Chapter 81

<You cannot tag one being!>

The message turned Stone's mood down. No increased reward…

The Myceliar said its last prayer and the intense fireball exploded at him. It put everything it had to its defences. <Mana Shield> flared. Hide hardened.

The fire engulfed its body, melting the sculptures around.

Then it exploded.

It was no normal explosion either.

Stone snuck some refined mana into it, unbeknownst to Gorash.

The Myceliar's <Mana Shield> dissipated as if nothing. The rocky hide turned black and melted off in a stream of magma.

It could not even scream in pain as the explosion created a vacuum, making its lung implode inside its body.

The heat wave washed over him and even Lucifer received second-grade burns all over his limbs as he wasn't fast enough to hide behind the statues.

He was very glad to not be able to feel pain.

<You have killed a 3rd-tier Myceliar>

<Stone gained 32.72% experience>

That was not bad.

"Luci?" Stone called him over.

Lucifer took the two deadweights by their ankles and dragged them near Stone.

"Yea?"

"Did you get experience?"

"No. And from the question I can tell you did not tag it, right?"

"I couldn't! It refused to give me more experience! Stingy Universum… It said I can't because there was only one being… But I am not complaining! You cannot leech off my tasty experience anymore! It's all mine!"

"... oh… what?" Lucifer frowned as he heard a very familiar sound.

Sounds he had learned to hate from the bottom of his heart.

'Crack!' 'Crack!' 'Crack!'

☁☁☁☁☁☁

"Captain Baelgin! Shielding!"

Captain Rolly shouted as the goblin ambushers emerged from the freshly dug hole in the wall and swarmed into a small cavern that served as one of the main supply-lines for the main battlefield.

Baelgin hastily conjured the <Runic Shielding>, the bluish sphere with runes floating around it grew from his hand and covered their two groups.

The goblin ambushers were prepared and threw acidic and explosive potions at the sphere, slowly, but surely weakening it.

"Soldiers! Line!"

The dwarven guardians formed a line right behind the flickering sphere, waiting for it to collapse. They put shields before them and prepared their crossbows.

The last potion landed with a loud bang and the <Runic Shielding> broke like glass, forcing Baelgin to his knees. He checked his status and cursed; his mana was running dangerously low. The <Runic Shielding> skill had taken a tad larger bit out of him than he had expected.

The first volley of bolts flew out, penetrating the greenskins with precision.

The goblins screeched and in their pain and battle-lust fueled frenzy, they charged towards the dwarf line. Some of the goblins activated their own skills, colours enveloping them or their weapons.

The dwarfs managed to fire the last volley, slaying another ten or so goblins and then they clashed.

This was not a fight… A massacre would have better described the scene.

Dwarfs were just better equipped. The goblin ambushers, even though there were many of them, were considerably weaker.

Some of the experienced dwarfs laughed in joy as the free experience appeared right before them, like lambs to a slaughter. Their maces and axes glistened with different colours of skills as they cleaved goblins in half or broke their bones.

However, a shadow suddenly ran through them and a few weaker dwarfs fell, dead before they reached the ground, with broken or slashed necks. The shadow halted for a moment behind the goblin forces and changed its trajectory.

"Third tier assassin! Baelgin!"

Baelgin kneeled, placing his hand to the ground. A sandy rune formed on the floor but an explosion in the dwarven line disrupted him.

"Fuck!" Baelgin swore as his rune disappeared, the invested refined mana seeping away from his grasp.

The 3rd-tier assassin had to stealthily drop some explosives when he ran through them.

Captain Rolly joined the fray when he saw that the decisive victory he had predicted was at stake.

He glanced at the perspiring Baelgin with a contemplative expression. He grinned and activated a skill alongside his technique.

Bloody mist surfaced from behind his plate armour and converged on his enormous mace.

The power of the 4th-rank warrior was nothing to scoff at. Even though their curve of power was lower than Runemasters' or Wizards', they were all able to unleash incredible destruction, especially in crowd warfare.

He hit the ground before him with an echoing bang. The mace's head easily shattered the rocky floor and the bloody mist entered the cracks.

Everyone became still as the ground shook.

Stony pillars entwined by the thinning mist emerged from the below and ran through the goblin's and dwarfs alike, tearing them apart. It wreaked havoc on the battlefield filled with screams.

Even though the assassin struggled to avoid the pillars, he still wasn't hurt a bit.

Baelgin watched the unfolding spectacle with a deep frown. He had already seen that mist. Or something extremely similar to this when he battled the druegar shaman.

He glanced at his fellow captain who noticed and shook his head; 'No here, not now.'

Baelgin slowly nodded. He knew that something had been happening. He suppressed his thoughts about this and focused on the 3rd-rank assassin.

"Rolly! Did you tag them?" Baelgin asked.

"Nae! Feel free!" The captain answered while carelessly leaning on his mace, observing the unfolding slaughter.

Baelgin nodded and picked up his crossbow. A small, magmatic rune converged on the bolt's tip.

The bolt leisurely flew past the struggling soldiers and landed right next to the struggling assassin with a loud bang. The goblin was thrown towards one of the rocky pillars, a few of his bones audibly cracked. Tendrils of the bloody mist enveloped him and firmly bound him to the pillar.

The battle ended soon after. The goblins were completely routed, suffering most of the casualties from the blood mist.

It was only now that Baelgin noticed most of the killed dwarfs were from his own unit. He tensed, glaring at captain Rolly.

On the other hand, Rolly, who was still casually leaning on his mace, just amusedly observed as Baelgin readied himself for battle.

"Really, Baelgin? Wanna battle mea?" Rolly laughed. A few of his nearby soldiers raised crossbows and aimed at the runemaster.

Baelgin slowly dispersed his rune and raised his hands, deeply frowning.

"Naet gonna ask what's happenin'?" Rolly raised his thick eyebrows.

"No. I can already guess. Army of the Abyss and Harkon Boomhammer are walking into a trap. And you want to dispose of me because I'm close to Therdreag." He glowered while he carefully activated his lifeline rune. Something he had prepared just for exactly this type of situation, some may have called him hasty but in this moment he knew it had been the correct choice to get it tattooed onto himself. He even had to ask Therdreag for help. The greedy dwarf took advantage of him and he had to release quite a hefty sum of mana crystals.

A large runic tattoo on his back shifted and ambient mana began to slowly converge behind his back into slowly strengthening tendrils.

"Ah, ya're naet stupid. Ganra said ya're an idiot…" He ruffled his messy beard. A thick blood mist coiled around him as he slowly moved towards Baelgin.

After his unit killed all of the goblins, except the assassin, they stood behind their captain in a crescent-moon formation, their sharp gazes watching every Baelgin's movement.

"Stupid? Therdreag trusted him enough to release him unharmed, even going as far as healing him," Baelgin grinned, knowing this information would halt Rolly. He wasn't wrong. The captain halted in movement, deeply frowning.

He just needed a little bit of time… "Come oooon!" he silently pleaded for the rune to charge.

The warrior captain frowned as he halted his slow advance. Baelgin could see as gears spun in his head.

The tendrils of mana behind Baelgin suddenly became visible. The ethereal rune painfully peeled off his back and forced its way through his armour.

A few bolts flew from the dwarven crossbows but were stopped by the sudden appearance of a small, but concentrated <Runic Shielding> between them.

Baelgin swiftly activated the enchantments on his armour and braced himself for an impact.

"Soldiers! Retreat!" Rolly commanded, not wasting any more time. He hit the ground again, cracking it even further, but a few pillars emerged between them and Baelgin.

"This is gonna hurt," was his last thought before the explosion sent him to oblivion.

'Kaboom!'