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Chapter 410 Taking Flight
🕑 Added 2020-01-18 14:02:58 +0000 UTCAuthor's note January 18th: Hey all. New chapters up and more likely on Tuesday!
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend :). Thanks for reading and the support!
EPUB/PDF: https://www.patreon.com/posts/32241245
Chapter 410 Taking Flight
Ilea nearly choked on a prawn when she read through the new description. Holy shit thats cool.
She hurriedly formed her wings and started experimenting, finding her ability to change and form them just as proficient as her normal control of ash.
There were limits of course. Her wings couldnt be two dicks for example, something she thought rather funny. Neither could they be massive hands or enlarged copies of her head. They had to stay wings.
Otherwise, she could apparently go nuts. A feathery form and then one of a more leathery design. Angel and demon in respect, both formed by ash and thus lacking some of the iconic touch they would normally possess.
Ilea found she could even change the size, though not by very much. Hmm, funny.
She admired the new addition to her back. A tail of ash growing out where her spine ended. This one too she could form and change a little.
Ill have to think of a theme. Draconic maybe? Hmm a little too conventional, isnt it? Yet Ive killed Wyverns and Drakes already. I do like feathers too and the ashen ones do look pretty cool, she mused, looking at the changing form.
They seemed to flow and grow seamlessly into her armor. By now she looked more like a being of ash than a human. Ash fiend, or well, Kin of Ash I suppose. She chuckled and tried out some other forms, one more akin to a fighter jet from Earth. It felt very much out of place in the setting as well as unwieldy.
Bone wings were another option, missing a lot of area, rotten and dead. They still worked actually but while the magic was still active, Ilea was sure the missing chunks would still affect her movement. Just as her healing needed longer to regenerate a whole arm compared to a simple arrow wound despite the theoretically same health point recovery.
She jumped up and did a somersault, using her new tail to guide her movement. What?
This time she jumped higher, moved her wings twice before rushing down to the small ledge. The difference wasnt just noticeable, it felt like day and night.
The flavor text didnt lie, hmm? She thought to herself. Did I really think I could fly? Well why would I have doubted myself? I could keep up with flying creatures, could hunt and kill them. But this ,
The movement had changed. Speed and precision as if she was fighting something hand to hand, now applied to her flight. Her wings had already been superior in some ways but now she doubted there ever was a reason to remain on the ground if there was enough space. She had to get in close either way of course.
Well. She landed and changed the shape of her wings again to a more aggressive design, spikes and straight lines gave it a pseudo futuristic feel while still somewhat fitting the magic creatures all around. Hmm, not perfect but I like it.
A decision would be difficult but Ilea didnt exactly have to make one. The change was near instant, just as she would form and move an ashen limb. Force of habit and some level of comfort would keep her moving on the ground, that much she knew. She knew just as much that flying didnt feel like a novelty anymore, something she should not be able to do, only achieved through the magic of this world.
No. Now, she felt in control. As if she always had wings to traverse the skies, to move through and feel the air around her. Like a bird of prey that was born inside a cage, finally freed and allowed to spread its wings, to let instinct take over.
Its not just the tail, is it? She wondered, finding it rather easy to move the new appendage. Easier even than her ashen limbs that felt mostly natural to her by now. Her control remained even after she twirled up her tail near her lower back. At least mostly. It did add a noticeable increase to her dexterity but her wings themselves too felt different.
Oh wait, I also have a speed up thing, she thought and instinctively activated the part of her skill.
It took a couple seconds for the aspect to activate. She felt how energy permeated the powerful wings on her back, heavier now than a moment before, brimming with light in the sight of her sphere.
She shot off when they were ready, her enhanced body coupled with a second tier wind resistance easily ignoring the forces pushing against her as she sped through the layer, flying several hundred meters above the creatures prowling below.
Ilea reached the other end in less than a minute, unsure of how fast exactly she had flown. Trying to stop the skill caused a bit of a problem when she realized it had a wind down too. She spread her wings to slow down but the momentum was simply too much, crashing her into the rock on the other side of the layer. Her form cracked the stone and dug deep but she found little damage to either her armor or the body within.
