The Runic Alchemist Chapter 573: In His Footsteps

[First day back in the pign city, Sam's POV.]

50 million.. Was that the total population of pign in this world? No, there had to be more.

Sam stood beside the village chief — no, the guy was a king now. He looked around the room. The chief had three sons; even Heather had said he had two children. mories aside, he had to try and change these people's minds. Dying for a stupid piece of land was beyond moronic.

The fancy-looking pigman said sothing, gesturing towards the large wooden table, and everyone walked toward their seats. Not all of them were summoned — Elias, Lumi, and Reize were not there. Everyone only seated themselves after the king took his seat, his family along with all the extra people leaving the room.

Einar asked, "This advance party.. How big is it? Many people seed badly injured outside.."

Mindseer translated for them.

Heather replied, "That's not from them. Those are recruits who daily dungeon dive to raise their levels. We have many potentials, and this is the fastest way for them to live up to that."

"It's reckless.." Evrin said. Sam had rarely seen her so displeased.

"It's voluntary," Mindseer replied simply. "They just guide their path and make it slightly easier for them to get stronger by gathering them in groups.."

Guess it was ti. Sam coughed, getting everyone's attention.

"I admire your fight. Your preparation, your love for this land. But this is not a 'maybe' fight — there is no way to win this. When we defeat this 10 million, the other 50 million will be ready behind them. When we kill them all, there will be even more. The whole world is lost to this.. Evil thing. We have to think about other options available to us.."

Suddenly, the whole room's faces beca undecipherable as, one by one, they all looked down. It wasn't simple stubbornness.. Sothing else was going on here.

At last, Mindseer answered.

"That is not an option anymore. To check if it was okay for pign to cross worlds, I used my waygate cube and saw what the future ahead was if I had a pigman with

while going back. The third rankers and second rankers were fine.. But everyti the first rankers or infants — even so of their weaker second-ranker espers—were with — My sight showed they could not survive in the world we ca from. I was about to tell Damian about it, but I saw the attackers arrive, and I couldn't leave this place. They have ans of doing surprise attacks on the city once in a while.."

"What about using the waygate to go sowhere else on this planet?" Sariel suggested.

One of the pign ministers replied. Mindseer translated,

"Only unconquered land is behind us. And it's not even one-fifth of what the Black Ones have crossed under ten years, the ocean starts after that. Crossing that, as your companions inford us, is only barren land leading up to the high-temperature region. The Blue Ones can't survive there.. Even we Red Ones can't either, not for long in such an environnt. The whole world is theirs. We cannot lose our resources and start over — neither can we leave the only symbol of the divine behind just to live for a few more days.."

The king finished the unsaid sentence,

"Either we survive, or this is the last of us. We will fight. If this is what the divine wishes, then let it be.. We will not run. The decision won't change."

All pign in the room, regardless of the color of their skin, nodded in respect and in complete agreent.

"Very well.." said Maelor. "We will help as long as we can."

All the humans nodded in agreent along with Sam. He understood it was not just their pride.. This was the end of their world. And they just wanted to live their last days with integrity and not run, showing their backs to the evil who killed all their brethren, good or bad. They were, after all, the last descendants of a long lived warrior race.

After a day of rest and understanding the state of conflict, Sam and the others were given a choice — to join the battlefield or help in other ways. The one experienced and powerful guide leading the dungeon runs for other newcors was also quite an important task. So was going out as a scout to keep an eye on the movents of the main Black Pign force. The constant attacks of the wild monsters outside the city walls had not stopped either.

And of course, there was the main battlefield so 80 kiloters from the northern defense wall, where Bloodedge with his 10 million Black Pign were being held off by two transcendents and a force of 30,000 pign. The region was mountainous, and they had t them in a narrow path, going forward to fight just to have this advantage.

Sohow they were holding them off, but they were losing ground each day. Once they broke free from that area, it would be an open battle. The battlefield was being prepared by them for the future battle — setting up traps and making it uncomfortable for a large body of people to attack at once.

They were doing everything possible under the sun, but it was clear nothing could possibly be enough. Their researchers and mages were constantly producing new runic tools, trying to replicate Damian's designs. Sam was surprised to see they had even managed to do so for a few of Damian's spells. That guy was in for a surprise when he ca here. Still, it was all just stalling for ti and waiting for the inevitable.

Sam could clearly see they lacked a decisive strategy to deal maximum damage — to stop this all. The decisive weapon that could change the path of this war. He knew very well, without that, they would just be losing good n. It was truly a hopeless fight.

Sam, along with Lucian, Maelor, Alex, Evrin, and Einar, had decided to join the narrow battlefield, fighting against the traitor Bloodedge. They had decided to go there and see if there was any possible way to make any aningful difference.

Before going, however, soone ca to et Sam. He was surprised to see Elias looking for him. He couldn't let the guy join the fight, even if he begged — Damian's brother was not soone he could take risks with.

However, the thing the boy told Sam made him raise his eyebrows in question. The boy had found many of Damian's runic weapons and, seeing the condition of these people, walking in his brother's footsteps without even knowing, he had co to ask Sam if they could lend so to the pign so they could do their research and try to replicate them while making use of so of them.