Chapter 1213: Mana Stone Mine

"Trouble keeps coming to our kingdom... Our kingdom has stood for thousands of years, yet now it teeters on the brink of collapse. This is exactly why the former kingdom fell," Angus muttered.

At the mention of the previous kingdom, his eyes flickered with concern. This land was fraught with dangers, and they would need to do everything possible to quell them.

...

Deep within the massive trench,

Souta arrived, clinging to the walls. His gaze swept downward, glinting with greed.

What he saw took him by surprise.

It was a high-grade mana stone mine.

If he claimed this mine, he could accelerate his recovery. Once he regained his full strength, there would be nothing to fear.

The mine had no owner.

This was an opportunity.

"Are you going to make your move now?" Saya asked.

Souta nodded in response. His eyes scanned the area: hundreds of monsters were gathered above the mine. Fortunately, none were fifth-stage; the strongest were fourth-stage, trivial compared to his current power.

A kilometer away, a group of people approached, carving a bloody path toward the mine. Soon, they would arrive.

Judging by the emblem on their armor, they were unlike the group he had faced before.

Souta shook his head, releasing his grip on the wall. His body plummeted at blinding speed, slamming into the ground with bone-shaking force.

Boom!!

Dust and debris erupted into the air, filling the trench with choking smoke. The surrounding monsters recoiled, their bodies trembling as raw energy surged from the impact.

Souta pushed the smoke aside, his piercing gaze cutting through the haze. "This is my territory! Those who defy my rules will die!"

He drew the Vajra Sword, its edge gleaming with lethal intent. Murder radiated from him like a physical force, vibrating the air and sending a shiver down every spine in the vicinity. The temperature dropped; the ground seemed to pulse under the weight of his presence.

Growl!!

Some monsters lunged with snarling defiance, teeth bared and claws digging into the earth, while weaker ones shrieked, staggering backward, trembling uncontrollably. Souta’s aura clawed at their minds, making each hallucinate their final moments. They could see blood, pain, and the suffocating certainty of death.

"This is my territory!!" a fourth-stage monster, a grotesque behemoth resembling a hulking pig with matted green fur and jagged spikes along its back, bellowed in fury.

Souta’s eyes narrowed to cold slits. His killing intent flared like a storm, lashing out toward the creature with a palpable hunger for its destruction.

Ohm!

ROAR!!

The fourth-stage monster shuddered under the crushing pressure, but it held its ground. Its massive body exuded a torrent of Best Feram, causing the earth to quake beneath its weight.

Yet it remained unconvinced.

This territory had once been solely its own, yet countless monsters now encroached upon it. Even some of its fellow fourth-stage beasts dared to defy it.

A predatory smile curved on Souta’s lips. "You’re the chosen one."

The words barely left his mouth before the Vajra Sword in his hand gleamed with a deadly light. Souta surged forward, a blur of lethal intent aimed straight at the fourth-stage monster.

In less than a heartbeat, he was in front of it. Fingers locked tight around the hilt, he swung with all the force he could muster.

Swoosh!!

A streak of light tore through the air, slicing with surgical precision.

A clean, straight line appeared across the monster’s neck.

The hulking pig-like beast froze mid-roar before its head slowly toppled to the ground. Blood erupted in a violent fountain, spraying the surrounding trench with dark, glistening arcs.

Souta cast a brief glance at the headless corpse of the fourth-stage monster. Though he was far from his peak, his current strength was more than enough to deal with a fourth-stage existence. Moreover, this one hadn’t even reached the pinnacle of that stage.

He drove his blade into the corpse, tearing through flesh and bone, and plucked out the monster orb embedded within.

A fourth-stage monster orb were valuable and useful to him.

"This is my territory," Souta declared once more.

This time, no monster dared to challenge him.

After all, he had slain a fourth-stage monster with a single slash. Even the other fourth-stage beasts could not gauge his true level, and fear rooted them in place. None were foolish enough to provoke him.

’What will you do about those people?’ Saya asked suddenly.

