Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 568: Avalanche

The exam had been meant to last a full day. It took time to hunt monsters, and even more time to hunt enough of them to get a Rune to manifest on Catchpaper. An average mage could take hours just to get something worthwhile, and that wasn’t even accounting for the quality of the rune.

Todd and the rest of Noah’s students had every rune they needed in less than four hours — though that wasn’t an entirely accurate statement. They each needed to secure themselves a Rune in order to pass the exam, which meant the group needed a total of 5 Runes — though Alexandra had gone off on her own and lowered the group’s requirement down to 4.

They currently had 20.

Only about 4 of those had come from actually hunting the monsters. The rest had come from students kindly donating their belongings to the group by trying to attack them.

“You know, I’m starting to feel like this exam is more about fighting other mages than it is about hunting monsters,” Todd said as he watched Isabel leaf through the runes they’d earned. “Maybe everyone else got the wrong memo and thought this was an exam to hunt other students.”

“I think it’s a little more targeted than that,” Isabel said. She gathered the runes back into a pile and handed half of it to Emily, who slipped the papers into a pouch on her waist. Isabel glanced around the small clearing they’d taken a break in, then stretched her arms over her head and shook herself off. “The amount of people we’ve had come after us is way higher than it should have been.”

“Verrud and Jakob are pulling strings,” Emily said. “It has to be.”

“What, with the entire Advanced Track?” Todd asked.

“To be fair, less than half the people that we’ve run into have been from the Advanced Track. I think the majority of those guys are just focused on winning. We pass the exam if we can get a rune each, but we’ve got to get the most runes to win the Advanced Track competition.” Isabel scratched the side of her neck. “Though, at this rate, we won’t even have to fight any more monsters. We can just keep taking out all the students that attack us.”

“I wonder how he paid them off.” The air beside Emily rippled as James took form at her side.

“James!” Todd exclaimed. “Where have you been, man? You went to scout thirty minutes ago!”

“Sorry. I fell asleep.”

“While scouting?”

“Yes. It was very boring.”

“I think we need a new scout,” Todd said.

“Quite possibly, yes,” Isabel agreed with a sidelong glance in James’ direction. James didn’t even have the good grace to look chagrined. He just shrugged and wiped at his nose.

“Did you find anything?” Emily asked.

“More students. There are a lot of them in the area around us,” James said. He craned his neck back to look at a mushroom looming above him. “We should probably be ready for more people to show up. It feels like everyone just decided that this area of the Mushroom Forest is the best one to be in.”

“Maybe he really did pay people off,” Emily said with a frown. “That feels like it would be painfully blatant, though. There’s no way you can do that without at least somebody going ‘huh, that’s weird’. The Advanced Track is also full of nobles. It’s not easy to buy nobles off. Verrud and Jakob aren’t that rich.”

“There’s more than one way to get people to turn against someone or hunt them,” Isabel said. “All he had to do was tell the truth. He’s probably mentioned that we have a bunch of runes, and defeating us is an instant pass for the whole exam.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Todd said. “In the end, they’ve managed to make this easier for us. We can’t be far from winning the Advanced Track competition. Maybe we should just start hunting the people hunting us instead. It’ll make things faster.”

“Now there’s an idea.” A familiar, smarmy voice echoed through the clearing.

All of them turned as one, annoyance rather than surprise crossing their features, as Marley emerged from the treeline. It was hard to miss him — the noble was practically jingling as he walked.

He was covered from head to toe in bracelets, rings, bracers, and just about every other piece of Imbued equipment that someone could fit onto themselves. Marley even wore light armor reminiscent of that of a Soldier.

Todd blinked at the vast amount of wealth Marley had on him. There was a difference between the funds of a noble and using… whatever this was. The sheer number of Imbuements he was carrying around were terrifying.

Holy shit. Somebody spent a ridiculous amount of money outfitting him… but that has to be at least partially for show. That many Imbuements running together will interfere with each other. Simple is king. This idiot just cleaned out daddy’s closet.

“What’s wrong?” Marley asked, two shimmering swords made of swirling blue energy buzzing to life in his palms. “Too scared to speak?”

