Chapter 98: Statistics (1/2)

Ilea blinked around Kyrian as usual and tried to find a gap in his defensive line of metal. More and more Ash was released to wards the somewhat stationary man, making it hard for him to see the moving target. Occasionally an arrow was loosed both towards Kyrian and the runes on the ground around him. Even with her high amount of Curse Resistance it was a massive detriment to enter his domain. Combined with the high amount of spheres still hovering around him it meant nothing else but death.

An important lesson that every member of their team had learned in the span of the past three months was that Ilea didn’t quite fear death as much as she probably should. ‘There it is...’ she thought and blinked into the curse rune and close to her target. Ash whirled around her foot as her kick connected, the formed spike of ash cutting into the unprotected back of Kyrian’s knee with added Wave of Ember and Destruction spells.

The spheres expanded and cut deep into Ilea’s protections, drawing blood on both her face, leg and side. She ripped away from the metal and blinked backwards in the same time Kyrian buckled on his injured knee, catching himself with an arm on one of his spheres. A mist of needles followed Ilea’s last position but she was already lost in the sea of dark air, heavy with ash.

Her wounds healed in seconds while the shroud of ash around her closed even quicker. Another arrow was loosed towards the man and this time the deflection led the spear directly into the runes on the ground below him. Their effect wouldn’t vanish immediately when the runes were disturbed but it would weaken over time. The curse’s effect on Ilea was already waning as she circled in the air around her defensive opponent whose only attack was the hovering needles and spheres of metal traveling through the ash, trying to find something to connect with.

Azarinth Hunter Sphere combined with Ilea’s speed and perception were too much for such a tactic to bear any fruit. The flying metal was simply a small obstacle course for her to overcome with flying and blinking before she would inevitably arrive again to deliver her deadly payload of destructive mana and physical force. Kyrian had formed spheres around all his joints, making him both more protected but also more immobile.

A tactic he had used against Ilea with more and less success before. Her answer was simple arrows at first but as time went on so did Kyrian’s perception and speed of both movement and manipulating the metal around himself increase. Her attacks would be deflected in the last moments, bringing the fight to a stalemate.

Even though his defensive spheres could take Ilea’s fully powered punch, there was one thing they didn’t quite manage to block. Ilea blinked in behind the man, spikes forming around the spheres closest to her as parts of his armor loosened to pierce her as well. Two spheres moved to intercept her and expanded into discs when a black obsidian gauntlet materialized on her moving fist before impacting on the defensive measures put in place.

A loud clang resounded through the hall as metal spikes impacted Ilea’s shroud of ash, the needles coming from behind deflected by her wings. Some of the metal managed to pierce and draw blood while cursing the target but while Kyrian managed to partially pierce Ilea’s defenses, the heavy fist crashed both metal disks together and landed them right on his back, putting all of her enhanced body’s strength combined with the weight of black obsidian into one punch.

Kyrian remained standing, stabilizing himself on two metal spheres before Ilea vanished again. Seven more of the same encounters happened in the next thirty seconds, each of them ending in more damage to Kyrian while she simply healed the damage done to her. Not enough time was left for the metal mage to orient himself against the assault. The last punch was too much for him and with an awkward angle, Kyrian couldn’t stabilize himself against the force anymore.

The impact of the fist shot the man forward through his own field of metal spheres, one of them impacting his head and ending his flight rather quickly and with another impact on his back. Ilea knew how much he could take but this hit would be the end of their fight. He would still put up an impressive defense even while lying injured on the ground but it was only a matter of time for her to push through, she had proven that many a time before.

“Over?” she asked and got a painful groan in response, all metal clattering to the ground around her. Ilea concentrated and all the ash in the air around them slowly came downwards before the floor was covered in a dark gray carpet. She blinked to the man when his helmet vanished. Iana had added the feature but informed them that the whole armor sadly wasn’t possible with her skills.

Blood came out of his mouth and he looked at her with pained eyes. She touched his face and pushed her healing mana inside of him.

