Chương 196: Time To Go

"Phil, you stay out here," Damion said to his Snow Hawk companion. There was no way of knowing what Damion was going to find at the center of the stilled area, but he was sure it was going to be dangerous. Phil staying outside the stilled area meant Damion could call on the Snow Hawk as backup, he hoped.

'Call. Come.' Phil sent back through their bond.

"Yes. I will call you if I need your help," Damion reassured the Ferocious Beast. Once Phil flew off his shoulder and perched on a nearby branch, Damion walked into the stilled area. Now that he knew he could get back out, assuming the same trick would work again, Damion did not stay close to the barrier. Instead, he went in search of the source and hopefully, the dungeon core. The journey through the stilled area was eerier than Damion expected.

After getting about twenty meters from the barrier, all he could see was hovering snow. When he turned to look back at the way he came, there was a void through the snow marking his passage. After walking for about ten minutes, Damion heard voices. Not seeing anyone around, it took him a moment to determine where the voices were coming from. A dozen meters ahead was what looked to be the crest of a hill and the voices seemed to be coming from the other side.

As Damion slowly crept up the hill to take a better look he tried to understand what the voices were saying.

"The barrier is fixed now?"

"Yes, First."

"And the magic drain that was detected, you believe it was because of the breach found?"

"Yes, First. There is no other explanation for the mana being drained."

"Do we still have enough mana to maintain the null zone until we are finished?"

"It will not be an issue, First."

"Good. When I report to the Overseer I will not speak of the Shaper's failures to keep the barrier intact."

"Your leniency is appreciated, First."

"Is there any sign of the beast that escaped the null zone?" The First questioned.

"The Clutch that was dispatched did not find signs of a beast. They did however find boot prints leading out of the null zone and signs that the barrier had been breached by fire."

"Humans?"

"The Clutch did not say when they sent their report. They will be back soon though, perhaps they have learned more."

"We usually have more time in the pocket space, but if humans have already discovered this place we will need to slow them down as much as possible to give the Little Ones time to grow. Modify the null zone array to cancel out Fire magic as well." Stolen story; please report.

"As you command, First."

"How much longer will it take for the Little Ones to advance?"

"Since all the beasts in the pocket space are Ice type and the null zone prevents them from using any of their abilities, it should only be a short time for them to finish draining the magic from the beast's cores. At that time, the Little Ones should be ready to grow and form a new Clutch."

"Good. Do everything you can to help them advance. The Overseer demanded we advance five Clutches. These last Little Ones will let us reach our goal and leave this accursed space." Damion was only able to catch the end of the conversation and what he heard left him with plenty of new questions. As he crept up the hillside and peeked over, he saw the area beyond the hill had been cleared and there was no snow in the area, on the ground or frozen in the air. The speakers he heard were goblins.

The larger one, who Damion guessed was the one referred to as First, was C Rank and wore armor with a large battle axe slung on its back. While the other carried no weapons and was only E Rank. Now that he could understand the goblins, Damion wanted to go down and ask them all manner of questions, but judging from their reaction to hearing a human was in the dungeon, he suspected he would not receive a warm welcome.

He was not sure what Little Ones were, but it sounded to him that the goblins had captured all the Demonic Beasts in the dungeon and the Little Ones were using them to grow into another Clutch. As Damion was pondering the rest of the conversation between the two goblins he heard a number of odd footsteps entering the clearing. Taking another peek over the edge of the hill, Damion saw it was five goblins, one was D Rank while the others were all E Rank. If he had to guess, this group returning would be the Clutch.

Which meant the Little Ones, where young goblins and were about to grow up into another Clutch.

"Third Clutch reporting," the D Rank goblin said to First.

"Did you find the humans?"

"Aside from the tracks that led out of the barrier, we did not find any sign of humans or beasts."

"Do you think they forced their way out of the barrier because they saw the effects of the null zone?"

"It is likely. But judging from the number of tracks, there is only one, perhaps two humans."

"A scout?" First questioned, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the area around their clearing. Damion ducked down below the crest of the hill before the goblin could spot him, but it did not bode well for him, especially if the goblins sealed Fire magic with their null field. If spotted, he would be hard pressed to fight against so many goblins without magic.

"Search the area!" First shouted. Looked like he had not been as stealthy as he believed. Damion rushed down the hill and started running through his old footsteps in the snow back towards the barrier. Whatever was going on here it would be best to let Mage Teft, the Adventurer Association, or the school sort it out.

As much as he would like to fight the goblins and clear the dungeon, Damion had no way of knowing how many goblins there were and if a Clutch was five and if there were five Clutches, that meant there were at least twenty-five goblins down there. When Damion arrived at the barrier he took his sword out from the Magic System's Inventory, but before he channeled magic into the blade to launch a fire attack, he paused. If Fire magic was already sealed, what would happen if he channeled his magic into the blade?

In the distance Damion heard a horn sound, either the goblins were celebrating, or they had found his tracks. This meant he was quickly running out of time. Damion channeled his mana into the blade, but when he tried to activate the fire attack glyph, nothing happened. He could feel his mana in the sword, but no fire was emerging. The only thing Damion could think of was the null zone, as the goblins called it, had already been modified and now he lost access to his escape plan.

Taking a chance, he slashed his sword against the barrier of the zone, but his sword just bounced off. Without the aid of magic, he was not going to be able to break through. There was no telling how long he had, and he was not sure if this was the best course of action, but Damion decided now was as good a time as any.

'System, purchase Awaken a new Magic Affinity.'