Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage-Chapter 553: Sorcerers’ Last Stand I

CH553 Sorcerers’ Last Stand I

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[Secret Mystic Arts — Earth Concordance]!

The synchronised mystic art activated instantly.

Time itself seemed to slow as the mystic energy of the three Heaven Secret Sect disciples erupted from their bodies, covering them in a layer akin to a warrior’s Aura Coating.

Each aura coating then flowed downward to the disciples’ feet, where it formed a perfect circle with each of the three at its centre. Lines of light stretched outward from each circle to connect with the others, forming a circle-cornered triangle.

Seeing the incoming Were-croc Berserk Human, the trio shifted positions. Hiro stepped back while Samir stepped forward.

Boom!

The berserk human’s eyes flashed with unmistakable shock as Samir blocked its full-power punch with an open palm.

The force behind the strike seemed to dissipate into nothingness.

Samir seized its hand, locking it in place for a brief but critical moment.

Leo and Hiro moved in perfect synchrony, allowing Hiro to step in and strike the berserk human without breaking the triangular formation of energy light beneath their feet.

Bang!

Hiro’s punch blasted the berserk human backwards, tumbling and rolling across the grass for nearly ten metres before it finally managed to halt its momentum.

Splat!

It spat out a mouthful of blood. Its eyes filled with vivid shock, unable to comprehend how such a seemingly weak human could deliver a strike of that magnitude.

The three disciple-brothers, however, gave it no time to process the situation.

The moment it steadied itself, they were upon it again.

Hiro immediately threw a kick towards the berserk human’s elongated snout. The creature jerked its head back, narrowly evading the attack.

It counterattacked, throwing a punch towards Hiro’s side. Samir appeared almost instantly, intercepting the strike.

Once again, the berserk human felt as though it had punched into water— the force and energy of its attacks dissipating quietly, as if they had never existed at all.

"How dare you ignore me!" Shin roared.

He cut his palm with his sword as he assumed an unorthodox sword stance, pulling the blade back to his side while his free hand stretched forward, rapidly forming hand seals.

Once the seals were completed, the blade seemed to drink Shin’s blood. It absorbed the blood, transforming into a crimson blade that pulsed with ominous power.

[God-killing Thrust]!

Shin suddenly thrust his sword towards the berserk human.

With more than fifty metres between them, the berserk human concluded there was no way the thrust could possibly reach it.

Alas... it was wrong.

Shin’s thrust released a sword energy that created the illusion of the blade elongating through space to strike the berserk human.

The Were-croc’s instincts screamed as the ’elongated sword’ shot towards it, and it quickly formed a cross guard with its arms to block the attack.

However, the strike was Shin’s ultimate technique.

It pierced through the berserk human’s arm, through its torso, and out its back, dragging the creature several metres backwards before the energy finally weakened.

’Tch!’ Shin clicked his teeth as the sword energy dissipated. ’Damned thing shifted the strike away from its heart at the last instant.’

Shin’s vision wobbled immediately as he dropped to his knees from energy exhaustion.

’This better work, or I am so dead,’ he thought, forcing himself back to his feet through sheer will.

In that moment, Jin rushed in to strike the berserk human with a punch.

Even though the Holy Son of the Physique Tempering Sacred Land had returned to his withered form, the berserk human did not underestimate him— not when his arms were clearly swollen with concentrated energy.

Obviously, all his power had been redirected from his body into his limbs, specifically.

Boom!

"What?!!"

The sorcerers exclaimed in shock as they saw the berserk human block Jin’s strike.

Sand Shield.

Having learned its lesson from Shin’s full-power sword strike, the berserk human did not dare block Jin’s punch directly.

Instead, it raised a shield of sand that absorbed and dissipated the force and energy of the attack.

However, Jin did not relent.

His eyes flashed. ’Let’s see if you can block everything.’

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!

Energy burst from Jin’s arms and legs as he moved, unleashing punch after punch in rapid succession. Unfortunately, as fast as he was, the berserk human was faster.

It rotated smoothly, keeping Jin within its line of sight at all times. And as long as the sorcerer remained visible, its Sand Shield would rise automatically to protect it.

Eventually, Jin ran out of gas and began to tire.

As if waiting precisely for that moment, the berserk human attacked. With two claws subtly swiped upwards, causing a spike of compressed sand to shoot out from the ground, aiming to impale Jin.

Or so the berserk human expected.

Anticipating the counterattack, Hiro punched forward, releasing a burst of compressed air that arrived just in time to shove Jin aside at the final instant.

The spike failed to impale Jin through the torso. Instead, it tore away his arm.

"Argh!" Jin forcibly muffled his groan.

He clutched the stump where his left arm had been.

"What are you doing? You should have killed it!" Jin shouted at Hiro, fury and pain mixing in his voice.

However, the Holy Son of the Heaven Secret Sect ignored the external sorcerer’s words as the berserk human loomed over them.

Enraged at being prevented from killing its prey, the berserk human unleashed a volley of sand spikes at the Heaven Secret Sect disciples.

Samir stepped forward, swiping his hand before him. An energy shield formed, halting the incoming spike as force rippled violently across its surface.

Subtly, the energy of that ripple was transferred from the shield into the circle beneath Samir’s feet. It flowed along the luminous line from Samir’s circle to Leo’s circle within the triangular formation.

Leo suppressed the rampaging energy through sheer will, stabilising it before transferring it along the connecting lines towards Hiro.

Air Bullet!

Hiro immediately used the energy, shooting out another compressed air projectile.

Sand Shield!

The berserk human raised another Sand Shield, blocking the strike. However, the impact forced it to skid backwards, carving a five-metre trail across the ground beneath its feet.

It was about to retaliate when a sharp pain suddenly pierced its legs.

It looked down and saw a snake biting into its thigh. Before it could retaliate, the snake immediately retreated back into the ground.

Argh!

Enraged, the berserk human was about to manipulate the sand within the soil to crush the snake when a sudden throb struck its head.

Its energy rampaged violently within its body.

Realisation flashed across its eyes.

The snake bite was clearly responsible.

It quickly focused, attempting to drive out the venom and contain the storm raging inside its body. It realised it would only take a few breaths to regain control of its energy.

However, life and death on the battlefield were often decided within a single breath.

Terra Lock Talisman!

Suddenly, a talisman circle lit up beneath its feet.

The berserk human felt the weight upon it increase exponentially —as if gravity itself had multiplied many times over— forcing it to its knees and hunching its body towards the ground.

It forced itself to look at the one responsible —Ray, Holy Son of the Craftsmanship Sacred Land.

It realised Ray and Lina had faked their injuries, feigning near-death

Lina had been secretly transferring her mystic energy while Ray subtly wove this talisman together.

However, although he succeeded in trapping the berserk human, Ray did not look well.

"He can’t hold it much longer. Hurry!" Lina shouted urgently.

On the horizon, two brilliant lights suddenly ignited.

To the east, Sana’s black-purple panther channelled energy into a football-sized artefact sphere.

Once it reached its limit, the flaming red gorilla snatched the artefact. Veins bulged across its body as its muscles tensed to their absolute limits.

With every ounce of strength it possessed, the gorilla hurled the sphere towards the berserk human.

The projectile shot forward like a bullet fired from a railgun.

At the same time, Ken rapidly formed hand seals.

For someone whose main strength was casting speed, one could only imagine the scale of the spell that required such prolonged preparation.

The final seal formed, and Ken pointed his index finger at the berserk human.

[Secret Mystic Art — Extinction Dragon]!

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