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Chapter 260 Survival
🕑 Added 2019-07-25 14:46:43 +0000 UTCAuthor's note July 25th: No ETA again today.
Chapter 260 Survival
A blink brought her close to the two critters, smashing the head of the one closer to her, crouching low to use its small frame as a shield against the second one charging lightning further back. The Reaper tried to get away but wasnt quick enough to escape her grasp. Several walls of ash formed to intercept the lightning bolt that nonetheless broke through, damaging both the beast Ilea held on to as well as spreading over her Veil, some of the blast burning through her skin and muscles beneath. Another leg broke before she let go of the charged monster, blinking this time to the critter lagging behind. Its second leg broke, Ilea continuously healing herself, this time hanging on to the creature until its carapace cracked. One lightning bolt was evaded by her simply moving with the Reaper held by its broken limb.
The creature screeched as it was smashed into the wall, another two hits finally breaking through and killing it. Ilea had no time to rest, two of the monsters still enough to challenge her defenses and now that it was already severely weakened, her health below half and her healing fighting hard against the continuous assault, she was forced to take a step back again.
Checking quickly, she found no level up from the kill. Her recovery brought back health about as quickly as one of the critters could take with their mind magic alone. Both numbers completely ridiculous to her. How such a powerful critter hadnt taken over this whole area was a mystery to her. They hadnt shown a high level of intelligence, likely no desire to colonize the world with their monstrous offensive power. Good for us humans and other species.
Feeling somewhat confident that shed at least not die, she blinked back and faced the injured monster lagging a little behind. The only reason the speed difference of a broken leg made a difference was the fact that the bends in the tunnels let her avoid the lightning strikes of the ones a little ahead. If they had been intelligent, the beast wouldve stuck together at all times. Perhaps even hugging each other so that their defensive lightning could stack against her. A second leg broke and then a third before the healthy enemy had finally reached her again. Not stopping, Ilea smashed downwards, once, twice and finally cracking the shell.
Ignoring the damage her body had sustained from the continuous lightning, she grit her teeth and blinked to the last bug, grabbing it by one leg and smashing it into the wall. Her fists lashed out and delivered whatever she could into the small monster insect. Ashen limbs moved behind her, all eight bashing into the armored carapace as her health slowly drained, her body burnt up by lightning. Meditation and her healing were the only things keeping her conscious, standing and attacking. At some point Ilea realized she was kneeling on the ground, her arms limp to her side. She felt neither of them, a big part of her brain fried up. Her healing was still active, reporting the disastrous condition her human body was in.
All her senses didnt report much anymore, her Sphere the only thing that gave her a picture of her surroundings. Ashen limbs still moved out from her back, smashing into the creature that still struggled against her attacks. She knew she could blink away, away to safety, some part of her mind wanted to get away, wanted to get out to find sunlight, to rest. To sleep. Ilea didnt stop, her attacks not letting up. She couldnt move her limbs but the ash followed her simple command, to destroy, to maim and to kill. With a final crunch, her ash broke through and the Reaper stopped struggling. Several notifications popped up in her mind but Ilea remained kneeling, ash whirling around her as it formed a protective cocoon.
Her brain wasnt working properly anymore, the organ too damaged to form complex thoughts. Her healing skill didnt stop, mending her mind and brain, now unimpeded by enemy magic. Her ash lazily floated around her, Ileas last wish fulfilled and now without an enemy to destroy it instead sought to protect. A minute passed and then two, clarity coming back to her as her healing moved on from her mind to her organs and then the rest of her body. Soon her health started to rise, the bleeding and burns not preventing so any further.
A cackling resounded in the dark tunnel, followed by wild coughing and the wet sound of blood hitting the floor. The dull light of Ileas Form of Ash and Ember lit up her immediate surroundings, her helmet taken off and cast aside. Perhaps it wasnt wise to start laughing so close to the Reapers nest but Ilea didnt care. In the situation to either flee and survive or destroy, she had chosen the latter, trusting in her healing to keep her alive and in her ash to kill her enemy. Ilea knew the decision had been unnecessarily risky but she had taken it nonetheless. If she failed against something minor like this, how would she ever face a Praetorian, a kingsguard or even an undead knight. To gain power she had to take risks, had to push herself, more and more. Because she knew her body could take it, knew her mind could take it.
