Chapter 727: Descent (2/2)

Ilea kept an eye on them through her healing but so far the damage wasn’t massive. She watched as dark beings made of shadow stepped out of the walls and advanced with incredible speed. One raised its arm and grabbed her face, a pulse of dark magic slamming into her system a moment later. She felt another pulse, more of the monsters stepping out and advancing on what they surely perceived as their prey.

[Shade of Varuhn – lvl ???]

Just above six hundred.

The beings had no eyes nor any other discerning features other than their vaguely humanoid shapes, most of them elongated and partially melding into the dark walls. Their attacks continued for half a minute before the creature in front of her let go, its dark head moving closer to her bleeding face.

Ilea’s eyes reformed as she smiled. “Why did you stop?”

The creature moved its head back, more of the others retreating slightly as well.

“Should we kill them too?” Feyrair asked, a burning hand of his pulling away the shadowy limb that had gripped his head.

“Don’t think it’s worth the experience,” Ilea mused. “Maybe for the two of you. You should start, they’re not exactly smart but I think they’re starting to understand their mistake.”

Fey rushed past her with flames erupting all around, green glowing blades flying at the creatures from the other side.

Ilea checked her notifications while the others cut into the stone walls to get at the retreating monsters.

‘ding’ ‘Shadow Magic Resistance reaches lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Dark Magic Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 8’

Wonderful. The others were already done, the cavern back to regular darkness with the last signs of shadow magic leaving her dominion. “Well done my minions. The way is clear yet again.”

“I think that’s the first time someone has called me an underling,” Fey commented with an amused hiss.

“I didn’t expect you to like it,” Kyrian mused.

“I would kill her for it, if she were mortal,” the elf said.

“How very insecure,” Ilea said. “That difficult to accept that a human a tenth of your age is more powerful than you?”

“Most events have been easier to comprehend, yes. Though it’s a motivation more than an annoyance,” he said with a hiss.

Ilea grinned.

“I can give you two some time if you need it,” Kyrian said.

“You’re welcome to join, metal mage,” Fey said. “Though we should have invited the Dragonslayer.”

“I’m quite comfortable without, thank you,” Kyrian said.

“Things going well with Aliana then?” Ilea asked.

“Oh? You have chosen a lover?” Fey said.

Kyrian didn’t reply, to their amusement.

They teased him for a little while as they flew through the darkness, descending further.

Ilea formed a small flame and sent it out, the others following her gaze. One of the adjacent tunnels showed a somewhat rectangular entrance. Shaped by something more intelligent than most monsters. “Awakened maybe?” Ilea wondered.

“Dwarves more likely, in these parts of the land. The Taleen weren’t the only ones digging into the depths, forming settlements where none would reach them,” Feyrair suggested. “Though this is particularly simple. No runes either.”

“Is that weird?” Ilea asked. “The Taleen don’t have runes on their entrances either.”

“The Taleen were not exactly welcoming. Many other dwarves would lead their allies or those seeking shelter to safe places in the deep. Especially smaller factions,” the elf said.

“You know a lot about dwarfs,” Kyrian commented.

“Before this ridiculous woman came along, we had to actually scour the caverns of this world for the ruins left behind by our enemies. We fought more Taleen machines in the past year than I did in the last century,” the elf said.

“So let’s see what this place is about,” Ilea said and started towards it. She stopped when a whisper reached her mind. Words she didn’t understand, some slowed, others sped up. Everything was laced with curse magic, far more potent than anything her present companion could conjure. It went as sudden as it had come. “Did you get that too?”

“Yes. I’d like to see that curse,” Kyrian said. “Expect this not to be an easy fight. If it’s a moving creature creating the magic.”

“If felt the power too,” Ilea said.

“Come. Flesh. Thine awakening awaits,” Feyrair said.

“Have you been compromised?” Ilea asked.

“It’s the translation. The dialect is strange, not something I’ve heard before but the words themselves are clear. It’s a language I don’t think is still spoken,” Fey said.

Ilea smiled. “I suppose someone has to be the scholar in the party. I’m certainly not it.”

The elf hissed and joined her side. “Go on then. If I’m the scholar, you’re the front line.”

“Gladly,” Ilea said and walked into the tunnel. She noted the simple rooms that had been carved into the stone walls. No furniture showed within, the ground uneven and the walls chipped. Scratches showed on the stone. Dried blood started to show up as they went deeper into the underground complex. Not drawings exactly but it seemed there was some kind of intent. “There is a flow to this blood.”

