The Runic Alchemist

There wasn't much time to think, so Damian jumped straight into the group of students carrying the dummies. For a moment, they froze, confused by what had just happened. Then chaos erupted. Shouts filled the air as punches flew in every direction. The students carrying the dummies hastily created distance between themselves and the brawl.

"Say cheese," Damian muttered with a sly smile.

The group of pugilists, their fists flaring with aura, ignored his words and lunged at him. Damian, however, was prepared. He activated four runic spells on his armor pieces—two on his shoulders and one each on his front and back.

The runes glowed green, releasing a furious gale that sent everyone flying. Some students crashed into trees, others into each other. Several wristbands began flashing, their green bars reduced to three-quarters.

Damian seized the moment, picking up two civilian dummies that had landed nearby and pocketing them into his spatial storage.

Raising his blade, he channeled his aura and lunged at the students still holding dummies. They quickly realized his goal, and the others scrambled to protect the dummy carriers.

Damian dodged a flurry of punches, blocking some with his sword. Most of his opponents were only in their second job being first rankers—not strong enough to pose a real threat. After deflecting seven punches with the flat of his blade one after another and starting to push them all back, hesitation crept into their ranks. Some students outright backed away, focusing instead on helping the dummy carriers escape.

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The exam had barely started, and most students were still worried about their points. Of course, self-preservation came first.

Damian activated two more runic pieces on his armor, this time on his legs. The ground beneath them began to quake violently, throwing his opponents off balance. Damian took advantage of their disorientation, decking one after another and launching aura slashes at those keeping their distance.

The earthquake spell had been modified for a small radius—perfect for disrupting enemies with minimum mana.

Grabbing and pocketing two more dummies from the students he'd incapacitated, Damian leaped over the remaining group, leaving them stumbling on unsteady ground.

Some of them gave chase as Damian sprinted toward the remaining dummy carriers. He unleashed one of the three spells he was holding on—a massive sphere of water descended upon the pursuing group.

To keep up appearances, Damian chanted random words continuesly, with a smile on his face.

Soon, he caught up with the fleeing students. There were 15 of them carrying a total of 8 dummies. None dared look back as they sprinted toward their house, shouting warnings to alert their comrades and others fighting the monster behind.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Damian, however, was faster.

Just to mess with them, he activated another runic piece on his armor. A swarm of insects and rodents erupted behind the fleeing group. Buzzing swarm of mosquitoes and stinging bees threw them into disarray, messing with their heads, causing the group of fifteen to scatter in all directions. This made it easier for him to target those carrying dummies, Striking them with an aura slash, he brought them to the ground, their health dropping to zero.

The students screamed—a sound they hadn't made even while facing the monster hordes.

Damian pocketed another eight dummies adding the four, bringing his total to twelve. With both of his spatial storages now full.

As a final distraction, Damian activated another spell from his big runic scrolls—a powerful tornado that tore through the area. The wind thrashed the students and destroyed the rudimentary wooden defenses they'd built to guard against the monster horde.

Damian didn't stick around to admire the destruction. As pugilists cursed him from afar, he spotted Karl in the distance, accompanied by his team. Karl was hurrying toward the chaos, his face set in a resigned yet calm expression. There was a promise for vengeance in it though.

Damian smiled sweetly at him. The higher-level pugilists beside Karl ground their teeth, sending air punches in Damian's direction, though they knew it was futile.

Meanwhile, the Spellborne Legion had barely grasped what had just occurred. The bell chimed, signaling a retreat, and everyone returned to their respective houses.

Using his mana sense, Damian had tracked Lucian and Sam, they had already made two full trips to the civilian zone. Other mana signatures, likely students allied with Lucian or Alex, had also reached the zone once. Among them was Kamisen, who seemed to have taken the long route and fought several monsters along the way. Despite his effort, he had lost many students, leaving his overall contribution the same as others.

Even so, the Spellborne Legion now held more civilians than any other section.

Damian returned to the Knowledge Keeper's house and quickly set up barrier pillars. Another wave was approaching, but it was hardly worth noting—Damian could instead use the time to craft something that would truly set him on top of others.

Handing control of the barriers to Tom and the others, Damian outlined his plan. They reassured him they could manage the wave with the barrier and their makeshift wooden defenses. And the tools they had made. There was a barrier to back them if it was too much to handle.

While his team prepared, Damian focused on creating additional spatial storages. The two he had were already full, to get more civilians he needed more people with him who could store it using their mana.

The traps he had already set up were doing their job—triggering explosively as monsters stumbled into them, aided by his section's students arrows and their spells.

With the monster blocking the path to the civilian zone now gone, this was their chance. Naturally, the pugilists would retaliate against his house after what he'd done, but he wasn't too concerned. To damage the house structure, they'd need significant numbers and would waste valuable time in the process. And there were many monsters being killed in front of him, dropping parchments and ink, he could make many more traps to set up around their house.

Meanwhile, their direct rivals, the Spellborne Legion, would seize the opportunity to pull ahead. Even if the pugilists came for him, it wouldn't be until they had secured at least some advantage first.

Damian's priority was clear: control the civilians. Destroying houses was an option, but not yet. For now, the monsters were doing a fine job thinning the ranks of the other students.

The wristbands both on students and monsters, restored their health bars to green after one had some rest; it gave injured students a slight reprieve. The health potions did not affect it though. Only rest could do that.

However, fighting—even against illusions—left behind real injuries that required healing potions and spells.