Ilea knew she would prevail. Because she knew she had prevailed against the Drake. Against all odds she had survived, had eaten the Bluemoon Grass and had survived. Had seed the elves and had escaped, had faced the Praetorians and had survived. Maybe she had not fought and won but she had survived. And she would continue to do so. Even if her mind had cracked, her ash had failed. Until her last ounce of mana was depleted and her body shredded to its last cell, she knew she would survive. That was who she was, what she had become. She would seek stronger enemies to fight, seek to advance. For herself. To face and destroy the horrors of this world. To protect those she held dear and to experience true freedom. Neither restricted by the wild and unpredictable nature of Elos, nor by the organizations and machinations of its denizens.
Her laughter ended in a scream, ash spreading out and cutting into the stone walls. Clicking sounds soon could be heard and Ilea grabbed her helmet before getting up. Her black hair flowed over her shoulders, blue eyes staring into the dark as lines of cinder shined on. She put her helmet on and stored the three corpses, blinking away a moment later. Ilea was silent during the short journey back, only allowing herself to breathe when she ascended through the small corridor.
Coming out on top, she was greeted by the dark one who had guarded this entrance the last times she had traveled through. Landing on her feet, she stepped back and slid off the wall. A deep sigh left her as she closed her eyes, legs sprawling before her. The guard didnt speak, stoically remaining in the middle of his dedicated wall, sword at the ready and head focused on the entrance. Ilea wasnt quite ready yet to walk through the bar. Instead, she checked if indeed she had reached her short term goal.
ding You have defeated [Blue Reaper lvl 321] For defeating an enemy sixty or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted
ding You have defeated [Blue Reaper lvl 392] For defeating an enemy one hundred and thirty or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted
ding You have defeated [Blue Reaper lvl 330] For defeating an enemy ninety or more levels above your own, bonus experience is granted
ding Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 260 Five stat points awarded. One third tier skill point awarded
ding Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 253 Five stat points awarded
ding Ash Creation reaches 3rd lvl 3
ding Ash and Ember Manipulation reaches 3rd lvl 3
ding Ashen Wings reaches 2nd lvl 19
Checking out the third tier menu, Ilea didnt have to think very long to make a decision.
3rd tier skill points available [Azarinth First Hunter]: 1
Skills available for third tier advancement in [Azarinth First Hunter]:
- Hunter Recovery
- Azarinth Hunter Sphere
- Azarinth Fighting
- Azarinth Perception
- Azarinth Reversal
At least a bunch of her skills were now available to be upgraded but one had again just saved her life. More offensive potential was definitely a good thing and she didnt doubt the third tier of Destruction had played a vital role in both her fights with the knights as well as the Blue Reapers. Still, seeing her body ripped through and burnt, her brain barely functioning, she selected her only recovery spell. The reason she had come so far, the reason she could survive even when she had been beaten to a literal pulp.
ding Hunter Recovery advances to the 3rd tier
Active: Hunter Recovery 3rd lvl 1:
Send a healing pulse of mana into yourself or your ally with a touch. This skill can be channeled. The effects on your own body are vastly improved.
2nd stage: Your control is increased greatly, you can now focus your healing on specific parts of the body. As long as mana and health remain, your Hunter Recovery will restore your body. Lose your head and see for yourself!
3rd stage: You have healed your body time and time again, knowing every cell and where it belongs. Sacrifice a large amount of mana to rush your healing to unprecedented speeds. Lack of knowledge about your body may result in heavy damage.
Category: Healing
Reading through the notification, Ilea sighed and closed it again. Shed have to test it later but it sounded good enough. Right what she would have needed against the enemies in her last battle. Her mana had never dipped far, the fights short and nasty. Against the knights it wouldnt help much but there she had never really taken much damage anyway. Other than the leg against the Kingsguard.
Two sixty reached, Ilea quickly stopped by the Hunters Den to sell the eight reaper corpses she had from her hunt. Catelyn mentioned the the price would go down the next time she would try to sell any, saying her needs for the materials were met. The eyes, she said, Ilea could bring whenever she felt like it.
Her journey back to the Tremor dungeon went without any trouble. It was day and Ilea was quite glad to see the sun after a week, maybe two down in the tunnels. The ten stat points she had gained from the recent level ups were spent on Wisdom, the new third tier of her healing spell having brought additional use to a higher mana pool.
