Ilea woke up refreshed after two hours of sleeping. The waitress lay next to her and would likely continue her slumber for quite some time. ‘I’ll definitely visit again...’ Ilea thought as she got up and dressed herself. She decided to steal the woman’s panties, they were a considerable amount less ruined than her own after all. Something told her that Chris would agree to the trade.

She touched her backpack and blinked out of the room to make as little noise as possible. Walking down the stairs, she stopped at the bottom and walked over to her mace that was still stuck in the ground. Yanking it out, she left the inn.

The Root looked the same as it had the last night. Being underground had that effect on a town. Still it seemed like most people were still asleep as Ilea looked at some of them knocked out right in the street.

She walked to a nearby store and bought provisions for her next go at the Taleen great hall. ‘Made myself remember the centurion...’ she frowned a little but the food placed in her backpack and the past night’s activities brought a smile to her face again quickly.

Another half an hour was spent looking for a comfortable leather armor, which she found in the only armor store that apparently opened this early. It only cost her ten silver coins. After that Ilea was decked out and ready to go. ‘I forgot the books I left at Alice’s...oh well.’

She walked back towards the cave that led to the Taleen dungeon and soon changed into a jog and then sprint. More and more buffs activated as her speed increased. She reached the entrance to the dungeon a while later and found only the remains of a camp in the big room where the group of adventurers had gathered the day before.

Checking the street outside with her sphere, she didn’t find anybody there. She walked towards where her first encounter with the guardians happened and started moving the bodies left behind. Half an hour later she had moved all of them out of the dungeon and buried them a couple meters deep in stone and dirt. ‘Hopefully they’ll decompose in time...’ she thought and closed her eyes for a minute. Touching the closed up stone, she got up and went back into the dungeon.

The residential area was big enough for thousands if not more people to live and Ilea quickly ran the exact route they had cleared up on the way to the great hall. The healer only encountered a couple guardians on her way whom she left alone to not attract anyone’s attention. ‘At least no corpses found so far...’ she thought as she reached the chasm that led to the great hall.

Inside nothing seemed disturbed but she couldn’t be sure if nobody had managed to get there yet. ‘So I assume that one means teleportation or something similar...’ she looked at the symbol near the door where Edwin led them through before.

There were two doors on each side and one door facing the entrance where Ilea had come from. “So obviously I chose the side doors first...don’t wanna face a boss yet...not before I destroy a centurion...” she said to herself and thought about which door to chose. Edwin had mentioned a prison and she didn’t see a reason for him to lie there. She knew the teleportation one so chose the door immediately to the right of the entrance.

It opened upon her usage of mana and Ilea found herself in the familiar environment of stairs again. Activating all her buffs, she ran downwards for fifteen minutes. ‘Quite a long way...’ she thought and finally reached a small room with four sword guardians in it.

They were upon her right after she had managed to drop her backpack and activate Shroud of Ash. The fight itself took only fifteen minutes until Ilea stood victorious above the dented machines.


‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Taleen Guardian] x4’
‘diing’ ‘You have defeated an enemy fifty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 146. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 147. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 140. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 141. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Ash Surge reaches lvl 6’
‘bing’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches lvl 10’


‘Not quite as much anymore eh...although I assume gaining four levels from four enemies is quite spectacular for most other people...’ she thought and went onwards. Next were further stairs that led downwards again. Only twenty steps thought before a similarly sized room lit by green magic light and made from white stone opened up to her.

She could make out the traps in the ground and walls from experience by now and simply walked in to receive the spears. Without Edwin and co though, Ilea simply decided to blink through the place and found herself behind the closed door leading further down.

It was the right decision she quickly found as four more similar trap rooms followed with an increasing amount of spears and fire. ‘Well this is boring, not even anything to fight?’ Ilea asked herself when the next room finally showed something different.

A big hall with plants and trees growing in selected spots and guardians stationed on the walls and kneeling near them on the ground.

‘The plants couldn’t grow further in all this time...’ she looked upwards and couldn’t find the ivy that was so prevalent on the stone in the residential area.

“Some of those guardians...” she started but was interrupted when one of them moved and looked at her. It was a bigger model but not an unfamiliar one. It’s whole torso area was a massive cannon and the loud bang that resounded woke up all the other guardians from their centuries long rest.

The projectile fired was quite similar than the ones fired from the normal ranged machines but simply bigger and presumably deadlier. Ilea smiled and dodged to the side. “This is gonna be so much...” she jumped again before the slug impacted the ground behind her “...easier. With heavy artillery on my side.”

Around a dozen sword guardians moved in on her position while ten heavy and five normal ranged machines started firing her way. ‘Not gonna waste this precious experience...’ she thought and blinked a couple times until she reached one of the heavy ones. She attacked and found that they were much slower than the normal smaller ones.

“Hahahaha” dodging several blades coming her way, Ilea laughed and blinked away as three massive slugs smashed into the group of guardians near her. “Your programming sucks guys!” she shouted and blinked again into the fray. Ilea would’ve thought differently about the machines if any of the Taleen had remained to control them. What she faces was simply the autopilot.

Ten minutes later, three of the sword guardians were already down when a careless strike from above let one of the sword guardians pierce through Ilea’s leg. Immediately following was a massive slug that impacted her side and crushed some ribs.

The healer was sent flying into the nearby wall and only another blink saved her from the incoming projectiles. ‘It broke so easily through the ash...man what would’ve happened if I didn’t have the skill...’ she thought as she danced around the projectiles while healing her injury.

‘Don’t get too cocky Ilea...’ she reminded herself of Dale’s words after her first battle with people and breathed in deeply. ‘Don’t forget you’re not immortal Ilea...’ she told herself and continued on. The smile never left her face though and got even brighter as the danger of her situation seeped in again.

She wasn’t hit again but had to flee the room twenty minutes later to regenerate her mana. Moving out and meditating was much faster than using Azarinth Reversal but she still used the skill sometimes in between punches to make sure it would at least level up.

The next fight finished up the remaining guardians and Ilea meditated in the room again after waiting for additional traps or enemies. None came.


‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Taleen Guardian] x27’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy fifty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy forty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 148. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 149. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 150. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 151. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 152. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 153. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 154. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 155. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 142. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 143. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 144. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 145. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 146. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 147. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 148. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 149. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Blink reaches 2nd lvl 20’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Sphere reaches 2nd lvl 14’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Perception reaches 2nd lvl 5’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches lvl 10’


‘bing’ ‘Shroud of Ash reaches lvl 11’
‘bing’ ‘Form of Ember reaches 2nd lvl 7’
‘bing’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches lvl 11’
‘bing’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches lvl 12’
‘bing’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches lvl 8’
‘bing’ ‘Body of Ash reaches lvl 7’
‘bing’ ‘Body of Ash reaches lvl 8’
‘bing’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches lvl 4’


“That’s what I’m talking about!” Ilea jumped up and crashed into the leftover and bent metal. The woman turned around to face the ceiling with blood running down her face and smiled. Metal screeched against the stone floor as the first Taleen metal angel was born.

All attributes except for strength profited again as the 110 remaining stat points were spent. Not quite the same amount for each stat though as Ilea aimed to make the numbers a little bit more even.

Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 155
- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Reconstruction – 2nd lvl 18
- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Blink – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Azarinth Sphere – 2nd lvl 14
- Passive: Body of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 11
- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20
- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 14
- Passive: Azarinth Perception – 2nd lvl 5
- Passive: Azarinth Reversal – lvl 10

Class 2: Ash Wielder – lvl 149
- Active: Shroud of Ash – lvl 11
- Active: Form of Ember – 2nd lvl 7
- Active: Ash Surge – lvl 6
- Active: Body Heat Manipulation – lvl 1
- Active: Wave of Ember – lvl 12
- Passive: Ash and Ember Manipulation – lvl 15
- Passive: Heat Perception – lvl 1
- Passive: Eyes of Ash – lvl 8
- Passive: Body of Ash – lvl 8
- Passive: Ashen Warrior – lvl 4

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5
- Identify - lvl 4
- Meditation – lvl 2nd 14
- Poison Resistance – lvl 16
- Heat Resistance – lvl 14
- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 2
- Mental Resistance – lvl 5
- Fear Resistance – lvl 1
- Water Resistance – lvl 5
- Wind Resistance – lvl 3
- Lightning Resistance – lvl 1

Status:

Vitality: 430
Endurance: 240
Strength 111
Dexterity 280
Intelligence 425
Wisdom 250

Health: 4011/4300
Stamina: 1398//2400
Mana: 1255/2500

Even though more and more points were spent on the attributes, Ilea noticed less and less of a difference. She was sure there was one and the numbers reflected it but when you had a skill that boosted your speed by a factor of two, a slight increase in Dexterity wasn’t as noticeable anymore.

Still she stood up and stretched before shadow fighting a little, getting used to the changes. ‘Now I just need a couple more of these rooms and I’ll hit 200 in no time. Edwin here I come...’ Quickly checking through the metal of the machines, she didn’t find anything dropped. In all of the Taleen dungeon not a single item had dropped for her yet.

Ilea walked through the now silent hall to the only door that led further into the complex. Of course there was the constant noise of gears but that had become second nature to her by now. The massive door came to life and Ilea watched on as a beautiful hallway opened up behind. It was just as wide as the hall she’d stood in moments before but the runes on the walls were much more numerous. No trees decorated this room but something else that made even Ilea tense up.

Six Centurions were kneeling on one knee, three on each side of the hallway. ‘What to do...’ she thought as she evaluated her chances. ‘They don’t know my abilities yet and if they’re at least similar to each other, dodging one spear is the same as dodging six...’ seeing no reason not to at least try, Ilea walked into the room. She was pretty confident in her ability to escape, at least if she was close to the hall behind her.

The machines came to life as she walked closer and six spears immediately flew her way. Ilea smirked and blinked to the side. The spears vanished and the centurions advanced. Blinking backwards, Ilea tried to get away and noticed that all six spears would miss if she chose random distances to teleport. Only two of them followed her out into the other hall before she escaped back through the trap rooms.

‘So they won’t hit me if I chose random distances...now the door looked super massive in that hallway...’ she nodded and got up again. Entering the hall, two of the centurions had stayed outside while four remained in the hallway beyond. Ilea breathed in and out before starting to run.

The first spear flew her way and she blinked away. The next spear was dodged by a simply movement. She got closer and closer to the hall before all six of them were upon her. Dodging left and right, Ilea blinked above to avoid the spears that were closing in.

Another six random blinks towards the door, she could finally make it out with her perception sphere. The stone was closed up for around twenty meters but that was doable. She blinked inside and saw the spears in her perception hit the walls, no sound came through though.

Waiting for a while, Ilea made sure the centurions didn’t have a way to follow her. After five minutes she was a sure as she’d get and continued onwards. She was in a small corridor that led forward. Finally she came out into a chamber twenty by twenty meters wide and around five meters high.

She could see the familiar machinery of traps all around the room’s walls. More importantly though there was a small one by one meter hole in the middle of the room that led downwards. ‘Not like I came here for nothing.’ She blinked right into the hole without touching anything else in the room that would presumably trigger the traps.

Upon entering the hole in the ground, Ilea fell. She fell for nearly two full minutes. She was sure to have passed out if she were the Ilea from a year ago. The walls flew by until she came out in an open space. There was no light, her being the only source of slight illumination.

Ilea continued to fall until she noticed the ground coming closer towards her in her sphere. ‘Not ground...’ she thought and blinked above to stop her movement. Some of the momentum could be kept after a blink but she could also nearly completely steady herself again. The 2nd stage of the skill made it much more useful for a wing suit enthusiast.

Ilea blinked a bit closer to the still water and touched it with her foot before blinking up again. ‘As I thought...’ she winced through the pain as a corrosive acid burned through her sole. ‘Should’ve used my hand...’ she thought as she healed herself while blinking.

Around 10 units of mana were used for each blink and blink she did. The room was massive, the wall Ilea had found after five minutes was completely covered by what she now knew to be pressure plates, only stopping around one centimeter above the still acid.

‘So if anything big enough falls in, something will happen...’ she thought while blinking backwards. Meticulously Ilea searched through the massive chamber, first through the middle and then along the walls until finally, fifteen minutes later and nearly out of mana, she found an opening in one of the walls.

Blinking inside, she had to keep herself from touching any of the walls until finally coming out in a small hall where no more pressure plates resided. ‘At least not on the ground.’ she thought, as she smiled at what she’d found.

Around her was a round room with twelve pedestals, behind said pedestals were chests and random items strewn on the ground. ‘Treasure room?’ she thought as she noticed that the pedestals themselves held pressure plates.

On top of the pedestals was contrary to Ilea’s expectations nothing. Except for one of them. On it was a gray pyramid shaped metal form that Ilea immediately felt drawn to. Complex runes were engraved on it and it shone beautifully in the otherwise dark room, reflecting the little light that came from Ilea’s auras.

‘Now what else do we have around here...’ she thought and smirked in the darkness.
With her sphere, Ilea could see everything in the room and even what was within the various chests. She was sure now that the only traps in the room were the pedestals. Except of course if there was something new to the mechanisms here that she had never seen before.

In the chests Ilea saw mostly coins. Nearly all of them were empty though and the rest were close enough. ‘If this was the treasury they certainly hit hard times before they left or died or whatever...’ she thought and kept scanning the room. Several small items hid between the chests, horns, a helmet, a sword but the most interesting thing in the room was what hid near the wall right behind the pyramid shaped object.

A skeleton clad in armor. Ilea slowly walked to the skeleton, making sure not to even breath towards the pedestals. Crouching down, her auras lit it up a little. It was small and broad, just as one would imagine a dwarf to be.

‘So you stayed hmm?’ she asked in her head and slowly extended her hand. Touching the skeleton, it immediately turned to dust. Ilea immediately reacted and caught the falling armor and clothing that still remained. Only dust fell to the ground as she slowly lowered the gear.

‘Apologies...’ she thought as she put down the armor. She identified the gear and smiled.

[Legate Guardian Armor – Rare Quality]

The armor didn’t reflect any light so Ilea had no idea how it actually looked like. She moved it a little further away. Other than the armor that seemed to consist of five individual pieces, there was a necklace still lying on the ground.

A noise resounded inside Ilea’s head as soon as she touched it.

[Legate Guardian Necklace – Ancient Quality] – Would you like to claim the Legate Guardian Necklace?

‘Wat?’ she thought and confirmed the question.

You have claimed the Legate Guardian Necklace

She held the necklace in her hand. It had a thin metal string and on it hung a small piece of metal in a similar form to a Taleen Guardian’s head. It didn’t look exactly like one though but it was the closest thing Ilea could compare it to. Holding it in her hand, she concentrated on it more.

[Legate Guardian Necklace – Ancient Quality] - [Storage capacity at 7/250]

“Are you kidding me!” she said out loud and saw some gears click in the walls upon her outburst. ‘Oh fuck...guess we’re out of time...’ she thought and willed mana into the necklace while touching the armor on the ground. It vanished but Ilea knew for a fact that it was inside the storage necklace.

She had definitely fucked up by talking out loud but couldn’t help smiling a wide smile. Quickly she ran around the room and grabbed the two horns, the helmet and the sword and made them vanish as well.

The noises of gears became louder and louder as she emptied the coins inside the chests into her necklace that she had put around her neck. It had immediately closed down to not hang as loosely.

“Hahahahahaaaa fuck all of you!” she shouted as the coins vanished into her necklace. Luckily the process didn’t use a lot of mana, not as much as moving the armor inside had taken.

She heard loud groaning noises of metal upon metal coming to life and just when she grabbed the pyramid shaped object, the sound of a flood entered her ears. “Shit, acid.” she said out loud and made the pyramid vanish into her necklace.

Luckily she had meditated before as that act used up over a thousand points of mana. ‘What the hell is this thing???’ she thought as she exited with a blink. Below her she could already see the acid rising and it was rising fast. Blinking up, Ilea reached the hole five seconds later and continued upwards.

After blinking half a minute she came upon a closed ceiling. ‘Oh fuck no...’ she thought and started punching with all her power. “Come ON!!” the stone gave in and pieces of it fell downwards, she could hear the acid rising but wasn’t sure just how close it was already.

Her punches rained into the stone and she quickly tunneled through. Not quick enough though as the acid had reached the ceiling of the wall and pushed upwards into the small opening. ‘Fuck fuck fuck’ was all her thoughts consisted of as she continued cleaving through. She couldn’t see above the closed off tunnel yet but her blink ability reached over ten meters further than her sphere skill.

Ilea held her legs close to her chest and blinked upwards, appearing inside the room above. Breathing out, she landed on the floor and activated the traps there as well. The room closed up and Ilea stared into an opening on the wall where a green flame rushed towards her.

She blinked out of the room but not before touching the fire. Her skin had melted immediately and she turned off her perception of pain to heal the damage. Ilea stood outside the room and fell to the ground, breathing heavily while Reconstruction restored her body.

She checked the necklace but found it completely unharmed. All her other clothes and even her mace had started melting in the quick touch with the flame. Ten minutes later, she was healed fully.

“Fuck, that was close...” she said out loud. The fire had moved faster than a centurion’s attack. “What the hell was all that, that was way more deadly than just a bunch of spears...” the bright smile on her face betrayed her words though as she played with her necklace.

‘Can’t wait to see how this thing’s gonna work...glad I could at least get all the stuff in the treasure room. This is definitely the biggest win though...’ she thought and twirled around.

“My precious!” she shouted and lifted it up. “And I won’t have to share any of this stuff. Fuck yea.” she was giddy with excitement to look at all the things she’d gotten but tried to calm down a little first to think about her next steps.

‘Meditate first though...’ she thought and sat down again. Breathing in and out consciously helped a lot at calming her adrenaline pumped body. A couple minutes later she had recovered a fair bit.

‘Might as well look at everything right here, can’t imagine a safer place than between acid and green murder fire and six centurions...heh.’

And so Ilea removed the necklace from her neck and studied it in her hand. Sadly there was no additional information than the following which she had already seen.

[Legate Guardian Necklace – Ancient Quality] - [Storage capacity at 21/250]

‘21/250? Wasn’t it seven before..makes sense though considering I added a bunch of things.’ Ilea tried to see what was in the necklace and immediately new knowledge came to her head. It wasn’t instantaneously knowing all the things inside but she could look through them. Items she knew were inside she could access rather easily.

Willing an item to appear, the sword she had found came to her hand. It took a little over a second to completely appear but touching it, she didn’t see any difference than an actual sword. It of course was an actual sword but to Ilea it was a bit strange to simply have things appear and disappear.

Shooting around fireballs and lightning seemed less strange after all this time in Elos. Only Aliana had used something like her necklace but doing it herself, Ilea didn’t know how to feel.

She continued to make the sword appear and disappear for the next two or three minutes. ‘This is so cool.’ she thought and started checking her mana and notices. It only took her around ten mana to either make the sword disappear or appear. The capacity went up or down by one upon removal or storage.

Actually identifying the sword was a little underwhelming.

[Legate Guardian Sword – Rare Quality]

It was a silvery green short sword that looked a little like the one romans would use. ‘Gladius...’ Ilea thought and played around with it a little. She didn’t have a sword skill but with her high stats in Dexterity it didn’t look quite stupid when she thrust the sword in the air.

