<h4>Chapter 349: Night Life Pt.1</h4>


    "Alright, please follow me out into the city while I exin the defense situation in more detail." They had already finished the food they had been brought and were now about to be led out into the city to help with the defensive actions that had already started about an hour or two ago.


    They hadn''t missed much though so he guessed when the mayor had said there wasn''t much danger to the phantoms until the sun was fully down he wasn''t lying. "You all look like you can fight so I''ll skip most of the warnings and just say it''s best that you don''t use any type of Earth magic when trying to defeat them."


    As they were walking Donny was only semi-listening because he didn''t expect to hear anything he didn''t know already and he was finding the fact the streets seemed full of people interesting. Since the phantoms were able to move through solid things they were more than capable of going into people''s homes so he guessed it made sense no one was trying to sleep but he had never seen so many nobatants this close to a fight while not trying to run.


    It was easy to figure out their attitudes towards what was going on by how they were standing and just speaking to others like it was a social gathering and he assumed acting like this came from the fact they lived here and were kind of used to the idea of the phantoms.


    The people still living here after everything that had happened would also be the ones who had refused to move away so them acting brave was probably part of their natures and not just them failing to understand the danger the phantoms posed. "Magic is still the best way to stop them though so don''t hold back if you have a different affinity."


    Donny couldn''t help but look at the Oracle''s guard after this was said and wonder if they were only able to use Earth Magic. They had all arrived on a giant earthen tform and if this was a normal person he would expect they spent all their time training Earth Magic to be able to use it so well but he didn''t think doubting them was a good idea since every person chosen to guard the Oracle was exceptional in at least a few things.


    "Alright this is the area that most of the phantoms emerge from. The Mayor told me to bring you here because you''re most likely stronger than the guards." Donny felt like the person leading them would have continued to talk for a while if he hadn''t been cut off by something slowly starting to emerge from the ground near them.


    None of them moved right away because they all wanted to get their first real close up look at what it was they would be fighting. Once it was fully out of the ground it slowly started to drift towards them and he could feel a sense of dangering from it as it got closer. "Alright go ahead and give it a try. They aren''t really that tough and react to damage in a simr way to a tough bag. Once you rip enough holes in them they fall apart."


    Donny was ready to give it a go but he and everyone else here was looking at the guard waiting for him to make the first move. "You ten give it a try first. I want to see if any of you are able to take it out on your own." Donny felt this was the right decision and was about to form a Metal Spike below the phantom when he realized he didn''t know if Metal Magic was ok to use on them.


    He assumed it was fine because in all the information he had heard he had never heard anything that said Metal magic wasn''t ok to use but he just wanted to make sure before he did something that was bad for them. While the others who could use types of magic other than Earth got their spells ready Donny turned to the man and asked. "Metal''s fine right?"


    Getting a nod Donny didn''t hold himself back any longer and quickly wove his shield formation since it was what he liked to fight with. The others all waited for him to finish this process but not much longer and he had to send the shield formation forward almost as soon as it was done.


    All the spells including his formation flew through the phantom like they were hitting a piece of cloth and ripping holes in it and once it was over they all watched as the phantom seemed to dete and fall back down into the ground. "Looks like all of us staying together will be overkill. We''ll split into four groups and spread out a bit."


    With eleven of them the four groups didn''t have equal numbers but the amount of damage each group was about the same so their killing potential was the same. He was put with Fendis because as a Wind mage he didn''t have a very good damage output while Donny himself had the best of the people following the Guard.


    After they had split up Fendis started up a conversation he was sure the other groups that didn''t have anyone who knew a lot of information about Shallow were having. "What do you think happens if you use Earth Magic on them?" The other groups would have to have this conversation for the whole night as he and the guard were probably the only two who knew but Fendis was in luck. "It makes them faster and stronger. They also apparently grow the more earth mana they consume which is why you have to rip holes in them until they sink."


    "So they''re kind of like bubbles. Does popping them kill them?" This was actually unknown so Donny didn''t have a real answer. "There''s a good chance they survive it and after spending enough time underground they''re able toe back to the surface. No one knows for certain though."


    After he finished saying this the conversation paused for a while because a phantom started to emerge from the ground pretty close to them. "Do you want to see how long it takes you to deal with it on your own?" He was sure he could defeat alone in just one or two hits but Fendis was probably less sure so it was a good use of this opportunity to see just how capable Fendis was in this situation.


    "Yeah let me give it a try." After Fendis said this they both waited until the phantom had fully emerged from the ground before they got a bit closer. After Fendis had a spell ready to fire Donny expected to see the first of many holes form in the phantom''s body but Fendis held the spell and asked. "Do you think it matters where we hit it?"


    Donny took a few seconds to answer to give him a chance to rey the only experience he had fighting the phantoms. "I don''t know, we can try that next." After he said this Fendis finally started to fire spells one after another and after about ten the thing started to sink back down into the ground.


    "That wasn''t that bad. If they''re all like that I don''t see us having any problems tonight." He knew the amount was supposed to increase as the night passed but with the two of them there shouldn''t be any problems. "Alright the next one is yours I''m going to make a formation to increase my damage."


    Donny nodded because he had assumed Fendis would give this a try eventually because of the formation he was using and started to look around so they wouldn''t give any phantoms that emerged around them time to grow because they didn''t see it happen. After a few minutes another one started to pop its head out of the ground and he quickly used the shield to decapitate it to see what would happen.


    Like he hoped, slicing it into two pieces caused it to sink right away. Knowing he was able to take them down with a single attack like he hoped he dropped the threat the phantoms possessed even further in his mind. He knew as long as no one cked tonight there wouldn''t be a single problem and in a few more hours they would be ready to head back to the fortress with the food.


    "Hey Donny there''s two over here with me." Fendis was still working on his formation so he needed Donny to take care of the two that were heading this way before they made it to him and made him have to stop what he was doing to defend himself.


    After Donny sliced the two phantoms apart he was about to walk away again to watch another area when Fendis stopped him by saying. "Alright let''s see if this works." Looking down at the formation Fendis was about to activate he asked. "Is this something you''ve been working on?"


    Getting a nod, Donny decided he wanted to see what the formation Fendis had created could do and stood back to get a view at the first activation. He loved seeing stuff like this so once it had been activated and he still couldn''t tell what it was doing he said. "Let''s go test it out."