both tents.

Sensing the disturbance, Moondancer and Threadripper unleashed their auras simultaneously, tearing apart their tents as they leaped into the air from the top to assess the situation. They should have sensed Damian and Vidalia's presence by now, unless they had been caught completely off guard sleeping or doing something else.

As planned, they had indeed caught them unaware. Threadripper appeared before Damian, dressed in casual attire—a frilly white shirt and breeches—with his two rapiers in hand, glowing golden. Before Threadripper could fully grasp the situation, Vidalia launched a spell she had been quietly preparing.

Hundreds of green vines shot toward the airborne swordsman from the ground beneath, surrrounding him from all sides. In response, Threadripper released his signature aura blades, massive and razor-sharp, cutting down as many vines as possible. But the vines only grew thicker and more numerous with Vidalia powering it continuesly, making it increasingly difficult for him to maintain control.

Damian heard explosions and the clashing of steel from the other side of the dome.

The rest of his team had engaged Moondancer, adding to the chaos for the Ashenvale forces as they launched futile attacks against the dome in confusion, which glowed faintly green and prevented them from getting closer to the battle, but it wasn't absolute, the dome will break if put under enough pressure, fortunately both third rankers were inside and it would take a while for second rankers to do the job.

Seeing an opportunity, Damian pulled out a runic roll of fire pillar and unleashed it on the struggling Threadripper. This fire pillar was far more intense and faster than his usual ones—crafted from nine parchment scrolls with high-quality mana ink. Yet Threadripper was no ordinary third-ranker.

With a swift twist of his body, he unleashed a 360-degree wave of dark blue aura blade, cutting down the vines around him. Only then did he notice Damian's fire pillar hurtling toward him. Threadripper summoned an aura barrier with expert precision, withstanding the attack with ease.

Landing some distance away from his tent, Threadripper didn't immediately attack. Instead, he assessed the situation, his eyes locked on Damian and Vidalia. Damian continued to track him with the fire pillar until its mana finally burned out, but not a single hair on Threadripper's head was scorched, his barrier was just too tough for his spell.

"Well, this is certainly not the response I expected from you, Broken Branch. What is this? A brave suicide attempt?" Threadripper taunted, dispersing the last remnants of Damian's attack as he powered down his aura barrier. Damian knew how difficult it was to maintain a barrier purely with mana, but controlling it with aura was on whole another level entirely.

"Just returning favors," Vidalia replied coldly. She then began chanting again, her hands moving so quickly that both Damian and Threadripper could only see a blur.

Sensing the danger, Threadripper raised his swords, charging them with more aura. Damian also readied another runic roll, but Threadripper, realizing the threat letting him just use his rolls held, sent hundreds of small air blades toward both him and Vidalia in an attempt to interrupt their spells. Damian, anticipating this move, had prepared accordingly.

The runic scroll he activated summoned a massive body of water with an invisible box covering just ahead of two of them behind the water. The roll contained two runic circles, not just one.

As the air blades entered the water, they slowed down just enough to be stopped by the invisible box, which was far stronger than a normal one. Vidalia, undeterred, finished her spell. Two massive fissures split open the ground beneath Threadripper's feet, starting from where she had placed her hands on the earth and rapidly expanding.

Threadripper reacted by flinging one of his rapiers at a nearby snow-covered mountain wall. The blade embedded itself deep into the stone, connected to him by a solid aura thread. Using this, he pushed off toward the wall, his body swinging out of the fissure's reach. But Vidalia had anticipated his move.

Thousands of rock bullets materialized from the ground, hurtling toward the now-airborne swordsman who had little control in the air.

This spell was different from the usual rock bullet Damian knew. The rock bullets didn't conjure from a circle but instead formed directly from the surrounding dirt, making the attack far more mana-efficient. Was this one of her original spells?

Threadripper deflected most of the rock bullets with his remaining rapier, though some managed to nick his unarmored body. He finally landed on the mountain wall, somehow attaching his feet to it, defying gravity as he stood perpendicular to the ground.

'How in the hell…? Why isn't gravity affecting him?' Damian thought, astonished.

Threadripper's blue aura coated his feet, allowing him to run horizontally along the vertical wall. He continued to dodge the barrage of rock bullets, but the dome limited his movement, forcing him into an ever-tightening space.

Vidalia, unrelenting, cast another spell, unleashing hundreds of fire arrows that stuck to the wall, creating small patches of flame that further restricted Threadripper's movements.

The situation was becoming increasingly dire for the legendary swordsman, but Damian knew better than to underestimate him. This fight was far from over.