Chapter 521: Warriors (1/2)

How very military of you, Ilea thought. “Let me talk to them first at least.”

“If they attack, it’s over,” the General said.

“I hope they do,” Hector said as he joined them.

“How stable is this exactly?” Felicia asked.

“We cannot collapse it. It’s simply impossible. With the knowledge and power at my disposal,” Michael said.

Felicia glanced at the group before she gulped and joined them.

“I won’t stay back,” she whispered.

“I agree with Lilith. A diplomatic approach will lead to more gain,” Michael said.

“For you and your research. They’re not human. Treat them like you would treat Elves,” Velamyr said.

As I intend to do, Ilea thought with a smile behind her ashen armor.

She wondered why the creatures before had already been frenzied as soon as they arrived. A question she would ask Michael if the opportunity presented itself.

“The three we were hunting aren’t here,” Velamyr said.

“Probably went through already,” Michael suggested.

Ilea walked close to the gate and stretched out her hand. “Then let’s see what’s waiting for us in the realm of life.”

When her hand touched the fissure, it created ripples on the surface but she didn’t feel anything. It felt no different than the very air currently around her. Her hand pushed further and she noticed something peculiar.

Ilea pulled out her arm and pushed it in again.

“What is it?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, get on with it,” Hector said and jumped through without waiting for any feedback.

Ilea didn’t let it disturb her.

“My hand was gone,” she said.

Michael touched his chin. “It’s possible. Your arm really was in a different place entirely.”

She smiled.

Freaky.

And stepped through.

Ilea was hit by freezing air. Air at least and not a vacuum or a different substance entirely.

Like water, she thought, reminded of the great salt.

She felt the mana around her to be substantially more dense than back in Elos. It compared to some of the deeper dungeons she had visited but didn’t come close to her experience at the bottom of the Descent.

It was dark, leaving the impression that she was underground but Ilea quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

Ice crystals formed on top of her armor but quickly dissolved again, unable to push against her resistance. Her breath formed a mist in front of her armor.

Hector stood close by, his face scrunched into a displeased grimace.

“Alright there, waterboy?” she asked.

He looked at her, the ice forming on his body crunching with the movement. “Fuck this place.”

She couldn’t help but laugh.

They were situated in a spacious courtyard, the pyramid like temple before them extending upward. Around them were rudimentary stone structures, pillars, and walls. All of it was covered in a layer of snow and ice.

She looked up and saw the obvious culprit for both the cold and the dim light. A solar eclipse was currently in progress.

There were various beings present, hiding behind nearby pillars or in the doorways leading into the halls beyond. They were of the same species as the monsters they had fought back in Nara but their levels were significantly lower. All were still above two hundred.

Their behavior however was very different, their many eyes focused on the newcomers and the fissure behind, intelligence shining in them compared to the mindless creatures they had faced before.

Ilea felt distress from some of them with her Sentinel Huntress skill.

Peace? She sent to the nearest creatures, trying to establish contact with her third tier Mental Resistance.

A few of them reeled back, others outright ran away.

She got no answer.

“What did you do?” Hector asked.

“Just tried to talk,” she said, spreading her arms wide.

“Do you speak our language?” she asked when Michael came out of the gate.

All five of his self were there, suggesting that he had a way to return to Elos or he really believed the gate to be stable. He used a few spells on himself to ward off the cold and the arcane power as he looked around.

Ilea could see the freezing air around him warm up through her sphere.

Velamyr and Felicia followed.

The latter immediately buckled.

Ilea was by her side an instant later and pushed healing mana into her.

“What is this?” Felicia asked, an armor of wind flowing around her.

“You’ll be fine. It’s pretty dense mana. And just freezing air,” Ilea said to her, keeping up her healing. “Do you want to go back?”

Felicia lifted her head and stared at Ilea, the look in her eyes changing suddenly. She shook her head slowly.

Ilea felt her body heat up slightly, the damage done to her by the cold now healing, even without her interference.

Berserker stuff.

“They’re not hostile,” she said.

Velamyr looked around, lightning flowing on his armor, his movements not visibly slowed by the surrounding energy.

Ilea could tell that the mana was bothering him, if only a little.

Only Hector and herself seemed to be entirely unaffected. His water of course proved problematic but other than a comedic frozen look, it didn’t seem to inhibit him.

“Same conclusion on the gate, Michael?” Velamyr asked.

The gold mage only nodded, staring at the manifestation behind him.

“Do they speak a language?” the General asked.

Michael loudly said a few words, supposedly different languages. He tried to form something with his gold and finally used blood magic to directly connect to some of the creatures.

All it did was make more of the beings run off.

They’re scared.

“None of them are three marks,” Velamyr said.

“If their mana gets out of control, their minds will be destroyed and their power will be pushed to the highest possible ability,” Michael said.

Dude seems to know everything, Ilea thought. She knew the Knights of Rhyvor had been taken by the dungeon somehow. Maybe this was similar.

Would this have happened to Elfie had he succumbed to the mana?

“A lack of mana does the same as too much of it?” she asked.

“Likely,” the gold mage said and gave her a long look.

“So they can’t go to our realm without turning into monsters. Let’s see what we can loot then,” Hector said.

“Leave one of your own here to protect the fissure. We don’t want any of them to get through,” Velamyr said. “If we can find any answers or beings that can communicate with us, then in there.”

He pointed to the temple in front of them and the two large stone gates standing wide open, a stairwell leading up right behind.

Ilea used Heart of Cinder to keep the freezing air from even touching her armor.

“Let’s go,” she said and walked towards the temple entrance, trying to seem as non threatening as possible.

Hector did the opposite, clapping his hands towards one of the ants hiding behind a nearby pillar. The thing rushed away as he cackled.

The rest followed too, all of them with magic flowing around them.

Ilea immediately felt the cold subside when she stepped past the threshold.

Something else however took its place.

A presence, something that pushed against her mind with a curious interest.

To anybody else it might have seemed like a mental attack but to her it was obviously just someone making contact.

She could tell that the being was located deep within the temple, its mind magic capabilities rudimentary at best. Enough to make conversation perhaps but nothing compared to even Weavy.

Ilea smirked at the thought of considering Weavy a low point in mental powers.