Chapter 280: Green Memories (1/2)
“Lassie you done with the king?” Terok asked, stepping up to her. Ilea noted the drilling had stopped a while ago, the tunnel looking to be improving ever so slightly.
Looking at Maro, she shrugged, “For now. I hope you’re not unproductive either Maro.”
He snorted, “Don’t worry Ilea, I’m working on world domination plans as we speak. My unrelenting power and necromantic will shall tower over all. Elana reads to me sometimes.”
She nodded and walked off, Terok falling in next to her, “Good enough. What is it? I hope you’re not asking for help with your drilling. Neither my fists nor ash are particularly good at the job.”
“No. I was thinking to explore the Taleen dungeon to the north. Been talking to the elf and he knows some interesting things. Might be able to improve my armor if I go and explore a little there. You being here I assume the Descent isn’t exactly going as well as it could.”
Ilea smiled at him, “It’s going. Not particularly quick to level up there but Taleen machines are probably not the best either.” Centurions might be reasonable. Would be interesting to see how I handle them now. Maybe face a Praetorian… if there’s a single one there.
Terok nodded, “Well I can’t make you. Thought I’d ask at least. You there to destroy the machines and walk through traps would certainly make it quite a lot simpler.”
Ilea thought about it. Maybe another possible place to find Kyrian, another working teleportation gate for Claire and Christopher. The dungeon being in the north might’ve added some levels to the machines too. If she could fight hordes of guardians at level three hundred instead of two hundred, she’d advance in no time. “I’ll check it out.” She simply stated, Terok nodding before he fist pumped the air.
“Yesss. I knew you’d come.”
Ilea shrugged, “Maybe we can get you to two hundred too, I’ll leave some guardians alive.”
The dwarf nearly stumbled, “Sure… sure. If you’re around to heal me. Getting those evolutions has been a long time coming anyway.”
Nobody said anything about healing… ah who am I kidding. At least he’ll be more useful to me then. “Wanna leave now?”
Terok nodded, “I’ll inform the queen and Maro. Might be they have something interesting to note as well. Though I doubt it, their knowledge of the area is a couple thousand years outdated.”
Ilea exited through the cathedral doors, joining the elf while Terok was left behind to talk to the royals. “Going to explore the Taleen dungeon nearby. Feel like coming?”
He looked at her at the mention of the Taleen, “And why would I want that?I won’t be going into the dungeon itself.”
Ilea shrugged, “To get some air? Destroy escaping machines I missed maybe? Provide a safe retreat should we be overwhelmed? Provide translations as we go further in? You do know the language I assume.” If he spent decades learning the Rhyvor language then she had no doubt in her mind the elf spoke Taleen. She still had the little notebook from the dwarven skeleton she had found. As well as the Tungsten key, neither things she wanted to reveal as of yet.
Tapping his pen on the open book, the elf finally decided and closed it. “Alright human. I will humor you. When do you intend to leave?”
“As soon as Terok shows up. What’s that book anyway?” She asked, the dwarf flying in through one of the destroyed windows before landing smoothly, black and red armor suit at the ready.
Elfie stood up, straightening his black mantle, “Questions for the king and queen of Rhyvor. If we cannot talk face to face there are other methods.”
“In their language I suppose?” Ilea asked.
She received a nod in response, the elf having the book vanish from his hands, “A good way to build trust. We have made every effort to alienate other races in the past.”
Terok snorted, “And present, if you mean slaughter and hunt down as alienate.” The elf hissed but didn’t deny the dwarf’s accusations either.
“Alright. Ready to find some hobbits then.” Ilea joked, the two looking at her with a bit of confusion.
“A variant of Taleen machines?” Terok asked, “Thought I’d know most of them by now.”
Ilea went with it and spread her wings, “You haven’t been inside one of the dungeons, have you?”
The dwarf chuckled, “Fair enough. To the hobbits then.” Ilea laughed and ascended.
It was nighttime, the moons shining down on the lakes of mist below them as they scanned the sky for any dangers flying towards them. A human, a dwarf and an elf, on their mission to find and explore a dungeon filled with machines built by the Taleen. Hours passed, the three flying in silence.
Terok slowed down after a while, landing on a spot devoid of mist and situated a little higher than the lower regions around them. Ilea slowed down too, the Elf turning with an annoyed look on his face. She didn’t comment on it and simply landed near Terok. “I’ll be off training, shout for me when you’re ready to go again.”
With Meditation the dwarf shouldn’t need too long but it was time she could use. Elfie looked at her as she drifted down towards the mists, landing nearby. Close enough to grab the attention of some of the miststalkers but not in the mist itself to avoid their bladed arms. Same magic as the queen. Ilea wondered if there was a connection at all. Probably not, seeing how the queen was at a lower level than even her. The miststalkers were still unknowns, not triple marks but certainly more dangerous than Elana. At least from a purely magical perspective. Politically, she doubted the stalkers had much to counter the queen.
Sighing, Ilea felt her health and mana begin to drop. With time the mana would start to damage the creatures and her health would become harder to drain. She found it more beneficial to not heal herself at all, the initial drop in health slowing down later on while she needed every bit of mana recovered from her meditation. Choosing a barren space, Ilea sat down, her armor shifting as it adjusted to the new position. She watched the miststalkers twirl, around and around as more of them slowly joined to sap her life and magic from her. To what goal she didn’t know. It was likely the beasts just ate it, sustained themselves somehow through the night before they vanished again when the suns were out.
It felt weird, the dull pain of her life leaving her, slowly but surely as more of them connected their magic to her. “Ilea we can continue.” The moment passed, Terok’s voice resounding over the barren land as she got up and walked out of the range of the monsters, almost a little sad that she couldn’t feed them anymore. Her resistances would level again soon, it had been a while since last time. “Are you sure you’re alright? There were eight of them draining you at the same time…,”
Ilea waved him off without an answer, her wings spreading again as her meditation worked to recover her lost mana, her healing taking care of the health in the meantime. She was at a little over four thousand mana after the ten to fifteen minute break. “Did you go in and fight them at some point?”