Chương 238: Leaving The Breach

Damion's warning sent his team into a frenzy. The choice between sticking around and fleeing was obvious. There was no doubt in any of their minds that they stood no chance against a B Rank and none of them wanted to stick around. Thomas, Yuri and Geoffrey were the first to bolt with Ronald fast on their heels. Inara, however, hesitated for a moment, waiting to see what Damion wanted to do.

"Go," Damion told her. The tall dark B Rank mage heading their way looked human enough, but Damion could tell it was not a man. Its skin was pitch black, and it had eyes that were pure red. There was no hair on its head, instead around the crown of the head were six small horns jutting out at odd angles and it stood about three meters tall. Whatever the creature was, it was quickly approaching, and Damion did not want to stick around, but neither could he flee and leave his team behind.

He stayed long enough to let them get a head start and then mounted his flying sword and flew off on his Ice Sword. Damion did not fly towards his team and the exit to the Breach, instead he hoped the B Rank would follow him, so he and Phil flew at an angle that would put distance between him and his team, but still move him closer to the exit. As he moved further away, Damion flew only at the speed the B Rank was moving, making himself an inviting target.

Unfortunately, after only flying for a few hundred meters, he realized the B Rank did not follow after him and continued after his team. Since his plan did not work, Damion turned and flew faster to try and reach his teammates before the B Rank did. Flying as fast as he could, he was able to catch up to his team just as they were arriving at the Breach exit. To Damion's surprise those, none of them rushed through.

"GO!" Damion shouted at them. The B Rank was closing in on them quickly and he did not understand why they were not fleeing.

"We can't! There is something blocking us!" Thomas shouted back. Damion jumped down from his flying sword and rushed to the portal to see what Thomas was talking about. When he reached the portal and tried to pass through, he found there was an invisible barrier blocking the opening. A few probing slaps with his hand told Damion the barrier was solid. Never having seen this before, or even heard of such a thing happening, left Damion with questions and no answers.

Since the appearance of this barrier was a mystery, the most likely explanation for the source of it, was that the mysterious B Rank had created it. The ability to create the barrier and even its placement of it, around the exit to the Breach, told Damion this B Rank being was more than just strong, it was intelligent. Before Damion or his team could discuss their next course of action, the B Rank arrived at the Breach exit.

The creature was imposing, not just its three-meter height that dwarfed them, but Damion could tell that beneath thick armor it wore was a muscular frame. Just the creature's arms were nearly as thick as his entire chest.

"Nemu nuan, tikus mit," the B Rank said in a guttural language with a smile on his face. Whatever language the creature was speaking, none of the group recognized it. The B Rank evidently realized that none of them understood him, so it tried a different language. This one was a bit of a musical sounding language.

"Atu Alfaarih Afat yabta?" The second language was gentler on the ears, but still, no one in Damion's party showed signs of understanding. The B Rank's eyes narrowed when no one responded before he spoke in a third language, Tal.

"What are you six little rats doing here?" Damion kept his face straight, pretending he did not understand. Thomas, Yuri and Geoffrey were all nobles, he was sure the three of them could speak Tal. Why this creature spoke it, Damion had no idea, but there was a chance he might just learn a few secrets if Thomas or one of the others started conversing with it. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"We were just exploring," Thomas answered in Tal.

"Exploring? Your kind should know not to venture into places like this. Especially, when you only have one true mage among you." The B Rank looked to Damion when he spoke, and a chill went down the young man's spine. He was not sure what this thing meant by only one true mage, was it because he was C Rank? That was possible, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the Magic System and the hidden quests to 'Learn the Truth of Magic.'

"Go," the B Rank commanded with a wave towards the Breach exit.

"Your kind are not my problem to solve. I will collapse this pocket space after you leave. Tell your elders, that little ones like you don't belong in places like this." While Thomas and the B Rank were speaking, Ronald had been whispering to Inara, trying to see if she knew what was being said. When the B Rank raised his hand, waving them away, the Wood mage thought they were all going to die and fainted.

He only blacked out for a few seconds and when he came to, he was happy to find Yuri and Geoffrey dragging him through the portal. The B Rank had evidently lifted the barrier on the portal to allow them to leave. Yuri and Geoffrey took Ronald through first, followed by Inara. Thomas headed in after them. This left just Damion and Phil, neither of whom were wasting time in heading towards the exit.

"Remain for a moment," the B Rank said to Damion after Thomas entered the portal. Damion paused and turned to look at the tall being. He still did not know what race this creature was, but he had a feeling it was one of the races Mage Teft had warned him about in the past, but he thought they only showed up in A Rank and higher Realm Breaches. So, if this was one, its appearance here was strange, stranger still that it was letting their group leave.

"You are the first of your kind I have seen that shows promise. I liked that you sought to protect your companions. And having a familiar also sets you apart from what I know of your people. These were from this space. Take them and grow quickly. Time will eventually run out." The B Rank threw Damion a small object. Even with just the quick glance he took at it, Damion knew what it was, a spatial artifact made as a ring, and it was an S Rank artifact.

"Do not let your potential go to waste." Before Damion could question what the B Rank meant, or even check the contents of the spatial artifact, the tall dark being turned and flew away. After storing the new spatial artifact in the Magic System Inventory, Damion and Phil passed through the exit to the Breach. He did not want to delay too long; the others would question him if he lingered. A few seconds after the pair emerged from the Breach, the portal collapsed behind them.

Back in the wilderness exam area, Damion found Thomas being interrogated by Inara. Yuri and Geoffrey were doing their best to defend him, but when you are the only person to speak to a giant armored creature that could have slaughtered your entire team, people understandably, wanted answers.

"Just tell me what you said to it," Inara demanded.

"Did you make some kind of deal with it?"

"No. I just apologized for intruding on its domain."

"So, that was what? The Breach guardian? Since when do Demonic Beasts talk, or look more like people than beasts?"

"Look we got out of there didn't we?" Yuri told her.

"We are safe and now Damion is here, so it doesn't look like that thing can follow us." Yuri and Geoffrey were not letting on they knew the Tal language as well. Smart on their part, not wanting to risk antagonizing the Dark mage further. If she found out that all the nobles could speak a secret language, she might just start nosing around where she was not wanted.

"Damion, don't you think we have a right to know what that creature was saying?" Inara asked.

"It seemed to be questioning us and then let us go," Damion responded.

"What I want to know, is why no one from the school is suddenly appearing to question us on what happened in the Breach."

"Duh. The recon drones," Geoffrey sneered.

"As soon as we came out our tracking artifacts would have transmitted everything we did in there to the drones. There is no need for them to question us."

"Everything?" Damion questioned, suddenly a bit worried. He had not spoken Tal to the B Rank being, but he had accepted a spatial artifact. If the school knew about it they would most certainly want to have its contents themselves, whatever that was.

"So, if we wanted to listen to what Thomas and the thing said, we can?"

"Well, not everything. That tracking artifacts don't have eyes and ears, that is why the drones follow us around. The trackers just collect data on what we killed." The news was both a relief and a worry for Damion. He was glad the trackers had not recorded everything that happened. But if the artifacts recorded kills, it had to have some way to monitor spells used, which meant his use of Minor Heal, may have been detected.

Damion just hoped that if it was, then it would be chalked up to him having the Light medallion. If you are reading this novel anywhere except Royal Road you are reading a pirated copy. Support authors and their mediums by reading on the original hosting site.