Chapter 328: Rescue Mission (1/2)
There was a location too, by flight it would only take a couple minutes to reach it. If the area hadn’t changed too drastically. “You want to find the corpse?” She asked as he closed the book.
“Why not.” He shrugged.
“The area outside the wall was full of the Soul Rippers, I thought you weren’t keen on fighting them. Not that we could, even together. They’re triple marks and I couldn’t damage them at all before my evolution.” She replied.
He waved her off, “Didn’t you talk about fighting them? Plus you changed quite a bit, didn’t you? Might be worth a shot, at least I could send him off properly, he doesn’t deserve to rot…,” He was serious about it and Ilea definitely respected the wish.
“Sure, I want to try out some other things first though. Also we should fight one first, in the lower regions but inside the walls. Just to see how we do.”
“Of course, I’ve got plenty to work through as well. And my ash magic resistance is only at level two so keep it up.” He gave her a thumbs up, Ilea getting up.
She summoned the golden key and threw it to him, stepping a couple meters away. “Thanks.” He said, having caught the thing.
Alright, let’s try this. She thought and jumped up, summoning the Armaments of Trials around herself, her senses cut off immediately. My sphere barely gets through. She noted the weird effect she usually associated with enchantments especially against her skill. Even with her added magic sense, she simply saw nothing. Her eyes brought little too, only the faint light of her buffs illuminating the tight space in front of her face.
Glad I’m not claustrophobic. Here goes nothing…, She started trying different skills, her destruction not even activating, her hands unable to even form fists. What she could do however was release healing magic into the steel, as well as the reversed ability. The same was true for her Storm of Cinders and Heart of Cinder abilities. The magic wasn’t reflected off the steel but instead flowed into it somehow.
Nothing happened at first but as she continued pushing both healing and reversed healing into the steel, after a couple minutes she saw a faint glow in her sphere, the blue light of her azarinth mana but subdued, dulled as if she was in a thick fog. She concentrated on her perception, trusting in the skill completely as she closed her eyes and tried to only think about the magic around her, her destructive reverse healing turned off and only her non reversed version remaining.
The pulse was noticeable, ever so slightly brighter with each minute of meditation and healing. The mist was clearing before she heard a dull knocking around her. Putting the armor into her necklace, she found Maro holding up his fist into the air, a confused expression on his face. “Oh, you’re alive. Thought I’d check. It’s been two hours since you summoned that, thing. Couldn’t see into it either.”
“Yea, been trying to figure it out. I can’t really move in it.” She said and summoned it next to her, “I can use my healing magic on it from within…,”
He touched it once more, “That Dark One smith made it?” She nodded, “Fascinating…the enchantments I can see, they’re incredibly basic. He could do something like this… with metals only?”
“What do you mean something like this?”
Maro looked at her, “It’s blocking my vision too. That’s usually done with enchantments but he somehow managed it with just a composition of metals and very basic obscuring runes.” He explained.
Think of the possibilities of him with his enchanter equivalent. Ilea chuckled. Her sphere was at the top of the second tier and yet she felt like she understood the skill a little better. “He made it specifically for me, not conventional armor… the name suggests it’s for training, or meant as a challenge to overcome.”
The man nodded, “Good luck with that. Hey I’m kind of bored going through all those records. More reading than I’ve done in months.”
“Second bout then?” She asked, putting away the armor again.
He cringed, “I was more thinking on the Soul Ripper and maybe Captain Reyker?”
Ilea cracked her neck and fists, “Sure. We can give it a shot. Do you have anything else you’d like to do in the week that we have to wait?”
The man shrugged, “Not particularly. I’m sure you have plenty of things on your list.”
“Mostly involving training, but yes.”
“That’s fine with me. I could use the levels too, another two or three third tier skills would make a huge difference. Especially for my shield. Having it crushed so easily by those Praetorians and you has been a little shocking. Ridiculous monsters here in the north.” He said, Ilea grinning at him as viciously as she could manage.
“Come then, let’s find one of those monsters.”
“Ugly fuckers.” She whispered to the man standing next to her on the roof of a rotting house, Ilea crouching as she watched the Soul Ripper through her sphere. They were twenty meters away but she was pretty sure the monster heard her, still not moving an inch from its position at the side of its chosen wall, fungi growing near the beast.
“I was more thinking of terrifying. Fits too I suppose. What’s the approach?” He asked.
“I grapple, you beam.” She said, the necromancer snorting before she turned his way, “Better suggestions.”
“No. Let’s go.” He replied, Ilea grinning in the dark before she spread her wings and jumped off the side of the building, speeding up.
There you go, She noticed a twitch in its elongated hands right before the beast jumped, flying at her with outstretched arms. Ilea blinked above it, her ashen limbs closing around the beast and pulling her towards its spine. The pull added speed to her movement before her fist slammed into it, Absolute Destruction spreading into it as her reversed mana added to its pains. Maro’s purple beam lit up a part of the surroundings, the skin of the monster a similar color she noted, simply much darker.
It landed and thrashed, spinning as it tried getting her off of it. Several houses were simply crashed through, Ilea easily ignoring the stone and steel slamming against her back. The monster stopped suddenly and turned its head backwards, a shiver going through her as she stared at the writhing tentacles, Maro’s death beam burning right into them. She felt the damage coming thanks to her Azarinth Fighting and let go, blinking awaybefore a chunk of air as well as Maro’s beamvanished from her previous position.
The pull of the vacuum moved her forward a little. She watched Maro sending another beam at the beast before it jumped away, barely interrupted by the houses. They followed through the air but lost it when it jumped again. “Any idea how much damage we did?” He asked, the two slowing down but unconsciously flying higher to make sure none of them jumped them from below.
“None… very little I would guess. The skin and bones felt just as hard as when I hit one before my evolution.” It had at least showed a new move by turning its head backwards.
“So we just damage them a little and they flee?” He asked, “Very unusual.”
“Not every monster is constantly bloodthirsty.” She suggested. With how they waited for prey on the side of the walls, she thought of them more of an ambush creature. Like the plants that ate insects, just waiting until something came close.
“Ones so powerful usually are.” He added, “Seems like you can at least handle them defensively.” He looked her way, more a question than a statement.
“We can look for him. Let’s just stay this high. Can you see to the ground?”
He nodded, “Not well at this distance and without light but I should be able to spot the area at least. If it still looks similar.”
They continued their flight, keeping up a high speed to make it harder for any monsters to attack them from below. “There’s…,” He started, hesitating as he slowed down, “Ilea, there are hundreds… beyond the wall.”
She looked down but didn’t see or hear a thing, goosebumps forming on her skin, “Want to move on?”
Maro didn’t reply, simply picking up the same speed as before. A couple minutes of silent flight later, the man spoke up once again, “He’s there.”