The Runesmith

“I be like a lot o' things but I be nah mighty into this kind o' play”

A heavy rapier pierced through a monster’s head while producing a loud banging sound. The moment the tip was buried in that mass of squiggly flesh an explosion occurred. Various parts flew in all directions covering a part of the person that had performed the attack in black ooze.

“Arrrgh, I got some o' it on me boots.”

“Big sis,wha' shall we do?”

“What do ye mean, we go t' the dock 'n get the out o' here!”

“But sis, thar are too many o' these things, 'twon't be that easy.”

While a group of three pirate ladies were shouting between each other a certain Runesmith was watching. After clearing out the street before the monster spine eaters could form into an abomination he overheard some shouting.

To his surprise, it was the ship’s captain that he met in the morning along with her two younger sisters. It seemed they had come to the merchant district to get some food just as he did and were now getting surrounded by monsters.

After a quick analysis, it was clear that the woman was not someone that needed protection. Her sisters were below her at similar levels as Orson and Dalrak. The blade she was using brought some old memories back as it was a similar weapon to the one the assassin used when Roland was young.

By using a small explosive rune at the tip it produced an explosion after piercing through the enemy's body. Yet she wasn’t a pure fencer which was indicated by the swashbuckler class. There was a certain lack of firearms missing in this world which somehow diminished the usage of that class that got bonuses to sidearms like smaller crossbows. Instead, she was using a shorter blade that looked to be some kind of enchanted dagger.

“Hey Wayland, where are you going? Did you decide on a route or something?”

Before moving towards the next monster-infested street he was halted by Orson and the rest of the group. While he might have not considered himself the leader the rest of them did. After the incident in the village, everyone knew that he was the strongest member of the group. This was enough to put a person in a leadership position even if they didn’t want it.

“Um, perhaps but first we need to help those three out.”

Roland pointed to the three sisters that were poking the monsters with their thrusting swords. Orson was pleasantly surprised when his gaze landed on the chest regions of the women that were there. Even before Roland gave out an order to attack the two-handed swordsman charged forth.

“My friend, you do have a keen eye!”

“Hey wait…”

It was impossible to stop the other adventurer from charging forward as he already focused his eyes on the prize. The other four people there just glanced at each other while shrugging before moving into an attacking position. Roland, Darlak, and Grisalde just charged behind him while Senna remained in the backline.

After switching to his sword and shield combo Roland began decapitating the nearby monsters. They were much too slow and weak, there was no reason to waste his mana on these sorts of mobs that he could easily slice in half. While conserving his energy their group gained more and more ground.

“Ey, ain't that the handsome scallywag from afore?”

One of the younger sisters called out after spotting Roland’s characteristic armor. Soon enough the group of five adventurers was able to push through the turned people. Orson was of course the first one from them to get there and the women there could tell what he was mostly looking for.

“Do you lovely ladies need some help?”

Orson called out in his rugged voice while trying to smile but his facial expression only confused the three pirate women that were there. Instead of replying to him, Isabela looked towards the armored man that was not far behind.

“Ahoy, Ye 'ave me thanks.”

“You can thank me later after we get to your ship.”

“T' me ship?”

“Yes, how about we make a deal, we help you get to your ship and in return, you’ll help us leave this city?”

There was no time to bat around the bush. The reason that Roland decided to help these three pirate women was for their ship. The other crew members were probably back at the docks as they were still unloading the cargo when the monsters appeared. This was a gamble as the sailors could have decided to run away on their own without waiting for their captain.

Then there was a second reason he approached the ship’s captain. Even if she would not be able to get them out through the docks there were other ways. This was related to her tier 1 class of thief. A woman like her would probably have contacts in the thieves guild in the cities they unload their wares.

Thieves' guilds normally used a web of tunnels that were built underground in the city they occupied. The longer the guild remains there the more places a person can reach through them. Considering that the cultists mostly targeted merchants and adventurers the underground tunnels should be clear of that many monsters.

‘It should be safer than going through these streets at least but it’s a gamble…’

“Har har har, so that's wha' ye wants 'n here I thought ye jus' couldn't forget about me.”