I could use this to attack, just fucking slam into things, she thought and chuckled as she ripped herself free of the stone prison around her.
Just have to make sure Im harder than anything I hit. If she were being honest, even that wouldnt matter much with her regeneration. She laughed at the thought of a powerful being, hit suddenly by a fast moving human that splattered all over them. Also a way to go, I suppose.
I could become an ashen drill or just form a spike before I fling myself at targets, Ilea pondered. Her limbs moving around her like Shredders with the initial torque and power from a massive drill could seriously damage any oversize beasts. The Veramath wouldnt have stood a chance like that, Ilea immediately punching into its brain like a human sized bullet.
She could see it then. Ilea, the regenerating human cannonball. Feared attraction. In a circus now because every monsters had already been taken out.
Perhaps she was a little too ambitions but the idea at least had merit. With her steadily increasing ash control and density, she could do with it whatever she wanted. The drill spears already proved more than just usable, taking out level six hundred monsters in single strikes, albeit hitting their weak spots. The shredder imitation, now more akin to a bladed armor took out creatures capable of using time magic to freeze her perception.
Aiming it is going to be hard though, she thought and frowned. There really was a sharp decline in control as soon as the speed boost activated, barely any correction possible. It would have a tiny impact, let alone at that insane velocity.
I guess Ill have enough opportunities to test it. The charge time alone would make it unsuitable against most enemies already engaged.
She invested her ten stat points into Wisdom yet again. The fact that her third tier wings barely made a dent in her stamina just drove home again how insane her offensive mana spending really was. Ilea could really use every single bit she could get.
At some point she would have to think about her Dexterity and Strength again, both falling behind heavily. There were reasons for that of course and the upgrade to her wings would surely compensate a little for the lack of dexterity. As would her powerful mana intrusion and ash unity compensate for a lack of strength.
Mana intrusion remained her main weapon coupled with her ashen limbs and projectiles. She doubted her Strength stat had more impact on the physical power of her spears and blades than Intelligence. Destruction additionally had a physical aspect that compensated rather well for her comparatively low strength.
More resistances as well as skill levels in her manipulation and creation abilities would also mean that she would more and more rely on her ash to deliver the physical aspect of her damage. Mana intrusion was versatile and many had little to defend against it but she had to have an alternative ready in case something showed up with a high defense.
She marveled at her wings once more, moving the tail as she twirled in the air. If only I had a more thorough ranged arsenal and a focus on such skills. Being able to fly like this would bring me to a similar ability as the Griffin, able to play with their enemies without ever touching them.
Of course that wasnt her style and she didnt truly want that to change that. A mix was welcome though and with the increasing power in her ash, she could certainly already stand her ground against flying and ranged contenders of a similar level. Monsters that was. Perhaps even sapient creatures with less powerful classes, considering her high regeneration and the low cost of her ash creation and control.
Well see, I suppose, she murmured to herself and once more focused on the task at hand. The complete eradication of the corrupted monsters.
Beautiful!
The thought reached her mind and reminded her of the Fae that had been watching everything from a safe distance, both the fighting and now her flight evolution.
You think so? Ilea asked with a smile. I think so too, she added and spread her dark wings with a futuristic pseudo feather design before she rushed down, eyes peeled to find another unsuspecting group of monsters.
________________________________
Hana held her breath as they came up on the destroyed camp. She could smell the corruption and venom, as if it was permeating the very air.
Relly had bent a somewhat intact armor piece to his liking. One they had found on a dead sorcerer an hour prior. It now covered a large part of his chest, protecting some vitals.
A useless effort, she thought. If one of the creatures struck him there, it would make little difference. And still he had donned it, had smirked with a glint of pride. Ridiculous. Such confidence in the face of certain death. I can only follow suit, Hana thought with a broad grin on her own reptilian face.
Carul was less enthusiastic about their endeavors. He hid them well, so far no creature had found them past his magic cloak. His opinion on the misguided suicidal idiotic and prideful wish to deal with the corruption was less of a mystery. The dark one reminded them often of his thoughts and still he had remained.