“Well done.” Trian said from the side as everyone clapped for the two. “Another one for the healer.” he said with an added layer of mockery in his tone. Something Ilea gave up on removing, probably too ingrained with his being. She sat down on Kyrian’s armor and finished healing him in the next minute or two. His back was severely injured and she doubted the man could even stand if he wanted to. He was ill suited to fight her but Ilea knew that it came down to her Ash Surge and Curse Resistance. Without either the fights would turn out quite differently.

No Ash Surge meant a more even field and Kyrian had even managed to win a couple of those fights against her. Against Trian it looked a little different, both for Ilea and for Kyrian. Ilea lost over half her fights against the noble but she was catching up slowly, especially since reaching the second tiers of her Ash Wielder skills and Lightning Resistance. Kyrian on the other hand won nearly every fight against Trian. The lightning was easily deflected and Trian had no way of countering the curse, even with his high mobility. Neither did he have a way to shroud Kyrian’s vision as Ilea’s Ash Surge did. And lastly he lost if he simply went for an attack like Ilea did. His vampyrism didn’t quite counteract the damage Kyrian’s metal managed to dish out.

“Nicely done Ilea. It’s still impressive to see someone able to punch through Kyrian’s defense. He might even be a more efficient tank than you are.” Joseph said, nodding to both of them.

“Only until he gets hit.” Eve said from the side and giggled, getting an annoyed grunt from Trian. The noble was likely annoyed at his inability to land exactly that first hit and that a simple punch of Ilea managed to land while his lightning did next to nothing.

“Those gauntlets of yours are still frightening to me...” Claire said. The woman had refused any help offered from Ilea regarding new specialized gear from Balduur. She had at least met with Iana to discuss enchanting and her runes but that was it. The woman usually sat behind her defensive domes while she summoned explosions around herself or tried to trap her opponents in a dome themselves. Everything about her had improved but considering everyone else didn’t stand still either Ilea considered her the second weakest one on one fighter in their team.

Whenever they would split up and fight each other the team with Claire usually won though so there was that.

“Why didn’t Kyrian get that metal?” Eve asked, helping the man up after he was completely healed by Ilea. Claire summoned a bunch of wind to clean the ash away while they talked.

“It’s too heavy. The manipulation skill doesn’t negate weight.” Trian explained, an interjection he likely wouldn’t have made three months ago. Ilea was glad he at least started interacting with them somewhat normally. “The only reason this brute is able to wield it is because of her storage bracelets.” he said, getting a smile from Ilea.

“Aww, are you still mad that somebody else has storage items?” Ilea asked, making him lift his hand but put it down quickly after. He shook his head and visibly tried to calm down. ‘At least he learns...’ Ilea smirked and punched her fists together. “Who’s next?”

“Actually I have some info on your job that starts tomorrow.” Joseph said, calming the mood down a bit.

“Yea I have some questions as well, most importantly we’ll be back for the tournament right?” Eve asked. The woman had been going on about it for the past four weeks already and the others were mostly ignoring it. Claire was the only one sharing the enthusiasm and talked about opportunities for new tactics and seeing other teams fight.

“About that, that’s the reason I’ve been somewhat absent from your trainings in the past two weeks but as you were training outside of the designated time anyway it’s no matter. It starts in two weeks so you should be fine. The job is a simple monster extermination in a silver mine north of the Isanna Desert. About three weeks travel eastwards with a caravan but I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it back in time.” Joseph explained, handing Claire a piece of paper.

“Is that all we have to go on?” she asked after looking the piece over and even checking the backside.

“That’s more than many usually work with. The Shadow’s Hand isn’t called for a weak or known enemy.” Joseph said, crossing his arms in front of himself.

“Four teams of adventurers already went in and nobody came back. One of the teams was twenty people strong, their leader at level 150.” Claire checked through the information again.

“How long you think we need there?” Eve whispered to Ilea, standing next to her.

“Half a day? Not sure, you’re pretty heavy.” Ilea whispered back and got a joking punch to her side, ignoring the whispered threat of murder.

“We’ll be careful and if we can’t handle it we can just leave again or get reinforcements. Pay happens after completion.” Kyrian commented and Joseph nodded.

“We never get swindled?” Ilea asked, smiling.

“Oh they try. We have a certain… reputation when it comes to that.” Joseph said and mirrored her expression, a rather rare sight on his face. Ilea nodded in understanding.