Building The First Adventurer Guild In Another World

Chapter 316: Mana Eater

Valeria turned her head slightly when Sage shouted from behind her. Her crimson eyes rolled with a cold irritation that somehow conveyed more relief than anger, though her expression remained almost unchanged.

She shot him a quick glance, silently questioning whether he truly had the strength to joke at a moment like this, then returned her gaze to the monster floating in the distance beneath the strange ocean-like sky.

The creature hovered there like a nightmare that had forgotten how to end, its massive shell blocking out the blue glow above. Hundreds of green eyes blinked slowly and lazily, while endless tentacles drifted around as if the devastation it had just caused was nothing more than an afterthought.

Even from their vantage point, despite Valeria having shattered the sound wave with that crimson strike, the pressure from the creature pressed against their skin and bones like a warning. No one dared to breathe too loudly or look away for too long.

Sage carefully placed the unconscious Mina into Gregor’s arms, ensuring her head rested properly before stepping closer to Valeria. His face was still pale; his breathing was unsteady, and his hands trembled faintly from the pressure they had just endured.

He glanced back at the enormous creature and swallowed hard before asking in a low voice, "Can you take that monster head-on?"

He already knew what she would say, but part of him still hoped for something different, something impossible, like "Yes, I can cut it down."

However, Valeria was never one to offer comfort simply because someone wanted it. She shook her head slowly; her voice emerged calm yet grave, so serious that even Sage felt his heart tighten. "No. That monster is an ancient creature that should have gone extinct long ago. It’s not something Warriors like us can handle."

Sage’s eyes widened in shock as those words sank in. Valeria was a 6-Star Grandmaster Knight, a figure who could make even powerful individuals lower their heads just by standing still and yet she openly admitted she couldn’t deal with this thing.

That alone spoke volumes. But another thought struck him almost immediately; he turned sharply toward her."Wait... wait. You know what this creature is?"

Gregor, Brutus, Caelis, Vanthrice, Leona, and the remaining Adventurers all looked at Valeria as well; their faces were pale but now carried a different kind of fear, the fear of hearing a name that would make everything worse.

Valeria nodded without taking her eyes off the creature. "When I was still in my clan, I found an old book documenting bizarre entities in Eldoria, Vaults among them and this creature too. I never thought I’d see one with my own eyes."

Her fingers tightened slightly around the hilt of her massive blood-red sword as she continued: "That book made one thing clear: if you encounter it, do not fight it directly; if you try to engage it head-on, you’re already dead."

Sage fell silent for a few moments, the roar of crashing waves and the distant stirrings of the creature filling the air between them. For once, his usual shameless confidence felt elusive.

He glanced at Valeria, then back at the monster looming nearby. "What exactly is it?" he asked, his voice noticeably lower.

Valeria finally turned to him, her eyes narrowing slightly as she replied coldly, "This isn’t the right time to discuss animal husbandry. We need to move."

Despite the danger, Sage’s face twitched; he almost wanted to ask if she was joking. But before he could speak, she continued in an even colder tone, "One thing I can tell you is this: you cannot use Mana against that thing if you want to kill it."

"What the hell?" Sage exclaimed before he could stop himself, disbelief flooding his voice.

The others shared his shock, Gregor’s face paled further, Brutus tightened his grip on his hammer, Caelis swallowed hard, and Vanthrice furrowed his brows deeply.

For them, Mana was integral to nearly every serious battle, through spells, aura manipulation, skills, reinforcement techniques, or formations. Being told not to use Mana against such a monster felt like telling a drowning man not to breathe.

Sage stared at the floating abomination as confusion swirled in his mind. "If we can’t use Mana," he said incredulously, "how are we supposed to kill it? Punch it? Throw rocks? Insult its mother?"

Valeria didn’t laugh; her calm demeanor made her words even more unsettling. "Because that creature feeds on Mana. It consumes Mana to survive, it can drain it from living beings and absorb it from attacks aimed at it.