Ilea waited out several arcane storms before she rushed up, slipping in through the small entrance between rocks on top of the mountain. Flying down to the cathedral overlooking the big city below, she soon picked up two familiar voices, a grin weaseling its way onto her face as she landed softly in the middle of the hall.
And I tell you its not going to work. The enchantments are directly powered, if you overcharge them theyll simply snap back into place. Were not talking about some old shit ruin back in the Navali forest. You lot dont even explore dungeons, dont try to teach me about my craft elf. Terok spoke, obviously irritated as he looked up from the design plans of something that looked like a key.
The elf Ilea had met in the Tremor dungeon was hissing next to the dwarf, one of the chairs cut in two by his barrier magic before he grunted, Watch your tone dwarf!
Terok just laughed, patting the elf on his back hard enough to get a yelp out of him, Weve been through this. If you kill me youre stuck with her and shed not likely to get in there for another hundred years. He said and smiled at Ilea, winking after he had finished. Speak of the demon spawn.
Ilea joined them on the other side of the table and looked at the plan, The gentlemen have met each other I see? Youre underestimating me if you think Ill need a hundred years. Ilea said with a smile, her helmet vanishing.
Gods what did you do to your face!? Terok exclaimed, taking a step back.
I forgot to clean myself didnt I? Ilea thought and shrouded herself in ash before she stored her armor and scratched off all the grime remaining. Mostly her own splattered skin, blood and occasional organs. A fresh set of armor back on, the ash parted and revealed her now clean smile, brushed by ash.
You have grown in power again. As much as Id like to agree with the dwarf, youll be destroying those barriers in less than a decade. He snorted, Or youll end up as paste somewhere along the way.
Ilea took a chair and sat down, Paste isnt quite enough to kill me. She commented offhandedly before summoning three restaurant meals from Ravenhall, two of them moved to the table by ashen limbs.
Terok smiled and took the plate, grabbing a spoon out of his robot suit that stood a couple meters away, Cheers lassie, you really are a saint.
Ilea just rolled her eyes, she knew she was too nice to the dwarf but somehow she couldnt help it. It will be my downfall. The elf looked at the steaming food but didnt touch it, Too high and mighty to accept a gift of food? Or do you only eat human flesh?
You wont get information for this. He simply stated, his gray eyes looking at her, a stark contrast to his flaming red hair. Ilea smiled at the comical look, the elf reminding her of a cosplayers rendition of Dracula, especially with his long black coat and the sharp teeth. His height compared to the dwarf happily eating his food on the small stool made her crack a smile. Whats funny human? He hissed, claws moving out from his hands a little.
Its a gift, you should listen. Not that I think your information is worth a lot at this point. I expected more out of a legendary elf. She said, her smile not waning as she ate from her plate.
He sat down as well, the plate floating towards him before he sniffed on it. A beautifully crafted silver fork appeared in his hand before he pierced the fish, eating a piece of it. Nobody said I was a legendary elf. He stated, Ilea almost disappointed at the lack of bite in his voice, More of our kind should pick up cooking.
Still didnt thank me, Ilea noted. So you explored the palace? She asked, looking at the dwarf.
He smiled, Aye, managed to not alert the Kingsguard. As dangerous as they are, theyre not the brightest. Enchantments on the doors are something else. Barely ever seen anything as intricate.
You cant get in? Ilea asked but he just waved her off.
Taking another bite, he spoke with a full mouth, It wouldnt be an issue. A week, two maybe but theyre directly powered by the same source that controls the knights. At least the ones sane enough to patrol and walk around.
Why is that a problem? She asked, the elf already putting down the plate, a white cloth summoned to clean his mouth. He really IS Dracula.
Terok looked at the elf too, chuckling a little at the sight. Ilea was surprised with how little regard he had talked to the ancient being. Perhaps dwarves had a different opinion on the species than most humans she had met. Thats what Ive been trying to explain to him for the past hour. With a direct source as powerful as whatever is hidden within the central door of the palace cellars, we cant just blow through and overcharge it. Ill have to actually crack the lock which takes time. Normally I dont have that but in this scenario I can just go in and work on it for however long I want to. The knights dont hear me anyway but they dont react to me putting up noise canceling enchantments either.
