The purple glow of Runic Strength reinforced Cole’s legs for the impact against the hard ground outside the town’s palisade. The rest of the melee fighters joined him, leaving Thesta and the two [Archers] up on top once more. This time, however, Thesta was taking a much more active role in the skirmish, actively pummelling the Infernal Drake with constant rays of blue magic, complex runes flashing and disappearing at her fingertips.
Because of her efforts, the Drake was stopped in its tracks, separating it from the main group of monsters. Cole and the other adventurers were tasked to deal with them. The [Archers] began to pick up steam, arrows whizzing overhead to strike the Kobolds in the second wave. Due to the ample amounts of practice they’d had on the first wave, the [Archers] were making the most of every arrow, almost always killing a Kobold instantly.
The melee fighters, including Cole, were left to deal with any remaining Kobolds, the Boars, and, most dangerous of all, the Gargoyles. Cole traced out Runic Speed, the purple symbol floating over his shoulder as he sped towards the closest Infernal Boar. His finger was raised, carving out the Hallowed Blast just as he came within his effective range. There was a huge *CRACK*, as the energy was released. Cole instantly regretted it.
While he wasn’t overcharged with mana anymore, the Hallowed Blast still had three connectors. While great for dealing with a powerful Koboldevil, it was complete overkill for one Infernal Boar. Because he’d managed to shut his eyes just as the blast went off, Cole hadn’t lost his vision, but his ears were once again ringing. If he kept this up he was going to have to invest in some fantasy earplugs.
The Infernal Boar had been completely vaporised, not a trace of its steaming flesh left. Unfortunately, there was no Infernal Heart drop for him this time.
After deleting another Boar from existence, Cole realised he was simply just wasting power. He disengaged, quickly zipping behind the line of adventurers who were struggling to hold the advancing horde at bay. While they had been extremely successful when it was just Kobolds, the addition of the two new types of monsters had proven to make things much harder.
The Infernal Boars would utilise mad forward charges, that would end in a snort of fire. The melee fighters would be forced to dodge or brace against their attacks, while the [Archers] couldn’t shoot them for fear of hitting their allies. The Gargoyles, on the other hand, were sheer damage sinks, steadily advancing and soaking up spear thrusts and sword slashes from the remaining [Spearman] and [Knights]. The only adventurer who was having any success was the lone [Ronin], who was once again systemically picking off any weaker monsters that made themselves too vulnerable.
Cole quickly visualised his runes, in particular the Hallowed Blast, which still had three direct connectors to his soul trailing off it. While good for foes like the Koboldevil, it was not worth it for anything that he was currently fighting. He reached out, ripping one of the connectors off of the golden rune. He didn’t have time to stitch it back on to anything.
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He returned to the physical world, happy with how quickly he’d managed to complete the process. Cole’s eyes scanned the battlefield as he tried to figure out where his help would be most effective. The Kobolds were instantly crossed off the list, they were basically distractions with teeth. The Boars were an area where he was proven to be able to help, but again, they weren’t extremely strong, and the [Ronin] was doing a good job of cutting them down, when they stopped moving to release a gout of flame. The Gargoyles were the biggest threat, currently taking up the most resources for their small team.
With his game plan set, Cole refreshed his Runic Speed, and entered the fray once more.
Two of the [Knights] were currently engaged in a deadly dance with a hulking Gargoyle. While they scored slashes on its muscled frame, they were also forced to constantly dodge the terrifying sweeps of its arms, while fending off attacks from the annoying Kobolds. All things considered, they were doing quite well, but at the rate it was going, the Gargoyle wouldn’t perish until it was already within the village boundaries. That was where Cole came in.
Another rune was brought into the world as Cole leapt in the air, straight over a line of Kobolds that were aiming to make him dinner. He dismissed the Runic Strength that had carried him over the monsters right after his legs hit the ground. His speed stayed active, carrying Cole’s body in a wide arc around the back of the main group of monsters. He was now directly between the second wave and the Infernal Drake, who was still being hammered by constant blue spells from Thesta back at the palisade. It let out a roar once more as it struggled in vain to gain ground, however the woman’s efforts prevented it from moving more than a few metres forward.
Cole turned his attention back to the horde of monsters, finding the Gargoyle that was giving the two [Knights] so much grief. He plotted a path, and began to run at full pelt straight towards the enormous muscled back and wings of the Infernal creature. Two purple Runic Blasts came to life at his fingertips on each hand, ready to be released at a moment’s notice.
A percussive blast signalled his arrival to the beasts, as purple energy blew Kobolds and Boars away from him. While they didn’t do as much damage as his Hallowed Blast, the Runic Blasts were extremely useful for pushing enemies away from him, while also using much less energy than their golden variant. He released the second Runic Blast a moment later, giving him another opening to advance further. As he did so, a third Runic Blast was already being completed on his other hand, purple energy flashing out again to blast a path once more.
Cole continued this cycle, constantly casting Runic Blast as he advanced towards the Gargoyle, carving a wide path straight through the middle of the horde of monsters. He was too focused on the constant back and forth between his right and left hands to acknowledge just how cool he felt cutting through a huge army of monsters 'guns akimbo' style, no matter how weak they were.
It only took about thirty seconds for him to cut through the back of the pack up to the front, where the Gargoyle was still steadily moving forward. As it came within range, Cole began to carve out his Hallowed Blast, ignoring the headache that was beginning to throb behind his eyes. “I need to be careful,” he thought, as his finger completed the Hallowed Blast rune.
Luckily for Cole, his intentional depowering of the Hallowed Blast hadn’t made it completely useless. The golden energy scorched a huge portion of the Gargoyle’s back, one of its gnarled wings completely gone as it faded. Chillingly, the monster didn’t seem to care, making no noise as it simply turned around to regard what had wounded it. It raised its arm to swing downwards, probably aiming to smash Cole’s skull in, but the force of the Hallowed Blast he’d already been preparing spared his life, diverting the path of the log like arm to hit the ground next to him. Cole released a purple Runic Blast, knocking the Gargoyle, slightly off balance, before carving out another golden rune to scorch its front. Despite now looking heavily damaged, the Gargoyle didn’t so much as grunt, continuing to swing its arms, trying to turn Cole into paste for the second time in his life. As he looked around after dashing once more, he realised that the two [Knights] were now completely focused on clearing out the Kobolds and scattered Boars around them. The message was clear.
Cole was on his own for this one.