“Who’s helping the moron?” Isabel asked. “I doubt he could have found the broad side of the barn in a field if he didn’t have help.”

Anger flashed across Marley’s face. He pointed his swords at Isabel. “Keep talking smart, bitch. We’ll see what happens when—”

An ice arrow screamed through the air and slammed into Marley’s chest. A shield erupted around him with an earsplitting screech. His eyes only had a moment to go wide before the force of the magic launched him off his feet and sent him hurtling through the stem of a mushroom and into the forest beyond.

“That’s a strong shield,” Emily said, lowering her bow with a frown.

“It’s Soldier equipment,” Todd said, his lips going thin. “Someone is powering him. He’s an idiot, but don’t take him lightly while he’s still got power. Those Imbuements will do all the fighting for him.”

“That’s right,” Marley said, chuckling as he stepped back out of the forest, completely unscathed. He hesitated for a moment. “Wait. No, it’s not. I’m fighting you! Not my equipment! This is just something to even the scales. You have a whole group.”

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Todd was barely paying attention to him. His eyes scanned their surroundings as he searched for any signs of heat.

He found them.

Three other people were moving around the clearing, trying to get into position. Todd lifted a hand toward one and released a concentrated stream of fire in a thin beam. The magic cut through the air and melted straight through the trunk of a mushroom. There was a thud and a curse as someone threw themselves out of the way of the magic.

“So do you,” Todd said. “Two behind us. One in the direction I just toasted.”

“Cheater,” Marley spat.

“Are you kidding?” Emily asked. “How dense are you?”

Marley thrust a sword into the air. The mushrooms around him shuddered, then cracked as they split apart at the stems. Oozing growths rose up from within them like tendrils, extending into the air until they’d grown to the size of trees and towered at his back.

“No more talking,” Marley growled. He swept his swords down. “Kill them!”

The mushroom tendrils exploded forward. All three of the mages in the forest burst into motion.

Isabel slammed her foot into the ground. A wall of stone exploded up from it and rolled out around them like a huge ripple in a pond. It rose up the group for long enough to buy them a few seconds.

“I’ll deal with Marley,” Isabel said. “Todd, back me up. James, Emily, deal with the others.”

“On it,” Emily said.

James nodded, then faded from view. “I’ve got your back.”

The stone wall exploded. Marley burst through it, riding on a wave of rolling mushroom flesh. His eyes were locked directly on Isabel. He definitely had an agenda, but that was nothing new.

“Get yourself ready. I’ll keep him distracted,” Todd said with a grin. The ground at his feet exploded as he launched himself forward, streaking toward Marley like a human missile. Power burned against his knuckles as he pushed it into the explosion chamber in his gauntlets.

Let’s see just how strong his defenses are. He might not be ready for a max strength attack right at the start of the fight.

The noble’s eyes widened at Todd’s approach. He crossed his arms before him. One of his bracelets shimmered and magic spilled out from within it. A gray shield formed over one of his arms and Marley braced himself against it.

Todd twisted midair, bringing a fist crashing into the shield with all the force he could muster. It connected with a massive explosion. A wave of pressure sent Todd skidding back as fire bloomed from the spot he’d struck and fragments of rock scarred across the ground and flew through the air around him.

Marley staggered a step back, his shield warped and bent. He stared at it in disbelief. “How can you do so much damage with one punch?”

Todd righted himself, drawing energy back into himself from the explosion and repressing a grimace.

That’s all the damage I did? This isn’t good. That was the strongest attack I can manage right now. How much power does he have people donating to him? This is more than just someone trying to edge out a win in a competition. The amount of money it would take to get him this strong… someone is angling for more than a win.

“You’re just weak,” Todd said, not letting any of his thoughts show through in his features.

Marley’s features twisted in anger and he swiped his sword through the air.

The ground beneath Todd roiled. He threw himself to the side a moment before white roots exploded up from beneath where he’d been standing. They thrashed around in the air like squirming snakes, each of them as thick as a tree trunk. The ground rumbled from the force of the magic within them.

