“Where did it go?”
Rita’s eyes darted about as she clung to the talons of a soaring eagle summon.
In contrast, the boy gripped by the other talon let out only frightened whimpers.
The biting cold wind and dizzying height were a terrifying spectacle for the unaware boy.
“Just hold on a bit. The trees are too close together for a horse…”
As her mana drained rapidly, Rita grimaced.
Then, through the trees, she caught a faint black afterimage.
The mana trails left by fragments or beasts were typically dark, and Rita was certain.
She immediately lowered the summon’s altitude.
“We’ll walk from here.”
With a single gesture, the summon slowed.
As they neared the ground, it released both of them and dissipated.
Unlike Rita, who landed deftly, the boy tumbled forward, rolling across the ground.
There was no time to ask if he was okay.
Rita quickly pulled him up and hurried forward.
Any further delay, and the black mana trail would vanish.
The boy, clinging to her, began to complain.
Rita paused as he tugged at her sleeve.
“It’s scary, I know, but you’re safer with me for now.”
Despite her reassurance, the boy kept shaking his head vigorously.
His stubborn resistance, digging his heels in, put Rita in a bind.
Just as she tried to coax him along, a chilling presence pierced through like a wedge.
It felt like a blade slicing through her body.
The cold, sharp air made her hair stand on end.
Rita swallowed hard, her breath caught in the oppressive sensation.
This feeling…
Before she could recall, a low, guttural growl echoed unpleasantly.
The unmistakable presence made Rita whip her head around.
Behind a large rock nearby, the green beast that had fled earlier crawled into view.
Finding it wasn’t cause for celebration.
The problem was the other figure stumbling clumsily behind it.
Rita, dismayed, twitched her lips and cautiously went on guard.
Nearly two meters tall, with a human-like structure, the green body was rotting in patches, oozing pus.
Its thick skin sagged without elasticity.
Stiff, whisker-like bristles, a crushed nose and ears, and protruding red eyes without eyelids—it looked like a grotesque mockery of a human form.
Excited by the scent of humans, it rolled its eyes and breathed heavily.
Rita watched the long black tongue dangling beneath its whiskers and slowly stepped back.
[Origin: Iskis]
[Name: Mamon]
[Rank: Sub-Adult: First-Class]
[Attribute: Fire]
The king of kobold-like beasts.
One of the seven fragments of Iskis—Mamon.
I really ran into a fragment.
Rita swallowed dryly.
I used a lot of mana on the summon…
Can I do this?
Pushing the boy further back, Rita fixed her gaze on the fragment.
Specifically, its “rank.”
It was labeled Sub-Adult.
Do fragments grow like beasts?
Either way, this Mamon is smaller than the one I saw.
On closer inspection, Mamon’s movements seemed clumsy.
Like the beast she encountered in the tribal village, this Mamon was likely newly born.
That means it’s underdeveloped and inexperienced.
Rita’s eyes began to gleam as she thought slowly.
In her past life, Mamon was the subjugation team’s first target among the fragments.
Encountering a fragment without any prior information, it was absurdly powerful compared to regular beasts.
In that battle, the Mage Tower lost many mages, including elders.
It took nearly a month to defeat that thing.
Unlike regular beasts, which could be killed by brute force, fragments took no damage no matter where they were struck.
Even damaged parts slowly regenerated.
So back then, we gathered massive mana to obliterate it in one go.
Dragging out a fight with a fragment puts us at a disadvantage.
Rita took a deep breath, her eyes calm.
This Mamon was immature, and she could see its weak point.
She noticed a blue glow in its mouth.
If I can pierce that precisely in one strike, I can kill it.
Mamon’s attribute was fire.
Though it would consume a lot of mana, a combination of water and wind attributes could deal significant damage to fire.
As Rita listed the spells she’d use, the boy behind her suddenly grabbed her sleeve.
His face looked like he might cry, and he clung tightly to her.
Rita furrowed her brow.
His constant interruptions at critical moments tested her patience.
But she couldn’t lash out at someone in his state.
Barely suppressing her frustration, Rita pushed him away, pretending not to notice.
First, I need to deal with that thing.
Facing two opponents, the success of a swift preemptive strike would determine victory or defeat, considering the possibility of them teaming up.
Protecting the boy from getting caught in the crossfire was also crucial.
“Surging frost.”
As soon as she cast the spell, reverse icicles shot up beneath the beast standing confidently behind Mamon.
The beast dodged with a light twist, but Rita, smirking, cast the spell again.
Icicles erupted simultaneously behind it, and the unprepared beast took a direct hit to its belly.
By the time Mamon turned, the beast was already silenced.
Grrrrk.
Confirming its offspring’s death, Mamon bared its teeth with a ferocious growl.
Unable to contain its rage, it lumbered forward.
Rita slowly raised her staff.
I need to drain its strength while it’s focused on me.
Concerned for the boy’s safety, Rita attacked immediately.
