Chapter 12: Mana stone  

Facing Mamon’s chilling grin, Rita snapped back to her senses.  

Realizing she’d die if this continued, she swiftly used her core strength to lift both legs.  

With all her might, she kicked.  

Mamon’s balance faltered as the blow struck its pelvis.  

“Blade of blue light!”  

As Mamon staggered, Rita aimed her staff at its arms. 

It was a risky move—one misstep, and her own face could’ve been caught in the spell. 

Cold sweat ran down her back as the blue crescent blade sliced past her nose. 

Fortunately, it cut only Mamon’s arms.  

As the grip on her neck released, Rita sprang up and kicked Mamon again.  

The moment it fell backward, she stomped on its chest and aimed her staff.  

“Frozen valor.”  

Her staff, blazing blue, transformed into an ice spear brimming with cold energy. 

Gripping the shaft with both hands, Rita drove it into Mamon’s head with force. 

The sharp ice spear relentlessly struck the tough whisker armor.  

Even the sturdy cocoon began to waver under the ceaseless blows.  

Rita, striking so hard her palms bled, glanced back.  

Mamon’s tongue, previously wrapped around a tree, was already moving. 

Regaining its senses, it shattered the tree and sped back toward her.  

Panicked, Rita reacted quickly.  

“Unyielding barrier!”  

A transparent ice wall formed, encasing Rita and Mamon. 

The connected tongue, pinned to the ground, writhed helplessly.  

Losing its way back, the black tongue furiously pounded the barrier.  

The repeated high-level spells and the barrier’s impacts drained her mana further.  

“Ugh…”  

Rita staggered briefly from light dizziness.  

But she couldn’t hesitate for even a second. 

Mamon’s severed arms were regenerating rapidly.  

The barrier would last only 10 to 15 seconds. 

If she didn’t finish this in time, her life was at risk.  

“Die…!”  

Gritting her teeth, Rita slammed the spear down with force.  

Once, twice, three times.  

With each rapid strike, the tough whisker armor thinned.  

As the armor drew power from mana, its thickness dwindled as durability faded.  

By the fifth strike, Mamon’s filthy mouth was exposed, and the blue glow of its weak point began to show through the widening gap.  

At that moment, the ice barrier cracked.  

“Ugh…!”  

The black tongue slipped through the gap, piercing Rita’s shoulder.  

Despite the violent thrashing tearing her flesh, she gritted her teeth and kept striking Mamon’s maw.  

With repeated blows, the spear’s tip finally hit something solid.  

Having dispatched beasts with magic from a distance, the sensation in her palms was unfamiliar.  

Rita, startled that a heart could feel like this, hesitated briefly.  

Blood dripped from her shoulder, her mana was nearly depleted, and her mind grew hazy.  

Clenching her teeth again, she withdrew the spear and drove it in deeper.  

Crack. 

Finally, she felt something break.  

Mamon, which had been thrashing, fell silent.  

The black tongue piercing her shoulder lost its vigor and slumped limply.  

Confirming Mamon’s corpse, Rita let out a trembling breath.  

The forgotten pain surged back.  

Unable to scream, she collapsed, clutching her shoulder.  

“Ugh… Argh!”  

Instead, a scream came from the boy trembling behind the tree. 

He rushed over, frantic.  

When Rita waved him off, insisting she was fine, he teared up. 

His dripping tears made her pause.  

Well, he was just in a horrific scene. 

Of course, blood would scare him.  

Nodding to herself, Rita endured the pain and stood. 

She tore her sleeve to roughly bandage her bleeding wound.  

“It’s okay. It’s dangerous, so go over there for now…”  

Rita glanced at Mamon’s corpse.  

Now that’s the problem.  

If memory served, a mysterious mana field would soon form around the corpse—a dark, ominous mana.  

Though not fully understood, the Mage Tower’s mages theorized that the fragment’s corrupted mana, unable to find a host body, dominated the surroundings.  

They said it’d explode if left alone.  

After the first subjugation, when this phenomenon occurred, Talos and lower-ranking mages were trapped inside. 

When the black field finally vanished, only Talos returned.  

He said his disciples couldn’t withstand the corrupted mana.  

It always appeared after a fragment’s death, and Talos always went in to handle it.  

Back then, she thought it was harsh.  

But it was his choice.  

Everyone seemed to expect the great mage Talos to resolve it.  

Of course, Talos’s complexion was poor after dispelling the field. 

Purifying corrupted mana was incredibly difficult and dangerous.  

So, everyone praised his sacrificial spirit.  

“Strange.”  

As Rita recalled those memories, her eyes narrowed.  

Blinded by loyalty back then, she had tried to follow Talos into the field out of concern.  

But he always stopped her.  

“It’s dangerous,” he’d said. 

She thought it was care, but it wasn’t. 

“If he truly cared, he wouldn’t have abandoned me in the end.”  

There must have been a reason for Talos’s actions.  

Her expression twitched as she realized this.  

