Chapter 293: battle between runemasters

-Whoop!!

Lex teleported back to the room where Elena and Professor Gorr were. As soon as Lex went back he immediately noticed that the corpses on the ground were disintegrating rapidly, and most of all, he saw 4 individuals that weren't present when he left at first.

"Grandpa," Elena instinctively went behind Professor Gorr when she saw these people. The 4 of them had the stench of blood looming around them and it was eerie enough for the recording crystal to imitate it.

Elena's sense of hearing and ability to speak had been returned to her.

"Damn," The professor uttered.

'I shouldn't have let my emotions slow me down. I should have killed them as quickly as possible then bailed with Elena before the fuckers arrived.' The Professor sucked his teeth.

As Lex inhaled the stench of blood, he felt himself getting excited. Blood has always been one of the things that made Lex go crazy.

"Keep it together Lex." He said to himself as his lips were twitching. Lex was resisting the urge to smile like a crazy person. He shook his head aggressively and slapped his cheek before he could finally calm down.

"Phew," He sighed.

['It doesn't take much to get you in the mood huh?'] Alex sighed too.

Lex's cheeks turned pink as he apologized; "I'm sorry, it's a bit hard to maintain my sanity when the smell of the blood is everywhere…"

"Gorr, you look… unpleasing to the eyes." The man standing in front of the new group of people that just arrived in the lab said after scrutinizing the professor's looks with his eyes.

The man looks very young, 5'11, looked like he was in his 30's and had short black hair. He had a maroon-colored robe on, so did his companion, but they had a hood over their heads so their features weren't visible.

"Ashamm," The Professor said in disgust. "I see that you are still using rejuvenation to hide your 8000 year old haggard face."

"Hahaha!! How long has it been since I heard this unpleasant voice of yours? It has been a while since you ran away from the King's reins and now I've been sent to bring you back. Alive or half-alive." Ashamm had a light smile on his face as he spoke.

"Grandpa, you know these people?" Elena asked.

She knew that her grandfather was a runemaster, however, she never anticipated that his level was this high. She too knows of the levels of runemasters and she was well aware of how strong her grandfather is.

"Know is an intimate word, I stumbled upon this bastard in my younger days." Professor Gorr replied.

'Damn, these bastards already locked the space as soon as they arrived. If I want to run away I would have to break their four-man formation.' He thought after observing for a while.

"Oh my, this lady. She looks like… you. I didn't know that you had a granddaughter. Young lady, your grandpa has a lot of issues. If I had known that I would be meeting a pretty niece of mine then I would have prepared something for you too. You can call me grandpa Ash." Ashamm said.

"Shut your hypocritical pipe hole Shamm, my granddaughter cannot, is not, and will not – never be your niece." Professor Gorr stated.

Suddenly steam enveloped Professor Gorr's little stature. The size of the steam continued to increase until it was over 6'0".

A hand came out of the cloud of steam that had cover the Professor. This hand didn't look like the Professor's; it was long and it looked like the hand of a younger person. This hand swayed to the side and the steam that had been covering the Professor was absorbed into the palm of this hand.

"Ahh,"

Ashamm began clapping as the steam disappeared and a younger person that had white hair as pure as Elena's own appeared in the Professor's place.

"There's that ugly face of yours that I hate and remember," Ashamm mentioned as he clapped.

Contrary to what Ashamm said about the Professor's looks, he was very good-looking. His white hair was glistering as it danced in the air due to his continuous rising aura.

Elena was shocked to see her grandfather look taller and younger in just a few seconds. She had heard that high-level cultivators can do stuff like this, but seeing it happen in front of her left her speechless.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You can just come with us silently and willingly." Ashamm arched a brow at the Professor.

"If you're scared, just say so." Professor Gorr mocked.

'If I can get Ashamm to lose his composure, breaking through the locked space with Elena shouldn't be a problem.' The Professor thought.

"Little Elena doesn't look like she's strong enough to withstand the shockwaves that our battle will cause. Or you want to fight with me while protecting her?" Ashamm asked. "Hahaha!" he started laughing, waiting for the Professor to give him an answer.

