Return of the Runebound Professor
Chapter 426: Dirge

The lizard monster’s tail flicked. Strands of black shot out from it like streamers and hurtled for Noah, extending to wrap around him. He repositioned himself with a blast of wind and the black tendrils slammed into the ground with a series of thuds, punching deep into it. The monster ripped them free with a hiss, turning to follow his movements even without its eyes.

Noah didn’t wait for it to attack again. He drew deeply on Natural Disaster. Lightning crackled between his hands in thick arcs. The lizard charged toward him and he released the magic.

A loud crack split the air as a yellow bolt flashed out from his palms. It slammed into the monster’s forehead and knocked it forward. The creature tripped over its own feet and hit the ground in a tumble, rolling until it skidded to a stop several feet away from Noah with smoke rising up from its head.

Huh. That was easy. Is it —

A tendril lashed out for Noah. His eyes went wide and he threw himself to the side and narrowly missing the appendage as it howled overhead. He rolled to his feet and drew more power from Natural Disaster, unleashing another bolt of lightning into the lizard’s face.

It let out a pained scream and staggered to its feet. The scales on its head had absorbed the magic again, but he could tell that it was in pain. It lurched toward him again and tried to bite at his head.

Noah released a blast of wind from his palms, hurling the large monster back before it could close the distance between them. More black streamers shot out of its tail and reached for him even as it fell. He drew more on Natural Disaster and sent a scythe of wind crashing down, severing them.

The monster screamed in pain. Its claws dug into the ground and saliva flew from its mouth as it drew in ragged breaths. Noah’s lips curled in disgust and he drew power from Natural Disaster once more.

The monster tensed, bracing for a bolt of lightning — and was entirely unprepared for the spikes of rock that Noah called up from the ground. They drove into the creature’s stomach with several sharp cracks that marked scales shattering.

Noah’s spikes lifted the monster off the ground. It screamed and hissed in surprise, then shimmered a dull purple. It vanished. The back of Noah’s neck tingled as his senses screamed a warning.

He hurled himself forward as a tendril snapped past his head. Noah spun, releasing another bolt of lightning even as the monster tried to dematerialize again. It caught the creature right in its open mouth.

The air filled with the scent of burnt meat as the lizard staggered and lost its concentration, releasing the magic it had gathered. Noah followed up with another stone spike, this time driving it straight up into the lizard’s chin and impaling its head.

It let out one final hiss, then fell still. Noah took a moment to catch his breath, then let Natural Disaster fade so he could replace its power with Sunder. He approached the monster, waiting for the familiar tingle of its soul leaving its body.

The instant the sensation prickled against Noah’s mind, he swept his hand down. Sunder carved a black line through the air and the monster’s soul shattered. Motes of light swirled forth above its body, forming into runes. Five of them were unreadable Monster Runes, but the others were within his abilities to comprehend.

Shifting Warp – Rank 2

Shifting Warp – Rank 2

Noah pulled his grimoire off his back — and a tongue of paper flicked out, wrapping around the first of the two runes and drawing it within itself. The grimoire’s binding rippled for a second, then a second tongue flicked out and claimed the second rune.

“You can just… grab them straight from Sunder?” Noah asked, unsure if he was meant to be surprised or not. He’d seen the grimoire grab runes from paper before, but those had already been imbued.

I suppose you’d have to re-imbue things anyway if the original paper is destroyed, so it really shouldn’t be that much of a shock. It’s just a bit odd. Then again, what about this book isn’t?

“Thank you,” Noah said. “And don’t even think about eating those. They’re mine.”

The grimoire rippled again. He waited for the grimoire to take another rune, but it made no moves to. Noah decided to take that as a sign of agreement and slung it over his back once more. His gaze lifted to the fading Monster Runes above the lizard. The grimoire’s paper tongue snaked out and snagged one of them as they faded, but Noah had no need for it himself. Right now, his main use for Monster Runes was to sell them to Otto.

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He’d definitely want these — but if I come back with them, he might be able to figure out that I got them here. And, if he figures that out, then he knows the trick to getting Monster Runes is either me or something I have. I won’t have plausible deniability to claim that it was some other method.

For that matter, I don’t know if they can track the runes I get here. The paper they gave me might do more than just contain runes. Granted, it’s gotten eaten, but I imagine the grimoire should be able to give it back.

