Chapter 587: Opportunity? (1/2)

Chapter 587 Opportunity?

Ilea and Feyrair appeared in the massive production hall, most of it already destroyed. An extensive battle had been needed to clear out the space from both Praetorians and special variants. Towards the end of the fight, an Executioner had shown up.

Right now it was the only enemy remaining. They had ran from the machine to take a break and recover their resources. The elf had agreed to that measure at least so that they could face every Executioner with some preparation and a full pool of health and mana. The fact that the machines learned more about them during the battles made them enemies they didn’t want to engage for too long.

Ilea had been a little scared that the information would somehow be shared between the various Executioners but that hadn’t seemed to be the case. Or they were somehow pretending for now. She didn’t let her guard down either way. And with Feyrair there, she would have someone trustworthy to get her out in an emergency, as was the case the other way around.

Bright white flame clung to her ash, charged through Phaseshift for the start of the battle. Heart of Cinder was already reaching capacity as Feyrair changed into his dragon form. The two didn’t waste any time, rushing the machine as it noticed them.

Ilea’s fire spread over it, ignoring the blades that came for her in an attempt to keep the machine engaged with her. Feyrair landed on top of them, trying to pin down the creature.

It barely slipped away, one of its legs burnt by the powerful flames.

Ilea sent an ashen lance at the ground a few dozen meters away, Feyrair moving his wings to reach the position. She activated her third tier of Displacement and watched the Executioner retreat right into her appearing gate.

This time, the dragon didn’t let the steel being slip out. Ilea had already healed the deep cuts in her body, now deflecting or tanking the hits of the powerful machine as she tried to protect the dragonling behind her. Storm of Cinders and Destruction slammed into the shield, quickly overloading it with mana. With a final punch, the purple energy exploded in a surge of mana.

She felt the heat build up behind her, the armor on her back starting to glow a little before a torrent of white flame flowed over both her and the struggling Praetorian.

She dealt with the heat much better, overcharging her Heart of Cinder with the gathered energy and healing herself continuously with the absorbed mana.

Silver steel pooled below the creature, Feyrair slowly tightening his grasp, massive red scales and black claws pushing down on the melting machine. Intrusion spells continuously worked against the reforming shield, keeping it at bay as two sets of fire slowed the machine’s recovery.

Feyrair didn’t let up until he had expended most of his mana, stripping away every last bit of the machine, leaving its core exposed.

Ilea had charged Destruction and displaced the thing right in front of her. She punched the core, sizzling blue energy flowing through as her ashen limbs helped work through the powerful shield.

“Go!” she shouted, continuing her attacks as the dragon behind her roared.

Health flowed into her auras, the flames flaring up as she held her arm right in front of the unshielded core.

Feyrair turned back to his Elven form, displaced away immediately after.

Ilea grinned as she felt the heat gather, moving through her arm as it ruptured her body. A bright light appeared in front of her palm, energy and flame forming in a concentrated point before it extended outward and into the floating core. The air itself was set alight behind the small sphere, cracks forming on the powerful artifact.

Time stood still as Ilea watched the last bits of heat leave her arm, the core brittle and cracking. She displaced herself back as far as she could, using her blink right after. When she appeared again, the void explosion had already thrashed through the center of the hall, leaving a large sphere like shape in the stone entirely gone.

Feyrair grinned with a self satisfied smirk. “Easy.”

Ilea rolled her eyes but her expression matched his. “Well done this time,” she said to him. “Come, the others should already be waiting.”

He glanced back at the missing stone and followed with a glint of magic in his red reptile eyes.

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Executioner Praetorian – lvl 800]

‘ding’ ‘The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 417 – One stat point awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Space Shift reaches 3rd lvl 15’

Ilea and Feyrair had a race on their way back to the gathering near the now destroyed teleportation platform. Because of course they did.

“I win,” Ilea said to the group, twirling as ashen fireworks formed around her.

“You always win,” Ben said, shaking his head as he looked at the scene.

Feyrair appeared more than ten seconds later, a new record perhaps. The elf of course had a longer way to catch up the further they went into the facility.

She let him share the new mapped areas, his long life allowing even the dragonling to work on his cartography skills far more frequently than Ilea.

“It just keeps going on, how many of these facilities do you think there are?” Ilea asked.

Isalthar looked thoughtful, ignoring the question they had pondered about a few times before.

“What is it?” Asay asked, the elf apparently interpreting more in Isalthar’s behavior than anybody else.

The wind mage looked at him and remained quiet for a few seconds. “A… discovery has been made,” he said. “An oversight perhaps, or another ploy to lure us into further danger.”

“Did you find more dangerous machines?” Ilea asked, looking at Feyrair with a glint in her eyes.

The elf smirked back. “We should first learn to fight Executioners on our own, Ilea.”

She smiled back. “You’re actually learning. Impressive. But don’t let caution get rid of your excitement. High risk of death is how we thrive.”

“Who’s the Elf again?” Ben asked, looking between the two of them.

Farthorn hissed. “The discovery?”

Isalthar looked to the ground, a rare show of uncertainty. “Many gates we have found, most not activated or leading to forgotten exits in the Navali forest or the mountains of Naraza. Few have lead to facilities, oft insignificant compared to the place of creation we have found here, far below the Isanna desert.

“However, one I have entered, to find a place only one of us has seen before,” Isalthar said and looked up to find Ilea’s eyes. “The core of the Taleen network, or so we believe. The dungeon named Iz.”

“Shit,” Ilea murmured.

Feyrair stood up as flames burst from his body. “What are we waiting for. We have to go there now. Ilea can find Izta again, we know where it is. If the gate is active still, we should use the opportunity.”

“I would certainly be intrigued to visit such a fabled dungeon,” Asay said with an excited smile. “Truly a worthy discovery.”

“I do not wish to see you die,” Isalthar said after a pause.

“Who says we’d die? We didn’t die here,” Feyrair said.

“Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for?” Ilea asked. “I mean you can go around destroying facilities all you want but if you want to end the war, Iz is certainly a better place to try than here. I’ve seen it. Armies of Taleen, flying variants, and a huge floating sphere that glowed with power and light,” Ilea said. “And we could maybe find out more about that prototype calling me a Key warden.”

“You are not ready,” Isalthar said.

“How would you know?” Ilea asked. “Maybe you can finish it all yourself? You can fight Executioners on your own. Why should Iz be any different?”

“It will be,” Asay said. “But I agree with the human. This is an opportunity we cannot miss.”

“And I can get us out if everything else fails,” Ilea said.

Isalthar glanced at her with interest. “You have a way to circumvent the teleportation gate network?”

Ilea smiled. “I have my own long range spell, as you’ve seen before. And I have a way to bring others, though I’d like to refrain from that if possible.”

“That option may justify an increased risk…,” said Isalthar.

Feyrair clapped his hands together. “Then what are we waiting for. Let’s hit our enemy at their core.”

“We can always return to finish the job here,” Ilea said.

Isalthar showed the hint of a smile, sighing right after. “I simply ask you all to prioritize your own survival.”