Chapter 282: Decisive Battle (1/2)

Ilea crouched on all fours, spears rushing past her before her ashen limbs dashed out, each hit delivering Wave of Ember. Blinking, she appeared behind one of the Centurions, moving her head to the side as it tried to backhand her with a quick blow. She grabbed onto the arm before she kicked at its legs, getting in two clean hits before she had to jump away, her wings taking her over the spear thrown after her. A moment of silence as she hovered over the black mist of ash, a big part of the hall now covered in it, ready to move at her whim.

Blinking back inside, she closed in on the Centurion she deemed most heavily damaged. The ash around her formed walls to slow down the other two machines, her arm deflecting the sharp spear blade it thrust at her before she delivered another hard blow to its torso. She noted her mana had reached nearly half, the eight limbs each attacking taking a toll on her resources coupled with all her other buffs and attacks, no time or breathing room left to use Meditation. Knowing they likely had no way of regenerating, Ilea stopped using her ashen limbs and simply focused on Destruction, the added physical damage from her blows using up only Endurance, of which she still had plenty to spare.

While the three were learning to deal with her better and better, they became increasingly defensive, going so far as to give her time to recover some mana. Of course they were machines but to what extent they could think or make decisions, Ilea didn’t know. Were they prioritizing their own life or the destruction of the enemy? She knew that once they reached a certain level of health, they focused on attacks only. She just had to get one of them to that level and perhaps the blast from its exploding core would damage the others. A quick burst of attacks from her ashen limbs after she had appeared behind the most damaged one brought it sufficiently low. Ilea added a dented leg to its injuries with a hard kick when its core started to crack, white light escaping from within.

The Centurion was about to blow and she wanted to make it count. Stepping under its attempted grab, she twirled to dodge an incoming spear throw and grabbed one of its legs. Ashen limbs swirled around her arm and onto the metal to give her even more stability. The core was brighter now, Ilea turning before she cried out, the body thrown towards the two machines looking on with uncaring green light shining in their eyes. Ash rushed in front of her, the blast partially blinding and deafening her before her healing took care of both.

The explosion happened outside her range of perception, her Veil burnt through but her high Heat and Blast Resistances negating most of what had actually managed to get to her Stonehammer steel armor. The coating was burnt off in the front, showing the silver steel below. Ilea grinned ear to ear when she saw one of the Centurions bent and broken, trying to crawl towards her, one arm holding onto its spear, using it as a crutch to move. She turned her head towards the other machine, slowly starting to advance towards it as her Veil reformed, ashen limbs on her back coming back to life before her wings spread.

Half of the Centurion was scorched, the greenish metal black and smoking when Ilea sped up, her fist blocked by the machine’s spear. Its arms worked hard to keep her at bay, the spindly legs moving back when her ash delivered a set of her invasive mana. Ilea turned and caught the spear thrown by the damaged machine, blinking towards it and smashing the weapon down with all the power she could muster. The blade glanced off and dug into the stone, getting stuck before Ilea stomped down onto the machine’s head. Three blows she could manage before the other enemy appeared again, the broken one now trying to pull its head out of the floor. Ilea noted with a smile that its core was starting to crack, the part connecting its slim torso to the six legs lighting up the dim surroundings. The remaining foe circled her carefully, its spear held in the middle, ready to defend against her attacks. She noted it circled away from its damaged counterpart, the machine still trying to pry its head out of the ground, failing with only one arm and two barely working legs.

The explosion rocked through the hall, fire and shrapnel clashing against her walls of ash. Ilea used the moment to blink, advancing on the defensive Centurion that desperately tried to pierce her with its spear, neither speed nor power quite enough to break through her defenses, Ilea’s full focus on it alone. Ashen limbs delivered destructive payloads of mana, more and more of its body showing dents and scratches before it suddenly changed its behavior. Moving quickly, the Centurion gave her a lot of openings, attacking more quickly and with wider range. Ilea was anticipating it and dodged under the attacks, one thrust glancing past her side with minimal impact.

