The Runesmith

Chapter 534: Going For It.

A screech erupted from the top of the dark temple. A massive monster, composed of writhing dark energy, convulsed in agony at the sight of light. Standing before it was Roland, his hammer glistening with holy radiance. Beside him, Agni stood proudly, snorting in amusement at the thrashing creature.

“It would be hard for a regular adventurer to face this thing.”

Roland remarked, his gaze fixed on the monstrous shade. This abomination had three sets of shadowy talons for arms and a head that was nothing but jagged teeth. Now, he stood at the top of the temple, having scaled it with impressive speed as his runic magic aided him in dispatching the shadowy monsters lurking within. The dark magic saturating this place was highly vulnerable to light and holy radiance, making it nearly impossible for anyone to claim this area without the aid of a high-level priest. However, for Roland, who could emulate various elemental energies, it posed no such challenge.

Roland adjusted his grip on the hammer, his armor radiating an aura of golden serenity that contrasted starkly with the chaos surrounding him. The monstrous shade reared back, its formless body recoiling in response to the intense light emanating from his runes. Its unearthly screech echoed across the darkened temple, shaking loose chunks of obsidian from the temple walls.

"Agni, flank it and keep your range, even if it's weakened it still is dangerous."

Agni obeyed instantly, darting around the creature in a fiery blur. The wolf's flames intensified as he opened his muzzle to produce a breathing attack consisting of holy flames. The holy flames seared through the darkness, forcing the monstrous shade back as it let out another deafening screech. Roland seized the moment, surging forward with his hammer glowing brighter than ever. Each step echoed like a thunderclap across the temple’s summit, as his body was surrounded by radiant energy and surged through it.

The monstrous shade, now cornered, unleashed a volley of dark projectiles. They streaked toward Roland with terrifying speed, leaving trails of shadow in their wake. Yet, he didn’t falter. Instead, he continued charging forward, his radiant mana mantle repelling the shadowy attacks with ease. The monster's projectiles were powerless against the barrier of light.

Roland was done holding back his mana, and the overwhelming difference in power had become evident. Earlier, he had struggled against the fish-like mini-boss and even the wind eagle, but this, the strongest of them all, couldn’t lay a scratch on him once he fully activated his runes. The sheer power he could wield was staggering.

The shade’s fate was sealed when Roland’s hammer met its shadowy form. The impact created a massive explosion of light, so blinding and powerful that it seemed as though a Solarian Paladin himself had struck the final blow.

When the blinding radiance subsided, Roland stood amidst the crumbling remains of the monstrous shade. Its form disintegrated into wisps of shadow, leaving behind a single artifact - a jagged obsidian shard that pulsed faintly with dark energy. Roland picked it up, feeling a peculiar weight in the shard, as though it held a fragment of the shade's essence.

"Dark Core Fragment."

He muttered, reading the name that appeared on his system window after using his high-analyze skill.

"This might be useful... or dangerous, should I try some curse magic or not…"

He secured the fragment within his spatial rune, his mind wandering to the possibilities of expanding his mastery of magic. Necrotic energies were already within his repertoire, so delving into occult magic and dark rituals was a plausible path. However, such practices were considered even more malevolent than necromancy. They often demanded live human sacrifices or could be substituted by liters of blood and other vile acts. Worse still, these rituals sometimes carried a psychological toll, warping the caster’s mind and making them increasingly cruel.

“Still, perhaps I could implement some dark debuffing runes. Those should be safe - at least to some extent.”

While he could use buffing runes to make himself stronger he would gain even more of an advantage if he could reduce his enemy's stats. Even if they would just decrease byt five or ten percent, that could be enough to achieve victory. Even the most trained fighter would probably have a hard time adjusting to a decrease in their agility, giving him a small window to retaliate.

“Let’s see…”

“It seems that I’ll need more than two hundred stat points to upgrade those traits…”

Roland looked at his status screen and noticed that he had two stats over four hundred. Previously when he reached two hundred in each stat, he was given a trait like Swiftness or Dexterous. Now on the other hand he wasn’t given anything further, these traits had numbers to them so he probably needed to gain more to get them, probably either five hundred points or more.

“No new skills for now, perhaps when I get to two hundred I’ll get something good, well then… Let’s get that elemental block out of here and see what’s behind that door Agni.”

“Woof!”

