He quickly reached the edge of the road, unmolested by any of the wagon drivers. To be fair, he was exuding his aura on full blast the entire time, meaning that he was pushing those weaker than himself away. Seeing as all of the wagon drivers were far weaker than him, they made way extremely quickly.
Jonathan reached the edge of the road a moment later, and ran into the wall. He bounced off, and cursed. Thinking back towards what he had seen with the crystal wagon, he realized that it repelled things moving past a certain speed.
He moved through it at a far slower pace, and was able to exit the road. Legging it up the ash banks, he paused at the top, spotting the guards running towards him. The entire caravan had stopped, impeded by the pile up that Jonathan had left in his wake. A few mana bolts began to arc up over the hill, which was his cue to leave.
Running at his top speed, Jonathan cleared miles in a matter of minutes, leaving the road far behind. He had achieved a small strike against Granath there and then, and he knew that he had done significant damage to the trading apparatus of the Ash Heaps.
Jonathan paused a few minutes later, as his stamina finally gave out, and he stood there, panting as he watched the horizon. A dark splotch crested a hill, and his enhanced eyesight made it out as a group of soldiers, all riding horse like steeds. He had no idea where the steeds had come from, in such a short time, but they were moving at a quick pace, and he knew that he had to keep running. His stamina was filling up rapidly, but he knew that he only had about thirty seconds before he would have to leave.
Using his enhanced Intelligence to gauge the speed of the riders, he estimated that they were going at about 70 miles per hour, which was slower than his top speed. However, he suspected that the horses could keep that speed up for far longer. In any case, he would probably have to stop and fight eventually.
Spotting a nearby fortification, Jonathan smiled. It was time to show them what a runecrafter could do. He ran towards the building as quickly as he could, reaching the derelict castle within a minute of having seen it. As soon as he got there, he began to draw runes in the ground around the castles, especially around the door. He would have to wait until the last moment to imbue them, at least for the Rune of Hatred. He had no idea how strong the effect of the Rune of Beckoning was on sentient beings, and in case it did not work, he would be left only with his damaging rune instead. Seeing as it was quite noticeable once charged, Jonathan had no alternative other than to conceal it as much as he could.
Jonathan began to draw the rune, sketching out the complicated lines of the Rune of Beckoning on the sand. He could see the enemies coming closer and closer, racing across the ash on their steeds. As soon as he put down the rune however, there was a noticeable change in their trajectory. Upon hearing a startled shout, Jonathan smiled. It may not have affected the soldiers, but it certainly affected their mounts.
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Because they were going so quickly, the soldiers were not able to dismount, and the horses started to cluster together, trying to get towards the Rune of Beckoning as quickly as they were able. Jonathan began to draw some of the Runes of Hatred around the other rune, creating a patchwork of glowing red that stood in front of the castle walls. He stood there for a moment, smiling, as the soldiers and their mounts raced towards the runes.
A minute later, they were within a few hundred feet, and Jonathan began to climb up the staircase towards the top of the wall. There was a brief moment of silence, and then the front line of the horses hit the runes, creating a pillar of red light that shot past the back of Jonathan’s head. Pained neighing rose up from below him, and a few shouts of pain.
Looking back down to admire his handiwork, Jonathan watched as the horses crushed the injured soldiers and steeds into the walls, trying to get to the rune. Eventually, the last of the horses had reached it, and they milled around, confused, as the effect lost most of its power over them.
With a good chunk of their number killed or injured, and with them distracted, it was time for Jonathan to make his escape. He ran around the edge of the castle walls, and hopped down at the back. Starting to run, he spotted something on the ground near the front, something that looked suspiciously like a map. It had dropped out of the pocket of one of the soldiers after they had been killed, and it looked like it would be incredibly useful to his later travels.
Jonathan bit his lip, and then nodded, running towards the map. It would waste valuable time, but he wanted to have some idea of where exactly he was within the Ash Heaps at any given time.
Running towards the map, he dodged a crossbow bolt that whistled past his head, coming from the back lines of the enemy ranks. Not that they really were ranks, more like a conglomeration of scattered horses and men, but it was the same thing regardless.
Jonathan snatched up the map, and began running for the hills, easily outpacing the few soldiers who had the wherewithal to chase him. As he exited the area of effect of the runes however, they flickered out of existence, and the horses and soldiers were freed to come after him.
Jonathan cursed, and redoubled his pace, almost flying across the land as he went, the map tucked securely into his belt. The horses thundered across the ground behind him, but he paid them no heed, focusing on his breathing and movements. He was able to mitigate the stamina cost somewhat by ensuring that his movements were as efficient as possible. It didn't mean that he had infinite stamina, however, far from it. It just meant that he could last a few more minutes.
“Damn, I wish I could have said that on Earth,” Jonathan thought, grinning. The thought was crude and juvenile, but it made him smile nonetheless, which was always good. Laughter was few and far between within the Infinite Hells.