Chương 96: Infinite Mana Makes Excellent Monster Food

At first glance, the creature appeared far from complete. Most of its enormous skeleton remained exposed, while only thin layers of pale flesh covered its ribs, shoulders, and partially reconstructed legs. Several organs had begun forming inside its rib cage, but many were little more than bundles of veins surrounding unfinished tissue. Its empty skull lacked eyes, a tongue, and most of the muscles required to move its jaw.

Kart studied the motionless remains while keeping both guardian constructs between the creature and the group. Even his largest guardian looked insignificant beside something whose body occupied most of the chamber.

"It doesn't look like it can move yet," Kart whispered.

"Not today," Mellia replied.

"Perhaps not for several days." That estimate appeared reasonable. Reconstructing enough muscle to move a body the size of a house should require an absurd quantity of mana, particularly after the creature had remained dead for centuries. The giant bats had supplied it with flesh, blood, and mana, but the group had eliminated its remaining food source. Without more creatures to consume, its restoration should slow considerably.

If they returned immediately, reinforcements might arrive before the resurrection finished. A senior guild team could destroy the remains repeatedly or isolate the chamber before the creature established a proper dungeon. Sieghart almost relaxed. Then he noticed movement along one of the exposed ribs. A thread of pale flesh stretched across the bone, dividing into several smaller fibers before attaching itself to the creature's forming shoulder.

More fibers followed, weaving together like roots growing across fertile soil. Sieghart watched the process for several seconds. The changes weren't subtle enough to require hours of observation. He could see the creature restoring itself with his own eyes. Thin muscles expanded around its foreleg while dark veins spread beneath them. The unfinished paw slowly gained tendons, ligaments, and curved claws that scraped against the stone as they hardened.

"It's growing too quickly," Sieghart said. Mellia narrowed her eyes and focused on the creature. Once she recognized the movement, her expression shifted from cautious concern to something considerably closer to fear. Sieghart studied the reconstruction rate while comparing the unfinished portions. If it maintained the same progress, the creature wouldn't require several days to rebuild its body.

"At this rate, it will be alive in less than two days." Mellia's voice fell to a whisper.

"This place contains too much mana. The beast is absorbing it faster than I expected." The explanation made sense when Sieghart considered how every active spell weakened near the chamber. The entire area was channeling ambient mana toward the ancient remains. However, Sieghart couldn't help wondering whether the environment was truly responsible for all that energy. The creature's reconstruction had accelerated shortly after the group entered the chamber. Four Mana Swords hovered around them.

Several Flames illuminated the area, while Protection and Muscle Reinforcement remained active upon the frontline fighters. Sieghart continuously replaced whatever mana the chamber absorbed, creating an endless stream between himself and the creature. For a being that fed upon magical energy, he was probably the greatest meal in the world. Am I the one accelerating it? Sieghart dismissed two Flames and allowed the Mana Swords to dissolve.

The chamber became darker, but the visible flesh stopped growing as quickly several moments later. That answered the question far more clearly than he would have preferred. The creature wasn't merely absorbing ambient mana. It had been feeding upon the energy leaking from Sieghart's spells, drawing every scattered fragment toward its reconstructing body. He possessed infinite mana, but his control wasn't perfect.

Every spell released some energy into the environment, and creating Mana Swords continuously had effectively placed an unlimited banquet beside the monster. Sieghart looked through the gaps between its exposed ribs. Something pulsed inside the creature's chest, producing a faint red glow that illuminated the surrounding organs. A dark crimson core rested where its heart should have been. It was larger than Sieghart's head, and twisted veins connected its surface to every reconstructed section of the creature.

The core had to be its weak point. Destroying it would probably interrupt the restoration process, although something that obvious was unlikely to break beneath a single ordinary attack. Another possibility immediately entered Sieghart's mind. How much experience would I gain by absorbing that? The core belonged to an ancient creature capable of becoming a dungeon guardian. Even in its incomplete condition, the accumulated mana inside it should surpass every ordinary monster core he had absorbed.

It might grant several levels at once. If the system considered its stored power valuable enough, absorbing it could increase Sieghart's parameters far more than months of training. Unfortunately, the core's dark red color identified it as corrupted. Mira had explicitly warned Sieghart never to absorb a corrupted core. She hadn't explained what would happen, only that attempting it could produce consequences even she couldn't reverse. Sieghart disliked vague warnings.

Whenever someone refused to explain a danger properly, curiosity became almost as irritating as the threat itself. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Perhaps corrupted mana damaged the body, influenced the mind, or altered someone into the same kind of monster that produced it. Any of those possibilities would justify Mira's concern. However, Sieghart possessed an unusual system and infinite mana.

He couldn't help wondering whether those differences would protect him, purify the corruption, or make the outcome considerably worse. This isn't the time to test it. Even Sieghart's greed for experience possessed limits. Absorbing an unknown source of corruption while surrounded by people who couldn't restrain him would be an impressively stupid decision. Lucia moved closer to Mellia while keeping her scouts focused upon the creature.

Both constructs were already losing mana despite remaining beyond the edge of the chamber.

"What should we do?"

"If we return to the guild now, reinforcements might arrive after it becomes fully restored," Hernan said.

"Then we'll have a completed dungeon guardian beside Bellhaven." Kart tightened his grip around his control rod.

