Chapter 680: Undying (1/2)

Chapter 680 Undying

Pierce giggled and jumped off, falling to one knee. “As you wish, great lord.”

Ilea displaced a nearby Skinner into her open palm, squishing it with her massive steel fingers. She threw the remains to the side, like a wrung out rag. “Is she fine?”

Verena’s vitals seemed to be doing alright according to her dominion enhanced healing, but she was taking a lot of hits, and the acid constantly melted her skin. Most of her clothes were gone too, her body covered in blood and flames.

“She’s just getting started,” Pierce said, appearing on a nearby chunk of rubble.

Ilea kept an eye on the fighting Elder but decided not to interfere. She instead changed her attention back to the priest.

It was slowly reforming its missing head and injured torso, a heavy steel fist interrupting the process.

Ilea knelt down on one knee and just kept punching, each hit sending tremors through the ground. Cracks formed and stone was shattered. The undead was first turned into mush, then powder as its remains mixed in with the debris. Only then did Ilea receive a notification.

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Priest of the Blight Chosen – lvl 608]’

She stood up and checked her arm, the steel neither dented nor scratched from the intense pummeling.

“You’re moving a little less awkward now,” Pierce said from the side, her armor back to normal as well.

“It feels… right,” the titan answered, her first raised.

“Hmmmmm,” Pierce exclaimed, giving her a look.

“Are you aroused again, mortal?” Ilea asked, spreading her arms.

“No… not exactly,” Pierce mused and turned back to the slaughtering Verena.

Ilea squinted her eyes despite the steel in front of her, looking through the messages she had received.

‘ding’ ‘The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 488 – One stat point awarded’

One. Need to find more of those fat titans, she thought, ignoring the fact that she was even heavier at the moment.

Verena sunk her axe into the last of the moving creatures, cutting it apart with eighteen more strikes until only a few pieces remained. She looked up with glowing runes on her burning blood covered body, a broad disconnected grin on her face.

Doesn’t seem fair to comment on that after my own performance, Ilea thought and walked towards the woman.

“Give her a moment,” Pierce said.

Verena turned and crouched. She looked at Ilea with hungry eyes, her axes at the ready.

“Friend,” Ilea said and spread her arms wide.

The woman looked confused and hesitated. Steaming black blood dripped from her body, most of it burning away. “Friend?” she asked herself, looking to the floor before she glanced at her axes. “Yes,” she added with a smile.

The others waited until Verena had cleaned herself with her flames, a fresh hide skirt and steel top appeared when she was done. “Ahh, that was good.”

“Got a level too,” Pierce said. “It’s so easy with this machine here to take out the most dangerous foes.”

Ilea grunted with a deep voice. She gestured to the others and continued towards the exit.

The tomb continued down into the depths, opened and empty graves lining the many corridors and halls, few of them holding and undead. Most seemed to have come up during their earlier battle. As they descended down moist stairwells and dark shafts, the group soon started to hear noises once again.

“Far enough away from the previous fight,” Verena said.

“Nothing in my sphere,” Ilea formed with ash.

They continued towards the noise for another ten minutes, Ilea’s armaments preventing them from moving particularly fast through the often cramped tunnels. She did feel like she was getting better at avoiding the ceiling and graves, only damaging every fourth one or so.

Ilea stopped the others with a gesture, starting to see groups of undead creatures at the edge of her dominion. “More spacious area ahead. Several titans,” she informed with floating ash, unable to make her voice changer particularly quiet. She took a few steps. “Priests too. And… something else. Looks more dangerous than any of the others.”

The Elders followed in silence.

“Cavern leading away,” Ilea formed, creating a rough copy of the tunnel layout with floating ash. Embers lit up where the three of them were located and then where the cavern seemed to lead out of the tomb.

“You’ll want to fight them,” Pierce said.

“Of course,” Ilea said after appearing on top of her armor. “But it might be too dangerous for you two. There are eight titans alone, and I’m pretty sure the Priests can heal the others with their death magic. Oh… one of the large ones just turned our way.”

“We’ll approach slowly once you’ve started. And we will get back and out of here if they’re too dangerous,” Pierce said.

“I’ll send you a warning if there’s mind magic at play that could take you out,” Ilea said, looking at Pierce. “Let’s get working then,” she added with a smirk, vanishing into her armaments.

“Go get them, titan,” Pierce said and stepped aside, a wide grin on her face.

“Don’t mind if I do,” the titan boomed and started towards the open hall full of undead.

Ilea saw magical lamps on the ceiling as she approached, the tunnel opening up into a spacious natural cave. The ground was laid with stone, a temple like structure built into the other side of the cavern. She could see nearly a hundred Skinners, eight Titans, and a few Priests, most of them barely moving around. The new variant of likely undead she could see were tall beings with thin elongated bodies. Their frail arms ended in clawed hands, their height reaching her armaments. They wore tattered cloaks covering their faces, the outline suggesting a barely recognizable mush of flesh below.

“Your reckoning has come,” her voice vibrated through the tunnel, the first rows of undead now turning her way, some already moving into a sprint.

Ilea came out into the open, moving past a few decrepit pillars and onto a balcony that overlooked the cave. Her legs smashed through the ancient stone railings without resistance. She spread her arms in the short flight, one foot landing on an unfortunate Skinner.

Its body exploded outwards with a wet sound. The titan above its remains stood up with a slow moving body. A rifle appeared in its hands as it aimed at the approaching horde.