Of course he does, Hana thought and glanced back at the creature. He is dead just like we are and if there is a glimpse of survival, it is with the help of others.
She had been surprised at the lack of complaining coming from Jonna. The woman wasnt exactly known to be so quiet during any of their missions. And yet here she barely spoke a word. Hana could smell the fear emanating from her, could see it in her human eyes. An understandable emotion, especially from someone of such a weak species.
She had to remind herself that it was a human who bested her last, not one of a noble and respected line of Dark Ones or Feynor. Yet she knew well that one outlier didnt change the ways of the world. The only reason humans hadnt been overrun by anything else was their high numbers, their powerful defenses and enchantments as well as an ability to work in formations that few others could match.
Hana knew this to be the truth, many respectable warrior confirming it. Some lesser educated creatures simply laughed at the poor essence in the human plains, their territory undesirable and unwanted but like so often, the truth was more complicated. It was the respectable warriors after all that had driven her out after she had defended herself. Savages, truly.
They were silent as they reached the last gate before the camp. Hana remembered when they had entered, an enchanter amongst them having disabled the magic placed on it. Activated once more after they had entered and built their camp within the expansive halls.
Now the gate was open, pried through by powerful claws and fangs. A testament to the monsters strength, knowing her own sword couldnt even scratch the steel.
What do you see? Relly asked, turning to the mage among them.
His magic pulsed out before he lowered his head a little. Four beings, yet I feel they are not the same as the scorpions or worms. Each feel different in their own way, yet the same.
Corrupted, Relly hissed as he prepared his chains. We move in together and attract them. Carul, if you can, make sure nothing hears the commotion. We deal with them as quickly as possible.
Hana nodded and so did Jonna.
You and me at the front, Jonna, you focus on healing, the huge saurian said. Do not back down, we will be victorious. Let us free the ones taken, for the honor of those awakened!
Hana followed him, activating her buffs as she prepared her blade. The camp lay in shambles, most tents and crates destroyed, corrupted corpses littering the even floor. She saw four figures moving towards the new commotion, humanoid shapes and one of them quite familiar.
Fuck, she murmured, seeing Krentins form float towards them. Dark magic pooled around him as he prepared his spells. That ones mine, she said, preparing to teleport.
Do not split up. Trust in our healer and deal with the close ranged creatures first. We move back to cover should they overwhelm us! Relly stopped her, his chains lashing out with unnatural speed before they spun around the legs of two running corrupted. One once a dwarf, wielding two large axes and the other one a heavily armored dark one wielding a large scythe of shadow.
[Corrupted Warrior lvl ??]
[Corrupted Mage lvl ??]
Still two mark, maybe we have a chance, Hana thought, slamming her sword into the thick plate armor as soon as Relly had pulled them close.
Magic pulsed from him as lightning flowed through the chains, burning up the dark ones connected to them.
Hanas blade did not bring lightning onto herself, the two had tested such hours prior.
She found her weapon wedged in the armor, using her full weight to punch through. A familiar dark bolt flashed past her head as she dodged. Krentin was in range. What remained of him at least.
Hana roared and slammed the tangled up dark one to the ground, using both of her fists to slam down on her own weapon, trusting that her own steel would prevail.
And so it did. The massive curved blade cut through the already damaged armor and bit into the corrupted flesh.
She grinned before the mage moved his scythe. Hana dodged twice before the magic weapon cut into her side, leaving a deep gash with a foul smell. At least no corruption seemed to spread, otherwise she might have been in trouble.
A teleport brought her back to Jonna, the healer quickly getting to work.
Keep an eye out, there is another mage hiding somewhere, Relly said with a strained voice, using all his magical ability to keep the two monsters at bay, his chains still crapped around their legs. Another pulse of lightning moved through them, flickers of blue light zapping at the destroyed tents and the steel floor before the spell reached the corrupted bodies.
Jonna suddenly turned away from Hana, her fist slamming into something previously unseen. A dagger scratched on the stone armor that covered most of her body. Another punch lashed out, the impact unveiling the remaining mage who had been mostly invisible before.
His eyes pulsed with corruption, a large whole in his chest barely held together by the orange pus.