‘Rare quality though...whatever that means. Gold is rare and would probably break immediately. Oh well...’ she shrugged and made the sword disappear again. Removing the armor pieces next, she placed them on the ground in front of her.

[Legate Guardian Armor – Rare Quality]

Each individual piece could be identified as [Legate Guardian Armor Chest – Rare Quality] and so on. It seemed to be some sort of fabric with a lot of the silvery green metal added. The problem was that it was obviously made for a dwarf. ‘Sadly I’m not one meter fifty tall and just as wide...’ she thought and made the armor vanish again.

She noticed that it took a little more mana to summon and store the armor but compared to her total it was negligible. The next obvious thing to look at was the helmet she’d found. Unsurprisingly it was a [Legate Guardian Helmet – Rare Quality] made from the same metal. The metal covered nearly all of one’s face with only tiny holes for eyes. She tried to put it on but it fit loosely on her head.

Sadly the armor didn’t seem to have the ability to change its size to the wearer like the necklace did. Ilea tried on the armor to make sure. Looking down on her naked body she sighed. ‘I’m gonna store so much clothes in this thing...’

Next were the horns. They looked incredibly beautiful, reflecting the dull green light on their complex metal workings.

[Taleen ceremonial horn – HIgh Quality ‘Used in Taleen celebrations’]

‘What does that mean...great, I hoped for a buff or summoning something...oh well.’ Ilea knew without taking out any of the coins that she had gathered 2683 Gold coins from the treasury. “Guess money won’t be an issue in a while...how much is a house?” nobody answered her question.

Seven units in the necklace had already been occupied before she had gotten it. Checking them she found that one was a book written in a language she didn’t understand. Further there was a set of clothes for a dwarf, equipment to cook and a tent.

‘How is that seven...I’ll find out in time I guess.’ She added just the pot for cooking and found it was one unit. The ladle was another unit.

‘So separate things are definitely units...what about the gold then though...’ she couldn’t figure it out with moving a bunch of coins in and out of the necklace.

‘The book is the most interesting one, maybe Splicer can read it or someone in that Foundation...’ she thought and got back up. Her mana had reached the maximum again in the meantime as she hadn’t stopped using meditation.

“Oh, wait I forgot one thing.” Using one thousand mana to get out the pyramid shaped object, she held it in her hands. There were complicated runes carved into the metal. ‘It’s beautiful, maybe I can use it to decorate my place in the temple or something.’

[The Tungsten Key – Ancient Quality]

‘Well yea with that description it’s not good for anything more than a bloody decoration. Where’s my quest?’ she thought but no further information came to her. Throwing the pyramid shaped key up and catching it a couple times, she stored it again and continued to meditate, two thousand mana down. ‘Guess it’s a good way to use up mana if that helps in any way...’ she thought but still smiled. The necklace rested on her neck again and after she had reached maximum mana again, she prepared to leave.

And so Ilea blinked back towards the waiting centurions, escaping quite similarly as she had before. One randomly thrown spear nearly got her right before she blinked out of the second hall after grabbing her backpack.

Reaching the great hall entrance, Ilea checked cautiously if any of the other adventurers had reached this far already but everything seemed undisturbed. She had an idea and placed some destroyed guardians at the molten entrance that would have to be moved upon coming in.

‘So now the left entrances...’ Ilea removed the dwarve’s clothes from her storage and looked at them sceptically. ‘Better than naked I suppose...’ smelling them she couldn’t find anything wrong with them and dressed. The pants were too high and broad but luckily there was a belt included.

She used the gladius to remove the arms of the shirt. ‘Basically a crop top now...’ she smiled and got it on as well. The clothes were obviously green. Testing a little, Ilea could store her whole backpack but it would take over ten units.

‘It’s weird to see someone down here without a pack though...’ she thought and stored her notebook inside the leather pouch which took only one unit. One of her two canteens with water was stored as well. Her cloak and alpha hound trinket went into the necklace too.

The metal pen and a good portion of the food made the storage capacity reach 31/250. ‘That’s a lot of space...I wonder what Aliana’s ring has...’ she thought and got on the backpack again that only held food, one canteen and her adventurer badge. ‘Oh I forgot to get that one updated.’ she shrugged and walked into the first door on the left.

‘With this necklace I can have second breakfast at any point of the day anywhere...’ she smiled happily at her new trinket while playing with the gladius. She could store it or summon it in her hand because her neck was touching the necklace at all times. ‘Can I...’ she thought and made the blade appear on top of her foot which worked as well.

On top of her head worked as well but not further away than a couple millimeters from her body or the clothes that were above it. ‘Could someone wear like a ton of armor and summon fifty swords around it as a sort of hedgehog tactic?’ her thoughts were interrupted as she walked into the the room that followed the staircase.

Or well, lack thereof. A chasm opened before her that led onwards for nearly a kilometer. Ilea blinked through the room with nearly thirty uses of the skill and found that one the other side there was no door or way to go further. Her sphere couldn’t detect anything behind the stone wall either.

She clung to it by slamming her outstretched hand into the wall. ‘There’s nothing further up...so only one way to go...’ she thought and let herself fall. Every hundred meters or so, she would punch into the wall again to slow herself and look around.

‘This chasm is stupid deep...and the other one before the great hall must be right over there...’ she thought and looked at the wall to her left. A couple minutes of falling later, she saw some stone protruding outwards into the chasm. Landing on it, it was as expected an entrance but she didn’t go in immediately and looked downwards over the edge. ‘Nothing I can see...but man this means there could be more secret entrances down in all the chasms so far...’ Ilea went inside.







“Stone Wall!” Jeremy shouted as the machine’s swords stuck into his hastily built defense. At the same time lightning and fire joined together to slam into the creature but it wasn’t enough. Arrows flew over his head to strike the ranged machines a little further away. Five of them had ambushed their group while two of the bladed machines attacked directly.

“Where’s the backup!!?” he shouted but didn’t dare look back. Stone spikes stopped the sword guardian before him for a couple seconds as more spells rained onto the monster. They were a group of five, sent in to explore one of the many roads in this Taleen Dungeon. Their group of nearly forty adventurers had at first tried to lure out the machines into the more open squares to deal with them using their full group’s power but they sometimes wouldn’t follow them further than a certain point.

At the moment there were three groups of five exploring different roads with orders to fall back to the last square should they be overwhelmed. They went in and spent their resources to deal as much damage as possible and then fall back again. Dedicated tanks combined with magic support could stop the sword guardians in their tracks for half a minute or more while mages and rangers delivered their fully powered magic attacks.

In the meantime rangers or rogues would distract the ranged attackers with smoke bombs, arrows or even teleporting skills. It wasn’t a very quick method to deal with the machines but quite effective nonetheless. They had only lost three people quite early on because the groups sent into the streets were too big and the people got into each other’s way.

Most of the adventurers were around level 150 to 170 with some individuals even exceeding that. Certainly not an ordinary adventurer group but considering a high noble paid them and planned for months for this expedition it wasn’t surprising.

Jeremy himself was at level 172 with his main class Ground Caller, and level 166 with his second class Heavy Paladin. This made him effectively a tank and crowd controller with some very limited healing abilities. They certainly needed that as only two people in the whole group were dedicated healers. They had been brought in from other cities just like many of the higher leveled specialists as well. Only two other people next to the healers had abilities to treat people other than themselves, Jeremy being one of them.

Of course some had an ability to heal their own wounds but those skills were often limited or bound to killing or harming an enemy to trigger.

‘How did they even manage to hire those people...’ he thought as someone shouted behind them.

“Switch!” was all Jeremy heard as a lance of ice hit the guardian before him, expanding into big crystals after the impact.

Jeremy retreated with the other four people that had spent their energy. He deflected two rounds fired at him by the ranged machines with his massive shield as another tank took his place. “Good job mate….” the woman said as she raised her massive two handed sword and shouted at the enemies, instantly gaining their attention.

‘Reckless...’ he thought but still hadn’t seen the woman injured even once in the past day. Jeremy was a Dawntree native and had joined a couple different adventurer teams and expeditions into Karth in the past couple years. He loved investigating old ruins and finding timeless artifacts left behind by long lost civilizations.

In his spare time he taught history at the College of Magic in Dawntree but he certainly preferred the exploration his job brought with it. First clearing out guardians or pest infestations was just part of the job as well but he certainly didn’t like that part.

Getting back to the camp, he and his group reported their progress, and then went to eat. Next to the forty adventurers there were cooks, smiths, tailors and many other utility workers brought with them. ‘Even managed to hire an alchemist...’ he thought as he looked at the old man with disheveled hair. ‘Commissioned healing potions...what a luxury.’ he thought as he looked at the man work.

Certainly a dedicated healer was miles above what a potion could do but saving a life is saving a life. Jeremy got some food from a cook and then walked through a Taleen house inside their barricaded camp. ‘Fascinating…’ he thought as he looked at the stone structure from within. It was the first Taleen ruin he’d been in, having jumped at the opportunity of joining the expedition.

Jeremy was lucky enough to have known some people in Forkspear employ and had heard of the expedition. His small abilities in healing had landed him the spot in the end. He sat on a window ledge and ate while looking at the dark and greenish scenery before him. ‘It’s just a tunnel system but somehow they managed to make it feel like a city...’

“Healer!!” a shout made him drop his food and jump down immediately from the window. Running up to the bloodied man dragging an adventurer behind him, he ignored the obviously injured but standing man and applied his limited healing spells to the man on the ground. He had several deep cuts in his chest, the guardian had gone right through his thick plate armor.

His spell managed to stabilize the man enough for the healer to do his job. “Thanks...” the adventurer that had dragged the dying man touched his shoulder before Jeremy went back and got some new food. ‘Another close one…’ he thought. At these levels many of them could die in a couple hits from the enemies and every mistake would cost them dearly even with perfect group compositions, plans and healers.

“Scouts have returned.” someone said next to him and jogged into the square to check what the rogues had discovered. Jeremy turned around as well but continued eating. ‘Only three have returned...’ he thought. Five had been sent a couple hours ago.

‘This whole expedition would be deemed as a disaster already...’ only the pay and the fact that it was a Taleen dungeon seemed to justify the deaths already suffered.

“More guardians here, here and here.” one of the rogues said and pointed at specific parts on the map. Someone else marked the spots before nodding to the rogue. The second scout had something interesting to tell though.

“I’ve found destroyed guardians all the way through here...” he pointed to the map and compared it to the one sketched on a smaller one he had with him. “...I’ve only spotted isolated guardians in these streets but decided not to go further.”

“How many destroyed?” one of the expedition leaders asked, an at least level 190 mage. Seeing his decorated armor Jeremy was sure the man was a lightning mage.

“Two to ten in each street and square. Both sword and ranged. Some dented, others melted. Most of them show precise cuts though. As I said it went on but I decided to report before I went further in.”

Another leader nodded, his dark horned armor and helmet didn’t let any of his thoughts slip. “We’re not the first down here then. Someone broke through before us. The question is if it was a thousand years ago or more recent.”

“It’s hard to tell down here. We have to assume it was more recent though as other Forkspears have definitely sent people down here before. That healer we saw a couple days ago might’ve only been a small part of a bigger expedition.” the mage said.

“We should’ve questioned her.” the man in black armor said.

“And anger someone in a big family. No, what does it change that someone was here before? We are perfectly equipped for this and can retreat at any time should something insurmountable appear.” the mage responded.

“They left a path then...” a third voice said that had been quiet before. A man who seemed to be in his late fifties thoughtfully scratched his neatly trimmed beard. “Whomever they are or were. They seem to have cleared a path. Judging by the streets chosen they either knew where they were going or simple charged through like some maniacs.” his words quieted the others.

“I vote that we stay and continue the same way, I won’t gamble on them having a specific target.” the mage said but the man in black armor shook his head.

“We’re already surrounded. Like this we will have to resupply soon and we will lose more and more while morale drops. I say we follow the path. There aren’t many guardians we’ve seen so far that would follow someone more than a couple streets back. As long as we don’t make too much noise we won’t alert them to our presence. Either we meet more guardians at the end, some dead adventurers or a cleared path to...well something.” he said and the older man nodded.

“I agree with Agor. Should the road lead to anything but despair we would at least save some time and maybe lives.” he stopped stroking his beard and put both hands on the table.

“What about the people who are here for the experience?” the mage said but the old man simply waved his hand and answered.

“Then they may return again. The guardian’s have been here for a thousand years or longer, they may wait another month or year. We’ll put it to a vote as soon as the current streets are cleared.”

Jeremy was sure of his answer already and was glad the leaders decided to be open about the plans and put most bigger decisions to a general vote although the three had a veto right. He didn’t think any of them would use it for this though, as Mr. Horim had said, there was no detriment of choosing an already cleared path.

He smiled as he looked at the busy square that had become the expedition’s camp. ‘I wonder what we’ll find...’





Ilea dodged several spears that shot out from the wall opposite her. Bending this way and that she sometimes deflected some of them with her bare hands while slowly advancing. She decided to tackle the last couple trap rooms without using her blink skill. She thought she’d started to rely on it too much and even though it was an absolutely amazing skill, she had to learn how to deal with things the normal way instead of just teleporting behind them.

Seeing as these traps weren’t very dangerous to her it was the perfect opportunity. After entering the doorway in the chasm the dwarves had shown her some new traps but generally much less deadly than the acid or green fire trap she’d encountered in the treasury. Sadly she hadn’t found any guardians to fight but sticking to evasion without blinking it didn’t get boring either.

Two spears closed in on her as she took one light step to the side to have them both pass her head, one of them scratching slightly into her ashen mist. Reaching the end of the room, she punched the door three times and entered through the created rubble. ‘Another one down. That was five already.’ she thought as a noise reverberated inside her head.

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Perception reaches 2nd lvl 6’

‘bing’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches lvl 9’
‘bing’ ‘Body of Ash reaches lvl 9’

‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 150. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘New skill available for Ash Wielder’

‘150 already...well that certainly didn’t take very long. And a new skill, let me guess, embered fireball...’ she thought but stopped in her tracks with wide opened eyes as she continued reading.

‘bing’ ‘You have met following conditions: Reached level 150 in Ash Wielder class. Reached at least lvl 15 in Ash and Ember Manipulation.’



‘Passive: Ashen Wings – lvl 1
Your understanding of Ash Wielder allows you to form wings from ash and ember. Strike your enemies from above and close the distance to deliver your wrath.
Category: Body Enhancement – Ashen Magic



‘You have no more free slots for Passive skills in your second class. Please chose a skill to be replaced by Ashen Wings or chose not to gain the skill.’

Ilea shakily steadied herself on the wall nearby, her hand digging into the stone while she quickly thought over her skills. ‘Heat perception...’ she thought and the skill was replaced by something she’d been waiting for for quite some time.

‘Wings...’ she thought and smiled, blinking back through the five trap rooms she’d come through. Coming to a stop at the entrance and small ledge before the chasm, she activated her new skill. Ash immediately shot out from her back and she looked left and right to see wings quickly extend several meters on each side.

They were formed from ash and shrouded at their edges. A slight glow of ember could sometimes be seen between them. Ilea felt them upon activation. Like a third and fourth arm. The skill helped her move them and understand how they worked. She moved them closer towards her back and then closed them before her as if to hug herself.

“AAAAAH I love you...” she said in her blanket of warm ash. They were a very dark gray, nearing on black just like her shroud of ash. “Now let’s see how this goes...” she said and extended the wings again. Moving them up and down, Ilea found the process rather instinctual and soon slowly lifted off the ground.

The magic wings could easily carry the human where physics would have needed a massive wingspan to accomplish the same. “Hahahahahahaha!” Ilea laughed as she got higher and higher. First one meter then ten. The wings felt light to her, barely a distraction. She smirked and moved forward.

Like a baby bird thrown from its nest, Ilea flung into the wall of the chasm, falling for ten meters before catching herself again and stabilizing. A wise regular at the local pub would’ve described Ilea’s performance of the drunk flying man as spectacular.

Nearly thirty minutes of trying later, Ilea could steadily move forwards. ‘Flying life ain’t easy...’ she thought while still smiling. Blood ran down her face and arms as she had refused to heal herself from her flight training. The wings were rather powerful in acceleration and the walls were made from the strong white stone.

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches lvl 2’

‘Heh.’ she thought and continued. Three hours had passed as a winged demon fell downwards into the chasm below only to spread its wings to slow down and twirl several times. The demon used its momentum of falling to quickly gain height again and sped upwards at an incredibly high velocity before landing on a ledge of the chasm.

Sitting down, the demon summoned some bread and meat in its hands and began eating. “I’m getting better at this...holy shit though, without the skill to help I might’ve just fallen down and died...” Ilea said while chewing.

Having finished the quick meal, she got back to training. A couple more hours later the skill had leveled up to three and Ilea had gotten more and more used to the feeling of flying. The last hour had been pure joy instead of her previously high concentration and wall banging.

She soared through the sky at an incredible speed, even beginning to blink in between and smash into the walls with more and more precise punches and kicks. She especially liked to accelerate to full speed before slamming knee first into the wall. A maneuver previously impossible because she needed her legs to gain speed.

Flying through the full length of the chasm Ilea found her speed to be even faster than her full sprint, although she wasn’t as flexible in the air because her wings didn’t have the stopping power her legs did. ‘Preferable to fight on the ground then still...’ she thought as she continued to laugh and twirl around in the air.

Activating the wings used up around thirty units of mana but keeping them didn’t seem to have a noticeable mana cost. Although her stamina sank faster but she simply attributed that to the low level of the skill and her difficulty in using it.

Another two hours later Ilea likely wasn’t ready yet to fight a flying sword guardian, should something like that exist but using the skill to get from point A to point B with even some skillfully executed twirls and evasions included had certainly become possible.

She landed on the ledge and thoughtfully put a hand to her chin while smiling. “Awwww, I really really want to continue but I should use my time alone down here productively...” she thought of the adventurers she’d seen. A lot of them had shown question marks upon her identification which meant they probably had people on Edwin’s level there. ‘Something still tells me those three were a bit different...’ she thought and obviously continued to enjoy her new wings for another hour.

Two hours later she stopped though and went back through the still activated trap rooms, simply blinking through the ones she’d already crossed without the skill. Another three rooms with simply spear and fire traps followed, none of the fire being green. Ilea worked through them without using blink and got done even faster, still enthused by her new wings.

“I have wings!” she shouted while activating them and catching a spear shot towards her with her bare hand. The metal weapon clanged to the ground as the healer continued barefeet through the door.

On the other side was a big hall. Ilea smiled and slammed a fist into her palm, all her buffs coming to life. “Well hello there darlings!” the woman said to the waking guardians that clattered the ground and walls of the otherwise empty room. Even some turrets were installed in the room. “Here to do some security system checks...” she said while walking onwards and dodging three slugs fired towards her.

The fight in the hall before the treasure room still somewhat fresh on her mind, Ilea took her time to meticulously dismantle every single guardian without taking too big of a risk. Two heavy ranged ones were present and the turrets helped as well at battering the sword guardians around her.