We’ll deal with that when the time comes. The grimoire can just eat that Monster Rune. For the time being, I think I should avoid monster runes unless they’re really worth the risk — and these ones aren’t. This lizard thing couldn’t have been more than a Rank 3 if the only non-Monster Runes it had were Rank 2s. It certainly didn’t feel like it had anything strong enough to pull it to Rank 4.

Noah’s senses tingled. He let the remaining runes fade away and extended his hands. His violin materialized within them. He had considerably more important things to concern himself with than a few Monster Runes.

The lizard had been the first one to meet his call, but it was far from the last. He hadn’t been trying to conceal his presence in the slightest. Two ripples of energy shimmered through the air nearby as a pair of lizard monsters materialized before Noah.

They didn’t attack immediately but instead hesitated for a second, likely taking in the situation and trying to determine if he had killed the previous monster. Noah smiled and lifted his bow to the strings of his violin.

He only had an hour to work with — less than that, now. There was no way he was going to sit around and waste time while the monsters assessed things. All he saw was walking bags of runes waiting to be claimed.

The first note sang out from his violin. Both monsters flinched, then let out simultaneous hisses. Their tails whipped up and black strands shot for Noah, but he was already moving. A song began to build with his steps as he dodged past the attacks and magic started to gather around him.

Two circles on the violin lit as Noah slid his runes into them. Power intensified even further, and then his music started in true. A bolt of lightning ripped from the violin, joined by a blast of wind that he set off beneath his feet. Black streamers hurtled past him and Noah arced into the air, entirely focused on his song even as the world spun beneath him.

Simulcasting used a lot of energy, but its results were incredibly useful, especially against multiple opponents. Two bolts of lighting ripped free of the violin and slammed into each of the monsters, forcing them to stagger and regain their balance.

Noah didn’t wait around for them to recover. He landed on the ground, using the violin to summon more wind to cushion his fall while sending out another blast of lightning at the same time.

One of the lizards screamed in pain and the other vanished in a flicker of purple. Noah leaned back, dodging out of the way as several streamers shot past his head, and continued to play. Two bolts of lightning ripped from the violin in rapid succession, slamming into the monster that had just reformed behind him.

It stumbled and hissed, smoke rising up from its head. It tried to shake itself off and draw on its magic, but Noah sent another two bolts of lighting ripping free. The lizard stumbled and collapsed, limbs twitching with remnants of life.

Noah’s senses tingled once more and he released two blades of wind behind himself, spinning just in time to see them carve through several of the tail-streamers and slam into the lizard behind them.

The monsters scales cracked and its pained cry was cut short by two thick bolts of lightning that drove into its head. Noah played the final notes to his song, then released the magic and let it fade from the violin.

He then drew on Natural Disaster once more and inserted it into the violin. He played two sharp, final notes, driving a spike through both of the monster’s heads at the exact same time. Energy gathered around both of them as their souls peeled away from their bodies.

Doesn’t seem like there’s a Great Monster controlling these things. They fight in similar ways, but I’m not picking up on a specific pattern. Probably for the best. Otto would probably be fucking pissed if he had a Great Monster in his special hunting ground and I chomped the thing.

Noah Sundered the closest one and turned to the other — but before he could call on his Master Rune again, his Body Imbuements screamed a warning as they picked up vibrations in the air beside him.

An arc of purple light materialized from nothing and shot out toward Noah. He dove forward and the air behind him thrummed as the energy passed by him. It drove into the ground and carved into it without a sound.

Noah rolled to his feet, spinning toward the source of the magic. Lines of purple rippled and bulged outward as the head of a turtle pushed into reality. Its body followed after it, emerging out onto the purple grass with one lumbering step at a time. It was nearly as large as the lizards — which meant it was huge in comparison to Noah.

Spines covered the monsters grey skin and ran up along its shell, glistening in the dull light. Its mouth worked as beady black eyes bored into Noah’s head. Motes of purple energy gathered around the spines covering it.

A tongue of paper flicked out from behind Noah’s shoulder, arcing over to the dead lizard he’d sundered and plucking a rune from the air. He didn’t have time to see which one it was, and he had bigger things to worry about at the moment.

Noah launched himself into the air with a blast of wind just an instant before several beams of purple energy streaked out beneath him and carved furrows through the ground. He landed back on the ground just in time to see two more ripples pass through the air. A second turtle and a lizard materialized.

“Three at once, huh?” Noah asked as he landed, placing his bow against the strings of his violin once more and letting a smile crawl across his face. “That just means three times the runes. Come on, then.”

They obliged him, and Noah’s song rang through the strange plains once more, a funeral dirge for all who heard it. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NøᴠᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

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