Chapter 660: Audur (2/2)

Audur’s gaze was on Ilea, but she didn’t doubt the dragon could see or perceive the others in the hall. Ilea had a hard time even grasping what was interfering with her teleportation. The dragon had several sets of auras, each doing different things, each periodically changing. She found that a part of it influenced her ash, the parts not close to her body.

Ilea considered lying but something told her that was a bad idea. She couldn’t win against this creature in a straight up fight, that much she had known from the instant it had stepped into this hall. She didn’t know if she could flee without her teleportation, let alone the allies still hiding nearby. Time would be of the essence, which meant she had to keep a conversation going. Let’s hope she’s bored out of her mind.

“I came to find a Taleen artifact,” Ilea said, walking a few steps to the right, in the hopes to get just a tiny bit more distance between herself and the others. It was a faint hope that the dragon relied on its eyes alone to see, but even if it brought but a split second, it was worth the shot. “I assume you’re the one who cleared out the machines that had remained within Izculen?”

“Naturally,” the dragon replied in its whisper like tone, slight impatience lacing her words.

“Perhaps you’d be willing to trade? Both for the artifact and my life,” Ilea said. “I can bring you gold, cake, metals, dresses?” she said, none of the words provoking a reaction in the slightest.

The dragon growled quietly. “Thou hast a commendable grasp on reality,” she spoke.

Ilea saw the attack coming, sidestepping the root breaking out of the ground in an attempt to pierce her chest. Ash covered her face as her wings took her upwards. “I assume that means you’re not interested in negotiating?” she asked with a smirk.

“Fight to the end, human. I shall free you of that dreadful magic,” Audur spoke as a hundred wooden spears formed and shot out.

Ilea couldn’t avoid them all, instead covering her body with wings and ash. “Run!” she shouted, her ash shaved off with each glancing blow, the spears infused with magic. Four more volleys came at her as she perceived flashes of fire and lightning going for separate exits, the Mind Weaver rushing out at a much slower pace.

The second volley pierced her armor, the wooden spears digging into her flesh before they splintered, exploding in a flash of fragments. She could feel time slow down, her speed increasing considerably as she managed to avoid a thin projectile coming at her eye. Ilea used the doubled resilience and speed to move forward, her wings shredded and healing, same as her mantle.

Her hand extended as she charged Archon Strike, dozens of roots breaking out of the ground to meet her fast descent. Embered Heart released in a bright cone ahead of her, hitting an invisible force that blocked and consumed the fires and heat, snuffing out the spell in an instant.

Ilea’s third tier healing remade her body and mantle in the time her speed remained doubled, allowing her to avoid more of the spears. She tried again to teleport but failed to activate either spell. A part of her considered fleeing right now but even with the boost it was questionable if she could even get out of the hall. Audur’s focus was on her.

Not close to what the Meadow can do, she knew, which meant the dragon was still toying with her. She could gain more time to figure out the auras. Ilea decided not to increase the length of her ability spike, to make sure she could use it again later. Instead she burst into white flame, pushing her reverse healing into the creature as she circled around as fast as she could, dodging projectiles and sending back burning ash where she managed a window of opportunity.

A few spears had shredded through her chest and stomach, a dozen more ripping her apart in the next wave. She could see the damage being done, each splinter fighting against her tough ash and muscle, scratching the bones below before she was flung aside.

Ilea couldn’t move, a large chunk of her skin and muscle gone, some of her bones showing scratch marks as white fire burned on her ash and skin. She coughed, her third tier healing regenerating all of her organs, flesh, and ash, the layers once more protecting her as she stood up, looking at the dragon who had ceased its attacks.

She cracked her shoulder, her reverse healing still pouring into the creature as she used the time to form more ashen spears, infusing them with heat and setting them ablaze with the fires of creation.

“Abomination,” the dragon said in a vibrating tone, spears of ash exploding in bright heat and white flame against a force like barrier of mana. The flame of creation remained, burning away the source. “Ash. Fire. Arcane reconstruction, and the flame of creation. Thou hast no regard for the natural order,” Audur whispered with increasing power, her words shaking the stone hall as more roots broke out of the ground. “Your species was not meant to reach thine power. Die now, Lilith.”

