The Runic Alchemist

[Titan's battleground, unknown planet, Einar POV.]

Einar, supported by Evrin's spells, cleaved through an armored knight and was now just a few meters away from the fighting Kamisen and his group. She could clearly see Kishi among them, trying hard to fend off the attackers that came their way. No one was directly targeting them, but the assailants didn't care if they were caught in the crossfire either.

Before she could take another step in her way, a voice resounded in her mind. The next instant, an extremely fast red wave of energy swept through them all. Everything was gone. She could neither see nor hear anything. Did she die? The emptiness stretched on for what felt like an eternity before even the last embers of her consciousness flickered out into never-ending darkness.

As if drowning and struggling for air, she jolted awake, gasping for breath and clinging to the fragile threads of her awareness. Her chest heaved. It was too bright—blindingly so—and unbearably hot. Boiling hot. She struggled to open her eyes but instinctively reached for the cooling potion-filled container Damian had given her in her spatial storage. With closed eyes, she took a few sips, the chilled liquid soothing the burning sensation inside her throat. Giving her the crystal that she powered to cool herself down.

After a while, her eyes adjusted, and when she finally took in her surroundings, her jaw dropped to the floor. Crimson lava flowed all around—rivers of molten fire winding through the landscape. But she stood high above it, atop something metallic and golden in color. Before doing anything, Einar quickly searched for Evrin. Fortunately, the princess was nearby, lying several meters away. Not only her—Kishi, Kamisen's entire group, and even the knights they had been fighting were sprawled across the strange metallic surface.

Einar hurried to Evrin's side, shaking her awake. The girl groaned, and Einar pressed the cooling potion to her lips, giving her a few sips. Slowly, Evrin's eyes fluttered open, and with her help, she sat up. Together, they began waking the other students in Kamisen's group. The knights, however—they didn't care about them.

Still, they stripped every last knight of their weapons, spatial storages, and runic-enchanted tools. Evrin's vines spell bound them together—again and again—until Einar was certain even she wouldn't be able to break the bindings. Just to be sure, they found an iron chain in one of the spatial storages and wrapped it tightly over the vines. Even the combined strength of the knights wouldn't break through it—unless one of them was an esper. But the chances of that were close to nonexistent.

By the time everyone was awake, the searing heat had begun to wear them down. Even Einar, the second ranker, felt suffocated without the cooling potion. The others had to be faring far worse. The metal floor beneath them was blisteringly hot, made worse by the sunlight and the molten river below.

Evrin and Einar exchanged glances. After a moment, the princess of Eldoris nodded. Einar acknowledged her silent request and walked to each student, offering a few sips of her cooling potion. When she reached Kishi, the girl's eyes were filled with shame and complicated emotions. Einar had not forgiven her—but for now, she set her feelings aside. In this place, they were all bound by the same fate.

"What even is this place?" Kamisen muttered, his thick black fur soaked with sweat. His situation was the worst of all.

"River of lava.. magma and soot mountains," Evrin whispered. "But.. what is this thing we're standing on?"

They walked toward the edge of the circular golden platform—approximately twenty to thirty meters in diameter. Einar already had a suspicion of what it was, but she needed to confirm it. Peering down, her breath caught in her throat.

It was the massive sword made of unknown metal they had been fighting near before everything went dark. The lava river flowed around its buried length, the molten heat leaving no mark on its surface. What was once half-buried in the desert was now two-thirds exposed, towering above the fiery expanse. Surrounding the river, jagged stone mountains loomed high, their bases glowing with molten magma and covered in soot. Hundreds of magma monsters roamed the vast expanse, with the distant silhouettes of giant magma golems slowly lumbering along—the same dungeon boss type monsters Damian had shattered to pieces before. Yet even they were dwarfed by the sheer scale of the buried sword.

"How the hell did the land change that much so suddenly?" one of Kamisen's 6 followers asked. He was tall and lanky, with an angular face.

"That red thing turned the desert into this?" Kishi asked, confused. Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire

"No.. it's a different place," Evrin said quietly. "The sword buried in the desert was only half visible. This one.. two-thirds of it is above ground. I can't say if it's the same one or not."

Einar nodded grimly. Going down was possible with some method—but surviving the lava river and the scorching heat below? Even with cooling potions, they wouldn't last long. Without them.. they would die within hours.

"Mmmhhmm…" "Mmmhhmm…"

The muffled voices of the bound knights reminded them that they weren't alone.

"What do we do with them?" Kamisen asked.

"I have no idea," Einar replied coldly. Her eyes sharp, "But the only acceptable options to me are either to push them down.. or ignore them."

"Not all of them were attackers," Evrin reminded her softly.

Einar glanced at the princess's pretty face and answered firmly, "We don't have the luxury of helping others. Our survival has to be the top priority."

Evrin looked unsure, but after a moment, she nodded. Einar understood her hesitation. Killing enemies was one thing, but the goddess Astraea never forgave those who took innocent lives if they could be saved. The Eldorian House clung tightly to those teachings—she was most likely told it was an unbreakable rule. But Einar knew better. Faith was a pretty thing to preach to children, but when life was on the line.. people killed whomever they wanted, regardless of morals or reasons. So did many of the Elvish queens in history.

Night fell, and they ate whatever food they had in their spatial storages. Food wasn't the problem—water they could make—but cooling potions.. they had only what Einar and Evrin carried. They couldn't make more. How long could they survive like this? Watching the second ranker knights groaning in the heat, begging for mercy, a gnawing fear had crept into Einar's heart.

What if they had to survive here for months before Damian reached them?

But she was thinking too far ahead then. Months were a lot. They didn't even survive a week.

No monster could reach them this high but when had a group of humans ever needed a monster when they themselves were the biggest source of performing unforgivable monstrous deeds..?