Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 162: Goblin Raid

CH162 Goblin Raid

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[Author’s Note: POV returning to Alex’s group for this Chapter. Enjoy.]

The human mage launching a fiery assault on the goblin village was none other than Alex himself—flanked by Fen and the rest of the Alpha Direwolf’s pack.

After receiving confirmation that all platoon subunits were in position according to plan, Alex made the bold call to begin the assault head-on.

While the goblins were still deep in slumber—or otherwise preoccupied in their breeding dens—Alex advanced on the village, riding Fen at the head of the Direwolf pack. High above, the archer squad was perched in the treetops, their flaming arrows nocked and ready.

With a gesture from Alex, the assault commenced.

Flaming bolts—magical and physical—streaked through the darkness, setting the crude wooden huts ablaze. Screams and guttural shouts erupted as the goblin village woke to chaos.

Alex didn’t hold back.

He poured extra mana into a [Fire Bolt] spell and launched it at the chieftain’s tent, aiming to end the battle in a single decisive stroke. But fate, as always, had other plans.

The Goblin Village Chief managed to dive out of his tent just moments before it was engulfed in flames.

Still, that didn’t derail Alex’s broader plan.

Rather than pursue, he redirected his attention and continued bombarding the rest of the huts, ensuring the blaze spread.

Flames licked skyward, casting eerie shadows and panicked goblin silhouettes as the village descended into confusion.

Once the majority of the huts were ablaze and most goblins had fled their hiding places, Alex shifted tactics.

Channelling a copious surge of mana through his already-strained pathways, he activated a modified spell circle of a Grade 0 spell, expanding its area of effect significantly.

”[Sleep]!”

A pale wave of energy pulsed out, rippling across the village like an invisible fog.

Though the spell’s range wasn’t perfect, it was more than enough to knock out a sizable portion of the goblins. Dozens crumpled to the ground, snoring in a heap. Only a fraction—maybe a few dozen—of the ordinary goblins, who had been outside the range of the spell, remained on their feet.

Still, compared to the original three-hundred-plus horde, this was a far more manageable number.

Goblins were weak individually, yes. But Alex hadn’t forgotten the old saying: ’A large enough swarm of ants can bring down an elephant.’

His platoon was mostly made up of Beginner-ranked soldiers. While each could handle a handful of Class 0 goblins alone, he wouldn’t risk having just thirty-five of them face down over three hundred goblins—especially ones being coordinated by Hobgoblins.

Hence the plan to neutralise the fodder early.

The Hobgoblins, of course, hadn’t been affected. Alex never expected them to be. As Intermediate-ranked monsters, they were capable of resisting a Grade 0 sleep spell with sheer willpower alone.

Alex exhaled slowly, feeling the strain in his chest as he let his mana pathways rest and regenerate.

’Still need to reinforce my internal circuits. This level of strain might become the norm going forward.’

He noticed several of the still-awake goblins darting into the surrounding woods through planned escape routes and hidden path—but he didn’t pursue them.

They weren’t the priority.

His eyes locked onto the Hobgoblins still in the clearing, weapons drawn and snarling at the chaos around them.

”Go!” he commanded, snapping his fingers.

The Direwolves exploded into motion, teeth bared as they charged the Hobgoblins in a tight formation. Their sudden aggression shook the goblins from their formation.

Under him, Fen tensed—eager.

”I know you want in,” Alex murmured, stroking the wolf’s mane, ”but stick to the plan for now.”

Whine~

Fen’s head dropped ever so slightly.

”Don’t be coy, brat. Hurry up and attack,” Alex chuckled.

Fen’s ears perked up and his head lifted in excitement.

Gathering mana into its maw, Fen fired off an [Icicle Bolt] at a smaller Hobgoblin near the rear—an easy kill, or so it thought.

The icy projectile struck dead-on, sending the Hobgoblin tumbling backwards onto a burning hut. Flames caught on quickly, feeding off the creature’s wounds. Between the frozen impact and the fire, death was all but certain.

Yet just before Fen could mentally chalk up another kill to his name, a Direwolf from the Alpha’s pack lunged in and slashed the goblin’s throat with its claws—stealing the kill.

Grrr~

Fen snarled and bared his teeth at the offending wolf, who blinked in confusion and turned to its Alpha for guidance. But the Alpha Direwolf ignored the tension and instead chose to rip into another Hobgoblin to boost its own tally.

Alex couldn’t help but laugh. The competition between Fen and the direwolves was growing fiercer, and he found it oddly entertaining. Still, he didn’t let it distract him.

He cast another [Fire Bolt] into the chaotic battle, snuffing out a few more goblins in an explosion of heat.

