Benvari Mountains (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  It smelled like decay and death, but there was nothing else other than animal bones and a few trinkets. The troll lay on its back with its against the wound in its neck and lifeless eyes looking up at the ceiling.

  Deia moved forward, her eyes and ears open as she released the tension on her bow. She heard two creatures grunting at each other before there was a metallic ring of combat. She shifted her shoulders, keeping her body relaxed as she moved forward.

  Steel Tusked War Hogs

  Level 61

  Steel Tusked War Hogs

  Level 63

  How the hell did two war hogs get down here? The Dwarves should keep a better eye on their steeds.

  The two war hogs clashed with each other; their horns smashed into the other’s as they pushed each other up so they stood on their hind legs. They jerked their muscled necks, trying to free their tusks and bring them down on their opponent’s flesh, grunting and bellowing as they fought.

  As their names suggested, their tusks were not made from bone but rather steel. They were the favored rides of the Dwarves. They were smaller than horses, heavily built, loyal to a fault, and hard as hell to train. Although the warclans were usually made up of shield bearers, a number of special mounted units used the war hogs with devastating results.

  War hogs would challenge one another and their riders constantly. Once they were shown that they were weaker, they would follow for a time, testing their strength every few years.

  These two looked as though they had matured under harsh conditions, shown by their scarred fur and tusks. It seemed that they were fighting for dominance.

  Deia watched with interest. She wasn’t about to run in and get herself between these two. If they injured each other or grew tired, then she could use that to her advantage. Well, this is exhilarating, seeing two muscled creatures beating the crap out of each other.

  She stopped herself from sighing, not sure how good the war hogs’ senses were at finding danger. If they could keep the rock troll at bay, then they must’ve been decent fighters.

  They came apart for a second before they slammed into each other again, using their entire bodies and head to try to get some kind of edge over the other. Their strength and muscles made Deia happy that they were fighting each other instead of her.

  She studied their bodies, looking for weaknesses and a way to get a clean shot into their chests. I just hope the bow has enough strength to handle it all. Deia watched and waited for an hour.

  Both of the war hogs had deep slashes in their hides from one or the other hit. Finally, they disengaged, walking around each other before the level 61 turned to its side, showing off its unprotected side as a sign of submission to the other.

  Deia pulled back her arrow at the opportunity.

  The level 63 beast roared, raising itself up onto two feet in victory.

  Deia was unfazed by the beast’s war cry, letting loose with her arrow. The air cracked at the passage of what looked like a lance of fire. Without waiting to see it land, she grabbed her second arrow, changing her aim and letting loose.

  The 61 was startled and tried to raise itself up as the first arrow slammed into the upraised 63, catching it full in the chest, making it scream out as the arrow got past its strong hide and into its vital organs. It howled in pain but it still had life in it. Until the arrow exploded outwards, tearing its chest apart. The 61 had turned enough to make the second arrow hit its side instead of through its softer stomach. It exploded as well, burning it badly and making it roar in pain.

  Deia cursed; she grabbed another arrow and let loose.

  The level 61 turned its face, only to get an arrow in the eye. It howled, followed by a muffled explosion that tore the war hog’s head apart.

  Both creatures stopped moving. Not a sound came from any of the caves.

  “I’m leaving this to you lot,” Deia said, knowing the camera would pick it up as she grabbed a new arrow and put it on her bow.

  The war hogs’ pelts, meat, and fur would go for a good cost. They had not been lacking for money so far, but all of them were looking forward to a bit of coin in their pocket to get items that would help their advancement.

  Deia had been raised in the way of a Wood Elf and wasn’t willing to leave anything useful behind. She would kill to grow stronger but she wouldn’t let it go to waste afterwards.

  She advanced, moving through a long tunnel that dipped down. She came to an open area with a slight slant to the ground. Deia was about to walk forward when she heard a grating noise. She spread out her Earth sense, her bow low and ready as she crouched slowly.

  Rock snakes.

  The metal creatures were decent at finding most enemies but they were still limited due to Suzy’s knowledge of different animals. As she knew more, her imprints on her creations would know more about different enemies.

  Well, this is a fine mess. Deia realized she was just a few feet from a large rock snake mating pit, filled with tens of snakes that were between her and her destination.

  Deia moved backward to the safety of the corridor. She put her bow away in her bag of holding and spread her hands out, remembering what she had learned over the last couple of weeks. She used her fire Mana, changing the chemical compounds in the air around her, and turned them into a combustible substance. Her Mana converted more of the mass around her into fiery fuel. She directed the compounds toward the snake pit. Clear liquid raced away from her, making wet trails toward the snakes.

  Now she had the knowledge of what Fire Mana really was. It had led to her making a number of discoveries. Before, she had been ruled by emotions; now she had buried her head in books about chemical compounds.

  Her Fire Affinity combined chemical compounds in the air into fuel. Drops formed out of the air, creating a light mist over the rock snakes’ pit. A few shifted around, their rock bodies scraping on the ground.