Ilea listened and nodded, Cant we blow through by force if you can cancel out the noise?
Worth a shot, surely. Id like to try the conventional and safer way first. With how intricate everything is set up down there I doubt there are no traps and counter measures in place should we go that route. Its your call of course, youre the boss. Terok explained.
Ilea shrugged, Take your time. Ive got enough stuff to do. Maybe we dont want to find out whats in there either. If its some undead necromancer ready to smite us ,
Then we run. Terok said and laughed, With whatever we can hold under our arms.
Ilea laughed as well, True that. Just wait with going in until Im here. If I return to find empty storerooms Ill hunt you down and rip your sweet robot to shreds.
Ill wait. But only because your storage item can hold more than my hands. He grumbled.
Ilea just shook her head and finished her meal. Not sending the dwarf away had been the right decision after all. He didnt try to kill you immediately?
Terok chuckled and looked at the elf, He certainly made big eyes when I strolled out of there. Got your name out before he could squash me.
He didnt know my name. Ilea said, the dwarfs eyebrows rising, an apology already coming up when she stopped him, Its fine. Elfie, my name is Ilea.
I dont feel the need to share my name. He said. Before she could react he summoned a book and held it out towards her, I will however share this with you. The deciphered and translated recordings of guard captain Reyker, servant of king Invalar of Tremor, capital city of Rhyvor.
Comments
Straven
Thanks for the chapter.
correction for (had Seen the elves) not Seed :)
Thaabit Rivertree
Enjoying the story so far. Author, could you post a character sheet with Ilea's class skills and descriptions? There's a lot I can't remember, like the difference between Body of the first hunter and Hunter recovery
When Ilea fights she only use Destruction T3 / or Destruction T3 + Hunter Recovery T3 + Reversal?
Can Ilea explode her enemies now? Azarinth Reversal T2 + Hunter Recovery T3. She can force now a big wave of mana in her enemies body or am i wrong ? She can only use Hunter Recovery T3 in herself? If the way im thinking its right she got a huge damage power up. Passive: Azarinth Reversal – 2nd lvl 2: You have learned of Destruction and Reconstruction. Now you will learn of their Reversal. Upon activation, Destruction will send a part of the struck enemy’s mana into yourself. No mana will be released on impact, rendering Destruction’s offensive potential to zero. Upon activation, Hunter Recovery will send a destructive force of channeled mana into yourself or an enemy you touch, the healing aspects are reduced to zero. 2nd stage: You may have both aspects activated at the same time. Category: Body Enhancement Active: Hunter Recovery – 3rd lvl 1: Send a healing pulse of mana into yourself or your ally with a touch. This skill can be channeled. The effects on your own body are vastly improved. 2nd stage: Your control is increased greatly, you can now focus your healing on specific parts of the body. As long as mana and health remain, your Hunter Recovery will restore your body. Lose your head and see for yourself! 3rd stage: You have healed your body time and time again, knowing every cell and where it belongs. Sacrifice a large amount of mana to rush your healing to unprecedented speeds. Lack of knowledge about your body may result in heavy damage. Category: Healing
J H
Me too, it will be a good rematch and she can always run if it's too much. Plus if she gets a kill on one at or above level 520 she will get a kill 250 levels higher. The one thing she is still missing for the best class upgrade is a solo kill on a much higher level enemy. Her record is 140 levels higher so far.
J H
Yeah they do so much sustained damage that it just overcomes her defenses, resistances, and max speed healing combined. If she could just spend more mana to heal faster and keep everything else the same, she should be able to take on 3 or more reapers just fine. Or if a knight cuts off a leg or gets a really crushing blow in she can quick burst heal with a bunch of mana to fix it and continue. Her mana regen is already really high and she could always blink or fly away to meditate and recover mana if she runs out. It's a really solid improvement, just depends on exactly how it works.
Ooo, that would be cool.
The reversal skill should be more useful than hunter's sight for her dps I think. The sphere is a must though
Zachary Smith
Your writing is very good. I enjoy the style, cheers!
The first part is just flavour text. She could've gotten the skill up to Stage 2 Level 20, while only ever healing moderate wounds without once restoring her heart/brain etc.
Love the action stuff but the 'filler' is what keeps me coming back.
Sylvardrake
@G. Harthane thanks for the wonderful story I can't wait to see what new things Ilea discovers and how she grows.
