The Runic Alchemist

Sulthar finally had an answer as to what might have happened to his earlier attack. Sending another shockwave of burning wind and raw force by flapping his wings, Sulthar started rising up, going higher and higher into the air.

Suddenly, Damian felt a weird wave of mana spreading in a circle along with the shockwave, this one originating from the giant shrine. It did no damage and was barely even noticeable — if Damian's mana sense wasn't as sensitive as it was, he wouldn't have even sensed it. That was weird, but since it did no damage, Damian ignored it and focused back on Sulthar.

For a second, Damian thought the guy was coming straight at him. Storing back the thin sword, Damian stood ready with the bigger sword pointed forward, held with two hands. But the Dragon King did not change his trajectory and just kept rising higher and higher — something was up. Damian made another wormhole and waygate spell, adding a thick wall of air shield for extra defense.

Not letting the dragon do whatever it was he was planning, Damian launched his already held spells. The sky darkened ominously and massive bolts of purple lightning slithered across the dark expanse, striking all around the massive red and black dragon. But Sulthar had once again created the same dark red coating of aura or mana — whatever it was — the lightning was hitting it but doing no real damage. The aura thing was taking chunks of mana from the Dragon King though.

Hundreds of mini suns also launched in Sulthar's direction, locked onto his mana, but before they could reach the dragon, Sulthar launched another beam of hellfire. Making them explode before they reached near him.

Then suddenly, reaching some 2-3 kilometers of height, Sulthar stopped moving his wings and fell straight down, nose-diving, the two wings cutting the air like sharp-edged swords. The beam of hellfire also changed direction as it was directed straight at Damian's steel golem head.

Damian immediately pushed the 50-meter-thick shield upwards, the impact burying his steel feet deeper into the magma land. Damian wanted to use the wormhole, but he needed a few seconds to place the exit point — the beam was ridiculously fast and arrived in a fraction of a second, the descending massive figure of the Dragon King only helping to make it even faster.

High above, Sulthar's enormous form began to glow, its body sheathed in a swirling vortex of molten flame and blazing mana. Friction and heat turned the sky into a storm of falling embers, a ring of burning clouds spiraling around the descending titan.

The closer it came, the louder the deafening roar of compressed air and crackling magic, until Sulthar's entire body resembled a meteor of pure destruction — a fusion of fire, rock, and raw power. The descent alone was lethal, dealing continuous burn damage and area-wide knockback pulses called every two seconds as the ground tried to hold itself together beneath the approaching titan.

It wasn't just falling — it was breaking the world open on the way down.

It was a horrifying scene to look upon, with lightning crackling behind the enormous dragon in a dark sky. But in total contrast to the dire situation, Damian smiled. Speed he could use. Instantly, he pushed the two extra waygate runic circles he was holding high up in the path of the crashing dragon. It was kind of stupid for the guy to use such an attack after seeing his wormholes and waygates.

However, the smile died on Damian's face when he brought the waygate runic circle up and activated it — just to fail. Maybe the red Demon had died at last, so Damian opened it to another random monster in a barren land away from civilization. And that one too failed. Damian's eyes widened and he quickly powered his sacrium bracer that had the same waygate spell. The dragon was coming closer and closer — he did not have enough time to make another. Just in case, Damian placed the giant wormhole spell directly under his golem's feet, keeping the opening 500 meters straight high.

The waygate was targeting Toph, and.. it failed.

Damian knew for a fact that Toph was alive — he himself wouldn't be if Toph wasn't. That strange wave of energy coming from the shrine earlier! Somehow it had rendered his waygate spell useless. Sulthar was under 800 meters now. Damian pushed all thoughts out of his mind and held the long sword firmly with two steel hands.

The wind and energy coming from the fusion of fire, rock, and raw power was burying the metal golem straight down into the land little by little. Damian was being cooked inside the golem. The searing heat was suffocating, hurting even his hellforged Demon skin. His focus did not break even for a second though as he calculated the distance.

750.. 700.. 600.. 500..

The second the abominable dragon crossed 500 meters from the top of his steel head, Damian activated the readjusted massive wormhole under his feet. Along with a piece of magma land, Damian instantly fell into the dark wormhole and came out on the back of Sulthar, still falling. Instantly canceling the spell, Damian screamed at the top of his lungs and pushed the long sword down with his two giant steel hands, activating the runic inscriptions on the weapon at full power.

Sulthar tried to shield his back, sensing the wormhole spell after its activation, but it was too late. The Dragon must have thought Damian could not use two portal spells one after another in such a small time — and paid the price for it.

The enormous metal sword went through Sulthar's back, breaking the red aura coating, and came out of his chest — and that was before Damian's 800-million-ton heavy steel golem landed on its back, feet first. Sending the massive Dragon deep into the ground, creating a giant crater, shattering the land around them in spiderwebs.

Damian did not stop at all and activated another pre-made runic circle. Thousands and thousands of black and green, tree trunk-thick vines rose out of the magma land and started enveloping the whole struggling body of Sulthar, fully from head to tail.