Isabela laughed at the reason that Roland gave her. The woman quickly turned towards the approaching monstrosities that even at this very moment were trying to mutate into stronger variants. The city soldiers were all over the place but the number of these creatures was truly staggering.

“Aye, That doesn't sound like a bad deal…”

“Good, are you familiar with the layout of this city? Is there a safer way that could take us to the docks?”

It seemed that Isabela gave it a quick thought. Her gaze focused on the group of five adventurers along with who looked to be their leader, Roland. Quickly the decision was made as she nodded.

“Thar be, follow me then 'n try t' keep up handsome. But try t' keep up or I will leave ye behind!”

“Hey are you finished with your love talk, we need to go, these things are just multiplying and immune to poison…”

Senna tossed a dagger laced with some paralyzing poison toward one of the abyssal monsters but it didn’t slow it down at all. Instead, Grisalde needed to cleave it down with her oversized axe. She made sure to turn to the halfling while grinning after the confirmed kill which produced a frown on Senna’s face.

“Yes, we are done.”

Roland replied while turning towards Isabela that looked at a building in the distance, then she quickly pointed to it while speaking up.

“We needs t' get in thar”

It was an unsuspecting pub that didn’t stick out from the rest. Luckily there weren’t that many flailing tentacles blocking their way there so the group charged forward without being reserved. The shouts and screams of many other people filled their ears but in a situation like this, they needed to look out for themselves.

Some time had passed since the transformation occurred and most of the people had already fled. On the inside, as expected they only encountered dead bodies of the unfortunate commoners and more black ooze.

“Behind that door, break it!”

Isabela along with her two sisters looked towards a door that was leading to the back room. Roland looked to the barbarian of the group that just nodded and quickly delivered a powerful kick to the locked door. The door frame buckled under the pressure and managed to stand tall. Even though it looked inconspicuous it was made from quite the resistant wood.

“Hah, can't you even break down one flimsy door? Move over and let a specialist do it!”

“What the hell you on about pipsqueak?”

After a few more kicks it was obvious that Grisalde would not be able to just break it down that easily. Instead of using more power, Senna decided to step in, she pulled out a lockpicking kit quickly and went to work.

“Can you pick it?”

“Who do you think I am? Just keep those bastards off my back and I’ll have this lock open in a second!”

Roland didn’t know what was on the other side of that door. If they forcefully destroyed an entrance that led into the den of thieves a trap could be activated. It would have been easy for him to blast it open with a strong enough spell but if he triggered some kind of safety that blocked the rest of the way for them it would be inconvenient.

“Just let me…”

“Let’s just leave it to Senna, for now, help me guard the door.”

Grisalde looked ticked off but after Roland gave the order she retreated to the back. The monsters outside clearly saw the party of eight go into the building and gave chase. Luckily they were quite clumsy in their basic form and didn’t pose much threat from range.

This was used to their advantage thanks to the vast array of runic spells that Roland was able to produce. With his iron staff in hand, he created a large number of mana bolt spells that traveled toward their enemies. To conserve his mana he decided to aim for disabling the approaching swarm by taking out their slow-moving legs. When down on the ground they could only crawl and give enough time for Senna to pick the lock.

*click*

Soon the door opened before them and revealed another room into which they all quickly dived into. After locking the entrance behind them they continued to the lower level where the wine cellar was. Orson moved his sword to the side after not seeing any enemies while also speaking out.

“Is this really an entrance into the thieves guild? I’ve always heard stories about them but never been in one before.”

Inside the wine cellar was quite dark but was quickly illuminated by a rudimentary spell produced by Roland. The three pirate ladies were quite surprised to see an orb of blue light floating out from his palm and sticking to the ceiling but after seeing him use mana bolt spells they also realized that he was a mage.

“Blast ye, thar be no one on the other side, thar best be a switch or somethin' here, help me find it.”

While the adventurers were looking around to see if no monsters were nearby, Isabela started knocking on an unsuspecting wall. This was probably the entrance to the thief-owned underground tunnels. Instead of a password, they were using a knocking code not surprisingly there was no person on the other side.

