Chapter 330: Weather (1/2)
Just to be sure it wasn’t an altitude issue, Ilea found the same results when she dragged the Miststalkers out of the lake. Guess there’s only one way then. She hovered over the mists and found herself a single monster, dancing aimlessly through the white ethereal lake. Ilea spread her wings wide, her sixteen ashen limbs aiming forward, her buffs at the max, health sacrificed as her body started glowing blue and fiery red under her ashen armor.
Aight, let’s go. She rushed down, the miststalker barely turning her way before she impacted it, her limbs moving around its scythe like arms, its torso and head, the white eyes staring back at her. Destructive healing mana started flowing into it immediately. She found the monster peculiar, its body lit up in her sphere as if it was made of magic itself. Training with the armaments of trials really made a difference, hmm?
She felt the monster try to disperse, the wisps of mana flowing away but whipping back as if her ashen limbs were magnetic. She added Destruction and Storm of Cinders to the mix, heating up her core in the meantime. The damage stacked up, each hit sending more mana into the miststalker. A ding resounded in her mind when a group of monsters came into her sphere, the health and mana drain increasing drastically. Still, she wasn’t overwhelmed, getting up as she watched the mana disperse back into the mists.
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Miststalker – lvl 421] – For defeating an enemy one hundred and ten or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted’
A blink brought her to the closest monster, repeating her attack pattern, finding its arms rather weak against her ashen limbs. The mist like protrusions tried to push through but her armor refused. Second tier mist resistance? It had to be. She felt the scythe like arms try to dig into her from the other miststalkers having closed in. A ding resounded and she flew up, blinking as soon as none of them touched her anymore.
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Miststalker – lvl 408] – For defeating an enemy one hundred or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted’
Seems they’re at four hundred and higher. Much higher numbers of them than anything else in that range. The Blue Reapers were a little lower still in level and at this point much more dangerous with their mind and lightning magic. Penumra is an option too but fleeing from these fuckers is so fucking easy. After two kills there was no level up message. Either the kingsguard somehow were categorized as more difficult fights or the four to five hundred difference really meant something.
Her Heart of Cinder started to damage her, Ilea checking her health and mana as she watched the group of seven miststalkers dance below her, trying to reach the flying food with their scythes. Her mana was down by less than a thousand, most of it due to their drain magic. A smirk formed on her face before she blinked down, the sphere of cinders, heat and fire washing over the creatures, her ashen limbs moving in right after, wrapping themselves around the injured monsters.
Ilea pulled them closer, pushing her destructive manainto them as she punched the closest target and adding her mana intrusion abilities to the mix. One after the other, they fell. It looked like more miststalkers formed in the area around her, by now over thirty of them draining her health and mana. She could finish five of them before her Heart of Cinder exploded once more, Ilea blinking up and spreading her wings in the moonlight.
The creatures moved below her, fanning out as she hovered there, too high for them to take note, now that she wasn’t damaging them anymore.
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Miststalker – lvl 430] – For defeating an enemy one hundred and twenty or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted’
…
This is easy. She smiled, breathing in the cold winter air. Ilea was tired of the sick and vicious fights in the past days, this rather serene grinding method was perfect. She deemed it more efficient to fly around and target single or doubles of the creatures before going up again. The combined drain of ten or more stalkers was still bothersome, even if it only meant her need to go up and wait for her mana to regenerate. After another ten minutes of hunting, she flew back to Maro.
The necromancer was meditating around twenty meters away from the lake. Rocks crunched under her ashen boots when she landed, “I can actually kill them.”
One eye opened, glancing her way, “That drain is no joke, Ilea. I’ll level it but it’s so bloody uncomfortable.”
“Need a heal?” She asked but he waved her off.
“I would but I think it’d be better to let my natural regeneration do its job. I’ve been trying to get a self heal or health steal skill for ages but I think I just didn’t commit enough.” He sighed, “Patience is what I need. Now I finally have time for that.”
She nodded, “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go back inside once the suns come up. I’ll treat you to breakfast.” His spirits seemed to rise at that, a smile on his lips as he closed his eye again.
