Chapter 147: Chaos is a laddah

Checking around the wall, she found that nobody was looking towards her as she crouched down and summoned one of Keyla’s meals. She still had a bunch of them in store but she’d have to go back to Virilya to get more at some point. A horn sounded in the distance, not from within the city. Ilea put a fork of food into her mouth as she looked towards the sound, seeing a rider climb over a hill. Following behind were a whole dozen more. Soon the whole hill was filled with armored riders, flags of the empire fluttering in the wind.

Spring had come, Ilea thought as she enjoyed the food and watched the riders frozen atop their hill, watching the scene before them. The field of battle and thousands of corpses, the destroyed and smoking city, the corpse of a massive whale and half of a squid.

“A bit late, aren’t they?” Kyrian said as he landed next to her.

“They can help clean up. How many came?” she asked as she glanced towards the man, neither wearing a helmet. The battle was over.

“Looked like a couple hundred from higher up.” he said and Ilea shook her head.

“They would’ve been slaughtered...” she said and continued eating.

“I think those are scouts, should’ve been fine against the lower leveled demons but yes, it’s good we came.” the man said. “About...” he started and stopped again, looking away.

Ilea looked at him with inquisitive eyes. “I’m gonna take a vacation in my house after the cleanup is done, you’re welcome to join me.” she said and enjoyed the smile she saw on his face through her Sphere.

“Thanks, I like you… you know?” he said.

Sometimes Ilea thought the man acted a bit like a kid, or at least a teen. Well it was endearing in a way, compared to the politicians and strong willed schemers she had met so far, Kyrian was refreshing in a way.

“I like you too, mate.” she said and enjoyed the struggle on his face when she added the mate. ‘Ahh, the joys of playing with the hearts of men.’ Ilea smiled before she punched his shoulder.

“We can fuck again.” she whispered in his ear before she moved away and put on her helmet. “First we clean up though, let’s see who this company of late heroes are and if they can help."

“You cruel woman.” Aki commented in a quiet tone. The dagger was quite glad her sexual attention had moved away from him and to the metal mage. He knew she was joking but deep down Aki feared her, her mad capabilities.

“Fu… ah… yes, let’s.” the man stuttered, quite differently than his initial stutter that seemed mostly gone at this point. His helmet appeared, faster than ever Ilea thought as she grinned under hers.

“Oh look, Sulivhaan’s already moving out.” she said, seeing the man fly up from the middle of the city followed by at least a dozen people behind him. She followed the scene as she put her empty bowl back into her storage necklace, her wings spreading behind her as Kyrian’s spheres hovered into his hands.

The Hand’s members from within the city and outside converged around their newfound leaders, Dagon and Sulivhaan walking at the front to greet the imperial officers. Ilea and Kyrian joined Trian who was among the people who flew out with Sulivhaan initially.

“The city is cleared out then?” the officer in charge said, still on his horse.

“It is, though we would appreciate your help with the cleanup.” Sulivhaan answered.

“The Scout order cannot spare anybody for such a mundane task. Where is the current leading elder of your order, I’d like to discuss the reestablishment of the city’s governing body.” the officer went on. Ilea was already losing interest, political games already starting after hundreds of thousands had died, humans always found a way to disappoint her, time and time again.

“Why I didn’t want to study history...” she murmured to herself as she felt the tension around her rise.

“Will you truly not honor the contract between the Shadow’s Hand and the Empire of Lys?” Dagon started talking, taking a step towards the officer on his horse. “In the Third agreement the terms of cooperation in case of an attack on Ravenhall are clearly written down. Your so called mundane task is not beyond any one of your soldiers, it is in fact your duty.” Dagon said.

“I’m Dagon Keywire, the current representative of the Hand together with my dear friend.” he said and motioned towards Sulivhaan who stood next to him in a relaxed manner. “We may discuss the cleanup, rebuild and following reestablishment of government in the city center, if you and the other representatives may join us. I’m sure the long ride has tired you.” he finished. The officer was about to answer when a second one put a hand on his shoulder.

“We will gladly join you lord librarian.” the woman said, getting a smile and nod from Dagon. The mercenaries dispersed again, continuing their respective work as the Scouts entered the city on their horses. Ilea watched them go when one of the soldiers waved at her and rode closer.

“Hey, we managed to get some backup! Sorry for being too late.” the woman said and scratched the back of her helmet.

“Ah, you’re that scout from Morhil… thanks, the cleanup will take a while.” Ilea said and smiled at her before the woman nodded and followed her company.

“I’ll join the cleanup, let me know when you want to leave.” Kyrian said to her and received a nod in response.

Ilea looked at the company of riders as they formed a thin line and rode towards the city. Some things would change with the Hand, that was for sure. She sat down on the muddy ground and finally scrolled through the notifications in her mind. The past six days were long and she had killed more living beings than she had in her whole time in Elos combined beforehand. Most of them were much weaker than her, at least when it came to the numbers.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Bone Warrior lvl 74 – Demon]’

…

The kill notifications were countless and Ilea simply skipped them and got to the juicy notifications.