What the hell? This is something that Moxie could do, not Marley. There’s no way he should be this strong. The only thing in our favor is he fucking sucks at using his magic.

Todd set off an explosion at his feet, throwing himself to the side before the roots could slam into him. He rolled across the ground and shot upright, summoning stone up from the ground to rebuild his armor from his own explosions.

“That’s not Rank 2 magic,” Todd said, his eyes narrowed. “Who’s helping you cheat?”

“Using items you own isn’t cheating,” Marley replied, thrusting his hand forward and sending more roots racing after Todd.

“Bullshit. You aren’t controlling that yourself. Someone’s feeding you magic,” Todd said as he flung himself to safety once more.

Roots slammed into the ground one after the other in Todd’s wake. Each one shook the earth with the force of their impact. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a root hurtling straight for his head.

It didn’t look like Marley was trying to leave enough of anyone alive to get pulled out of the exam.

Todd gritted his teeth and set off an explosion from his palms. It hurled him to the side and he hit the ground in a grunt, rolling to safety and staggering back to his feet.

Marley turned toward him — but he didn’t get a chance to attack. Isabel exploded forward, clad entirely in her heavy armor. She held a huge tower shield in one hand and a glowing blue greatsword in one of her hands.

Roots crashed down toward her, but the ground exploded up around Isabel in a sea of spikes. They drove into the roots, slowing them and buying her precious seconds to arrive before Marley.

She slammed her shield down on his head. His shields flared, burning with power as they resisted her strike. Isabel’s sword flashed and Marley brought his own up. The weapons slammed together with a loud crackle.

Isabel slammed her foot into Marley’s chest and he staggered back, his shields repelling her once more. He went to stab at her but was forced to dodge back as Todd sent a streak of concentrated flame screeching past his face, just narrowly missing.

Loud crashes and the roar of magic filled the clearing all around them from Emily and James’ fight against Marley’s backup. A quick glance told Todd why the fight was still going. They were all outfitted in Imbued equipment as well. It didn’t look like the quality was as high as Marley’s, but there were three of them.

Isabel and Marley crossed blades again. Their weapons crackled — and Isabel dismissed her weapon, reforming it an instant later once it had passed by Marley’s guard.

The sword would have gone straight into his shoulder if it didn’t connect with his shield first. Magic screamed.

Isabel was thrown back several feet as a huge wave of pressure rolled out from Marley, ripping up the dirt around him.

A pillar of dirt shot up behind her and connected with her back to stop her from falling. If she lost her balance in the immensely heavy armor she wore, it was the same as a death sentence.

Marley crossed his swords and power arced down their blades, rippling across his body. Someone was pumping him full of even more magic. Curls of magic rose up from him and he bared his teeth in something between a snarl and a grin. “What’s wrong? You don’t look as confident as you did before.”

This might be bad.

“Isabel?” Todd asked.

“Yeah?” Her voice was terse.

“I think we’re going to have to use some of the things you’ve been practicing.”

“On this idiot?” Isabel asked, aghast. “Seriously?”

“It’s not just him. It’s him and however many people are powering him.”

“You really think you can do anything against me?” Marley asked through a burst of snorting laughter. The amusement left his face in an instant, replaced by cold cruelty as he shifted his stance. “You’re delusional.”

“Right. Sorry, Professor,” Isabel said. She tossed her shield to the side and grabbed her sword with both hands. She drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

A root crashed down toward her.

Isabel’s sword snapped out, catching it on the flat of the blade and deflecting it down into the ground with a loud crash.

There was something different in her motions as she moved toward Marley once again. Magic burned in her every step, each one slightly faster than the last, every movement like a pebble rolling down the side of a mountainside.

Roots shot toward Isabel. Her sword flashed up and down and up again, the repeated crash of its blade striking the roots filling the air.

The first was knocked to her left.

The second was deflected to her right.

The third was split in half. Every blow Isabel made came slightly faster and stronger than the previous as she continued her advance. The magic imbuing her movements and blade intensified by the second.

Her body — her blade — was becoming an avalanche manifest.

For the first time since they’d started training, Isabel was unleashing her Pattern against a real opponent.