Blinking through, she destroyed seventeen sword guardians and six ranged ones in the span of twenty five minutes before blinking out to restore her mana. No sword guardians remained in the room as she entered and took care of the two heavy ranged guardians. Before she worked on the turrets though, she had an idea and blinked back out of the room to regain her lost mana again and checked her messages.



‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Taleen Guardian] x17’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy forty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Taleen Guardian] x6’

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 156. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 157. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 158. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 159. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 151. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 152. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 153. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 154. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Shroud of Ash reaches lvl 12’

‘bing’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches lvl 13’

‘bing’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches lvl 5’



‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Taleen Guardian] x2’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy forty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’



‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 160. 5 Stat points awarded.’



“Levels...levels for me, aha.” she sang and danced a small victory dance. ‘Now...’ she put the fifty stat points into her five important stats again and walked back to the hall. Activating her skills, she let the first slug from a turret hit her. It didn’t break through her shroud of ash and only did marginal damage. Smirking, her wings extended and she lifted into the air.

The other nine turrets aimed at her as well and her training began. Dodging the slugs on the ground had become easy enough but in the air it became a completely different thing. At least Ilea quickly learned that her wings being hit wouldn’t actually damage her although it could create quickly closing holes in the ash which lessened her stability in the air a little.

She got hit a lot in the first thirty minutes of her training and had to leave to actually heal herself and not because her mana was low. The next three attempts were each better than the last and she even gained a level in Ashen Wings and Eyes of Ash.

At that point Ilea was able to dodge all slugs fired from the ten turrets with her wings only. ‘Now let’s try something a little more offensive...’ she thought and flew at high speed into one of the turrets, her knee easily bending the metal upon impact, destroying the target with a single hit. The others quickly followed until nothing but bent metal and cracks in the ceiling remained.

Ilea gently landed on the ground and her wings disappeared.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Taleen Turret] x10’

‘No levels eh...guess I’ll have to find stronger enemies than that...’ she thought and walked onwards into the complex, leaving only rubble and bent metal behind.

Ilea was granted her wish in the next room as a beautiful large cave with a white crystal on top much like the room she had found with Felicia’s group opened up to her. In the middle of the room was another pond but much larger than the one before. A massive rock stood out in the middle and overlooked a part of the pond.

On the very top of it stood a centurion. Ilea breathed out at the sight and checked the rest of the room. ‘No other guardians...’ she thought and quickly checked her status.



Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 160
- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Reconstruction – 2nd lvl 18
- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Blink – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Azarinth Sphere – 2nd lvl 14
- Passive: Body of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 11
- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20
- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 14
- Passive: Azarinth Perception – 2nd lvl 6
- Passive: Azarinth Reversal – lvl 10

Class 2: Ash Wielder – lvl 154
- Active: Shroud of Ash – lvl 12
- Active: Form of Ember – 2nd lvl 7
- Active: Ash Surge – lvl 6
- Active: Body Heat Manipulation – lvl 1
- Active: Wave of Ember – lvl 13
- Passive: Ash and Ember Manipulation – lvl 15
- Passive: Ashen Wings – lvl 4
- Passive: Eyes of Ash – lvl 10
- Passive: Body of Ash – lvl 9
- Passive: Ashen Warrior – lvl 5



General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5
- Identify - lvl 4
- Meditation – lvl 2nd 14
- Poison Resistance – lvl 16
- Heat Resistance – lvl 14
- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 2
- Mental Resistance – lvl 5
- Fear Resistance – lvl 1
- Water Resistance – lvl 5
- Wind Resistance – lvl 3
- Lightning Resistance – lvl 1

Status:

Vitality: 440
Endurance: 250
Strength 111
Dexterity 290
Intelligence 435
Wisdom 260

Health: 4363/4400
Stamina: 2396/2500
Mana: 2580/2600



She had nearly thirty levels more compared to her fight against the single centurion in the teleportation room. Additionally several levels in a lot of skills had been gained, not to mention wings.

She shrugged and started walking. ‘Might as well give it a shot...’ she thought and spread her wings after five steps. Flying closer to the centurion, the machine woke from its slumber and aimed its spear at the intruder. “And so it starts...”

The thrown spear was dodged even in her flying form. Her speed hadn’t lessened and if it was only a single projectile she was confident in her airborne form. Ilea dived quickly and her descending kick was blocked by the centurion’s outstretched hand. The spear materialized in its other hand and its thrust was dodged by her as she flew backwards again, away from the machine.

The spear was thrown again and dodged. She sped up just as she did before and released Destruction and Wave of Ember into the outstretched arm. ‘It won’t be this simple though...’ her thought was confirmed on her third try of the same tactic as the centurion didn’t summon his spear but instead grabbed at her leg with both hands.

Her spells were released but the machine powered through and squeezed her shin, nearly breaking the bone. Being grabbed by the machine let her use the anchor to get closer towards its head with her torso. Five quick punches with all her offensive skills were released into the creature’s head, rocking the metal plate before it let go of her leg with one hand.

Three more punches landed as the centurion summoned its spear and thrust at the woman whom it still held in one of its hands. Ilea’s wings moved with their full force as she twisted her leg and torso. The spear was narrowly dodged as it cut her shoulder lightly. Activating Azarinth Reversal, Ilea started pumping destructive mana into the machine through the leg it was still holding.

Another five thrusts followed while more and more mana flowed into the creature. Ilea managed to narrowly dodge three of them while two actually cut deeply into her. She had moved her body in such a way as to make the thrusts miss her vital organs though. The machine apparently didn’t deem it worth it to continue this line of attack and let go of her leg.

Ilea immediately blinked upwards as another thrust pierced the air where she just was. Deactivating Azarinth Reversal, she started healing her wounds and looked at the centurion. ‘I think I might have this...’ she thought and dodged the thrown spear.

Another three throws later, she was healed fully and advanced again. The fraction of a second the creature needed to summon its spear was enough for her to land a kick. Even though it blocked all her hits, the skills that didn’t rely on kinetic force did their damage. Ilea was lucky that nearly all her damage came from non kinetic energies.

‘To think the wings had made the difference.’ she thought as she dodged another throw. The creature grabbed her legs again upon which she channeled mana into it. This time though the centurion didn’t aim for her body where she could dodge its attacks but cut straight into her ankle, above where it held her.

The spear went through her shroud of ash and cut deeply into her leg. She still channeled mana and moved in closer. Punches landed on the machine’s head as the second spear thrust cut through her shin completely. Ilea blinked away while wincing, dodging the spear thrown at her.

Checking her health she noticed that only about fifteen percent of it was gone after the attack. ‘Well I haven't put that to the test yet...’ she thought and channeled Reconstruction into her foot while dodging another throw. She was sure that she could simply close the bleeding wound in a matter of a couple dozen seconds but instead concentrated on regrowing it.

New bone started to form when Ilea quickly stopped and had to blink away to dodge the next throw. ‘That was something else...’ she thought, having just experienced pain similar to the demon’s mind attack she had suffered a while ago.

She activated her 2nd stage Pain Tolerance ability and continued healing. Dodging the thrown spears wasn’t very hard anymore and Ilea thought it good practice to do it while healing. It would also prevent the Guardian from repairing itself if that was possible. At least not if it looked obvious to Ilea.

Fifteen minutes later her foot was back and she tried moving it. ‘Doesn’t seem weird...’ reactivating the feeling of pain again, she felt a strong tingle in the foot but otherwise there was nothing. ‘Guess that kinda justifies the whole class being classified as a healer class...with this ability, the rest kinda pales in comparison...’ she thought and moved in on the Centurion again.

It had learned that holding her didn’t help and simply blocking her with its hands didn’t either. Damage would come through either way. A while later, with Ilea now feeling sure of her victory, the Centurion stopped throwing its spear and held it just like the one in the teleportation room had before.

“Oh no you don’t...” she said and advanced. Blinking around the creature, her hits were blocked by the spear and no destructive spells could be fired into the creature. Using Ash Surge, she clouded the machine’s sight but found it only slightly slowed by the spell. It quickly moved out of the cloud and away from the rock they had fought in all this time.

Ilea blinked in close to the ground and kicked at one of the creature’s legs. The hit landed right before the butt of its spear crashed into her and sent her flying. She tumbled and slid to a halt before cocking her head slightly, the spear rushing past. Her grin widened and she showed pearly white teeth as she ran in again. Keeping the creature moving with Ash Surge and changing from blink attacks to aerial attacks or simply rushing in from the ground was the best way to go as time and time again a single hit was landed, even as the creature got more and more defensive.

‘It’s health must’ve reached a certain threshold...’ Ilea thought as she checked her own resources. ‘So did my mana...’ she ground her teeth and flew out of the room. ‘Let’s hope it can’t heal at least...’ she thought and began meditating. As the skill and mana recovery itself were both measured in percentages, she needed less time to have full mana again than she did several months back. Close to six minutes later, she was ready to go again.

Coming into the room she flew towards the centurion and laughed at its sight. “Hahahaha, no self repair eh T-1000?” she asked mockingly and continued her assault. She hit and was thrown back, only to repeat the process again and again.

Nearly fifteen minutes of fighting later, she felt something change. Seeing the centurion change its grip on the handle again, she instinctively blinked away. A second later the machine was upon her. She dodged the spear thrust and punched with her right hand. The hit landed on the centurion’s torso but at the same time its fist hit her in the chest.

She was thrown back, her torso bruised by the attack. The centurion immediately threw its spear and ran at her with its six legs. The spear flew past as the machine attacked her hand to hand, ignoring any hits she landed on it. The fight continued like this as blows were traded until Ilea had to blink away and flew upwards to heal her severely damaged body.

Blood dripped to the ground below as the machine threw its spear again and again. Healed fully again she moved back in. ‘I’m close now...’ she thought and grew more defensive as she dodged the crazed machine’s attacks that didn’t have any regard for its own health anymore. Two minutes later, Ilea hit the creature again and readied herself for the counter attack that didn’t come.

Instead the creature grabbed her again. Her mana immediately entered it and her fists punched its torso. The machine grabbed her with both arms and squeezed her to its metal shell. Suddenly her perception sped up and her movements slowed down tremendously. Thinking through all possibilities, her eyes widened. She couldn’t blink away as the creature was holding her so she put all her strength into her wings and pushed against the creature with her arms and legs to create some distance.

A full second had passed and she had created a distance of about thirty centimeters between the machine’s torso and her own. Willing mana into her necklace, Ilea summoned the full Legate Guardian Armor in front of herself. The respective pieces appearing in front of the body parts they would be worn on.

For whatever it was worth, she also summoned the dwarf’s tent behind the armor and the cooking pot in front of her head as she leaned it backwards. Luckily the space created was enough for the armor to fit and just as the two seconds of her 2nd stage Azarinth Perception passed everything had materialized and Ilea activated Reconstruction on herself, stopping its reversal and the channel into the creature.

A loud noise and bright light destroyed Ilea’s eardrums and burned through her retinas as she was blown backwards, the armor hitting her, breaking through her shroud of ash and destroying bones and organs. The tent was shredded right through as if it hadn’t existed.

Ilea flew backwards and tumbled for nearly fifty meters before impacting hard into the wall. Her arms and legs had been blown off completely as she had still held the machine away upon its apparent self destruction.

The dwarf’s chest armor ground her bones and organs even more upon her impact with the wall as blood spurted out of her mouth. Her body had dug half a meter into the wall and she simply hung there as blood flowed downwards.

The runes and embers slowly faded from her.





‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Taleen Centurion – lvl 305]’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy one hundred and forty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’



‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 161. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 162. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 163. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 164. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 165. 5 Stat points awarded.’



‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 155. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 156. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 157. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 158. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 159. 5 Stat points awarded.’



‘bing’ ‘Reconstruction reaches 2nd lvl 19’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Sphere reaches 2nd lvl 15’
‘bing’ ‘Body of Azarinth reaches 2nd lvl 12’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Perception reaches 2nd lvl 7’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches lvl 11’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches lvl 12’


‘bing’ ‘Shroud of Ash reaches lvl 13’
‘bing’ ‘Shroud of Ash reaches lvl 14’
‘bing’ ‘Form of Ember reaches 2nd lvl 8’
‘bing’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches lvl 14’
‘bing’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches lvl 5’
‘bing’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches lvl 11’
‘bing’ ‘Body of Ash reaches lvl 10’
‘bing’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches lvl 6’



All of Ilea’s mana subconsciously went into Reconstruction as over the next ten minutes the worst bleedings were stopped and her arteries and damaged or destroyed organs were slowly rebuilt. She still hung in the wall, mutilated by the explosion. What would have killed almost any adventurer at her level and certainly a human on earth had taken 89% of Ilea’s health points.

The blast first dented the dwarven armor, heavily damaging it and then went on to punch into Ilea’s shroud of ash before ultimately hitting her reinforced and strengthened body. The shrapnel had been stopped by the Legate’s armor, having punched through the first layer but ultimately being stopped by the armor’s back.

A gasp of air entered her rebuilt lungs, pushing away the armor and thus reopening some wounds that had been closed. She turned off the pain and in her lucid state tried to concentrate her mana on the most important parts. It took another ten minutes of healing while meditating to stabilize herself. Her health hadn’t gone up by more than ten percent in all that time.

Rebuilding the skin on her chest, she finally closed up her torso and started to work on her face. The skin rebuilt as the bone of her jaw regrew. Light returned to her eyes as she blinked and saw the destruction before her. A small crater could be seen where they had stood before, the plants were blown away and parts of the room still burned.

Debris and pieces of metal lay everywhere on the path from the crater to where Ilea hung in the wall. Her ears popped and she started hearing the burning fire in the room and low hum of gears in the walls.

Her pain was still off as she started rebuilding her limbs. One by one they grew back. As soon as she could move her arms, she started removing the shrapnel that had managed to get through. New wounds were opened and quickly closed as the metal and stone was removed from her body. Her legs healed completely as she summoned her canteen from the unharmed necklace and drank deeply from the water.

She coughed up half of the water and let the metal canteen fall to the ground as she slowly peeled herself out of the stone. The rashes and cuts on her back began to heal as she fell to one knee. “I’m the T-1000 now...” she said and coughed again.

Ilea removed whatever remained of her dwarven clothes and stored the heavily damaged pieces of Legate armor in her necklace again. ‘Saved my life...’ she looked at the chest plate before storing it. “Hahaha...I summoned a leather tent….” she fell on her butt and simply laughed at the situation, the adrenaline from surviving the fight and actually taking down a centurion left her body as she laughed and laughed.

“And I’m naked again...fucking great.” she said, chuckling a couple times more as she got up. She then walked towards the crater and looked inside. Nothing of the centurion had remained. “Quite a blast hmm?” she asked and looked around the room. “Whatever Iron man bullshit powers these things...’ she thought while ashen wings appeared on her back.

Flying upwards, she quickly closed the distance to the pond and let herself fall into the clear water.







Rin watched on as a massive bolt of lightning entered the Guardian, finishing it off in the process. It clattered to the ground and so did she, completely spent on resources. ‘That Inström is nuts...’ she thought, referring to one of the declared leaders of the expedition and the source of the lightning spell.

‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Taleen Guardian] x4’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy thirty levels or more above your own. Additional experience is granted.’



‘ding’ ‘Sword dancer has reached level 166, 5 Stat points awarded.’



‘ding’ ‘Bladed whirlwind reaches 2nd lvl 4’



She slowly lifted herself up from the ground and smiled. “That was the last one.” someone said. Rin put her stat points into Vitality, Endurance and Dexterity before sheathing her curved swords and looking around. The expedition had voted on taking an apparently nearly cleared route through the dungeon and a majority of the people had agreed.

Rin would likely return here with another team or even her own as soon as they reached her levels. It was certainly effective to fight against enemies with such a high level. They had encountered much fewer enemies than before and progressed incredibly far into the dungeon already. At least from a pure distance perspective. Rin had no idea how big this city once was.

“We’re gonna quickly camp here and move on in three hours!” Agor shouted and people started building their cooking stations while some went to the smiths to get some armor or weapons repaired. Rin had checked her swords and they were fine so she joined the forming queue for the food prepared by the cooks.

“Scout report...” she heard someone say as over half the people in the queue looked backwards to find a healer working on a nasty cut one of the rogue scouts had received.

Jasper Horim and Agor were talking to the man until Jasper broke off to draw something on the map that was hastily placed on a table two servants had brought.

“What he say Lisa?” a man next to Rin in line asked another adventurer further up ahead.

“He found a chasm a couple streets further, and a massive door. Agor whispered something about a great hall.” the woman said and received some confused looks while others gasped at the mention of a great hall. Conversations sprang up after that and Rin tried to learn as much as she could from listening in.

“Stay increased to five hours. Prepare yourself as best as possible. The true challenge will likely start soon.” Agor said and walked over to Jasper.

“A great hall...wow...” a huge man behind her said.

“You know anything about it?” she asked and he nodded in reply.

“Oh yes, I’ve read some things about it before. It’s mostly speculation though...”

Ilea enjoyed the bath for half an hour before getting out again. She went and grabbed her canteen and checked if the centurion had dropped anything. Other than some remaining shrapnel quite far away from the crater she didn’t find anything.

‘These dungeons must be super shit for normal adventurers who go in for the treasure...’ she thought but smiled as she touched her necklace. ‘Dunno how many would’ve gotten that one...’

She put all her fifty stat points into Vitality. ‘I can take on a centurion now but that blast...’ she thought and got her backpack that she had left at the entrance. “Why do I still have that...” she thought as she removed the green ivy from her pack. Shrugging she put it back in. ‘It’s everywhere, can’t be something special...’

The only other way out of the room was a big archway similar to the one that had led to the teleportation gate. It looked rather nice to Ilea, although not as intricately decorated as the teleportation device itself. She touched it as she went through, looking back at the seemingly idyllic scene behind her, were it not for the crater and burnt trees left behind.

In the next hour, Ilea walked through several big hallways with dozens of rooms to each side. She checked every single one of them with her sphere but couldn’t find anything other than some old stone beds and other furniture.

‘Not residential though...’ she thought as she walked through another huge spartan looking room with dozens of beds. “Barracks!” she suddenly exclaimed loudly as it finally clicked. There were weird contraptions on the walls that would likely hold weapons, the furniture was aligned perfectly symmetrical to allow the same storage for everyone that had claimed one of these beds.

‘So I’m in the heart of the Taleen military here...’ she thought and continued on. A couple big rooms later, she came up on a massive hall with hundreds of tables. “So this is where you ate hmm?” she asked nobody. There were no dwarves or even skeletons remaining who could’ve answered the intruder to their ancient home.

Ilea walked through the eerily quiet room. The absence of gears and noisy pipes was immediately noticeable. “How long since the last meal was served here?” She picked up a mug that stood on one of the tables. There was nearly no dust on it and the greenish metal shined on splendidly, reflecting the light above.

“Guess now that I have space...where’s the kitchen?” she asked and made the mug vanish. Four more followed as she made her way towards the kitchen. The fact that she had beaten a centurion made Ilea more and more giddy as she jumped on top of a nearby table and continued her way like that.

Wings sprouted from her back as she flew upwards and twirled before landing on the counter where the dwarves must’ve gotten their meals from millenia past. “Kitchen utensils here I come!” sadly there wasn’t as much left as Ilea assumed. A nice set of kitchen knifes joined her collection though, as did two pots, one of them looking quite similar to a wok.

