Chương 380: Your Plan?

Taking the lead as instructed, Damion started heading along the tunnel. The closest Demonic Beast registered as being about a hundred meters away. Despite the distance, True Sight was able to identify the affinity of the creature and judging from the C Rank and the Shadow affinity, he guessed it was a Shadow Rend Bat. Even though he was rather far away, Damion was able to send out a single Ice Shard that caught the Demonic Beast in its chest.

The creature fell to the ground and when he and Mage Teft reached that point in the tunnel, Damion confirmed it was a Shadow Rend Bat and collected it into his personal spatial storage. The Shadow Rend Bat was just the first of a great many. As he and Mage Teft drew closer to the surface the Demonic Beasts started being found in small groups which slowly increased in number until they reached a large chamber.

This was the only chamber they had to pass through to reach the surface and it was close to fifty meters across with a domed ceiling covered in stalactites. However, what dripped from them was not a milky-mineral rich water, it was flame liquid. And instead of stalagmites growing up out of the floor, there were little pits in the floor. At first Damion did not understand why there were pits of various depth with what looked to be char marks around the edges.

However, once the flame liquid dripped from the edge of a stalactite and dropped to the floor, falling into the pit below it, the liquid flashed, before burning itself out. Damion guessed that the constant drop and small explosion had slowly eroded the floor. Overtime, such a cave would eventually burn through its foundations and collapse. Once that happened the chamber would likely collapse, possibly causing the collapse of nearby tunnels and maybe even changing the surface of the mountain.

"Quite interesting, isn't it?" Mage Teft said to Damion when she noticed him watching the flame liquid fall to the floor and burst into small flames.

"Because the impact of the floor is enough to ignite the volatile liquid, none of the liquid survives on the floor like in other areas of the Fire Cave."

"I would think that is good," Damion said. If there was any of the flame liquid seeping from the floors or the walls then such an explosive drop would likely have blown the entire place up.

"Indeed. The stone of this chamber's walls is different than most of the others, the flame liquid can't seem to seep through it. There must be small gaps in the ceiling that the liquid has come through and then slowly formed the stalactites."

"Well, at least we don't have to worry as much about blowing ourselves up."

"True but be careful of sending a spell towards the stalactites. They are likely fragile and contain a fair amount of the flame liquid. If you knock one down and it crashes to the floor, we might just get that big explosion." Damion took another look at the stalactites and realized his mentor was probably right. They ran down from simple gaps in the ceiling and the structure of them was not like other caves where they formed almost arches coming off the ceiling.

Any impact would likely knock them loose and the impact on the floor was sure to cause more than a simple flash. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Should we just avoid the Shadow Rend Bats in here then? Rush through and fight them if they follow us outside? The exit to the cave is only about 15 meters up the passage on the other side of the chamber."

"That would be one solution, but what would be another?"

"Distraction. I could send my Ice Clone out and they can attack it while we either pick them off or sneak past."

"Good. Any other options?"

"I could walk out there and cast my Ice Domain spell and a couple of Frost Overs. The ice that forms should lock the stalactites in place as well as kill all of the Demonic Beasts."

"Excellent. Now, which is the best course of action?"

"I think using my Ice Clone to lure them and then killing them while they are away from the ceiling is the best course of action."

"Your reasons?"

"Ice Domain takes a lot of mana, and we still have floors to go until we reach our destination. But we can't leave the Demonic Beasts here, what if we are too exhausted to fight them when we come back through here on our way out. Since that is the case, we should not try to sneak past but take them out as efficiently as possible."

"Well thought out. Proceed." Damion cast Ice Clone, letting his doppelgänger walk into the middle of the chamber. The Shadow Rend Bats quickly swooped towards the intruder and began attacking. The Ice Clone fought back, swinging its sword, cutting through a Demonic Beast with each slash. Once Damion was sure the Shadow Rend Bats were completely focused on his Ice Clone, he walked out into the chamber and cast Ice Breath. The blast of cold air he spat out dropped four of the Demonic Beasts to the floor instantly.

The remaining dozen looped around the Ice Clone and then flew straight at Damion in a desperate assault. Unfortunately, their maneuver gave time for him to take a deep breath and as the Shadow Rend Bats closed in on him, a quick exhale flash froze the remaining bats.

"Not bad," Mage Teft said as Damion collected the carcasses.

"Your Ice magic is quite potent. If there is a guardian at the core I want you to use one of your other affinities only."

"Just magic, or can I also use a weapon?"

"Just magic. And no using Spatial either. I suspect you've had plenty of time to practice with it."

"That leaves me with Fire, Earth and Water."

"What about your other affinities?"

"I don't really know any offensive spells for the others."

"How long have you had the Repository I gave you? And you haven't bothered to learn at least one offensive spell for each of your affinities?"

"I've been focusing on spells that fill in gaps in what I can do or ones that help me to conceal myself."

"There will come a time when you will no longer need to hide your multiple affinities. Having a well-rounded list of spells is good, but you should make sure you have the ability to attack and defend with each of your affinities."

"Yes ma'am."

"Remember the null zone you encountered before?"

"From the ice dungeon? I remember."

"Such fields are more common at A Rank and above. We may even encounter a floor of the labyrinth that denies the use of certain affinities. You have the potential to make such restrictions irrelevant. But you need to prepare and master the spells before you encounter such a problem."

"I thought it was better to master a few than to be barely able to use a bunch?"

"For most people that is certainly true. And it still largely applies to you. I am not saying for you to learn every spell there is, but you are able to learn spells easily. If you can master dozens of spells in the time it takes an average mage to learn one, why not master a dozen?" Damion thought on Mage Teft's words for a bit and realized she was right. He really should learn more spells for his different affinities. Especially Shadow and Holy.

Those affinities could do a lot if you had access to the right spells.

"Ah, daylight," Mage Teft said as they rounded the last corner in the tunnel leading to the exit of the cave.

"Time to see about that guardian."