Chapter 12: Magic Crystals

"Wave of Despair"

As Tyler activate the spell, he wasn't sure it would work, and even if it did a Tier one spell would at most be visual effect in the presence of demons capable of killing what he believed to be a Tier 4 or even as far as a Tier 5 Magic Beast.

With that said, the only thing he cared about was a distraction. His goal was the visual effect from the spell, no matter how weak it was, he expected the two ladies to be a little bothered by a spell like that. After all they didn't know how strong he was, even though demons were arrogant creatures (or so he was told) they wouldn't be foolish enough to underestimate an enemy they had no intel on.

He hoped they would be hesitant about launching an attack and focus on resisting the controlling effects of the spell before they realize it was just the Tier 1 version of the spell. The moment they hesitated and prepared to resist his sudden move, that would be the best moment to make a break for it, even at Tier 3, he didn't believe they would catch up to him in such a terrain(Or so he hoped), at the very least, this would give him a chance.

As the aura wrapped around his body, Tyler felt a little impressed by what he was looking at. This looked better than he had expected, he felt his chance of escaping went up a bit 'It will work, i can make it.' he thought, motivating himself as he prepared for the next part.

He had to move the moment the aura left his body as it would give him the best chance of not being seen as he escaped. After all to high level opponents anyone that uses a Control spell as their first move must be confident in themselves and the spell.

Just before the aura exploded from his body he planted his feet and prepared to make a run for it, the moment he felt the first bit of Mana stir within him he made his move, but as he tried to take a step forward, there was no response from his legs as his knees gave out and he fell on the ground gasping for air.

He was confused as he kept panting on the ground completely out of breath, he could no longer feel his arms and legs, his body was hot and still getting hotter, he was sweating profusely.

He felt an absurd amount of energy surged out of him when the aura had exploded outwards. He could clearly feel the exhaustion getting worse as he could hear his heart pounding against his chest. It felt like it was about to bust.

He fell on the ground completely as he laid there breathing heavily. His muscles ached yet felt numb and he had a huge urge to sleep, then his stomach started to growl as hunger found its way into the mix.

His eyelids felt heavy, his vision was getting blurry, he wanted to close his eyes a little and take a little nap. Just as he was about to fall asleep, a thought that sent a chill down his spine ran across his mind. He was still in the forest, in front of two powerful demons, now that his plan had failed spectacularly, he needed to find another way or means of escape.

His mind jotted back awake as his thoughts raced wildly coming up with possible solutions, 'I gotta get up, i need to do something, anything.' he struggled against the fatigue and pain as he tried his best to get up.

After a considerable amount of effort, he finally stood up, his arms dangling from his shoulders lifelessly.

Tyler felt the blood rush up his head as he stood up, making him feel dizzy and almost sending him right back down. He managed to balance himself and withstand the sudden rush of blood.

He raised his head as he tried to look at the ladies who for some baffling reason had yet to attack him, even though he had laid defenseless on the ground for a few seconds.

His eyes settled down, he no longer felt as dizzy as he did just a few moments ago, he could now see what was in front of him. 'Uh! what's going on.'

He was dumbfounded at what he was looking at, the two ladies believed to be at hero level (Tier 4) mages, were lying unconscious on the ground.

The entire forest around him was suddenly dead silent. This sent a chill down Tyler's spine, he felt more terrified by this environment than facing an actual monster. "Did i do this?" Tyler was confused, it didn't matter who cast it, a Tier 1 spell would always be a Tier 1 spell, he knew that there were similar control spell like the one he used of higher tiers. He had seen the Tier 2 and Tier 3 version of the spell in the library so it didn't make sense for a Tier one spell to be capable of this.

He had learnt the tier 1 version of the spell as one of the spell that were safe to practice. Still a Tier 3 control spell would be unable to knockout a Tier 3 mage. Even when. they were severely injured. It would be the same even against a Tier 1 or Tier 2 mage, sorcerer, even a warrior would only enter a state of terror and panic either rendering them paralyzed or send them running frantically.

Not even a Tier 4 or Tier 5 mage would be able to push the power of a Tier 1 spell to this extent, to be able to put enough pressure on a mage that they're unable to resist and just pass out was not an easy feat. At that moment an eerie breeze blew past him jotting him out of his thoughts, he didn't think too much about it anymore as this wasn't the time nor the place.

"What now? should i just leave." he stood there contemplating for a while with a complicated expression on his face. Soon he took a few difficult steps and arrived in front of the ladies.

