Second World

While everyone was fighting, Jack was working on the rune diagram. He was dismayed. He wanted to fight too. All the highlights of his gaming experience were during a battle. Why was he now the only one who didn't fight?

Jack didn't let himself get careless despite wanting to break this rune diagram quickly. He paid attention to every detail and moved the nodes carefully. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anyone nearby with mana sense. No one perceived the changes he made to the rune diagram on the ground.

He continued working while paying attention to his radar and mana sense. No one came near him. Linda and the guild players stayed inside the protection field. The guards were watching the two entrances. Even so, he didn't let his guard down.

When he was at the final step, he readied himself. He had one hand ready with his Storm Breaker while his other hand was on the ground interfacing with the rune diagram. Once the barrier was down, he would use Lightning God Barrage to kill Linda and the guild players who were controlling the guild army platforms.

He gained access to the rune diagram's final node. He injected mana into that node. Like a switch, he shut the entire thing down.

In an instant, he sensed the barrier in front of him was gone.

Linda was aware of the barrier coming off. The rune diagram was theirs. The protection field was invisible to others, but not to them. She saw the translucent dome that was the protection field coming off by itself. She knew then that something was wrong.

It took her only half a second to make a decision. She activated another rune diagram which had been prepared right underneath her. This rune diagram shone.

Peniel saw the glowing runes. She recognized it at a glance. She immediately shouted, using her mouth, not even bothering to do it covertly via telepathy.

"Hurry, kill her! That is a Field Teleportation rune diagram!!"

The urgency in her voice told Jack that there was no time to explain. Jack didn't need to. The two keywords 'hurry' and 'teleportation' gave him enough understanding.

The rune diagram was already in the process of activation, which meant he didn't have much time. He canceled his intention of using the divine skill. Due to the shortage of time, he resorted to using skills that manipulated time. He first used Dragon Eye. With his mind working at five times normal, he instantly cast Superior Acceleration.

Superior Acceleration at its current two stars increased the target's overall speed by twelve times, which in this case, was himself. With the accelerated speed, he formed numerous small runes around his body.

He was using the rune technique, Infernal Cleansing Flame.

When he first learned the rune technique, he needed twenty seconds to complete all thirty runes. After diligently training every day as well as using the technique in real battle several times, his activation speed had increased. At his best, he could complete the thirty runes in half the time, which was ten seconds.

With Superior Acceleration boosting his speed by twelve times, the ten seconds were shrunk to less than a second.

Since the time the rune diagram below Linda started glowing, only one and a half seconds passed. That was when Jack completed his rune technique. He used Shooting Dash. Linda was not that far away. With the accelerated speed, he arrived before Linda instantly. It was the same result if he used Teleportation, but shooting dash gave him a damage boost.

At the same time, he activated Storm Breaker's Overlimit.

He didn't need all that damage boost to kill Linda even if she had a defensive skill on. His first target was the war table. Even if Linda was killed, if the war table still existed, another person could use it to direct the army. The war table was also within the scope of the Field Teleportation rune diagram. Jack didn't want to let it leave in one piece.

Jack slammed his rune technique into the war table. At the same time, his other hand slashed using Brave Slash to the side. This Brave Slash hit Linda, who was still unsure what had happened. Jack just suddenly materialized in front of her.

Both Linda and the war table vanished then, leaving Jack there. Jack wasn't teleported despite being inside the rune diagram's circle. This meant that the Field Teleportation only teleported friendlies.

He heaved a relieved sigh. Even though Linda and the war table were gone, he was sure he hit his targets. He saw Linda's HP stuck at 1 before she vanished. This showed she had a sacrificial dummy, but he didn't worry. She won't be able to control the Liguritudum army anymore.

*

Linda and the war table appeared somewhere not far away, outside of Mount Sedgebare, under a secluded rocky overhang. A squad was there.

A field teleportation rune diagram was a mobile rune diagram learned from the country's research. By laying the rune diagram at two separate locations, personnel or items at one place could be teleported to the other. But these rune diagrams had to be set up beforehand.

Aside from the protection field rune diagram, Linda had this field teleportation rune diagram set up as an emergency escape plan.

Linda's HP was only 1, but she was alive. She hurriedly cast Heal and Healing Spirit on herself. Her HP quickly recovered. She looked at the war table with a frown.

The war table was not yet destroyed but a white flame was enshrouding it. Its HP went down rapidly. She tried casting a healing spell on the war table but she was notified that it was an invalid target. The war table was considered a structure, recovery spells were ineffective on it. It needed someone with the mechanic skill to repair it.

There was one who was stationed here in this backup command base. Linda quickly ordered the mechanic to repair the war table.

However, even before the mechanic came to the war table, it had crumbled.

If Jack had used the Lightning God Barrage instead of the rune technique, he might have taken out Linda but not the war table. That's why he modified his plan when the situation changed.

He knew how many HPs a war table possessed. There was a research path that increased a war table's sturdiness, but the damage that Jack's rune technique inflicted with the boost from Overlimit and Shooting Dash could easily reach three times a normal war table's HP. That's why he didn't worry. He was sure the war table was gone the second his rune technique hit.

Linda could no longer control the Liguritudum army.