Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage-Chapter 152: Established Commander

CH152 Established Commander

***

Alex remained still, locked in place by the residual static electricity crackling around him.

He couldn’t move freely until the Lightning Rod spell fully ran its course and the excess electrical charge safely dissipated into the ground.

That same charge was also the reason his hair stood straight up, crackling softly. He could only pat down the dust clinging to his clothes—kicked up by the earlier burst of spells.

[A.N: He was unintentional Aura farming. *smirk*]

And as he stood there, waiting, he replayed the sequence of events in his mind.

It had all happened in under a minute.

Though lengthy in explanation, the battle’s turning point was swift, precise, and lethal.

Once the Shieldbearers had locked down the Verdant Stalkers, Alex knew the two support species—the Shadowcats and the Lightning Serpents—would launch a coordinated strike against the platoon. So he baited them.

He had intentionally made his spell cast as flashy as possible to draw their attention.

And just as expected, they had focused on him.

He predicted the Lightning Serpents’ electric arcs would reach him before the pouncing Shadowcats, for obvious reasons.

And this was the key. With it, he could turn one threat into a weapon against the others.

The Lightning Serpent only had a limited mana supply to sustain its lightening-based attacks. Alex activated Lightning Rod not just to block the spell, but to drain it.

Because the serpent’s horn was still connected to the arc mid-cast, the spell formed a natural circuit between Alex and the beast.

As the energy flowed into his body, it also siphoned from the Lightning Serpent’s mana core—draining it dry.

It was simple but devastating.

And efficient.

Alex barely spent any of his own mana in the process. Once the circuit was formed, nature took care of the rest. The serpents were emptied, leaving them helpless against the archers who had previously struggled to target them.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

While the serpents were being drained, Alex began the next phase.

With his tempered mana pathways, bloodline enhancements, and the Elemental Affinity Enhancement talent, Alex forcibly redirected the incoming lightning into his own mana pathway, channelling to fuel his next spell without touching his personal mana pool.

And then came the finishing move.

Through OmniRune, Alex cast a Fusion Spell.

Lightning Bolt + Chain Lightning = Chain Bolt.

He didn’t stop there.

He and OmniRune subtly altered the Lightning Bolt’s spell circle, modifying it so that the spell would emit a powerful burst of light the moment it was cast.

Because Alex knew his enemies.

Shadowcats were predators of the dark—masters of stealth and light absorption. But their greatest advantage came with a fatal weakness.

Flash them with sudden, intense light while they’re invisible, and their stealth collapses.

Knowing they were already mid-pounce, Alex detonated his spell—flashing them into stunned visibility.

In that single brilliant moment, the invisible Shadowcats were exposed and frozen.

And the Spearmen didn’t hesitate.

Their weapons struck true—driving through soft underbellies like spears through shadow.

The Lightning Serpents were drained, the Stalkers stunned, and the Shadowcats neutralised—all in one move.

The greatest weakness of the Shadowcats was their trade-off.

In exchange for their characteristic stealth and agility, they sacrificed physical defence entirely.

So when their invisibility failed, the Spearmen had little trouble driving their weapons clean through the soft underbellies of the stunned felines.

At the same time, Alex’s Chain Bolt spell split mid-air and rained down with precision—electrifying each Verdant Stalker. Ironically, the spell was powered by the very Lightning Serpents the Stalkers themselves had brought to the ambush.

The rest was history, as they say.

It might not have looked like Alex had exerted himself nearly as much as the others, but the truth was undeniable—he was the MVP of this battle.

This was the true value of having a mage in a military unit; force multiplication. Especially a versatile one like Alex. Especially in a small unit like theirs.

Only after mentally reviewing the battle did Alex notice the lingering gazes of his platoon.

He waved it off with a command.

"Quit staring. Gather the carcasses and dig out their beast cores. Place the Wardens’ bodies along the perimeter of the camp. It’ll deter other ambushes till morning."

He still couldn’t move much with the static charge clinging to him, but that didn’t stop his mouth from firing off orders.

Fen was the first to notice something was off.

Whine~

The direwolf returned to Alex’s side, shrinking back into his cub form. He gave a soft, worried whine.

"Don’t worry. I’m fine. Just waiting for the spell to finish discharging," Alex replied.

Sure enough, less than thirty seconds later, he felt the lightening mana around him dissipate. Just to confirm, he placed a hand on the Shadowcat’s carcass.

No static flow.

Satisfied, he gave a faint nod. A runic shimmer of light pulsed beneath his palm, and the beast’s corpse vanished into the ’void’.

He moved to an intact Lightning Serpent and did the same.

None of the platoon members paid much attention. They were focused on clearing the battlefield and setting up camp.

Just then, Udara’s voice echoed telepathically through their bond.

"Master, I have killed the beasts that tried to flee."

"Well done," Alex replied.

"One more thing. There are direwolves roughly two hundred metres north of your position. But... they’re not approaching the camp. They’ve been hesitating for a while."

Alex blinked. "Is it because of the Warden corpses?"

"No. Their Alpha seemed reluctant to approach even before you killed the Forest Wardens."

He frowned, brow furrowed.

"You’re sure?"

"I am."

That made him pause.

Then... a spark of realisation flashed in his eyes.

"Can you capture the Alpha safely?"

"Hold on."

Alex felt her aura drift further into the forest. She was moving to assess the pack.

A moment passed.

"I can," came her calm reply.

"Then do it," Alex instructed. "Drop it near the camp—quietly. I’ll take care of the rest."

"Understood, Master."

***