Chương 247: Holy Forest Part 4

The explosion of light in front of him was probably meant to blind him, but with True Sight, Damion could not be blinded, by darkness or light. Despite not being blinded, he still veered off his flight path to avoid flying through the blast. He had no way of knowing if the light blast was all flash and no substance, and he did not want to find out the hard way. Unfortunately for Damion, the path he veered onto was the same one the White Griffin had already sent a spear of Holy magic at.

The B Rank Demonic Beast's attack hit him in the side and sent him spiraling towards the forest floor. When Damion hit the ground he felt his shoulder pop and knew he had likely broken it. A cast of Minor Heal alleviated a lot of the pain in his shoulder, but a single cast could not completely heal him. Before he could cast the spell again though, the White Griffin crashed through the tree canopy and slammed into the ground.

'Come. Help.' Phil's voice came through their bond.

'No. Destroy the core,' Damion insisted. The White Griffin reared up and slashed its talons towards Damion, but he was already rolling out of the way. Another cast of Minor Heal and most of the pain in his shoulder had subsided, but he still lacked a full range of motion. With the Demonic Beast rushing at him again, Damion cast Ice Wall. The Demonic Beast slammed into the barrier, shattering it, sending chunks of ice in all directions. The spell was not meant to stop the White Griffin though, just slow it down.

In the time it took the Demonic Beast to burst through the wall and locate Damion, he had already cast another Ice Wall, shielding him from view. The Demonic Beast threw its body into the next wall, once again easily destroying it. Damion however, had already backed up a dozen more paces and cast half a dozen Ice Walls in the area. The White Griffin looked at each of the Ice Walls in turn, trying to figure out which wall its foe was behind.

While the White Griffin pondered its choices, Damion had time to cast Minor Heal several more times and completely mended his shoulder. The sound of the Demonic Beast crashing through another of his Ice Walls reminded him that he did not have a lot of time.

'Hurry. Destroy the core,' Damion sent to Phil.

'Hard,' the Snow Hawk sent back. The destruction of the Ice Wall next to the one Damion was hiding behind, brought his attention fully back to the White Griffin. When the B Rank creature burst through the Ice Wall, it saw him crouched nearby. With its target in sight, the White Griffin launched its Holy spear attack, forcing Damion to jump into the air to avoid the blast. The Demonic Beast had evidently been ready for his evasion and leapt to intercept him. The two collided in midair.

Damion was able to avoid serious injury, but impacting a Demonic Beast that easily weighed five times as much as he did, sent him flying backwards, bouncing off the trunks of several trees before he came to a stop. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Ouch," Damion mumbled as he rolled to his feet, casting Minor Heal as he did. Before he could do much more than orient himself, the White Griffin was on him again. This time its talons were lashing out. Damion raised his left arm and cast Ice Shield. His magic defense flashed to life just in time to intercept most of the Demonic Beast's blow, but the Ice Shield was still slashed to pieces and Damion received a gouge on his upper arm.

Luckily, the force of the attack also sent Damion stumbling backwards, outside of the Demonic Beast's follow-up attack with the set of talons on its other front leg. The space was enough that Damion could cast another Ice Wall. This time, instead of just casting the spell and moving to cast another to use as distractions, Damion reinforced the spell. Channeling as much mana into the Ice Wall as he could to make it is thick and as strong as possible before the White Griffin slammed into it.

A heavy thud could be felt through the wall when the Demonic Beast slammed its body into it, trying to burst through like it had all the others.

"Hah! I hope that hurt!" Damion shouted while he cast Minor Heal to stop the bleeding on his arm. Once his arm was mended, Damion began channeling mana into the Ice Wall. The construct had held against the White Griffin slamming into it, but not unharmed. The Ice Wall had a number of large cracks across its surface, and he knew that if the Demonic Beast was not stunned by slamming its head against the hard wall, it would have already burst through on its second attempt.

As Damion poured his mana into the Ice Wall, sealing cracks and even making the construct thicker than it had been a moment ago, he waited for the White Griffin to attack again. On the other side of the wall, the White Griffin, after the dizziness faded from its head, stared at the Ice Wall. The previous ones it had burst through had been weak, but this one had managed to stop it in its tracks. Instead of just charging harder, the Demonic Beast approached the wall and slashed it with its talons.

The creature's talons sliced chunks off the wall, but when it noticed the Ice Wall healing itself, it let out a scream of rage. After backing up a few steps, the White Griffin channeled its magic and spat out one of its Holy spear attacks. The magic hit Damion's Ice Wall and the two magic forces exploded in opposition of each other. The White Griffin was pelted with chunks of ice from the destroyed wall. While Damion was sent sprawling on the forest floor.

Rolling onto his back, Damion cast Ice Shard and sent five razor sharp ice crystals at the Demonic Beast. The attack, to his surprise, pierced into the feathered flesh of the White Griffin. Unfortunately, the attacks were not enough to do much more than annoy the Demonic Beast. The White Griffin charged at Damion, and he knew if the Demonic Beast reached him, it was game over. To buy himself time, he cast Frost Over. The spell froze the area around him and made the ground icy.

Not expecting a sudden change in terrain, the White Griffin lost its traction and began sliding across the ground, flapping its wings, trying to arrest its sudden uncontrolled skid. Damion took this opportunity to cast Ice Sword and get back into the air. He had spent too much time fighting the White Griffin and was running out of tricks to keep himself alive.

'Phil. Hurry and destroy the core,' Damion sent through their bond once again.

'Hard. Won't break,' the Snow Hawk sent back with a mental image of itself pecking at the dungeon core.

'Use Ice Breath,' Damion sent. A moment later, Phil sent another message back.

'Won't break.'

'Use Ice Breath and roll it off the cliff,' Damion told Phil. If Phil's physical and magic strength were not enough to break the dungeon core, he would just need to get creative. If the core was frozen and then pushed off the cliff, the impact when it hit the ground, might be enough to break it.