I am interested to see if the instant heal works with reversal as a source of burst damage.
Solarlancer
next one she upgrades should probably be the sphere and on level 300 she should upgrade hunters sight probably
And if she doesn't level with the chapter you know that there will be a mini timeskip to gain those levels and the same goes when her level is higher than the chapter number there will be a min timeskip to train skills, right?
Matthew D
Fighting all these blue reapers was a interesting way to show the need for T3 healing. The way she was going with the knights T3 healing wasn’t in the picture
Tommy Littlefield
Hope she’s about to fight the level 500+ berserk knights I feel if she beats a good amount of those before hitting level 300 with all her skills at 2nd tier level 20 and her far above average amount of high level resistances that she will get crazy potential class upgrades
Character lvl = Chapter Number
Corwin Amber
thanks for the chapters
Via
I really love the story, and I love it's characters, but I feel as though it has a bunch of filler that could be skipped here and there
Keifru
...no. Nothing she has scales off STR/DEX. She just levels them because you still need to be strong enough/flexible enough to actually *do* things.
Thaabit Rivertree
I don't get why Ilea keeps adding her points to wisdom... Aren't some of her buffs multipliers of her strength? Even if they are affected by other stats, doesn't her base strength also play a role? It just seems wrong to leave a melee fighter's strength so low. I've also forgotten what exactly wisdom and intelligence do... Author, would it be possible to see a complete stat sheet with All of Ilea's skill descriptions?
Jonathan Walker
Curious to how this all goes down
J H
Sounds like the latter. Use more mana than usual to burst heal quickly. It depends on the ratio to see how effective it is, if it's only 3x more expensive is super worth it. If it's 10x it's probably more just to heal a really bad injury mid fight and run.
J H
That cliffhanger... What's in the book!? What's up with the necromancer??
J H
Sort of. The issue is that the skills remaining to be leveled aren't used in her fights with the knights. She doesn't fly fighting them so no Wings, there's nothing to track so no Hunters Sight, and she could potentially use embered body heat but she said before it takes concentration that she can't spare while fighting them, plus it doesn't damage them.
I'm curious about the efficiency of her 3rd tier hunter recovery, is it healing the same amount of damage when she heals normally but with a really short amount of time or is it she needs to sacrifice mana inefficiently to get that burst of healing? I'm looking forward to her experiment on it.
Ato
that 3rd tier healing looks really fucking strong combined with her state and all, also it covers her biggest weakness, having to spend time on healing when heavily injured, this way she can just go "nope, I am out of here."
Keifru
I disagree- T2.Hunter_Recovery already implies she can heal from even decapitation. T3.State_of_Azarinth having the health sacrifice is INCREDIBLY synergetic with T3.Hunter_Recovery. If she can do things fast, imagine if she burns 70% of her HP, then immediately restores that with her mana, and is at full health with a massive boost in stats to evicerate peeps. SPEED is the biggest boon she could have to Recovery. Now, she can pulse Super Fast Healing when taking on reapers and deal with groups bigger than 3, instantly, right out the gate.
Nicholas Paterson
Seed should be seen in the 9th paragraph
Keifru
Aww yiss, mutha fukkin BOOK. ... *throws book* TIME TO KILL ZOMBIES AGAIN
Very very nice, thanks for the chapters :)
Gardor
If she wants to get all her skills as high as possible before class evolution, wouldn't fighting the knights be the way to go? It takes her hours to kill one, and she gains fewer levels, so her skills growth should outpace her level growth.
Call0013
I feel like the effect of the 3rd stage of Hunter Recovery is pretty disappointing for a third tier skill point. Hopefully when her class upgrades Hunter Recovery will evolve to something better.
Benjamin
Well either way... FRICKIN HYPED as usual.
Benjamin
Whoo!! The long long awaited moment for 3rd tier healing. How will it play out and affect her battles O am really curious to see. Cause it's like healing 1hp for 10x normal mana cost for instant healing. What sort of fight scenario does it work best for? 1 hit KO techniques she can now survive better? Tanking and healing massive burst mind DMG? Will this lead to her taking on the boss bugs like ??? LVL? Cause the knights are still annoying until her DMG lvls heaps.
![Someday*[サムデイ]](https://runfaps.com/kistorage/107168.jpg)
