Chapter 672: Sphering Voidening (2/2)

Ilea started adding sharp turns to her repertoire, noticing the creature placing spells ahead of her to catch her off guard. A few of its many spheres hit, leaving her defenses vulnerable and her body injured but the main issue was part of her drill dissolving. Her body twitched when she had slowed down due to a partially missing boring tool, four spheres hitting her near instantly before she teleported out with both skills, appearing closer to the creature and in the tunnel of spheres it had created by now.

She spat out a chunk of bloody flesh, healing her wounds as she got her first glance at the creature running towards her at the ceiling of its own void tunnel.

[Void Lord – lvl ????]

Ilea estimated it to be at around one thousand one hundred, just a bit higher than the Lich fragment that sent her down here. She wasn’t surprised that it hadn’t been able to fight that creature on its own.

It rushed towards her with its arms in impossible angles, sending itself flying with continuous pulls, its skin the same purpleish color as the Soul Rippers, another indicator that they might have been from the same realm. Its head had small thorns coming out of it in what seemed like completely random patterns, the main feature its one eye that stared at Ilea no matter where she was. Of course that one was purple too.

An instinctual hunter, Ilea thought, flying through the tunnel and away from the being as she reformed her drill and mantle, breaking into stone when its spheres appeared in front of her. I’ll make this whole mountain collapse if I have to, she thought and summoned her beam cannon, aiming at the creature via her sphere before she sent a near fully charged Embered Heart towards it.

The spell burned through the stone walls as if they were paper, reaching the creature before the energy seemingly vanished, appearing on its back and flashing outwards in an uncontrolled manner, the redirected beam cutting into the ceiling and walls where tons of rock started to tumble and fall.

She had to avoid another set of spheres on her continuous flight, the echoing sounds of stone falling drowning out any other noise as dust and debris filled many of the crevices. Ilea turned away from a near solid formation, the lack of air pockets between too much for her to keep up the same drilling speed.

Some kind of field around it that redirects any magic? she thought and started spreading out ash behind her, most of it would dissolve from the continuous void magic but she hoped some of it would remain. Ilea thought it too dangerous to approach the creature in its preferred terrain, not knowing what other tricks it had up its void sleeves. Luckily it didn’t seem particularly intelligent, happily helping her hollow out the mountain with its inexhaustible spells.

What’s even the point of these creatures? Can’t exactly eat what you void away, she mused, caught again in an area too dense to quickly get through. This time she used a charged Archon Strike in an external wave to shatter a large section of stone, her drill reforming as she entered the space and pushed forward.

Most of the debris was gone in the next moment, vanished by the Void Lord rushing after her on all fours.

Quite a terrifying sight, she thought as she watched its movements in her dominion, trying to analyze the space around it with her awareness whilst she continued to send destructive mana into its body, if any of it actually arrived. She didn’t use her full power, requiring her healing to keep herself alive. But not quite a Leviathan, are we? she thought with a grin. Just another powerful monster left behind in no man’s land. And I’ll gladly rid the world of you.

She sent a cloud of burning ash at the flying creature, finding it stop before a sphere made most of it disappear. Oh? We don’t like that, do we? she thought, checking her resources before she started teleporting away and back to the entrance of the deep caverns. The creature tried to follow but lost her due to its lack of teleportation and the thin crevices in the way.

Ilea burst out into the city of glass dungeon, finding an expectant Lich fragment waiting for her. She didn’t say anything and landed, healing herself as she recovered her mana. Wouldn’t want to get caught like that after I actually defeated that monster, she thought, looking at the Lich. “I’m working on it. It’s strong but pretty stupid too.”

‘ding’ ‘Sentinel Reconstruction [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Transfer [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 4’

‘ding’ ‘Sentinel Core [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Wings [Enhanced] reaches 3rd lvl 5’

‘ding’ ‘Drill reaches lvl 4’

‘ding’ ‘Oxygen Repository reaches 2nd lvl 9’

She hadn’t even noticed the lack of air down there, the fact simply not presenting a more pressing issue than the falling tons of rock coupled with the Void Lord hunting for her.

‘ding’ ‘Void Magic Resistance reaches 3rd lvl 10’

Ilea would only get better at dealing with it and for once, she wouldn’t actually care much if it managed to hunt her beyond its lair. “Can I lure it up here?” she asked directly.

“It won’t come. I’ve tried before,” the fragment answered. “The environment presents a challenge on its own, I’m sure you’ve noticed. Based on the noise, I’m sure you don’t concern yourself much with the integrity of this place.”

“The more shit that falls onto that thing, the better,” she said. “Why again do you want it dead?”

The lich ground its teeth. “It has something that belongs to me.”

“Didn’t look like it was running around with a purse,” she said.

“Deeper in its lair, it has collected what it deems treasures, or so I think,” he said.

“I could just get it and bring it here,” Ilea said.

“I fear it would follow. No. That creature needs to be gone,” the Lich said.

Well we agree on that one, she thought and summoned some food. It didn’t provide any mana but after battles like this one, she always got hungry, no matter the state of her magically enhanced body.

Her mantle cleaned away all the dust and debris on her before she started eating.

“What are you waiting for?” the Lich asked.

“Strategic planning,” she lied. “I need time to think,” she lied again. There were a few things she had to figure out, and the least she had to do was stall enough for her soul to heal. Every little bit would help and somehow she enjoyed the growing annoyance emanated from the being in front of her. It felt like her boss giving her an annoying task on her last day, not that her boss in fast food had been such a dick, but she could imagine this Lich as some kind of difficult middle manager in the local dungeon company. You have no power here, old man, she thought with a grin.