Chapter 53: The forgotten title (1/2)
Chapter 53 The forgotten title
‘Interesting man, maybe I’ll ask him about the journal I found and the pyramid key.’ Ilea thought as she got up from the chair to join Agor and Jasper. Agor had returned a couple minutes ago and it seemed he had found nothing amiss with her story, otherwise he wouldn’t be walking as relaxed.
“So it seems your information was top notch. Would’ve definitely cost us more time to get through all those traps. The weapons and armor are a solid find as well. I assume you got yours there too?” Jasper said as she reached them.
“Nah, fell off a wagon in Dawntree.” Ilea said and smirked as she got her helmet back on.
“You can keep it, doesn’t matter if there’s fifty or forty nine. Guess some people will help themselves as well.” Agor said but Jasper didn’t seem to find it as funny. He didn’t say anything more though and motioned to the doorway that led to the teleportation gate.
“So you want us to follow, the scouts are doing their jobs and setting up a way down to the armory will take at least a couple hours. Let’s do this now then, shall we.” Jasper said and Ilea nodded with her horned helmet before walking towards the door.
Agor and Jasper followed her as she entered and led them through the destroyed trap rooms. Seeing their hesitation she explained. “I checked through here, there’s no active trap. Hope you guys have a way of flying though, the next one is a big chasm much like the way to the armory...” she finished just as they entered the stairway to the turret trap room. She took the silence as an answer and assumed there wouldn’t be a problem.
Ilea jumped off from the destroyed edge of the once astonishing bridge. Flying through the air, her wings of ash materialized and moved to keep her there. She flew upwards a couple meters and turned around to see the others looking at her.
“Always wanted wings...oh well.” Agor said and jumped off. He touched his arm and a massive dark chipped great sword materialized in his hand. He fell downwards before he moved the sword below himself when a massive burst of red fire exited from the blade’s top that was now pointing behind him. Like a rocket he first stopped falling and then shot towards the other side with comparable speed to Ilea’s wings. Ilea smirked at the “wohooooo!” that came from the less and less serious seeming Agor.
Jasper just sighed and jumped off too. Ilea saw with her magic perception that there were blue magical fields forming below his feet from which he jumped off. He stopped and looked at her two steps later, motioning for her to lead the way. ‘Still doesn’t trust me eh? Well he’s smarter than me...’ she thought and shrugged before flying off, trying to catch Agor.
She closed in on the man but didn’t quite manage to pass him with the lead he had before he slammed into the opposite wall. Right before reaching the wall, the fire had stopped and he made the sword disappear again before slamming his outstretched hands into the stone.
Slowly working his way downwards, he reached Ilea who was already waiting in the doorway. The two stayed there and waited for Jasper who was still quite a way off. “Storage ring?” she asked the man. He shook his head and showed her a bracelet on his arm.
“Just for the weapon, was a gift by my favourite smith, love that guy.” he said and stuffed the bracelet back into the gauntlet.
“Who is he if I may ask?” Ilea said while playing with her dagger that she took with her.
“His name is Balduur Birch, resides in a village near Morhill. Mention me and bring him something interesting to work with and you’re golden.” he answered. Jasper arrived then and Ilea moved onwards. Before the two followed her down into the once dark and monster infested swimming pool, Jasper stopped her.
“I want to know why you dragged us two down here first. No secrets this time.”
Ilea sighed. “Alright. There’s a lone centurion down there. Likely around level 300. I wanted to beat it alone but I guessed you wouldn’t just let me leave the expedition at this point. So how about it...is that enough for the information I provided?”
The two others looked at one another, Jasper lifting his right eyebrow at Agor. “I’ll stay out of it Lilith but I can’t speak for Agor here. I assume it’s been a while since he found something close enough to his level to kill.” he said and Agor just nodded.
“You and me girl. Trust me it’s still worth it for the levels if the thing really is 300. Last one I fought was around there as well if I remember right. Wouldn’t want to miss that fight...I owe you one.” he said, nodding towards her.