After securing the ominous dark elemental block, the pair began their descent from the temple. The oppressive darkness that had permeated the structure dissipated almost instantly once Roland stored the artifact in his inventory. Initially, he considered using his glider to fly toward the final area of this level, but an issue presented itself - a large wolf issue. Agni’s considerable weight would make holding him steady during flight a real challenge.

‘Hm… maybe I should design some sort of harness to carry him around…’

Agni tilted his head to the side, his expression curious, as Roland’s mind conjured a mental image of a stranded orca being carried by a helicopter or hoisted by a crane. The absurdity of the thought made him chuckle, though he was certain his wolven companion wouldn’t appreciate such an undignified ride.

Ultimately, Roland decided against flying and chose instead to retrace their steps through the area they had already explored. With the boss defeated, the temple’s traps had been deactivated, making the journey back uneventful and far less dangerous. What remained was to approach the large gate-like door and discover what lay beyond it.@@novelbin@@

Soon, the pair arrived at the area, which was eerily devoid of any monsters. Before them stood the double doors, adorned with skull motifs - designs they had seen earlier in the surroundings. However, these doors were different. They were encased in obsidian, a dark, smooth, and incredibly durable stone. The runes etched into the doors pulsed with a faint red glow, enhancing the eerie atmosphere.

"Alright, Agni, this is it."

They were now before the runic doors and he decided to take out the five blocks from his spatial space. Once they were out in the open, they regained their properties and started glowing from the excess mana radiation. There was a slight difference now as each of the five elemental blocks began to flicker as if they were resonating with this door.

“This seems easy enough…”

At the base, there were slots into which he could insert the blocks. He had previously scanned the area using his golems and once more with his own armor and abilities. At first glance, it appeared to be a simple puzzle: just insert the blocks in the same order he had cleared the temples, and that would solve it. However, there was more to this than met the eye.

“I suppose any regular person would try to place them in the same order - or reverse it and then they’d probably die…”

For someone with extensive knowledge of mana patterns, this puzzle wasn’t overly difficult. The blocks, positioned before the gate, emitted a faint hum. To the untrained eye, it might not seem like much, but to someone with mana-sensing skills, there was more beneath the surface. One of the blocks, the one representing darkness, was resonating first.

He also sensed that beneath him lay a large runic formation. Though it was hidden and buried under the rocky ground, he could faintly feel the magical energy pulsing beneath his feet. He deduced that placing the blocks incorrectly would likely trigger the trap, incinerating anyone nearby.

To ensure safety, he instructed Agni to retreat. He followed suit, distancing himself from the immediate area. Using his Mage Hand spell, he carefully inserted the blocks in the correct order, beginning with the one representing darkness. Once it was inserted, the runes started shifting, changing pattern and color to represent the color of the elemental block, which was black.

“Interesting, I suppose it starts with darkness… and then will fire represent the sun?”

The next element that needed to be placed represented fire. He used his spell once again, carefully guiding the block into its slot. As it clicked into place, a fiery red light surged through the runes, illuminating the obsidian door with intricate patterns that danced like flames. The resonance continued to build, each element layering over the last, creating a cascading interplay of energy.

“Fire next… is the earth element after that? Perhaps it represents the planet we live on?”

Roland muttered, his gaze shifting to the brownish block. After confirming the resonating mana, he inserted it into another slot. The fiery glow of the previous block dimmed, transforming into an earthy brown. Next, he added the block representing water, its azure hue perhaps symbolizing the origin of all life. Finally, he placed the wind block. As it slid into its slot, the azure glow of the water block shifted to a vibrant green.

It was done. With all five blocks in place, the door began to react. The obsidian doors trembled as the runes etched upon them flared to life, pulsating in sync with the elemental blocks. The whole area resonated, building in intensity as the mana energy cascaded through the intricate web of runes. The blocks emitted an otherworldly glow, the colors of the elements blending into a swirling aurora that danced along the stone surface.

“Oh? They are burning out?”

As the door began to open, Roland’s attention shifted to the slots where he had placed the blocks. They were sizzling, shrinking as though the door was siphoning their energy to power its mechanism. It was clear this dungeon wasn’t designed for convenience. Gaining access to this room would likely require adventurers to repeatedly clear all five temples to obtain new blocks for each attempt.

“I can already see the adventurers fighting over these blocks…”

Adventurers often formed parties, but that didn’t mean they truly cooperated with others. Roland could easily imagine groups clearing out temples and hoarding the blocks for themselves. They might even resort to blackmail, demanding payment from those who wanted to progress further.