As he got closer he noticed something, changes were occurring with one of the girls. The white haired lady no longer looked as pale as she did before her skin had a little more color and her hair seems to be getting darker. Before long her bluish white hair had turned blonde, she no longer gave him a sense of fear and coldness, neither did he sense the feeling he felt before, the feeling that attracted him here.

He stood in place as he muttered to himself "Was it her? what exactly was that transformation, they are both demons i guess." as he said that he turned his head to look at the dark skinned girl, his expression wrapped, "Is she, an Elf!?"

Tyler was dumfounded once again he could hardly believe his eyes, he had never seen an elf in his life even after spending over 3 years in this world, previously. "What's an elf doing in the demon continent, what happened within the last thousand years." He didn't know if the girl was an elf or if she was some kind of sub demon race, but he instinctively decided to trust Earth's fan fiction on what an elf looked like, after all he was in another world.

Looking at both girls he had a lot of questions to ask, but he didn't know how friendly they would be after waking up and realizing he was the one responsible for knocking them out.

He didn't have much time to think about it before his stomach growling reminded him of hes situation. 'I need to get something to eat, what can i eat in the demon continent?' he hadn't found any food in the castle, not that he expected food to have survived centuries of decay would be edible he had only hoped to find a garden or something.

He needed to kill some kind of edible beast or monster or maybe find some wild fruits he had tasted before, but there wasn't many animals in the demon continent, he also hadn't find a single fruit in the forest.

The problem was he didn't have much strength right now, he could barely even stand much less hunt a monster. That was when he remembered something. "That's right! those Red Hawks" The name was given by the adventurers that hunted those creatures, they didn't really know the actual name. The red Hawks weren't difficult to hunt, the only problem was, the usual place they were found in the human continent was very dangerous.

The birds liked tall places to rest on, unlike this forest there wasn't that many giant trees in the human continent. He had seen a lot of them on his way here, all he needed was a way to reach them from below.

He instinctively looked around to see if there would be anything of use around him not really expecting to find something immediately, that's when he spotted the ice sculpture he had notice previously, although the ice around were defrosting rapidly the ice sculpture was as sturdy as a rock.

Letting his curiosity get the better if him he took very heavy and difficult steps towards the sculpture. It took him a while but he finally got there, it was definitely a magic beast, the thing was on all fours yet it was already his height (maybe taller) and he was over 6ft tall.

He didn't recognize the monster, he had never seen a magic beast before so it wasn't strange. The thing looked like a panther covered in scales instead of fur, with comically large claws.

there was a part of the body glowing, he could guess what it was, he had heard of this phenomenon before, normally you just cut out the item and any edible body parts of a monster after defeating it, but right now the beast was frozen solid, he couldn't get it out, and he doubted if any part of the flesh would be edible after this.

This was a very valuable item in the human continent, he imagined even the demon continent would be no different, moreover this was most likely a Tier 3 or even a Tier 4 Magic beast, he wouldn't be surprised if he found out it was stronger, the item would be more valuable and would definitely be of help to him in the future.

He hurriedly turned around to find something he could use as an hammer to shatter the sculpture for the item, then he spotted a dagger on the ground. It was dark in colour with an exquisite design, he could guess it belonged to one of the girls 'I guess one of them is an assassin type'.

He walked to the spot with difficulty and picked it up, his arms felt heavy, every movement he made was incredibly difficult but he didn't care, he just wanted the item, you could say this was the power of greed.

When he got back to the ice sculpture he raised his right hand holding the dagger, and with his remaining strength and the force of gravity he hammered down on the ice sculpture.

Bang! Shatter....

To be honest he was expecting failure, considering how sturdy the Ice sculpture looked, he hadn't expected the thing to shatter in one hit, either he was stronger than he thought or the ice sculpture must've been very fragile. In the end though it was obvious the monster had been frozen all the way to it's bones, the thought of being om the receiving end of this attack sent chills down his spine.

It didn't take long for him to calm down, he looked at the shattered bits of frozen flesh below and saw the small glowing blueish white crystal defying gravity as it hung in the air, slowly floating down to the ground like a feather, it was like a gorgeous blue gem the size of a golf ball, it looked rough around the edges but looking at it one could not help but be attracted to it.

Tyler could not contain the joy and excitement in his heart as he stared at the beautiful gem in front of him, the dazzling glow that illuminated the area around it made him feel a sense of peace and tranquility, he could feel the boundless energy within it.

This was a Magic Crystal, the core of a magic beast.