Chapter 241: Contact (1/2)

Coming out into the valley, Ilea ducked back behind a big boulder. An arcane storm was passing by above and the valley was simply too vast to provide ample cover. The tail she saw belonged to a snake, glistening green as the lightning hit it. The hiss that followed was enough to freeze her in place.

‘ding’ ‘You have heard a mighty beast’s roar. You are paralyzed for 15 seconds.’

What the hell is at that Cliffs dungeon when that humongous snake only paralyzes me for fifteen seconds. She didn’t know if the size and strength of an animal would influence the paralyze duration, maybe it had to do with the sound they could produce alone. Or it was a separate skill they used for hunting. Maybe I should’ve just stayed and leveled until my armor broke. She considered if no armor wasn’t just as fine but losing an arm or getting cut deeply would have her spend more mana on healing.

A dangerous hit could end her life so she wasn’t about to continue unprepared. At least not if there were other options she could exploit first. Taking a glance again, the snake had moved on as well as whatever beast she had heard roaring earlier. The valley looked like not a living thing had passed through in a hundred years, the sky above as calm as on a sunny afternoon near a desert. It just took that lightning…

Checking for storms, she kept on the side of the valley and rushed through as quickly as possible, right until the crack in the middle could be seen. Ilea quickly blinked towards in and flew down, landing on her feet a moment later. The area around here seemed deserted as well, likely because the huge snake had just passed through. Flying onward, she kept her Hunter’s Sight activated to find any trail she might miss otherwise.

The map he had given her helped tremendously with navigating the terrain. Dead ends were visible and knowing where more cover was, she became more bold with traveling the surface. Storms could appear and move quickly but when her next destination lied just fifteen seconds of flying away, she’d risk it. Plus her armor might take another hit without her dying in it. After that she would stop being so reckless. At least against nature. That would be a lame death. Killed by lightning.

She had no plans of stopping until she could punch the lightning to death herself. For two hours she traveled through the cracks, only finding small critters that fled immediately when they heard or saw her. The Root Vault couldn’t have been far anymore, Ilea coming into the crevice that according to her map led right up to the dungeon. Slowing down and focusing on her Hunter’s Sight, she took in every little pebble in her sphere and through the hunting skill.

Jumping over a small hill, she saw the first roots. The area darkened, leading further down as the crack in the land turned into a cave. More and more roots as big as herself showed, breaking through the stone as they grew. Wood magic, let’s see if that girl can show me something like this when I come back…

The cave where she thought the dungeon started led downwards in a steep angle, thorns big enough to impale a human broke out of the roots, illuminated by glowing plants further down. Ilea wasn’t fooled. This wasn’t some oasis in the wasteland that was the north, this was a deathtrap. Only powerful magic could create what lay before her. Focusing back around her, she was successful even before finding the hidden pockets the elf had mentioned.

Fresh blood. She crouched down and touched the red stain on the rock. Someone or something was injured. And it was recent. Her sense of smell coupled with her Sphere quickly led her towards a small cave entrance to the side of the glen, helped by Hunter’s Sight. It was dark when she blinked into the tunnel, water dripping from the ceiling somewhere but she could still smell the blood. After several jumps further down, nearly no light found its way into the dark cave anymore. Her eyes could still make out silhouettes but Ilea was mostly trusting her sphere at that point.

She could hear voices and saw light flicker on the walls five minutes later, her quick pace quickly finding whatever was bleeding. A gruff and deep voice talked quietly, Ilea slowing down as she got closer. “It’s gonna be alright warlock.”

“Something is coming.” A second voice said, ethereal as if wisps had followed the sound to Ilea’s ears. She stepped closer and saw the group in her sphere. A lizardman holding a nasty cut in his belly, a hooded and masked figure looking her way. The last one was something that looked like a robot, legs and hands connected to a big torso and core with straight connecting pieces as well as tubes that continued before they plugged into its back. Tubes came out of its shoulders ending in valves. The robot was holding its hand onto the wound when the lizardman coughed.

