The Runic Alchemist

Damian walked in silence along the perimeter of the camp, the darkness of the night enveloping him as the moonlight trailed behind. He had already done this exercise many times today and had almost caught all of the ones who were being sneaky, even the ones who were just spying from trees and underground.

They had killed many, striking them down left and right, though Damian simply observed, choosing not to participate. He did catch a few himself, forcing them to talk or reveal the source of their invisibility spell, but with no success, some only mentioned some random weird thing they were made to eat and then sent here.

No matter how hard he tried, he just could not see any of them activate this spell even after they were caught and were running while fighting in the forest.

The events of earlier night played vividly in his mind. He had expected some to not come with him but not a single one was ready.. He owed them nothing and had very little expectations as friends and yet leaving alone just did not feel right. Fighting for them didn't feel right either, but this didn't feel that better a choice either.

He could leave Sam behind—Sam was strong enough to survive on his own now—but if some noble schemed seeing his powers, things might not end well. Still, he had made his choice.

"Huh?"

Damian froze, staring above the treetops at the distant sky. There it was—third-ranker level mana, but not human. The energy burned with a single element, unlike the usual amalgamation of many. It was the last section of the camp perimeter he needed to check, and there was no one else around from Ashenvale except... whatever that was.

Ignoring the soldiers eyeing him from their guard posts, Damian sprinted toward the building where Vidalia resided.

Moments like these made him long for the telepathic link they used to share. Reaching Vidalia's quarters, Damian avoided the main entrance, instead using his vines and enhanced strength to pull himself up to the fourth-floor window of her private room. Bursting through the window, he realized a bit too late that this was a terrible idea.

Vidalia stood there in a thin, silky white nightgown, her curves drawing his eyes involuntarily as she began chanting something really fast, a solid wall of air slammed into him a second later, breaking the wall from the window and throwing him outside along with it.

Even as he hurtled through the air, Damian's mind was still fixated on what he had just seen. His 140 INT worked tirelessly to preserve that memory in a safe corner of his mind for eternity.

Before he could hit the ground however, a net of green vines appeared, catching him and gently bringing him back up through the broken window. Below, the confused soldiers and knights could only wonder what the hell had just happened.

As he landed inside again, Vidalia's two guards burst into the room, but with a wave of her hand, she ordered them to leave. After a moment of confusion seeing the wide open hole in the side wall, they complied.

"What were you thinking? I thought you were one of them!" she scolded him, Pulling on her leather armor slowly over her nightgown, which hung loosely around her bare legs, ignoring his presence all together. It was weird to see her in armor with bare legs. Just her gown covering everything.

"Ah... sorry, I forgot."

"Why are you here?"

"There's a monster. Flying. Possibly Lord rank, maybe even King rank, with high mana levels. It's heading this way."

That got her attention. She moved toward the window, peering out into the night.

"It's about two kilometers away," Damian added.

"How in the world...?"

"More mana makes it easier to detect. It's not containing its mana like you guys do."

Vidalia started chanting her flying spell, still looking out the window. Then she glanced back at him.

"You coming?"

"Hell yeah!"

"What's with the enthusiasm..? Don't tell me..." Her eyes widened in realization.

"Keep fighting as long as you can. Do something for me for a change," She showed no reaction but Damian could swear he saw a little twitch in her face or maybe he just imagined it..

Vidalia continued her chanting and gestured for him to call her guards, which he did, and once they arrived, she informed them of her leaving for a while. Their faces paled, which made Damian chuckle. Then, without delay, the two of them flew off into the pleasantly cold, moonlit sky.

'Good God... What I wouldn't give for being able to fly like this freely in the sky...'

The creature when they reached there was revealed to be a giant butterfly—or maybe a moth? Whatever it was, it was hideous, definitely not something someone sees daily, even in the forest like this. Dark purple mana radiated from its enormous body, creating a near-tangible layer around it. They had flown far enough from the camp that fighting it here wouldn't be a problem.

As they neared the monster, Damian's saw a giant black runic circle forming near its head. Without hesitation, he pulled out a blank book he had taken from Tristan's house and started sketching the runes as they appeared. Vidalia flew ahead of him, already chanting spells in preparation to face the monster.

"Careful! It's a space-time spell, coming right up!" Damian shouted, giving her time to react and better chance to play with it so he could draw in peace.

A giant butterfly wielding space-time magic? Damian couldn't help but wonder what it had in store for him.. As soon as the runic circle finished forming, the spell activated. Damian quickly stored the book away and readied two wormhole spells, just in case. Even with a third-ranker mage nearby, backup was always a good idea.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then suddenly, Damian felt weightless, lighter and lighter, before being yanked upwards. Along with Vidalia and the surrounding dead trees and debris, he was flung high into the air as if gravity had reversed for him. Your adventure continues at m v|l-e'm,p| y- r

Some kind of gravity manipulation spell..?

The ground below blurred as they were sent flying into the sky. He should have guessed it—the thing barely moved its wings and was still flying effortlessly even with it's huge body. Looks like they had a gravity manipulating or gravity nullification specialist.

Vidalia tried her best to use her flying spell to create air pressure to make them resist the pull but it just did not work, their bodies and the land below were like two same sides of magnet, refusing to get close at all cost. The ground and their bodies repelled each other relentlessly.

Thankfully, Damian had prepared. Abandoning his flailing, he straightened his body as if diving into water and aimed for Vidalia. It wasn't easy, but eventually, he reached her. He still had his wormhole spells.