Ilea jumped back, forming several sets of ashen walls as her fires spread, embered heart flashing out in a sphere when the roots reached her, the spell pushing them back for the fraction of a second. She evaded in the air, flying as fast as she could, now aiming for one of the exits. Roots formed instantly to block her way, large lances of wood hitting her back, three glancing off against her armor, another six piercing through, one punching out of her chest.

An ashen copy jumped in to block the spear coming for her head, deflecting the projectile just enough to save her.

Two… one, Ilea thought, still flying towards the mesh of wood now in her way, more roots forming below to catch her slowing form. The lances still piercing her body splintered with flashes of energy, one of her legs torn away as her flesh was ripped through, her lungs and heart squashed in an instant. Phaseshift activated when she reached the exit, the rest of her momentum taking her through the wood. Thank fuck, she thought, seeing the barrier pass as she entered into the hallway beyond, deactivating the spell as fast as she could, her body healing while she remained in her phased form.

Audur had moved the barrier aside, sending another barrage of wood towards the exit. Most of them moved through Ilea without an impact, the last few dodged when she returned to normal space. One took her shoulder, nearly making her fall.

She didn’t pause, her wings moving as her mantle reformed, all her speed pushing her through the corridor and away from the dragon much too large for this passage.

“Commendable,” the creature mused.

Ilea felt an absurd amount of mana form behind her, coalescing as she pushed forward. She formed ash behind her, Phaseshift still on cooldown as she tried again to teleport. Fucking aura. She didn’t glance back. She could see the magic come either way. Healing.

Bright green flames filled the corridor, rushing over her flying form like a cool breeze. Time slowed once more as she watched her ash evaporate instantly, the walls around her growing grass and flowers as her flesh bloated and melted, her eyes exploding as she fell into a run. Her legs gave out under her, one eye regenerating to show the blurred image of her skeletal arm. She used it to drag herself forward.

There was no pain, no hesitation, her mind going blank for a moment as the fires reached her brain. Ilea’s dominion returned, her third tier healing pushing against the remains of the green flame as she stumbled up, her ash barely managing to form in the presence of the remnants. She ran instead, on bone and muscle, then on flesh, slipping before she managed to stand again. Her leg didn’t feel right, nor did her right hand. It didn’t matter.

“Run, little human. There is no escape,” whispered Audur, her voice calm once more.

Ilea glanced back to see the dragon’s tail slip away in the direction of the main entrance. She glanced down to see her leg covered in blisters, her foot angled the wrong way. She cursed, removing the leg with an ashen limb before she formed a new one.

Ilea stared at the green flames flickering on the walls, running forward until she rushed into an open room, coming down with a crash, her vision blurring again.

Verena was by her side in the next moment, groaning as she turned Ilea onto her back. “Something’s on you,” she said, a flicker of flame above her palm lighting up the room before a torrent of fire washed over her.

Ilea reached up, pushing away the Elder’s hand and her spell. She could see half her face missing, her own healing still regenerating newly forming injuries, her left eye was gone again. “Step aside,” she murmured, ashen limbs moving above her as her weight increased, heat forming within her.

Verena made some distance as Embered Heart released onto Ilea herself, flashes of fiery light illuminating the room time and time again as she burned away the foreign magic, stone melting below. Flare of Creation got rid of the last bits as it flashed up on her skin.

“She’s not following,” Verena said from the entrance, her gaze towards the hall they had come from. “I can’t teleport and my fire is weakened still, can you move?”

Ilea sighed, blinking her eyes as she checked her body. “I’m fine. Let’s hope she stays in a playful mood,” she said and tried to teleport, the spells still not manifesting. She hissed, sitting down to meditate.

“You have a plan?” Verena asked.

“Can’t fight her. Need to get through her aura,” she said and closed her eyes.

“Dragon aura blocking space. Ideas? Wood and Healing,” she sent to the Meadow before addressing Violence. “In a bind. Help get us out? Dragon with aura.”

She had the key. There was no other reason to stay.

“Violence Knight. Come. Rescue!” the Fae sent back.

Ilea smiled to herself, refocusing on the aura still permeating everything around them.

“Give me that mark you mentioned. I will find the others,” Verena said, holding out her hand.

Ilea looked up and obliged.

The Elder burst into flames. “Good luck,” she said with a light smile, and rushed off, heavy impacts resounding as she ran.