Chapter 611: Catching up (1/2)

Chapter 611 Catching up

Ilea smiled, feeling his curse waver before it vanished entirely.

The man nearly stumbled as she held on, his hand reaching around her back before he hesitated.

She didn’t care, giving him the time he needed after all this time he may have spent entirely devoid of human contact.

He breathed in sharply before his hand came to rest on her back, and then his other. He hugged her back, his head coming to rest on her shoulder before a sob went through him.

“It’s okay,” Ilea said, her voice shaking slightly. “I’m glad we found you. I’m glad you’re alive,” she murmured.

“It’s … it’s really you,” Kyrian said after a while, his voice dulled by the heavy steel plate around his body. He had let go of the chains in his right hand, the large steel links simply floating in the air behind him.

“It’s me,” Ilea said and moved the ash away from her face.

“Ilea… I knew you would find me,” he said, his voice cracking a little before he hugged her with renewed vigor. “I didn’t know what to do… I,” he said before he turned around, letting go of her to grab the chains again. The Wyvern carcass had started to slide away. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

She watched, fascinated as the four large chains tightened around the massive body, the two remaining chains quickly spinning around it too before he pulled, Kyrian’s body itself floating up before he moved closer to the tunnel. Ilea identified him in passing, following him inside as Feyrair made space for the two humans and the corpse.

[Mage – lvl 412]

You definitely haven’t been idle, she thought, grinning as she saw the look in Fey’s eyes. “He’s human, just in case you didn’t know.”

He hissed and crossed his arms before he started to laugh.

Kyrian let go of the chains when the body was secured, glancing at the elf before he turned to Ilea. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Nobody on the isle?,” Ilea asked.

He shook his head lightly. “No. Nobody I could… find. Plenty of monsters,” he added and laughed awkwardly, glancing at Feyrair before he stopped. “I was… alone,” he said and nodded to himself a few times, glancing back at her a few seconds later, the chains rippling slightly as they pushed against the Wyvern’s skin. “I was alone here,” he said again and touched his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. For taking so long,” Ilea said and walked over to him, carefully touching his arm. He flinched at the contact. “For leaving you alone.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Kyrian said. “I never blamed you. I did blame Arthur… I did blame him,” he said.

“Arthur is dead. Felicia was the one to kill him,” Ilea said.

That seemed to do something, Kyrian stumbling back before he sat down on the bloody Wyvern corpse. He laughed, a wave of curse magic flowing out before he repressed it again. “I’m glad it was her,” he said finally, his voice deep and in control. “I’m glad it was her.”

He sighed deeply, shuddering slightly before he talked again. “Oh and I did blame myself. At first. For not being able to help. I was afraid you had died… can you believe it? You? Die?” he didn’t laugh this time. “But I moved past that. There was only one thing I could do. But I failed at that as well.”

“You didn’t fail at anything,” Ilea said. “You survived. Even if you had just hidden, scavenged, there would be no shame in that. But well… you went with the Shadow way,” she added and gestured to the dead monster.

He grunted. “Tough ones, these. Northern Bluetail. Wind and Water magic, especially deadly close to the ocean. Would’ve thought they’re better fliers but I won’t face one of them underwater again until I get a major evolution,” he said with a chuckle, slightly patting the dead creature. “I do hope you saw the warnings. You came through the gate? Or did you fly here?”

“The gate,” Ilea said. “What’s their level range?” she asked, not able to keep her interest at bay.

“Still the same Ilea. I’m glad you didn’t change. But I did have a small hope to have grown stronger than you. Stupid, now that I think about it. Can’t imagine what kind of monsters you fought when I think back on the years I spent on these isles…,” he said and quieted down, shaking his head lightly.

Ilea smiled. “I’ll tell you all about it. When’s the last time you had a good meal?”

The steel mage looked at the Wyvern for a few seconds before he sighed. “They don’t taste good. Fish is better.”

“I can imagine,” Ilea said before she pointed to the elf. “That’s Feyrair by the way. A Cerithil Hunter I met on my travels. He’s an elf who fights Taleen machines.”

Kyrian looked him up and down. “Not how I imagined them. Welcome to the Krahen Isles, Feyrair. I’m Kyrian.”

Feyrair removed the armor on his head and bowed lightly. “It’s good to meet you, Kyrian, friend of Ilea, and hunter of the Northern Bluetail. I too would be interested in knowing more about these creatures.”

“I can see why you like him,” Kyrian said. “Some are as low as six hundred, others… I’ve fought a few four marks even, but those are rare. Farther out, deeper down.”

Feyrair glanced at Ilea and grinned.

“A meal sounds… good. The Vrayar must be starving too,” Kyrian said and stood up, grabbing his chains before he started pulling the creature down the tunnel.

“What happened when you came here?” Ilea asked, walking next to him, the elf a little further back.

“When I came here… when I came here. I was confused. Of course I was. I understood what had happened. Arthur had somehow teleported us into a Taleen dungeon, though I was alone so I assume you resisted, or you were moved somewhere else,” he said.

“The latter,” Ilea said.

“The girl make it? She was close by,” he asked.

“Maybe. She got stranded in the north, not quite as hard to escape from as this place, seeing your level,” Ilea said.

He snorted. “Yeah.” He paused for a moment. “Well the platform was there so I knew there was some way to operate it. But I didn’t have a way to even activated the damned thing, and I tried. A lot. I tried a lot. But I had to get food too, shelter, needed to know where I was, how to get back. If the gate wasn’t an option, more conventional travel had to do. Well you being with a Cerithil Hunter, was it? You both know the machines well. I do now too,” he said and snickered. “I do.”

“Did you clear out the dungeon?” Ilea asked.

“Not until… half a year ago maybe? A little longer perhaps. Praetorians were hard to crack, but once I had my third Class it became quite easy. A little disappointing to be honest, but by then the machines weren’t particularly impressive anyway,” he explained.

Ilea grinned, glancing at her teammate. “You got a third Class? So you killed a level seven fifty creature and survived battling three four marks?”

“Wish it was just three,” he said. “Four marks that is. There are a lot of them here, especially near the volcano and down in the depths, let alone the ocean. I would’ve reached the mainland a year ago if it weren’t for the Bluetails.”

“But you had to kill one too, or contribute to a kill, right?” Ilea said.

“Got lucky. You know the monsters here don’t all work together. There are clear hierarchies, and they think I’m at the very bottom. Not that I belong there. Not anymore. But we’re small, and I suppose for most humans it would be true,” he explained and glanced back at Feyrair. “Not sure about Elves. I hear you’re strong.”

“They start at two hundred or something,” Ilea said. “Not particularly impressive either.”

Fey hissed.