Icarus stood next to the dark elf girl. She was saying something, but he wasn't paying attention.
His thoughts slammed back into his body, and with a jolt, he came back.
The place he had teleported to had likely been a school of magic; they were all over the continent, and he knew of their existence from stories his tutor had told him.
At this place, he had learned exactly what he needed to learn, the way to cast intermediate magic.
He smiled as he thought that the amulet the beastman wore was truly a lifesaver.
What he had learned was that he had been holding on to mana; you need to release large amounts of mana to cast intermediate spells, which he subconsciously did not do, and the thought of doing so would not have even occurred to him.
He laughed aloud, "That's it!? "
The dark elf girl stared at him. She did not seem to understand.
He looked at her and at the beastman.
"You two can go, apologies, I was just thinking to myself."
He walked upstairs once again, the guard burst through the door right on time, and stared at the body of master Valerius in disbelief.
Icarus smiled. He raised a hand towards the guard holding the Grimoire in the other hand.
He envisioned his mana filling the air, flowing out through his fingertips, and forming a ball in the air. His mana swirled and exited his body. He focused intently on the sensation of letting go of the mana.
He imagined the swirling ball of mana igniting.
As he imagined, the ball of fire formed, swelling to about three times the size of his body, it pulsed with massive heat, and sparks flew off, singeing the room around them.
Icarus opened his eyes
"Fireball."
It blasted forward, his hair waved in the wind that was created from its heat, the guard's eyes widened as it shot towards him, and he was instantly destroyed on contact. The buildings behind him met the same fate. He was just a regular human, so someone who could use this class of magic was this far above him
Icarus shook his head. To think he had been holding onto mana like that subconsciously, such a simple problem, but he couldn't realize it without being told.
He still had to unlock the Grimoire, or the other magicians would be too strong for him. The lock on the Grimoire was magical, so he would likely have to inject it with a large amount of mana and-
The lock fell open. He had simply been holding when he cast the spell, and that had been enough.
Inside, magical sigils whirled about. Icarus sighed when he saw this. He would have to visualize these coming together to buff his skills. If he were overwhelmed, it would take too long to go do this.
He heard someone clear their throat behind him.
The dark elf girl and the beastman stood, admiring the damage done by the fireball. It had flown upwards, taken off a distant roof, and blown a hole in the wall.
"You said there would be an attack. In that case, does it mean we need to escape?"
Icarus sighed; they had hopped on the bandwagon immediately.
He still nodded; he needed a 'tank', which was a role the beastman could play, and maybe the dark elf would also play a similar role.
The group stepped out. The attack had already begun. Icarus imagined his man flowing out into the beastman and the dark elf; they all became invisible as he cast greater invisibility.
The trio ran through the street. Icarus chanted another incantation and imagined his energy flowing outwards again.
His energy went from dark blue to solid yellow and transfused.
"Haste!"
A minor buffing spell that raised speed the most, Icarus estimated by around 25%
They blitzed forward slightly faster. Icarus' eyes shone as he attempted to channel the energy of the Grimoire.
They were nearing the gates, and the port wasn't yet destroyed.
Icarus began Visualising once again. Another fireball gathered in front of him.
From his side, he heard a great crash. The cloaked sword wielder had arrived, the beastman knocked him away, and he landed on a nearby rooftop.
Icarus channeled the shifting sigils of the Grimoire into the fireball; regardless of their actual content, they were imbued with powerful magic that could be harnessed easily by a Visualization Pathway user.
This would, unfortunately, come at the cost of the Grimoire itself.
The book burned up, the sigils floated into the air and merged with the fireball, and it expanded to around ten times the size of Icarus' body.
It blasted off, simply firing the fireball knocked him back, the fireball scorched through and blazed a pathway through the air, with a massive crash, it exploded.
Fire rained from the sky, Icarus signalled to the others to keep moving, and they followed closely behind him. Minutes later, they had exited the city.
The gates were far behind them now. Icarus released the haste and illusion spells that bound them.
They all gasped for air; it had been a mad dash out, and haste had an aftereffect that drained stamina.
A woosh interrupted them. In the middle of the clearing where they stood, the cloaked man stood and stared at Icarus.
Lyra's eyes widened, the beastman turned through a blow towards the man, he caught it and countered, sending the beastman stumbling back.
Icarus shot a firebolt from his hand, but it was nowhere near strong enough, and the man swatted it away with ease.
Lyra produced something from her pocket, a blinding flash blinded Icarus, and a moment later, the three of them. Were standing in a strange semi-transparent box.
They could see the outside through a blue filter, but it was clearly separate from where they were.
Lyra cursed, "I didn't want to show this, but that guys just too strong."
Icarus turned to her, "What is this?"
Lyra shrugged, "It's some kind of pocket dimension, I guess. Those types of items are usually rare, but I got this one from the field I used to work at, although it was a famous battlefield, now it's just farmland."
Icarus nodded. A massive explosion shook them. They all looked up and saw the man floating above the area. He was blasting magic randomly in all directions."
Icarus looked at Lyra, "Is this really safe?"
Lyra looked up, and a bolt of lightning blasted down, hitting directly beside the nearest wall of the pocket dimension.
A small crack formed, barely visible.
"Uhh..."
The beastman took off his necklace. Icarus looked at him, and the beastman spoke, "We might be able to get out of here with this..."
Icarus stared as he continued, "This can give you exactly what you need in times like these."
The same words from the previous loop, Icarus pondered them, then asked, "What would happen if we all hold onto it?"
The beastman turned to him, "I don't know. My grandma only said that if I used it, it would work anyway."
Icarus stared dimly at him; he hadn't even known if it would help him the last time he had used it.
Another bolt of lightning crashed down, and another crack formed. Lyra looked around frantically. "Let's just try it! If we stay here, we probably die anyway!"
Icarus looked back and forth and nodded.
The beastman held the necklace from the string, Lyra held one side, and he held the other.
It closed with spectacular light. And exploded.
The trio stared at the ash in their hand. Above them, the man was channeling a massive bolt of lightning; it arced between his fingertips, and he hurled it toward the earth.
The pocket dimension shattered on impact, and the trio was thrown far apart.
The man loomed above them, ominously staring down at them.
From his left, a beam of light slammed into his side and vaporised him on contact.