Chương 175: Igloo

Damion rolled off his teammate's corpse just as a Fire Lance spell hit it. Whatever the reason for the betrayal, Damion did not know and did not care. It was a three-on-one with C Rank opponents and an injured Wind Wolf possibly still in the mix. He could figure out the whys later, right now, Damion needed to survive. Rolling to his feet Damion cast Ice Shield and Ice Sword while he scanned for his enemies.

Mage Sooter and Mage Grier would likely try to attack him from range, but Damion knew if Knight Macmillan wanted to fight him, the knight would have to get in close. Damion swatted a Whirlwind Sphere away from him with his shield. With True Sight he could see where his three opponents were; they were circling around him, but what disturbed Damion more than his team having betrayed him, was that he was seeing more than just three C Ranks in the forest.

True Sight showed him three D Ranks, another C Rank and a B Rank had closed in and were now surrounding him. Another D Rank was on the ground not far away and not moving. At first Damion thought this might have been someone trying to sneak up to him, but Damion realized it was more likely Mage Blythe, left for dead. Damion cast Ice Wall several times around him. Creating overlapping walls of magical ice in the forest that would force his enemies to go around, jump over, or blast their way through.

Damion did not think the walls would really hold off so many attackers, but it would at least slow them down a little, possible force them to stop and consider his strategy. Distraction in place, Damion rushed over to Mage Blythe to check on him. The D Rank mage had tears in his eyes and was trying and failing to cast a spell to heal himself.

Pulling out a healing salve from one of his belt pouches, Damion coated the wound, but he could see in Mage Blythe's eyes that the healer knew the salve would not be enough to save him.

"Anyone see him?"

"Make sure he isn't in the trees!"

"Are you Fire mages or what? Just burn the whole forest down!" The voices of his attackers rang through the area, none of which Damion recognized as from his team. A few moments later Fire spells started going off igniting the forest around him. Damion held Mage Blythe's head in his lap as he considered his options. Mage Blythe would not last much longer and it was unlikely he was going to be able to fight his way out of the encirclement alone, not that a healer would have been much help to begin with.

What Damion needed was time. He quickly cast Ice Wall around Mage Blythe and himself. However, he did not stop casting when the ice completely surrounded them, instead he kept pouring his mana into the spell. As Damion channeled his mana, he concentrated his mind on what he wanted. Ice Wall thickened and then enclosed the sky above him and dug deep into the ground around him, leaving Damion and the dying Blythe in a frozen dome.

The attackers would take quite a while to blast through or melt his ice and Damion could always channel more mana into his construct to reinforce it. He was confident he could out last his attackers mana wise. All Damion had to do was wait, and hope he did not run out of air. He was sure that eventually, other teams would come to this floor either from below or higher up. And when they did and saw a group of people attacking an igloo, questions would be asked.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Damion knew his plan had flaws, but it still bought him time to help Mage Blythe and see if maybe the Magic System could offer him some options.

"What the hell?" Knight Macmillan said after he finally hacked his way through another Ice Wall that had survived the onslaught of Fire magic unleashed by their group.

"Is that?" Mage Grier asked.

"Yes, it is an ice dome." Someone else answered a hint of respect in his voice.

"This little Ice mage you hired me to deal with is quite interesting."

"Not having second thoughts are you Mage Blanche?"

"No, Mage Fontane. You and your brother have been more than generous with your father's money. I've just never thought of using Ice Wall to seal myself off like that. Well, you have your work cut out for you. I won't be of much use against that."

"It doesn't matter how impressive his Ice magic is. We have three Fire mages, we can melt through it and if he tries to outlast us, he'll just exhaust himself while the rest of you are still fresh to finish him off." Lucas Fontane said as he cast a Fire Lance at Damion's ice igloo.

"Perhaps we should put out the fire in the rest of the forest out. If it gets too wild it might disturb the…" Mage Grier said but was cut off by the other Fontane brother, Tray.

"Shut it. If you want to do something useful. Chip away at the ice with your Wind magic. The sooner we collect our bounty, the sooner we can get out of here." From inside his igloo, Damion could not clearly hear the voices of those outside, but he could feel the increased drain on his magic as his Ice Wall was attacked.

"Drink this," Damion said as he tipped an E Rank Health Potion into Mage Blythe's mouth. Damion had tried several other healing items at first, but none of them were sufficient to heal Mage Blythe. The failed attempts had let Mage Blythe speak a few words, letting him know the sword Knight Macmillan had used to stab him had been coated with a poison that disrupted magic channeling.

The poison, which would usually wear off after an hour or so, had no antidote and stopped Blythe from healing himself, and given the severity of the wound, Damion had no choice but to use one of his Magic System potions to save the healer's life. As soon at the liquid from the potion ran down Mage Blythe's throat the healer's wounds began to close. A minute later the healer was sitting up, looking at Damion with curious eyes, but unsure what to say.

"Any idea why the rest of the team attacked us?" Damion asked.

"No idea. I saw Macmillan slit Kripke's throat, but he stabbed me right after that. Can't believe he used Mage Bane on me. Only the Paladin and Justiciar Orders are allowed to even possess Mage Bane Toxin."

"Feel free to report him if we survive this," Damion said as he continued to channel mana into his Ice Wall.

"How long will your spell hold out?" Mage Blythe asked worriedly.

"Hopefully long enough for someone else to come along. I think I'm their target, but they must know if they are caught they will face a fate worse than death, so I don't think they planned on not being able to assassinate me."

"Well, I appreciate you giving me that healing potion. Really. No idea what grade it was, but I feel great, better than I have in years and I'm a healer. If we get out of here I promise to pay you back for it. But do you have a plan other than waiting?"

"Not really. But try not to get hurt again. You can only take one of those a week."

"One a week?" Mage Blythe questioned as he tried to think of what kind of potion Damion had given him.

"Any chance you have something that could be of use to help us out of here on you?"

"Just a few potions and antidotes. I don't even have a weapon artifact." Damion stared at the healer for a moment in disbelief. How could anyone go into a labyrinth without a weapon? Pushing the thought to the side for the moment, he continued to try and think of a way out of the mess they were in.

"Which way is the passageway back to fifteen?" Damion suddenly asked as he thought of a plan.

"You aren't planning on making a run for it are you?"

"No. We'd never make it, not with that B Rank guy out there. I've got a better idea."