Ilea sighed again “Oh well, why did you lead this expedition down here again?” she looked at Jasper who just shrugged at her with an uncaring expression. “Down we go then, don’t be scared by the squid.” she said and jumped down the hole. Before hitting the ground, she activated her wings and flew to the next doorway, looking sideways at the tentacle monster and hulling up her nose at the more and more intense smell of decay coming from the corpse.
Ilea noticed that the water was ever so slightly higher since her last venture into this part of the great hall. ‘A leak somewhere then...’ she thought as she waited for the others in the room before the teleportation one.
“Jasper I’d prefer you leave the room once you confirmed the centurion. I don’t want to lose any experience because of your presence.” she said and Agor put his hand on the man’s shoulder.
“She’s right you know.” he said and Jasper just shook his head.
“Sure, sure. I’ll never get you battle maniacs...”
“How’d you get to 200 again old man?” Agor asked him and chuckled.
The three went into the next room where the centurion slowly came to life. The light above reflected on the machine’s carapace, shining on the light amount of dust in the room.
“Here we go then, Jasper you’re convinced?” Ilea asked as she got off her helmet and chucked it to the side. It landed with a clang as Jasper nodded and left the room swiftly.
“He’d be a big help you know...” Agor said after the man had left and the centurion started to advance towards them.
“Oh I’m quite sure...but even you are unnecessary here...my spiky friend.” Ilea said as her buffs activated. This was no place to hide any of her power, even if Agor was there and Jasper likely had a way of seeing what was happening.
“Spiky hmm? Well you’re just as unnecessary...and removing the helmet doesn’t mean your armor ain’t spiky...” he finished as his great sword materialized, the red fire that was used to propel him before now coming from both the sword and his body.
The centurion threw its spear at Ilea who dodged to the side easily, slowly advancing on the creature before starting into a sprint. Agor followed her example and flanked the centurion. ‘Well maybe I can save some time at least...’ she thought as she reached the creature who immediately thrust its spear towards her. She dodged with her body without moving in and was satisfied when the machine turned around to block an incoming sword hit by Agor.
Using the split second to its fullest, Ilea moved in and delivered two punches before blocking the butt of the centurion’s spear with the palm of her hand. It didn’t pierce but she was thrown back a couple meters, landing on her feet. Contrary to what she’d expected no spear throw followed and she looked on as Agor blocked the spear attacks with swift movements of his ridiculously large sword.
‘Fuck it...’ she thought and blinked next to the creature’s head to deliver a kick. Destruction and Wave of Ember released into its head followed by the kinetic force of her full weight and strength supported by all her stats. It didn’t unbalance the centurion but its attention was on her before a heavy swing of the chipped great sword hit its torso.
The sound of metal on metal could be heard before both Ilea and Agor quickly retreated a couple meters back. “Not bad, that the move you used to get behind that scout?” Agor asked and she nodded. “Why didn’t I get a short range teleport move...annoying.” he said and moved in again. Ilea followed.
The two could match the centurion in speed and certainly in ferocity. Blow upon blow was delivered, not leaving the enemy enough time to focus on one of them for long enough to pin them down. Five minutes later the machine went into its defensive phase. “Second phase eh...” Agor said.
“They do that all the time? Third is the reckless one then. How would you categorize the self destruct in the end?” she asked with a smirk.
“I guess we have two experiences then to confirm the theory. The self destruct? It’s the last ditch effort and the only thing dangerous about these fuckers.” he said.
“Hah, you would be skewered by its spear with a single hit...” she said while dodging a throw. Blinking in, her fist hit the machine’s fist and she was blown backwards. Her destructive mana had been delivered nonetheless.
“That’s why there’s a healer here...” he said as his sword hit one of the machine’s legs with a loud crash. He let go of it to lean backwards and dodged a swipe in doing so. Landing on his right hand he pushed himself to the left, away from the creature’s spear thrust. The sword had vanished and appeared again in time to come between the spear and his armor.