The hooded figure suddenly appeared before her, a sword clad in black lightning advancing on her. Ilea instinctively moved to the right, hitting his hand with her left wrist before she punched at the figure’s side with her fist. A quick move and the man hit the wall of the cave hard, something breaking in the process.

[Rogue – lvl 172]

Ilea walked on towards the other two after checking his vitals with a tendril of ash, “Stay down.” The robot turned to her when she approached, saws extending out of his arms. Yellow eyes stared at her in the dark, “I’m a healer.” She said and continued towards the lizardman, the robot not moving as he watched her. She put her back towards him and checked up on the lizard, “What happened to him? His health is draining quickly.”

Poison or a curse, She thought as her healing mana pushed into the creature. He groaned in pain making the robot tense up a little behind her, two spear like objects slowly extending out of its chest.

“Stop… Stonebreaker…,” The ethereal voice said as the man moved closer, holding his shoulder before he winced. “She is… healing him.” He finished and sacked down, the robot rushing at his side.

“What did you do?” His deep voice asked, still remaining as quiet as it had been before.

Ilea stabilized the lizardman, his eyes closing as the poison or curse racked through his body. “His shoulder is damaged, nothing more. He has several cuts on his legs that worry me more but those didn’t come from me.”

“Damn fool.” The robot said and tried ripping away the mantle covering the man’s legs but was stopped.

“I will be fine. No poison.” The ethereal voice said and Ilea could see wisps of smoke coming out from behind the black mask under the hood, its smooth surface turning her way.

Ilea continued healing, “I’ll take care of him afterwards.”

The robot nodded and answered her initial question, “One of the monstersin the nearby dungeon. He was poisoned.”

Shequietly continued. Whatever poison it was, it was strong. “Did you not know the dungeon would have venomous animals in it?” She asked and looked at the robot.

He walked over to her and crouched down next to the lizardman, “Of course we did.” He didn’t elaborate further as he held one of the lizard’s hands.

His voice isn’t coming from the head, Ilea noticed. Were her own body poisoned she’d be healed already but the different biology of the lizardman made it even harder than healing another human. She trusted her skill fully, not helping guide the mana or focusing overly on specific parts of his body. “No antidote? Do you have whatever caused the poison? Maybe it helps.”

The robot nodded, checking one of the packs lying next to the lizard before he took a small box out, “No antidote yet. The alchemist has given up on it,their poison varying in properties and even changing from time to time.” He took out a monster’s claw that looked more like a thorn, gray and ending in a sharp slightly glistening tip, about as big as her hand. “Careful lassie.”

She just looked at him and grabbed the thing. Rolling down the pant leg where her armor had been taken, she turned the thorn and pushed it into her leg. The thing penetrated to her blood with a little bit more force, the robot standing as if frozen before he rushed at her, “Don’t move so rapidly.” Ilea said, her ashen limbs lashing out to make him stop, “You’ll poison yourself too.”

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by Drop Saurian venom, -25 Health per second for five minutes.

Enough to kill me and that’s from a single scratch of this thing. She looked at the lizardman and frowned. He was over it already luckily. Good thing I found them, perhaps they wouldn’t be up for trading if their friend just died. The lizardman was at level one forty and the robot man at one eighty, both identifying as mages.

“Why would you poison yourself?” The robot asked, obviously confused when the lizardman woke and gasped for air. Ilea let go of him and simply let healing mana flow through herself, the pain a dull tugging in her leg as she walked over to the other mage. He tensed up when she touched him but relaxed when she took care of first his shoulder and then the cuts on his leg. Something about his anatomy was fascinating.

Ilea continued looking at him through her healing skill even after his cuts had been healed, “What are you?” She asked in fascination, looking at his mask. He pushed her away a little and got up, Ilea not resisting. “No wonder you can’t get poisoned.” She said, turning to the others. The rogue didn’t reply and neither did she press. It was likely offensive already to whatever race he was a part of. Not that she cared much, he had attacked her after all.