Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 82: Smoking kills

Purple energy spilled from Brayden’s hands, covering the ground before them and solidifying into a dull, crystalline structure. It stretched out across the ground, quickly covering the surrounding red grass all around them.

“This’ll keep the roots from breaking through beneath us,” Brayden said. “Watch out for roots that come over the sides and don’t step off unless you don’t value your life.”

A sudden series of loud cracks beneath their feet proved Brayden’s words. Noah could just barely make out several roots bunch and splatter against the Shield beneath their feet, failing to break through it.

The more I see Brayden use that Shield, the more I realize I should get my hands on one as soon as I can. They’re clearly more than just basic defensive tools.

“I’ll slow its feet,” Allen said, frost gathering around his feet as he ran beside Moxie. “Moxie, focus on restricting its movements. You should be able to control it to some degree, right?”

“I can try,” Moxie replied. “It’s still a monster, not a plant. But I can probably bind it up.”

“Then do it,” Allen said. “Brayden, can you handle finishing it off, or should I?”

“I’ll focus on keeping us alive,” Brayden replied. “If things are looking bad, then I’ll step in – but our defenses go down the moment I stop concentrating on them.”

The Root Fiend’s roar shook the air. It lifted a foot, bringing it down hard on the purple sheen that Brayden had covered the ground with. A loud clang echoed out and Brayden’s lips thinned, but his magic didn’t falter.

Allen accelerated, growing half an inch in height. Noah nearly missed a step and fell flat on his face. Ice had formed into skates on Allen’s feet, and he was literally sliding across the ground – and with more speed and confidence than any Olympic skater that Noah had ever seen.

Do a pirouette! I’ll give you extra style points if you land it while killing the Root Fiend.

Smoke trailed behind Noah, slithering at his back as he gathered enough to work with. The biggest drawback of the pipe was its lack of ability to generate a lot of ash immediately, as he had to wait for it to kick up and give him enough to work with.

It didn’t look like it was going to matter much for this fight. The Root Fiend was so huge that, even though they were sprinting at it, Noah was pretty sure it would be at least a minute before he reached the monster.

Allen was another story. The Rank 4 professor peeled away from the rest of them quickly, ice frosting the ground beneath his skates as he continued to accelerate. His arms took on a white sheen as two massive axes formed in his hands.

A ramp of ice formed before Allen and he launched into the air, hurtling toward the Root Fiend. The monster spotted his approach and swung an arm in his direction, roaring a challenge. A pillar of ice erupted from the ground to Allen’s side, piercing up to rise beside him neigh-instantly.

Allen slammed an axe into the pillar, redirecting himself and releasing the weapon. The Root Fiend’s hand demolished both his pillar and the axe, and Allen slammed into its chest. He drove his axe into the monster, then reared back.

Ice condensed into another axe. He drove it into the Root Fiend’s chest, then ripped the first axe free. Using the weapons like ice picks, he started to ascend the monster’s chest. Noah resisted the urge to slow and stare in awe.

He’s a prick, but a capable one. Noted.

Noah grabbed his flying sword and threw it to the ground. With the Root Fiend’s attention on Allen, he was more than willing to get closer. It jerked to life and he launched forward, shooting past Moxie and nearly splattering himself on the monster in the process.

His flaming ash hurtled behind Noah like the tail of a dragon, desperately trying to catch up to him. His whistle was lost to the wind, but its effect weren’t. The fire instantly swirled and shot for the Root Fiend’s head, striking it between the eyes.

The monster’s skull singed. It roared, taking an earth-shaking step back and batting at its face. Wind whipped in Noah’s face as he flew around it, checking how much damage his attack had done. The results were far less than he’d hoped.

He’d scorched its head, but the Root Fiend was already starting to heal the damage he’d done. If he was going to do serious damage to the monster, he’d need to use more energy or a different approach.

Wood creaked as the Root Fiend’s body rippled, with spikes. Noah quickly put distance between himself and the monster, but Allen was still on top of it. He craned his head back to see how the older professor would handle the attack.

To his surprise, the Root Fiend had frozen midway through. The spikes that had started to emerge from within it trembled, as if it were locked in an invisible battle. Moxie stood at its feet, vines trailing from her arms to the monster. Her hands shook with concentration, but she’d managed to lock it down.

Allen continued his ascent, climbing to the monster’s neck. Ice swirled into another huge axe in his hands and he reared back like a woodcutter before bringing the blade into the Root Fiend’s neck.

A loud crack echoed through the day. The axe bit deeply into the monster, burying itself several feet into it. Ice spread from the wound, worming deeper into the Root Fiend’s body. It roared lashed out with its leg, ripping Moxie’s fines apart.

Ice flashed across Allen’s body an instant before the Root Fiend brought its hand down on its neck with a brilliant crash. In the distance, Noah dimly picked up the sounds of Gavin and Jess’s fight against the other Root Fiend, but he’d completely zoned them out. His eyes were focused on the spot where Allen had been standing.

Is he dead?

The Root Fiend’s arm jerked. It shuddered, pulling at its neck. Fingers of frost curled over its palm and down its fingers. A grin crossed Noah’s features. The monster’s hand was stuck to its neck. Allen had frozen it.

Noah launched himself at the Root Fiend’s head once again. It spotted him coming, one of its burning eyes flicking up toward Noah. Roaring, it swung its free hand. Noah jerked down, barely avoiding getting swatted like a fly before readjusting his course and flying himself straight into the monster’s forehead.

