Chapter 123 – Friendly Help
Even without True Sight Damion could tell the enormous Fire Scorpion that appeared was not F Rank like all the others. What True Sight told Damion was that this Fire Scorpion was a C Rank Ferocious Beast. While the Rank of the beast was concerning, what was truly frightening about it was that it was large enough to be able to tear down Mr. Galen's house if it was so inclined.
Knowing that the spray from the Fire Scorpion's tail would likely ignite the roof of Mr. Galen's house or decimate the few crops Mr. Galen had planted if the Ferocious Beast used it to attack him right now, Damion quickly moved to get around the Fire Scorpion and head towards the Benault Forest. His goal was to get the giant Fire Scorpion to chase him or at least turn to watch him, so Mr. Galen's house and planted fields were not in the background when this Fire Scorpion inevitably attacked.
Damion's guess was correct and as he moved around the side of the Fire Scorpion it turned with him. What he did not expect, given how the smaller Fire Scorpion's moved and attacked, was for this giant one to be fast.
The C Rank Fire Scorpion lashed out with one of its pincers as Damion moved around it. While he was able to roll out of the way, the Ferocious Beast shot out a stream of its venom from the tip of its tail that burst into a jet of flame that came precariously close to setting him on fire.
Damion quickly got to his feet and sprinted towards the back fields. However, before getting more than a few meters he felt the heat of the Fire Scorpion's flame on his back. Diving forward into the dirt the Fire Scorpion's flame flew over him. With Damion immobile on the ground it gave the Fire Scorpions, large and small, a chance to converge on him.
This was the first time Damion had paid attention to anything other than the giant Fire Scorpion, but now that he was on the ground in the back field, he could see dozens of the smaller F Rank Fire Scorpions moving towards him.
With only a few seconds to act before he became a barbeque mage, Damion got to his feet and cast Ice Shield with his left and brought out his sword from the Magic System Inventory grasping it in his other.
Small spurts of flames and fireballs started coming from the small Fire Scorpions all around him and Damion immediately channeled more mana into his Ice Shield, willing the small buckler he had summoned to become a large tower shield he could hide behind.
Damion's spell grew and then began to shrink as the Fire Scorpion's fire attacks began to melt its edges. As he continued to feed his Ice Shield Mana he quickly came up with a plan. Peeking over the top of his shield, he cast Ice Breath, spewing his frosty breath attack at the small Fire Scorpions in answer to their fire attacks.
Ice Breath managed to drive a few of the closest Fire Scorpions off, but when the C Rank Fire Scorpion saw Damion attacking the little ones with Ice magic, it became enraged and spewed another stream of fire at him.
Ducking back behind his shield Damion fought to channel mana into his Ice Shield faster than the Fire Scorpion could melt it. As the giant Fire Scorpion's attack persisted, the smaller Fire Scorpions began to circle around his shield to attack him from the sides.
The little ones were too far away for Damion to slash them with his sword and his sword's fire attack would not be much help against these Fire affinity Ferocious Beasts either. Damion stabbed his sword into the ground and raised his palm toward the encroaching Fire Scorpions and began casting Ice Shard.
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The smaller Fire Scorpions were still as slow as ever and had a hard time moving side to side making them easy targets for Damion's Ice Shard spell. One after another the small Fire Scorpions began dying as they were hit with ice crystals nearly the size of their own bodies.
As the little ones died the giant Fire Scorpion let out a screech and barreled towards Damion. The C Rank Ferocious Beast slammed into his Ice Shield, knocking him back several paces. Damion quickly got his Ice Shield realigned to defend against the Fire Scorpion's flame attack, but instead the giant Fire Scorpion slashed at him with its pincers.
The first swipe caused Damion's Ice Shield to crack and before he could reinforce it with more mana, the Fire Scorpion stabbed forward with its other pincer. The second attack shattered the Ice Shield, and the tip of the Fire Scorpion's pincer stabbed into his left forearm piercing straight through his armor.
Damion cried out in pain and grabbed hold of the Fire Scorpion's pincer with his other hand casting Icy Grasp in the process. The Ice magic started seeping into the Fire Scorpion's pincer and while the Ferocious Beast did not fully understand what was going on, it had the survival instincts to know it needed to shake Damion off.
With a flick of its pincer the giant Fire Scorpion sent Damion flying, freeing itself of his Icy Grasp. Damion landed a few meters away and rolled to his feet, cradling his injured arm.
Fumbling with the storage pouches on his belt, Damion pulled out a healing salve and quickly spread it on the wound on his arm. The salve was not enough to completely heal his arm, but it would slow the bleeding and start to close the wound.
Damion did not have much time after getting to his feet and applying the salve before Fire Scorpions started attacking him again. Ice Shield sprang to life on his left arm again blocking the attacks while he retaliated with his own. The closest Fire Scorpions quickly met their ends from Damion casting Ice Shard several times. He also sent a few ice crystals at the C Rank Fire Scorpion as it started to close in.
The giant Fire Scorpion appeared barely fazed by Damion's attacks, but he had confidence that his Ice magic was wreaking havoc on the Fire Scorpion's insides. Damion just had to hit the Ferocious Beast enough that the accumulated damage would start to slow it down and maybe even kill it.
As more fire attacks hit Damion's Ice Shield he began to realize he needed to do something more than just block and take a few more of the small Fire Scorpions out. Before Damion managed to come up with a plan, he heard a bird screech, followed by the giant Fire Scorpion screeching in answering.
Phil swooped in and joined the fight. Damion was not sure what the Snow Hawk could do at first, but then he saw the bird swooping around the giant Fire Scorpion spewing an Ice Breath of its own across the Fire Scorpion's carapace.
Lines of frost appeared across the giant Fire Scorpion's carapace as Phil circled around repeatedly strafing the C Rank Ferocious Beast. The Fire Scorpion was trying it's best to retaliate against the aerial assault of Phil, but having no luck. Damion took the distraction of the giant Fire Scorpion as an opportunity to kill off a dozen of the smaller Fire Scorpions.
With Damion clearing out so many of the F Rank Fire Scorpions and Phil keeping the C Rank busy, the remaining F Rank Fire Scorpions surrendered to their survival instincts and began fleeing into burrows.
Free of the need to defend against the smaller Fire Scorpions, Damion was able to cast Ice Shard without fear. Spell after spell shot out from his palm. The ice crystals burying themselves deeper and deeper into the giant Fire Scorpion's body.
As Damion continued to cast spells, he saw his sword still stabbed into the ground. Rushing over he snatched his sword out of the ground while Phil launched another assault, causing the giant Fire Scorpion to snap its pincers in the air trying to catch the bird. This gave Damion the perfect opening.
Dashing at the Fire Scorpion while he channeled mana into his sword, Damion leapt into the air. His leap ended as he brought his sword down into the gap in the carapace plate protecting the Fire Scorpion's head and the first plate of its thorax. Damion's blade sunk between the plates and into the Fire Scorpion's flesh and brain.