‘Did the thieves from this pub decide to abandon it for now?’

It wasn’t that surprising that whoever was informed about this place decided to evacuate to a safe location. If they were unlucky then the opening mechanism would only be accessible from the other side. In that case, going through the wall would require a lot of force.

“If we don’t find the switch, can we just blow up the wall? ”

It was already too late to turn back. Monsters probably had started going into the building they escaped in. If they turned around now they would have to go through more tentacles than before or bunker up until the city guards got everything under control.

“I wouldna recommend that, the tunnels might nah last through an explosion.”

Isabela commented while padding down the walls and knocking on them. Sometimes places like this included hidden opening mechanisms. Thieves were occasionally lazy, one of them sleeping through their shift on the other side was probably not that uncommon.

“Hm…”

While everyone was looking around Roland decided to do the same but use his radar system instead. When using more mana he could make it slightly more detailed and also increase the range. Just as he had predicted the floor that they had left was slowly becoming infested with more monsters.

The people from the merchant district would probably flee towards where the soldier's presence was the highest and leave this place empty. Only when some semblance of order returned to the city would he be able to leave, this left the underground tunnels belonging to the thieves guild the only way out.

“Let’s see…”

The helmet’s eyes gave out a faint glow as he started scanning the walls. He had implemented various detection methods that could inform him about pockets of metal behind rocks due to his visits to the hidden mining area. Thanks to this he noticed something hidden behind a wall, it was a circular object that looked like a crank.

“Could this be it?”

“Did you find something, Wayland?”

Asked Senna as she was peeking around the corner.

“Give me a moment.”

Before giving an explanation Roland activated the strengthening feature of his armor. With increased power, he started pushing his armored thingers into the brick wall. There was no time to find the hidden latch for the opening and he had enough strength to just pry the bricks out forcefully.

“Oh, this should be it! I don’t see any traps on it, you can go ahead and give it a yank.”

He nodded to Senna who examined the lever and crank attached to it. This lever was meant for two hands and perhaps even for two people. With his boosted strength though he was able to make it spin which then produced a cracking sound from the wall that Isabela pointed to.

The grating sound that started coming from the wall was noticeable. The party of adventurers was vigilant, Dalrak placed his shield in the front and waited as the wall was being lifted up. There must have been some kind of pulley system in the wall through which Roland was now pulling the wall up. Luckily after half of the tunnel behind the entrance became revealed no monsters could be seen.

“There is no one there, the thieves either retreated to their guild or escaped outside the city.”

Senna commented after passing through the half-opened wall. With her short height, she was able to just walk through it while everyone else needed to wait for Roland to pull it all the way up.

“Let’s go then! If we be lucky we'll be back at me ship in a jiffy.”

Isabela let some of Roland’s party members check the tunnel for enemies before going in herself. Soon everyone was going through while leaving Roland to hold the lever in place. It didn’t have a locking mechanism, this would normally force him to sprint towards the entrance before the wall slammed down shut.

“I got it, Wayland.”

That is if he was alone, with Orson’s and Grisalde’s help he wouldn’t have to. When he lowered the sliding wall slightly both of them used their muscles to hold the entire thing up. To their surprise even when done by both of them the thick slab of rock was heavier than it looked. When Roland was passing by them he noticed some strange looks he was receiving due to his surprising strength.

“Are you sure that you are a Rune Mage and not some kind of Berserker?”

Orson asked right after dropping the wall behind Roland. Both he and Grisalde were now slightly out of breath and wondering how one man was able to use a lever crank to pull this heavy wall up.

“Don’t be silly, let us continue the faster we get to the ship the quicker we will be safe.”

“Aye, let's go.”

Dalrak called out from the front as he took up the tanking spot, next to him appeared a large barbarian lady with an oversized axe. Between them, Senna appeared, her trap detecting skills would be quite useful when traveling through these tunnels.

The three pirate women remained in the middle while Roland and Orson protected the rear from any potential surprise attacks. With this composition, they moved towards the uncharted territory, what waited for them there no one knew.