Ashamm stopped laughing and looked at the Professor. He saw that the professor's gaze remained the same. "This is one of the things I hate the most about you, old arrogant bastard!!" Ashamm's aura began to rise just like Professor Gorr's own.

The two aurae reached a stalemate.

"Shall we begin?" Ashamm questioned with a smirk. "I have to warn you though, over the years I have picked up a few tricks." He pointed his index finger at Professor Gorr as he spoke. The tip of his finger started giving out a red glow.

The Professor did the same and pointed his index finger at Ashamm, and the tip of his finger was also giving out a blue glow.

-Whoosh!

Suddenly the two of them began creating inscriptions on the air. The level, speed, intricacy, and complication of the runes and the way they inscribed were above what Lex could follow or understand at the moment.

A second hasn't passed when the whole scene of the room change. One side of the room had turned in the sea. A sea claimed by a typhoon that was ready to charge and crush anything in its path. The other side had turned into a sea of magma that was also ready to devour everything in its path.

Professor Gorr and Ashamm had countered their attacks within seconds of them creating all of this.

From the recording, it was easy to tell that the two of them created all of this from nothing and it wasn't an illusion. Lex felt as if droplets of water from the sea were touching his skin, and the heat from the sea of magma could be felt.

Naturally, he wasn't scared of this because he knew that fire couldn't hurt him, unless it was special. So even if the recording crystal couldn't imitate the abilities of this attack, he wouldn't be hurt.

Just after seeing that each other's attack had been neutralized by the other, they began inscribing again.

As Ashamm was writing his inscription, the Professor was doing his too. Professor Gorr then waved his left hand and a blue light erased part of what Ashamm has inscribed.

Ashamm suddenly uttered a spell… a spell that broke reality like glass, making the side of the room where the Professor was to erase.

Lex heard the Professors voice and the reality that had started breaking was fixing itself.

Lex's jaw hung in awe of the battle he was witnessing.

"Is this how runemasters battle?" He gulped down his saliva.

['It requires quick thinking and always anticipating your opponent's next move with suitable counters. It is scarier than a hand to hand combat.'] Xander mentioned.

['Damn, by the time we get to their level, I don't think we would have many opponents. Our legion will grow and develop, and our strengths will be the pillars that support it.'] Al thought in joy.

Ashamm suddenly cast a spell, raising the people, the scientist that had died in the lab not long ago.

This infuriated Professor Gorr, seeing his colleagues that he killed being used like this.

"You killed all these people didn't you, Gorr? Hahaha, you sly bastard." Ashamm mentioned.

Professor Gorr's aura suddenly spiked up, pushing everything and everyone away, except for Elena.

Lex stood where he was as he wasn't affected by that. Unknowingly to the Professor, Ashamm wasn't really targeting him, he was waiting for a chance to attack Elena.

"That's it, you have always let your anger get the best of you, Gorr," Ashamm whispered under his breath.

Leaving a protective barrier over Elena, the Professor charged at Ashamm. And Ashamm, anticipating this move, used the power of runes to create multiple clones of himself. Using one of his clones to replace him in where he was, Ashamm's real body went into the ground and hid.

"When did he inscribe the runes for clones? I didn't see him do that. Damn, there's no chance for me to make my own inscriptions for clones. I will have to battle with all of them." The Professor said as he was already dodging the attacks from the clones. Each of them only carried one-third of Ashamm's original strength, so they weren't much of a hassle.

Each of the clones had a smirk on their face and this making Professor Gorr feel uneasy.

"Gorr!! Step down or your granddaughter will have to part with you!" Professor Gorr heard Ashamm's voice coming from behind him.

The hairs on his neck stood as panic struck him. He immediately held back and stayed where he was.

"I swear if you lay a hand on her, I will kill you Ashamm!" Professor Gorr threatened.

"Lay a hand on her? You already put a protective barrier over her I can't touch her." Ashamm pushed his hand forward and broke through the barrier that was protecting Elena quite easily, subsequently using his hand to penetrate her back.

Professor Gorr saw Ashamm's hand pass through Elena's stomach and he felt his world crashing…