Chapter 143: Bloody Entrails (1/2)

Perhaps it wasn’t quite an impossibility to beat it and maybe not a lot more people had to die to accomplish it. Ilea pushed on deeper and deeper into the beast before she felt mana gather again, this time much closer than before. She quickly found the best cover she could found and cut into the flesh to keep herself more steady. The sound shattered her freshly healed eardrums immediately, as her whole body shook from the vibrations running through it.

Ilea felt her bones slowly crack at the sheer intensity of the attack. She gulped, thinking that perhaps it was a little too brave and stupid to simply rush into the monster’s mouth. One thing she had realized though was that the beast could only use its sound attack every minute, or simply chose to only do it that often. Looking back she also saw through the closing mouth that the target this time had been a big part of Ravenhall itself. They had managed to turn the whale around and used its attack against the demons now splattered in the rubble of the once proud human city. A big chunk would be destroyed and it likely wasn’t the last of its attacks.

Ilea was back at nearly full health as she pushed further, too far to turn back now. At least she could use Meditation whenever the monster attacked so her mana was looking fine still. She could take another one or two attacks before it became too much to recover. At least as long as one of them didn’t outright kill her.

Another attack later she had found it, the source of the vibrations and the monster’s attacks. It was a massive red organ with hundreds of holes, held in place by dozens of tendons. So Ilea got to cutting. The minute was barely over when the organ started vibrating, Ilea having cut through around half of the tendons connected to it. Sadly she needed around ten strikes to get through just one of the thick connections.

Being in the same place as the organ allowed her to blink behind it where the force of the spell was considerably lessened. She breathed out, having though that being this close might’ve been enough to kill her. Her recklessness prevailed, perhaps it had been inflated by her inability to win against the demon and the elder. The sound attack wasn’t enough to kill her outright from further away and with her safely cutting through more connections behind the organ, it was now irrelevant if it would’ve had killed her had she stood right in front of it.

The attack ended and Ilea finished removing the last three connections at the top of the massive ball like object which fell down with a loud squelchy noise. “Absolutely fucking disgusting.” she said.

“Indeed. Good job on not dying.” Aki commented, finally saying something.

“You alright? Didn’t know you slept in the day.” Ilea asked.

“Oh I was awake but you get easily distracted. And I believe you did a good job there. This last one might’ve been a little risky but hey, it paid off. There’s a reason for your fast growth after all.” the dagger said and Ilea found herself agreeing. Though others might deem it stupid or too risky, the feeling of pure adrenaline, sheer power and bliss of overcoming something this gigantic and overwhelming was worth every bit of risk involved in it.

“Now let’s finish this beast.” she said and worked her way back, this time taking care of every single organ she could find. It was a hard and long job to do and the whale moved around much more by now, reduced to using its body to smash the opponents. Its speed was surprising for the size but likely not enough to catch any of the flying adventurers off guard. Ilea didn’t feel a heavy impact at all, so the beast probably wasn’t intelligent enough to smash the people on the ground who couldn’t fly.

A whopping twenty minutes later, Ilea got a message in her head and the whale started sinking down towards the ground. A big grin spread across her face before it vanished just as quickly as it had come. “Probably need to leave.” she said to herself as she rushed towards the mouth of the beast. Ilea nearly made it before a heavy impact went through the whale and Ilea found herself on the monster’s throat as the full weight of its upper body pushed downwards.

The only saving grace was that this wasn’t a cave coming down on her but a body of flesh and blood. Considering the monster’s size, a lack of air wouldn’t become a problem either for quite some time. Ilea got up again after the corpse had settled and started making her way outwards.

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Rel Kazuuk – Bane of the deep – lvl 823] For defeating an enemy six hundred levels above your own, you receive bonus experience.

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached level 220 – Five Stat points awarded.’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached level 221 – Five Stat points awarded.’

‘ding’ ‘You have gained one 3rd tier skill point in [Azarinth First Hunter].’

‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached level 216 – Five Stat points awarded.’

‘ding’ ‘Veil of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 19’

‘Hmm, something good after all...’ she thought after reading through her messages. Choosing the next third tier skill to advance would probably be difficult but she had a favorite already. For now she wanted to check on the situation outside. There was still a demon horde waiting to be destroyed and possibly survivors of the Hand to be healed. Ilea sang a song in her head as she pushed through the flesh and blood of her fallen enemy with closed eyes, using her Sphere to navigate as she tried to not burn the slimy experience into her brain.

“Aaaaaah, air.” Ilea exclaimed as she came out of the whale’s mouth, covered nearly completely in blood and pieces of flesh.

“God you stink.” a man said who was standing at least four meters away from her. “Larina, can you spare one of your spells?” he asked and looked over to a woman dressed in shiny blue armor that sparkled where the sun hit it with its light.

“We have more important things to consider than smell.” she said as magic gathered in front of her hands. “Oh goddess of water and rebirth, send thy power through me.” she exclaimed before a torrent of water shot out with the speed of a flying arrow. Ilea watched as a charging group of demons was pushed back, their bodies smashed as if hit by the weight of a metal hammer. Ilea was pretty sure the prayer like line wasn’t really needed.

“She survived, we can go back now.” the woman said which got a nod from the man who unsheathed a curved sword before he vanished, appearing near the stragglers of demons still approaching. Ilea watched as the demons suddenly fell apart, their limbs removed by slashes nearly too fast for her to recognize. She summoned some ash to try and clean herself, surprised that this time it actually worked. Well it did somewhat, removing a big part of the mess, leaving her presentable enough for a battlefield with thousands of demons and seasoned adventurers.

“All forces unattended should find a team leader or the commander.” the woman said towards Ilea who nodded.

“I’ll find him. Thanks for checking on me.” she said, receiving a nod from the woman who started floating upwards as small spear like objects of water formed in front of her before they were loosed in a high arch towards the city. What remained of the city at least. Ilea was standing on a small hill outside Ravenhall, still mostly covered in snow and with the corpse of the whale to her left. Wings spread behind her as she slowly ascended, Meditation flowing through her and helping her recover her mana more quickly.

Ravenhall was demolished. A big chunk of the city had been completely mowed down by the sound attacks from the whale. Sulivhaan had likely considered its destructive capabilities sufficient to attack both the city and the demons while placing a smaller priority on the infrastructure. They could rebuild it, of that Ilea was certain. Where the town had been hit, a massive breach opened the walls and demons were pouring out in the thousands, loosened by the death of likely most of their commanders and not caged anymore by the city’s high buildings.

A second breach where the whale had initially landed showed the same scene, thousands of monsters pouring out and running into the destructive spells of dozens of high leveled mages. Ilea ascended higher and found a big part of the city burning. The Hand had moved closer together and with the enemy command crumbling, they could show their true capabilities. A fire storm was unleashed, its light bright enough to blind Ilea for the fraction of a second as it incinerated hundreds of demons in the blink of an eye. Above the seconds breach a mage unleashed a storm of wind, cutting apart several dozen running demons who fell down, bleeding from hundreds of cuts each.

The demons already had difficulties funneling through the two massive breaches, so high were their numbers. The building corpses on the ground combined with all the blood, ice and other elements still lingering from spells made the run even harder. However few demons made it through to the defensive line of warriors, rogues and rangers were completely demolished by an assortment of teleporting monsters of men, blades flashing as everyone displayed their skills honed with years of experience.