The Runic Alchemist

Outside the wall tower 23, Sam.

The initial surprise and caution were gone. Now both sides were fully engaged. Only powerful physical and aura attacks were effective against the barrier; their enemies had figured that out.

Spells did not work. But portals would.

Sam had maximum firepower of the wall focused on the individual in the red robe, the portal priest. But the man just moved left and right outside the barrier, punching it till lasers focused back on him. Odd, he could just use the portal to cross. Sam had no idea why that was, but the priest could not enter the barrier using his spell for some reason.

It was a small relief. If even a tiny amount of the barrier broke, the priest could enter and then open a portal for the rest of his army. That man was the priority. An enormous red dragon was headbutting the barrier from above as well. The emperor did not sit still for even a moment. When his fire breath ended, he changed to brute force.

A giant wolf was slamming into the barrier to the side near tower 24. A beastman Faerunian transcendent called FeralKing, with shapeshifting abilities. All massive emperor rank monsters in control of the red priests and the transformed beasts were targets of the heavy firepower. But the opposing army had runic shields and exploding throwables, which they used to block laser shots or create smoke screens.

Each tower on the wall had multiple types of offensive runic machines.

Several types of lasers, from small, simple laser cannons to massive lasers hundreds of meters long that scorched the face of the earth and obliterated hundreds of enemy soldiers at once. Mainly operated by mundane men and women.

Large, sharp, icycle launching machines, condensed mini-sun launching systems, earth spell large boulder throwing machine, wormhole fall-looping machines that slammed multiple individuals to their death on their own companions, and even tornadoes, dark vines, spikes, and spells of all kinds used on a massive scale using tower fixed runic machines.

The biggest confusion and success in enemy ranks was making the unique potion gas throwables. There were not many, but the few each tower had were put to great use, and the control was charged with bringing others to the battlefields, now that their enemies had chosen a position of attack.

These offensive potions, launched from the air, had many varied effects. Not direct poisons, but they changed visions, deformed ears, changed legs to hooves, hands to webbed, useless wings, loss of balance, speech impairment, etc. All those who inhaled it were affected regardless of rank. But the second and third rankers were fast enough to see what it was and run away, holding their breaths.

The mundane operators only had to aim and shoot. The entire wall was covered in a large, flowing river of underground liquid mana, powering the mana-dispersing towers, which in turn powered everything. It may even contain minor healing, stamina-restoring, and concentration-enhancing potions of Damian.

Sam could not understand why Damian would not connect that mana directly to these machines and instead have them use mana containers for daily use. Now it was clear. The river of mana was powering the towers and dispersed all the mana into the air to be used by all the unique weapons designed to operate on that specific mana. But he could control the towers, which gave him control of the entire Sanctuary defenses.

‘If this is the case, I can unleash the Warbeasts without any worry of mana.’

The biggest impact on the barrier after the fists of powerful individuals was the combined assault of the Empire’s bio-tanks. They were all positioned at the very back of the army, and most of their attacks, aside from powerful mega lasers, could not reach them; even if they could, there were barriers around them. Warbeasts would be perfect for this situation, but releasing them outside the barrier will give the idle enemy army targets to attack.

Right now, only the powerful pathfinders, monster-riding priests, and the bio-tanks were attacking. The large army was mostly useless.

Attack with everything or just defend the barrier and stall for time in hopes of Damian and Landbreaker’s return?

Sam threw massive aura arcs filled with lightning energy at the transcendent priest, keeping him away from other transcendents of the Empire. The man was sending anyone he could to the top of the golden barrier dome using his purple portals, where most of their attacks did not reach, and they could hack away at the barrier with less fire.

The little strength these second-rankers and below brought to bear against the barrier won’t really do any significant damage. The barrier was recovering instantly using the mana river, but if the damage spread over a large area and concentrated too heavily on some parts, there was a possibility of holes forming. Even if they were covered in seconds, for third-rankers, those few seconds were enough to get inside.

The highest number of attacks was concentrated right before Sam, outside tower 23.

