Chapter 120: Diamonds in the sky (1/2)

The ranged attacks slowly showed their effect as the monster’s wounds closed slower, more and more burned flesh remaining as it was but the dog certainly wasn’t out of tricks. With a sudden and faster than expected movement, no doubt helped by magic or a skill, the beast turned around, doing a barrel roll with its whole mass. Ilea blinked away as far as she could but was still caught in the cascade of flesh and bone, the impact flinging her downwards and into the salt ground before the mass of the beast followed, its immediate impact preventing her from blinking away.

Teeth and tentacles tried to grind down her defenses as she screamed and punched back, the mana leaving her body before it burned into the monster’s flesh. Her defenses were breached and the impacts rocked through her, the juggernaut armor the only thing preventing her death. Summoning her bladed weapons, she cut through several tentacles and crouched down before she blinked out of her predicament, the skill working again after the beast’s assault was interrupted and she wasn’t in direct contact anymore.

‘Damn that was close...’ she thought, inspecting the blunt damage she had received from the attacks. Were it not for her armor, she wasn’t sure about her survival with that one. ‘That’s what it’s there for though...’ she grinned and punched her armored chest, the veil of ash appearing around her again, healing mana flowing through her. The monster slowly crept upwards and out of the crater it had created with its skill, moving towards Ilea with a frenzy. She didn’t blink away and instead answered with a hard punch of her own, their momentum adding together to shred both the beast’s flesh and Ilea’s arm and shoulder.

The damage healed quickly as the beast continued to push against the woman with its full weight, spikes of bone and sharpened limbs pushed against her defenses as she hit back with all she had. The tactic worked and would kill the beast in time as both the somewhat friendly demon and Trian were bombarding it from a distance, their full attention focused on dealing more damage to their foe.

Ilea’s heels pushed into the salt ground, pressured by the unrelenting attacks. She blinked away right before her veil was broken through again and calmed down, the beast slowing down its assault, not following her immediately but instead breathing hard as it locked eyes with the woman, still standing after all of its attacks. Ilea just smiled below her helmet, every second the monster gave her another second spent with meditation. Every second another strike she would deliver.

Their stare down didn’t last long, Ilea not even sure it counted considering their differing numbers of eyes. Lightning rained from above and into the monster’s exposed back, covered by less and less protective bone. Blood pooled on the ground below, creating a scent of death in the area as Ilea advanced again, tired of waiting. There was no way of telling if the beast had a regenerative ability as well and she didn’t want it to focus on Trian, his healing was substantially worse than her own. Plus it was fun.

Her hit landed right in the somewhat reformed leg of the creature, its body changing to the form of a dog again, although much of its flesh had molten, the transformation hard to watch. Worst of it was the sound as bones moved around inside of the massive monster, increasing Ilea’s wish for its timely demise. The punches continued as more and more of her mana pulsed into the beast, her power near the maximum as she attacked with the highest efficiency, recovering her mana whenever possible with meditation and azarinth reversal, weaving in and out of the monster’s reach and attacks, moving fast and slowing down whenever possible.

It was only a matter of time now until the weakened beast would fall, its attacks coming slower and weaker while Ilea’s increased in both power and quantity. More and more of its flesh was burning, neither of the Hand’s members stopping their attacks for longer than a couple seconds, each alternating in their pauses to stop their foe from resting. Another turning move was executed by the flesh dog, this time much slower and weaker, Ilea simply blinking backwards and in again after it had landed.

Several more minutes of attacking later the monster fell down, the light in its eyes vanishing and a reassuring message popping into Ilea’s mind. The fight was over, her death as close as ever.

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Abomination of despair – lvl 330]. For defeating an enemy one hundred and twenty levels or more above your, bonus experience is granted.’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached level 211 – 5 Stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Body of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 13’

No further messages appeared, leaving Ilea a little disappointed in the fight and hoping there would be two or three of the dogs next time. Progress was progress and she moved on, dragging the massive corpse of the beast away and checking for any loot that might’ve dropped. It was a scarce thing but with monsters as big as this one there was always hope. A crystal of sorts actually was actually lying next to the corpse and Ilea blinked closer to examine it.

[Mana crystal 50/50 – High Quality]

Storing the thin in her necklace left her at ninety out of her maximum two hundred and fifty carrying capacity. The weapons she still carried were the heaviest even after putting most of them into her new house. She quickly went over the items in her mind, noting the remaining 2350 gold, the Tungsten Key, a bunch of food and many other items. Even after building the house and buying a lot of Keyla’s food her finances were off the charts.

‘Perhaps I should invest in something...’ she thought before she checked through the dozens of other items in her necklace. Truly a marvelous item. ‘Still have those elven corpses...’

“What are you lost in thought for? The demon is slain, rejoice.” Trian said as he landed next to her.

“What are you a priest? Know what a mana crystal is?” she asked the man.

“Found one? They’re pretty rare. Usually rich individuals use them to power unnecessary enchantments. They break after they empty but fetch a nice price.” he finished when the demon horde approached, the mind weaver at the front of it.

“Would you… claim this prize?” the demon asked in their minds.

“The corpse? Do with it what you like.” Ilea said and shrugged towards Trian who nodded back.

“Not a necromancer so these bones are useless to me.” he said. A moment later the demons including the mind weaver fell over the corpse like a starved swarm of piranhas, cutting and slashing through the monstrosity with a fervor Ilea had seldom seen, it did remind her of the time at the shitty fast food place however.

“Aaah burgers.” she said, smiling at the bloodbath before her. ‘Guess it looks like that where they’re made.’ she thought, looking around the area. “We’ll go and check out what that thing was looking for or guarding. Join us when you’re done.” she said towards the demon, feeling an affirmative pulse of his mind magic a moment later. Trian followed as she flew upwards, checking around the area.

‘There’s nothing here...’ she thought, seeing the craters likely created by the monster’s defensive measures against invaders to its territory. Trian moved past her and towards the ground between some of the dents in the salt. “You found something?” she asked and followed, landing next to the man on the hard salt rock.

“There’s something below… see anything with your skill?” Trian said, his voice a little excited.

“What is it? This doesn’t seem like you...” Ilea asked.

“The magical pulse… it’s well… indescribable.” he answered, Ilea rolling her eyes.

‘Nerd...’ she thought, summoning her obsidian gauntlets and lifting them high. A loud boom echoed through the salt plains when her fists landed on the rock, creating cracks while sending big chunks outwards. Ilea continued to pound the ground for ten minutes, Trian standing to the side and ignoring the ridiculousness of the situation when Ilea finally exclaimed loudly with a cheer.

“I can see something!” Trian moved closer immediately, shielding himself from the flying rocks with his hands, some of it striking his helmet and making him flinch.

“What is it? Describe it to me...” he said, moving even closer to Ilea, digging like a madwoman.

“It’s like the start of a diamond, or some other geometrical form… I don’t remember. Can’t look past it sadly...” she finished. A couple minutes later the two stood inside a new crater and looked at the shiny gray metal before them. The exposed side of the structure below.

“This doesn’t look like salt.” Ilea said.

“Or anything those monsters could create… are they still eating?” Trian looked towards the direction of the other group while Ilea inched her hand closer to the metal before the man appeared next to her and grabbed it.

“Don’t touch it.”