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 222 – Five stat points have been awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 223 – Five stat points have been awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth First Hunter has reached lvl 224 – Five stat points have been awarded’

‘Just three levels for the main class… guess I’ll have to find some higher leveled drakes soon… or dragons at this point.’ Ilea thought as she shook her head and continued.

‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 217 – Five stat points have been awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 218 – Five stat points have been awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 219 – Five stat points have been awarded’

‘ding’ ‘Inheritor of Eternal Ash has reached lvl 220 – Five stat points have been awarded’

‘ding’ ‘You have gained one 3rd tier skill point in [Inheritor of Eternal Ash].’

‘Well at least four levels here and another 3rd tier point, just shit that I apparently have zero Inheritor skills to level up...’ Ilea thought and sighed but she felt good, she was progressing again. At a somewhat fast pace but she planned to find higher leveled enemies again, killing hordes of demons was tiring, especially when you got a single level for a thousand killed. And boring, she didn’t feel particularly in danger except when fighting the whale and Green, your lovable neighborhood demon.

‘ding’ ‘Blink reaches 3rd lvl 5’

‘ding’ ‘Body of the First Hunter reaches 2nd lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Hunter’s Sight reaches 2nd lvl 6’

‘ding’ ‘Hunter’s Sight reaches 2nd lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Perception reaches 2nd lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches 2nd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches 2nd lvl 14’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Reversal reaches 2nd lvl 15’

A bunch of Azarinth skills had reached level twenty in their second tier, all Ilea needed now was to do whatever was required to unlock their third tier capabilities and then level up her class enough to get them all to third tier. The next one would likely be at level 240 and she already decided to take Hunter Recovery after her earlier choice of State of Azarinth. Hitting the level twenty mark was nice but it was a double edged sword as she was now unable to increase those skills, at least until she hit a much higher level.

‘I do have enough to work on in my other class though...’ she thought as she looked through the notifications there.

‘ding’ ‘Veil of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Form of Ash and Ember reaches 2nd lvl 17’

‘ding’ ‘Form of Ash and Ember reaches 2nd lvl 18’

‘ding’ ‘Ash Creation reaches 2nd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Ash Creation reaches 2nd lvl 14’

‘ding’ ‘Ash Creation reaches 2nd lvl 15’

‘ding’ ‘Ash Creation reaches 2nd lvl 16’

‘ding’ ‘Ash Creation reaches 2nd lvl 17’

‘Well that one was effective...’ she thought and looked at the number again to make sure. Ash creation was nearly at level twenty as well, though she did use it through nearly all of the past six days while surrounded by admittedly rather weak enemies. Perhaps it was because the skill didn’t rely on fighting, so using it while fighting with another nearly twenty skills active and in a stressful environment made the leveling process more effective.

‘ding’ ‘Embered Body Heat reaches lvl 16’

‘ding’ ‘Embered Body Heat reaches lvl 17’

‘ding’ ‘Embered Body Heat reaches lvl 18’

‘ding’ ‘Embered Body Heat reaches lvl 19’

‘ding’ ‘Embered Body Heat reaches lvl 20’

That one was a gamble. Ilea had simply activated the skill whenever her mana wasn’t low. She didn’t manage to damage any enemies with the heat itself but it might’ve helped in attracting more monsters towards her. Maybe reaching the second stage would make the skill more useful than it was at the moment. Anything it would manage to damage even a little bit would die by a couple of her punches anyway and against anything stronger it would simply be useless.

‘ding’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches 2nd lvl 9’

‘ding’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches 2nd lvl 10’

‘ding’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches 2nd lvl 11’

‘ding’ ‘Wave of Ember reaches 2nd lvl 12’

‘ding’ ‘Ash and Ember Manipulation reaches 2nd lvl 15’

‘ding’ ‘Ash and Ember Manipulation reaches 2nd lvl 16’

‘ding’ ‘Ash and Ember Manipulation reaches 2nd lvl 17’

‘ding’ ‘Ash and Ember Manipulation reaches 2nd lvl 18’

‘ding’ ‘Ash and Ember Manipulation reaches 2nd lvl 19’

Again Ilea was happy she invested so much of her mana and concentration on the swirling pool of ash around her. The demons weren’t dangerous enough to be defensive but still provided her with enough skill boost to level those skills up rather quickly. Against anything stronger she’d probably focus without using the manipulation and creation abilities a lot, other than blinding the enemy or hiding herself.

She held up her hand where a small swirl of ash came into existence and formed into a ball of ash, she concentrated and the ball condensed further and further until it was barely a tenth of its original size. Slowly she lowered the ball and closed her hand around it. It was solid and she had to use quite a bit more effort than expected to pulverize it with her hand. ‘At least I can throw these to attract enemies...’ she thought and smiled before she moved on to the rest of the skills.