The hours passed, Ilea’s hunting speed increasing as she learned about the creatures, how much they could actually take, how they formed and moved. How long it too for them to notice her in different scenarios. She found that the creatures appeared continuously, no matter how many she killed. It was as if they were a part of the environment, sprouting out of the lake with their single want for life and mana. The songs they occasionally sang were serene and now that her Veteran skill was high enough, she actually enjoyed them. No Famine Crows interrupted her that night.
All her drain resistance training paid off now, making her capable of staying long enough to beat them. When she saw the suns rise over the horizon, she moved her wings, quickly flying over the dispersing mist and landing near Maro, the man now reading more of his records while his health regeneration worked.
“We should move back. The storms are coming.” She said, the man nodding as he stood up, storing his book before he yawned and stretched.
“You don’t want to train in them?” He asked.
She considered, tapping her armored cheek with a finger, “Might actually do that.”
Maro laughed, “Well it’s your time. I’ll be reading in the cathedral. Breakfast canceled then?”
“Oh, I already forgot about that. Sure.” She gave him a thumbs up, the two flying back quickly to avoid the forming clouds with their arcane lightning as well as the higher moving freezing winds. Ilea wondered why it didn’t snow in the normal altitudes, only some of the highest mountains around covered in white.
A couple of Keyla’s meals were shared and devoured, Maro rather tired after not sleeping the past nights. “Thought you’d have some undead quality about you.” Ilea chuckled, finishing the bowl of soup, creamy pumpkin with a bunch of herbs and a spicy note synergizing surprisingly well with the sweet aroma of the pumpkin.
“Ilea, I barely notice lack of sleep for a week, can stay functional for two. You’re telling me that isn’t insane?” He asked.
“Not bad. I think I’m similar but I haven’t really tested it. Sleep is one of my favorite past times.”
“Yea, it’s great. I plan to buy a nice bed once I’m in one of your cities.”
“None available in your palace?” She asked but he shook his head.
“None that I want to see again.” He smiled bitterly but she could tell it didn’t bother him much. “Thanks for the food. This cook… is the restaurant for sale?”
Ilea smirked and stood up, stretching as her ashen armor formed on top of her clothes, “It’s my most prized possession Maro, I wouldn’t sell if for one million gold.”
The man laughed but remained in his chair, “I think I can get behind your investment strategy. I hope Rhyvor’s riches go to similar endeavors.”
“Of course they will.” Ilea said, “I thought about vine yards too. Perhaps you can help me find a good city down south.”
“I would… but other than drinking the wines I know criminally little about the craft.” He replied, Ilea shrugging.
“We’ll find someone, I’m sure.” Ilea replied before she ascended towards the exit.
“Be careful, will you?” Maro said as he opened his book, yawning once more as he started to read.
It’s the weather… can’t be that bad.
It was that bad. And worse. Even with predicting the lightning and blinks, sometimes the strikes came quickly after one another, moving past close by and burning through her armor and skin below. Ten minutes, she survived in the storm when one blink brought her right below a forming thread of purple light. Time slowed down but it was too late, all she could do was will her wings to her front, her arms crossed to shield herself as well as a meager wall of ash that came to life instantly.
All of it was washed away when the pure arcane energy flowed through her, sending Ilea to the stone ground, burning up damn near everything that made up her body. The energy continued moving through her as she twitched, her blood evaporated and her organs destroyed. Her instincts kicked in and the remaining hundreds of health were replaced by a full health pool, a chunk of mana sacrificed to bring her back. Armor quickly reformed and wings spread, another bolt of lightning slamming down a dozen meters away, the shock wave washing over her a she skidded for a couple meters.
I’ll punch you to death, storm! She thought, raising her fist to the cloud above. The time her increased perception gave her to form her defenses had been crucial, making her tuck in her tail and rush back to Tremor to wait out the hour it took to be available again. I said I wouldn’t train in them yet… and here I am. She couldn’t help but smile nonetheless. Surviving a direct hit from the northern lightning storms was likely not something many could claim as an achievement. Didn’t expect them to hit that hard after the near hits only burned through a bit of skin.