Chương 487: Chapter 485 – Into The Depths Part 1

Mage Parivar transformed into a Shadow Cat as they entered the cave leading up to the ruins. Nyx, immediately hopped out of Damion's shadow and circled around Mage Parivar, leaving everyone wondering if the Demonic Beast was perturbed or just curious. Mage Parivar had no idea that Nyx was one of Damion's familiars and having such a strong A Rank Demonic Beast circling around her left her feeling uneasy. Luckily, no one did anything rash.

'Passable,' Nyx sent to Damion through their bond.

"Nyx approves," Damion told the group as the Shadow Cat disappeared back into his shadow.

"Do you have any other familiars we should know about?" Mage Veers asked.

"A Wind Griffin, he's inside my pet space at the moment with Phil. Flying beasts won't be of much help to us in the coming fight."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Mage Parivar said, regaining her voice.

"Some of those caverns are pretty spacious and having a couple of flyers on our side could be helpful."

"Maybe, but they are only A Rank and B Rank. Between myself, Visault and Mage Veers, nothing under SS Rank is going to trouble us." Mage Parivar considered for a moment and realized Damion was right. She was not aware of how strong he had become, but she knew the Iblis and Mage Veers were both quite strong. Having A Rank Demonic Beasts to fight with them would be of little consequence. A fact that made her question why she was being brought along.

"Why am I here then? You obviously don't need me?"

"Because you know the way. Even if we follow the map, you coming along will be a big help since you have actually been down there," Mage Veer answered.

"Mage Wells, you and Mage Parivar go first. With your aura concealed, you two should go mostly unnoticed, at least until it is too late for the beasties. Visault and I will follow with Knight Straus and handle anything you leave behind. Don't worry about killing everything. We have to move through the caverns and ruins as quickly as possible." Damion nodded and headed into the cave. A few meters in the cave had a sheer drop of close to fifty meters.

This being the case for most of the entrances to the underground ruins. It was the reason the Demonic Beasts never made it out of the underground ruins. The few entrances that did not have impossible to pass terrain were too small for most creatures to pass through. With Summon Ice, Damion made a platform and lowered everyone down along the edge of the drop. After they had gone down just a few meters they were completely in the dark.

Mage Parivar had darkvision as a Shadow Cat, while Mage Veers and Knight Strauss each activated an artifact on their helms that gave them the ability to see. Damion of course had True Sight and could see perfectly fine, but he was surprised to see the Iblis did not activate an artifact.

"We Iblis can see in any environment," Visault said when he noticed Damion's gaze.

"We may live in cities not to dissimilar to your own now, but long ago the Mother World was a much more perilous place." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"I'd really hate to have been here then," Straus grumbled.

"From what I have seen of your world it has more than enough perils."

"You are correct," Visault said.

"Our world has become more dangerous as the mana density has risen. But in the old times, before we had learned to make artifacts, and magic was more instinctual than anything else, life was very different."

"Sounds like Nerotath a few ages ago," Mage Veers offered.

"Until mages and knights could use artifacts and power magic seals were developed, we struggled to eke out a living."

"And we have still yet to tame our world," Mage Parivar added as Damion's ice platform reached the bottom of the chasm and he dismissed it. With the group now fully inside the cavern everyone went silent. Damion led the way flanked by two Shadow Cats, one Mage Parivar and the other Nyx who refused to let its master walk alone in the dark with the unfamiliar woman. The first Demonic Beast they encountered was an S Rank Iron Mole.

Its Metal affinity gave it a strong defense and it was able to tunnel through even solid rock with the sharp claws it had for digits on its paws. This was one of the smallest S Rank beasts Damion had ever seen, but it was still twice his height. Knowing that this type of subterranean Demonic Beast was sensitive to light and weak to fire, Damion quickly closed the gap between them after briefly using his mostly useless passive Body of Light to light up the area.

The burst of light disoriented the Iron Mole, along with his allies. Once the Iron Mole was blinded for a moment, Damion used Fiery Grasp to grab hold of the creature to prevent it from fleeing by burrowing deeper underground. Since he was stronger than the S Rank beast, the Fire mana easily burned through the Iron Mole's defense. With a flick of his wrist, Damion released his hold on the Demonic Beast and sent it stumbling backwards. Before it could steady itself, he then cast Ice Shard at the beast's wound.

The ice crystal tore into the flesh and killed it. Even though an S Rank Demonic Beast had just died in a matter of seconds, it did not stop the other beasts in the area from coming towards them. To Damion it looked like the Iron Mole's death enraged the others and they began charging in. Nyx dove into Damion's Shadow, not wanting to be in the way of the upcoming heavy weight fight. When Mage Parivar saw the Shadow Cat hide, she decided it was a good idea as well.

Unfortunately, she could not hide in Damion's shadow. Instead, she transformed into a Stone Eating Mouse and went in search of a corner to hide in. Since the nearby Demonic Beasts were targeting him anyway, Damion chose not to hold back. First, he activated his Body of Light spell again, not too bright, but enough to cast shadows across the entire cavern and garner the attention of all the Demonic Beasts. Then, he activated his Shadow Domain and Shadow Mastery spells. Next, he cast Summon Shadows.

Given how dark it was in the underground ruins and his body being the only light source, there was no shortage of shadows for him to make use of. Unlike other spells, where Damion cast the magic and it flew out to strike his opponent and was used up, the shadows he created were not expended after striking an opponent. Damion supposed he could keep control of an Ice Shard, and have it keep attacking instead of casting the spell again, but it would not be as efficient.

Much of Ice Shard's damage was caused by its momentum, piercing into a target and ripping through it. If he wanted an Ice Shard to hit another target, if it was not destroyed after the first impact, he would have to fly it around and then launch it at his target again. This was not the case with Summon Shadows and Shadow Mastery. Shadows were everywhere and they all came under his control. The shadows of the very Demonic Beasts that were in the process of attacking him, became their true enemy.

From behind each of the Demonic Beasts their shadows solidified and then sliced into them. Fur, hide, scales, even the hardened shells of the Demonic Beasts could not protect them from their own shadows. Damion controlled the Shadows to cut into their owners, quickly cutting down even mid and upper S Rank Demonic Beasts. Visault and Mage Veers were quite amazed by Damion's show of force. Knight Straus and Mage Parivar were leaning more towards terrified.