Chương 424: Chapter 423 – The Arena Part 2

Before the Ice Wall was shattered, Damion was already in motion. He realized too late that trying to flip the Emperor Chalco Beetle end-over-end was foolish, he should have aimed at one side, but he was sure he would have another opportunity. As the Ice Wall broke, Damion double cast Torrent, sending two jets of water into the flank of the Demonic Beast.

The Emperor Chalco Beetle quickly turned to where the attack had come from, but Damion had already used Blink to move himself to the other side of the arena and cast another Water Cannon. This time the Water affinity spell was a bit more successful in hurting the Demonic Beast. Along its hard shell, Damion could see hairline cracks forming. Not enough to truly have hurt the creature, but it was enough to show his attacks were successfully breaking its defense.

When the stream of water stopped hitting the Demonic Beast and the crowd saw the cracks on the Demonic Beast's armor, they erupted in loud cheers. Some were surprised Damion's attack had worked, and some were calling for him to launch another one to hopefully breakthrough the beetle's hard shell. Damion, putting the noise of the crowd out of his mind, had other plans. The Emperor Chalco Beetle quickly located him and made an effort to charge towards him.

However, Damion quickly Blinked out of the Demonic Beast's line of sight. Because of his passive spell Concealed Aura his magic aura was hidden from the creature. Until Damion released a spell, the Emperor Chalco Beetle was forced to rely solely on instinct and its other senses to find its opponent and being deprived of its ability to find him magically put it at a disadvantage. A moment later, the Emperor Chalco Beetle jumped as Fire Storm was cast directly beneath it, catching the Demonic Beast off guard.

The column of fire rose up, striking the weaker underbelly of the creature. The spell was not enough to burn through the thick carapace protecting the Demonic Beast. Still, the creature did not want to stay in one place and let its underside get roasted. It moved off the Fire Storm while it was still burning and began searching for its foe. Damion had moved to the Emperor Chalco's flank and was preparing another spell to strike at the weakened carapace.

He had already cast Summon Ice and was transforming the block of ice into two large ice spears. The Demonic Beast sensed the magic being used and started to turn towards him but was too slow. The first magic spear slammed into the Demonic Beast, but the creature's carapace held. More cracks formed on its shell, but Damion had been expecting one attack to be insufficient.

His second ice spear stuck the same spot on the Emperor Chalco Beetle's side an instant later and this time it broke through the beast's armor and bit into its flesh. Even though Damion's attack broke through the armored carapace of the Demonic Beast, it was not enough to kill it. The blow landed on the creature's side and, while it was a serious injury, was not immediately fatal. The injury also made the Emperor Chalco Beetle even more fierce.

The beast spat out several rocks at Damion, hoping to injure its attacker in turn, but the young mage was able to Blink away and cast Water Cannon, striking the Demonic Beast's uninjured side. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The stream of water slammed against the hard carapace of the Emperor Chalco Beetle. Sadly, when the water rolled away there was no sign of damage to the Demonic Beast's shell.

Before Damion could launch another attack the creature turned and spat another boulder at him. This time, Damion Blinked forward, letting the rock fly through where he had been and unleashed another Water Cannon in the face of the Emperor Chalco Beetle as soon as he reappeared. Blinded by the water hitting it in its face, the Demonic Beast could not see where Damion had gone or what he was doing. The mage actually Blinked directly under the Emperor Chalco Beetle and repeatedly cast Frost Over.

In the span of ten seconds he cast the spell six times, completely freezing the area around him, including the ground, which made the Demonic Beast lose its footing as soon as it tried to turn to find where Damion was. The six legs of the Emperor Chalco Beetle scrambled for a brief moment, searching for purchase, but the Demonic Beast quickly collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud that could be felt in the stands.

The crowd cheered the loudest Damion had heard them when he Blinked from underneath the fallen giant beetle to its injured side and cast Fire Storm inside the wound of the creature. The spell cooked the Demonic Beast from the inside out and, while it thrashed about on the icy surface of the arena floor, it could do nothing to stop the spell. After a few moments the heat from Damion's Fire affinity spell began to melt the ice in the arena, but it was too late for the Demonic Beast.

The damage Damion's spell did to its insides meant by the time the ice melted, the creature was also already dead. With his second opponent dead, and this one being much stronger than the first, at least defensively, Damion was beginning to get used to his increased abilities. He was still wearing his training bangles, but since he was primarily moving around with Blink and casting spells, the restriction to his physical abilities did not hamper his combat effectiveness much.

After the Emperor Chalco Beetle was cleared from the arena a new Demonic Beast was raised up into the arena. He recognized the Demonic Beast immediately as a Silver Winged Eagle. Such beasts were highly sought after on Nerotath, but were extremely rare, often only appearing near Black Zones. The Silver Winged eagle, like many Demonic Beasts with a metal affinity, had bones and the calamus of the feather made of mithril.

The rare metal was an excellent channel for mana and was sought after for not only armor and weapons, but all sorts of artifacts. The three-meter-tall bird chained in front of him represented an enormous amount of wealth. When the chains came off the Demonic Beast instead of rushing at Damion, like the other had, the Silver Winged Eagle took to the sky and attempted to find a way out of the arena. Unfortunately for it, there was an invisible bubble around the arena where Damion and the Demonic Beast were.

The main purpose of the enchantment was to keep errant spells from harming the crowd, or the crowd being overzealous and sending their own spells into the arena, but it also worked to keep Demonic Beasts inside the combat area. Once the Demonic Beast realized it could not escape, it turned its attention to Damion. The flying beast dove towards the human, its sharp talons lashing out as it swooped by. However, they hit nothing but air as Damion teleported away.

From his new position, Damion cast Fireball and sent a burning ball of magic at the Demonic Beast. However, the Silver Winged Eagle proved to be more agile than the mage thought. The bird pulled its wings in and rolled its body, dropping below the spell before unfurling its wings and stopping its descent. A few flaps of its wings and it was back to circling high in the air of the arena. Damion considered his options. Cast more spells at it, which it would likely dodge. Blink closer and cast more spells.

Fly up there with it to fight. Or wait for it to make the next move.