The Runic Alchemist - Chapter 783: In the Heart of the Sea

Chapter 783: In the Heart of the Sea

[Basement of Faerunia royal castle, the dungeon entrance of the Luminara Seraphim seat, current time, Alex’s POV.]

The swirling darkness gave way, and Alex stepped out of the level 75 dungeon. He wasn’t alone. An elite team of second rankers followed behind him.

It had been 7 months.

After the fight against the demons had slowed down considerably and obtaining good experience was becoming scarce, Alex had decided to focus on their family dungeon. He had no time to waste. Strength was something he needed at all costs.

Unlike Grace, Sariel, and Amy, he was a prince. The name Seablaze carried certain weight; he had to live up to those standards. Besides, without strength, no one would take him seriously, even in the palace.

After 7 months of constant dungeon clearing with an elite team, Alex could already feel himself hitting the limit of enlightened rank. He was now a peak-level second-ranker, with his techniques and knowledge added – he was slightly stronger than any country’s transcendent seed. However,

’It’s not enough. Compared to those two.. I am nowhere close.’

After returning, Alex had put everything into the effort of somehow reaching the next rank. He had read everything there was available on methods of becoming a third ranker. He had killed rare, powerful monsters, both from the dungeons and the wild. Not just levelling to the max, Alex had pushed all his skills to max as well and completed all the unsaid requirements of the transcendent rank.

He had finally hit the limit of growth in the dungeon as well, or he would have persisted in the watery hell-cave dungeon for even longer. He knew becoming a transcendent was not that easy; his sister had worked really hard fighting in dungeons for years to finally become one.

Alex, in bent and broken armour, led his followers out of the giant steel and stone door protecting the dungeon entrance. The hallways were dark and barely lit. The structure of the blue palace was built in such a way that, in daytime, these hallways were full of light despite being underground.

The maids and guards rushed over to help them.

But when Alext climbed the stone stairs and reached the ground floor, his legs froze in a sudden shock. The roof.. Where was the roof? What the hell happened?

It looked like someone had fought right in the main judgment hall. With his father around, how could that be possible?

“Wh.. What happened?” Alex asked.

All the maids and soldiers lowered their heads, not meeting his eyes. Alex relaxed slightly, noticing it wasn’t full of grief but discomfort on how to explain it without offending or angering him.

After his other, more strict yet reassuring order, they started speaking. With each line voiced, Alex felt weirder and weirder. Demons were defeated, all their active wars had ended, land seized was returned, peace treaties signed, the demon king and all powerful demons dead and buried.

However, the biggest news of them all, Damian Sunblade, had returned alive from the Highsword dungeon along with Landbreaker and all his friends. Sanctuary had gained a new leader, and there were five transcendents residing there. Lucian Goldilocks had become a transcendent as well.

They had defeated the demons, largely with the help of Sanctuary’s new warriors. Then, that was just it? His strength was not needed on the battlefield anymore?

“Alex! You are back..”

Two powerful arms enveloped Alex in a warm hug; even with the steel armor, it was like Alex was completely helpless under the iron grip.

“Sister..”

Alex stopped overthinking things for a moment and let himself feel at ease. Someone else mushed his hair after patting his back.

“You have grown again. I swear, I just blink and you grow a few inches taller.”

It was his uncle and master, Hellstorm.

After cleaning himself, Alex, his sister, mother, and Hellstorm talked late into the night, sipping drinks in between. Now he had a much clearer understanding of what had happened in his absence.

“Where is father?” Alex asked.

The overwhelming pressure was missing from the palace.

“He was too angry to live here, said he, was going to the sea for a while.” his mother replied.

“We lost a lot of things, years of work, useless now,” his sister commented, gritting her teeth.

“I told you, more land was never going to help us. The peace treaty is better for us than what possibly could have been.” Alex replied with a sigh.

Hellstorm’s face also darkened, but he stopped himself from losing control.

“That is true. That newcomer is stronger than any third-ranker I have met. The elves have good connections with Sanctuary, and even Land-breaker was saved by him. And from the way Runebreaker gave extra wayagte to the emperor, it’s clear they are close as well.”

His mother let out an almost inaudible whisper, “They all could have easily joined hands and come for us.”

“There is no way anyone can even touch father!” his sister said much louder than necessary.

“I wouldn’t be so sure..” Hellstorm said to his niece’s horror. “With the scale of runic machines he has made in just a month, a year of preparation, and I wouldn’t be so sure about winning any fights against that man.”

Alex remained silent. He didn’t even mention the absurd mana towers Damian had made while fighting against the black pigmen army. With his backing, even a mundane human could exert a power unimaginable by any man. That was the thing people always forget about that guy, he was not supposed to be a frontline fighter, but an unmatched battle support. Large-scale wars were where he thrived; there, he could show his full abilities.

Alex had gone through days thinking about this issue for his people. In his mind, there was no doubt that Damian would return one day, but the things Damian had done had exceeded his imagination. Now, more than ever, he will have to take things into his own hands.

Alex stood up from the padded chair and looked over the bright night city of Seraphim Luminara. The runic lamps from Sanctuary were powered by liquid mana, which was much cheaper than mana stones. Both the lamps and their source of power were of superior quality and much cheaper. No wonder it was replacing the traditional runic lamps in all of mainland at a really fast rate. Mundanes could use it, refill the mana liquid themselves, and the mana liquid was not just for the lamp. Most of Sanctuary’s runic tools were powered by it.

Alex sighed, yet a smile broke out on his face. It was like a grand scheme of Damian, subtly guiding people to entirely switch to just his own runic tools. That bastard would indeed use such harmless schemes.

“It’s time we approach this differently,” Alex spoke up.

The three members of his family stared at his face when Alex turned back.

“We need to go there, meet him, and make a connection as a nation. The Empire and Eldorians are already taking full advantage of his runic tools; we, too, need to be clever and use this situation to make things better. Before doing more, we have to at least maintain neutrality and get rid of this animosity. For wartime, it was good, but for peacetime, our stance as a nation is not appropriate.”

***

[Somewhere in the vast ocean, 10,000 meters underwater, current time, Sea Snake’s POV.]

Tons of water was violently pushed away as the king of Faerunia moved underwater. This was what it was supposed to be like. Thaddeus Seablaze enjoyed the rush of primal strength. In the ocean, he was truly alive.

If it weren’t for the responsibilities on his shoulders, Thaddeus would prefer to always remain in his natural habitat. Life on two legs was filled with all sorts of inconveniences.

He was headed straight down. Over a hundred kilometres from Faerunia, there was a region in the vast, blue ocean called ’The spiralling end.’

No ship, marine animal or monster could even reach this far. And no one would even want to.

The enormous five-kilometre-wide dark water whirlpool was a death trap for anyone swept in its powerful hold.

Thaddeus pushed down with his enormous form, the dark, silent water was equally unsettling as the surface above. This region was always surrounded by dense mist, with eternal dark clouds settled above it, the occasional lightning just making the darkness seem even more suffocating.

This was the deepest part of the ocean as far as Thasseus had travelled. Going far below ten thousand meters.

’Let’s hope this time he is in a better mood..’ Sea Snake thought.

From afar, one could see the person or thing Sea Snake was heading towards with all his strength.

A ginormous darkness shaped like a coiling mountain moved slightly on the dark sea floor. Compared to the stirring titan, the form of the Sea Snake heading down was ten times smaller.

The monstrous leviathan was none other than the father of Thaddeus.

But people on the mainland knew him by another name, The Sea God.