One. Her fist smashed into the core, all the weight and power of her body and buffs crashing against the metal. Her bones groaned before she blinked, dodging the counter attack coming as a response. Two. This time she used her left arm, hitting in an uppercut motion to maximize the strength she could put into it. A full does of Destruction and Wave of Ember crashing into the machine, four of her ashen limbs smashing into its torso in the meantime, the other four cut through by the Centurion. When it tried to grab her, Ilea simply blinked away, her wings flapping and bringing her high above the monster.

Its green eyes focused on her, the thing crouched and jumped, hands outstretched before a blinding light enveloped it. Ilea blinked backwards, ash forming in front of her as she crossed her arms, the blast sending her into the wall behind her. Her Veil held, her back a little injured from the impact, pieces of the wall falling down when she pried herself out of it a moment later. Meditation and Healing magic flowed through her, Terok appearing right next to her.

“Are you ok?” He asked a second time, Ilea’s hearing returning healing mana reached the unimportant organs.

She gave him a thumbs up and looked around the room. “Check if more are coming, warn me.” Blinking towards the elves watching from the balcony, she spread her wings and quickly closed the distance.

Ignoring Goldie’s hissing, she extended her ash to the injured brown haired elf with leather armor. Noting that the wound hadn’t reopened, she gave the red haired one a quick nod. One of her ashen limbs extended towards him as well, the warrior not stopping her. Raising her eyebrows, she gave him a quick look and pushed healing magic into him as well. “Impressive that you’re still conscious.” She murmured.

“We didn’t need your help.” Goldie said, stepping a little closer before a quick hit from Ilea’s flat hand sent him back and into the railing. He would’ve fallen were it not for his teleporting ability. Again he hissed, his claws growing in size and thrumming with magic.

Ilea didn’t react further, “I’m healing your friends.” She stated, “You should think very carefully about your next words hunter.” She was honestly surprised to see him actually listen to her, disappearing before he started clawing into the stone walls of the hall, screaming and cursing.

“We appreciate the help.” The red haired one said, sighing as he relaxed and closed his eyes. He still stood, only slightly leaning on the nearby wall. Ilea gave him another nod, quickly checking her messages as she meditated and pumped healing mana into them. Both were nearly dead, meaning it would take a while.

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Taleen Centurion – lvl 312] – For defeating an enemy forty or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted’

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Taleen Centurion – lvl 315] – For defeating an enemy fifty or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted’

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Taleen Centurion – lvl 305] – For defeating an enemy forty or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 264 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘State of Azarinth reaches 3rd lvl 8’

‘ding’ ‘Blink reaches 3rd lvl 8’

‘ding’ ‘Veil of Ash reaches 3rd lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Blast Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 2’

Ilea smirked at the Blast Resistance level up when Terok landed on the balcony. “Clear. I checked a couple dozen meters into the next hallway but it’s quiet. Other than the angry one down in the hall we’re good.”

She nodded, “Thanks for checking.” The elf on the ground was slowly opening his eyes then, coughing a little. He groaned and sat up to see the group. The white haired one was still raging below, at least channeling his anger issues into something productive like tearing down the Taleen dungeon’s walls. The red haired one didn’t so much as move, eyes focused on her. “I’m not attacking you if you don’t do anything stupid.”

To her surprise it was the elf sitting on the ground who spoke, “Define stupid. Thank you for saving us human. Unnecessary but appreciated.”

His blue eyes stared into her own, his long brown hair braided and falling to his back. It was his voice only that outed him as a male, his features delicate and sleek. You’re staring. “Like attacking us instead of the dungeon walls.”

“I doubt even he would chose to act that impulsive.” The elf replied, laughing a little nervously.

He definitely would. Neither spoke of it. “You’re Cerithil hunters are you not?” Ilea asked, the blue eyes elf looking into her eyes again. God he’s dreamy. I feel like one of those romance novel protagonists.