Return of the Legendary Runesmith
Chapter 130 129- About to die

It's annoying!

Ariana growled as she swung the blade she took from one of the dead ambushers and killed the assailant advancing at her.

She didn't bring her armament and had to fight tens of ambushers. No problem. But what bothered her was the smell of the explosive.

It was making her head dizzy. And she could tell that it was the same for the other soldiers as well—they were missing their aim or the strength behind their attacks was significantly lower than how much they normally could muster.

However, on the other hand, the opposing forces weren't showing any difficulty in their movements. It was as if they had drugged themselves or had gained immunity against the explosive's smoke.

Ariana leaned on the latter.

"Damn you!" An ambusher cried from behind.

Ariana ducked, predicting the attack easily, before she drove her elbow into his stomach.

"Guh!" He spat a mouthful of blood before Ariana stood back up and slashed the blade down his neck.

*Thud*

The head of the ambusher fell on the ground before the silver head lazily dodged three arrows shot in her direction.

She looked at the archers with dead eyes. She was getting tired. Not good.

She threw the blade towards them, startling them—but they never saw the phantom appearing behind them faster than the blade.

*Crunch*

Twisting the neck of the first, Ariana pulled an arrow before the man could fall.

The arrow was thrust into the neck of the second—blood gushing out and a cry leaving his throat.

"Fuck you!" The third shot an arrow

Ariana didn't turn to look at him and raised her hand and grabbed the arrow by its neck.

She lazily turned towards him and broke the arrow in her hand before asking, "Wanna live? Tell me where your boss is."

She saw the guy panicking and taking out another arrow.

She grumbled before pacing towards him.

Before he could have pulled the string and shot the arrow, Ariana held his collar and pants before lifting him up above her head.

"Ahh-ack!" The man cried.

Ariana brought his back down with an inhumane force and raised her knee.

*CRUNCH*

His back bent at an unnatural angle and the guy's eyes turned white.

She threw him away and heaved a long sigh.

This was getting tiring.

Although she had brought Adam and Melissa to safety, there were still a few dozen people struggling and begging for their lives.

She can't assume which one was wearing those explosives inside their clothes, so acting rashly might cause more damage than what they already have caused.

She was thinking what she should do when suddenly the whole front garden of the palace lit up with a blue magic circle.

Her eyes widened...an Acolyte?!

She turned her head around but couldn't find anyone.

And before the ambushers could have registered or discerned what those beautiful patterns were, their vision shifted.

"Huh?"

"What the..."

"Shit! Look up!"

Many victims cursed and one of them noticed where those goons were taken to.

Ariana growled...this magic can only be achieved using a specific tool.

The Staff of the Dark Lord...the same artifact she has kept inside her vault for so long.

However, rather than trying to find the thief she turned her attention towards the sky where everyone was looking.

Being a superhuman, she could see very clearly what must have appeared like several white dots for others.

Those were the ambushers who were fighting the soldiers until now.

They were suspended in the air and were trying to fight whatever was holding them up.

"Hurry! Everyone, take cover!!" She cried, realizing that they were about to fall anytime.

Her command was heard since no one wanted to stay in the red zone.

They all began to rush toward the palace, carrying those who couldn't move.

Ariana was also about to move when suddenly,

**BOOOOOM** **BOOOOOM** **BOOOOOOM**

Several consecutive explosions were heard in the sky.

It turned out most of them had explosives tied around their bodies and now that they were panicking and were about to die, they decided to just blow themselves up—in an attempt to harm anything.

Ariana growled, such cowardly bastards.

The explosions filled the sky as she rushed towards a cover and prevented her from being hit by debris.

Several ambushers, who didn't wear explosives or just didn't trigger them, fell to the ground with a sickening thud, their bodies collapsing.

More than four dozen bodies fell to the ground, the sight making Ariana smirk in elation.

They deserved it. Such a brutal death.

They deserved it.

"Aria." A voice, a familiar one, came from her left as she turned towards him.

Adrian advanced towards her, his face pale and blood could be seen flowing down his nose and lips.

"What happened to you?!" She asked in alarm.

Adrian shook his head, "Just overused magic while fighting the ambushers," he said before asking, "Are you fine? What about Dad?"

She still was quite worried about him but didn't delay in relaying, "I took them to safety and I am fine....but what caused such heavy mana depletion?"

Adrian couldn't tell her...that the reason behind his mana hitting near the bottom was the teleportation magic he used just now.

It was a mystery how he was able to use independent magic without submitting to the Fallen God...but for now, he didn't want to think about it.

"Agh..." They heard someone groaning and instantly turned towards the large slab of a wall.

They shared a glance before advancing towards the broken wall and holding it from both sides.

"One...two...THREE!" They both pulled at the same time and thanks to Ariana's monstrous strength, they were able to remove it—only to get shocked upon seeing a bloodied Ruby wincing in pain.

Adrian looked all over and found her leg was damaged. Several burn marks signified she was quite close to the explosion.

"You okay?" Ariana asked as she offered her hand to her.

The redhead groaned as she slowly started to get up, thanking them—only to suddenly pause as something began to burn.

Ariana's eyes widened as she realized what that smell was.

Their eyes went down at her leg and found a small explosive attached to her thigh.

Panic surged.

There was nothing that came to their mind at that moment.

Ruby knew that she was going to die at this rate.

As such, she hurriedly turned to Adrian—only to find his hand reaching out to her.

"Huh?" And then, her vision shifted.

Ruby found herself in a different place. It was a room, dimly lit.

But then her eyes snapped back to her thigh.

The countdown of the explosive has paused for some reason.

"Haah...you are safe now," Adrian said, thanking God that it worked.

He noticed earlier that there was a small timer on the device.

And in the time chamber, the time itself stops.

The logic was flawed in various senses...but it worked.

But now, the problem was,

"Where the hell am I?"

°°°°°°°°

A/N:- Thanks for reading.