Hana watched as her friend punched an earthen spike into the open wound, using her full weight and large form to overwhelm the corrupted mage, pinning him down on the floor as the corruption splattered over her.
The stone sizzled but she continued punching, her fist slamming the mages head into the steel again and again.
Relly wrapped one of his chains around the large two handed blade still stuck in one of their enemies, ripping it out with a violent noise before he sent it flying towards Hana.
I will hold them back, finish the mage! the saurian said as his chain lashed around to strike at the slow moving scythe wielder.
Hana caught the blade and appeared next to Jonna, her body bulging as power flowed through her. The blade came down with a heavy crash, embedding itself in the mages neck before a powerful two handed strike from Jonna made it cleave through the rest.
A ding resounded in her mind but there was no time for that right now. She retrieved the blade and ripped out small sections of her own scales, infected with corruption. Hana could feel it burn into her flesh but by now her Blood Manipulation Resistance was already at level thirteen.
She signaled to Jonna that she was fine, watching the woman shed her stone armor covered in corruption. New armor formed on her slowly as she went to support Relly.
The saurian was now dodging through the attacks of the two corrupted, as well as avoiding the dark magic coming from Krentins remains. He weaved through them as if they were newborn, not yet used to their claws and weapons.
Hana smirked at that and appeared on his side, blocking the axes with a strike of her own. She roared, her body bulging a little more. We will not die here! she shouted her defiance, her voice somewhat silenced by the magic of Carul. She cared not for such matters right now, her sole focus the corrupted warrior standing in her way.
Comments
Rip Woodham
I'm expecting she has to step in with the Empire and/or Corinth Order. It feels like time for the Golden Lily as well. Of course helping with her healing order too. This may be the last time she'll be grinding XP for some time....
She can probably use her ash to make her armor look like a jet plane, with better aereo-dynamics and tail fins and stuff she can probably have better control over her massive acceleration boost. I also want to see Illea fell a monster with a single hyper-sonic drill dropkick.
sharkattack
Laser wings. Ashen Wings with ember trails through them would look awesome.
Zachary Smith
Uggggg bring them together already!
Arcanes
I must say the that Ilea’s leveling speed currently is something I didn’t expect. Somehow levels 340 and 350 don’t seem so far away right now. I’m curious about where the story will go after this dungeon. A return to slice of life or maybe Ilea will just keep improving and evolve. I can’t wait to find out. And before that we have a dungeon to explore, and an expedition to rescue. Fun fun.
Aapjuh
Cless is such a spoiler posting troll for ravenhall :P
Arcanes
With more than 1400 patreaons by now, 50 or so comments for a chapter is by no means many. And an ongoing discussion is one of the things that sets web novels apart, so yeah I read all the comments and I will continue doing so. P :).
Cant wait for Cless to make a painting of an ashen dragon lmao
Roethan
Sonic boom!
Han Pol
I have to say I would really like some form of concept art for Ilea's current look with amour and wings and tail fully manifested if the current form shall remain the primary form, if she upgrades them further soon, then I can wait. Maybe a blade for the end of the tail, both for fighting and too stabilize the flight. and changing the feathers of her wings to something blade like. Maybe she can also fight flocks of famine crows now.
Silver Beard
Wow...just trying to read comments takes more time than the chapter! If you’ve gotten this far must be as masochistic as main character ...msg me for feedback. Waste of time otherwise
Atlas Dwarf
Thanks for the chapters. Well those are some great 3rd tiers. The resilience spike alone is massive, especially since that 75% or more life blow would be the damage before her resilience doubles. And man this Wisdom stat dumping is funny. Like yeah Wisdom is one of Ilea's most important stats but we all know this recent obsession with it is cause an ancient, intelligent creature told her it took a thousand years of deep Meditation to reach the 3rd tier. So of course Ilea here is trying to brute force the upgrade by spamming Meditation in combat and making Meditation regenerate more mana by dumping stats into Wisdom. It's like the whole soul sense all over again.
Anon_Anon
Assuming that these events are happening at the same time and we aren't going back and forth, Ilea is very close to catching up to Catelyns group. The last view of them was that they were on Ilea's current floor and Ilea was clearing out the gravity octopi at that time. Elfie mentioned hiding from time controlling creatures with curse magic.
