Chapter 153
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: Mana Devourer (1)
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[Asrahan Heart Method Skill Option ⑤: Rapid Charge activates.]
[Absorbs a massive amount of mana from random targets in the vicinity.]
Keeeeeeng!
Lloyd's eyes closed.
His consciousness gradually faded.
A change occurred in his heart.
The three mana circles encircling his heart ignited.
At first, slowly.
Gently and quietly.
But gradually faster.
Fiercely, savagely.
They spun at their limit speed. Surpassed the limit. Shattered it.
All restraints were released.
All hesitation vanished.
They ceased to distinguish targets.
Finally, they defined everything around them as one.
Targets to absorb.
Kyaaaaah—!
The three mana circles howled.
Exerting influence and rampaging outward.
Centered on Lloyd, a radius of 7 meters.
A total space of 14 meters in diameter transformed into a ferocious vortex.
It began sucking in the mana of everything that entered.
Kwaaaaah!
The ground's moisture dried up in an instant.
Ants underground, nameless beetles.
Houseflies buzzing nearby, mites in the dust.
The moment they entered Rapid Charge's range, all their mana was stripped away.
Flesh withered, blood depleted, until their cores crumbled.
Even the emptied shells turned to powder.
Of course, the charging undead mastodons were no exception.
"Quooooook!"
The lead undead mastodon let out a savage roar.
Murderous intent flickered in its hazy eyes glaring at Lloyd.
But the moment it took its next step.
A change came over the undead mastodon's eyes.
"......Quoook?"
Kyaaaaah!
The first part to enter Rapid Charge's range was the undead mastodon's head.
Among them, the eyeballs, which still retained relatively more moisture, shriveled first.
"Quook!"
Pffft!
Mana was rapidly drained, depleting the moisture in its eyeball.
The half-rotted eyeball caved in and crumbled.
Soon, its mouth and ears twisted.
Kwajik! Kwajijik!
Its body boiled internally.
Mana was stripped away in an instant, moisture vanished.
The cell membranes supporting the rotten tissues tore apart.
"Quugrk!"
Hide and muscle split open.
Horns and tusks powdered.
Joints and bone marrow shattered and collapsed.
The 7-ton body crashed to the ground.
Finally, unable to endure, it reached its last stage.
The final wicked spell the necromancer who made the undead mastodon had left on the corpse.
Corpse Explosion.
Fwoooosh, boom—!
The twisting, crumbling undead mastodon corpse exploded fiercely.
Just 5 meters from where Lloyd sat.
The savage explosion and shockwave bloomed.
No barrier seemed to protect Lloyd from the lapping flames.
But that wasn't the case.
Lloyd was safe.
Even the explosive force of the Corpse Explosion was fully absorbed.
Kyaaaaah—!
Lloyd's mana circles roared even more fiercely.
Spinning gluttonously, revealing wicked greed.
The flames licking toward him.
The shockwave poised to tear his body apart, shaking the air.
All fell into Rapid Charge's maw.
Even an explosion was no issue.
No, a magical explosion like Corpse Explosion was actually welcome.
Because it gifted him mana in an amplified state.
Keeeeeng—!
Lloyd devoured even the explosion in an instant.
Breathless messages floated before his closed eyelids.
Ding-dong!
[Massive mana is being absorbed through Rapid Charge skill.]
[The amount of mana being absorbed exceeds Mana Heart's capacity limit.]
[Mana Heart is forcibly expanding.]
[Skill experience gained.]
Kwaduduk, kwajit!
The mana the mastodon originally held biologically.
Plus the undead energy implanted by the necromancer.
And the explosive power of the Corpse Explosion spell added on.
All converted to mana.
Absorbed in a short instant.
Naturally, it strained Lloyd's Mana Heart.
That shock became the foundation for growth.
[Mana Heart skill level has risen.]
Ding-dong!
If Lloyd had opened his eyes.
If he could read the messages.
One that would have made him cheer in earnest appeared.
[Skill Name: Mana Heart]
[Stage: Sword Expert Lower Lv 3]
[Physical Ability Enhancement: 340%]
[Exclusive Skill Options Held: ① Shock Nullification ② Immunity to All Poisons ③ Trance]
[RP Required for Next Level Up: 400]
[Current RP Held: 2,870]
"Cough!"
It was far too rapid a growth for the Mana Heart.
