Chapter 298: Fear and Void (1/2)
Laughter rolled over the square, “Well…for one thing.” Terok said, the steel in his arm reforming to create a razor sharp blade that started at his fist and ended near his shoulder. Appearing before her, he smashed the blade at Ilea’s torso, the blow cutting into her Veil and breaking through with a bit of a push before it scratched against her armor. He teleported back again, “Not good for piercing steel.”
Ilea gave him a minute, “Well let’s just say I could drain Health from you if I could pierce.”
“Good. Can you do it with projectiles too?”
He shook his head, “No…might be the second tier though. I replaced one of my skills to get this one.”
She nodded, “We can work on it later. Might be difficult to drain against my second tier resistance.”
“Thanks. Wait second tier resistance? Ah… that’s where you sneaked off to every night. And here I thought you had a gambling problem.”
She furrowed her brows, “Gambling problem? What?”
“Hey I ain’t judging. Just thought, you giving away stuff for free you must have plenty of gold lying around. One of my theories on how you got it.” He said and chuckled.
“Found most of it in a dungeon. Do you have anything else? I would hope you got more from your evolutions.”
“Well the transformation of my arm is one thing. Still working out the details but my armor has gotten more… well flexible might be the closest word I can use to describe it. Plus my mana sight has improved, I’m pretty sure I can enchant your stuff with a higher level too now. No teleporting now, just fists. You’ll see about the rest.”
She smiled and faced him, the dwarf rushing at her with quite impressive speed, his hands changing into fists as big as her head before they smashed into her Veil. The force was distributed well, making him unable to penetrate but she could tell he had gotten stronger by quite a bit, even with her own improved levels. On par with perhaps even Seviir, strength alone. If she assume he had used all he had against her neck earlier and she didn’t think highly enough of him to suspectthe elf had held back.
Again his arms changed, this time back into blades before he slashed into her, the steel clashing against her own, leaving scratches wherever they struck. “You’re too durable… damn woman. Attack me instead. Frontal.” He said and jumped back a couple meters. Ilea gave him a second before she advanced, her fist delivering a powerful blow towards his chest. Shields suddenly formed on his arms, the two melting into each other before her blow landed on the metal, a dull sound echoing as the energy flowed through both him and her.
“A tank now too?” She said, her arm moving back again. This time she used all she had. Her fist landed, Terok skidding back a meter. The dent in his shield evened out quickly.
He laughed and released the spell, “You pack one hell of a punch. I guess if I can block you then I might as well participate more as a melee fighter. Use the projectiles to get them from behind or when they’re stuck on my shield.” The dwarf mused.
“It’s an idea. Glad you got your evolutions Terok. You’ll be at least a little useful to have a around.” Ilea commented.
“Don’t you dare thinking about ditching me woman!” He said and chuckled, both of them aware that she hadn’t been a part of his team for the past months at all. It was nice to have someone in the north at least somewhat knowledgeable about enchantments and traps but she couldn’t think of teaming up with him full time.
“I prefer to work alone.” Ilea said simply.
“And yet here you are.” Terok replied. “Don’t hit me.” He held up a finger.
Ilea smiled, “Well it’s the place to be. I killed one of the undead earlier.”
“We did too.” Terok gestured to the corpses.
“The ones in the lower zones, not connected to Maro. Three question marks. Level five hundred.”
“Oh… well I’m sure you’ll show me your own evolutions soon then. Now go and get to it woman, I have some elves and their power to exploit.” She could practically feel his grin as he started floating, on his way towards where the others had left.
Ilea sighed, her wings spreading as she prepared to take on her next undead. This time perhaps without losing her head.
Four days had passed while Ilea focused on finding and fighting the undead rose knights scattered in the lower parts of the city. Marking them with colors turned out to be helpful but also showed how few of them were actually there. It made them even scarier, knowing the distance in which they noticed battle. Of course the extraordinary violence and collateral damage facing them caused didn’t make it that crazy but the normal knights rarely even showed up when a fight was happening a couple streets over.
Forcing herself to abide by the self imposed rule to face one and only one undead at a time, Ilea slowly whittled them down. The damage on their armor as well as lack of connection to Maro made the approach possible. Still, Terok had informed her that if she waited too long, they might recover health as well. Just like any monster or human would. Simply at a rather slow pace. She hadn’t asked the king about the specifics of undead health or unhealth regeneration but so far it worked.
Another one down. It was the fifth one so far. She smiled brightly, breathing hard as her wounds closed, bones resetting while she waited and listened to the surroundings. It had been a short battle. The undead was marked on her back, meaning she had faced the same one the day before. Twice even. Not much had been needed to finish the job. Still, it had brought her health down by a third and broke most of her rib cage with the handle of her sword. Fucking ridiculous.
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Undead Rose Knight – lvl 520] – For defeating an enemy two hundred and twenty or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted’
Highest one so far. Ilea mused, her health closing in on her max again. She quickly checked through the messages from the past days, the new ones added at the bottom.
‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 292 – Five Stat points awarded’
‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 293 – Five Stat points awarded’
‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 294 – Five Stat points awarded’
‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 291 – Five Stat points awarded’
‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 292 – Five Stat points awarded’
‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 293 – Five Stat points awarded’
‘ding’ ‘Destruction reaches 3rd lvl 9’
‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Fighting reaches 3rd lvl 4’
‘ding’ ‘Veil of Ash reaches 3rd lvl 10’
‘ding’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches 3rd lvl 3’
Back to levels getting more attention than skills again. Well I won’t complain. Both is helpful.
Fourteen stat points she had put into Vitality, bringing her health to 6500. The other sixteen went into Wisdom, giving a round number of 666. There was an argument to be made to keep it there but Ilea would push both of the stats higher before even hitting three hundred. She saw the difference her Strength brought, each hit crashing into her enemies with a devastating force. Dexterity changed her ability to dodge, use openings to her advantage and to simply have her body keep up with her perception. Intelligence boosted the damage from her spells, all three of these stats letting her win against her enemies in the first place.
Vitality and Wisdom on the other hand, they let her survive. Let her get decapitated without her health reaching zero, let her recover the lost head without taking her out of the fight. Arguments could be made for her investments but the experience was fresh on her mind. It felt right.
A sudden appearance in her sphere made her turn her head, eyes going wide as she breathed out slowly. Checking her resources, she found her health full, mana sitting at two thirds, stamina damn near full already. A drop of sweat rolled down her neck as she looked towards the other side of the street. Both the house she was in as well as the one she was looking at were mostly destroyed, piles of rubble as well as an unmoving knight the only things around.
[Soul Ripper - ???]