Power of Runes

Watching the Hollows march towards him, Ray sucked in a cold breath, letting the icy air calm his wildly beating heart before he moved.

I need to narrow their approach.....

The crowd was too large for him to hold off from all sides. Ray knew he could not contain such a wide area for long, so he had to somehow force the dwarfs into coming at him from a more limited direction.

He quickly moved to the right side, his free hand surging with an orange glow. At the same time, he channeled part of his stored energy into his Indomitable Mantle skill to increase the power behind his swing. His left hand covered in Aura Blade carved through the air in a heavy, sweeping arc, carrying a devastating blend of orange and whitish light.

-BOOM!!!

The strike hit with enough force to shake the ground. Dust and debris flew upward in a violent spray, mixing with the already thick haze hanging over the battlefield until it felt like dust was raining from the sky itself, cloaking the right side in a suffocating cloud.

Even though the dust blocked vision, Ray could sense the result of his attack with ease. Before reaching Master Rank, back when he was only an Expert Rank, he could only perceive his surroundings within a few dozen meters. Now, after breaking through, his senses had expanded to reach nearly one full kilometer, making it feel as if the ground and air themselves whispered their every movement to him.

For most, the ability to sense one's surroundings only manifested at Expert Rank, but Ash was an exception, so he was already capable of it earlier whenever he activated Omni Thought or Lightning Reflex, both of which sharpened his perception to an unnatural degree.

Through those heightened senses, Ray measured the destruction he had caused — a crater nearly twenty meters deep and at least seven meters wide.

It's enough....

Deciding this gap was sufficient to keep the dwarfs from flanking him, Ray turned to the left and repeated the same maneuver. Another deep crater formed, the air again filling with dust until both flanks were concealed behind thick clouds.

The cost had been steep, draining both his mana and the energy stored in his skill, though the latter had been used far more heavily.

By then, the march of the Hollows was already closing in on him. There was no time to seal the front, not that he had been planning to. His skill required taking blows to store energy, and he doubted the scattered ranged attacks from mundane dwarfs would provide much in return.

What he truly hoped for were their heavier weapons — ballista bolts, siege projectiles, or anything large enough to feed his reserves in one strike.

In truth, a part of him was almost eager for those attacks. Still, he wanted to keep the number of enemies pressing him at once within a range he could handle. If he blocked the front too, there was no telling how many war missiles might be sent at him all at once, making it difficult to manage the chaos.

So he left the front open. Now he would have to fight while keeping several things in mind — repelling the mundane dwarfs without killing them, staying alert for any unusual attacks hidden within the crowd, and tracking every long-ranged strike aimed his way.

At the very least, with the flanks open in the front and him being engaging in close combat, the dwarfs would now have to think twice before firing recklessly into their own people. They might restrain their attacks for fear of friendly casualties...

...or so he hoped.

As soon as the distance between the hordes of who knows how many Mundane dwarfs reached about twenty meters from Ray, he stepped forward. An earthen aura surged out from his body, flowing into his right leg, and with a devastating force he slammed it into the ground.

-BOOM!!

Fissures spread outward from the point of impact, the ground cracking apart under the pressure. Dust exploded into the air in thick waves, while shards of stone and chunks of rock shot in every direction, veiling his figure within a haze of swirling debris.

The balance of the crowd faltered for a moment, some dwarfs stumbling while others fell completely, their formation breaking apart. The fallen ones caused more to trip, creating a brief domino effect.

However, after several collapsed, the rest learned to avoid that position, moving around their fallen kin to keep advancing.

At the same time, vanishing completely from the sights of the Hollow-controlled dwarfs, Ray reappeared in front of them using flicker step, his wooden sword slicing in a precise horizontal arc.

-Swish!!

A sharp, sickening crack of bone rang out, followed by the sight of a dwarf's belly deforming from the sheer force of the blow. The impact hurled the target backwards, smashing into several others and toppling them, clearing a large space in front of him.

..Uh!! I... used too much strength, I think, I need to lessen the force even more..

Another dwarf lunged straight at him, but his body passed through Ray's form as if Ray was nothing more than a flickering illusion. Appearing behind another target, he struck with swift, fluid precision at the neck, knees, and joints, each blow designed to unbalance and topple them without inflicting fatal wounds.

His body flickered from one position to another, instantly halting the momentum of the advancing horde. Dwarfs dropped one after another, some tripping over those already downed, while others were forced to the ground by the calculated strikes of his sword.

His figure moved like an elegant master performing a deadly dance, each swing flowing into the next. The blade landed precisely on joints before sliding into a follow-up strike at the neck, or sometimes going straight for the neck from the start, all aimed to make them fall.

But that... was a mistake.

In the first place, the dwarfs were not conscious. They were puppets, their minds chained and their bodies moved by another's will. How could they possibly lose consciousness?

The ones who had fallen began to rise again, some dragging a limp leg, others standing as if they had never been struck at all.

...They are not getting unconscious...

His thoughts remained calm. There was no room for questions about why or how. Those could be answered later. Right now, his mind was focused on only one thing — stopping them.

Just like when he practiced his sword forms and his mind emptied of everything except the sword, the same focus now took hold. The noise of battle faded away in his thoughts, replaced only by the rhythm of his steps and strikes.

An ocean-blue aura surged from his legs, flowing into the ground beneath the charging dwarfs. The earth softened under their feet without warning, their footing slipping away and their balance faltering. That single moment was enough for him to move in and strike at their legs.

... Sorry, this might hurt..... but I will get everyone a healer when all this is over...

With that thought, the hesitation in his strikes vanished. The sound of bones breaking echoed again, and though the pain he caused was real, it was the lesser harm. He was protecting their lives, even if they could not understand it now. In time, they would thank him for breaking their legs instead of their hands.

For dwarfs, their hands were treasures beyond price — the hands that shaped metal, carved stone, and crafted wonders that could last lifetimes.

Thus, a strange scene was unfolding in the underground city of the Dwarfs. Hordes of them, of all kinds of ages, were flocking toward a narrow space that had large craters on both its sides, signs of the battle that had been raging here.

In the midst of it all, a figure cloaked in black clothes, with golden eyes glowing faintly in the dim light, was moving like a phantom, flickering from one spot to another. Afterimages of his wooden sword flashed with each step, each swing striking with such precision that the dwarfs he passed crumpled to the ground, their legs broken before they even understood what had happened.

The fallen began to pile together, forming an unintentional barrier, a natural dam that blocked the way and caused many of the mindless Hollows to stumble and fall. But soon enough, even that obstacle was trampled over as the rest stepped on the fallen without hesitation, ignoring the crushed limbs beneath their feet, their vacant eyes showing no sign of recognition or mercy.

Ray saw this, and the heart that had been beating wildly in his chest like a beast desperate to break free suddenly turned cold. That sight… the sheer ruthlessness in it… it was enough to send a chill down his spine.

He pushed himself faster, his movements growing sharper and more relentless, until from the eyes of a mundane human his speed was simply impossible to follow. The rate at which the dwarfs were being taken down only increased, the rhythm of his strikes turning into a constant flow of motion.

He neither received any of their attacks nor tried to absorb them, for they were far too slow to even reach him in the first place, and so avoiding them was effortless. At this point, he was simply waiting… waiting for any ranged attack or sudden ambush that would allow him to increase the stored energy percentage of his skill.

But so far, until now, nothing had happened.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, his senses suddenly flared. He caught the faint but sharp sound of something cutting through the air toward him at a speed that would have been invisible to most eyes. A faint smile formed in his mind, though his expression remained hidden beneath the hood.

Ahh!! I was waiting for that!!!!!!!

***