The Runic Alchemist

"KID, HERE !!"

"Huh..?"

Damian looked up from the wooden deck floor below his feet, the princess was also caught off guard and looked besides her from where the voice originated. Between Damian and princess there was still few meters of distance, however somehow in all the chaos the person that was supposed to be behind Damian was now standing just a few steps away in one side of the princess.

And that wasn\'t all, Anthony had his hands up, two runic scrolls spread down pointing at the princess\'s back.

The princess was confused at the weird situation, trying to make sense of the weird drawings but Damian.. Damian could not even understand the feeling that rejuvenated his body at the sight of two of his runic scrolls ready to be activated.

They were not anything big and crazy, these were the runic scrolls Damian had given Anthony with the big wormhole scroll at the headquarters as a mistake in a hurry.

These two were supposed to be an extra with the big mana drain runic circle he had copied from the princess, Damian had made these two to have a protection or a solution against the mana drain spell if it ever went wild.

One was the plain invisible box spell for average men\'s height and the second one.. Now that could really help out Damian here. After thinking long and hard about what possibly he could do if he was trapped under his own mana pulling spell, Damian had finally come with one possible simple solution. Get out of the range of spell as soon as possible, simple.

And to achieve fast movement Damian had created a modified stone bullet but instead of five small kunai shaped stone structure Damian just used one and changed it\'s shape to a meter long pole, and gave all extra mana in increasing the speed as much as possible. It was a fast shooting pole spell that Damian could get a hold on and get dragged away.

Very crude and incredibly painful no doubt, but effective in getting one\'s ass out of trouble in a fast speed, Damian had tried it so he knew.

The princess not understanding what was going on just looked at the papers, but after a second getting a bad feeling about it, she pushed one of her hovering giant water blade towards Anthony at full force, gratefully Damian had managed to activate the invisible box spell that formed in front of Anthony and protected him from the water blade, however as a result of powerful blow the invisible box was cracked all over from the sound of it.

And it finally broke right after, when the meter long pole made of dirt came out of a brownish yellow runic circle and went through two layers of box in a tremendously fast speed.

The princess seeing the thing coming towards her protected herself with two giant water blades, but just at that moment came two pitch black sword slashes and broke past the half solid water structures clearing a way for the dirt pole to hit the beautiful princess right in the forehead with a tremendous momentum.

Damian wasn\'t sure if she would get brain damage from this hit or not, but then again she was already crazy enough. He was just glad that it somehow worked and she was knocked down, unconscious on the wooden floor.

Finally in relief, Damian fell down on the dock breathing heavily. Anthony slowly walked besides him and sat down checking up on him.

"You are bleeding..."

"I know..."

The princess did not land any serious blows on him but he was still bleeding from tens of little cuts she had landed on him to prove how overly skilled she was.

"Did she call for help...?"

"No, she wouldn\'t.. I think.. She is too proud for that.."

"So... We did it..?"

"I think so..."

"Thank goodness... Come on.. let me carry you... We should get to the ship.. even if no one comes looking..."

Anthony picked up Damian and started walking towards the ship.

"No... To her.."

"Uhm.. Okay.."

Anthony placed Damian next to the unconscious princess. Damian raised his right hand tiredly and drew one last runic circle with last of his mana. It was a defense wall spell but a modified version.

"Get her up and hold her from the shoulders.."

Anthony followed as he instructed. And Damian made a thick dirt structure around the unconscious standing body of the princess. Completely trapping her in, Her head was free though to breath comfortably. She won\'t be able to remove her emblem or button whatever it was, that was sealing her mana, so no calling the goddamn sea for rescue.

Hopefully they would be gone before she wakes up, but this was just in case she would wake up before that.

With the last bit of mana out of Damian\'s body, he immediately lost his focus, his head hurting like hell, bleeding from his nose Damian started to fall on the wooden deck but Anthony being beside him, caught him and carried him to the ship in which they had their cabin booked.

*****

Anthony could not believe the things that happened past few hours. Entering the reserved cabin Anthony placed both boys to sleep side by side on one bed that was in the room. For the whole night he thought that in the attempt of saving one child from his ill fate he would lose this another innocent one too. He was scared out of his wits thinking about what would happen to him.

But the boy was no ordinary boy at all. Anthony had seen many powerful knights and other pathfinders in his life but no one could match the boy in courage and power, he had to admit. The spells the boy used were completely new and weird, and the paper scroll thing..

Anthony had of course seen these runic scrolls in the various shops but the size this kid made were just mind-blowing, not to mention the weirdest effects these spells had. Only few common basic spells and intermediate spells were available in the shops for people to use. Nothing to the level of crazy that the kid had shown.

Anthony still didn\'t know what kind of pathfinder the boy was.. a Mage, Spellsword or something completely else. However he knew one thing perfectly well, he had saved them. There was nothing he could do for the kid that would pay for this favor he had done, Anthony knew that. If anyone was worthy to gain power and challenge the dungeon he knew of, then this boy here was the only one.

Sitting down on one side of the room his back to the wall, looking at the peaceful faces of the two kids breathing while sleeping, Anthony smiled.

"We made it... We f*cking made it..."

Anthony did not know when his weary eyes closed on their own and he fell asleep but seeing the face of a person trying his best to wake him up, Anthony just could not hold his emotions any longer and hugged the kid tightly with all the love he had for the boy. That being too drunk all his life he had failed to show before.

"What the hell old man..? I am like a twig here.. Do you wanna kill me..?" Sam said trying his best to get out of the crushing hug.