Return of the Runebound Professor

Energy from the Rune’s combination poured out and into Noah’s soul, expanding it even further. It wasn’t nearly as much expansion as he’d gotten from when he’d first combined a Rank 2 Rune, but it was still noticeable.

Probably from the increased pressure that comes from a perfect Rank 2 Rune as compared to an imperfect one.

Noah let out a slow breath and let his eyes open, greeting the cold breeze of the outside world with a smile on his face – one that quickly faded as he realized just how cold it was. He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. The Body Imbuement from his previous rune had burned away while he was upgrading the Rune, which meant he was no longer generating heat.

He headed back toward camp, gathering the energy from his newly improved Pyroclastic Resonance rune and starting to Imbue it in his lungs again as he walked. It was just a repeat of the previous time he’d done it, but there was no need to rush things too much, and he didn’t want to mistakenly damage anything in the process of the Imbuement.

Noah returned before Moxie’s watch had ended, a good bit earlier than he typically came back to camp. Lee was nowhere to be seen – she tended to do her own thing for the first portion of the night, though Noah wasn’t exactly sure what that thing was.

It wasn’t like he’d be able to find her, even if he wanted to. Lee’s hiding abilities were just too good.

Unfortunately, that meant he was going to have to get back into camp on his own. Moxie stood guard, a vine curled around her feet and rising up to give her something to lean on. Noah crept around to the backside of the camp, trying to make as little noise as possible, but there really wasn’t a lot to hide behind.

He only made it a few steps toward his tent before a vine curled out of the ground at his feet, snagging his foot. Noah cursed, yanking himself free and turning, only to find Moxie standing before him, lowering her hands from a fighting stance with a frown.

“What are you doing? I heard something shuffling around and thought there was someone sneaking around the camp,” Moxie said in a whisper.

“I was going to the bathroom,” Noah replied. “I didn’t want to wake anyone up.”

“Why creep back in? You could have just walked, you know.”

“What, did you want me to announce it to the world?”

Moxie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just go back to bed and try to act slightly less suspicious if you’re going to leave. I nearly attacked you.”

Noah gave her a mock salute and slipped back into his stone tent. He still wasn’t done for the night, though. There were two more things he wanted to do.

The first was fairly easy – Noah opened his book back up and Imbued the extra Greater Ash Rune he had sitting around within its pages. Noah flipped back to the page bearing the Greater Wind Rune and entered his mindspace, drawing the Rune into himself. It was only about sixty percent full after he’d used it to fill up the Wind Rune he’d combined into Pyroclastic Resonance, but now he’d be able to use his flying sword again.

Noah then gathered his belongings and sat against the wall, closing his eyes and focusing on his Body Imbuement efforts once again.

When weariness started to seep into his mind, Noah took a break for the rest of the night to sleep. He didn’t want to mistakenly mess something up because he was too tired to picture a line properly.

***

Brayden was true to his word. The following morning, before Noah’s watch was even over, Brayden woke all the others and they departed almost immediately, not wasting a single second. Nobody looked particularly pleased about that particular development, as Brayden had gotten started before the sun could even start rising above the horizon.

The landscape darkened, even as the sun rose. Dark orange grass turned gray a dull yellow, and the bushes dotting the landscape were replaced by dry, woody bunches that didn’t have a single spark of life within them.

A strange, earthen scent rose from the ground. It was a mixture of compost and musty foliage that, while Noah couldn’t say was disgusting, it certainly wasn’t enjoyable. He scrunched his nose, searching for the source of the smell, but couldn’t find anything that could have been causing it.

The sun poked out from the clouds after several hours of walking, but even its rays were muted and duller than they should have been and the world was cast in shades of gray. Even the air felt heavy and oppressive.

That didn’t make for great conversation. They walked in silence, just focusing on walking fast enough to keep up with Brayden’s aggressive pace. The sun trekked through the sky, but the mood never shifted.

It was, without a doubt, Noah’s least favorite environment in the Arbalest Empire thus far. He even preferred the Scorched Acres to it, if just because there was actually something to do there.

The dreary, endless landscape didn’t do wonders for any of their attention. Noah’s focus was on his Body Imbuement as he continued to layer the Rune onto his lungs. Moxie and Emily were both focused on a vine she had playing across her fingertips, while Todd and Isabel were absentmindedly tossing a stale piece of bread to each other.

Edward and Allen, of course, remained at the back of the group and refused to interact with anyone else any more than they absolutely had to.

But, even if any of them had been actually paying attention to where Brayden was leading them, they probably wouldn’t have been prepared.

There was no warning or any indication that something was wrong. One moment, they were all walking in a spread out group behind Brayden, following him along the packed dirt path. The second, there was a hole in the ground where Brayden had been standing.

Noah blinked, not registering the man’s disappearance for a moment. There had been a flicker of white an instant before Brayden had vanished, but by the time that information actually registered with Noah’s mind, the ground beneath them rumbled.

“We’re under attack!” Noah yelled, grabbing for his pipe. He didn’t see the enemy yet, so there wasn’t a need to start using his Body Imbuement yet – especially since he hadn’t quite finished re-applying it yet.

“What happened to Brayden?” Moxie asked, staring at the hole in shock. Vines slithered out from beneath her robes and wound into the ground, forming a flat platform beneath her and Emily.

“Forget what. We need to figure out if he’s still okay,” Noah said, rushing up to the side of the hole and stuffing Flashgrass into his pipe. He squinted into the darkness, calling on his Pyroclastic Resonance Rune.”

Something was deep within it. A flicker of dull, yellowed white in a sea of black.

“Brayden!” Noah yelled. “Say something to me! Are you alive?”

A rumble echoed out from deep within the hole. Noah threw himself back as something roared out of the depths toward him. He hit the ground and rolled, barely keeping hold of his pipe as he shot back up to his feet.