He grit his teeth, trying to slow, but hit it with more force than he’d been intending. The impact nearly knocked the pipe from between Noah’s teeth, but he managed to grab onto the monster’s craggy features. His sword slipped from his feet, plummeting to the ground below.

Noah ignored it. He dug his hands deep and sharpened his heated ash into spikes. It peppered into the monster’s eyes and lips, probably feeling like dozens of annoying little bee stings.

Annoying or not, the Root Fiend roared in fury. The movement nearly knocked Noah free of the monster’s head, but he managed to keep his fingers dug into the gnarled skin. He clambered up its head, then called deeply on his magic and sent a powerful vibration ripping through the monster’s insides.

It occurred to Noah a moment too late that it probably wasn’t the best idea to make the thing he was only barely holding onto start to shake. A violent tremor rocked the monster and its teeth cracked as they knocked against each other.

A second shudder ran down the Root Fiend as Allen shoved its hand away, emerging from a sphere of hardened ice to hack at the monster’s neck with his axe again. Frost continued to spread from where he stood, and it already covered the shoulder he stood on.

The Root Fiend raised a foot, trying to take a step forward. Vines shot from the ground and wrapped around it, yanking the monster back down. More and more vines erupted from beneath and along the monster, binding the monster tightly and restraining its movements.

Wood creaked as the vines started to squeeze, trying to wring the life out of the Root Fiend. Roots churned beneath Noah – the monster was likely repairing the damage his magic had done to its insides.

I bet Sunder could take this down, but using it here is a terrible idea. I can’t let anyone else know I have it.

Vines snapped beneath Noah. The Root Fiend tore its foot free of Moxie’s vines and stomped on the ground, shaking the earth. Moxie stumbled and Lee darted to her, yanking Moxie back an instant before the Root Fiend’s foot slammed down where she’d been standing.

“Can’t you do anything more?” Noah yelled to Allen. “We aren’t doing enough damage to it!”

“I’m doing more than you are,” Allen roared back. “It’s resistant to cold magic because of how quickly it regenerates. I’ll kill it, but it won’t be fast – and that’s assuming I don’t get squashed first. We need Brayden to act.”

Noah risked a glance back down at the ground. Ripples of energy were washing across the shield that Brayden had put on the ground, and most of them were concentrated around the students.

The Root Fiend was barraging the Shield with attacks, trying to break through it. Brayden’s face was taut with concentration. Despite his words and disinterested attitude toward the students, he was holding the defenses firm.

“Brayden is protecting the kids. He isn’t going to be able to fight without putting them at risk.”

“Then shut up and wait,” Allen snarled. “There’s nothing else I can do against this. My domain isn’t going to be useful against anything like this. It’s too damn big. I’m not a damned soldier, I’m a professor.”

Domain? What the hell is that?

The Root Fiend roared again. Vines tore away as it ripped itself completely free of Moxie’s hold. More vines reached out, trying to rebind it. The monster reached up toward Noah with one of its enormous hands, blocking the sun out and casting a shadow over both him and Allen.

“I’ve got an idea!” Noah yelled. “Keep it off me!”

“I’m not your servant,” Allen roared back, but a wave of ice shot past Noah’s back and slammed into the Root Fiend’s hand, shoving it to the side just enough to force it to miss.

A white chain materialized in Allen’s hands, ending in a long, jagged point. Allen slammed the chain into the Root Fiend’s neck, driving it deeper with a powerful blow before grabbing the other end of it and jumping over the monster’s side.

His skates scraped against bark as he accelerated, leaving a trail of ice behind him. Allen skated down the Root Fiend’s arm, going in increasingly tight circles around it and binding the monster with the chain.

Allen jumped free, swinging back to the monster’s chest. The chain creaked behind him, tightening and pulling the Root Fiend’s hand into a scrunched position. Ice groaned as it tried to keep the monster contained.

Noah summoned all the ash he’d gathered since he’d lit his pipe, gathering the huge cloud of molten smoke. Then he sent it flitting through the opening of the Root Fiend’s mouth. He continued to pour smoke into the monster, drawing it from the Flashgrass the instant it emerged.

His pipe sputtered as he drained the Imbued grass of its energy, but Noah didn’t dare cut corners. With the amount of smoke he was about to use up, he wasn’t going to get another shot anytime soon.

The Root Fiend roared in fury. Allen’s ice chains shattered, but vines rose up from its own body to take their place. The Root Fiend stumbled as Moxie’s vines wound between its feet and crawled up its side, worming their way into its body.

This should be enough smoke.

Noah reached out, touching a thin strand of smoke that connected him to the huge mass of it churning within the Root Fiend’s body. He drew every last speck of energy within his Pyroclastic Resonance Rune, and he felt the magic thrumming in his body like the beat of a drum.

“Smoking kills, kids,” Noah muttered to himself. Then he called Combustion.

A flash leapt down the thin trail and into the Root Fiend’s mouth. For an instant, there was silence.

The Root Fiend’s eyes bulged as a massive explosion rocked its insides. The roots beneath Noah ripped and tore apart, flinging from his spot on its head. A tongue of fire ripped free of the monster’s shoulder.

A second one burst from its mouth. Within an instant, a dozen spots on the Root Fiend’s body erupted in flame. Its head cracked as a huge ball of fire rolled out of its mouth, ripping huge chunks of it apart.

The Root Fiend crumpled, falling inward on itself as the fire consumed it from the inside. Flame spread throughout its dry body, overwhelming its regeneration. The monster’s screams were quickly swallowed by the roar of the fire, leaving Noah plummeting toward the ground in silence.

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