“Twisting vines.”
She first disrupted Mamon with streams of water, provoking it further.
As the snake-like streams shot toward it, Mamon swung its hands defensively.
The streams dissipated instantly, but Rita wasn’t discouraged.
Her goal was to keep Mamon pinned, so she fired the same spell repeatedly.
The relentless streams made the enraged Mamon halt and roar.
“Piercing droplets.”
Tiny ice shards flew from all directions.
As they pelted its body, Mamon’s stiff whiskers twitched.
The whiskers, moving like antennae, began to wrap around Mamon’s body like a cocoon.
In an instant, it was clad in a white, thread-like armor, and Rita clicked her tongue.
Mamon was the first fragment the subjugation team faced in her past life.
With no prior information, it took nearly a month to defeat.
Thanks to that, Rita knew quite a bit about Mamon.
It used its whiskers to shield its body defensively.
Those whiskers boasted high defense, and oddly, it attacked not with its arms or legs but with its tongue.
The problem was that the tongue extended limitlessly and split into dozens of strands, covering a wide range.
The viciously extending tongue suddenly split, surrounding Rita like a thorny prison.
“Surging current.”
Focusing her mana, Rita aimed her staff forward.
Four streams of water shot endlessly from its tip, slicing through the approaching black tongue.
The severed tongue pieces writhed on the ground for a while.
“Condemning blizzard.”
A white blizzard swirled within the area her staff targeted.
The severed tongue pieces froze instantly.
When Rita tapped the ground with her staff, the frozen pieces shattered into dust.
She kept cutting the tongue and freezing the fragments to destroy them.
Left alone, the tongue pieces would latch onto people like leeches.
Even detached, they retained the beast’s voracious nature, making them a headache during the Mamon battle, requiring a separate cleanup team.
Fortunately, after some time, the tongue pieces would merge back into one—thicker and more agile, but that was another issue.
It’s still grotesque.
Even for Rita, who had seen countless brutal battlefields in her past life, the sight of Mamon standing still, wrapped in its whiskers, attacking only with its tongue, was chilling.
The boy with her was also pale with fear, overwhelmed by the horror.
Rita took care to keep the attacks from reaching him, knowing how tough it was for a civilian to be in a battle zone.
That should be enough cutting for now.
As expected, the frequency of the tongue splitting decreased.
Defense became easier, and Rita reduced her blizzard usage.
After a long wait, Mamon’s tongue merged into one, limiting its attack range.
Rita stepped forward boldly.
It’ll take about ten minutes for it to split again.
I need to end this within that time.
Firing countless ice blades, Rita glanced at the boy hiding behind a tree.
Despite his vulnerable appearance, Mamon’s attacks remained fixed on Rita.
Confident in the boy’s safety, Rita moved more aggressively.
“Surging frost.”
Reverse icicles shot up from the frozen ground, piercing Mamon’s black tongue precisely.
The shocked tongue’s movements slowed.
Seizing the moment, Rita stepped on the pinned tongue and leapt forward.
Closing the distance in one bound, she circled Mamon, luring its pursuing tongue into the forest.
Unaware its body was being entangled in trees, Mamon’s tongue relentlessly chased her.
After a while, confirming the amount of tongue wrapped around the trees, Rita changed direction.
She led the black tongue to wrap around another large tree on the opposite side.
The elastic tongue stretched visibly taut.
That should do it.
Rita leapt onto the tree, then aimed her staff at the puzzled Mamon, its tongue slowed.
Using varied magic attributes was taxing on the caster, but she had no choice.
Earth magic was needed now.
“Path following the shadow.”
Mamon’s shadow rippled strangely as it stood still.
Fixing the coordinate point, Rita jumped down from the tree.
The moment she stepped onto her own shadow, her body vanished and reappeared above Mamon’s shadow.
It was a short-range teleportation spell, requiring no complex calculations.
Now behind Mamon, far from its black tongue, Rita’s eyes gleamed.
“Blade of blue light.”
Her staff pointed at Mamon’s legs, tightly bound by its own whiskers.
A blue light gathered at the tip, forming a crescent that descended, engulfing Mamon’s legs.
Though she couldn’t sever them as hoped, the deep gash made Mamon collapse.
As it flailed, its arms emerged from beneath the whiskers.
The previously limp arms suddenly bulged with muscle, targeting Rita.
Caught off guard, her ankle was grabbed, and she stumbled to the ground.
Before she could groan from the impact, the arms now gripped her neck, strangling her.
Mamon was now atop her.
Struggling under its crushing grip, Rita thrashed.
She swung her staff, striking Mamon’s arms, but they didn’t budge.
The writhing whiskers and the black tongue, ready to split again, heightened her fear.
Suddenly, Mamon’s mouth curled into a grin as it peered into her terror.
For some reason, I am filled with fury while reading this… Idk why. This is very out of character for me. I must be dying. My condolences to myself. Rest in peace and all that jazz…