"Them..." Souta replied coldly. "I’ll inform them that this mana stone mine belongs to me. If they still dare to take it by force..." His eyes hardened, sharp and merciless. "...then I’ll cut off their heads."

He raised his left foot and stomped the ground.

The earth trembled.

Bang!!

The ground beneath his feet shattered, revealing a yawning cave below. A gust of wind surged upward, carrying the raw, potent scent of mana. Souta could feel it deep in his bones.

"This is it."

He could no longer restrain himself. With a single, fluid motion, he leaped into the depths of the underground cave.

Swoosh!!

He landed amidst a staggering trove of pure mana stones. The sheer volume of untouched stones astonished him. Just how had something this obvious escaped the notice of powerful beings?

"This is mine..."

A small smile curved his lips.

First, though, he would harness the monster orbs he had taken from the third- and fourth-stage creatures.

Without hesitation, he seated himself and closed his eyes. The two orbs rested in his palms as he focused on the energy contained within them.

With this, he could reopen the Douion.

He guided the Best Feram through his inner consciousness, channeling it into the formation of the energy plant and the Douion. Then, carefully, he began encasing it, refining the energy while pressing against the barrier. Once broken through, the plant would regenerate Douion, allowing him to reopen the Dream Realm.

Souta poured all his concentration into the task, ignoring everything outside the cave. He trusted Saya to alert him if anything occurred.

After five tense minutes, a surge of elation struck him, the plant had begun generating Douion again.

Satisfied, he guided the small amount of Douion throughout his inner consciousness, while simultaneously using the residual energy to strengthen the monster orbs.

Now, with Douion flowing once more, he could sense his connection to the Land of Vanko. Wisps of Dream power from its core surged toward him, confirming the link.

The connection was reestablished.

Good.

Suddenly, Saya’s voice rang inside his mind.

"Souta, those people are here."

Souta opened his eyes, irritation flickering across his features. His recovery was progressing smoothly, yet there were always people who seemed intent on disturbing him. He hadn’t even finished harnessing the energy from the two monster orbs.

Still, he wasn’t worried. His recovery was already halfway complete. With Douion circulating, everything else would fall into place on its own.

He cast a sharp glance at the tunnel above. With a fluid bend of his knees, he launched himself upward toward the surface.

Boom!!

...

On the surface, a group of people had gathered around the tunnel that Souta had carved earlier. The monsters lingered at the edges, their eyes fixed warily on the intruders, radiating fear and unease.

Scattered around were the corpses of other monsters. It’s the evidence of the group’s brutal path to this place. Their goal was clear: the mana stone mine.

Leading them was a tall, imposing woman with flowing green hair. She radiated a powerful aura, so potent that even the fourth-stage monsters hesitated, uneasy in her presence.

A man stepped beside her. "My Lady, it seems there’s a monster below."

"I can feel it," the woman replied calmly, her gaze unwavering.

She was Countess Emiline, a noble of immense power who had ascended to the rank of Ascension Knight years ago.

"From what I can sense, the monster below is the ruler of this territory," the man observed, glancing at the surrounding monsters. "These creatures don’t seem to obey it. If the one below is letting them roam free, it must be incredibly strong."

Emiline’s expression remained composed. "It seems we’re too late. A monster has already claimed this place."

"Yeah," her subordinate replied with a nod.

They had brought only a small contingent with them, so launching an all-out battle against the monsters of this territory was unwise. Though they had slain those in their path, they had avoided indiscriminate killing. None dared provoke the monstrous denizens of the Great Wave Trench recklessly. After all, tens of thousands of monsters called this place home.

Suddenly, a movement stirred deep underground.

Swoosh!!

A figure shot out of the tunnel.

All heads turned. A humanoid form now stood at the tunnel’s edge, armed with a single sword, radiating an aura that seemed to drain the courage from anyone who looked upon him.

Souta’s gaze swept over them calmly. Irritation flickered in his heart, but he did not let it control him. After all, he had already regenerated his Douion, and with it, his connection to the Land of Vanko surged naturally through him.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.