Finding nothing else interesting, Ilea moved on. Three more doors led away from the big dining hall and she intended to explore all of them. One inevitably led to a massive cleaning room, sadly without any clothes inside. “If I have to wash an army’s clothes I know where to go though. Seeing the guardians I bet these weird as fuck washing machines still work as well...” she touched one of them and wasn’t surprised to see some runes light up on the side of it.

Not knowing how to use them though, she moved on to the next door that led away from the big hall. Sadly from the cleaning room only small storage rooms were attached that held what Ilea thought to be the taleen equivalent to cleaning pods. ‘Is this whole world an ad as well?’ she thought as she thought of eating one. She didn’t though, although with her resistances and healing power it would’ve been quite the miracle pod to actually hurt her in any significant way.

The next big door that led away from the mess hall held something quite interesting. Ilea took out her notebook and put the word Armory next to the rune she had drawn before entering the first door to the left in the great hall’s first room. The words Wash room, treasury, teleportation room and some others were already on the page of her interpretations. They were certainly no perfect translation but Ilea thought that good language professors could already do quite a bit with that.

She opened her arms and smirked as she greeted the room before her. “I had hoped for clothes...but this...” before her stretched several hundred meters of carefully placed gear on racks and tables. Admittedly most of it was missing but the things that remained were still more than plenty to arm a small town with incredibly high quality gear.

Ilea walked up to the nearest rack and took one of the spears into her hand. [Taleen Spear – High Quality] she balanced it on her finger and then shrugged. “I have no idea what I’m doing.” she then twirled the spear, surprising her at her own grace and made it vanish into her necklace. Ilea ran around the room, trying out different weapons and wondering at the uses of some of the devices.

In the next twenty five minutes, Ilea had stocked her necklace with over a hundred weapons and was ready to move on to the piles of armor and clothes that were both strewn around on tables while others were carefully put onto mannequins without heads.

‘Most of this stuff sadly doesn’t fit me...’ she thought but still moved through the things and looked at most of it. To her disappointment there was nothing that wasn’t at least a little green but she did find some clothes and armors that actually fit her. Apparently not all the dwarves were built the same, at least some taller and thinner dwarves must’ve existed. Or they made armor for other people as well, Ilea didn’t know. In total she’d found five whole armor sets that fit her somewhat well. Nothing comparable to her drake armor but at least it didn’t fall down after she got it on and fastened it with enough straps.

The clothes were easier as she could cut through parts and make them fit a little better. She kept ten sets of clothes that she thought fit her the best.

She got on one set of clothes and one set of armor on top. Checking her movements she felt it wasn’t particularly limiting. Even the sets for apparently very tall and skinny dwarves had rather short arm and leg pieces, leaving quite a bit of space free where Ilea’s joints were. The clothes were quite similar to the legate’s, plain and greenish with a bit of shine to them. The armor on the other hand was a little darker, albeit still green.

It was made from the same metal as the guardians but after Ilea went over it with a piece of cloth it shined much more. She looked into a mirror that was placed nearby and admitted that she looked like quite the warrior. ‘Although the blue eyes certainly don’t fit...’

“I have just the thing for that though...” she said and walked to the pile of helmets she’d tried on and deemed fitting enough. Where the dwarves were orderly and identical in weapons and armor, they seemed to have quite a bit of diversity in headgear. At least to an extent.

The helmets were of course all made from the same green metal but some had horns on top while others had spikes that reached to the side and downwards. Ilea assumed that some of them once held feathers or other things, looking at the old straps and metal rings and attachments that adorned some of the helmets.

In the end Ilea chose ten different helmets. Four with horns, two with spikes, three with wing like attachments and one that didn’t have any attachments. All of them covered her face completely, leaving only small slits for her eyes. Her necklace showed 181/250 holding capacity at that point. ‘I’ll definitely sell a bunch of this, food is certainly preferable...’ she thought as she put on one of the helmets with horns. They went a little to the side and then forward in a slight upward angle.

Activating her wings, she found they grew outwards from her armor without any problems. She looked into the mirror again and found a quite dangerous looking Taleen warrior looking back at her. Summoning one of the spears, she held it up in one arm and smiled. ‘Should’ve gone for a heavy spear or hammer class with all that gear...’ she thought but didn’t really mean it.

Thinking on it, Ilea grabbed five of the round shields she’d found and put four of them into storage. Getting into a fierce stance, she looked into the mirror and nodded. Storing the spear and shield again, she continued walking around the room while chucking her helmet upwards with one hand.

“I like these outfits...” she said out loud and continued looking through things. Sadly there were no lighter sets or hand to hand combat weapons among the armory but Ilea felt quite decked out, at least she could throw these weapons. Not seeing anything else interesting in the room after half an hour of searching, she left and went for the last doorway in the hall.

“Rotten...” she said as she held the dust in her hand. What she found was apparently the pantry. Sadly these dwarves didn’t seem to have any runes that would’ve kept the food fresh. Or they did and didn’t chose to keep them activated. Whatever reason there was nothing more to be found inside the room and Ilea quickly left, sketching down the rune on the door, Ilea sat down on one of the tables and summoned some bread and meat. ‘Haven’t tried to store a fully cooked and hot meal in here...’







Jeremy was in the third group to be brought over the chasm. ‘A great hall...I never would’ve dreamed of this...’ he thought as the wind mage made him land softly on the ground. His heavy armor and shield still made him bend his knees a little but he quickly jogged onwards to not block the passage of others. Whatever would wait on this side of the chasm, they had to be ready and they had to have a certain amount of firepower at their disposal.

Agor and Douglas Inström, two of the leaders were already standing near the massive doorway and inspected something on it that Jeremy couldn’t yet see from the angle he was currently at. Some other adventurers had joined them and started discussing. He walked up to them and saw what they were on about.

There was a one meter by one fifty big hole in the door, seemingly melted into it. “They’ve reached this far...” Agor said “I say we enter as soon as we have twenty people here. What do you see?” he said, the question directed towards all of the adventurers behind him.

“Nothing, the room seems empty.” one of them said. “There are no heat signatures...” another one said. “The spirits tell me of no danger.” and many more confirmations of safe passage followed before Douglas stopped them.

“We move as soon as the next group is down.” he said and just as he finished talking, four more people landed on this side of the chasm. Two of them having simply jumped over. “Let’s move then.” he said and motioned for Agor to lead. The man nodded and went through the hole in the door.

Jeremy watched as more and more of the people vanished through the door and into what was considered a great hall. He would’ve gladly given some additional insight or warning regarding the nature of the place inside but even to Jeremy most of it was myth. He knew that great halls were supposed to hold dangerous traps to ward off any intruders but that was about the end of his knowledge. Most of the others knew that much as well. ‘Time to change that lack of knowledge then...’ he thought and smiled while he entered into the much brighter room, the dozens of magical effects from their party reflecting on the white stone walls.









Pete walked up to Jasper, the old sword master currently standing over the map of the Taleen Dungeon they had explored for a couple days now. The whole group of adventurers and aides had been brought over the chasm in the past couple hours and had built their new base of operations inside the great hall. There were only destroyed machines remaining of whatever resistance had once resided there.

Now there were tents built up, pots with boiling soup were being tended to and a couple smiths were loitering about, talking about the dwarven metal they were inspecting. Some people had built up tables and were playing cards while they waited for the cautious leadership to declare the next move. No entrances had been touched at all until a couple hours ago. Scouts had been sent into the doors to the right.

In the first one, a trap had nearly cost the woman’s life but she managed to get to safety thanks to a short range teleportation skill. The second door had apparently been the one whoever came before them had chosen as a destroyed trap was reported until the scout had to return. There was apparently a large chasm that he couldn’t cross with his skills. People with flying abilities would have to explore further.

Seems like Pete would be the next scout to be chosen. ‘Hopefully not the big door in the middle...’ he looked nervously at the massive doorway that was as big as the entrance to the great hall. Some mages were standing around the entrance at that moment, trying to figure out how to open it. ‘It’s already open, why waste your time?’ Pete asked himself as he looked at the molten part of the door and shook his head.

“Pete right?” Jasper asked and didn’t wait for a response. “You’ll be the first one to enter the first door to the left. Two ways right are clear so far but I want to be sure no surprises will fall onto our backs.” the man said. Pete just nodded and walked towards the door. “Same procedure I assume" he asked while looking backwards. Jasper just nodded and absorbed himself again in the map.

Agor, Douglas and some other adventurers were standing over a stump of metal that stood in the middle of the room with somewhat concerned expressions on their faces. “Sorry to break up the gathering, I’ll be going into the next door. You guys free?” Pete asked and got some nods and yeses from the group.

They motioned and shouted for some more people to come until a whole twenty adventurers stood behind the waiting Pete, ready to strike at whatever unholy beast would be unleashed upon his trespassing. ‘Let’s hope it’s just another trap...’ he thought as he breathed in deeply and poured mana into the door. It lit up and opened. Pete entered and heard the door close behind him.

He walked down some stairs and let out the breath he was holding. ‘Just another chasm...earned my pay easily this time...’ his thoughts were interrupted as a sudden gust of wind blew him backwards a little. Looking up he saw a demon flying with ashen wings, embers burned deep within the wings as a deep and hateful glow shined onto him from inside the creature’s helmet.

‘Fuck this.’ he thought and turned tail, activating all his available buffs to make him swifter and to avoid any possible retribution for his intrusion.







Jeremy stood next to Rin whom he had gotten to know a couple hours ago when news of the great hall had spread. “He’s running back!” one of the mages said, her eyes glowing with a deep crimson. A moment later dozens of spells went off around Jeremy, people buffing themselves or others. Mages activating slower spells while some warriors infused their weapons with magical power.

A glance towards Rin told him that her two blades were drawn, a reddish glow coming from their thin metal. His tower shield got infused by his own spell as his body grew heavier. Whatever the scout was running from would find quite the surprise waiting for them.

Two slow seconds passed before the door opened and the scout ran out. “Demon!” he shouted and jumped over the line of waiting people.

“Did you identify whatever it was??!” Agor shouted but the word demon had already made its way through the whole hall while people canceled spells and prepared deadlier ones, his question drowned out by lightning, fire and earth cracking while people were shouting battle cries.

“Incoming!” the mage with a crimson glow in her eyes shouted as the door opened and out stepped an armored guardian. The green metal and horns made it clear that whatever it was, it was part of the dungeon. The red glow coming from inside its helmet made it understandable for the scout to shout the word demon but Jeremy had too much experience to simply trust a man like that and he was too curious to attack something so ancient without good reasons. Asking questions first might be dangerous yes, but asking questions later might be a loss of knowledge, forgotten for thousands of years.

The knowledge of his identify skill came to him just as the first attacks were let loose. [Healer lvl 165] he wanted to shout but the noise was deafening. An arrow was the first thing to hit the healer as a shroud of ash covered him and his arm shot out to intercept the projectile. Catching it, a bolt of lightning hit the healer and then hell followed. Jeremy tried to shout through the carnage but could only watch on helplessly as more and more fire, ice and many other ranged elemental attacks destroyed the healer and everything beyond.

Agor’s question to the incompetent scout was ignored completely as the supposed demon stepped out of the doorway. His instincts and experience told him long before identify even got him any further information that this was no demon. It was too late though as the more inexperienced parts of their defensive line already started to let loose their spells. All he could do now was maybe save the person’s life for his own but there was too much unknown.

Steeling his will he looked on as a piercing shot from one of the rangers was easily caught by the person in front of him. ‘Healer?’ he thought as a lightning bolt was dodged by the man with a slight tilt of his head. ‘Level 165? What is he...no...’ Fireballs and icicles clashed into the healer’s armor while the more pointy spells were dodged with minimal movements. ‘A woman...’ he thought as more spells reached the healer.

A sudden explosion of ash followed that left most of them searching for their enemy. “Cease fire!!” Agor shouted, accompanied by others shouting similar things.

“I believe we’ve met before but I assure you. I’ve come in peace.” Agor and some others were already turned around to find the healer behind Pete, holding a dagger to his throat. He looked at her and knew she was smiling. He too smirked behind his dark helmet. ‘Interesting.’ was all he thought as he advanced through the adventurers who were in states of anger, realization and confusion. More than Agor had expected had immediately stopped attacking after she’d stepped out.

‘Can’t believe Inström let loose his lightning though...that old fool is getting senile...’ he thought as he advanced to the tip of the poised adventurers. “So then you’re that defenseless healer girl we met a couple days ago?” he asked and continued, stopping a couple meters before the woman. “Then give me a reason not to cut you apart right now. And don’t think that useless scout will deter me...” he asked, having no intention at all of attacking the woman.

“You already told me two reasons my friend. I’m a healer and I’m defenseless.” the woman answered and played with the dagger in her hand. “Plus you’re in luck. I’m for hire.”

The adventurers stood there tensed before a laugh filled the room. Agor stopped himself after a couple seconds and finished with a chuckle. “Alright alright, come on girl let the man go. We talk. Inström, Jasper!” he said and shouted to the two other leaders before motioning for the healer to follow. He was confident of taking her down, she would certainly take some of the adventurers with her but it didn’t seem to Agor that she had such intentions. ‘Another one that loves the thrill has joined us...’ he thought and smiled.







Ilea took down the dagger and put it into her backpack. ‘Fuck it’s broken...’ she thought and looked at the still burning pack. ‘Should have left it on the stairs.’ the man scrambled to his feet after she let him go and looked at her hatefully. She shot him a radiant smile and followed the man with the spiky armor, not realizing her smile was covered by the helmet. ‘Worse than Arven that guy...where do they find monsters that horny?’ she smiled at the innuendo and started flicking the dagger in her hand. Her backpack was hanging on one side of her back, still burning a little.

‘I think that went pretty well. Didn’t get murdered, showed my ability without giving too much away. I can be incredibly useful to those people and they know it. Now let’s see what I can get out of it...’ she thought and looked towards some of the people cooking. One of the men shied back as he locked eyes with her. Some of the adventurers were whispering while others shrugged and went back to their games or preparations.

“Your backpack is on fire.” the spiky man said. Two others had joined her. She couldn’t see any of their levels but something told her they weren’t as dangerous as Edwin had been.

‘Close enough though...’ she thought as she got off her backpack and patted the fire out with her hand. “I’m aware. I’ll have to ask you to replace it.” she said.

The mage that had attacked her with lightning before wanted to say something at that but the third man stopped him with a gesture. “We’ll replace the backpack of course. So you sent quite the scare through some of the less experienced members of our party, although seeing their level I’m rather disappointed...I’m Jasper. One of the three appointed leaders of this expedition.” the man said and continued.

“Agor.” he motioned to the spiky man who simply nodded towards her. She nodded back with a smile, knowing he was smiling too behind his helmet. It wasn’t just her sphere that had told her that. “And Mr Inström, the third part of our leadership. Now we’re both aware that you likely have some rather interesting stories to tell and presumably some information that could help save us quite a bit of lives and time. I’d prefer not to get that information out of you with unsavory methods but I will if I must.” he finished.

A shiver ran through Ilea at that but compared to the fear of death it was more like excitement. ‘Oh I’d like to see you try old man...’ she thought but kept her smile going. “Perfect, then let’s trade. First thing’s first I have info on the room I just came out of. What do you have?”

“Before we trade we have to make sure you’re no danger to us or any of our adventuring party.” Agor said. “As much as I’d like to fight you I feel we could use another healer...and whatever else you have to offer.” the man said.

“And how would you confirm I’m no danger? My name’s Lilith as I’ve told some of you before. I followed a group of people down here but lost their track inside the great hall. My goal now is to clear out the dungeon and get as much info on it and the people I’ve followed as I can before leaving again. If I can do that with a whole expedition behind me then that is no problem for me.” Ilea said. What she’d said was certainly true, except for the expedition part. She would’ve preferred to be left alone in the dungeon but considering she’d already raided the treasury, there were only two ways left unexplored. And seeing the party hadn’t fallen on their heads, a meeting at some point seemed unavoidable.

“Well Lilith...then you may join us. All the artifacts we find go to the Forkspears. The more we find the more we’re paid. Contribution is taken into account of course and any information you could provide will be seen as just that. My condition is that you only enter a room when we tell you to and otherwise stay back. You’ll be guarded by me personally.” Jasper said at which point the other two looked at him.

“Do you not agree?” he asked them but didn’t get an answer. “Is that alright for you?” he asked Ilea.

“Sure. Some demands though before we start trading. If there are more than ten guardians in a room you let me go in alone. I assume the lives and time you might lose are more important to you than the experience?” she said. Agor chuckled at her demand.

“To me yes, some of the others will disagree though but I’ll convince them if they get too loud.” Jasper answered. “So what did you have in mind for the information. I’d rather be done with this quickly so we can move on.” he said.

“Is that seriously all you’re gonna check? You just believe her story?” Inström said, his voice still calm though.

Jasper looked at the man “I said I’ll be guarding her. Do you not trust me to take care of a level 165 healer?” he asked.

Inström shrugged to that. “I just think we should get some more information out of her before we start offering her anything.” a small spark formed on his fingertips at that but Jasper gestured for him to stop.

“Oh, some lightning resistance? That seems like a good idea. For the info on the room I just came from I want free service of the cooks you’ve brought, free food, free service of the smiths and some of your lightning spells.” she said, finishing while pointing towards Inström.

“Are you mad, I’m not gonna share my knowledge with you. Who do you think you are?” the man said in a calm and calculated way.

“What?” Ilea said.

“I think she means you blast her with it...” Agor said and chuckled.

Inström looked at him confused and then opened his eyes widely. “Oh for f…. sake...well you convinced me, she’s no danger to us...if anything she’s a danger to herself. Alright I’ll gladly use some of my lightning on you, it’s gonna be painful though I assure you.”

“I doubt that...” Ilea said and thought she might’ve just given away a bit too much information as Jasper’s eyebrows lifted up a little at her statement. Agor didn’t seem to have a reaction under his helmet.

“That’s a deal then. Agor alright?” he looked at the man who just shrugged “Tell us about the room then.” Jasper finished.

The adventurers watched on as the healer that had survived the attacks of over ten of their own followed their leaders to the map placed on a table in the middle of the room. Her greenish armor was a little singed and her backpack seemed rather unusable. People looked up from their games, cooking pots and from their conversations to see what was going to happen. Apparently a deal was struck with the proclaimed demon.

Some of the people started going closer to the table to listen in on the conversation while others with sharper senses let in their friends and companions on the discussed content. “….massive crater and parts of what I assume were a centurion...are you familiar with them?” the healer asked to which all three leaders nodded.

“Heard of them, never seen one. Agor?” Jasper said.

“Yea, got one a couple years ago. Took me damn near my life to take the fucker down.” he looked upwards reminiscing. “Our healer died as well to the machine...they’re smart. So you’re saying the people you’re following took one down?” Agor said.

“Maybe...could be longer ago too for all I know.” Ilea shrugged. ‘He took one down...had a team as well though. Is he stronger than Edwin? Edwin seemed to be protecting the others though. Using their spells was the safest method but I wouldn’t put it past him to take on a centurion...hell even two at the same time.’ she thought and explained the traps and rooms that led towards the armory.

