Chương 121: Phil

Each time Damion cast Ice Shard at the Fire Scorpions, whether he hit one or not, the Fire Scorpions scurried away from the Ice magic as if it was poison to them. Damion had suspected the Fire Scorpions would not like his Ice magic and seeing them flee from it told him he had a decent chance to do exactly what he intended. Damion started focusing on sending his icy attacks to an area around a large Fire Scorpion burrow.

From what Damion knew about the Fire Scorpions, they did not climb well and they liked to nest underground, but they also did not dig well. Most of the time Fire Scorpions would take over burrows made by rabbits or other burrowing animals. This was why Mr. Galen was able to slowly regain his farm. If the man was younger Damion was sure he would have made more progress. Once an area was walled off with a stone wall, the Fire Scorpions could not burn through or climb over, so they could be killed off.

Once an area that was walled off was cleared of Fire Scorpions, they could not get back in and it allowed Mr. Galen to start planting fresh crops. The biggest issue with clearing Fire Scorpions from an area was that they nested underground. Even if you killed all the Fire Scorpions in an area, once the eggs hatched you would have a new batch to contend with. One solution was to seal up all the entrances to the burrows.

Since the Fire Scorpions were not good diggers if the eggs ever hatched, they would die underground, unable to reach the surface. Another was to completely dig up the area that was walled off. The burrows were typically shallow, and Mr. Galen found that if he tilled a field, it usually destroyed the burrow and any eggs. The problem with this approach was that in addition to the eggs, grown Fire Scorpions were often still in the burrows and when Mr. Galen tilled the plot the Fire Scorpions would appear and attack.

Damion's solution was twofold. Clear the surface of Fire Scorpions with Ice Shard and then use Ice Breath to pour his Ice magic into the burrows and either freeze the Fire Scorpions and their eggs or force them out to the surface where Damion could use them as target practice with his Ice Shard spell. Once Damion cleared the area around the burrow he had identified, he approached it and cast Ice Breath. From his mouth spewed a torrent of icy wind that flowed into the burrow.

Nearby, small spurts of frosty air could be seen erupting from other entrances to the burrow. Several Fire Scorpions began scurrying out from the other exits. As the Fire Scorpions emerged, they were covered in frost that seemed to burn them. Damion stood up and raised his palm towards the Fire Scorpions and began casting Ice Shard. A few spell casts later and all the Fire Scorpions were dead. For good measure, Damion knelt down next to the burrow opening again and cast Ice Breath a second time.

This time he kept casting it for a minute resulting in the frost forming at the other openings to turn to ice. No more Fire Scorpions emerged from the burrow leading Damion to believe he had killed them all. Damion suspected there were probably more burrows in the area, but his test was done. He knew he could take out a burrow and finish off any surviving Fire Scorpions. Now he would help Mr. Galen cordon off another section of his fields and then cleanse it of Fire Scorpions.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. When Damion arrived where Mr. Galen was working, he saw the old man was using his sharpened pole as a spear to stab Fire Scorpions from a distance and even to stab down into burrows. Damion looked around the small field and saw part of the wall was incomplete, so he looked to Mr. Galen to ask where to get more stones.

"Are there more stones to finish the wall for this field?"

"I ain't got much," Mr. Galen explained.

"Usually expand slowly, just a small area at a time, so I mostly reuse the stone from the old wall, just move it further down."

"I see," Damion replied as he looked at the field. Other than the short stone wall around it, there were no subdividers inside marking where the field had been expanded in the past.

"In that case step back a bit and I'll clear the field, then we can move the old wall to cover the new area." Mr. Galen did as Damion instructed and moved to the edge of the field with his metal pole. There were no Fire Scorpions left alive on the surface. Mr. Galen had already skewered them all. This left him with the task of dealing with the burrows. Damion bent down close to the burrow closest to the edge of the field and cast Ice Breath into it.

A moment later a Fire Scorpion started crawling out from another opening to the burrow and Mr. Galen stabbed it with his spear. The farmer was ecstatic with Damion's strategy and quickly encouraged him to move to the next burrow. One by one, Damion moved from one burrow to the next casting Ice Breath into them. Either killing or flushing out the Fire Scorpions that were hiding in them. Mr. Galen quickly had a dozen Fire Scorpions stuck on his pole. After Damion cleared the last burrow Mr.

Galen began pushing the Fire Scorpion bodies off his pole into a pile in the middle of the field. Mr. Galen then started to cut the stingers off the tails of the Fire Scorpions with a knife making a second pile of them. This reminded Damion that he had not collected the stingers from the first batch of Fire Scorpions he killed. When started towards the back field, he saw a large snow-white bird in the middle of the field eating the Fire Scorpions Damion had killed.

"That's Phil," Mr. Galen said nodding towards the bird.

"Phil?" Damion questioned as he looked at the Snow Hawk. He could not help but wonder if it was the same one he and Ethan had encountered briefly three years ago. If it was it had grown quite a bit.

"I first noticed him a few years ago. He never bothers me or any of the adventurers who come and kill the Fire Scorpions. Just waits till they leave and then he comes out of the woods and helps himself." Damion had True Sight active so when he looked at the Ferocious Beast, he could tell it was a D Rank beast. However, if it was as Mr. Galen said and the Snow Hawk did not bother adventurers or him, there was no reason to bother it.

As Damion watched the Snow Hawk for a few moments he could not help but feel the Snow Hawk was also watching him very closely. He figured it was due to the Ferocious Beast not wanting someone to steal its meal, so Damion went back to the field he was working in with Mr. Galen and started moving the wall. However, in the back of his mind something told him the look the Snow Hawk gave was more than just watchful.

To move the old wall around the area the pair had just cleared of Fire Scorpions took the two of them several hours and made Damion wish he had an Earth affinity so he could just cast a spell and make a new wall of stone. The backbreaking physical labor though was exactly what Damion needed to clear his mind of unwanted thoughts. With nothing to consider other than where the next stone was going he finally began to relax for the first time in a week.