“After the Mamon subjugation, Talos reached the supreme rank.”  

Just then, black mana began rising from Mamon’s corpse.  

“No way.”  

Rita let out a hollow laugh, staring at the darkening area.  

The malevolent aura of corrupted mana seeped in.  

Purifying it required a high level of skill.  

It could only be cleansed with pure human mana, and a misstep could lead to corruption.  

Yet Rita showed no fear.  

For some reason, she was confident she wouldn’t fail.  

“Wait here. I’ll be back soon.”  

“Ugh… Uhh!”  

As she stepped forward, the boy grabbed her sleeve, tears streaming down his face.  

Unable to relate to his reaction, Rita sighed and pushed him away. 

Whether he sat crying or not, she focused on her task.  

“Guardian wind.”  

A thin, round barrier enveloped her body.  

Without hesitation, she stepped into the corrupted zone. 

The mana stung her skin slightly but wasn’t particularly threatening for corrupted mana.  

She surveyed the space filled with faint black mist. 

It was oddly atmospheric for a corrupted mana field.  

“The corpse is intact.”  

The lifeless Mamon lay sprawled, reduced to bones and hide, with murky mana steaming out like vapor.  

Standing before it, Rita extended one hand.  

“Let’s try it.”  

Pale-faced, she closed her eyes and calmly began absorbing the surrounding mana.  

A small whirlwind formed around her, drawing in the scattered black mana.  

The corrupted mana gathered above her palm, forming a black orb.  

As it was absorbed, the dark field’s color gradually faded.  

The orb had grown large enough to blot out the sky. 

She worried about keeping up with the absorption rate, but confirmed all the stray mana had condensed into the orb. 

Taking a deep breath, she began releasing her own pure mana.  

The golden mana flowing from her hand mixed chaotically with the black mana, clashing.  

The recoil sent sharp jolts through her body. 

She groaned, sweating coldly as her mana was pushed back.  

Her remaining mana was barely enough to sustain her body. 

The shock of the fusion hit her directly, causing a nosebleed.  

If the impact worsened, she’d bleed from every opening.  

Yet Rita focused on purification, undeterred. 

Gradually, the black orb’s base began turning golden.  

Almost there, she sighed in relief.  

After a while, the orb became entirely golden.  

“Phew…”  

Wiping her sweat, Rita confirmed the radiant orb.  

“It was my first time purifying, so I was nervous with just theory, but thankfully…”  

She looked proudly at the purified mana. 

Now, she needed to release it into nature and reclaim her own mana.  

“Let’s see…”  

Rita cautiously touched the golden orb. 

Though just mana, it felt remarkably solid.  

Above all, the orb visibly brimmed with immense mana—so much that she wished she could absorb it all.  

But purified mana couldn’t be absorbed by humans. 

She could only reclaim her own.  

Recalling Talos’s opportunity, Rita swallowed a bitter smile.  

“Was this not Talos’s opportunity…?”  

As she moved her hand regretfully, she suddenly paused.  

“What? I’ve reclaimed all my mana, but…”  

Strangely, the purified mana, meant to return to nature, remained motionless.  

Wondering if it was too densely packed, she touched it to disperse it.  

In an instant, the condensed mana shrank.  

Then, like smoke, it vanished. 

Rita was startled by a golden fragment falling into her palm.  

“A stone?”  

Its surface was smooth like fine sand, yet incredibly hard.  

Its radiant, luminous golden color was unmistakable—a mana stone brimming with immense power. 

Recognizing its value, Rita’s heart pounded.  

“Talos… no way.”  

Her memories sharpened.  

In her past life, after Mamon’s death, the subjugation team spent a week clearing residual beasts.  

The final day was when Talos reached the supreme rank.  

Rita recalled him visiting a distant forest alone that day. 

She pondered.  

“If the purification process was the same, Talos must have obtained this stone. What did he do with it?”  

The answer came quickly.  

A mana stone was literally a stone imbued with mana.  

While mages could create artificial stones, natural ones were preferred.  

Natural stones had strong durability and could be absorbed.  

The method was simple: hold it, clash it with your own mana, and shatter it.  

The scattered mana would naturally absorb into the body.  

However, most natural stones offered little value to high-tier mages— only equivalent to a bucket of water for a high-tier mage, so their absorption value wasn’t particularly high.  

But if the stone in Rita’s hand was the concentrated essence of that massive mana…  

Rita stared at the golden stone, swallowing hard.  

“If I revealed this to the world, every mana-user would come running with fire in their eyes.”  

Convinced of its value, Rita naturally thought of Talos.  

If this was how things went in her past life, a mana stone must have appeared each time a fragment died.  

Talos, who purified all that corruption, likely obtained all seven mana stones.  

“What did he do with the other six? Even if he wanted more, a supreme-rank mage can’t advance further…”  

At that moment, Rita’s expression twisted with contempt as realization hit.  

“Talos, you despicable bastard…!”