“A taleen armory...the gear in there is certainly worth a fortune to both collectors and adventurers. Your gear is from there as well?” Inström asked.

She handed him the dagger. “Ye, my previous gear got fucked by some of the traps. The dwarves liked fire apparently.” she said while Inström looked at the dagger and then handed it to Jasper.

“High quality gear hmm….and you said there were hundreds of weapons and armors?” Jasper asked. Some of the adventurers listening in gasped at that and more and more joined them near the table.

“Yes, you’ll need people who can fly though to get down there.” she said. The scout had seen her wings already so it wasn’t worth trying to cover that up anymore.

“We have plenty for that. Depending on the walls we could build stairs as well. Getting all that safely out of the dungeon is gonna be annoying though. Bjorn will have to organize that though.” Jasper said while thoughtfully touching his beard. “Can you go into details on the traps?” he asked and Ilea provided.

“We’ll be able to deal with that then, gonna take a while though. I’ll start sending some people then. Agor please go with them and confirm her information. Be careful.” the man just walked away from the table upon Jasper’s request while gesturing to some others that followed him immediately.

“I’ll get some food then.” Ilea said and walked to the cooks. Nobody stopped her. “Can I get like six plates. Whatever you have.” the cook looked at her a bit perplexed before looking towards the table. Jasper nodded towards him and he hurriedly got to work. Ilea walked to another table and got a chair there before moving back to Jasper and sitting down.

A lot of the adventurers were watching her. “What?” she asked as she removed her helmet and placed it on the ground.

The first plate arrived then and she started eating. “What do you wanna know next? I went into two more doors before.”

Jasper walked away to get a chair as well and joined her soon after. Most of the adventurers were still standing nearby, looking at the scene as if it were an interesting documentary. Ilea certainly looked less threatening with her black hair and blue eyes out instead of the greenish horned full plate helmet.

“The door there then.” Jasper said and pointed towards the first door to the right, where the treasury had been.

‘Well maybe it somehow survived the acid...not like there’s anything left to get though.’ she thought and started explaining the trap rooms and their intricacies. “Sadly in the hall beyond were a full six centurions.” she said. ‘Should I ask to help them clear the centurions out? Doesn’t seem wise to show all my cards and I don’t feel like they’ll advance into there any time soon.’ she though.

“Six of them you say...that might be a problem. We’ll see though. What do you want for that piece of information?” he asked her.

“Your mages, same as with the lightning guy, an hour or so each? And I want to have two potions, I assume that guy over there is an Alchemist or something?” she asked.

“An hour from all of them is too much time lost, I give you an hour with five of them...the rest you can freely ask or pay if you feel like it. Two potions in addition to that is fine. Nothing special though...not that he makes anything special.” Jasper answered.

“The third door then.” he said.

“That one was cleared by the people I’m following...at least I assume. Traps are destroyed and there’s a massive dead monster in one of the rooms.” she mapped out the place and finished with the teleportation room.

“This info I give you for two things.” she said and held up two fingers “A favor from you and...the second thing I’ll explain after you followed me inside there.” she motioned to the door they had just talked about.

“You want me to follow you in there alone? I’m rather confident in myself but don’t think I trust you this far. The favor you get, albeit a small one.” Jasper answered.

“You take that spiky guy with you then, how does that sound?” she asked to which he nodded. Ilea smiled at the man and continued eating, reaching her fourth plate.









Jeremy looked on as the woman stuffed herself with the sixth plate already. She apparently had been here for a while and had provided information to the expedition in exchange for some things, one of them weirdly being food. Agor had returned a while ago and was discussing with Jasper and Mr. Inström. The information the healer had provided seemed to be quite accurate in nature.

“You wanna talk to her?” Rin asked from the side. The two had started talking more and more, both of them seemingly didn’t know a lot of people down there and didn’t mind each other’s company.

“Kinda. The three seemed to have gotten what they wanted but I’m sure she has more...” he said and looked the woman over.

“Yea, mr obvious over here. We don’t care though, we’re here for the artifacts and everyone has their own motives. Hers don’t really matter as long as she doesn’t fall in our backs which would be a ridiculously stupid decision.”

“Oh I know that, although I’m sure she could wreak some havoc...” he said and started walking towards the healer.

“What are you….” Rin said and started following after sighing.

“Mind if I join you...Lilith right?” Jeremy said and motioned to the chair Jasper had so nicely left behind. Lilith shrugged while finishing her last plate of food. “I’m Jeremy. So you’ve been here alone for a while?”

“Yea, are you looking to trade information as well or what do I owe the honor Mr. Jeremy?” Lilith asked, having finished her meal she looked at the man with her blue piercing eyes. “Where is that new backpack?” the woman asked absentmindedly after she had stopped the eye contact.

“Maybe, I’m not sure what I could offer you though. Are you looking for a replacement backpack for the one we burned up?” he asked while looking at the pack that was placed behind the woman.

“I’m supposed to get one, yes...ah there you go.” she said as she received a new pack from one of the workers that was brought along the adventure. “Thank you, it looks beautiful.” she said and looked the backpack over before moving her things from one pack to the other. Jeremy didn’t make out anything interesting between the food and canteen that she moved.

‘Does she not map out the dungeon? Maybe she has a skill for that...or maybe...’ he thought and looked for any jewelery she might be wearing but he couldn’t make out anything. Even if, it didn’t mean she had a device with a storage enchantment. Someone alone in a dungeon that could withstand the combined attack of ten adventurers her level might just be the one person to have one though.

“So I’m a bit of a history fanatic Miss Lilith and I’d be quite happy to somehow get any historical knowledge, documents or artifacts that you might or might not have found in this dungeon. There is little known about the Taleen and I’m pretty sure it’s been a while since someone even discovered a great hall.” he said.

“Just Lilith is fine really. I might have one or the other thing for you then. Can you read their runes?” she asked him and looked at the man. Rin had started leaning on the table in the meantime but hadn’t engaged in their conversation yet.

“I’ve dabbled in them but can’t say I understand more than the very basics. It’s not like we have a lot of writing remaining other than the runes you see on the walls here and there. Although I’m sure some people have more, the college of magic however does not. Why do you ask?” he asked but she only nodded thoughtfully.

“So you teach at the college in Dawntree?” Lilith said suddenly to which he nodded. “Interesting, I’ll come back to you about your inquiry then Jeremy. Nice to make your acquaintance.” she said and got up to join Jasper and Agor who were walking back to her.

“I feel like she’s got something juicy Rin...” Jeremy said after Lilith had left.

‘Interesting man, maybe I’ll ask him about the journal I found and the pyramid key.’ Ilea thought as she got up from the chair to join Agor and Jasper. Agor had returned a couple minutes ago and it seemed he had found nothing amiss with her story, otherwise he wouldn’t be walking as relaxed.

“So it seems your information was top notch. Would’ve definitely cost us more time to get through all those traps. The weapons and armor are a solid find as well. I assume you got yours there too?” Jasper said as she reached them.

“Nah, fell off a wagon in Dawntree.” Ilea said and smirked as she got her helmet back on.

“You can keep it, doesn’t matter if there’s fifty or forty nine. Guess some people will help themselves as well.” Agor said but Jasper didn’t seem to find it as funny. He didn’t say anything more though and motioned to the doorway that led to the teleportation gate.

“So you want us to follow, the scouts are doing their jobs and setting up a way down to the armory will take at least a couple hours. Let’s do this now then, shall we.” Jasper said and Ilea nodded with her horned helmet before walking towards the door.

Agor and Jasper followed her as she entered and led them through the destroyed trap rooms. Seeing their hesitation she explained. “I checked through here, there’s no active trap. Hope you guys have a way of flying though, the next one is a big chasm much like the way to the armory...” she finished just as they entered the stairway to the turret trap room. She took the silence as an answer and assumed there wouldn’t be a problem.

Ilea jumped off from the destroyed edge of the once astonishing bridge. Flying through the air, her wings of ash materialized and moved to keep her there. She flew upwards a couple meters and turned around to see the others looking at her.

“Always wanted wings...oh well.” Agor said and jumped off. He touched his arm and a massive dark chipped great sword materialized in his hand. He fell downwards before he moved the sword below himself when a massive burst of red fire exited from the blade’s top that was now pointing behind him. Like a rocket he first stopped falling and then shot towards the other side with comparable speed to Ilea’s wings. Ilea smirked at the “wohooooo!” that came from the less and less serious seeming Agor.

Jasper just sighed and jumped off too. Ilea saw with her magic perception that there were blue magical fields forming below his feet from which he jumped off. He stopped and looked at her two steps later, motioning for her to lead the way. ‘Still doesn’t trust me eh? Well he’s smarter than me...’ she thought and shrugged before flying off, trying to catch Agor.

She closed in on the man but didn’t quite manage to pass him with the lead he had before he slammed into the opposite wall. Right before reaching the wall, the fire had stopped and he made the sword disappear again before slamming his outstretched hands into the stone.

Slowly working his way downwards, he reached Ilea who was already waiting in the doorway. The two stayed there and waited for Jasper who was still quite a way off. “Storage ring?” she asked the man. He shook his head and showed her a bracelet on his arm.

“Just for the weapon, was a gift by my favourite smith, love that guy.” he said and stuffed the bracelet back into the gauntlet.

“Who is he if I may ask?” Ilea said while playing with her dagger that she took with her.

“His name is Balduur Birch, resides in a village near Morhill. Mention me and bring him something interesting to work with and you’re golden.” he answered. Jasper arrived then and Ilea moved onwards. Before the two followed her down into the once dark and monster infested swimming pool, Jasper stopped her.

“I want to know why you dragged us two down here first. No secrets this time.”

Ilea sighed. “Alright. There’s a lone centurion down there. Likely around level 300. I wanted to beat it alone but I guessed you wouldn’t just let me leave the expedition at this point. So how about it...is that enough for the information I provided?”

The two others looked at one another, Jasper lifting his right eyebrow at Agor. “I’ll stay out of it Lilith but I can’t speak for Agor here. I assume it’s been a while since he found something close enough to his level to kill.” he said and Agor just nodded.

“You and me girl. Trust me it’s still worth it for the levels if the thing really is 300. Last one I fought was around there as well if I remember right. Wouldn’t want to miss that fight...I owe you one.” he said, nodding towards her.

Ilea sighed again “Oh well, why did you lead this expedition down here again?” she looked at Jasper who just shrugged at her with an uncaring expression. “Down we go then, don’t be scared by the squid.” she said and jumped down the hole. Before hitting the ground, she activated her wings and flew to the next doorway, looking sideways at the tentacle monster and hulling up her nose at the more and more intense smell of decay coming from the corpse.

Ilea noticed that the water was ever so slightly higher since her last venture into this part of the great hall. ‘A leak somewhere then...’ she thought as she waited for the others in the room before the teleportation one.

“Jasper I’d prefer you leave the room once you confirmed the centurion. I don’t want to lose any experience because of your presence.” she said and Agor put his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“She’s right you know.” he said and Jasper just shook his head.

“Sure, sure. I’ll never get you battle maniacs...”

“How’d you get to 200 again old man?” Agor asked him and chuckled.

The three went into the next room where the centurion slowly came to life. The light above reflected on the machine’s carapace, shining on the light amount of dust in the room.

“Here we go then, Jasper you’re convinced?” Ilea asked as she got off her helmet and chucked it to the side. It landed with a clang as Jasper nodded and left the room swiftly.

“He’d be a big help you know...” Agor said after the man had left and the centurion started to advance towards them.

“Oh I’m quite sure...but even you are unnecessary here...my spiky friend.” Ilea said as her buffs activated. This was no place to hide any of her power, even if Agor was there and Jasper likely had a way of seeing what was happening.

“Spiky hmm? Well you’re just as unnecessary...and removing the helmet doesn’t mean your armor ain’t spiky...” he finished as his great sword materialized, the red fire that was used to propel him before now coming from both the sword and his body.

The centurion threw its spear at Ilea who dodged to the side easily, slowly advancing on the creature before starting into a sprint. Agor followed her example and flanked the centurion. ‘Well maybe I can save some time at least...’ she thought as she reached the creature who immediately thrust its spear towards her. She dodged with her body without moving in and was satisfied when the machine turned around to block an incoming sword hit by Agor.

Using the split second to its fullest, Ilea moved in and delivered two punches before blocking the butt of the centurion’s spear with the palm of her hand. It didn’t pierce but she was thrown back a couple meters, landing on her feet. Contrary to what she’d expected no spear throw followed and she looked on as Agor blocked the spear attacks with swift movements of his ridiculously large sword.

‘Fuck it...’ she thought and blinked next to the creature’s head to deliver a kick. Destruction and Wave of Ember released into its head followed by the kinetic force of her full weight and strength supported by all her stats. It didn’t unbalance the centurion but its attention was on her before a heavy swing of the chipped great sword hit its torso.

The sound of metal on metal could be heard before both Ilea and Agor quickly retreated a couple meters back. “Not bad, that the move you used to get behind that scout?” Agor asked and she nodded. “Why didn’t I get a short range teleport move...annoying.” he said and moved in again. Ilea followed.

The two could match the centurion in speed and certainly in ferocity. Blow upon blow was delivered, not leaving the enemy enough time to focus on one of them for long enough to pin them down. Five minutes later the machine went into its defensive phase. “Second phase eh...” Agor said.

“They do that all the time? Third is the reckless one then. How would you categorize the self destruct in the end?” she asked with a smirk.

“I guess we have two experiences then to confirm the theory. The self destruct? It’s the last ditch effort and the only thing dangerous about these fuckers.” he said.

“Hah, you would be skewered by its spear with a single hit...” she said while dodging a throw. Blinking in, her fist hit the machine’s fist and she was blown backwards. Her destructive mana had been delivered nonetheless.

“That’s why there’s a healer here...” he said as his sword hit one of the machine’s legs with a loud crash. He let go of it to lean backwards and dodged a swipe in doing so. Landing on his right hand he pushed himself to the left, away from the creature’s spear thrust. The sword had vanished and appeared again in time to come between the spear and his armor.

Ilea blinked behind the machine’s head and delivered another kick. “I do hope you can actually heal my dear...” he said while skidding backwards from the blocked attack.

Ilea was slapped away by the machine’s right hand that didn’t hold its spear, attacking both of the intruders at the same time. She flew a couple meters before her wings materialized and she stabilized. “I can, probably not comparable to the healers you have with you but I do have quite a formidable skill...I tanked most of the last centurion’s explosion with my body and recovered.” she said while advancing from the air.

“That’s reassuring to hear.” he said before throwing his sword at the creature in an arch. The centurion simply caught the weapon and threw its spear at Ilea at the same time. It was dodged and the machine had to block again with its body.

“I assume the mana that enters the creature when you hit it deals damage.” Agor stated as the weapon vanished again from the creature to reappear in his hands. He moved in again, only to be pushed back by its spear.

“Yea it does, gonna take a while with my level though but I assume you don’t deal much more damage either. 200 or so?” she asked, delivering a kick but being caught in the process. Reversed Reconstruction flowed into the creature immediately. Instead of thrusting its spear at Ilea as the previous centurion had though, it smashed the woman into the ground. Her ribs cracked even though the armor took a lot of the force. Blood spurted out of her before Agor’s sword distracted the machine again.

It used Ilea as a weapon and threw her at Agor, likely letting go because of the destructive mana still flowing into it. He caught her and skidded backwards for ten meters, letting go of his weapon.

“My prince!” she exclaimed, looking up at him while blood flowed from her mouth. Letting go of the woman, Agor summoned his sword just in time to deflect the thrown spear.

Ilea turned in the air and caught herself before sprouting wings again. “Around 200, yes.” he said as three more throws were deflected as he was pushed back a little.

Ilea, having healed her light injury was moving in again, dodging the machine’s spear while Agor advanced again. Seven more minutes of fighting later, the centurion went into its third stage, attacking them in a much more aggressive manner.

“What do we do about the explosion?!” Ilea shouted, blinking away from the machine’s assault, only to be lightly cut by its thrown spear that was a little too close to be dodged completely. Agor in the meantime had his sword stopped by the creature’s arm and dodged the other hand that tried to punch him. The centurion used the man’s sword to slash at him after the punch, leaving no room to dodge further.

Agor was blown away to the side, hitting the ground several times in his skid before impacting heavily into the cave wall. Ilea’s kick was delivered to the creature’s back, before it turned around and caught her foot. She smirked at the centurion while mana poured into it.

The machine imitated its copy’s moves and cut through Ilea’s leg at the knee to which she blinked away and dodged the thrown spear while laughing and showing two thumbs ups to the centurion. “Hey Centurion, what has two thumbs and doesn’t give a crap?” she asked before dodging another throw, her leg was already in the process of rebuilding.

“Ilea Spears.” she said and advanced again. This time the creature didn’t catch her again but tried to unsuccessfully pierce her with its spear. A couple of glancing strikes didn’t quite manage to cut through her armor but unexpected to her, the spear got caught in the armor after one strike and the machine used that to slam the woman downwards into the ground before delivering another blow.

The impact was enough to delay her activation of blink for a split second and the spear pierced her lung. A loud impact of metal on metal reverberated through her ears as Agor’s sword impacted the creature’s back. It had let go of it after Agor was thrown away.

“Should’ve gone for the head...” she said and blinked backwards to heal the damage. “How are you holding up Agor?!” she shouted at the man who was blocking spear thrusts again. The side of his armor was dented a little and there was blood dripping down on his chest plate.

“Been worse...been better. Ilea huh?” he asked as another thrust made him skid back again. The subsequent throw was sloppily dodged and glanced his shoulder piece, making him twirl around. The centurion advanced but was hit by the slash that was enhanced by the twirling momentum.

Ilea had taken care of the wound by now, at least mostly and moved in again to buy Agor a bit of time. Her kick was blocked by the spear’s pole which gave Agor an opportunity to strike again. “About that explosion, can you lift that thing?!” he shouted as his massive sword hit, making one of the legs buckle.

The centurion slashed its spear towards Agor with Ilea in the way, making her blink away and him move backwards to dodge. “Should be possible if it’s not actively attacking me!” she shouted back and moved in again from the air.

Agor met the creature’s spear and was rewarded by the impact of her kick on its head. Moving backwards from the machine, he shouted to Ilea as a bright light came from its core. “Spear!!” the flames around him grew more intense, their translucent edges more defined as he rushed towards the creature with his sword in front, his movement much faster than before.

Ilea understood and blinked next to the centurion’s outstretched arm while arching backwards to deliver a kick below and slightly behind its arm. The force made its arm move ever so slightly, its spear scratching into Agor’s helmet, barely reducing his speed in the process. Ilea’s kick to the nearly immovable machine let her bounce back to the other direction, landing on her feet just as Agor’s sword impacted the centurion’s chest.

A loud noise moved through the room and the shock wave moved dust and debris away as Ilea blinked behind the creature that had been lifted half a meter high by Agor’s dash while being thrown back over a meter already. She grabbed onto one of its legs and spun her body with all her strength and buffs active, her runes and lines of ember shining bright in the process.

