The Runic Alchemist

He could see in people’s eyes that not everyone believed him. Sam wasn’t expecting them to do so either. He just felt like it was his duty to be honest with people who rose to their cause.

He left out some details about Damian. Such as killing the pigman sun god and being from another world. About Steelweaver, primordia age, and the deals they had made with the gods, Sam said it all truthfully.

“Lady Astraea forced Lold Second to kill his god and then accepted him as hers through marriage with the elves? All in exchange for sparing Sanctuary?” Alex asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

“That can’t be true.. Lady Vi—”

Sylian Darkwood tried to oppose his words, but Vidalia nodded in acknowledgement of his words before the entire hall. That killed the words right in his mouth. Olivia Goldflame affectionately held her husband’s hand.

“And in the end, they still decided to end us all.. Promises and contracts are meaningless to them..” Torwin added from the side.

“The red temple has been butchering innocents for years.. I always wondered why the gods would not punish them.” Austen Colt, the bandit knight, said. “It’s clear now. They do not care for justice.. just blind worshipping.”

Several heads nodded in the hall, and many murmurs started going off.

“All that said,” Einar addressed the whole hall, “Being an enemy to god is a very dangerous thing. They can gain control of any second ranker and below at any time they wish. Your entire body is acting against your will, pushing your consciousness into a prison of your own mind. We don’t know much about how far they can control a transcendent, but we do know that they can’t control mundanes because of their lack of mana.”

That spread a wave of unrest and suspicious in all present. Everyone understood what that meant.

Sam spoke loudly, “That’s what they do, and that’s what they want. Us divided and turning on each other. Fighting our little feuds so no one can progress, no one can gain strength, and reach the height of power that they themselves hold. The so-called gods are nothing but fifth rankers; we have confirmed that.”

That agitated the crow even more.

Such back-and-forth lasted over an hour. People had questions, and they were tired of hiding things. Fortunately, the gods never intervened. Or maybe they did, through some of the people who kept making counterarguments against them again and again, but the majority had finally swallowed the hard truth and were still standing with them.

Few had left. Sam did not miss it. But he was not a king to demand absolute loyalty. The guild leaders and army were contract-bound to fight for them; the civilians and individual adventurers were not.

Everything till now was shown live on multiple video receiver channels. Sam gestured for it to stop when they finally started talking about the battle plan. People needed to know the truth, not every detail of the battle.

This was just in case. Even if no one survives today, if the gods finally decide to bring their wrath down on them, people will not forget their words any time soon.

“The barrier will not break, not even by the Sea Snake,” Voidshaper said with confidence.

Landbreaker himself had tested the thing. At even 40% power, the giant golden dome was 2 meters thick. Only a truly extremely powerful attack could break a hole in it, but it had to be instant, otherwise the wall’s per-second barrier recovery feature would negate any damage received.

“But there are other ways to enter,” Silverspell added.

Sam nodded. “Yes, special wormholes of long distance can get through. And other means of teleportation spells or skills.”

“Long distance? The barrier is only a few meters thick.” Grimblade noted.

Vidalia answered, “Several meters from the barrier dome, all spells will fail to activate. That’s why the barrier is placed so far outside the wall.”

“Oh,” That was all of Grimblade’s reaction.

The man’s face was as solemn as his name.

“We can do that?” Instead, it was Royce, a mage, who found it more surprising. “Why not just place those spell-imbued runic tools in the enemy’s path?”

Einar shook her head, then, taking a few steps near the large artificial holographic map, she pointed at the western region outside the wall.

“First, the gods can see it, and the enemy will also know about it. They will destroy the runic tools before closing in. Our efforts and resources will be wasted. And second, if we choose this place for traps, they will change the path to here; if we use that place, they will change it to another. Every trap needs to be last-minute so the armies have no time to escape, even if they know what is to come.”

“They will still find some way to enter. What is our strategy for that?” Sesha asked.

Sam replied, “The enemy has 7 transcendents and Vearon. Our aim should always be to prevent anyone from entering. But in case they all enter, I will personally send appropriate companions to face each adversary. For the Emperor, it will be Lucian, Voidshaper, while Lady Ilavanya gives backup from far. For the individual transcendent enemy, I will use anyone who responds to my call to face the enemy at the time. For Vearon, Asher, Sesha, and I believe I’m enough.”

“Shouldn’t four of us face a fourth ranker?” Warren, also known as Terrashaper, raised a doubt.

“There has to be more than just these lot. This attack of theirs feels weak.” Kamisen stated, and Sam spared a glance at him.

He added, “Exactly my thoughts. They know we can see them at all times. I may not be able to set traps, but we still have methods to reduce the entire army to ash. There is more at play here than meets the eyes and our side needs to be ready to face anything unexpected.”

“The weapons of Empire are known, right?” The metal man, Asher, spoke up, to everyone’s surprise. It only lasted for a few moments, though.

Lucian replied, looking at the man, “Yes, we have countermeasures in place. Mainly, the issues are divine enhancements, the speculations and theories of which Damian left behind. And unseen forces of the red temple or any other hidden organization.”