Chapter 671: Gauntlet (1/2)

Chapter 671 Gauntlet

Ilea rushed past the beam, moving into it for the last few meters. She could feel her ash getting stripped away, her skin hit by the death magic and slowly decaying. Her fist came in an uppercut, hitting the monster’s barely attached jaw and slamming it upwards, its mouth shut as the rest of its spell burst out through from the sides, its head punched upwards.

She spread her ash and set it alight, her wounds slowly recovering as she changed her strikes to purely physical attacks. Her next fist sent splintered teeth flying to each side, Ilea jumping up before she aimed at its eyes.

Flesh was squashed and bones were broken, each strike sending vibrations through her arms as she felt her own muscles ripping and tearing, the injuries healing faster than the ones caused by the monster’s spells.

Ilea jumped back when she got a confusing feedback from her precognition, her head cocking to the side as she watched the creature’s eyes glow with purple flames. Dark blood dripped down from its mangled jaw.

She prepared to attack when she tasted blood in her mouth, some of it dripping down to the ground below her. Hmm, she mused, seeing a magical connection within her dominion. “Now what’s that about?” she asked as the monster charged at her, purple flames forming on its whole body.

Ilea watched her mantle decay, her skin fighting against death magic that gripped her from all around. Suppose there’s no way around it, she thought with a smirk and charged.

She dodged under the partial jaw, her fist slamming into the monster’s massive chest before she vanished, appearing above it where her own chest dented inward slightly. She coughed up blood and sent her charged flames onto its back, feeling heat and death burn into her own. A few seconds passed as she healed with her third tier, the effects slowed down considerably but still enough to deal with her injuries as she dodged the frenzied attacks of the creature. She laughed when she noticed its own injuries not healing.

Now that, she thought and came down with her charged fists, purposely not aiming for its head with any of her attacks as her physical hits slammed into its spine. Is a fatal flaw.

A few more strikes landed, finally splintering its spine below the purple flames. Ilea’s hands were stripped of flesh, her own spine refusing to shatter as she continued her relentless strikes, hitting dozens of times until the monster fell forward, unable to move its legs or wings anymore. She bathed in the flames, healing herself as she absorbed every shred of mana she could gather up.

Ilea sat down on the monster’s neck, her mantle reforming within the flames of death, her white fires spreading out and slowly overtaking the heavily injured enemy.

“What terrifying might!” Death spoke, slapping to the ground after it managed to get out of the wall, slowly floating up before it spoke once more. “Now finish it, wanderer, destroy that which failed before you and claim victory!”

“I’m burning it down,” she said, healing herself against the still transferred damage, her flames of creation pushing against the purple fires as the creature was slowly weakened.

It was barely alive at this point but its pure magical might was still above hers, which made the undeath struggle a prolonged conflict. Ilea just wanted to focus on her third Class to get the most experience for it out of the battle. By now she was pretty sure the others weren’t in immediate danger, and they could still call for her.

“Why do you put creatures that invade your dungeon on these paths?” she asked after a while of burning.

The lich fragment had crossed its arms by now, its eyes flickering with swaying blue light. “To see them fight of course, to see them struggle, and to see them die. There is nothing more glorious, and meaningful in life, and death.”

“You’re not annoyed that I destroy your undead creatures?” Ilea asked.

“They are not alive. No more. True purpose can only come from those living,” it said.

“Depends if there’s a will and mind remaining. As with you. Would you say your existence has no purpose?” Ilea asked, cutting into the creature below her with her ashen limbs and spears to speed up the process.

“I reached for immortality, and was confined here. Would you not say that is punishment for my arrogance? And yet… when I see those of life… struggling against their fate, it brings back something,” it said and laughed, the sound turning into a mad cackling.

“How long exactly have you been down here?” Ilea asked, a ding finally resounding within her mind.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Winged Death of the North – lvl 1008]’

‘ding’ ‘The Arcane Eternal has reached lvl 504 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘The Ashen Titan has reached lvl 501 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 467 – One stat point awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Sentinel Core [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 6’

‘ding’ ‘Arcane Circulation [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 4’

‘ding’ ‘Avatar of Ash [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 5’

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Limbs reaches lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Deviant of Humanity reaches 3rd lvl 19’

‘ding’ ‘You have effortlessly slaughtered a four mark creature – One Core skill point awarded’

We’re at that point now, Ilea thought with a grin.

