Chapter 1208: Law of the Jungle
The battlefield fell silent at last.
Both titans lay dead. The frog’s hulking corpse was half-submerged in the pond, its body riddled with injuries that spewed blood and poison.
As for the serpent... its massive body lay coiled and broken. Its serpentine head had been smashed into a pulp by Adam. The snake was a tough creature with strong defenses. It took the youth a couple of tries to hammer the snake to death with the enlarged staff.
And now, he sat atop the corpse of the serpent, chewing on its raw flesh with a delightful smile on his charred face. Meanwhile, the mimic had already burrowed inside the snake’s corpse, planning to eat until it was utterly full.
"Not bad," said Adam with a wide grin. "Not bad at all."
As he observed the wetlands around him, he noticed the ground was torn apart, littered with gouges, shattered trees, and pools of blood that mixed with the murky water.
The armies that had clashed here were now reduced to scattered remains. All the beasts controlled by the serpent had been slain. They were already outnumbered to begin with.
As for the toad’s army, countless frog bodies floated lifelessly in the waters, while mangled carcasses lay piled along the edges of the swamp. The stench of death hung thick and oppressive in the air.
The once-lively swamp was completely devastated. Trees had been uprooted, the ponds had turned into muddy craters, and the land itself looked scarred and unnatural. The only sounds left were the buzzing of insects, the slow drip of blood into water, and the croaking of toads.
Quite a lot of frogs had survived the battle. Now, they were all feasting on the corpse of the giant toad that had once ruled over them.
Noticing this, Adam’s lips curled into a wide, unnatural grin. "The law of the jungle," he murmured.
"Well, it’s the same in human society as well. The strong prey on the weak, and the weak do their best to cling to the strong, until they themselves can stand on their own. The only difference is that humans hide it all under a mask of lies and sophistication.
"While out here in the wild lands, everything is raw, primal, and without pretenses. Heh, we humans are not too different from these beasts. We just wear fine clothes and put on a facade of civility. Deep down... we’re all the same."
Coming to that conclusion, he burst into a fit of laughter. The nearby frogs shuddered at the sound of his deranged laughter and quickly made distance. No one wanted to be anywhere near the madman.
Adam’s laughter came to an abrupt halt when he sensed something strong and profound near him. A moment later, the mimic emerged from the serpent’s corpse, except... it had something settled between its jaw, displaying it as a trophy.
"Gege! Gege!" It called out excitedly.
The youth turned to him and saw a glowing white sphere tainted with a purple hue, clutched between the mimic’s jaw. He focused the Sphere of Resonance on it, and his breathing grew heavy. The amount of mana radiating from it was nothing short of spectacular.
"A mana core!" he exclaimed.
"Gege! Gege!" The mimic spat the glowing sphere onto Adam’s lap. Then, it jumped around in joy, seemingly very proud of what it had found.
Adam held onto the sphere and murmured, his tone laced with fascination. "It’s that bastard’s mana core. Incredible! This is the first time I’m personally seeing what a mana core looks like."
Of course, he’d seen and ’felt’ the same sensation plenty of times in the memories of the experts. But this was different. It was surreal.
But soon... his happiness and excitement turned to bitterness. His lips curled into a brilliant smile, and he said:
"It’s a pity I can’t conduct a ritual to absorb the mana inside this core. And Val’s asleep, too. I guess he won’t be needing this as well."
Grief engulfed his heart, and laughter escaped his lips.
"If it’s not absorbed soon enough, the mana inside will dissipate into the atmosphere," he murmured.
He turned to the mimic and said with a smile:
"You. Eat it."
"Gege?" The mimic shifted, slightly confused.
"Eat it, you idiot!" Adam thrust the mana core straight down the mimic’s throat, causing the latter to gag in protest.
The mimic gazed at the madman with an aggrieved expression. But Adam simply laughed in response. He waved his hand and said nonchalantly:
"Your physiology is a bit special, so you should be able to absorb it. You’ll be thanking me later. Don’t ever say that Adam Constantine is not magnanimous."
The truth was, Adam was incapable of absorbing the mana from the core in his current state.
Firstly, due to his inability to use spiritual energy at the moment, he would not be able to conduct ritual magic that would have allowed him to refine the mana from the core and help him absorb it into his own body.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, because of the constant ravings of the Faceless Mask assaulting his mind, he was incapable of practicing mindfulness. The process of mindfulness that allowed a Magus to absorb mana into their body required a calm state of mind, after all. And his mind was anything but calm.
Due to that, Adam hadn’t been able to practice mindfulness in the past year and a half. As a result, his arcane progress had stagnated. In fact, until his soul was fully healed, he doubted he could absorb mana into his body.
Thinking of his woes, he couldn’t help but reveal a brilliant smile. He then turned to the corpse of the giant toad and watched the smaller frogs devour its corpse.
"There’s another mana core inside that thing. Hmm, I wonder what I should do with it..." he muttered under his breath.
A long time later, he chose to leave that core alone.
He was the one to bring calamity upon this land. He was the one indirectly responsible for the giant toad’s death. Leaving its mana core behind felt only right. Perhaps one of its kin would claim it, grow stronger, and take its place as the new ruler of the marshlands one day.
Adam rose to his feet and prepared to leave.
"Don’t ever say Adam Constantine is not magnanimous!" He screamed at the frogs, causing them to shudder in terror and scatter away.
The following moment, a gust of wind blew, and he disappeared from sight, his crazed laughter still echoing in the air.