If you cast a spell, it devours that spell. If you release your aura, it eats that too. Pour enough Mana into an attack strong enough to shake a mountain and all you’re doing is providing it with a better meal."

She locked eyes with Sage seriously now. "So tell me: can you fight something that literally consumes what you’re throwing at it?"

For a moment, only the sound of nervous swallowing broke through the tension among them; several Adventurers visibly trembled in fear. Sage wiped sweat from his brow as more beads formed instantly along his temples and jawline.

He had just awakened new powers; his Mana felt limitless and his spells had become astonishingly potent, he had briefly felt invincible compared to before but now faced with this creature all that power seemed meaningless.

What good was endless Mana against something that consumed it? What use was spell control against an entity that turned spells into sustenance? His mouth felt dry as he muttered weakly under his breath, "Great... so my strongest advantage is basically lunch."

No one replied, as the gravity of the situation was clear to everyone. Even Brutus, who typically relied on his physical strength, looked visibly uneasy; his abilities still drew from Mana.

Gregor’s affinity for wind, Vanthrice’s spear skills, Caelis’s support magic, and Mina’s golden defense, all depended on Mana in some way. Against this creature, their entire combat style became a threat to themselves. The realization settled over them like a chill.

Then the monster moved again.

One of its massive tentacles, thick enough to flatten a building, slowly lifted from beneath its colossal shell. At first, it rose lazily, almost as if the creature were stretching.

But then it swept downward toward them with terrifying intent. The motion wasn’t frantic or rushed; yet the moment it moved, the air screamed in protest. The ocean-like sky above rippled violently, and an intense pressure enveloped them once more.

No one waited for Sage to issue an order.

They ran.

Every single one of them bolted forward at full speed. Those who could still move assisted the injured; Gregor carried Mina securely in his arms while Brutus supported another Adventurer with one hand and gripped his hammer with the other.

Sage and Valeria sprinted side by side, both striving to keep their Mana output low while maintaining their pace. It was a struggle for Sage; every instinct urged him to unleash wind and lightning to escape faster. But Valeria’s warning echoed too clearly in his mind: use too much Mana, and they would become bait.

Behind them, the tentacle crashed down.

The ground shook violently, nearly knocking several people off balance as debris, broken water, shattered coral, and crushed earth, exploded outward behind them. They didn’t dare look back for long; glancing back only weakened their resolve.

"I didn’t think we’d have such bad luck," Sage panted as he ran, his chest burning and his face still damp from that strange black water earlier. "Out of everything in this damn Vault, we had to run into an ancient Mana-eating city-sized abomination."

Valeria shot him a sideways glance, her expression as cold as ever. "Mother nature has quite a talent for creating horrors."

Sage almost stumbled at her words.

He turned toward her in disbelief. "Was that supposed to be funny?"

"It’s just a fact," Valeria replied flatly.

"It sounded more like a funeral prayer," Sage said with an eye roll despite himself. "Please don’t try comforting anyone again, you might kill them faster than that monster."

Valeria ignored him and focused ahead, scanning the shifting blue forest around them as they continued running.

"Don’t worry too much," she said calmly. "As long as we keep moving without releasing too much Mana, we can lose it. From what I remember about this creature’s species, its senses are closely tied to Mana. If we minimize our presence and maintain distance, it may lose interest."

"That’s the first decent thing you’ve said," Sage muttered.

Valeria kept her gaze fixed ahead. "Also, judging by its size, it’s probably just a baby."

For a brief moment, Sage’s mind went completely blank.

"Holy crap!" His shocked exclamation echoed through the area so loudly that even the injured Adventurers in front flinched. "A baby?!"

Before Valeria could reply, a thick green beam of light suddenly descended from above, enveloping their group in an instant.

The world around them blurred, the blue forest bending and twisting as if space itself had seized them. Just as the light swallowed them whole, Sage’s scream rang out one last time through the collapsing scene.

"What the hell do you mean that thing is just a baby?"