While these blocks couldn’t be used outside the dungeon, they could be concealed in spatial artifacts, hidden away, or even carried to higher levels. Whether the blocks would eventually regenerate remained unclear. Given the potential for conflict, Roland concluded it would be better if his people monopolized this area. Controlling access would reduce friction among platinum adventurers and prevent unnecessary disputes.

“Doesn’t hurt that the resources are worth it…”

The blocks had vanished and the door started to creak open. He noticed that the mana that had been within the area was starting to seep away toward the five towers he had cleared. He concluded that soon they would start to regenerate themselves to produce more monsters and that perhaps he could hasten the process by quickly clearing them with the power of turrets and support golems.

“Here we go, stay close to me Agni, we don’t know what’s through there.”

Agni barked softly, his fiery mane flaring in anticipation. With a deafening groan, the massive doors began to part. Streams of dark mist seeped from the widening gap, and an oppressive wave of energy washed over them. The air grew colder, denser, and every instinct in Roland’s body screamed caution. Whatever lay beyond was no ordinary challenge.

“It’s hard to see, better to be safe than sorry later.”

As the doors fully opened, they revealed a vast, cavernous space shrouded in dim light. From his current position, it was difficult to make out any details due to the thick fog that obscured most of the view. Fortunately, Roland had methods of detecting potential dangers. One of his floating golems arrived, and he sent it inside first to scout for traps and signs of lurking monsters.

It was possible that whatever lay within the cavern could exceed his capabilities, and once inside, leaving might become difficult. He had already examined the exterior of the structure and found no alternative entry points - besides perhaps drilling through the hardened rock. If monsters of many levels above him lurked there then he would have to postpone his journey further, his life was still more important and he had already secured resources to help him progress further.

The golem’s magical sensors flared to life as it glided into the cavern, its glowing eye scanning the space and transmitting a real-time feed to Roland’s visor. Through the golem’s perspective, he began to uncover the concealed grandeur of the chamber.

The first thing Roland noticed was the sheer size of the room. It was enormous, easily the size of several football fields. The ceiling stretched so high that it disappeared into the shadows. The floor was a flawless obsidian, polished to a mirror-like shine that reflected the glow of the golem’s runes.

‘This obsidian ore, I wonder if we could mine it too…’

This dungeon was quite sturdy and if he was going to create a safe region here with a teleportation gate, then he wanted to farm it for all it was worth. The dungeon would regenerate itself eventually and these walls seemed to be able to easily resist tier 3 might. However, there were other things that required his attention as the golem continued to floar forward without being attacked by anything.

Rows upon rows of human-shaped statues lined the walls, their numbers easily in the hundreds. Each statue was unique, depicting warriors, mages, and creatures frozen in lifelike poses. Their craftsmanship was unparalleled; every detail, from the folds in their garments to the expressions on their faces, had been rendered with eerie precision. They were unnervingly lifelike, as if at any moment, they might step forward and attack.

Soon Roland adjusted the golem’s angle to focus on the statue’s eyes, which seemed to follow the golem’s movements. It was clear that these weren’t just normal rock carvings but probably monsters or golems waiting for unsuspecting adventurers to step forward.

“Creepy... and the numbers are problematic.”

He muttered and was sure that if he stepped forward, he would be ambushed. As the golem ventured further, Roland’s unease grew. At the far end of the chamber stood a colossal throne, carved directly from the black stone. Sitting upon it was a massive statue, far larger than the others. It was humanoid, but its proportions were unnatural - towering, broad-shouldered, and impossibly imposing. This figure wore a crown adorned with jagged spikes, and its hands rested on the armrests of the throne, clawed fingers curled as though ready to grip an unseen weapon.

Unlike the other statues, this one radiated power, marking it as likely the main foe he would face if he stepped forward. The doors that had previously opened were starting to creak shut again; they were closing, and he had to make a decision. He could either step forward and face the danger inside or take a more strategic approach by leaving his golemic creation inside to perform more scans.

“There doesn’t seem to be any other pathway leading out of that chamber…”

He glanced at the readings his golem was transmitting, then looked back at Agni. His wolf perked up its ears, as if trying to signal that he wanted to go inside. For a moment, he deliberated. Eventually, Roland nodded and stepped forward. It was time to uncover the other secrets hidden within this strange dungeon.