Lloyd's upper body jolted violently from the massive shock.
Meanwhile, the remaining undead mastodon horde charged endlessly.
"Quooooook!"
As undead, they had almost no reasoning left.
Even as their leading comrade was drained of mana and powdered by Lloyd, even triggering Corpse Explosion, they charged without hesitation.
Endlessly.
Without pause.
Continuously, one after another.
They had their mana stripped, withering and twisting.
Twisting until they triggered Corpse Explosion.
Unable to exert any explosive force on their surroundings, that power fully absorbed.
"Cough! Kugh!"
Massive mana surged up.
Each time, Lloyd's upper body rocked like in a typhoon.
It was a different experience from when he had absorbed Queen Alicia's mana in the capital.
'Kugh, khek...!'
Queen Alicia's mana had been utterly pure.
Refined, compressed, impeccably clean mana.
Absorbing it had been easy.
Simply because its density was so high.
Because his Mana Heart's capacity was insufficient.
It was mana he could fully digest by expanding his Mana Heart's size.
But now?
The situation was the complete opposite.
"Keup!"
Pffft—!
A rough cough.
Blood sprayed from Lloyd's mouth.
Because the undead mastodon's mana was so turbid, filthy, and rough.
"......Kuhup!"
It wasn't mana from a living being.
It was mana from something dead and rotting.
Cursed with wicked necromantic blessing, profane and corrupt mana.
Probably the filthiest kind of mana in the world.
Naturally, accepting it inflicted severe damage on his body.
Kududuk, duduk!
Even in his trance, Lloyd ground his teeth.
It hurt so much, agonizing enough to raise goosebumps all over.
His whole body convulsed as he barely endured the pain.
He maintained the absorption.
The more corrupt and profane mana he absorbed, the more his body experienced indirect death moment by moment everywhere.
Thud!
His heartbeat became irregular.
Ventricular fibrillation occurred.
Heart muscles spasmed.
Myocardial infarction gripped his chest.
Then, barely, the muscles regained calm.
His respiratory system was the same.
"Suhup... Cough!"
Asthmatic bronchi constricted in an instant.
Breathing grew ragged, reddish blotches blooming on his face.
Lung alveoli necrotized, then barely recovered.
Such phenomena occurred throughout his body.
Ulcers formed in his convulsing stomach.
Gallstones formed instantly in his gallbladder. Blocked the bile duct. Bile refluxed. Accumulated in the liver. Bilirubin from the bile built up in liver tissue.
Jaundice set in. Liver tissue destroyed in real time. Tissue fibrosed. Rapid-onset cirrhosis symptoms.
Paralysis in muscles. Proteins broke down.
Osteoporosis and arthritis in bones.
Blood denatured.
Lymph backflowed.
Neural tissue severed.
Cartilage wore away and vanished.
Thus, Lloyd's body half-died in real time.
Then his body rebelled.
Activated Mana Heart to maximum.
Repaired damaged tissues, restored bodily anomalies.
Destruction and regeneration.
Death and revival.
That tempering-like repetition unexpectedly gifted Lloyd a chance to train.
"Kuh... Kup!"
His whole body trembled like an aspen.
Breathing ragged as he tried to endure the pain.
Even in trance, it was excruciating.
Indescribably uncomfortable.
Yet that very process became his training.
Training is like that by nature.
The ultimate goal of training isn't to grow stronger.
Nor is development or progress the true purpose.
The true purpose of training is to confront discomfort.
Thus, those who train their minds, ascetics enduring austerities, willingly accept harsh processes.
Discomfort in the flesh.
Discomfort filling the heart.
Discomfort in breath, mind, memory.
All discomforts binding body and soul.
Discovering discomfort through daily training.
Confronting that discovered discomfort head-on.
Acknowledging the discomfort as it is.
Accepting the acknowledged discomfort.
Finally embracing, encompassing, assimilating it as one's own.
Repeating the journey to discover the next dimension of discomfort.
That is the true purpose of training.
Growing stronger.
Progressing.
Advancing.
All those are mere byproducts obtained on the path to the purpose.
In that sense, today Lloyd unwittingly undertook true training unrelated to his intentions.
Because he was thrust into an unprecedentedly extreme and radical succession of discomforts, repeatedly overcoming them.
"Kuh... Euk...."
Ragged breaths like groans.
