The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 817: The Grand Opening Celebration Week 13

[A small island in the middle of the ocean, Damian’s POV.]

The enormous spirit wolf was about to engulf him entirely; Damian soon recovered from the surprise and launched his giant replica spell.

Over a hundred meters high, the gold and black figure of Damian himself rose high from the runic circle. Damian pulled out his ceremonial sacrium sword, blocking the enormous wolf’s charge.

Damian had seen this technique used by Kazak before. It usually didn’t last long. It could, however, deal a lot of damage. Against anyone, even transcendents, this would have been a devastating move to launch. But Damian was the wrong opponent for it.

In the few seconds his giant replica was able to hold the enormous wolf, Damian launched another four replica spells, and five giant Damian surrounded the single wolf. Even as a spectral image, the giant wolf, for a second, seemed to hesitate as its eyes darted around.

In the next second, Damian and all four of his replicas cut the giant wolf into four pieces. Head, body, and back were all separated in the second. Still, the pieces were not falling down. They hovered in the air, still trying to attack the replica figures.

The real figure of Neo, however, seemed to take serious damage suddenly. They were connected?

Damian stopped using the swords of his replica and instead used their hands and big air shield walls to restrain the pieces of the astral wolf. The struggle only lasted for another minute, though. Then the half-transparent purple-black wolf dissipated in the air like it never existed to begin with.

Neo himself was on his knees. Barely remaining straight with the help of his purple clouds that he had shaped as a cushion wall to lean against.

Damian canceled all his active spells and flew near the young beastmen—landing meters from him, on the sandy beach.

“You have lost, kid.” He said.

“Hahh.. Winning against you was never a possibility.” Replied the wolf beastmen while spitting a mouthful of blood.

“Why do this then? Are you and your friends tired of living?”

“I had to. That bastard wants me to.”

A distant anger in the young wolf’s eyes caught Damian by surprise. There was someone else above the prince of the underworld? The Shadow Reaver’s nefarious deeds had earned him the ire of many countries and nobles. But Damian had not heard any news of anyone ever catching him or doing lasting damage to his shadow organization.

The only threat they had faced was from the knights of Sun Temple, who followed them village to village, hunting all deserving or not deserving beastmen alongside the followers of the demons.

“Who?” Damian asked.

The prince of the underworld looked up at the towering figure of Damian in black attire, a black-gold cloak fluttering on his back with the fast ocean winds.

“I, we.. were interested to see how big the gap was between us. I told the bastard a third ranker would be a better choice to bring out your abilities. But the bastard is stingy with them.”

Damian knew the man was too far gone to answer him straight, so without another word, he formed the Divine Seeker Chains spell and was just about to activate it when suddenly Damian sensed a thin mana signature high above him, coming down at lightning speed.

Damian looked up. A thin mana thread was coming out of the sky, aimed directly at him. No.. at Neo. If it connected…

He did not think at all and instantly enveloped the whole body of Neo and himself inside a thick pure mana barrier. But the mana thread still managed to pierce through, as if the barrier did not exist at all. The sharp, nauseating feeling was something Damian’s mana sense associated with the thin black mana thread.

Damian remembered clearly that the last time it was red mana thread, not black. And the feeling his mana sense picked up was intense, extremely judgmental. How that could even be a feeling was beyond Damian. His mind associated the mana with those images in his mind, though.

“Ahh.. Why don’t you do it then?” Neo murmured, as if talking to himself. His purple-black eyes had suddenly turned pitch black with no irises at all. Just like that, Sun Temple knight’s eyes had turned bright, full red.

Then the young beastmen looked up and stated without any emotion,

“If you used that disgusting elf spell on me, you will lose a person named Anthony.”

Damian’s face couldn’t even register all the varied emotions going on inside him. Something, no, someone could see his chantless, gestureless spells? They were purely based on intent! Someone could see his intent?

And Anthony? The guy was alive?

Sam had used the waygate to reach his uncle several times after they returned from the dungeon. But it had failed to connect each time. They had assumed he had died in the chaotic warring period.

Last time Damian had met Anthony, he had left to find some of his friends who knew the location of a dungeon. Ever since then, they had not heard from him at all. It was both his and Sam’s biggest regret that they had not reached out to Anthony before entering the Highsword dungeon when they were in the academy.

They always thought they would have a lot of time to do that after the academy.

“Where is he?” Damian asked, trying hard not to show his muddled feelings for the man.

“Captured by us. Hidden in a place your waygates can’t reach.”

“Lies.” Damian gritted his teeth.

“Believe what you want. I know where exactly he is, and I am willing to let you know right now, if you do as I say.” Neo revealed. His emotionless face with dark, full eyes somehow managed to look more haunting than before.

“And what are these demands?”

“Open a waygate to the island of demons for me to pass. In exchange, I will tell you the name of the dungeon where this dear uncle of yours is. The people who attacked that bitch can access that dungeon plain.”