The already airborne machine couldn’t resist as it was thrown towards one of the cave’s walls, crashing into it just as its core reached its explosive temperature. Ilea locked eyes with Agor as her spin came to an end and his sword slowly sunk downwards, a massive explosion rocking the cave behind her.



‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Taleen Centurion – lvl 305]’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy one hundred and forty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’



‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 166. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 167. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 168. 5 Stat points awarded.’



‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 160. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ash Wielder has reached level 161. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Sphere reaches 2nd lvl 16’
‘bing’ ‘Magic Perception reaches lvl 15’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Perception reaches 2nd lvl 8’
‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches lvl 13’


‘bing’ ‘Shroud of Ash reaches lvl 15’
‘bing’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches lvl 15’
‘bing’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches lvl 6’
‘bing’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches lvl 12’
‘bing’ ‘Body of Ash reaches lvl 11’
‘bing’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches lvl 7’

The remaining debris clattered to the ground slowly as Ilea blinked to Agor and checked his injuries. ‘Not too bad...’ she thought as her healing mana flowed into him. Just half a minute later he was completely fine again.

“Thanks, although it would’ve healed in a couple minutes more on its own. You have to touch people to heal them?” he asked to which she nodded.

‘Quite a bit less experience compared to when I fought alone...’ she thought. ‘...although still not bad and it was much faster.’

“Well that sucks, you’re more a heal after battle type then. Or I guess we could’ve retreated to take care of our injuries.” he said as he made his sword vanish. “Pretty good experience, although it would’ve been better if I killed it alone.” he said.

“My thoughts exactly...” she said and moved to the crater in the cave’s wall.

“Anything?” he asked but she just shook her head after looking in the area.

“I don’t think they drop anything...” she said as Agor removed his helmet. The man below was smiling, his light skin was accompanied by a cleanly shaved rough face with two noticeable scars crossing through. Bright red hair that looked wild but was kept short accompanied his blue eyes that matched hers. He looked to be around his thirties, not very handsome but Ilea liked his smile.

“Maybe not, no. Haven’t heard of anyone finding something from the guardians either...” he said and looked at the teleportation gate. “...what’s that?” he asked and walked up to it to touch the luckily undamaged contraption.

“I have no idea...” she said as she walked by him to get her helmet that still lay on the ground.

He chuckled and looked at her. “For someone so beautiful, you’re a terrible liar Ilea. Keep them to one word replies or half truths...I didn’t question the false name you gave before. Just a tip.” he said, still smiling as he put on his helmet again.

The two horny adventurers looked at each other for a second before she nodded and walked towards the door. Horny, not horny mind you. Though horny they may have been.

“You said there were six of them one of the other ways?” Agor asked after a moment of silence.

“Mhm.” she answered “I don’t think we can take them though...let alone two at the same time.”

“Two or three would be manageable but I agree. By the way, you forgot this.” he handed her the dagger she had left behind. “I’m Lorcan Agor.” his hand was kept extended after she took the dagger.

“Thanks, Ilea Spears.” she shook his hand and let go again.

The two reached the squid room where they found Jasper looking at the dead monster. “Found something?” she asked the man who shook his head.

“I’m a little confused to its presence here but otherwise no. You destroyed the centurion then? Agor it’s been a while since I saw you this battered. Congratulations on the two levels though.” he said and continued “I assume the way is clear then, no more traps or enemies this way?”

Ilea nodded. “Good, then I’ll have the scouts map out this part as well. Let’s go back then. We have a dungeon to explore.” he said and jumped upwards. Ilea followed with her wings and Lorcan with his sword. The three reached the campsite in the great hall ten minutes later.

“I think we can trust her Jasper.” Agor said as the two man walked to join Inström.

“How’d she do?” Jasper asked only received a nod in response. That seemed to be quite enough though as he nodded back slightly. Ilea wondered at the intricacies of the nods.

‘Like two mute monks, an understanding transcending time and reality...’ she thought and walked to the cooks. “Hey guys, guess who’s back.” she waved at them, not realizing that her dagger was looking quite fearsome combined with the now battered armor. A massive hole was in her chest area, covered only by some tattered cloth. Additionally a piece of her leg armor was missing where her leg had been cut off.







“Maybe you should visit the smiths first to fix you up Lilith.” Jeremy said as he sat down on the table she had chosen to eat at. A bard was playing light music nearby next to a small campfire that broke through the monotone green color the lights gave off. The smell of food filled the room nearly completely now, only hours after the expedition had arrived.

A couple of guards had been posted at each entrance to the room, the people switching out positions after a couple hours. Some of the people chose to sleep in individual or bigger tents that were built up in the space they had. The hall was quite big, easily accommodating the sixty or so people inside it.

“Maybe I should, I’m getting free service anyway. What’d you do in the past hours?” she asked the man as she slurped the last of her minestrone soup down. The girl that had stood on the table when they had last talked was there again, standing a little further away.

“Hey! Hey you! Reddie. Why not sit down with us?” Ilea shouted and waved. Some of the people around them looked at her and chuckled at Rin’s expression. The woman sat down, her face matching her red hair ever so slightly. “What’s your name? You’re with Jeremy here?” Ilea asked and motioned for one of the cooks to bring some more soup. The cook returned her look with a ferocious stare.

“I’m a friend miss Lilith. I’m Rin.” the woman said. Ilea received her bowl of soup and started eating again.

“Well nice to meet you Rin. So how’s the expedition doing?” Ilea asked as a message popped up in her mind.

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by dark potion, -50 HP/s for 2 Minutes.’

‘Wow, that cook has balls. I’ll go talk to him later...’ she thought as Reconstruction started canceling out the poison while she simply continued to eat. ‘The flavor is actually better like this...’

“Scouts have been sent into all four smaller entrances, although twice as many into the one you haven’t mentioned. They haven’t returned yet so it’s kind of a waiting game at this point. Some mages are still building a safer way down to the armory while others are dismantling the traps there.” Jeremy said “I helped there as well until half an hour ago.”

Ilea finished her soup and motioned to the cook for more. He looked back frowning at her and nodded.

“Do you guys have cards or something? Anyone brought ale?” she asked but neither of them had any of the requested things. ‘I really have to go back to the city and make some use of my necklace. There’s so much I can take with me everywhere now…’ she smiled at the thought as more soup arrived.

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by midnight dream, -93 HP/s for 4 Minutes.’

Reconstruction worked hard to keep the poison at bay this time and her mana would’ve reached quite a low point were it not for her Meditation skill that she had activated as well. The slowed movement wasn’t noticeable while simply eating. Her poison resistance apparently helped a lot as well as her HP didn’t at all sink as fast as implied by the message in her head, even without using Reconstruction.

“I can ask some of the others if they have cards. I’m sure I saw some before...” Rin said and got up. Ilea got up as well and took the bowl of soup that still had some left in it with her.

‘ding’ ‘Poison Resistance reaches lvl 17’

Walking up to the cook she locked eyes with him and held the soup out to him. “This is good soup.”

“Yes of course it is. And you’re eating more than your share lady. We’re gonna run out of stock if you continue like that.” the man replied.

“And it’s poisoned.” she said and held the bowl out to the man.

“Bullshit.” he said and took some of it, his face blanching immediately.

“That was stupid.” he said and sagged down to one knee.

“Oh yes, yes it was.” Ilea said, shaking her head and started healing the man. Seeing the poison being much more effective than it had been on her and seeing that the man was only level 42 left her with little choice but to ask for help. “HEALER!!” she shouted as her spell barely managed to keep the man from dying.

His life was slipping when a sudden dark green light enveloped the two and quickly focused on the man, leaving her with a slight pleasant tingle. ‘Magic perception sure is nice...’ she looked over to see a robed woman with a cloaked head, blond hair reaching out a little. Her hands were outstretched, holding onto a wooden staff with intricate runes carved into it.

[Healer lvl 142] she saw with Identify and could hardly believe the stereotypical healer that stood before her.

The woman closed in on them and Ilea felt how the man’s health returned to him. They stood there with both healing spells active for another three minutes until the poison lost its potency.

“At least you have poison resistance now.” Ilea said to the cook, chuckling.

“The man nearly died, this should easily be manageable by a healer your level.” the woman lectured Ilea and shooed her away from the man before looking into his eyes. “Were you the one that poisoned him?” she asked. Others had arrived to look at the scene.

“Nah, I was poisoned first and he didn’t believe me. So in his fabulous brilliance he took a sip from my soup. It’s still there if you want proof.” she motioned to the bowl that still stood nearby.

“Okay who poisoned her?” Agor asked, not doubting Ilea’s story. The other adventurers and the healer didn’t seem to question her either after the man asked the question.

“It’s alright Agor. Not like they’ll out themselves. But let me make sure the rest of the soup is fine...” she said and dunked a fresh bowl into the boiling soup before downing the whole bowl where she stood. Some of the people looked horrified at the scene while others nodded with respect. Her Heat and Pain resistances did quite the job. The boiling soup didn’t hurt her in the slightest.

“It’s fine. And very good. My compliments to the cook.” she said and helped the man up.

“You’re coming with me...” Jasper came up to the man and grabbed his arm. Ilea certainly didn’t envy the cook.

‘Edwin vs Jasper, scarybowl get hype...’ she thought as she got another bowl of soup. ‘Fuck this is good.’

The people around them whispered and talked but soon found their way back to whatever they were doing. It didn’t seem too strange to most of them that someone wanted to poison someone else. The general concern that Ilea heard was what if the poison had gone into everybody else’s soup. The cooks seemed most terrified at the situation and kept their heads low but Ilea doubted any of them were actually involved.

She walked up to the healer and introduced herself. “Hey, Lilith the name. Thanks for the help and sorry for being inadequate at healing apparently. Any tips?”

“I apologize for the comment Miss Lilith. I’m sure that with resistances like that, you’re not a full healer. I’m Luciana from the Corinth Order.” she bowed a little.

“Wow you’re graceful. And beautiful. Just Lilith is fine by the way. And no, I’m not a full healer. The skill might not be very strong but it can heal quite a surprising amount of damage if given enough time.” she said.

“Hmm yes, a hybrid class then. Usually whatever else might be included in the class will take precedence in the description but you might be an outlier. Just out of curiosity, what damages can you heal?” the woman responded.

“Hmm, I’m not sure I want to tell you...how about a trade then. I trust you are quite honorable...with that robe and all. Give me a second please.” Ilea said and let the woman stand there before approaching Jeremy and Rin again who had watched the whole scene from near their table.

“Hey you guys, you think I can trust the lady from the Corinth Order over there with some details on my healing skills?” she asked them quietly.

“Are you nuts? The order hunts down any healer class that might threaten their superiority. At least that’s what I’ve heard...” Rin whispered to her.

“What with like a monk hitsquad?” she asked to a confused Rin.

“What’s a hitsquad?” the woman asked.

“Lilith you shouldn’t share too much with her, Rin is right.” Jeremy said, looking towards the healer with disdain.

‘I kinda want to see that now...it’s like the inquisition of healers or whatever...I hope they have similar robes...’ she looked towards the healer and smiled brightly. “I’ve barely encountered any good healers, can they reform lost limbs?” she whispered the question to the people next to her.

“Yea, I think after lvl 50 or so that’s a pretty common thing. Otherwise you’d see a lot more retired adventurers.” Jeremy said as Ilea walked back towards the healer.

“Ok I can share, just wanted to make sure you don’t murder me in my sleep first.” Ilea said with a smile. The woman grinned back while cocking her head to the side.

“I had no such intentions.” she said with a sweet voice, lyingly.

“God damn I love you.” Ilea said “I can heal most wounds and given enough time even limbs. I do feel like I’m not special enough for your interests though sadly...” she said but didn’t mention her ability to heal even crushed organs as vital as her heart. Or her ability to heal the mind, Walter seemed to interpret that as quite the feat back when she’d fought the demon.

“That is indeed rather average. It would’ve been wonderful if you could’ve added something to the order.” the woman said and bowed again before leaving Ilea standing there.

‘Wow she’s fucking creepy.’ Ilea thought, looking at the woman like a fascinated zoo visitor. ‘Well I wonder if she believed that or if I’m gonna be visited by the baba yaga of healer monks...’

Getting her helmet back on, Ilea walked over to the smiths. “Got some cards?” she asked Rin and Jeremy who were woken up from their stares to the Corinth woman. Rin resumed her self bestowed task of finding cards and Jeremy seemed to join her. ‘Oh they’re gonna be a thing aren’t they...’ she thought as she looked back at them.

“Hello there. Can you fix this?” she asked the smith in front of her, pointing at her chest and then leg. The burly man looked at her with a thoughtful expression and grunted.

“I’m not fluent in smith but I take that as a yes.” she said and started removing her chest plate and pieces of leg armor. “There you go. Do you need more of the dwarven metal?” she asked but received a likely negative grunt in return. Seeing the smashed bits of dwarven metal piled on a table behind the man she was quite sure of her interpretation.

“I’ll be back in an hour or so then.” a grunt answered her. “Ok two.” she walked back to Jeremy and Rin. The woman had apparently managed to get some cards. ‘Now I just have to learn whatever games these people play.’







“You don’t know Gwent? What a boring life you must’ve led.” Agor said, having nonchalantly joined the three on their table.

“We didn’t play cards in demon land sadly. There’s only fire and pain.” Ilea answered and got a chuckle from the man in response.

“Nice demonstration with the soup. I don’t think anyone’s gonna try and poison you anymore.” he said.

“I was just hungry.” Ilea said when Jeremy tapped the cards on the table.

“I’m explaining, so LISTEN.”

“Hai shishou!” Ilea said which led to some confused expressions but as on earth, weird people were quickly categorized as weird and their antics were mostly ignored. ‘The power to smash some skulls certainly helps though...’ Ilea thought as she smiled under her helmet. She liked the thing. With her sphere and high stats it barely reduced her visibility and the looks she got were fewer and less creepy. ‘My horny disguise...’ she thought and realized she hadn’t listened to Jeremy at all. He noticed too and looked at her with a stare that could down a flock of angry geese. A feat impossible to all but gods.

“I apologize teacher. I have difficulties with concentrating.”

“I noticed but do not worry child. You too shall learn.” Jeremy answered.

Gwent was a rather simple game that once learned, Ilea found to be incredibly addicting. The bard playing music in the background made the whole thing rather wholesome. Two hours passed until one of the sent scouts returned from the last smaller unexplored doorway.

“What does the rune mean Jeremy?” Ilea asked the man while they watched the slightly charred scout report back to the leaders. Agor had left the table as well to join the man.

“Dungeon I think. I mean we are in a dungeon but they had a dungeon as well. Not sure if it means there’s another dungeon in there or that they held prisoners in there.” he replied.

“Well either way I think it’s time we get back to exploring...” Ilea said. She had lost eighty silver pieces while playing Gwent. Rin wanted to play something called Magic but complained that nobody had any cards with them. Ilea had managed to get the coins from her new backpack, summoning them while her hand was inside. Luckily nobody seemed to notice or they simply didn’t care.

At least one of the scouts that had been sent into the dungeon was confirmed dead. Apparently a trapped hallway followed the door and they had spend hours to just dismantle the different killing devices. A massive elevator followed after, bringing whoever chose to use it downwards for over five hundred meters, into the dungeons.

No massive surprises were reported by the scout, sword guardians all over the place though. “Well what are we waiting for then?” Ilea asked into the group and made her way towards the door.

“Lilith I know we agreed on the ten guardians thing but if the layout of the place is that complicated it's not practical.” Jasper told her and walked next to her. “We'll pay you differently for that part of the information, for now we all go down there and clear it. You get as many as you destroy.” he said.

“I feel cheated but do see how it doesn't make sense to wait for me. Let the faster one win then.” she said and ran towards the door.

“Agor, keep a lookout for her. Please do let her kill the guardians, she's a headache as it is I don't want her to become even more annoying.” Jasper said to Agor who nodded to the man.

“They're about my level so I'll let her do the killing...if we encounter more centurions though...” he followed the excited healer towards the dungeons, getting stares from many of the adventurers around.

Ilea reached the elevator in no time and stepped on the pressure plate to activate it. The design was quite similar to the one she’d used before, although this one seemed a little less cared for. The chains she could see even showed some rust. Agor landed on the elevator after it had descended ten meters.

“You don’t feel like waiting, do you?” he said and looked at her.

“Lorcan, so you’re my babysitter then. Well just keep far enough away and don’t interfere when I’m destroying the guardians. Compared to you they’re actually pretty decent for my experience.” she answered, cracking her neck in preparation.

“Referring to sword guardians at level 200 as pretty decent for your experience. You truly are a battle maniac...” she could tell he was smiling below his helmet.

“Well so are you. So don’t give me that judgmental tone Lorcan. And hey, we might find one or the other centurion down there as well...” the man seemed to tense up a little at the uses of his name which Ilea noticed immediately. “Don’t worry, I won’t use it when others are around. Same as you’re not using mine...” she told him just as the elevator slowed down to a stop.

‘Smoother than some elevators on earth...these dwarves really were remarkable. I mean the machines are decades ahead of whatever the military had chosen to make public so far. I’m sure they’re hiding away some gurren lagann type shit somewhere though...’ she thought as the two heavily armored adventurers exited the elevator.

Another scout was crouched in the room next door, her eyes glowing in an eerie red. “Hey, can you point us to the biggest clusters of enemies around here?” Ilea asked, stopping next to the woman.

The red glow vanished as she looked at Ilea. She was a level 149 rogue, at least that was what identify had told the healer. “They’re everywhere, you’ll find them easy enough. This way I generally see more of them though.” the woman pointed and Ilea nodded.

“Thanks, let’s go clear out this prison then. Agor?” the man nodded and gestured for her to go.

“I’ll follow the trail.” he said and smirked under his helmet. The scout looked at them and shook her head.

“Fucking lunatics...” she whispered, knowing full well that both of them might’ve heard her.

Bumping her fists together, Ilea exploded into a run. Soon after she activated her buffs. The dungeon’s hallways were much smaller than anything she’d encountered in the great hall before. There was barely enough space to fit a single sword guardian, let alone a party of adventurers.

‘They’re gonna have a bad time...’ she thought as she encountered her first enemy. Dodging the blades it was second nature by now to face a single sword guardian. Using her blinking ability to strategically position herself, she used the tight corridors to her advantage.

Her quickly increasing power overwhelmed the guardian though she was cut several times in the fight until the machine fell before her unrelenting assault. Small cuts closed quickly as she started to run again, ignoring the messages she’d received from destroying a single guardian.

In the next half hour Ilea cleared out a number or random corridors and rooms that held single or up to three guardians inside. ‘There certainly are a lot of them here...’ she thought as she dodged a dozen swords from two guardians in the current room. The possibility of destroying guardians to level up and the looming expedition behind her, ready to steal her experience made her a little more reckless than usual.

There were some cracks in the wall where a guardian’s blade had sent her after she had to block one of it’s hits. Her armor combined with the shroud of ash negated most of the damage but the force was still there. ‘Man I’m already out of mana...’ she thought as she started to meditate in the now empty room, besides the dented metal on the ground.

Agor caught up to her a minute later. “Meditating eh, well the close quarters helps them as much as they help you...destroyed over twenty already. Level...” she stopped him there with a quick open palm towards him.

