Chapter 621: Terror of Krahen Keep (1/2)

Chapter 621 Terror of Krahen Keep

‘ding’ ‘You have heard the wail of a powerful creature – You resist its effects’

Ilea put her remaining stats into Intelligence and Wisdom, preparing herself for battle.

“That didn’t sound right,” Kyrian said as the group joined him on the lower floor.

“It is beyond these doors,” Neiphato said.

Ilea walked ahead and pushed the gates open.

An expansive cavern spread out beyond, water dripping from the high ceiling. Hundreds of Taleen machines littered the ground. The pieces that remained. The craters suggested not just Centurions had fought here but Praetorians too.

More bones were mixed in between, rubble and rusted armor remaining from whoever had fought here.

Amidst the long forgotten battlefield moved a single creature, as large as a Praetorian. Four legs carried the main body, one with a human foot, another with hooves. A flesh like torso grew from the main body, two large arms extending outwards. A goat like head sprouted from the being’s shoulders, two horns reaching upward, one eye squashed and the other a milky white color. It dragged a heavy mace over the ground, shoving around the steel and bones.

Its whole body showed seams amidst the chunks of flesh, rusted chains fixed to its legs flickering with golden magic light as it shuffled over the floor.

It wailed once more, suddenly slamming the mace down onto the remains of a Taleen machine.

[Terror of Krahen Keep – lvl ????] - [Frenzied]

Didn’t have to tell me that, Ilea thought, whispering to her group. “I’ll attack and you guys stay at a distance. Is it alright for you all if I kill it alone?” she said.

“If you can,” Kyrian said, his flails floating close to him.

The Elves hissed, both approving.

“Join in if I become incapacitated but don’t overextend. It’s not far above one thousand,” Ilea informed them. “Retreat if you are wounded badly, I’ll try to keep its attention on me.”

“Good luck,” Kyrian said.

Ilea grinned, looking at the flesh abomination as she walked towards it.

The Terror stopped moving, turning her way before it wailed, spittle and blood flying her way before it rushed forward. The chains ripped instantly, the old magic not enough to hold it back any longer.

Ilea barely managed to blink out of its way, the massive being moving through the cavern with booming steps.

It rushed her the moment she appeared again, its mace flying past as she dodged backwards, forced to displace herself when the monster brought the weapon around with incredible speed.

She didn’t think it was time magic, nor was it anything like the Noro, where momentum hadn’t seemed to apply. No, this creature used body enhancement spells, powerful enough that the massive mace became something akin to a rapier, its expansive form not holding it back in the slightest.

Ilea tried getting close, charging heat as she spread white flame onto the large creature. She was forced to dodge again when her leg got chipped by the mace.

The single moment of imbalance let the Terror strike her directly, displacement activating just before the weapon came down on her.

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“I don’t think she can handle that,” Kyrian said, Ilea dodging past thirty attacks in the time he said the sentence, occasionally getting hit by the monster’s weapon. It moved around like a beast one hundredth of its size, its attacks flailing and unpredictable.

“It probably can’t fly, let’s go higher. Prepare that circle you used before. Neiphato, try to slow it down,” Feyrair said as his wings spread.

The cavern was somewhat high. Enough that they could stay at a relatively safe distance. Kyrian watched Ilea appear when the mace crashed against her head, one of the spikes digging into her skull.

Fuck.

He sent his flails at the creature, the Terror bringing its mace down on the ground, landing four direct strikes onto the incapacitated Ilea. Her ash and body were squashed and destroyed, her organs flung aside, nothing recognizable remaining.

“Focus, she’s fine,” Feyrair said, turning into his dragon form as he charged his flame attack.

The fires came down, the Terror jumping to the side before it looked up, jumping with enough force to reach Feyrair in mid air, Kyrian’s maces failing to reach it in time.

The elf blocked the first attack before his massive arm was snapped aside, his head deformed and reduced to pulp with the next hit.

Kyrian made his flails explode into thousands of needles, the storm rushing at the massive being now falling towards the ground, Feyrair returning to his Elven form.

He was about to go for the elf when he saw the body vanish, appearing close to Neiphato who hovered further away.

“Heal him!” Ilea called out, fully recovered as she hung from the monster’s back, her ashen limbs digging into it as it flailed and tried to hit her.

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How dare you, she thought, displacing herself when the mace came for her head again. Burning ashen lances shot at the creature, digging into its flesh as it wailed. Her attacks injured it, but the Terror didn’t stop, it came at her with the same momentum as it had before.

She started teleporting higher distances, spreading her ash into the air before she set it all alight, the white flames clinging to large parts of the monster’s body. For now she needed to stall for time. Getting close might not be possible as she was now, but if the others could use their magic, they might stand a chance.

The storm of needles was a good start, thousands of them digging into the creature’s flesh and spreading Kyrian’s curse into it. So far it had no discernible effect but she knew it simply took more time.

When she saw the wounds from her spears heal entirely, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Focus, keep on it, she thought, a beam of fire burning into the monster’s side a moment later, making it stagger. Feyrair was back up.

Roots broke out of the floor, failing to grab the jumping creature, its ascent allowing everyone to send their ranged attacks at it.

Ilea appeared close by and used Heart of Cinder, the beam of fire enveloping the goat like head, melting its skin before it started regenerating again.

Healers really are the worst, she thought, watching the being land before bright green runes lit up on the floor, a beam of cursed energy rushing up towards the ceiling.

The Terror wailed and staggered back, Ilea’s ash and fire crashing into it with white beams singeing its legs all the while.

Wooden roots snaked around its legs, ripped away with an angry stomp.

It rushed away, focused once more on Ilea. But the curse was starting to take a toll.

She dodged the mace more easily, three of her ashen limbs cutting its arm as it passed before she was forced to displace herself again.

Ilea used monster hunter when the Terror turned to face Kyrian’s floating form. It hesitated for a moment before jumping at the curse mage anyway.

Motherfucker.

Kyrian waited for the last moment and vanished, appearing on the other side of the cavern. His mist of needles had cleared most of the bones and metal from the ground, several circles already drawn. One of them activated as the Terror came down, the creature stumbling to the side as it tried to avoid the powerful magic.

Feyrair used the moment to change into his larger form, his breath attack enveloping the monster before he turned back and vanished, the Terror flailing before it hit the wall, trying to put out the fires.

Ilea didn’t waste the opportunity either, rushing past the moving roots grasping the creature from below before her limbs pushed all the mana she could muster into the massive body.

She could see the needles dig into its flesh as a hundred of them drew a runic circle below its very feet. This time the wood held for a mere second, the curse flaring up a moment later.

Ilea remained in the energy, her resistance and healing counteracting the effects as she continued to let her ash do its work, her fists delivering Absolute Destruction against the wailing monster.