Emma Carlin
Imagine if Ilea needed to fly away with her her speedy wings and her 3rd tier perception bonus kicked in to double her speed! 😲 Also, highly unlikely but I wonder if her 3rd tier could activate twice in those two seconds to quadruple everything lmao.
Rick Baker
Hmm. Pinning her seems like a tall order. They have to be fast enough to catch her. Strong enough to hold her. Resilient enough to not get their limbs cut off by her shredding maneuver. Resistant enough not to be taken out by her reverse healing. And all that without doing magical damage that would feed her mana pool. And not letting her get away by cutting off parts of her own body
fennek
And here are some ideas... as I am way to invested in this story my brain starts to spit them out ocationally: For me it feels Ileas behavior is closer to a dragon or other centient powerfull beast. And thats how some characters seem to percieve her. As exemple the leader of her necromancer friends compares her to a fairy or something. And it was stated that ash just naturally forms arround her, if she not activly supressses it. So how cool would it be if her wings and tail are slightly visible in that aura like cloud. And now Ilea starts just naturally gesturing and displaying emotions with them. Her new appendages getting more vissble if she gets angry. Oh the looks she would get and the terror she could cassually spread. Combine that with som tripple questionmarks in the future. Sorry I'm rambling here, I just cannot get the Grin of my face. I imagine her comming back from punching monsters to casually visit her friends an laze about in the human realms but behaving like a dragon/god descending to the mortal plane, just because she is literally untoucheble by enyone. That makes for some good slice of life chapters between fighting. And if there will be ever more fluffy ore lovely moments, she will be the cutest angel of death/ash imaginable... maybe changing the form of her wings and tail subcontiously between more comfortable forms, like featherd wins, just to go all spiky and warlike if pissed off. Sorry for misspelling, and gramamr, autocorect is not set to english. /endMadRablings
Rip Woodham
I'll say I think Strength and Dexterity are still incredibly important, if only situationally, though. As long as she has an out, the rest of her stats may be all that matter. But if she gets pinned, Strength may be what she needs to break out. And it will increase her damage and combat options as well, but that is secondary. Dex would help a little to avoid getting pinned and also to get out of a pin. Dex would also increase the versatility and maneuverability of her ash. Strength would also increase the damage of her ash. I realize she's already incredibly hard to pin, resilient to survive a pin, and sharply punishes being pinned. It's still the best way to take her out. Something high enough level can definitely grab and hold her, and then what, esp if they aren't attacking her with much mana. Endurance is still important because if she faces something that can take it from her, even with her resistance she has no way to get it back, no increased restoration either. And without stamina she's toast. I suppose I understand getting Wisdom to 1K just to see what it happens, if anything, though. And her stat priority, as it appears to be. Vit and Int being equal, Str next then Dex and End last. Maybe Int will replace Wis after she gets Meditation to the 3rd tier and she needs more punch for more resilient foes like herself.
fennek
I really love her beccoming one with her wings, and tail. How it feels like she is becomming more powerfull an d not just some vaguly attatched ability.
Seb
That would be hilarious if she decided to copy cat's tail!
Critical Hit
The corrupted people have their classes merged. So two classes at level 250 added together is level 500. Which is the triple ?. It makes sense for people of a similar level to be able to fight each other, especially when one side is unintelligent and predictable, while the other side is not.
Songy
I can already see Cat's headache when they meet again: "I leave her alone for two weeks. TWO WEEKS and this girl surpasses me by (probably) 10 levels, turns into a shouting, otherworldly chainsaw-ashdemon, grows a tail and makes a new friend". It will probably the tail-rivalry that impacts her the most though. I hope Ilea never gets he idea to form nine more to one-up Cat (I assume she has nine).