The Emperor was eating attacks from the towers whenever the giant dragon closed in for firebreath. The Landshark tried multiple times to get inside the barrier using the land, but it was not a dome; it was a full, hollow sphere covering the whole sanctuary. Sam kept up with the red priest, both using short-distance teleportations: the priest for escape, and Sam to chase him and hinder his attempts to get in.

Even the simple, powerful punches of the man matched, and at times exceeded, those of the emperor and Lily of Ruin, a transcendent pugilist from Faerunia, punching the barrier at some distance from him.

Spell launching speed exceeding that of talented mages like Vidalia and physical strength exceeding that of a pure third ranker pugilist. This man was something else.

‘Who the hell is he? Our sensors did not detect any mana from such individuals in the red temple. Even those monster-controlling second-ranker red priests, there are too many! Where the hell did these people come from? Our sensors cover the whole world!’

“Barrier is thinning near 23.”

Sam was informed in his earpiece by their central intelligence.

“Confirmed,” Another voice added.

The central intelligence was handled by Valen, Celestine, Agatha, Sir Gilroy, Sir Bramdel, and several other strategic and former warrior minds.

The other voice was from the Veritas Unit. The members of which included Torvin Copperhand, Lady Ghislain, and many other trustworthy sanctuary mundanes. From the start of the war preparation, this group had shifted to a location unknown to everyone in Sanctuary. Sam himself had no idea where they were.

But they had full control of the video recorders, the mana signal locators, and the very network itself. Their one job was to confirm all information the central intelligence provided to Sam and other sanctum heads. It was one of Vidalia’s suggestions for the war, so they could be sure the gods were not meddling with the central intelligence people’s minds and feeding them wrong information.

Sam could see in real time as the barrier broke layer by layer under the heavy concentrated attacks of the priest, emperor, Lily of Ruin, red knight aura attacks, red priest fire-breathing monsters, and the countless bio-tank explosives.

The barrier was being repaired, but the rate of repair was not fast enough to keep pace with the damage inflicted. Sam, Silverspell, Grimblade, and Vidalia had all practically gathered together, leaving all other targets from their own towers to focus on the barrier before tower 23. Voidshaper, Lucian, and Warren were placed on further towers where the army had spread; they could not leave their positions.

The main issue was men!

Sanctuary had a mixed army of nearly 108,000 pathfinders and mundanes. Most of whom were guarding the wall. But the empire alone had over 170,000 fighting men. The Faerunians numbered some 90,000 in total as well. Added with an additional 50,000 knights and footsoldiers wearing the red of the sun temple, they were grossly outnumbered.

The bio-tanks, Faerunian warship pressure cannons, and the red priest’s thousands of emperor rank monsters.. If it weren’t for the runic wall and barrier, they would have seen massive casualties by now on their side, even with far-advanced runic technology on their hands.

‘This is no time for reserving forces!’

Sam pulled back from his continuous assault on the portal priest and the red dragon, the two biggest reasons for the barrier’s weakening. Then, he retrieved his sacrium crown from the spatial storage and placed it on his head, activating a couple of spells.

Suddenly, the night sky blackens as clouds surge and twist into a single churning mass, blotting out all the stars. Wind lashes outward in violent bursts, tearing at earth and stone. Thunder rolls without pause, shaking the air, while bright white and purple lightning rips across the heavens in blinding forks that strike again and again. Rain crashes down in a relentless sheet, drowning sound beneath its fury.

In the next moment, a sizable wave of bright cyan liquid mana starts circling Sam. The crowned prince of thunder had his eyes glowing luminously white.

He stretched his arms to the side. On each side, six large waygates opened, and titanic metal golems shaped like monsters walked out of them. The twelve android Warbeasts Damian gifted to Sanctuary for defence.

Just at that moment, a thick, powerful bolt of lightning lands on Sam with an explosive boom and leaves his entire body ablaze with bright cyan and pure white radiance.

In a booming loud voice, like a thunder-made-man, Sam declared,

“SANCTUARY WILL NOT FALL TODAY!!”