“Don’t spoil me, I’ll get to the messages later.” she exclaimed and bit on some dried meat she got from one of her pockets. The backpack she had left upstairs in the great hall where the expedition resided. She would’ve likely slowed down a little if she had known that the group was still discussing tactics and team compositions as she was meditating.

And so the half hour of fighting turned into one and then two. The dungeons were vast and filled to the brim with sword guardians. None of them came close to hurting Ilea more than superficially. “I need a quick break and some food.” she said to Agor who had come into the room she’d cleared most recently.

“Yea, it’s fucking boring down here.” the man said and closed the book he was holding.

“You read? Did you at least sketch down the layout while you were walking behind me.” she asked, while chewing on her last piece of dried meat.

“I do, shocking I know. It sure would make you more interesting if you chose to learn your letters. I did map out the rough layout, here it is.” he flipped to the first couple pages of the book and showed her.

“Let’s go back then, this meat isn’t satisfying and there are professional cooks up there with free food.” she said and regretted her choice not to use the necklace to store some of their food. It would’ve likely been a risk to let Agor know though so she sucked up her disappointment.

They ran back in just twenty minutes and in the last stretch encountered a group of adventurers from the expedition. ‘They haven’t come far yet.’ she thought.

“Why don’t they go through faster? You and Jasper alone could cleave through the guardians with ease.” she asked Agor as they entered the elevator room. Several adventurers perked up at their entrance.

“Even you would be gutted quite quickly were it not for your set of skills. Most adventurers aren’t as mobile and self regenerative as you are.” he said and continued as they stepped on the elevator that had conveniently been down in the dungeons already. “Additionally it’s a worthless risk to take. For the expedition, all its members and subsequently Jasper it’s more beneficial not to lose too many people and have a lot of them come out stronger. The Forkspears aren’t the only ones with that interest. Maybe after this he’ll finally be able to open the stupid school he’s been talking about...”

“He wants to open a school?” she asked.

“Yea, sword master and all. Wants to give his knowledge to worthy students.”

“Nice sentiment I guess. Doesn’t he have enough money to just build a school?”

“You need more than just gold to build a prominent school in Dawntree, even if you’re at his level of strength and fame. There’s bigger fish out there and quite a few of them reside in Dawntree. Having a sword master train random pupils might be a thorn in their eyes. Or a boon if enough powerful adventurers and noble families support him.” Agor explained.

“Politics man...he just wants to build a school.” she said and shook her head, the horns accidentally scratching on the walls that were rushing past them. The two reached the great hall’s entrance soon after and got some food from the cooks. Ilea noticed that the cook that had handed her the poisoned food was there as well.

“I...I apo...apologize, ma’am.” he stuttered out as she stood before him. She removed her helmet and smiled at him.

“Don’t sweat it and call me Lilith.” she said as she dunked her new bowl into the broth. Joining Agor on a nearby table, they started eating.

“You’re way too nice to people Il...Lilith. The man quite possibly knew about the poison.” he said as he ate, looking around to check if anybody heard his near slip up.

“Maybe, but again it’s just politics. That might also be a reason for me to become more powerful. To be able to somewhat avoid that stuff and just be nice to someone that might have tried to kill me. No reason to be paranoid all the time if you’re the least killable thing in the room.” she waved off his coming answer and continued.

“I’m aware that won’t work all the time and if people work together I may still be killed no matter how powerful. It still gives a lot of leeway for me to do whatever the fuck I want though. You see how most of this expedition group looks at me...you’d need to pay them quite a bit to try and murder me.”

Agor nodded at that. “You’re not wrong and if it’s a carefree lifestyle you’re looking for you’ll probably get it like this. People with power tend to gain attention though and attention means problems.”

“I’m aware of that Agor. It’s happened before and I’m not even the strongest on this table. I’ll still give people the benefit of the doubt though. The ones that spit on it will learn not to mess with me while the people I consider friends will find me next to them in battle.” she said and got up to get more broth. The cook seemed more relaxed now and already handed her a bowl.

“I tried it myself, Lilith.” he said and she nodded and took the bowl.

The food wasn’t poisoned, which made Ilea quite happy. At least one person to prove her point, even though there were and will be many more to disappoint her. She knew that for a fact. ‘It’s interesting how personal power changes up everything...’ she thought and ate in silence for a while.

“Hey Agor, you got a skill in the third tier?” she asked between bites of bread, using it to clean out the bowl in her hand. “I’ve been wondering for a while. Got a bunch at 2nd 20 and nothing is happening.”

“That is quite personal information that most people wouldn’t share Lilith.” he shook his head and smiled. Ilea took in the sight as it was a rare thing to see the man without his helmet.

‘Fuck am I falling for him?’ she thought but smiled back.

“I don’t, no. I heard of people that do though, Jasper might be one of them. I’ve been on 2nd 20 on many skills myself but have no idea what the requirements for higher tiers might be. I assume it’s either many skills at that level, doing something specific with a skill or simply a higher level. No idea...” he finished.

“Eh, guess I’ll get there eventually. Maybe I’ll ask Jasper about it. What about a third class, I heard it’s possible.”

“Same there but what I heard was that a third class gives less bonuses than the first two. The source might not be too reliable though.” he answered.

“So you don’t know shit even though you’re one of the highest leveled adventurers I’ve ever met...fucking hell you guys need the internet.” she sighed and motioned for another bowl which swiftly arrived.

“That information is highly guarded Lilith. The people that actually reach those levels and tiers might share the knowledge, sure. They’re so few and far in between though that it’s probably hard to confirm it and it would quickly fade into mere rumors. The internet though? What are you talking about?”

‘First guy to actually ask about an earth reference I’ve made...’ she thought.

“It’s from a book I once read. Like a network for sharing information. Everybody could access it and learn of the whole world’s knowledge with ease.”

“So like a library holding all knowledge? Who would put the knowledge there and control it though?” he asked, more interested than Ilea had expected.

“Everyone can put knowledge there. There were more trusted places than others though and one would have to be careful not to believe lies.”

“Man, people would do that? Just go to this Internet and tell lies?” he asked and continued “Well if it’s not really controlled how could you be sure. Libraries share knowledge too and people do as well, it’s not that different.” Agor said.

“It would be instant though...a new dungeon gets discovered and people miles away would know at the same time.” Ilea countered, trying to defend one of the most important inventions in the past century on earth.

“I’m sure there’s magic for that but I can see how that would change an ordinary person’s life...if truly all could access this network of information. What book was that? I’m intrigued.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have it anymore. Or never really had it to be honest. It was owned by a traveler I met near Riverwatch. Could ride in his chart for a couple days.” It didn’t seem to Ilea that he believed the lie but he didn’t press the issue.

“So back down? Can’t wait to actually find something interesting to fight...” the man said and Ilea nodded. Getting up the two walked back to the elevator. “You already destroyed eighty or so guardians, sure you don’t want to know your level and invest the stat points?” the man teased her as they drove down the elevator.

“I’ll check it after the next run okay? What about you? The guardians aren’t much higher than you sure but you could still level from killing them, not bothered that I get to destroy them all?” she smirked but he only shrugged.

“The difference between level 99 to 101 is pretty big but 199 to 201 is even more so. You’ll find it quite annoying to level up after 200 and it’s not easy to find, let alone kill anything with a much higher level than that.”

“I already know where I can find something like that...although I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Didn’t really notice the difference between before 100 and after though, you sure about that?” she answered.

“Quite, yes. How did you not notice? It’s like you’ve been fighting guardians since level 100...” he said and she kept quiet. “Are you kidding me?” Ilea didn’t answer him but instead posed another question.

“I don’t get it, so you say there’s not a lot of enemies out there at a higher level than 200? Are you sure? Elos is quite vast you know...”

“Well there certainly are a lot of them out there but not close enough and safe enough for most people to reach. This dungeon is actually quite the exception at how close it is to a city.” he said.

“There are people like you and Jasper though...ready to take on higher leveled foes.” she said.

“Yes but this again is where information gets scarce or very expensive. It’s not like someone who finds and manages to kill very high level beings would just share that knowledge for free. Lower leveled adventurers wouldn’t just stumble upon it either or might even just die discovering it. So maybe there are a lot out there, sure but you’ll either have to pay a lot to get that information or you’ll have to find it for yourself.” he finished as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

The scout they had greeted before was quite surprisingly not at her post but rather lying next to a nearby wall in her own blood. Ilea blinked to the woman but found her quite dead already. A big wound showed on her chest. “Centurion?” Ilea asked. It seemed a spear or sword had punched through the woman, exiting on her back.

“Maybe, let’s go find it then.” Agor seemed less enthusiastic and more angry at the prospect, red fire gathering around him.

“May you rest in peace.” Ilea whispered and closed the woman’s eyes before following behind Agor who had already left the room. ‘They shouldn’t have come here...’ she thought as she reached Agor checking on five corpses in a nearby room. There was no sign of an enemy. Agor got up from his crouching position over one of the dead adventurers before both of them turned towards a noise in the distance.

“Let’s go.” he said as his great sword punched through the wall to save time.

Jeremy blocked the thrown spear with his shield and managed to deflect it towards the nearby wall. Jasper looked back at him and nodded before engaging the centurion again. They had managed to stand against the machine for twenty minutes already with their group of seven. It had suddenly appeared from behind them and had nearly taken two of their lives immediately.

‘Were it not for Jasper...’ Jeremy thought and looked at the man who glowed with a slight tinge of blue, holding his fragile looking sword with a confident posture.

The centurion slashed towards the man but its strikes were deflected with seemingly slow moves. The sword was precisely where it had to be. Jasper’s sword struck the centurion again but didn’t manage to cut deeply. ‘The fact that he can even cut it...’ Jeremy thought as another bout of magic was released from the three mages behind him. The centurion swiped away two of the attacks with its spear and blocked the last one, a crystal spear with its arm.

Another spear throw followed towards the mages but Jeremy held fast. The rogue and warrior that were with them stood behind him as well but couldn’t help out in the fight at all. Their speed and skills weren’t on par with the centurion which had nearly cost them their lives at the beginning of the fight. Jasper reassured them to get behind Jeremy and try to protect the mages. With their ranged attacks they were a great distraction for Jasper and got in arguably more damage than the sword master did himself.

Jeremy didn’t use any ranged attacks to focus all his energy on defense. ‘I hope Rin is doing alright...’ he thought. The woman had been with a different group. Inström had led them. ‘We’re gonna be fine with Jasper though...’ he thought just when another spear throw was sent their way. This one wasn’t aimed at the mages though but at the warrior who was standing a little too far to the right. Jeremy moved to the right but only managed to deflect the spear slightly.

Combined with the dodging attempt by the slow warrior it was enough to save the man’s life. The spear punched through his armor and exited on the back but didn’t hit anything vital. “Get him behind me!!” Jeremy shouted as the people behind him tried to become as small a target as possible while moving the screaming warrior who was losing blood quite quickly.

The centurion tried to circle around Jasper to get to the group but it proved rather difficult in the small room. It’s movements were fast, nearly too fast for Jeremy to follow but luckily Jasper was there to block the machine’s advance. ‘Like a shepherd protecting sheep...’ Jeremy thought and couldn’t help but chuckle at his own lack of power. Still the excitement of seeing and facing a live centurion made him smile. ‘A story to tell if we survive this...’

Another spear throw struck his shield, hitting it dead center. The enchantments, metal and his buffs to the shield held true though and the weapon didn’t penetrate. Suddenly the wall next to Jasper exploded and two armored people jumped through it. Jeremy looked on as Agor immediately charged the centurion while Lilith looked around the room and then vanished.

He needed a couple seconds to realize the woman had appeared behind himself and had started healing the warrior who had gone silent a small while ago. “Is he gonna make it?” Jeremy shouted as the centurion now fully focused on the two expedition leaders.

“He’s gonna be alright, give me a minute and then you guys are out of here...” she said as Agor was thrown back by the butt of the centurion’s spear. Jasper managed to make a direct hit at the opening.

“Don’t attack! It can’t reach it’s third phase!!” Lilith shouted to the man while her mana entered the warrior who was lucid again but breathing heavily. “We have to get everyone out of here!” Agor nodded at her and then towards Jasper who moved back a little to make space between himself and the centurion.

“Just hold him off the others, they go berserk when they near death and self destruct in the end.” Agor shouted, swiping the advancing spear away with his great sword. “Lilith get them out and then help us out here...” he shouted and circled the centurion to keep its attention.

‘How can she help out with her level...’ Jeremy thought but looking at the woman he was somehow reassured she could.

“Hey Jeremy, you saw the crater near the armory?” Lilith asked him as she got up from her crouching position. The warrior slowly got up as well. She continued after he nodded. “You think you can take a blast like that point blank?” she said and he nodded again.

“Should be able to, haven’t found anything that got through my shield before.” he said and she motioned for everyone to follow. They left the two warriors to fight the centurion and ran towards the elevator.

The rogue screamed and advanced on the dead scout in the elevator room before one of the mages ran after him. “You’ll stay down here...the self destruct is gonna be difficult to avoid in these tight hallways.” Lilith told him.

“You guys need to leave, now!” she shouted to the others. The mage dragged away the mourning man, telling him they’d burn the corpse at a later time. The warrior nodded to Lilith as they entered the elevator. “Make sure to send the lift back down afterwards...” Lilith said to the man and then went back into the dungeons. Jeremy followed.

The two ran back to the room and found a bleeding yet smiling Agor and an expressionless Jasper both facing the centurion. “Backup is here...” Lilith said and threw away her helmet, revealing a grin that mirrored Agor’s.

‘How will she...’ Jeremy thought as Lilith suddenly vanished, only to appear behind the centurion’s head while delivering a kick. The machine buckled a little at the hit, opening up a chance for the other two to attack which the experienced warriors didn’t miss.

“Let’s whittle this fucker down!” Lilith shouted as she dodged a spear thrust coming her way.

‘She’s ridiculously fast...how can she keep up with that level...’ Jeremy thought and prepared all his defensive buffs. He hadn’t forgotten about the explosion that was supposed to come and even though he was sure he’d be able to take much more damage than the three others in the room, he was not a hundred percent sure he could take whatever had created that crater.

The fight went on as he applied layer upon layer of dense rock on his shield and body to both heighten his defense but also his weight. “He’s going berserk!” Agor shouted after nearly seven minutes of relentless attacking. The machine grew more savage afterwards, taking more and more blows at the chance to land a counter.

All three of the warriors managed to avoid serious injuries though, becoming much more defensive in the last phase of the fight. The damage was still done though as the more reckless machine left more openings than before until Jeremy saw a bright glow emanate from the centurion while all three adventurers jumped backwards.

“Behind Jeremy!” Lilith shouted as she vanished and appeared behind him, holding on tightly to his back, strengthening his position. Jasper and Agor reached them half a second later. Agor pushed his back to Ilea’s and smashed his great sword into the ground, giving him more hold.

The centurion’s spear vanished as it slowly advanced towards the group, its chest glowing too bright for Jeremy to see. Jasper held out his hand and concentrated before blue runes started floating before them. A second later the blast followed. Jeremy’s ears popped immediately and a massive shock wave of force and fire struck against his shield, pushing the whole group backwards a whole meter. Agor’s sword cut through the ground as if it were mere earth while the layers of stone on Jeremy’s shield were shattered on impact.

Jasper’s defensive rune had been obliterated as well, barely slowing down the explosion but as the dust settled they stood. Lilith let go of Jeremy and stepped out as Agor removed his sword from the ground.



‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Taleen Centurion – lvl 305]’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy one hundred and thirty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’



‘bing’ ‘Ground Caller has reached level 173. 5 Stat points awarded.’
‘bing’ ‘Ground Caller has reached level 174. 5 Stat points awarded.’



‘bing’ ‘Heavy Paladin has reached level 167. 5 Stat points awarded.’







“Another one down...” Ilea said and quickly checked through her messages. She had used up all stat points before the centurion fight to make sure she was at the best she could be. The guardians weren’t a challenge and she preferred to feel a big change every time she used stat points. She had destroyed a total of 83 sword guardians in the past couple hours and had gained fourteen levels in both Azarinth healer and Ash Wielder, netting her a whopping 140 stat points which she had invested into Vitality, Dexterity and Intelligence. Some skills had grown as well. Additionally the fight against the centurion had given her another level in both her classes. She quickly checked her status after all her stats were distributed.



Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 183
- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Reconstruction – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Blink – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Azarinth Sphere – 2nd lvl 17
- Passive: Body of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 13
- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20
- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 15
- Passive: Azarinth Perception – 2nd lvl 9
- Passive: Azarinth Reversal – lvl 13

Class 2: Ash Wielder – lvl 175
- Active: Shroud of Ash – lvl 15
- Active: Form of Ember – 2nd lvl 8
- Active: Ash Surge – lvl 6
- Active: Body Heat Manipulation – lvl 1
- Active: Wave of Ember – lvl 16
- Passive: Ash and Ember Manipulation – lvl 15
- Passive: Ashen Wings – lvl 6
- Passive: Eyes of Ash – lvl 13
- Passive: Body of Ash – lvl 13
- Passive: Ashen Warrior – lvl 8



General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5
- Identify - lvl 4
- Meditation – lvl 2nd 14
- Poison Resistance – lvl 17
- Heat Resistance – lvl 14
- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 2
- Mental Resistance – lvl 5
- Fear Resistance – lvl 1
- Water Resistance – lvl 5
- Wind Resistance – lvl 3
- Lightning Resistance – lvl 1



Status:

Vitality: 550
Endurance: 250
Strength 111
Dexterity 340
Intelligence 495
Wisdom 260



Health: 5122/5500
Stamina: 1918/2500
Mana: 1785/2600





“Alright people good work but let’s move on, there are other groups that might have been ambushed. We’ve lost enough people already...” Jasper said and walked out of the room. All of them had gained at least one level from the fight. Ilea herself had certainly enjoyed the fight but afterwards the deaths of the other adventurers she’d seen happily playing music or cards started weighing on her. She hadn’t known any of the ones she’d seen dead but still they were people.

‘Focus on what you can do...’ she thought and followed Jasper. The group ran through the dungeons trying to find other adventurers by following the trails of destroyed guardians. Jasper was luckily the one who had planned on where the groups would be going and they quickly found the traces of a recent battle.

“He’s still alive...” Ilea said out loud and blinked to one of the piles of metal. The destroyed guardian was removed with ease and Ilea quickly started healing the man who had been caught below the wreckage. Twenty seconds of healing later he opened his eyes.

“You’re...Lilith...the others...” he coughed up blood but Ilea just kept on healing.

“Where are they, centurion?” she asked after he had stopped coughing.

“Yes...straight ahead...” he managed to get the words out between the blood. Ilea ignored the smell of urine and nodded to the others. She had put on her helmet again after defeating the centurion.

“Go ahead, I’ll stabilize him. Need another minute or two.” she said and the others left immediately, whatever buffs they had for speed were applied. Ilea was done with the man a minute later. “You better stay here, it should be safe as long as you don’t move. If we’re not back in an hour go for the elevator.” the man who was a warrior at level 160 nodded to the woman, her reputation likely convinced him.

