What worried Damion the most about this Demonic Beast, was that he had not felt the ground moving or shaking under him while the creature was preparing to attack. Being able to move unhindered underground was an ability few Demonic Beast's had. It reinforced his assumption that the creature had an Earth or Stone affinity since the ability to move like it did was akin to Passthrough.

Since learning the tier 3 magic seal, Damion had yet to make use of it and now did not seem like a good time. After all, this Demonic Beast was proficient in its movements and no matter how fast he could learn, he would not be able to outdo the Demonic Beast in its native environment quickly.

Instead, Damion kept himself in the air with Blink. Popping into the air and falling to the ground only to pop back up a second from impact to begin falling again. If anyone was watching they were sure to question his sanity, but that did not matter to him right now. He was focused on locating the Demonic Beast.

The size of the holes in the ground told him it was a fairly large creature. Still, there were no signs of its passage. No clumping dirt on the surface or cracks forming. The Demonic Beast was able to move perfectly through the ground without a sign nor sound. That, or the creature was still.

Since Damion was no longer standing on the ground, there was a possibility that the Demonic Beast was unable to locate him and thus had stopped moving. If that was the case, he would need to lure the creature out somehow.

Ice Clone would have been an optimal choice. Unfortunately, Damion was trying to appear to be a Spatial mage and since he did not know when someone from the Adventurer Association might arrive, using anything other than Spatial affinity spells was a no go. He did, however, still have his Earth affinity artifact. While the artifact was only C Rank and certainly not strong enough to hurt the beast, he might still be able to use it lure the creature out.

Equipping the artifact, Damion cast Earth Shard at the ground several times in sequence. A few seconds later the Demonic Beast shot from the ground where his last Earth Shard hit. Being a short distance away, he was finally able to identify the creature when it broke the surface.

The Demonic Beast was a Deep Stone Eel and was B Rank as he suspected. It had a Stone affinity and as Damion had already seen, was able to pass through the ground as easily as any fish swam through water. It was about five meters long with a snakelike body but was scaleless, with a long dorsal fin and a pointed head filled with sharp teeth.

Just as fast as the Deep Stone Eel broke the surface it dove back into the ground. If he wanted to fight this Demonic Beast, he would have to lure it back out. Trying his Earth Shard ploy again, Damion began hitting the ground with the spell, attempting to make it seem like he was running along the surface.

Unfortunately, the Deep Stone Eel did not fall for the bait a second time. This told Damion he needed better bait. He considered Ice Clone again, but in the end, decided he would do it himself. The Demonic Beast had already hit him with a good blow, he thought it was unlikely that it could muster enough strength actually break through the wards on his two sets of B Rank armor. Damion's armor from the Magic System might not be visible, but it still offered him an additional layer of protection.

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A quick cast of Blink took Damion from falling to standing on the ground near the holes the Deep Stone Eel had made. Nothing happened when his feet touched down, so he began running. He still could not see, hear or even feel the Deep Stone Eel under the ground, but there was one sense the Demonic Beast could not evade, Damion's aura detection.

While he could not pinpoint the Demonic Beast's location, Damion could tell it was following closely behind him. Preparing to strike. Just as he felt the Demonic Beast's aura spike, he used Blink to move a meter to the right. The head of the Demonic Beast shot out of the ground where Damion had been a moment ago.

In answer to the Deep Stone Eel's attack, Damion threw a right hook that hit the Demonic Beast halfway down its long head. The creature let out a cry of pain as the force of the punch knocked its head sideways. However, before Damion could follow-up with another attack, the Demonic Beast's tail whipped up from the ground, hitting Damion in the knee.

There was a sickening snap and sharp pain as Damion's knee was bent in a direction it was never meant to go. In addition to breaking his knee, the young mage was flipped off his feet and the intense pain kept him from focusing his mana.

In the brief moment Damion could not focus to cast a spell, he hit the ground, and the Deep Stone Eel quickly wrapped its body around him and began to squeeze. The Demonic Beast's head came around and was about to come bite Damion's head off when the rush of adrenaline brought on by impending death helped to numb the pain he felt enough that he could focus.

Blink took Damion out of the Deep Stone Eel's grasp and while he was falling from the midair location he teleported to, he cast Exile at the Demonic Beast. The small rift in space opened, but either the Demonic Beast was able to resist its pull because it had a higher magic power than Damion, or it was able to dodge enough that the attack was weakened.

Either way, Damion's attack failed, leaving him falling towards the ground and the Deep Stone Eel slapping him with its tail again sending him flying again.

As Damion tumbled through the air, he saw the Deep Stone Eel disappear beneath the ground. He could only guess the Demonic Beast was relocating to get another shot in once he fell to the ground.

Not wanting to be swallowed, or turned into a Ping-Pong ball, Damion cast Blink and used the teleport to cancel his momentum. So instead of falling in an arch, he was now falling straight down. Of course, that was only until he used Blink again to push himself higher into the air.

His adrenaline rush was wearing off and the pain of his knee coming to the front of his mind. After a series of Blinks, Damion let himself start falling once he was confident he was high enough to give him time. Doubling himself over, he straightened his leg and cast Minor Heal as many times he could before he had to Blink himself higher into the air again.

His leg was not fully healed, but the bone had begun to knit, and he was no longer in excruciating pain. As long as he was not going to be trying to run or kick anything with his leg, it was healed enough to continue the fight.

Down below him Damion saw the Deep Stone Eel looking up at him, waiting for him to fall back to the ground. Just as he was considering using Blink to move himself laterally, the Demonic Beast opened its mouth and spat out a rock.

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