Chapter 347 – Contentment
By the time Damion caught up to the group that was still fleeing in the wrong direction, the final B Rank mage was on the verge of collapse. The Wind mage was out of breath and likely would not be able to run for much longer.
There was not a lot of time to think about options. If this mage split off and one of the manticores chased him, it would be unlikely that Damion would have a chance to swoop in to rescue him. He needed to buy the fleeing mages more time, and the best way to do that, was to slow the manticores down.
Flying lower, Damion placed himself in between the fleeing mages and the Ferocious Beasts. He shut down as many of his passive spells as he dared, keeping only Mana Absorption, to boost his regeneration and No Resistance, the slight reduction in air resistance could help him fly just a little bit faster.
The mages in front of him cast quick glances over their shoulders, trying to see what Damion was going to do. As he continued to fly behind them, he cast Ice Domain. The spell had a huge cost, but it also turned the world around him into a world of ice. Which meant freezing the ground.
As Damion flew, he would have liked to have cast Frost Over, but his mana consumption was nearly as much as his expenditure with Ice Domain active and he did not want to run his mana low, in case he needed to cast a big spell in a hurry.
The manticores where not liking having to run through the Ice Domain. Even if the ground was barely freezing over by the time they crashed over it, they did not like being surrounded by Damion’s mana. He might only be a B Rank mage, but his domain was still a tier 5 spell, backed by his EX Rank Ice affinity, even for A Rank Ferocious Beasts, the inside of the Ice Domain was an oppressive force.
The manticores were suddenly fully focused on Damion, which allowed the three remaining mages to slowly begin a turn that would eventually take them towards the Crimson Order outpost.
To give them a bit of assistance, Damion started a slow turn in the opposite direction, allowing him to lead the manticores further away from the fleeing mages.
While he was leading the manticores away, Damion sent a message to Phil to keep an eye on the mages. If one of the manticores slipped away to track the mages, he wanted to know. A short time later, Phil sent Damion a message through their bond.
‘Halfway to stone place.’
The message told Damion the mages were halfway to the Crimson Order outpost. If that was the case, then Damion no longer needed to worry too much about keeping the attention of the manticores.
Cutting off his Ice Domain, he shot forward, doubling his speed in just a few seconds. The manticores let out a roar and tried to run faster to keep up with Damion, but he was already quickly outpacing them. He was still flying low to the ground, out of sight of anyone in the area save Phil, so ahead of him he opened a Portal and flew through on his sword.
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The Portal closed behind him, leaving the manticores with no way to track him. The Portal deposited him where he gave directions to the Fire mage. The area was deserted and let him exit the Portal without being seen.
Damion wasted no time in heading after the rescued mages. As he zoomed along, he spotted the two A Rank mages carrying the B Rank Wind mage who had collapsed from exhaustion.
“Give him to me,” Damion told the mages as he flew over. “I will take him to the outpost. Make your way there as fast as possible. No telling if the manticores will pick up your trail.”
“Here, take him,” the A Rank Earth mage said, passing the unconscious mage to Damion.
Flying off, it did not take long for Damion to deposit the B Rank mage with his companions that had already arrived. However, before he could head back out, he heard the manticores roaring. Luckily, the Ferocious Beasts sounded like they were still some distance away, but he knew that would not last forever.
“Tell your commander to get ready to face five A Ranks!” Damion shouted to a nearby Crimson Order member.
Not waiting for a reply, Damion flew off towards the two mages who were still out in the open. The two A Rank mages were no doubt exhausted and there was a good chance they would not be able to make it to the outpost before the manticores caught them. With the aid of True Sight, and the System artifact that boosted his vision range, Damion spotted the pair shortly after flying out of the outpost. What was easier to spot, was the five manticores bounding across the plains towards the pair of mages.
Since he did not have time to waste, Damion was not polite in is actions. He flew down and stretched out both his arms, wrapping an arm around each of the mages as he flew. The mages at first were startled and began resisting, especially the Earth mage who was a woman and felt that she was being taken advantage of given where Damion’s arm crossed. However, as Damion turned and flew towards the outpost, the two mages could see behind them, and they quickly spotted the five manticores charging at them.
“Fly faster,” the A Rank Earth mage shouted to Damion.
Damion could fly faster if he wanted, but he was flying only fast enough to make sure the manticores could not catch them before reaching the outpost. If the manticores turned away, instead of pursuing their prey all the way to the outpost, it would mean the area for hundreds of miles would need to go on lockdown until a team strong enough to kill the Ferocious Beasts arrived. Since this was a Crimson Order outpost, designed to disrupt and withstand beast waves from the Red Zone, Damion believed it would be strong enough to deal with the five manticores. The trick was getting the manticores to attack the outpost.
When Damion flew back over the walls of the outpost, the manticores were only a few dozen meters behind. After depositing the two A Rank mages near who he guessed was the outpost commander, Damion flew back out and took a position on the outpost wall to watch the fight.
The manticores charged forward, completely ignoring the magic cannons that were moving to target them. When the closest manticore was just a dozen meters from the wall, the closest cannon to it fire. The blast sent out a ball of condensed Lightning mana that struck the manticore and sent it convulsing on the ground.
The other four manticores instantly leapt towards the outpost wall, hoping to cross over it to reck havoc inside the outpost before they too could be targeted. Unfortunately for them, the operators of the magic cannons anticipated the Ferocious Beasts’ actions. Several more cannons fired, catching the manticores entirely by surprise.
In an instant, the four manticores that had tried to jump over the wall were killed and thudded to the ground outside the walls. Around Damion on the walls, members of the Crimson Order let out a victory cheer.