Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 809

“Spare me, great Star Serpent!” There was a loud thump to Noah’s side as the haggard man threw himself to the ground and fell prostate before the enormous yellow eye peering down at the two of them. “Never has my faith wavered. I have offered up my sacrifices. I have kept to the pact. This newcomer is not of my doing. Please, spare me!”

“Weren’t you just praying to Renewal?” Noah asked, scratching at his chin. “Don’t you think you should stick to one person? You can’t go asking the Star Serpent thing for favors after you were just praying to someone else. That feels rude at best.”

The man didn’t respond. He was too busy banging his head against the ground as if giving himself a concussion would somehow magic the enormous beast peering down at them away.

Noah wasn’t too optimistic about the chances of that working, but he wasn’t exactly in the best position to judge someone banging their head against a veritable wall until something worked. That tended to be his favorite strategy.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t one he could use today.

“Look,” Noah said, meeting the huge eye’s gaze. “Sorry for interrupting your — uh, whatever this is. But I can’t afford to die right now. Made myself a promise I’d abstain for a little. Joined a support group and everything. The only member is a centipede, but he counts. I don’t suppose you’d like to give me some directions toward the nearest large town? I’ve gotten a little lost.”

“You fool,” the prostate man hissed. “Bow down before the great Star Serpent and beg for your life. It will not speak to one so lowly as—”

The eye pulled back.

Even in spite of everything Noah had seen in recent times, he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of awe as the massive beast came into view. The Star Serpent certainly lived up to its name.

If anything, calling it a serpent should have been an insult. This was no snake.

It was a dragon.

The Star Serpent’s head was the size of a large barn. It had a mouth full of glistening obsidian fangs and a thick neck that ran off beyond the field of view that the torn-open ceiling of the stone house afforded Noah. The whole monster was covered with glossy purple-black scales that shimmered like the starry night itself.

It was beautiful.

And more than that. As Noah stared up at the massive creature, something glinted behind its hungry yellow eyes. Then it released its domain.

Pressure slammed into Noah with a roar. The haggard man beside him was smashed flat against the floor with a pained wheeze as the dragon’s domain bore down on them both. He wasn’t outright flattened like he would have been if someone like Garina had released her powers, but it certainly didn’t look comfortable.

Noah paused.

He waited for a second. Noah could feel the inky power of the Star Serpent pressing against his body, where he’d tightly bound his domain within himself to keep it from seeping out. The monster’s energy buzzed and prickled against his skin.

And that was just about it.

The Star Serpent was strong. It was definitely around the upper realms of Rank 6. Maybe not with the best possible runes possible, but certainly with good ones. That was quite respectable. It would have placed this creature at the upper realms of the Arbalest Empire. Maybe not at the top, but still towards it.

“Huh,” Noah said. He glanced down at the man at his side. “Not bad. Say, grandpa, what rank are you?”

The haggard man didn’t respond. He was a little busy gasping and wheezing for air that the Star Serpent’s domain drove from his lungs.

“Oh, right. You can’t breathe.” Noah slapped himself in the forehead.

Then he released his domain.

The Star Serpent’s influence shattered like sugar glass. Noah’s influence tore out across the house, shoving the other domain out without even a little difficulty. Surprise passed through the massive monster’s eye. It definitely hadn’t been expecting that.

Beside Noah, the fallen man drew in a desperate gasp for air. He curled into a ball, wheezing as he fought to fill his lungs once more.

“Can you answer now?” Noah asked after a few moments. “Not to rush you. I know how it feels to get crushed by a domain. Not fun. But it would be nice to know what the average level is around here. Don’t want to kill anyone on accident.”

“I’m a Rank 3,” the man whispered. “Who… are you?”

Rank 3, huh? Okay. I’m starting to get a better grasp of things, then. This guy doesn’t seem too important. Rank 3 would have put you solidly average as a mage in Arbalest. It was where most professors were.

Since this dude lives in such a scuffed area without much that appears to be worth anything, I’d imagine Rank 3 is probably relatively low for Obsidia. They must be more open with their combinations here — or maybe there’s just been more time to figure things out without a Great War wiping a bunch of knowledge away.

“Great,” Noah said, ignoring the man’s second question. “Thanks.”

A rumbling growl split the air above Noah. He looked back up at the Star Serpent. It matched his gaze with a single eye, anger burning deep within its massive yellow depths as it bared its teeth at him.

Something in Noah shifted. It had been a while since he’d released his domain like this, after his soul had been so severely warped by the Beyond. He could feel the strange white magic twisting within him.

Hmm. Don’t know if I like that.  

“I don’t suppose this is the part where you reveal you’re actually lonely and hoping for some good conversation?” Noah asked. “I’d be happy to accommodate you in exchange for some directions. I really do need those. But something tells me you’re not the talkative type. Prove me wrong, would you? I’d be very—”

The Star Serpent’s jaw slammed shut.

There was a thunderous crack, like the air itself had shattered under the monster’s bite. White cracks sliced through the air around its massive head. A wave of pressure tore down toward Noah, shaking the ground beneath his feet with its mere approach.

Vibration magic?

Noah unleashed Unraveling Disruption.

Destroying magic was a hell of a lot easier than creating it. That was doubly true for magic that he’d spent a fair amount of time learning… and vibration was absolutely nothing new to him.

