Azarinth Healer

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.