Chapter 401: Ice Valley (1/2)

Ilea watched them move, flying high above as she thought about her next steps.

The Cyclops were hulking creatures, aggressive and quite certainly lacking higher intelligence. She hesitated a little because they were humanoid. Unlike the Nazarks that had attacked her caravan in the first place, these creatures wouldn’t exactly bother anyone.

They would if literally anyone came across them, she crossed her arms. Killing them was somewhat simple at this point and they were an insanely high level, unable to damage her even as much as the Wyverns had.

Plus I can level Veteran off them, she cracked her neck and flew closer, watching the various groups go about their business, mostly just walking around, looking for food or fighting each other. Certainly monsters, impossible to be reasoned with and still it didn’t exactly feel like survival at this point. It felt like she was about to slaughter them for personal gains alone. Even the challenge didn’t seem worth it, like with the Wyverns or the Elemental.

And yet they’re here and I need to be as powerful as I can be before going further down. Sorry Lucas, I’d be an idiot not to take all I can get, she thought and formed a massive spear, flying close to a Cyclops moving alone.

It was running after a rabbit, slamming down its stone with a fury.

Ilea didn’t make a noise as she approached from behind, her drill like spear hovering next to her as it started to spin. A second spear formed, this one small and smooth.

The Cyclops closed in on the fast moving rabbit when a small impact on its back made it stop and turn, an angry growl leaving its mouth. When it didn’t find anything, the creature looked up, the last thing it saw were the black wings of an unknown creature, sending a spinning object right at its eye.

Ilea watched as it collapsed, killed in a single hit to its weak spot. This one hadn’t been quick enough to protect it, hadn’t realized how potent the attack would be. She saw the rabbit stop and watch as the creature fell down into the snow with a heavy thud.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Stone Cyclops – lvl 607]’

I don’t see how Catelyn or anybody else couldn’t manage this. I suppose it’s a risk, in case they do manage to defend themselves… you could still just fly away again.

She figured it was a compatibility thing, finding monsters of a high enough level with a weakness against ones abilities or simply a weakness easily exploited. Perhaps ash was an especially strong element to use against Stone Cyclops, or the torque was necessary to penetrate their eye, something only creators could usually do, not all of them either.

How would Kyrian do against these? He could just curse them and fly backwards until they died, or am I missing something? The reverse thing they do with their eye I suppose, hmm, Ilea mused, thinking about getting some of her friends to certain places in the north, just to train them up.

The Cyclops were certainly a step down compared to the Wyverns, that much was clear. Their levels however were similar. She’d be interested to see the two face each other, pretty sure the Wyverns could just teleport and continuously use their fire breath. Even if the eye reverse thing was enhanced, they should be able to withstand their own flames.

She had only seen about fifteen of the creatures either way, scattered around the snow covered valley. They were easily spotted and likely the strongest in this layer.

“I won’t hurt you, little rabbit,” she said, hovering next to the dead cyclops. Storing them in her necklace was impossible, their bodies likely too large.

Ilea thought about ripping off an arm or something but even their defenses didn’t seem as impressive as the Wyvern’s. All brawn, no finesse or speed with these.

She could certainly see them as barely a threat, tough enough to withstand even their direct blows. Many others might not want to take the risk of getting close however.

She watched the rabbit walk closer, jumping onto the monster’s head before it started ripping at the exposed skin near its destroyed eye, exposing its sharp teeth.

Circle of life and all that, Ilea smiled and ascended once more.

The next hours were spent hunting Stone Cyclops. Only a few were taken out with the first ash drill, most deflecting or stopping the missile with relative ease, forcing her to get in close.

Ilea killed twelve of them all in all, getting bashed from time to time, grabbed only once when she fought two at the same time. The worst damage was a near completely squashed torso, including broken bones. A testament to their strength at least.

Their roars and time magic led to some unfortunate circumstances but she made the best of it, only a little annoyed that no resistance was leveling through the ordeal, their magic used on themselves instead of her.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Stone Cyclops – lvl 621]’

…

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Stone Cyclops – lvl 613]’

‘ding’ ‘The Azarinth Sentinel has reached lvl 325 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘The Azarinth Sentinel has reached lvl 326 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘The Azarinth Sentinel has reached lvl 327 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Kin of Ash has reached lvl 324 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Kin of Ash has reached lvl 325 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Kin of Ash has reached lvl 326 – Five stat points awarded’

The levels were really good for the time spent fighting, reminding her of the time before reaching level two hundred. Her opinion on the Cyclops changed a little too. While she still believed them to be much easier targets than the Wyverns, they certainly weren’t any less dangerous.

Without her instant recovery, even Ilea with her sphere perception, high speed, quick teleport, precognition and all her other buffs would have been killed ten times over.

When she had tried to use only her spears and reverse reconstruction, she found the monsters had a way to hunker down and regenerate quickly, their defense rising ten times over as well. Going in close was really the only option, or getting lucky with a powerful spell to their eye.

The beasts were somewhat slow, that much was true but combined with their paralyzing roars and time magic, a single hit was enough to injure even her. Anyone with less resilience would be squashed like a fly.

She was standing next to the latest group she had killed. Two of them, having eaten up nearly all her mana before going down. Ilea was happy with her decision now, to kill every last one of them. And she was glad there weren’t any groups of three. Even with her high affinity for risk taking, she’d want to separate them or only engage after one was taken out by a drill.

Every single beast down here could dismantle a whole village or town back in the south. Even the rabbits are level thirty.

With every battle, she was more impressed that humanity was still around, glad these creatures remained in the deep and didn’t desire the death of all life. None of the Cyclops had been corrupted, nor had she found corpses of any being affected by the blood manipulation in this valley.

The Elemental could surely kill the Cyclops, perhaps even did so already at the bottom of its layer. Thanks, lightning bird, she thought, looking up. Many would have died, had these monsters moved up to the first layer, as unlikely as that was.

Thirty stat points… hmm, she looked through the rest of her gains before making a decision.

‘ding’ ‘Absolute Destruction reaches 3rd lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Sentinel Reconstruction reaches 3rd lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Sentinel Core reaches 3rd lvl 12’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches 3rd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Armor of Ash reaches 3rd lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Aspect of Ash reaches 3rd lvl 15’

‘ding’ ‘True Ash Creation reaches 3rd lvl 16’

‘ding’ ‘Storm of Cinders reaches 3rd lvl 11’

‘ding’ ‘Storm of Cinders reaches 3rd lvl 12’

‘ding’ ‘Ash and Ember Unity reaches 3rd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Avatar of Ash reaches 3rd lvl 4’

‘ding’ ‘Keeper of Ash reaches 3rd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Veteran reaches lvl 19’

‘ding’ ‘Veteran reaches lvl 20’

Compared to the Wyvern battles, her skills didn’t level quite as fast. She assumed the routine she quickly developed in battling the creatures was responsible.

In general, it seemed the only skills that really benefited more from a prolonged battle were her resistance skills. Even a quick kill against a high level creature rewarded similar levels as a longer fight did.