Applying both State of Azarinth and Form of Ember, Ilea rushed forward. She dodged the strewn around destroyed machines and finally reached the biggest room she’d seen so far in the dungeons. ‘The mess hall...’ she thought and focused on the centurion that was currently engaged by Agor, Jasper and several mages that were protected by a bulky woman, some warriors and Jasper.

A little above the group flew Inström, his eyes blue, firing down lightning at the machine. ‘The Thor is here...’ she thought and was surprisingly elated at the fact that there were no more corpses in the room. They had held off the centurion and might’ve even destroyed it in time. With their help it wouldn’t be a problem to deal with this.

Ilea blinked towards the group of adventurers and checked them quickly. None were badly injured. She looked upwards as she saw drops of blood falling down from Inström. She sprouted her wings and flew to the man before starting to heal him.

He just grunted and gave her a quick glance before concentrating on the enemy again. Spells were fired from the group of mages that now had two tanks to protect them against any ranged attacks. Some of the present warriors again would’ve only been a liability when fighting the centurion.

Fire and ice hit the centurion while Agor and Jasper kept the machine busy up close. Ilea stayed in the air, watching the overwhelming victory unfold. She didn’t feel like engaging the enemy anymore and simply stayed in the air. ‘Just get it over with already...’ she thought when the centurion reached its final phase and kept getting battered from ranged attacks.

A minute after it started to glow and everyone retreated behind the tanks before the explosion shook the room. Ilea stayed in the air and tried hard to push against the shock wave. Partially successful, she landed again, a couple meters behind where she’d been floating.



‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Taleen Centurion – lvl 305]’
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated an enemy one hundred and twenty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’



‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 184. 5 Stat points awarded.’



‘No wonder people have difficulties leveling in groups...’ she thought and put her points into wisdom.

“Anybody injured?” she asked as she approached the group but none seemed to be more than battered or simply tired. Some people looked at her, one of them even nodding. Inström didn’t say a thing about her healing him.

The group was still recovering when she reached Agor. “I’m gonna continue with clearing. You feel up for it?” he just nodded and motioned her to march on.

“Thanks for the help Lilith.” Jasper said as he reached her. “You saved some lives today. We’ll regroup and get the corpses out of here, feel free to clear as much as you like...” he said almost in a resigned way before going back to the group.

“Let’s go then...” she told Agor and led the way. It would likely take a while until the expedition came down here again and there probably wouldn’t be as many of them so she decided to slow her pace a little. “So ever found an ancient item?” she asked the man while they were walking through the dark corridors.

The lights in the dungeons were actually less bright than in the rest of the dungeon. “No, sadly not but I’ve seen some. Why do you ask?”

Ilea gambled a little but at this point she was pretty sure she could get away from the expedition if she tried and Lorcan didn’t seem like he really cared about the others. “Well let’s just say that there’s something the Forkspears won’t be getting from this place...” she told him.

“Hahahaha...well I for one think whatever you found is better in your hands than theirs. What is it?” he asked but Ilea continued in silence for thirty seconds. “Come on Ilea...what iiiis it?”

“It’s a storage necklace...” she said and prepared for any reaction he might have.

“Eh, well that’s disappointing. I mean sure it’s useful and if it’s ancient it probably has a ton of space inside. Just you know...I was more hoping on a great sword or something...I hope you’re not angry that I would’ve taken you out for that...” he said, continuing onwards without even pausing.

“On a date? Well you can do that anyway if you like...” she said but he didn’t respond for a while after that. The mood had gotten a little heavy after that and Ilea wasn’t quite sure what to say anymore. The sword guardians they soon came across were quite the welcome distraction.

After destroying five of them the two walked on, Lorcan breaking the silence after a couple minutes. “I apologize but I have to decline.” Ilea waited for a while too while thinking his words over.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you have your reasons. Do tell if I can help somehow though.” she said but didn’t wait for a possible response. Trying to change the obviously unpleasant topic for Lorcan, she continued on the necklace. “I have another question on the ancient item...is why I mentioned it in the first place really...it asked me to claim the necklace. Do you know what that means?” she asked.

“I do...well what I heard and I think this should be reliable...it’s bound to your mana. If you die someone else can take it. If someone steals it from you and you were bound to it for a month, the person would have to wait for a month to be able to claim it...as long as you’re still alive. You can also will other people to be allowed to use it or to access certain items inside. Someone I worked with did that once so I’m somewhat familiar with the enchantment...and of course this.” he gestured to the bracelet on his arm.

“Thanks for the explanation...glad to hear people can’t just steal it. There’s no way to access anything inside otherwise?” she asked.

“None I’ve heard of but there’s magic for nearly everything you know. Now stop talking, we have company...” two sword guardians stood up from their deactivated position and approached them slowly as Ilea’s slit in her helmet started glowing with a colorful mixture of blue and fire.

“What if I want to destroy it? It survived the explosion of a centurion but so did I...” Ilea continued her questioning, completely forgetting her cautious approach she intended to have towards new people. Lorcan was certainly not new anymore but she didn’t know much more about him than his name and that he liked to battle.

“It’s ancient. I’ve never heard of an ancient item getting destroyed...” he answered while reading his book.

“Interesting...say do you know what four question marks mean when you identify someone?” she continued asking the obviously knowledgeable and experienced adventurer whatever came to her mind. Fighting the guardians had become a little boring a couple hours ago already. There were never more than three at the same time and that was simply nothing that got her blood boiling anymore.

“Three definitely means 500 or higher. I’ve heard four means 1000 and higher but it’s hard to say. I’ve also never encountered someone with three question marks so it might only work on monsters.” he answered, obviously distracted by the book.

“What are you reading?”

“An erotic novel...you probably wouldn’t like it.” he answered.

“What’s it about? You really think you’ve met people above level 500 or that they even exist?”

“Some guy is trying to resurrect his dead wife. I don’t know honestly but why wouldn’t there be...Elves alone are said to be hundreds if not thousands of years old. And I know that there are monsters with incredibly high levels out there so why wouldn’t there be someone hunting them?” he asked and continued.

“Probably not a lot of people but then again there are a lot...even in Dawntree this expedition isn’t something too extraordinary. Sure being level 100 grants you respect and most people look at you with either fear or amazement. 200 and higher is just more rare but why would people stop there. As you continue to look for and fight stronger beings there is a chance of dying but you will inevitably grow. To me it seems only logical that there are people and creatures with a level much higher than even 1000. Although many disagree with my opinion.” he finished and turned a page.

“Out of a thousand people how many do you think are level 100?” she asked and looked around.

“Maybe ten, maybe more or less depending on species, culture, where the group lives. I’ve heard of cultures that banish people if they don’t reach that level at twenty years old...” he said.

“I have to pee, give me a minute.” she said and he shrugged. Ilea blinked through the nearby wall and released herself after removing the lower part of her armor.

Putting everything back on she frowned at the sight before her. There was a skeleton in the room, chained up and protected by two guardians. Well not in the room she stood in but the one behind two more walls. Her sphere was active at all times after all.

She punched through the wall and looked through. “Found a skeleton, wanna come?” she asked.

“Yea sure...” he said and turned the page. “Oh wow...”

“What is it?” Ilea asked and punched through the next wall. Her fist simply broke through and she had to punch a couple more times to make a sizable hole.

“He managed to resurrect his wife but then she murdered him...I like this book.” he explained.

“Good for you...glad you’re not as bored as me...” she said and waved to the two guardians that slowly came to life at their less than civil entrance. Dust was still settling as the machines approached.

“Oh hey that’s an elf...” Lorcan said, his sword materializing in his hand. He put the book into his pack and helped Ilea clear the two guardians. She didn’t really care about the lost experience, it had taken longer and longer to level anyway. Mere guardians wouldn’t help her advance for much longer.

“So an elf huh?” she asked as the two crouched down to look at the skeleton. “Look at his teeth...” she got up again and looked at the nearby table. There was some gear on it that she assumed were from the elf.

“Why would they leave all that here?” she asked as Lorcan joined her side.

He whistled and touched the armor on the table. “Now that is some quality work...a bit too light for both of us though...” he said. It was a thin metal armor in black. Anything that might have been engraved on it had long vanished. Ilea picked the chest plate up and was surprised at its weight.

“Too light...check it out..” she tossed the thing that weighed at least fifty kilograms to the man and he caught it with one hand.

“Oh you’re right...what is this metal?” he marveled.

“AKALISHE SANUR!!” a voice suddenly shouted, both Ilea and Lorcan immediately preparing to fight. Nothing happened though.

“Did that come from the table?” he asked to which she nodded. Moving the armor pieces away, there was a small dagger below. It’s design was incredibly intricate and it looked like blood was oozing from its curved blade.

“SALINA DAVUUR!!!” the voice definitely came from the dagger.

“I think that’s elvish...been a while since I heard anything in that cursed language though.” Lorcan said.

Ilea picked the blade up and held it in front of her face, ignoring the sizzling of her flesh where she held it. Healing against the burn, she shook the dagger a little. “Stop that. We don’t speak elvish. Do you speak our language?” she asked.

“Unworthy!!” the dagger shouted to which Ilea just shrugged and put the blade down again.

“You wanna have it?” she asked as she looked at the armor again. “I couldn’t identify it but I’m sure it’s ancient at least...” she said.

“And cursed...or whatever gave it a voice. No, I use great swords anyway, what the hell would I do with a dagger.” he said and checked out the bow on the table. “This one is nice as well...”

“HOW DARE YOU?!” the voice of the dagger exclaimed.

“I don’t use daggers either...do you have a problem with me taking the armor? I like the matte black look, very elegant.” she said and he grunted in response.

“I don’t care, just don’t wear it in front of the others. Don’t want to have That talk with Jasper...he takes his job way too seriously.” Lorcan said and pulled the bowstring. “If I can have the bow...I know someone who might like this.”

“STOP THIS INSOLENCE!!” the dagger screamed.

“Sure, how will you get it out without them noticing though?” she asked as she made the armor pieces vanish.

[Dark Elf Juggernaut Armor Helm – Rare Quality]
[Dark Elf Juggernaut Armor Chest Piece – Rare Quality]
[Dark Elf Juggernaut Armor Arms – Rare Quality]
[Dark Elf Juggernaut Armor Legs – Rare Quality]
[Dark Elf Juggernaut Armor Boots – Rare Quality]

“Well maybe a friend can smuggle it out for me hmm?” he asked, not a trace of mischievousness in his voice.

“Maybe a friend can.” she said and touched the items to store them in her necklace.

[Dark Elf Ranger Bow – Rare Quality]

“WHAT?? ARE YOU MAD???” the dagger kept screaming until Ilea took it and slammed the blade into the stone table.

“HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME!” the muffled scream was quite a bit more pleasant in Ilea’s ears compared to the annoying voice before.

“Hey at least it speaks our language?” she said and checked the rest of the room.

“That’s everything here...wanna move on? Oh think about the dagger though, you could sell it to someone...at least better than the Forkspears getting it...think about it.” he said to which Ilea removed the dagger from the table and stored it.

[Dagger of Akelion - ??? Quality]

“I can’t see the quality still...” she said and shrugged. She got the dagger out again and it immediately burned her hand again. “You’re gonna stay in there if you keep doing that you know?” she said and stored it again. “What an asshole...meets people for the first time in how many hundred years and that’s how you act?” she shook her head and the two continued with clearing the dungeons.

The expedition had entered the dungeons again but only groups that could manage a centurion were allowed back into the dungeons and the clearing was done even more cautiously. It took them nearly another full day to clear out all of the dungeon, with Ilea destroying more than half of the guardians.

There luckily weren’t any more centurions down there but in the end it was just a dungeon. Some skeletons of different species were found accompanied by some gear. Ilea and Lorcan had come across many of them before the others but nothing proved to be quite as interesting or high quality as the things they had found with the elf.

The destroyed guardians had netted Ilea another seven levels in both classes but considering she had to destroy nearly ten guardians for each level it wasn’t a very exciting day for Ilea. She was certainly happy about the progress and acknowledged that it was quite a bit faster than most other people’s leveling but it just wasn’t the same to her when she didn’t leave the battlefield bleeding and missing a limb.

Ilea was sitting on a table eating some curry while Rin explained the game Magic to her. It was a bit complicated but she was sure lands were very important. In the middle of the lengthy explanation that without any actual cards to look at lacked a visualization, Ilea checked her status and put her newly acquired 70 stat points into Endurance and Wisdom.



Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 191
- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Reconstruction – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Blink – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Azarinth Sphere – 2nd lvl 17
- Passive: Body of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 13
- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20
- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 16
- Passive: Azarinth Perception – 2nd lvl 11
- Passive: Azarinth Reversal – lvl 14

Class 2: Ash Wielder – lvl 182
- Active: Shroud of Ash – lvl 15
- Active: Form of Ember – 2nd lvl 9
- Active: Ash Surge – lvl 6
- Active: Body Heat Manipulation – lvl 1
- Active: Wave of Ember – lvl 18
- Passive: Ash and Ember Manipulation – lvl 15
- Passive: Ashen Wings – lvl 6
- Passive: Eyes of Ash – lvl 14
- Passive: Body of Ash – lvl 13
- Passive: Ashen Warrior – lvl 9



General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5
- Identify - lvl 4
- Meditation – lvl 2nd 14
- Poison Resistance – lvl 17
- Heat Resistance – lvl 14
- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 2
- Mental Resistance – lvl 5
- Fear Resistance – lvl 1
- Water Resistance – lvl 5
- Wind Resistance – lvl 3
- Lightning Resistance – lvl 1



Status:

Vitality: 550
Endurance: 285
Strength 111
Dexterity 340
Intelligence 495
Wisdom 300



Health: 5500/5500
Stamina: 2843/2850
Mana: 2932/3000





‘Wait didn’t I get time with some of the mages for resistance training??? Damn I totally forgot about that...and the potions and smiths as well.’ she got up from the table, stopping Rin’s explanation in its tracks.

“Oh I’m really sorry...it’s just hard to get it without any cards. We can get some in Dawntree and meet if you like.” she said with an apologetic smile while slowly walking backwards. Rin nodded and waved her off.

“People just don’t get the brilliance of it...” the sword dancer said. Ilea reached the smith a little while after and simply stood there.

“Hmmmmmmm” she exclaimed.

“What is it lassy. Anything I can do for you? Mr Horim mentioned you get free service.” the smith said as he cleaned a sword they’d gotten from the armory. “I also hear we have to thank you for this stuff.” he added.

“Oh, no the dwarves made that. I just told you the way there. Not like you guys wouldn’t have found it anyway.” she said and continued “I don’t really know what I want to be honest...something ranged would be cool...I mean I can fly but have to get in close all the time anyway.” she mumbled.

“A bow then maybe? Or some bombs from that alchemist...” the smith suggested but Ilea waved him away.

“I don’t have any skills for that stuff so it would be terribly ineffective wouldn’t it?”

“Not if you’re packing enough fire power...how strong are you lassy?” he asked and smirked at her.

Ilea just walked to the closest wall and punched it with all buffs active. A massive boom reverberated through the whole hall, making some heads turn towards her. Cracks formed in the wall and a sizable chunk of it was simply missing. It didn’t fall down but was simply punched to dust.

“How strong is that?” she asked the smith whose smirk was wavering a little.

“Strong enough I suppose. We have some sinew left from that monster down one of the ways. Some of the dwarven metal and I could make you quite a difficult to use bow. Add some of the guardian’s legs together and we’ve got you some pretty heavy ammo. Nothing too special but you’ll be able to blow through some pretty thick armor even without the help of any skill...” the man said.

“Wow...that’s quite something. You came up with that so easily?” she asked a little surprise.

“I’m a master smith girlie. Just because I’m bulky doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I’ve worked with weapons of war for decades even before you were born.” he finished.

“Alright alright. Just get me that bow.” she said.

“Will do but everything here is owned by the expedition so you’ll have to pay for the materials. The time is free as of Mr Horim’s orders.”

“How much for the materials...some additional ammo might be nice as well.” she told the man.

“Five Gold all in all.” Ilea got her pack from her back and put her hand inside, making five gold coins appear and handing them to the man.

“There you are. Just get me once you’re done.” she told the man and nodded towards him. Receiving a nod in response, she left the makeshift smithy and walked towards the alchemist at the other end of the hall.

The mood in the expedition had been rather solemn since they had lost so many people in the dungeons but these were experienced adventurers and few of them knew each other very well. They were preparing to tackle the last door in the great hall and likely the most dangerous one. ‘Dunno if they’ll destroy the six centurions that remain...’ she thought as she reached the alchemist who was looking at some of the green moss that had overgrown parts of the ruin.

“What!” he suddenly exclaimed “What! Do you think this iiiiis?” the man asked and looked at her with intense yet a little glassy eyes.

“It’s green moss...” she answered and shrugged.

“EXACTLY! How can this forgotten ruin that was isolated for thousands of years only grow this SHIT!!” he shouted and threw the moss in her face. Ilea caught it with a swift motion of her arm, seemingly surprising the man who cackled a little.

“Bored eh?” she asked. “I’m here for my two potions...”

“Oh yes yes, the demon needs its tribute. LILITH the demon queen. Well here you go woman. Take, take.” he put two small flasks on the table which Ilea swiftly exchanged for the green moss he had thrown at her.

[Health Potion – High Quality]

Ilea took one of the knifes on the table and cut herself in her arm. Blood started to drip on the ground until she drank one of the potions. The wound quickly started to close and she noticed it had restored around 100 health points. ‘Neat...if I have a gallon of this in my necklace.’

“How much for one of these potions?”

“Ten gold.” the answer wasn’t surprising. Otherwise everybody would walk around with dozens of the things.

“Nah, guess I’m fine. Hey, ever heard of bluemoon grass?” she asked.

“The legendary?? How do YOU KNOW?!!?” he shouted.

‘Mistakes were made...’ she thought, calming the man down. “I heard someone in Dawntree talk about it. Seemed interesting. Apparently it can help grow a beard.”

“AH This is TYPICAL. Away with you, you got what you came here for demon!” the alchemist was already occupied with his moss again.

‘Thought it was useless...’ she thought while shrugging and leaving the man to his devices.

Going back to the leader’s table, which was just a normal table with a map on it, Ilea stood next to Jasper who was focused on the map.

“What do you see sword master?” she asked and was rewarded by an annoyed groan.

“Lilith. What do I owe the pleasure?” there was no pleasure.

“An hour with five mages...not sure if I can take that much though...” she winked at the man who just sighed.

“You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you?” he asked and started walking towards a group of mages.

“Of course I am.” she said as they reached the mages who were in a game of cards Ilea hadn’t seen before.

“So Lilith here gets an hour from each of you to show or use your magic for her.” he said and immediately walked away.

“So who’s the first one? It’s my first time though so be gentle.” the heavily armored lvl 191 killing machine said and moved her body into the most embarrassing posture possible to her, knowing full well that Jasper wasn’t far away enough not to hear it. A barely audible groan reached her ears with the help of Azarinth Sphere’s 2nd stage.

‘Got him.’ she thought and stood there normally again. “What are you guys looking at? You what’s your main element?” she pointed to one of them. A level 170 mage.

“I’m an ice mage Miss Lilith.” the man said.

Ilea nearly laughed at the white robe he wore adorned with crystals. ‘He looks like a bloody chandelier...’ she thought.