Chương 294: Crimson Waste Part 7

"James, how many were there?" Mage Abney asked once Damion finished collecting all the Steel Bat carcasses.

"47," Damion answered happily as he looked at the notifications from the Magic System. Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Kill C Rank Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 5 Store Credits] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Kill C Rank Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 5 Store Credits] The measly 10 credits meant nothing to Damion, but finally finishing off two stages of his kill quest after so long was quite satisfying.

He was now at 3 of 45 for the quest, but he did not care. There were several other notifications Damion was happily reviewing as several of his magic spells has increased in mastery, granting him even more experience and credits.

Ding [Spell Telekinesis mastery increased to E Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] Ding [Spell Blink mastery increased to D Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] Ding [Spell Poison Resistance mastery increased to E Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] Ding [Spell Earth Shard mastery increased to C Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] With his raised mastery of Blink, Damion could now move himself up to 5 meters in any direction at will.

Now dodging attacks would become even easier, provided he saw it coming. As good as Blink was, it would not protect him against sneak attacks.

"Now that all the low-level Demonic Beasts are dead, time to go after the champions," Mage Phinn told his team.

"I thought you said since we encountered the Balaurs outside of the petrified forest that there would be more of them in there or something big?" Mage Young pointed out.

"Well, since we didn't encounter more, it means one of the champions is in there," Mage Abney pointed out. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Which one?" Mage Young asked.

"There are three champions in this dungeon. I really want to fight the golem."

"How are we supposed to know which one decided to move into the forest? It could be the golem or one of the two plant champions. Once we find it, we'll know. So, let's get moving," Mage Phinn said, urging his team into the petrified forest. Even with the time they spent preparing for the fight outside the petrified forest, their team was still far enough ahead of schedule that they should have no problem finishing early.

The bonus for finishing faster would give them each a sizable boost, especially when you considered their team was bringing basically everything in the dungeon out with them. They followed the wide swath of destruction made by the Donetto Stone Bull stampede as they walked through the petrified forest. Damion half expected them to be attacked at any moment. To Mage Young's disappointment, nothing jumped out at them.

Once they were well into the forest, Mage Phinn led them off the path, heading towards a large rock formation in the distance. It took them close to an hour to reach the rock formation and Damion could see that it was not a rock formation at all, but a B Rank Demonic Beast. The creature appeared to be sleeping, curled up in a hulking ball of broken stone.

"This is the Red Rock Golem," Mage Phinn said to the group. Damion would have thought the Lightning mage would whisper, but he spoke normally, as if unconcerned with waking the Demonic Beast up.

"A lot of groups like to bypass it, because it is almost always sleeping, but we have a Water mage with us, so it shouldn't be difficult to take down."

"Let me fight it! Please, let me fight it," Mage Young begged. Damion thought the muscle head of a Light mage was deluding himself, but to his surprise, Mage Phinn let him.

"Fine, you can have a go, but once it sends you flying, Mage Abney will take it down."

"Yes!" Mage Young shouted and charged at the Demonic Beast. The rest of the group quickly retreated, not wanting to get caught in the fight. Mage Young slammed into the Red Rock Golem with both of his shields held out in front of him. Despite having slammed into the Demonic Beast at a full run, the creature did not move from the impact. Instead, Mage Young bounced off and found himself flying backwards through the air. The Light mage landed a dozen meters from the Red Rock Golem and appeared quite dazed.

He tried to get up, but after finally managing to rise to his knees, the mage stumbled forward and collapsed.

"Well, I guess that is that," Mage Phinn said with a laugh.

"Lois, if you would." Mage Abney stepped forward and cast Driving Rain over the hill-sized Demonic Beast. The rain began soaking the area around it immediately. After just a few seconds, the Red Rock Golem began to uncurl itself. Once it fully stood up, Damion felt like he was looking at a real giant. The golem had rough human features cut into the red stone of its flesh. The rain from Mage Abney's spell continued to soak it and the area around it and the Demonic Beast did not appear happy about this.

The Red Rock Golem extended a hand towards Mage Abney, trying to grab hold of her. The Water mage however, blasted the hand away with a Water Blast that knocked chunks out of the stone hand.

"It's beginning to weaken," Mage Phinn announced.

"Start hitting it with everything you've got, try and break the legs. Once it can't move around, Lois will have an easier time finishing it off." Simon and Peter Beck did as Mage Phinn commanded and started attacking the Demonic Beast's legs with their swords. Even though they were only C Ranks and the Red Rock Golem was B Rank, the pair was able to start breaking off small chunks.

As they continued hacking away, while dodging the occasional kick or swat from the golem, the small breaks started to become large chunks of missing stone. Mage Young was back on his feet, having regained consciousness enough to heal himself, he was already charging over to join the two brothers. The brawny healer did not have a sword to use against the Demonic Beast, but the points of his kite shields would likely work just as well.

Mage Phinn stayed in the distance, not attacking so he would not kill his comrades, he stood by to guard Mage Abney against anything else. Mage Abney, renewed Driving Rain and was casting Water Blast and Torrent at the Red Rock Golem as fast as she could. Despite her being an A Rank mage, the Demonic Beast had a high defense and huge body, so it was hard to land a blow that could take the creature down.

Seeing the others at work and how Mage Abney's Water magic seemed to be weakening the creature, Damion decided to take his own approach. Using Blink, he moved himself above the Demonic Beast and landed on its giant head. He then took out his self-refilling canteen and poured the content on the Red Rock Golem's head. While the water emptied out of his canteen, Damion cast Clean Water on the head of the creature repeatedly dousing its head with water.

While Damion's magic attack was not technically an attack at all, the water he poured onto the creature greatly weakened it. The water flowed down the Red Rock Golem's head, finding its way into all the cracks along the creature's body and expanding them. After a few moments of pouring water on the Demonic Beast, Mage Abney cast Water Cannon, a tier 4 water spell that blasted a hole clean through the chest of the Red Rock Golem.

Damion used Blink to move away, and the Beck brother scrambled to get away from the falling creature. Mage Young, however, laughed loudly and continued to pound his shields into the leg of the creature, even while it collapsed around him, burying him in stone.