Gossamer patches of oily magic splashed through the air around him. They rose to meet the wave of shattering air racing toward him. The two magics collided with a brilliant crash. Flaring white energy cut through the sky, blasting the night away like a miniature sun had ignited overhead.

And then the white magic evaporated.

Noah’s power consumed it entirely, leaving behind nothing but a fading shimmer of energy in the air. Faint motes of energy rained down around him like gentle snow.

“Impossible,” the fallen man whispered, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stared up at Noah. “Such power… the Great Goddess has listened to my prayers. She has sent a warrior to save us. Praise Renewal!”

“Man, you were basically just praying to the serpent thing,” Noah said. “Pick a team.”

Despite his words, he kept his attention completely focused on the massive monster. That attack hadn’t been weak. If he hadn’t had Unraveling Disruption, it probably would have torn him and the house completely apart.

This was a Rank 6. It could do a hell of a lot more damage than that previous attack if it wanted to, but he was still shaping his domain, it had thought he was weak enough to die to a smaller attack.

Rank 6s can’t be underestimated. It only takes one small slip-up for me to get killed. I have to deal with this thing quickly, and before it realizes what I’m fully capable of. Better to use a little overkill here.

“You sure about this?” Noah called up as he reached for his runes and started to draw on their power. “Jumping right to a pointless fight is a bit stupid, don’t you think? It would be easier if we both just went our own ways. I don’t want to build a reputation for murdering everything I come across.”

The Star Serpent’s huge maw opened. Churning white power let out a growing howl as it twisted between the beast’s fangs. Power prickled against Noah’s skin, and the ground started to tremble beneath his feet.

This attack wasn’t going to be like the last one. It was intense enough to literally shake the earth before it had even gone off.

Noah’s veins turned jet black.

His runes trembled, all drawn to their max as they pushed back against Sunder.   

The serpent’s maw slammed closed. At the same instant, Noah raised his hand to the sky. A black spear twisted to life above the looming dragon. It was so dark that it made the night look like a sunny day.

But the Star Serpent didn’t even bother looking up at the magic. Its attention was focused entirely on the little pest that had dared stop its previous attack.

A brilliant crack tore through the air with a boom like a thousand cannons firing in unison. White cracks exploded out in a wave from the Star Serpent’s maw to crash toward Noah like a tsunami.

The magic only made it an instant before a streak of black sliced through the air above the Star Serpent.

If the monster had bothered to pay even a flicker of attention to the spear, it would have been able to see it coming. Perhaps it had been convinced that the strength of its domain would be more than enough to block the attack.

There was a good chance the beast’s domain had been more than enough to stop every other attack that had ever been sent in its direction.

But Sunder was not the same as every other attack.

True strength did not need to announce itself. The black spear cut through the sky like a bolt of falling lightning. It slammed down into Noah’s outstretched hand, completely silent in the face of the thunderous power far above.

The Star Serpent froze. Its magic shattered, breaking apart well before it could reach Noah. The great beast stood perfectly still for a long second.

He held its gaze silently. The cool surface of the spear burned his palm. He was nowhere near strong enough to wield the weapon the same way he had once seen Decras using it in a vision… but he didn’t need to.

Not for an arrogant Rank 6 like this.

A flicker of surprise passed through the great dragon’s eyes, but it was too late. The fight had been over the moment the serpent had allowed Sunder to strike it uncontested.

It was already dead.

The great Star Serpent split down the center. Its massive body pitched to the ground in two halves, crashing down on either side of the house in a unified, thunderous boom that shook the earth for one final time. Blood rained from above, pelting Noah and the terrified man at his side in a sudden downpour.

Three Rank 6 runes rose from the monster’s severed soul. Two were monster Runes and not anything Noah wanted to draw into his soul, but the third caught his attention.

Cracked Horizon Ender

Noah tilted his head to the side. Perhaps the little side-trip he’d gone on wasn’t a complete waste after all. He called the rune to himself, wrapping it with his domain, then drew on Sunder once more as he extended a finger toward it.

A black line carved down through the rune, shattering it instantly to pull its seven components free.

The vast majority of them were rather uninteresting. This combination had been well beyond the Star Serpent’s abilities. That explained a fair bit of why it had been easy to kill… but the concept behind the runes wasn’t bad at all.

He studied the seven Rank 5 runes for a moment.

Horizon Collapse

Horizon Collapse

Crumbling World Shaker

Crumbling World Shaker

Broken Sky

Broken Sky

Great Earthquake

If Grim were here, Noah would have taken all of them. But, if he was honest, the Broken Sky runes were pathetic. The combinations were so bad that they almost weren’t worth salvaging. Great Earthquake wasn’t much better.

But The Horizon Collapse and Crumbling World Shaker runes… those weren’t bad.

Noah smiled. With little more than a few seconds of thought, he drew the four runes into his soul. None of them were flawless. They weren’t much at all in the face of the three runes he already had… but with a little work, he was pretty sure he could make something worthwhile from them.

He let the other runes dissipate as he drew his domain back in, sealing it within his body. Only then did Noah turn to look back down at the terror-stricken man at his feet.

“I’m starting to feel like a broken record,” Noah said as he crouched before the man. He pulled the map that Far-sed had given him out and unfurled it on the ground between them before prodding it with a finger. “But, about those directions…”