Chương 469: Chapter 467 – No More Hiding

"Now that you are almost S Rank, perhaps you should stop pretending you are limited to Ice magic." Mage Veers' words hung in the air for a moment while Damion stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. How did Mage Veers know? Did he guess? Could he tell? A quick check of the Magic System told Damion that Concealed Aura was still active.

"Don't look so shocked," Mage Veers told him with an amused face.

"Anyone with the ability to detect auras could see the different affinities in your aura when you appeared before the Assembly without your concealment artifact." Mage Veers' explanation filled in a few blank spots, but it still left him with questions. If the S Rank mages could detect his multiple auras before, why did none of them say anything? Did they just all happen to decide to mind their own business? Did they discuss his multiple affinities after he left?

"Does everyone know?" Damion asked. What he really wanted to know was if the Bianco and the Sorin families knew but decided not to call them out by name.

"I can't say for sure, there are not even a dozen S Rank mages with Aura Detection. Though, most probably felt it was none of their business. I assume Mage Teft already knows."

"Yes, she is aware," Damion said, though he did not add that he had gained more affinities and increased their Ranks since the two had last discussed the subject.

"Well, it's up to you. Our immediate concern is keeping the expedition together now that Mage Harris has fallen. Most are going to want to leave and if that happens, even if this was the midpoint, it won't be easy going." Mage Veers' words rang true, and Damion knew they needed to act quickly to keep the alliance together. Taking out his tablet, he located the dungeon core on the other side of the Demon Sunflower's stalk.

'Nyx, bring me the core.' The Shadow Cat leapt out of Damion's shadow, surprising Mage Veers who had not sensed the beast, but when he saw the younger mage unbothered by the Demonic Beast the Void mage relaxed. A moment later Nyx returned with the core to the floor in hand and dropped it at its companion's feet before returning to his shadow.

"Quite the pet you have there," Mage Veers finally managed to say after Nyx vanished from sight and his senses.

"You said I should stop hiding," Damion smiled back.

"I think you are right. Nyx is one of three bound familiars and as you can see, is able to hide inside my shadow. Are you able to destroy the SS Rank core?"

"Easily," Mage Veers took the core in his hand and a moment later it turned to dust. In the brief instant between the core crumbling and Mage Veers ending his spell, Damion saw what looked like a small pitch-black hole hovering in the palm of the Void mage's hand. With the destruction of the core, the passageway to the next floor revealed itself. Without waiting for Mage Veers, or any of the nearby S Ranker mages to decide on a course of action, Damion rushed through the passageway to the fifty-fourth floor.

His only hope to keep the majority of the forces here would be to find out for sure if they had passed the midpoint. If they had, the floors of the labyrinth would become progressively easier. If they had not passed the midpoint, then they likely had no hope of doing so, at least not for a long while. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. When Damion emerged on the fifty-fourth floor he took out his tablet and began searching for the core.

His auto-mapper was able to quickly generate a map of the floor, and he saw that the core was only a dozen kilometers away. Of course, locating the core and likely the guardian was one thing. Reaching that location safely, appraising the guardian and then returning to the fifty-third floor was another. In that span of a dozen kilometers were hundreds of Demonic Beasts and the auto-mapper could not tell him which ones, or all of them, could kill him with a breath.

Thankfully, Damion was fairly adept at two things, flying and stealth. Concealed Aura allowed him to hide his magical presence, at least until he cast a spell. While his Ice Sword would let him avoid most of the Demonic Beasts entirely. Adjusting his tablet to display in three dimensions he saw there were very few flying Demonic Beasts. This gave him hope that he would be able to get close enough to the guardian to let True Sight reveal the magic power of the beast.

Damion took to the sky on his Ice Sword determined to reach the guardian as quickly as possible. Since he flew higher than True Sight's effective range, Damion could not tell if any of the Demonic Beasts below were a threat to him or not. Nor could he tell if there were any SS Rank beasts in the mix. This is what he truly feared, that the labyrinth had reached the SSS Rank and that there would be SS Rank Demonic Beasts about the dungeon and not just as the guardian.

When he finally reached the area where his auto-mapper pinged the core, Damion hovered and looked towards the ground. He did not see a giant guardian around. Checking his tablet, Damion noted one Demonic Beast signal right where the core was. He willed his Ice Sword to descend and as he got closer he crossed his fingers. The ground below was swampy. He spotted short trees and scattered brush, but worst of all was the foul smell of rotting vegetation that filled his nostril as he got closer to the ground.

Once he passed into range of True Sight, he was welcomed with the sight of the guardian's magic power. 6. 1 million magic power. Not as low as he would have liked, but significantly lower than the Demon Sunflower which meant fifty-three was the midpoint. Mage Harris had not sacrificed himself in vain, they had done it. Now all Damion had to do was convince the S Rank Assembly to clear fifty-four and fifty-five.

Once those floors were cleared the next floors would be S Rank, then A Rank and they would continue to decline, all the way to F Rank and the exit to the labyrinth, connecting them to the Mother World. Damion took another look at the guardian for this floor. It was a lizard-like creature, only about three meters in length with a Fire affinity. The Demonic Beast's brown and dark green patterning of scales allowed it to blend in well with the swampy landscape. It had a long snout and a mouth full of teeth.

The creature's tail also looked rather deadly, it was long and thin, with the top spiked with small bone spurs that could probably impale anyone under SS Rank hit by it. After taking a few images of the guardian with his tablet, Damion rose back to his high cruising altitude and turned his Ice Swords back towards the passage to the fifty-third floor.

He had pushed his luck far enough for one day and there was still the more difficult task of convincing the S Rank and A Rank mages to stay and clear the next two floors. Keeping an eye on his tablet as he flew, Damion was careful to avoid any Demonic Beasts on his return flight. He was anxious to exercise his new magic power, but he had to show restraint and wait for the proper time.

When Damion exited the passageway between fifty-four and fifty-three, he found the S Rank mages had devolved into two sides and the argument was on the fast track to violence.