Chapter 426: Threshold (1/2)
Just gonna post it here, not sure what the formatting in the author's note field is up to today (yes, it's probably me).
Hey all.
As I have mentioned before, starting tomorrow, I'll be working full time in civic service for three months.
In the meantime, thank you for the continued support and for reading what I write :). It means a lot to me.
The only thing they found left behind by Cynthia was a scrap of a heavy plate chest armor. The dark green dye made Ilas sure it had been hers.
Ilea hadn’t voiced her doubts and instead tried to find a trace or anything else with the piece, unsuccessfully due to the passing of time and surrounding gore.
She felt the dark one had calmed down considerably, staring at the piece as if he had found an inner calm.
“Can you read it?” she asked, flipping through the pages of the ancient book they had found.
“I am not an expert,” he said and looked through the pages. He shook his head a little after a couple of minutes. “I only know some of the words… not enough to make sense of it.”
Pride
Madness
Corruption
The Fae supplied a couple words as it floated close to the book, the pages moving on their own.
Truth?
Betrayal
“Sounds like a thrilling story. I’ll ask Elfie to translate it at some point. Anything relevant to the corruption we faced or the beings who made this place?” Ilea said, watching the Fae move through page after page.
It shook its head after another couple minutes.
Speculation
Reverie
“He was part of the red church then?” she asked.
The Fae nodded in response.
“I’ll ask Elfie to translate it at some point,” Ilea said and stored it in her necklace.
“Do you want to keep looking?” Ilea asked.
“I have found what I came to find,” Ilas said. “Though… it seems wrong to leave all the corpses behind.”
“I can help you burn them up,” Ilea said.
“You have done enough. I will build a pyre, in this layer,” he said.
“For all this? That will take you days, there isn’t even any wood here.”
“Longer, likely. I choose to do this however. It seems… right, to me. I understand if you think it unnecessary and wasteful,” the dark one said.
Ilea shook her head and smiled. “Not at all, Ilas. Do what you need to do,” she said and looked up. “Will you require help to get back to the first layer?”
He shook his head. “I have grown much since I have last come here. I shall find back.”
“Ilea… I owe you everything I am, for this. For your help. You set me free,” he added.
She waved him off. “Just promise me to find your way back up and to find a new purpose in this world. Be it protecting the first layer… or gardening. Now that this is taken care of.”
The dark one went on one knee and bowed deeply. “I will. Thank you, Ilea. Sentinel of ash.”
It’s actually the other way around, she thought with a smirk. “Come on, I don’t want to fight the otherwise peaceful spirits. You can help me get out of here.”
He nodded. “Of course. I doubt you’ll need assistance with traversing the layers?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Ilea said as they came out of the facility.
The previously crowded space was completely empty by now.
“Is my perception acting up?” Ilea asked.
“I sense none either,” Ilas said, apprehension in his voice.
Joy, the Fae sent and giggled. It landed on Ilea’s shoulder and hugged her face.
Ilas kept the shroud up when she saw a single Spirit fly closer.
Friend, the Fae sent.
“You can disable your spell,” she said to the dark one.
Ilas nodded, the saturation in the surroundings increasing as his shadow magic vanished.
The Spirit came a little closer before it bowed to them.
Ilea waved and watched it slowly disappear.
“What was that?” she asked with a chuckle.
“Perhaps they remained because of the Vampire,” Ilas said.
“Hmm,” Ilea nodded and patted the dark one’s shoulder. “Well, we’re done then. I’ll be traveling around the Descent a little longer so catch me between exits if you need anything.”
“I will. Though I shall remain self sufficient from now on,” Ilas said and bowed to her again.
Ilea focused on not rolling her eyes as she waved and departed with the Fae.
The near reverie from the dark one annoyed her a little. She preferred Maro’s or Elfie’s company, their snark keeping her humble and down to Earth.
“So… we have a bunch of stuff to do now. Lots of violence. I suggest you start with space magic on my eyes,” Ilea said, deactivating her resistance and armor.
The Fae giggled and started without complaint.
Violence!
“Hmm, so… we’re at number seventeen. Let’s start with the Zanedin Hunters. Time Magic Resistance and maybe some Blood Magic… Blast and Curse is already at level twenty… alright?”
The Fae nodded enthusiastically.
“I’ll have to use my armor though, their attacks are a little much otherwise.”
Sad
“I know, I’m pretty fucking weak, right?” she sighed.
The Fae shook its head but didn’t comment on it, likely understanding the sarcasm.
The two moved up to the sixteenth layer and continued their training, Ilea quickly finding the small groups of Zanedin Hunters left behind, all of them corrupted.
She spent several hours leveling her Time Magic Resistance, sometimes even deactivating her armor of ash if only one of them remained.
The Fae had a hard time injuring her with her armor up but still dealt a little damage, helping with her Space Magic Resistance.
She finished off the last of the corrupted creatures before checking her progress.
‘ding’ ‘Blood Magic Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 12’
‘ding’ ‘Blood Magic Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 13’
‘ding’ ‘Space Magic Resistance reaches lvl 6’
…
‘ding’ ‘Space Magic Resistance reaches lvl 8’
‘ding’ ‘Time Magic Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 11’
…
‘ding’ ‘Time Magic Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 20’
“That’s nine general skills at level twenty of the second tier,” Ilea said as she looked through the messages, feeling her eyes explode.
A familiar sensation by now but it seemed the Fae wasn’t getting bored of it yet, dodging the tiny ashen swords wielded by the ash Fae.
“So, do you want to pop my eyes for another three days or should I get the tenth skill against the Storm Griffin on layer fifteen?” Ilea asked with a smirk.
Death!
Death!
Death!
“Alright there Theoden, I too choose the flying calamity,” she said and prepared.
They reached the exit to the fifteenth layer, Ilea glancing at the Fae. “You should wait here, that thing is dangerous, even for us. You should be able to see from here.”
It nodded and appeared near the ground, looking out through the mostly destroyed exit.
“Shouldn’t take more than half an hour with that ridiculous monster,” she said and looked up.
The upgrade to her eyes let her quickly make out the dot in the distance. She even saw the wings and legs.
It was moving towards her.
Here we go, she thought and appeared near the ground thirty meters away. Close enough to the exit so that she could simply blink back to the Fae. Her third tier wings should help with the constant barrage as well.
She was here to take damage but the Storm Griffin was one of the few creatures in this dungeon that could completely stomp in her brains. Not something to take too lightly.
Ilea was at least somewhat sure the creature wasn’t out on a furious murder spree, judging by their last encounter.
Holy shit that thing is fast… comparable to my charged wings evens, she thought and soon saw the Griffin’s eyes focused on her. Still hundreds of meters away.
A shiver went down her spine before her precognition kicked in, informing her about the coming attacks.
She didn’t do anything about them of course, her armor opening up to let the weaker wind blades slash into her skin directly. Her resistance deactivated.
It cut nearly to the bone.
Yeah, that won’t take long. That thing could’ve even helped against the Elemental, she thought and smiled.
The Griffin moved on to more powerful attacks rather quickly this time, either because it remembered her or because it could tell Ilea was looking at it.
It was also apparent that her flying skills had improved vastly, making her able to dodge even the faster attacks more reliably.
Ilea blinked away many times to heal back up and recover some mana, spending a couple hours with the Griffin until the last message finally popped into her mind.
‘ding’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches 3rd lvl 6’
‘ding’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches 3rd lvl 7’