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches 2nd lvl 12’

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches 2nd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Wings reaches 2nd lvl 14’

‘ding’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 17’

‘ding’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 18’

‘ding’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 19’

‘ding’ ‘Body of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 15’

‘ding’ ‘Body of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 16’

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches 2nd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches 2nd lvl 14’

‘ding’ ‘Ashen Warrior reaches 2nd lvl 15’

Ilea’s second class was catching up with her first one and the skills finally closed the gap as well. She was happy. Checking for third tier skills to advance, she found that there was apparently none to use her skill points on. Veil of Ash at least was level twenty in its second stage but she must be missing something still.

Focusing on the positive, Ilea told herself that she’d get there eventually. The progress was fantastic and all she had to do was fight demons for six days straight. The Hand must’ve profited from this endeavor quite a bit when it came to personal strength. Their numbers were reduced by a tenth or more but in the end they likely were stronger.

Ilea saw that her Meditation skill had reached level seventeen in its second stage as well, pretty much the skill that let her fight for so long in the past week. She would consider its capabilities rather ridiculous if it weren’t for the fact that literally everyone had it. The skill just made her healing ability even more insanely good as she just needed ten to twenty minutes and she could go from literally broken and near death to perfectly fine again, at least physically.

Her newfound 35 stat points were put into Endurance, Intelligence and Wisdom. She checked her new status and was quite happy with the result.

Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Unspent 3rd tier skill points [Azarinth First Hunter]: 0

Unspent 3rd tier skill points [Inheritor of Eternal Ash]: 2

Class 1: Azarinth First Hunter – lvl 224

- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Hunter Recovery – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: State of Azarinth – 3rd lvl 1

- Active: Blink – 3rd lvl 5

- Active: Azarinth Hunter Sphere – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Body of the First Hunter – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Hunter’s Sight – 2nd lvl 7

- Passive: Azarinth Perception – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Azarinth Reversal – lvl 2nd lvl 15

Class 2: Inheritor of Eternal Ash – lvl 220

- Active: Veil of Ash – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Form of Ash and Ember – 2nd lvl 18

- Active: Ash Creation – lvl 2nd lvl 17

- Active: Embered Body Heat – lvl 20

- Active: Wave of Ember – 2nd lvl 12

- Passive: Ash and Ember Manipulation – 2nd lvl 19

- Passive: Ashen Wings – 2nd lvl 14

- Passive: Eyes of Ash – 2nd lvl 19

- Passive: Body of Ash – 2nd lvl 16

- Passive: Ashen Warrior – 2nd lvl 15

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5

- Identify - lvl 7

- Meditation – lvl 2nd 17

- Poison Resistance – lvl 17

- Heat Resistance – lvl 19

- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 4

- Mental Resistance – 2nd lvl 10

- Fear Resistance – lvl 2

- Water Resistance – lvl 6

- Wind Resistance – lvl 7

- Lightning Resistance – 2nd lvl 5

- Ice Resistance – lvl 7

- Crystal Resistance – lvl 6

- Earth Magic Resistance – lvl 5

- Arcane Magic Resistance – lvl 6

- Corrosion Resistance – lvl 8

- Light Magic Resistance – lvl 2

- Mist Magic Resistance – lvl 1

- Curse Resistance – 2nd lvl 2

- Mana Drain Resistance – lvl 18

- Health Drain Resistance – lvl 16

- Blast Resistance – lvl 12

- Dark Magic Resistance – lvl 1

- Veteran – lvl 2

- Heavy Archery – lvl 4

Status:

Vitality: 600

Endurance: 350

Strength 251

Dexterity 350

Intelligence 525

Wisdom 415

Health: 6000/6000

Stamina: 3421/3500

Mana: 4128/4150

‘I’m pretty damn awesome...’ she thought and grinned. The tiredness from the past days slowly caught onto her when she heard an explosion in the distance. Looking into the direction she saw a forested patch near a faraway mountain where a fiery ball slowly dispersed a couple dozen meters above ground. ‘A signal?’ she thought and narrowed her eyes. The slowly rising suns didn’t reach the specific part yet and Ilea doubted she’d have even seen the fire in complete daylight.

‘Ah what the hell, why not…’ she thought and spread her wings. A good excuse not to shovel corpses around and it was certainly more interesting than the discussions between imperial officials and the librarian.

It took Ilea a couple minutes at full speed to close the distance enough for her to make out more. Though the caster of the spell was still hidden inside the thick forest, she could make out the familiar light of a barrier. A lone barrier mage must’ve either wandered off or was it someone coming towards them?

Eyes stared back at her as another spell hit her barrier. Claire summoned a heavy blanket and put it on the hard ground before she moved her mother onto it. The woman was quiet as always, her eyes absent just the same as if she were sitting in her room in Vihal. The last days were rough but they had made it so far, her goal so close. The smoke in the distance had made her cautious but having seen the imperial scouts ride by made her hopeful.

She smiled at her mother as she summoned another blanket from her new ring. The woman was clad in a warm cloak already and she wasn’t known to get sick easily but Claire didn’t want to take chances. Traveling this far in such a short time had to have an impact on her. The horses had been left behind, both of them too tired to continue after a two day’s travel. There was no time to clear the trail and even an adequate tracker could’ve followed.