An enormous, writhing worm had pierced free of the ground. It was covered with jagged spikes all along its body, and pulsating tendrils of grey matter ran throughout the pale flesh beneath the bone plating covering it. It was easily just as tall as the Root Fiends had been, and maybe even taller if it straightened up.

The monster’s face was made of three segments, each covered with jagged, curved teeth. Letting out a raspy hiss, the monster curled down and snapped out – going right past Noah and aiming for Allen.

The Rank 4 yelped in surprise and blasted the ground before him with ice, forming a thin barrier. Moxie’s vines whipped through the air, grabbing both Allen and Edward. They cried out as she yanked them to safety an instant before the worm demolished Allen’s barrier and plowed through the ground where they’d been standing.

Moxie dumped both unceremoniously on the ground and tossed several seeds onto the dirt. They wormed into it, and three huge vines sprouted an instant later. They wound up around Moxie, each one the width of her entire body and covered with jagged thorns.

“What was that supposed to be, Allen?” Moxie hissed as the worm retracted, coiling back into the air and flaring its mouth in fury.

“I wasn’t ready!” Allen snapped back, pressing his hands together before him. “Where is Brayden?”

“Does it matter?” Lee asked, bouncing from foot to foot and watching the worm with a wary expression. “We should focus on not getting killed.”

Noah still didn’t have nearly enough smoke gathered to effectively do any damage to the enormous monster. He gritted his teeth. Vibration was a possibility, but getting that close would also mean the creature could crush him with a single twitch.

If he were alone, that wouldn’t have been an issue. But, with others here…

The worm thrashed, and Noah dove backward. Spiked bone whistled just past him as the worm used itself like an enormous weedwhacker. As it hurtled toward Moxie, she gritted her teeth and thrust her hands toward it.

Her vines flowered and multiplied, turning into a small wall of incredibly dense foliage. The worm slammed into it with a crash, and the dirt creaked as her vines desperately fought to keep their purchase.

Isabel stomped the ground. A thick wall of stone rose up behind Moxie’s plants, reinforcing them. They started to creak as the worm pushed against them. A streak of fire leapt from Todd’s hands and hit the worm in the face, but it didn’t even seem to notice.

“Allen!” Moxie screamed. “Do something!”

Allen, spurred out of his shock, ran forward and thrust his palm against the worm’s body. Ice washed out from his palm, digging into the monster’s body. It was the exact same move he’d used against the Slashers and the Root Fiend to significant success.

This time, however, the worm lurched and pulled back, rising into the air and forcing Allen to jump back. His ice cracked and fell away, failing to find purchase on the monster’s body. Another ominous hiss rattled out of its chest and it reared back, preparing to strike at them again.

“What do I do?” Lee asked urgently from beside Noah. “I can’t–”

A loud crack split the air. The worm froze. Its body trembled and it abruptly thrashed its head to the side, letting out a screech. All of them took a step back. Isabel stumbled as the ground beneath her cracked.

Noah scrambled to his feet and dove, driving his shoulder into Isabel and taking them both to the ground. Isabel grunted in surprise, but Noah didn’t have time to check on her. He spun, gathering all the smoke he’d prepared – but nothing emerged.

Isabel scrambled back on all fours, then pushed to her feet. She stared at the bulge in the ground warily.

“What’s going on?” Edward asked, his eyes flicking around desperately. “What was that?”

Another spot in the ground bulged. Three more followed after it in rapid succession. The worm suddenly went stiff. It pitched forward. Moxie’s vines thrust upward, slamming into the worm and throwing it to the side so it didn’t land on top of them.

The monster hit the ground with a loud crash. All of them stared at it, breathing heavily as adrenaline coursed through their veins.

“What in the Damned Plains happened?” Moxie asked.

The ground trembled. They all jumped back, readying their magic. A purple line carved across the ground, and Brayden’s large hand shot out it. He grabbed onto the dirt and pulled himself out of the energy, covered in white dust and dripping blue ichor.

Brayden pulled his other hand out, driving his sword into the ground. There were three large, pulsating masses of sickly purple flesh speared on the large blade. Blue liquid trickled from them, splattering to the ground as Brayden clambered free.

“Brayden!” Isabel exclaimed. “I thought you died.”

Brayden let out a bark of laughter. He wiped some of the grime from his face and raised his sword, shaking blobs from his sword and into the purple rift before him. Once they fell through, it closed with a snap.

“I’m not killed that easily. I got caught by surprise, but the fastest way to kill a Paleworm is to stab its hearts. Once I was inside it and realized what happened, I just kept going deeper until I found what I was looking for. Were there any injuries? I was hoping it would be too preoccupied with me to put up any real fight.”

Oh, shit. It wasn’t even trying to attack us specifically. It was just thrashing around and trying to get rid of Brayden. Just how strong is he?

“None,” Noah said, shaking his head in disbelief. He snuffed out his Flashgrass and put his pipe away, not even having gotten a chance to use it.

“Badass,” Todd muttered under his breath.

Brayden wasn’t looking in his direction, but Noah could tell he overheard the comment by the flicker of a smirk that played over his face.

“Allen, make yourself useful and freeze me, would you?” Brayden asked, flicking some of the ichor from his hand with a grimace.

Allen’s brow crinkled with distaste, but he stepped up and sent a wave of ice into Brayden’s body. It washed over the man, covering him in a thin layer of white frost. Brayden shook his head, then violently brushed himself off, peeling the ice away with a satisfying crackle. It took a lot of the dirt and grime with it, leaving him mostly clean again.

“As I said, the Deadlands aren’t a particularly enjoyable trip,” Brayden said with a grimace. “Shall we continue? We’ve still got a lot of ground to cover if we want to get out of here by nightfall.”