  Deia gave a grim smile as she commanded the substances around the snakes to vibrate.

  The snakes looked up in alarm at the mist that had settled over them and was now shaking. Now alert, they looked toward the oddity in their domain. Dozens of heads looked toward Deia.

  “Soul trap.” Deia cast the spell as many times as possible, knowing she had just seconds.

  The room turned into a furnace; the chemicals erupted into the fire they were meant to be. It was hotter than a plasma torch as Deia fed Mana into the fire, keeping it alive as the rock snakes simply exploded.

  The heat around them combined with their hard bodies’ inability to contract or expand much; the water inside them turned to gas in seconds and turned the rock snakes into exploding firecrackers.

  She cut off the fire as the popping stopped.

  “Well, I think they know that I’m here.” She pulled out a soul gem and a red gem that seemed to swirl with Fire Mana. She placed the gems together and the soul gem turned to dust as its energy was absorbed by the Fire Mana.

  After seeing Suzy’s core, Deia had her own idea of how to make summoning her Fire atronach easier. If she was to hold it in a ready state without the activation power in a gem, she could have an atronach ready to go for a week. It lessened the amount of Willpower that she could use on other things as it was constantly devoted to the atronach gem.

  But right now, it meant it only needed a few seconds and no additional Mana from her as an apprentice-stage Fire atronach appeared. It looked like a forest sprite with ague Human features formed from living flame as it looked to Deia, ready to carry out her bidding.

  “Well, let’s go on a walk. You stay back so nothing can see you,” Deia said.

  The atronach didn’t say anything but she felt it understood. She grabbed her twin blades and advanced farther down the cave. Her blades, like her bow, could barely hold her new techniques. They were fine weapons but she had long outgrown their abilities.

  With enough coin, I can replace these with some blades better suited to my level. Dave was a great smith, but she knew he had his own thing and didn’t want to
trouble him when she could get another weapon off a Dwarven vendor. All of their wares were of the highest quality.

  Though, he will no doubt find a fault with it in trying to protect me.

  She smiled, shaking her head slightly as she advanced through the oven she had just made. Her armor pulled in any residual Mana and souls in the area. Her soul trap had done well as she’d targeted the highest-level rock snakes she could see.

  Abscondita Armor

  Forged by Dave Grahslagg, this armor is more than meets the eye.

  Quality: B

  Defense: 527 (Magical shield with enough power)

  Abilities: Magical shield

  Automated Mana Siphon

  Automated Soul Siphon

  Automated Self-Heal

  Increased Agility and Strength (base 10%)

  Increased Fire Affinity (3%)

  Grows in strength with user

  Manipulation possible (Associated values liable to change due to creator’s changes and level of charge.)

  Armor Link (Users of this armor can share their power and link capabilities. If one armor is fully charged, then it will feed power to the other to charge it.)

  Charge: 24,3973/2,000,000 (Linked Armor within range 0/0)

  Durability: 231/259

  Because she was too far away from Dave, she was no longer able to use his Mana reserves, just as he could no longer use hers.

  Her armor was different from Dave’s in one large way. His didn’t give any bonuses to magic; hers gave her a 3% increase in Fire Affinity. That 3% might not sound much but most armors just gave a few points boost. Having a percent instead of an additional number of Affinity points would allow Deia to find the armor useful for a much longer time. It would also give her a lot more with her current Affinity levels.

  Affinity Levels

  Dark

  27

  Light

  40

  Air

  82

  Water

  10

  Earth

  47

  Fire

  232

  She gained 6 points to her Fire Affinity, making it not only stronger, but also easier to control and increasing her resistance to Fire-based attacks. Those 6 points didn’t seem like much but at her high levels, those few points were a lot more potent and harder to come by.

  She continued on her path, checking her own power reserves.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  Oson’Deia

  Gender:

  Female

  Level:

  66

  Class:

  Rogue/Mage

  Race:

  -/Elf

  Alignment:

  Chaotic Neutral

  Unspent points-10

  Health:

  5,900

  Regen:

  1.78/s

  Mana:

  2,713/3,250

  Regen:

  5.20/s

  Stamina:

  1,290

  Regen:

  4.05/s

  Vitality:

  59

  Endurance:

  89

  Intelligence:

  325

  Willpower:

  104

  Strength:

  129

  Agility:

  81

  Deia felt a change in the air; her instincts told her to move.

  She jumped onto a wall as four Earth wolves pounced where she had been. She saw several more advancing down the corridor at incredible speed. Deia saw the green Mana surrounding their bodies. Some animals with a high enough level could build up an affinity to a certain kind of magic. These cave wolves had imbued their bodies with Earth Mana. They used it on an instinctual level, augmenting themselves.

  As they looked around for their prey, the green glow fell away. Deia didn’t give them the time to find her themselves. She rolled to the ground. Her twin blades moved through the air as she infused her attacks with Air and Fire Mana.

  Cuts appeared in the cave’s rocks and across the bodies of the wolves. They cried out in pain and anger as the fire reached them, burning their hides. Their prey now found, they rushed toward Deia.