“The passing of time has no bearing on me, I am immortal after all,” the lich fragment answered after it had stopped cackling.

It had lead Ilea onward into a broad corridor of ice, various enchantments now instantly noticeable to her. Bunch of traps, she thought, not spotting any creatures or signs of anyone having ever set foot into the area.

“What am I supposed to do, just walk through?” she asked, already walking.

“Indeed,” the being said and resumed its cackling.

She felt a few of the enchantments activate, the ice cracking as mists of cold air flashed out, leaving frozen patches on her mantle. Ilea quickly discarded the damaged parts, healing her defenses as more spells activated around her. Her eyebrows quirked up as she noticed a familiar feel from one of the explosions near her. She decided not to dodge, instead analyzing the soul magic that flowed through her.

A lich, could’ve expected as much, I suppose, she thought, looking inward to see her essence slightly damaged. The pain was still there, an instinctual wrongness she’d likely never be able to shake. Her training with Seithir helped her deal with it however, the feeling wrong but familiar.

She couldn’t exactly heal the damage but it would recover in time, and maybe she could get a few more levels to her resistance before she had to face the Lich fragment itself, if it really came to that.

Ilea side eyed the floating humanoid being, continuing her walk through the increasingly chaotic field of magical explosions. She made sure to leave no enchantment dormant, occasionally even sending an ashen limb into the ice to get the last ones out.

When she arrived on the other side, she had a slightly damaged soul, coupled with a bit of mana yet to be recovered due to her healing and reforming of her mantle. None of the spells managed to get through her defenses entirely, besides the soul magic of course.

‘ding’ ‘Soul Magic Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 14’

She could tell the Lich’s enchantments were of a different quality than Seithir’s spells but she lacked the understanding to differentiate the specifics. They enchantments had felt more chaotic, but with the explosive application, that seemed obvious.

“I did it,” she said in a monotone voice, turning around to face the being.

“Indeed. Splendid defenses you possess, wanderer. But I suppose it was a little underwhelming after your fight with the Winged Death. And yet, this hallway leads to the next battle on the Path of Death. All wanderers are required to go through,” it said.

Probably where most of them die, Ilea thought, remembering her first encounter with soul magic. She was glad it hadn’t been here.

What followed were eighteen battle halls with increasingly dangerous undead monsters and humanoids taken from the northern regions, all interlinked by trap laden hallways. Ilea was mostly just surprised by how many creatures the Lich fragment had captured over the centuries, making sure with each kill that there was not a lot of connected physical matter left to raise the creatures once more, though she had no idea how much of an undead was truly required to raise them again. Perhaps just the soul was enough and mana would fill in the rest. She hoped not.

As time went on, she got increasingly confident that the Lich fragment could somehow raise the monsters again, mostly due to the progressively higher level of the beings. If a single level six hundred Star Chaser arrived here, it would easily shred through the first ten or more halls that had been presented to her, excluding the four mark she had fought near the start.

Most of the creatures had only a few abilities and not many had answers against her healing or space magic, none had anything against both. All of them were overwhelmed by her mana intrusion at one point or the other. Some monsters she had to avoid, getting in hits with well timed teleportation while recovering both mana and health between strikes, others she could simply approach and punch until they were nothing but a lifeless pulp of bones and flesh.

“You have been most impressive, wanderer,” the being said when she finished the last level nine hundred Wyrmling, its head snapping to the side when she finally managed to overwhelm its continued regeneration.

Ilea herself had lost a good chunk of her mana in the fight, her wounds healing as she looked at the Lich fragment, checking her messages quickly to see how far she had come.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Undead hallowed beetle – lvl 628]’

‘ding’ ‘The Ashen Titan has reached lvl 502 – Five stat points awarded’

‘ding’ ‘The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 469 – One stat point awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Sentinel Reconstruction [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 6’