Rip Woodham
Ashen Wings giving her a tail is more than I even hoped for. I expected the rest, but that makes me giddy. With the new tail and wings, density of her ash and power of her voice she is able to make quite an entrance now! The new Azarinth Perception is quite strong and useful for its simple wording. Her resilience and speed are already incredibly impressive, especially her resilience. She can overcharge them with her Azarinth aura too..... doubling that would make them absolutely insane. Twice per hour will let her use the skill back to back I assume, which is just huge since there's already so little that can pop it and if something does then she really needs it. The stats in question, Resilience and Speed are also exactly the two stats she will need. Resilience is obviously useful, and even if she can't avoid the blow, speed will give her more preparation and deflection. Needless to say, I really love the direction. And as always, love how she pairs food with entertainment to maximize enjoyment. I do the same thing. ;) I'll save the Hana interlude for when I'm bored. :-p
Blaublue
I really like the direction you've been taking Ilea's abilities, and her class has slowly become more and more fitted just for her (which also makes sense in-verse I feel). Regarding Strength and Intelligence for her Ash Tentacles' power: I didn't think either of the stats would improve her Ash, not from what we've normally seen these 2 stats impact - but it's your story so you can ofc do as you deem fit. I would think only Resilience, aside from her relevant Ash-skills leveling up, would improve them by making them tougher, and perhaps Vitality impacts that. It's easy for her to test whether Strength and Int makes a difference on them though, simply try them out with and without her auras active. I agree with her thoughts on future stats though, Strength really doesn't seem as important anymore, especially after her 3rd tier Avatar of Ash as she said. She can't teleport away when someone is touching her, but her Ash Tentacles are becoming stronger than her own arms and would be more effective at pushing someone off/getting out of a hold. In regards to Dexterity, not sure how that affects her flying speed, but even when on the ground she's much more stationary now than she was 200 levels ago, utilizing her Ash Tentacles to attack from range a lot and only needing to get close for a Destruction and then blinking away
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Blaublue
I really don't think Hana and "friends" should be able to beat ??? opponents. Ilea taking out ??? (and they were lvl 500-510) zombies at lvl 290 was due to planning and her being very strong for her lvl. These guys are only around lvl 250, and I doubt their classes are as strong as Ilea's. And while we've repeatedly seen Ilea fight monsters twice her own lvl, that's been shown to be an outlier. While these corrupted may be acting weird, the other corrupted we've seen Ilea fight haven't been fighting with strength only comparable to half their level, some of them even turned more dangerous after being corrupted. Would make a lot more sense if these corrupted people were just ??
They don't even know that the corruption reached th first layer, because they think since the monsters above are far more powerful to them, they could act like a barrier, iirc in another chapter Hanna thought it would still take weeks for the corruption to reach the first layer
Baba Vader
Thanks for the chapters! I kinda want Ilea to reach the expedition already but I also want her to level more.. It might be interesting to know which layer that camp is on, but it seems to be close at least for the others to find the expedition. Maybe they get caught by some strong monster on the way back and Ilea saves the day??
Rick Baker
Can't wait to see the Ilea Bullet in action. Drill bit and hollow point varieties. Heh..and for her to splatter against a monster like Wile E. Coyote against a painted wall.
BladeTytan
I think she means she can beat lvl 300 sentients and monsters with just her ranged attacks.
Tony Gilbert King
So glad to finally see tier 3 ashen wings been wanting them so badly since the first tier 3 unlock
Dominic French
Thanks for the chapters, when Illea says she can now take out monsters of comparable level does she mean monster of level 600 that she is already taking out and maybe also sentient creatures of level 600 or above
Chopper
Foolish Corrupted arena team, everyone knows you focus the healer.
agentjongon
I’ll be honest, as soon as I saw Warrior ???. I thought that the enemies were the Vampires and that it was game over
MountainFox
Thanks for the chapters!
Torbjørn Nilsen
Thank you for the new chapters! However I must say that the "survivors of the expedition" parts annoy me. They seem to have no idea about how hard they have fucked up, and Hannah saying they must kill the infected to regain their honor just sounds so naive. Would have been better if we got some glimpses into how they fucked it up maybe. Eh, i have no idea how to write a story, and you most likely have a plan of sorts. Can't wait for the new chapters.
Robert Mullins
We are one step closer to our Ashen dragon transformation.
Thanks for the chapter! :D
Thanks for the chapters!
