Reborn With a Magic System

"They headed towards sixteen, should be there any time now," the C Rank team leader at fifteenth floor safe area told a light blue haired man that appeared at the safe area three hours after Damion's team had left.

"Good. The kid has a strong perception I'm told. We couldn't risk being seen before he headed out, or he might have gotten suspicious," the light blue haired man said with a wicked smile. "Take your people and leave. If questioned, report back that a B Rank team cleared the C Rank floors so you all turned back. Against your advice his team pressed on, hoping to make up for getting nothing on the C Rank floors he foolishly led his team to a B Rank floor."

"Will do boss," the C Rank replied. "Let's move out."

After a quick wave, the majority of people in the safe area started moving into the portal back to the fourteenth floor.

Stay on fifteen or move to sixteen.

The sixteenth floor of the labyrinth would begin the first of the B Rank floors that ran all the way to the twenty-fifth floor. Just like dungeons, a B Rank floor of the labyrinth likely only had a few B Rank Demonic Beasts. The guardian and up to a half-dozen champions.

The more important part was that the B Rank floor would have plenty of C Rank beasts. Damion's team could kill those and the materials from C Rank Demonic Beasts were naturally more valuable than the D Rank and below they had collected so far. In fact, just one C Rank Demonic Core would likely be worth more than all the materials they had collected to this point on their run.

"Let's go," Mage Sooter said as he started down the rim into the caldera.

Damion did not object and followed the Fire mage into the passageway. The eagerness Mage Sooter had to get to the sixteenth floor was probably so he could feel useful again. Being a Fire mage on floors filled with fire might make him feel at home, but his magic was next to useless against any of the Demonic Beasts found on those floors.

The moment Damion entered the sixteenth floor he could feel the difference. Not just the lack of heat, but also the amount of ambient mana. Damion suddenly felt like he was swimming in the mana.

This floor was set in a forest. Not as dense of a forest as the Benault Forest, nor were the trees as imposing, but Damion remembered Arica had once told him the Benault Forest was considered unique.

"Such dense mana," Mage Blythe said what the rest of the team was thinking. "Is this caused by the B Ranks?"

"In part," Mage Sooter said. "High Rank Demonic Beasts like to live in mana dense environments. Helps them grow. Since they like high density mana, the labyrinth obviously creates that environment for them."

"I did some research ahead of time on this floor," Damion told the others as he looked around the forested area they were in. "The guardian and the champions are all located towards the center of the forest, usually goblins. In the rest of the forest, we should only encounter C Rank and below Demonic Beasts."

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"Good to know. Lead the way boss," Knight Macmillan said.

Damion started forward into the forest, there was a path, but Damion knew it ran towards a meadow in the center of the forest were the guardian stayed. There were other goblins in forest, but they were unlikely to offer much challenge to their team.

The real danger in the forest was running into a strong C Rank Demonic Beast. Even with a team of C Ranks it was possible to run into a peak C Rank Demonic Beast that could shrug off his team's attacks and tear through them, but Damion kept that worry to himself. He was confident in his magic, and he believed his team would not let him down.

The first Demonic Beast his team came across happened to be a C Rank, which excited everyone when Damion told them. It was a Wind Wolf. His team urged Damion to attack, but he knew Wind Wolves usually moved in packs. Just one C Rank Wind Wolf was suspicious.

A few moments after he convinced his team to hold their position, three more Wind Wolves moved out of the brush to join the C Rank one. These other three Damion could see were D Rank.

"Macmillan, you stay with Blythe and Kripke. Grier, you take the small one on the left, Sooter the one on the right. I'll take out the D Rank one in the middle. Once all three D Ranks are down, we'll all attack the C Rank together."

Damion's teammates all gave a nod of agreement. The three attacking mages crept closer to the Wind Wolves before he finally stopped about ten meters away. Damion looked to both Mages Sooter and Grier before raising his palm at his target.

Together the three mages each launched an attack. Ice Shard, Whirlwind Sphere and Fire Lance. Each spell found its mark cutting down a single Wind Wolf. With the three D Rank targets taken out, Damion rushed forward to meet the C Rank Demonic Beast while casting Ice Shield and Ice Sword.

The C Rank Wind Wolf howled in rage when its pack members fell. When it saw Damion rushing towards it, the Demonic Beast did not hesitate to go on the attack. Damion blocked the Wind Wolf's claws with his Ice Shield, but his sword swipe failed to connect to the Demonic Beast as it retreated slightly, causing him to miss.

The Demonic Beast tried to circle around Damion, but the Ice mage did not let it. If he let the Wind Wolf circle around, it would have a chance to turn and attack his teammates. Damion just needed to keep the Demonic Beast occupied while his companions got clear angles of attack.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Damion heard Mage Blythe ask from behind him.

Damion resisted the urge to turn and see what Mage Blythe was talking about. Any distraction at this moment could easily lead to the Wind Wolf taking a bite out of his side. However, when he heard Blythe let out an anguished scream, Damion could not help but turn.

In the instant that Damion turned, the Wind Wolf lunged. He was able to fend off the Wind Wolf's attack, even landing a quick slash across the Demonic Beast's flank with his Ice Sword. However, Damion had little chance to process how injured the Demonic Beast was because his attention was drawn to the sword sticking out of Mage Blythe's stomach.

Before he could ask his team what was going on, Mage Sooter and Mage Grier attacked. Fire Lance and Whirlwind Sphere spells passed over Damion's head as his instincts forced him to dive out of the way.

After hitting the ground, Damion began to immediately get to his feet. He did not know what was going on, but he knew he did not want to stick around to find out. Another Whirlwind Sphere flashed towards him, this one striking him, but was blocked by the wards in his armor.

Even though the magic attack was blocked by his armor, Damion still felt the impact and the force of the blow pushed him forward knocking him off balance. He tripped over something and fell face first onto Mage Kripke's corpse. The Spatial mage's throat had been slit.