Chương 476: Chapter 474 – Dodging

As it turned out, Damion was able to close the gap to about fifty meters before a male Alfar happened to turn his head and notice them out of the corner of their eye. The Alfar, who Damion could see was only B Rank, let out a cry of alarm in a language none of the expedition could understand. In just a few short seconds much of the line was turning their heads, some readying weapons as the humans closed in.

"Go after the females first!" Damion shouted as his fellow expedition members sprang into action.

"They are the elites and will be the strongest opponents" He was kicking himself for not reminding the expedition of the Alfar hierarchy before they had moved out. Everyone in the expedition had reviewed his reports about the Mother World and the things he had learned about the Alfar and the Iblis, however, a reminder of it would have been good beforehand. The shout garnered the attention of many of the Alfar.

Since Damion appeared to be giving orders they naturally assumed he was the one in charge and the greatest threat. As the expedition mages spread out and began attacking and defending the enemy army, that same army focused several dozen spells at Damion. After using Blink to move himself to safety high in the air above where all the Alfar spells passed, Damion willed his abandoned ice sheets to condense into a wave of ice crystals.

Even after the entire expedition had abandoned them in the first second of the fight Damion had kept the ice sheets moving forward. Now that he made them smaller he increased their individual speeds and the storm of ice crystals ripped into the backline of the Alfar army in the first few seconds of the battle. Many of the Alfar were armored or were able to raise a shield, either magical or physical as the projectiles flashed at them, but not all were so lucky.

Even some of the ones who had reacted in time were still injured as Damion's magic power was able to overcome their defenses. Once the ice sheets were expended, Damion moved on to casting his most reliable and accurate spells. Some of his more powerful spells, like Frost Fire or Fire Storm could have easily torn wide gaps in the Alfar forces, but the risk of harming his allies with those spells was too great.

Instead, Damion focused on using Ice Beam to lay down a pinpoint line of Ice magic that either left its target dead or with chunks of ice clinging to their armor and weapons. For the first minute of the fight, the Alfar continued to try and hit Damion with spells. But since he would use Blink to teleport himself into the air and freefall while casting spells before Blinking to another area when they located him, none of the Alfar came close to hitting him.

However, once the Alfar realized that Damion was only A Rank and not S Rank and that the S Ranks of the human mages were tearing through the Alfar army with little resistance, their focus shifted. The human S Ranks soon found themselves defending against the attacks of A Rank Alfar armed with S Rank artifacts. While Damion enjoyed not being the sole focus of the strongest of the Alfar forces, he also felt it was a shame he was no longer their target.

With his ability to teleport to safety, he had been providing a much-needed distraction for his comrades. Now all he could do was try to help them out when he saw they were in need. With his newfound freedom in the fight, Damion focused on assisting the other A Rank human mages. An Ice Wall would pop up to block an attack, or a clump of hard dirt would shoot up from the ground, breaking up an incoming spell. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

In between defending his allies, Damion would search for groups of Alfar who were clustered together or some distance from any of the humans fighting. When he found such targets Damion would drop one of his stronger spells on the group. Most of the time the single spell was not able to kill the group, but he usually halved their numbers and caused the others to scatter. By keeping up the pressure on any Alfar looking to group up, he kept down the number of concentrated spells sent at any of his allies.

Just as Damion was targeting another group of Alfar the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he immediately cast Blink to move to a new location. Looking to where he had been a moment before, all he could see was a blinding light. The spell sent out a strong shockwave of compressed air, but the blast wave caused no harm to him or any of the human mages. The greatest threat to them was from the blinding light.

With True Sight, Damion could still see perfectly fine, which was also how he narrowly avoided another attack directed at him. The Fire Lance spell ripped through the air where he had been a moment before and as Damion reappeared a few meters away he could feel the heat from its passing. Looking around, he was quickly able to locate his assailant, a female Alfar with a familiar looking face. He knew at once the Alfar he was now facing was Mistress Mirax.

He did not have long to consider if Mistress Mirax was leading this assault or if her Matron Jysella, an SS Rank Alfar, was also present since the S Rank Alfar threw another Fire Lance at him. Damion Blinked away, this time moving further from the rest of the fight. The last time he had encountered Mirax he was only B Rank and had been able to stay one step ahead of her with Blink when she was nearly S Rank. Now he was closing in on S Rank and she had crossed that threshold.

The gap in their magic power was nowhere near as vast, but he still was not sure if this was a fight he could actually win. Mirax flashed towards Damion and he dodged a punch but was met with a kick the Alfar managed to land on his back as she moved past him. The blow sent him spiraling towards the ground and Damion used the momentum to propel himself further from the rest of the battle. Just before hitting the ground, he cast Blink.

Damion disappeared and reappeared on the ground a few meters away, all the momentum of his fall canceled by the teleportation spell. After locating Mirax, who was still hovering in the air a dozen meters away, he cast Ice Shard and sent a dozen razer-sharp ice crystals at the Alfar. The Alfar waved her arm and a shimmering shield appeared and intercepted the Ice Shards. Each of the crystals shattering on impact with barrier causing Damion to narrow his eyes.

Ice Shard might have only been a tier 1 spell, but he had raised it to S Rank and was one of his most reliable spells. To not have any effect on her barrier was unexpected. Unfortunately, Damion did not have long to consider the reason his spell was so successfully countered as Mirax cast Blink and tried to impale him with another Fire Lance. He used a Blink of his own to escape the female Alfar, casting Frost Over as soon as he reappeared.

A moment later the Alfar appeared next to him and his Frost Over spell seemed to just be cut off. Once again, before Damion had time to consider how Mirax had managed it she moved to strike him. Damion knew the two of them could keep up this dance for quite a while, but he did not want to continue on this path where one mistake would mean death. Especially not if the Alfar was able to counter all his spells.

As the next stab from Mirax's Fire Lance came in, instead of using Blink to escape, he twisted his body and let the spear pass next to him while taking a step forward. That single step brought him close enough to the Alfar that she could lean in and bite him like she had done to Willem Straus a few months ago, but it was a move she was not expecting.

Not wanting to waste even the briefest moment it would take him to channel his mana and cast a spell, Damion lashed out with all his strength, his fist connected with Mirax's stomach and sent her flying. The success of the blow was almost as much of a surprise to Damion as it was to the Alfar. Luckily, for him, it was a happy surprise. If his spells could be countered by Mistress Mirax, he would just have to rely on the strength of his body.