"Can we destroy the core before that happens?" Mellia stared at the crimson glow inside the creature's rib cage. Reaching it would require breaking through several enormous bones while remaining close to a body that could awaken at any moment. Sieghart considered using Earth Bullets, Ice Shurikens, or a concentrated Water Cannon. Giant Fireball could produce enough power, but detonating one inside the chamber might bury everyone beneath the mountain. Mellia opened her mouth to answer. The dark red core pulsed once.

Every active construct inside the chamber flickered as a wave of mana rushed toward the creature. Sieghart felt his own spells being pulled forward before he dismissed them completely. The unfinished paw moved. Its claws scraped across the floor, carving four deep lines through the stone. The sound echoed throughout the chamber while newly formed muscles contracted around the creature's foreleg. The enormous skull slowly turned toward the group.

Its empty eye sockets contained nothing but darkness, yet Sieghart felt the creature's attention settle directly upon him. It can sense my mana. Another pulse traveled from the core. Flesh spread across the creature's chest, connecting its shoulders before forming a thick layer of muscle around its spine. The skeleton pushed itself upright. Bones cracked against stone as the creature unfolded four enormous legs. Several joints remained exposed, but enough flesh had formed to hold its body above the ground.

The resurrecting beast resembled a panther with an elongated torso and a tail made from interlocking bones. Its shoulders stood higher than Kart's guardians, while its body stretched nearly as long as a small house. Half of its face remained skeletal. Pale muscle covered one side of its jaw, while the other exposed rows of curved teeth large enough to bite an adult person in half. The creature shouldn't have been able to stand in that condition.

Its unfinished muscles trembled beneath its weight, but the crimson core supplied enough mana to compensate for everything its body still lacked. It turned its empty sockets from Mellia to Kart, then Lucia and Hernan. None of them held its attention for longer than a moment. When it faced Sieghart, the core began glowing more brightly. The beast opened its incomplete jaws and released a roar resembling the cry of an enormous panther. The sound struck the group like a physical force.

Dust exploded from the walls, Lucia's scouts spun through the air, and Mellia's barriers shattered before she could reinforce them. Kart's guardians dug their arms into the floor to avoid being thrown backward. Sieghart activated Protection before the shock wave reached him. Even then, the roar pushed him several steps backward and sent a painful vibration through his skull. The creature lowered its body. Mellia didn't hesitate.

"Run!" Kart recalled one guardian while ordering the other to block the chamber entrance. Lucia grabbed her damaged scout, and Hernan pulled Sieghart backward before turning toward the prepared passage. The group sprinted uphill without maintaining their previous formation. The narrow tunnel prevented the beast from immediately using its full speed, but the impact of its paws shook loose stones from the ceiling. Kart's remaining guardian stayed behind and raised both arms.

The creature struck it with one unfinished paw, launching the construct against the wall hard enough to shatter its frame. The destruction bought them only two seconds. Sieghart used Wind Magic to push himself forward while maintaining Protection around his body. He avoided creating more Mana Swords, unwilling to provide the creature with additional energy. The decision made the others more vulnerable, but feeding their pursuer would be worse.

Every fragment of mana absorbed by that core restored more flesh and brought the beast closer to its completed state. Lucia glanced over her shoulder.

"It's following us!"

"Keep moving!" Mellia shouted. That much was obvious. The creature ignored the damaged constructs, dead bats, and remaining sources of mana inside the chamber because none compared to the energy it sensed from Sieghart. Of course it wants me. Infinite mana had finally attracted something more unpleasant than suspicious nobles. Unfortunately, Sieghart couldn't complain that the monster had poor taste. They reached the first prepared rockfall.

Hernan's detection threads vibrated as the creature entered the passage, warning them that it remained only several seconds behind.

"Trigger it!" Mellia ordered. Sieghart turned while sliding backward and fired an Earth Bullet toward the marked support. The projectile shattered the weakest section of his temporary sculpture. Both supports collapsed simultaneously. The enormous boulder tore free from the ceiling and dropped directly into the passage as the creature rushed beneath it. The impact shook the tunnel. Rock fragments filled the air, and an explosive wave of dust swept toward the group while they protected their faces.

For one hopeful moment, the beast disappeared beneath several tons of stone. The passage became silent except for the smaller pieces of debris continuing to fall. Then the crimson light emerged between the rocks. The creature pushed upward, lifting the largest boulder from its shoulders. Several bones had broken beneath the impact, but red mana already surrounded the damaged areas. Its front leg twisted back into position with a sickening series of cracks.

New flesh spread across the fractures, restoring the damage faster than the group could have inflicted it again.

"The trap barely slowed it!" Hernan shouted.

"It isn't complete yet," Sieghart replied.

"That was the good news."

"What's the bad news?"

"It is already difficult to kill." Nobody needed that information explained further. They resumed running while the creature smashed through the remaining debris and continued climbing toward them. The second trap waited farther ahead, but Sieghart could already tell that falling rocks wouldn't stop their pursuer. Every injury only forced the crimson core to spend more energy. Ordinarily, that would have been useful because repeated destruction eventually exhausted a dungeon guardian.

Unfortunately, this one continued drawing power from the greatest mana source it had ever encountered. Sieghart glanced backward and found those empty eye sockets fixed upon him again. The monster didn't possess eyes, but its hunger was unmistakable. They had entered the chamber hoping to delay the birth of a dungeon guardian. Instead, Sieghart's infinite mana had awakened it early, and the unfinished creature was now climbing toward the surface to devour him.