Chapter 727: Descent (1/2)

“These hounds caused difficulties for you?” Feyrair said as he crouched down to pet the terrified Stalker Hound.

“We don’t start at your level, Fey. They were great experience back then,” she said.

“Don’t kill it,” Kyrian said.

“Why would we, they’re not a threat, and they’re obviously smart enough not to attack us,” Ilea said. “They’d get hurt anyway, trying to bite through our armor.”

“Exactly. So where to?” Kyrian said.

They had entered the Calys mine and Ilea teleported them through parts of it, looking for a way down. She used monster hunter to look for a powerful being but so far there were no signs of anything. A few more teleports and she saw a deeper cavern within her dominion. They reappeared a moment later.

I suppose we’re out of the Calys mines, Ilea thought as she looked at the more natural cavern. Large bat creatures hissed and scattered.

‘ding’ ‘You have entered the Lower Karth caverns’

“Already lower. Where’s Iz at then?” she wondered.

“The even lower Karth dungeon,” Kyrian suggested.

“Sounds about right,” Ilea said and jumped down into the darkness. She hit the side of a cliff and rolled off, crashing into a few stalagmites at the bottom. Her weight and momentum won out.

“We could just drill down,” the metal mage suggested when he landed next to her.

Feyrair created a few specks of white flame, the magic bits floating out to illuminate their surroundings.

Ilea watched as the cavern expanded. She had her dominion but it wasn’t endless. “We could. But where’s the fun in that?”

“Exactly,” Feyrair said and started walking.

They continued at a slow pace for about half an hour, neither running or teleporting as they searched for ways down.

“The creatures here are weak,” the elf complained.

“We’re not exactly low,” Ilea said. “Let’s speed it up a little.” She spent the next few minutes teleporting the others through the darkness, simply ignoring the lower level cavern dwellers or the layout, appearing in front of a wall a few times. She mostly used her dominion for guidance but her spells were quick. They traveled quite a long way in the short time, her marks suggesting they had descended close to a kilometer. Iz was still a long way off but Ilea could tell the mana density was higher already.

She stopped and burst into flames, Feyrair doing the same. Kyrian’s armor showed signs of curse magic flowing through.

The ground shook ever so slightly, the group in darkness other than their own sources of light. The cavern was small but not exactly claustrophobic. Ilea turned her head to the side when the first creatures entered her dominion.

“Ah, it’s just Shredders,” she informed the others.

Her ashen limbs fanned out behind her, moving through the darkness covered in flame. The elf extended white flowing claws from his fingers, a set of blades with no handles appeared around the metal mage in turn.

Seven of the large armored monsters broke out of the stone walls, floor, and ceiling, converging on them with high speed and open maws. Their momentum pushed them forward, at an angle that would allow the creatures to surround and attack the group. They reached the group’s range where dense ashen limbs ripped through their carapace. Cursed blades of steel dissected the entire length of one Shredder.

Ilea remained where she had stood, chunks of meat and armor raining to the ground around her, her dominion showing the carnage behind her where Kyrian minced through a group of the monsters. Feyrair jumped off the walls, his claws extending before he rushed past one of the beings. The blades on its side hit his armor, unable to penetrate as his hand left a burning gash on its entire length. The creature stopped moving when it had passed him, bleeding out on the stone floor as silence returned to the cavern.

Ilea deactivated her flames, all the dark blood that had reached her already burnt away. She watched as Feyrair sent a burst of flame over the dripping metal mage.

“Thank you,” said Kyrian, his blades reforming into spheres before they vanished.

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Deep Shredder – lvl 413]

“Bad move,” Ilea mused.

“They’re not particularly smart,” Feyrair remarked, shaking his hand, the claws vanishing in turn.

They moved on until Ilea spotted light in the distance. A dull blue glow. She stopped teleporting the group before they walked onward, the decline leading them farther downwards. She jumped off a ledge, landing about ten meters farther down with a heavy impact. Hmm.

“Poison,” Feyrair said.

“Looks like it,” Ilea answered. The glow came from mushrooms sprouting from the cavern walls, a thin mist visible to her eyes and dominion. “I’ll test it. Retrieve me if I pass out.”

“Impossible,” Kyrian said.

“Agreed. I wouldn’t even bet on it,” the elf added.

Ilea smiled. She hoped they were wrong. Another step and she breathed in with closed eyes. Disgusting.

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by Necriha Mist -0.048 health per second for four seconds’

“Oh no. It’s really powerful,” she said as she turned around and fell to her knees.

“She’s lying,” Feyrair said.

“Ilea, we know you would be overjoyed if it actually did that to you,” Kyrian added.

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by Necriha Mist -0.128 health per second for seven seconds’

She ignored their remarks and raised a hand. “Hold on, it might actually be good.” Ilea continued breathing. She tried to ignore the rotten taste but it didn’t exactly help.

“Should I test if it can be ignited?” Feyrair asked.

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by Necriha Mist -0.83 health per second for eighteen seconds’

“Come on, speed it up poison,” Ilea mused as she stood back up and walked deeper into the mist.

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by Necriha Mist -2.48 health per second for thirty seconds’

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by Necriha Mist -2.32 health per second for twenty six seconds’

“Disappointing. And here I thought this could be interesting. Yeah, go ahead Fey,” Ilea said, standing amidst the poison spores.

A flame lit up behind her, the entire cavern lit up a moment later. Her ears rang for one second, her mantle covered in blue flame as debris hit her form. Chunks of rock fell on her, the larger bits vanishing to another section of the tunnel. “It’s ignitable!” she shouted back through the chunks now in her way.

A steel plow moved away the rocks, Kyrian waving at her with Feyrair in tow.

“Indeed,” the elf mused.

Ilea smiled and tried to teleport them through the debris, the group however appearing in front of everything. Not enough space in there. “Well go ahead, plow man.”

Kyrian moved past her, their travel speed considerably slowed. “One might think we’re on our first expedition.”

“Not easy to find a reasonable challenge these days,” Ilea commented. “The dungeons need all the help they can get. Let’s hope for some four marks.”

“They will be there,” Feyrair said.

Another half hour passed as they moved through the darkness, Ilea once more stopping as she felt the presence of powerful magic.

She gestured to the others and walked onward. Her eyes failed to penetrate the darkness unlike before. White flame erupted before her and moved ahead. It too failed to illuminate the dark cavern walls. “Looks like shadow magic,” she said, not quite certain with her dominion alone. The magic changed and shifted. It lashed out as she spoke the words, gripping her form with an invisible force. She gasped, restricted as she felt the spell push into her ash. “Quite… strong,” she said to the two others standing a few meters farther back.

“Do you need help?” Kyrian asked.

Ilea moved away some of her mantle, the shadow magic instantly reaching her skin, blood already dripping to the ground. “No.. this… is perfect.”

“I will train as well,” Feyrair said and stepped next to her, invisible magic ripping into his armor a moment later.

Kyrian joined as well.