“It’s been dried for ages,” Feyrair said. “But I agree. It leads inward.”

“I can feel the curse,” Kyrian sent to her.

Ilea continued until they came into a broadening cavern, the blood now both on the walls and the ground. The only light was their own. Her eyes widened as she took in the surroundings through her dominion but it was really the smell and humidity that made the experience unpleasant. Corpses she had seen before, though perhaps not quite as putrid and mutilated as the piles gathered at the back of the large cavern. Blood and puss still seeped from the bodies.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Fey sent through the connection. “Everything else here hasn’t moved in ages but these dwarfs look like they’ve been killed just yesterday.”

Ilea sent the words to Kyrian in turn.

“The source of the curse is within that pile,” the man said.

Just when he sent it, there was movement. A head emerged from the fleshy bits, its skull split, dead eyes looking into nothing. It was elevated by flesh from below, muscles building and growing as it dissected itself from the corpses. Several arms and too many legs emerged, differing sizes all. Some parts showed healthy skin, others scarred tissue. Most of all however, muscle and slightly bleeding wounds were the prevalent surface area. The creature dragged a war hammer out of the pile, silver and inlaid with gems, held by three large arms. Two heads opened their mouths but produced no sound, the abomination reaching two meters in height, its torso unnaturally thin, the mass of its arms and legs far outweighing its core.

[Silent Malice – lvl ????]

“It’s not far above one thousand,” Ilea informed them, rather confident as she stepped forward to meet the horror.

The creature moved at the same time. And it didn’t just move. Pulses of magic suggested time and blood manipulation. The entire cavern lit up with a curse that made the dried and wet blood pulse with power.

Ilea saw the attack coming but she failed to react due to the sudden grip of the curse. It closed the distance near instantly, the hammer striking her head with the full force of three muscly arms. Her skull whipped back as she slid on the ground for half a meter, various destructive magics trying to get past her defenses. The damage was healed, Ilea dodging the next strike with a timed teleport. She felt a little groggy from the impact, her limbs and fires spreading over the creature as she struck back, Archon Strike flaring up and into the flesh before she was sent flying with a backhanded hammer strike.

Metal and fire impacted the monster from her companions as she slid to a stop, coughing up blood. Her Mantle held up but the combined kinetic force and intrusion like curse magic and blood manipulation pushed even her highly resilient body to its limits. She teleported behind the burning creature, this time staying to its left to avoid the hammer. Kyrian and Feyrair did their best to teleport through the hall and keep the distance to the monster as far as possible.

Ilea sent in a few more punches as she gathered more heat, two teleports avoiding a strike each before she dodged the next one. A fourth she blocked with an extended arm, destructive mana flowing into the limb as she felt it go slightly numb. Her bones held but everything else burst, and healed again a moment later.

She raised her other arm and released Embered Heart, the beam of concentrated heat burning through the torso of the creature with ease. Ilea didn’t stop to watch its skin pulling itself back together and instead sent waves of Archon Strike into the vaguely humanoid shape, its entire form in flames and skewered by steel.

“Sever the arms. The curse is in the hammer,” Kyrian supplied, trying his best with the blades and flails he wielded in the small space.

The creature dodged and blocked as best it could, the hammer remaining firmly in its many hands.

Ilea refocused her ashen limbs on the creature’s arms, the change in her approach pushing it to the defensive. She watched as bone started to cover the flesh, more muscle and mass shifting from the main body to the arms. The thing couldn’t quite keep up with their combined efforts however, the fires of creation slowing down its healing and regeneration too much. Ilea noted that the curse was weakened too, Kyrian’s own magic working against the monster’s efforts.

Beams of white flame and ashen limbs finally cut through the first arm, the second and third following quickly thereafter. Ilea healed the damage she had sustained from the few hits she had taken to accomplish the task. Her flames covered the hammer, slowly burning away all the flesh that remained on it. The effort took several minutes, until nothing remained. Ilea kept it on fire for good measure, Feyrair currently setting alight all the flesh in the back while Kyrian crouched down above the piece of curse inducing equipment. No notification had resounded so far.

I wonder if I can wield it to level some resistances. Does that mean it’s already in my head? She squinted at the silver hammer, its form largely unaffected by the continuous stream of white flame.