Within them, he desperately embraced the pain.
If he had been sane.
If he had even a shred of consciousness.
It would have been utterly impossible.
But another skill option he possessed enabled this superhuman endurance.
Ding-dong.
[Mana Heart Skill Option ③: Trance activates.]
[For 60 seconds, enter a trance state and blindly focus on a single goal.]
Trance option activated right on time.
That was when.
Lloyd's expression grew serene.
He endured the pain itself, continuing Rapid Charge.
The extremely profane, turbid, putrid undead mana.
He accepted all that energy as it was, making it his own.
At the same time, his Mana Heart expanded further.
Ding-dong!
[Mana Heart skill level has risen.]
[Skill Name: Mana Heart]
[Stage: Sword Expert Lower Lv 4]
[Physical Ability Enhancement: 360%]
[Exclusive Skill Options Held: ① Shock Nullification ② Immunity to All Poisons ③ Trance]
[RP Required for Next Level Up: 450]
[Current RP Held: 2,870]
Mana Heart skill leveled up in an instant.
But it didn't end there.
It was merely the starting point of relentless growth.
Messages continuously appeared before his tightly shut eyelids.
Mana Heart skill levels rose at a storm-like pace.
From Lv 4 to 5.
Past 5 to 6 and 7.
Skipping 8 and 9 to 10.
Finally surpassing the Lower Lv 10 wall.
Ding-dong!
[Skill Rank Up!]
[Skill Name: Mana Heart]
[Stage: Sword Expert Intermediate Lv 1]
[Physical Ability Enhancement: 600%]
[Exclusive Skill Options Held: ① Shock Nullification ② Immunity to All Poisons ③ Trance]
[RP Required for Next Level Up: 800]
[Mana Heart skill rank has risen to [Sword Expert Intermediate].]
[Your Mana Heart has successfully digested extremely corrupt energy in trance. This special experience grants the skill a new exclusive option.]
[Skill Exclusive Option ④: Und......]
That was when.
A sudden new urgent message intruded.
Overwhelming the skill guide messages in an instant.
Ding-dong!
[Asrahan Heart Method Skill Option ⑤: Rapid Charge activation time has ended.]
Keeeeng......!
With the urgent message, the rampaging mana circles quieted.
The ferocious spinning momentum gradually subsided.
The savage, gluttonous mana absorption ceased.
Whiiiiiing.
Wind blew in.
The 7-meter radius absorption space centered on Lloyd.
The dust piled thick on the ground was swept away by the wind.
Just 5 minutes.
In that time, dozens of undead mastodons charging at him had their mana drained, crumbling to powder dust.
But behind that dust wind.
Ominous silhouettes revealed themselves.
"Quooooook!"
Over a hundred undead mastodons still remained.
Because the canyon was narrow.
Only one could charge at a time.
In just 5 minutes, he couldn't absorb the entire horde.
"Quoook!"
Those who avoided the vicious Rapid Charge range burned with killing intent.
They charged at Lloyd, still sitting on the ground.
"Kuwooooook—!"
Thud thud thud thud thud!
The earth shook.
4-meter hulks of undead beasts charged relentlessly.
Even then, Lloyd sat serenely.
No protective measures.
No sign of standing to flee.
At least until Lloyd slowly opened his eyes, it truly seemed that way.
That was why.
"Ppoding! Ppoddong!"
Sensing the dire situation, Ppoding moved.
He recalled Lloyd's plea to stay back no matter what, but he couldn't help it.
If this continued, Lloyd would be trampled by the mastodons.
He had to stop that.
Without a second thought, he charged forward.
Past Lloyd, attempting a headbutt on the mastodon.
No, he tried to.
If Lloyd's voice hadn't rung out then.
He would have charged fearlessly at the over hundred mastodons.
"Ppoding, stop."
"......Ppo?"
A calm voice.
Ppoding froze.
Lloyd had already opened his eyes.
He simply gazed steadily at the undead mastodon ahead.
But something strange happened.
"Quoook?"
The charging undead mastodon abruptly halted.
Just from meeting Lloyd's eyes.
As if struck by lightning.
Or seized by boundless terror.
That wasn't all.
"......Quoooook!"
Starting with the lead mastodon, the entire horde stopped charging.
At that moment, a new message appeared before Lloyd's eyes.
[Mana Heart Skill Option ④: Undead Domination activates.]