Chapter 693: This Chapter is sponsored by the Endless Meadow (2/2)

He raised his hands and smiled. “Yes. Hmm. Well, I thought… if I stay away for long enough, you’d get someone else to become an Elder.”

She rubbed her temple and sighed. “I was worried.”

His eyes softened a little before he looked down. “I… apologize.”

Verena just shook her head. “Have you kept up your training at least?”

Lucas didn’t reply.

She sat down next to him and watched the burning forest, dulled maniacal laughter coming from within the barrier as several logs crashed against the stumbling armor.

“Make sure to inform the Meadow from now on. About your whereabouts,” she said.

“I will,” he answered after a while.

“How long until we leave?” Pierce said as she looked over.

“She said a few hours,” Verena said.

“Feel like visiting Hallowfort? I don’t really feel like working on my skills while that monster is training nearby. No, not you Meadow,” Pierce said.

Verena looked at the woman for a few seconds before she stood up. “Sure. A bit of normalcy for once. And you come too, Lucas. When was the last time you’ve eaten a normal meal.”

“Light and water is plenty of sustenance,” he murmured, acting like an old man as usual.

And you were supposed to be the strongest, Verena thought, gently touching his shoulder. She looked towards the dome and smiled. Maybe we should’ve founded a council long ago. Instead of clinging to our ways.

“Meadow, can you get us up to the town?” Pierce asked.

“Certainly, lightning child,” the being replied to the three of them.

Verena felt the space magic manifest but compared to Ilea’s spells, she had no chance of resisting. I’ll have to face that creature at one point or the other. Maybe now… with Lilith and the Council, I’ll be able to focus a little more on myself.

They appeared in the town made of stone, set atop the ancient statue, the Meadow somewhere below.

“This might be the safest settlement in all of Elos by now,” Pierce mused as she looked around.

“Indeed. The Endless Meadow sees all,” Lucas mused.

“You’re more senile than I remember,” Verena said and walked to a nearby Dark One. “Greetings glaive master. Where may we find food and drink?”

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Ilea stored her armor before it fell apart entirely, her mantle soon pierced by a dozen lances of wood. She kept her weight at the highest point, Embered heart and Archon Strike keeping the encroaching forest at bay, a little bit at least. “Stop playing around. I want to actually test how viable this is compared to evasion.”

The ground shook and the crystal light from above vanished a moment later.

She smirked with a sigh and let lose one last Embered Heart before magic slammed into her from all sides. Her mantle held for a while but the first injuries soon manifested. The problem just like the many times before wasn’t the actual damage done by the piercing roots but the fact that they prevented her from healing her organs. She couldn’t exactly reform her heart around a wooden stake. The joke wasn’t lost on her either.

Compared to the last few times however, the Meadow couldn’t get through her defenses as quickly. Which allowed her to use her spells more often. Destroying the elements helped but it felt like using a bucket of water to fight a forest fire. A bucket now, after her evolutions. Before that it had been a tiny water gun.

She ignored the amount of blood and fleshy bits in the meat grinder, her pain nonexistent, no blow able to faze or stun her. “This reminds me of the vampire I killed,” she sent as Primordial shift activated. She healed herself fully and deactivated the spell again. Compared to Phaseshift, the Meadow failed to entirely fill her unoccupied place in the fabric with wood or stone, which made the entire affair a little more interesting than an instantaneous loss.

“Maybe we should work on removing your brain permanently. You would be unstoppable,” the Meadow sent.

Gates formed around her, the nearby roots vanishing into the pyramid she had erected around herself. The Meadow countered with its own gates, sneaking roots behind the portals without much trouble.

“I don’t know if you want a zombie Ilea running free,” she mused.

“Just another dangerous monster in the wilderness,” the Meadow said.

Ilea crossed her arms before her mantle was shredded again, her skin and muscles slowly bored through by rotating spikes. A sphere of near white energy burned away a part of the wood again, her injuries healing near instantly. “Come on, give me some credit. Ever seen a monster with regeneration this ridiculous? Arcane healing, mana intrusion, ash mantle, space magic, flame of creation?”

“Just another very dangerous monster in the wilderness then. Or would you like a special title?” the being asked.

“Lilith is plenty I think. But I’d probably be seen as some demon or godess. Maybe zombie me would actually go around healing things,” she said.

“It is said that Lilith appears on cloudless days, when the winds come from the east. Offerings of food will calm the being. All those brought to her with illness and injury will be healed,” the Meadow offered.

“Not bad. But if you attack her…,” she suggested.

“Her rampage usually lasts several weeks until she either kills everything in an area of fifty kilometers, or until she once more feels hungry,” it finished.

“So I’m some kind of natural catastrophe type monster you really shouldn’t mess with. Hmm, I can get behind that I suppose,” she mused with a smile. “Could’ve even happened with some of my evolution options.”

“You value your sanity too much for that to happen, but I’m sure there are already high level creatures that would love to have you as their instrument,” the Meadow said.

Ilea spread her arms, her entire form pierced by a thousand thin wooden spikes. “How would I be seduced by anything lesser than the Endless Meadow?”

The being giggled in the form of space magic. “I suppose a good meal would do the trick.”