  Deia’s blades didn’t stop moving. Damn, they’re strong!

  Cave Wolf

  Level 71

  All of them were at least four levels above Deia’s own, yet her stats gave her a slight edge. That and her own techniques were her only strengths.

  She smiled. Her blades moved as she poured more Strength and Mana into her attacks. She sent a wave of Air, cutting one wolf in half and cutting the eyes of the wolf behind it. She sent a wave of heat at another group of wolves, twisting and kicking, as she sent a fireball into their midst.

  The wave of fire burned three wolves as the fireball went off like a grenade. Then, they were upon her. While most were damaged and hurt in some manner, there were still eight left. They tried to race past to wound her and get clear of her blades.

  She didn’t let them as she flowed through their awkward attacks. Fighting with Anna had improved her Agility and ability to dodge and attack greatly.

  Outstretched paws were turned into stumps.

  She dropped low and pushed her Fire blade out, cutting through a wolf racing past. It didn’t even have time to howl as it tore itself apart on her blade, coming to a smoking ruin behind her as she sent a fist of Air into a wolf’s open mouth.

  The wolf reeled back on his hind legs. Deia jumped forward, bringing her Fire blade across its neck, and tore it open as the wolf fell over.

  Two wolves remained, looking at Deia and then each other before they ran away.

  “No, you don’t.” Deia fired twin Fire lances from her hands. They hit the wolves, making them yelp in pain before the lances broke through their weak Mana barrier and through their bodies.

  “Well then, time to keep moving.” Deia moved through the cut and charred bodies of the wolves, flicking her blades to clean them of blood.

  “There’s one room area and then that hall-looking place where the metal creatures didn’t advance through. I wonder what’s in there?” Her smile turned hungry as she advanced, her two blades out and ready for anything that might come her way. Behind her, the atronach followed its master, ready to be called upon at a moment’s notice.

  Deia entered the room—what was really a series of burrows that had been cut into the rock by the wolves. It went on for some time. Other than the smell of wet fur, she didn’t encounter anything else. She kept moving forward, her steps silent as she moved toward the mysterious room and its occupant. She lowered herself down, looking around the room for something.

  “Come out, creature. Hiding in the darkness will not keep you from my eyes,” a deep voice rolled out. It sounded as ancient and tired as time.

  Deia held her breath, waiting.

  “Fine, stay there,” it said, as if it mattered not what Deia did. “How long has it been since the Dark Lord last used his Creatures of Power?”

  Again, Deia said nothing.

  The last time he had Creatures of Power? The Demon race’s rebellion where they fought the control of the Dark Lord? The reign of the Dark Princes as they united their people together to fight the Dark Lord?

  All of the gods except Fire aided in suppressing the Demons of northern Ashal.

  “Come, Elf, I may have been idle for a long time but I have still not learned patience.”

  “Who are you?” Deia moved forward so that she brought the creature into sight. Deia’s voice caught in her throat as her eyes widened in shock.

  Sitting on a rock was a man with obsidian eyes, horns down the side of his head, and rippling muscles. His skin looked like dried blood and his nails were as dark as his eyes. He wore a simple loincloth with bones and small skulls on it.

  “I am Demon Prince Alkao, first of my name and reign, commander of the Third Demon Horde and leader of the Xerzit lands. Now tell me, how long has it been since the Dark Lord has had Creatures of Power on
this plane?”

  Alkao Travezar

  Level 238

  Aerial Demon

  His name didn’t show in red, showing that he was at least not hostile toward her.

  “That was four or five hundred years ago—twelve or so generations of Players at least,” Deia said.

  The Demon let out a breath that would have been angry if not for the tired way he looked at the room around him. “Where am I?”

  “You are in the Benvari Mountains on the Opheir continent.”

  “Do any of my race still live on?”

  “Not that I know of,” Deia said.

  Alkao nodded, as if he was expecting this. “So, why have you come to kill me?”

  “I came here to train. I thought that there was just some beasts in here to clear out. Didn’t think that you would be here,” Deia said.

  “So, you wish to train on me?” Alkao rose as if he was pushing up the very mountain.

  “That wasn’t my aim.”

  “Lies. Just scared after looking at my level, aren’t you, little one?” He snorted and distorted, racing at Deia.

  She dodged to the side as his fist passed her face. A cut formed on her cheek as the air cracked and slammed into the wall behind her.

  It was all Deia could to dodge and throw attacks meant to slow Alkao. What the hell is he like with a weapon? She dodged his attacks, which seemed to be better suited to blades and shields than fists and feet.

  “ALKAO!” Anna barked from the cave, followed by a stream of words in Abyssal.

  Alkao stopped and turned. His eyes thinned as a frown formed. He yelled back in Abyssal. After a few minutes, he moved out of a fighting stance.

  Deia stayed low and ready, waiting for Alkao to make another move.

  Finally, Alkao said something and it was Anna’s turn to look angry.