Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 631: The Raid

CH631 The Raid

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A few hours prior...

Ever since acquiring their Rune Tattoos from Alex, Mogal and Kavakan poured every ounce of effort into maximizing those enhancements, adhering strictly to his directives.

"Live stress testing," as the Runemaster dubbed it.

Mogal stuck to his standard training routine.

Alex's gym bro in this alien world discovered with glee that workouts once trivial now posed real challenges anew.

Hefts he once raised effortlessly now required total concentration and exact muscle command.

A regimen that previously needed almost an hour for the slightest muscle burn or activation now triggered it in just minutes.

The fighter found himself completely mesmerized.

Apart from mealtimes, he devoted nearly every moment to training, driving his physique to ever greater extremes.

He learned that the Chains of Unyielding rune tattoo boosted not just his physical training efficiency but also hastened the growth of the ’Will’ he initially forged in the Stele Trials.

Kavakan adopted a starkly different strategy.

Choosing not to stay stationary, he devoted most of his time to hunting expeditions in the wilds around BloodIron City.

He understood he wasn't built for sitting idle and gaining insights through mere meditation.

He plunged into hands-on practice instead, honing his Killing Intent and Mark of Slaughter rune tattoo via genuine battles, guided by raw instinct, experimentation, and instant realizations.

In short, the true weretiger style.

Only upon hearing updates from both warriors—and verifying the rune tattoos operated perfectly—did Alex conclude his seclusion.

That very day, right before Alex departed his isolated chamber, Kavakan and Mogal guided Fortuna’s raiding squad—specifically the orcs and barbarians—into action.

The mission targeted a goblin band plaguing a remote village outpost, hours distant from BloodIron City.

For these two, it offered the ideal chance to trial their fresh powers in actual warfare.

Guided by their fervent commanders, the Fortuna raiders reached the rugged mountains rumored to shelter the goblin hideout.

Shockingly, after scouts among the barbarians tracked the signs, they learned the goblins avoided hiding in the region's countless caves.

The pests had brazenly built their outpost in plain sight, tucked between a pair of hills.

Initially, Kavakan and Mogal figured a elite goblin boss must lurk in the village to enable such audacity.

Yet, astonishingly, no such leader existed.

Be it from utter cluelessness or pure idiocy, the goblins erected their base with zero visible defenses.

No elite goblin occupied the site, and nothing suggested one had ever been there.

Should Alex, his wives, or Fortuna's keener minds have joined them, suspicions might have arisen over how this exposed camp endured.

Yet the burly duo dismissed any such concerns.

Kavakan chafed at the time squandered on stealthy progress, whereas Mogal burned to unleash his rune tattoo's battle potential.

The settlement's backstory didn't cross their minds.

Kavakan barreled right into the goblin camp.

Killing Intent!

A spectral tiger materialized at his back, its domineering aura unleashing a smothering surge of killing intent.

"Come, my babies—feed on their bl—"

His war shout cut short as goblins toppled in heaps, crashing earthward like swatted insects.

"What?"

Kavakan froze in disbelief.

Every goblin nearby sprawled lifeless.

Their expressions locked in raw horror—likely felled by heart failure from the crushing killing intent.

"Weaklings!" Kavakan roared in frustration.

Axes untouched, the Class 0 goblins had all succumbed to his mere aura's weight.

His ’babies’ were robbed of even a sip of goblin blood.

Regrettably, ere he could pivot toward the tougher Class 2 hobgoblins—

Mogal vaulted into the melee.

Even with his strength curbed and bound by the rune tattoo, he hurtled at the hobgoblins, who outmatched him by a full stage right then.

Mogal stood unshaken.

Fortifying his Will, he clung to the conviction that his fists would smash every barrier in his path.

Through fierce punches and kicks, he battled—and slaughtered—his path amid the tougher goblins in the settlement.

Even as his rank stayed suppressed, Mogal sensed his body turning tougher with each clash, his hits delivering greater impact.

This power bolstered his faith in himself...

—and that faith, in response, amplified his Will.

An endless loop took shape—every strike igniting the next in a vicious cycle of surging might.

When Kavakan charged in—his twin axes hacking through a pair of hobgoblins with one swing—Mogal had already crushed most of the real threats.

"Ahhh!!!"

Bang!

Consumed by rage, Kavakan pounded his fist against a crude goblin shack nearby—shattering it completely with one blow.

Hobgoblins wiped out, merely a few Class 0 goblins lingered.

Such pathetic weaklings didn't merit even a glance from Kavakan—creatures crushed instantly by his mere Killing Intent.

He flicked his hand toward the remaining raiders, ordering them to clean up.

Only then did the dazed orcs and barbarians spring into action.

They'd long realized Mogal and Kavakan were powerful—

—yet not powerful to this insane degree.

The instant Kavakan unleashed his roar—

—the goblins keeled over lifeless before he finished.

What monstrous power was this?

Mogal, his aura still seemingly chained—as if under heavy bonds—dropped even rank-matched hobgoblins with just one punch.

In that scenario... could they endure any longer?

’What power did the leader bestow on them...?’

This notion rippled wordlessly through the squad.

All grasped that their explosive strength surge must originate from the gift of their leader—Alex Fury.

Now, a mix of reverence and... craving gripped them.

The craving to seize that identical power.

Still, the raiders fulfilled their duty.

The goblin outpost was totally annihilated.

No mercy given—not to young or old, male or female, hale or infirm.

’The only good goblin is a dead goblin.’

This creed echoed icily in their minds.

***