He was readying another spell when—

ROAR!!!

The Goblin Village Chief, along with the remaining Hobgoblins, let out a thunderous war cry.

Alex narrowed his eyes. The forehead and sides of the Chief’s face now bore distinct glyphs of ancestral markings.

’...Huh.’

Among the Wildkin races, goblins were seated firmly at the bottom in every known category—including the number of inheritors of Ancestral Markings in their race.

In fact, Ancestral Markings were so rare among goblins that most scholars didn’t even believe it was possible for them to manifest any. The Virellian Empire had vehemently performed research into goblins and their variants, and yet, there had been near-zero mention of Ancestral Markings in them.

Which made the occurrence before Alex... unexpected.

The appearance of the mark boosted the Chief’s magical capabilities. Within his Spirit Sight, Alex saw the Goblin Chief’s spell formation accelerating dramatically.

He kept his gaze sharp, observing the spell matrix unfold with curiosity. The casting was clean, efficient—even intricate.

The goblin was casting a Grade 4 spell.

While not impossible for an Intermediate mage, this particular formation was deceptively complex. Based on the layering of its runic structure, it skirted the boundary between Grade 4 and Grade 5.

Alex could scarcely believe it.

Even with his gifts and talents, along with OmniRune Core’s support, Alex could barely cast a proper Grade 5 spell. Yet here was a Hobgoblin of all creatures casting one that brushed dangerously close to it.

His interest in the Ancestral Marking deepened considerably.

He stopped all offensive action and watched intently, committing every detail to memory. Each step, each glyph layering, every rotation—he engraved it all with his Eidetic Memory for later study.

When the spell was finally cast, a translucent light erupted across the battlefield.

Every Hobgoblin was instantly encased in shimmering radiance.

Alex’s eyes widened. ’Casting a full individual protective barrier spell for fifty targets? While at Intermediate level?’

’There’s no way it has that much mana!’ he thought, stunned.

Barrier spells were among the most mana-intensive of any category. Even a specialised barrier mage at Intermediate level would struggle to shield five people—including themselves.

Fifty? That was beyond absurd!

After all, he should be nearing the upper mana capacity threshold for an Intermediate-rank mage, yet even he couldn’t supply enough mana to replicate such a feat.

His scholarly instincts kicked in, trusting Fen and the Direwolf pack to handle the situation. For a split second, he shifted focus—just long enough to study the spell.

He noticed something peculiar: the strength of the shield—measured by its luminosity—was not uniform.

At first, he assumed the Goblin Village Chief had simply distributed its mana unevenly among the Hobgoblins. But that alone couldn’t explain this. Even if it dumped its entire mana reserves into the spell, this result still shouldn’t be possible.

There was another detail—the Goblin Village Chief looked far too energetic. It hadn’t drained itself at all.

Then it clicked.

The luminosity of the shield correlated with the physical state of the Hobgoblins.

’The healthier the Hobgoblins, the stronger the protective barrier around them...’ Alex muttered inwardly. Then the realisation struck him. ’I see... The Goblin Village Chief isn’t fuelling the spell directly. It merely activated the spell enchantment on each Hobgoblin. The actual power source... is the Hobgoblins themselves.’

’The healthier ones still have enough internal energy to sustain the shield, making it stronger than those on weaker goblins.’

A flicker of awe danced across Alex’s face as he looked at the Goblin Village Chief.

Never in his wildest expectations did he think a mere goblin would possess such an intricate and brilliantly designed spell, with only a small practical flaw.

The protective barrier wasn’t exactly useful for the one who needed it the most– the weakened Hobgoblins.

They couldn’t provide enough energy to fuel the protective barrier due to their weakened state. However, it was exactly because of their weakened state they needed the barrier more than others.

Still, it didn’t stop Alex from appreciating the spell from an academic perspective.

Whistle!

Rawn~

Fen heard a low-frequency canine whistle cut through the air. He snapped Alex out of his thoughts as the whistle was the signal to begin the next phase of the operation.

He gave Fen a grateful pat and turned to the Alpha Direwolf, nodding firmly to signal their coordinated retreat.

Although it seemed like a long stretch of deduction, the entire process had taken no more than ten seconds.

So, Alex’s rapid change of expression—from surprise to shock, then finally to awe—happened in a very short cycle of time. The Goblin Village Chief, who had kept a wary eye on the noble mage, misread those fleeting expressions as fear.

And when Alex ordered the Direwolves to retreat, the chief’s confidence surged.

Without hesitation, it shrieked an order—sending its subordinates into pursuit of the fleeing human and his Direwolf raiders.

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