In “The Legend of the Reversal Hero,” the time when the protagonist encounters demons in the latter part of the entrance exam varies depending on their location.
The further west you are, the later the encounter; the further east, the earlier.
So, it was easy to deduce that the demons emerged from a rift in the east.
Although the specific location was unknown, knowing they were appearing in the eastern district meant the only option was to search the area haphazardly.
While there’s no method as reliable as brute force, its only drawback was the significant time and effort required.
Fortunately, I arrived just in time to prevent a potential tragedy.
You might ask if arriving just as a demon was about to sink its fangs into someone’s neck counts as “just in time,” but it does.
“Hmm? A man?”
That’s because the demon, a Hobbes, preferred eating men to women.
Hobbes stopped trying to bite the neck of the gray-haired freshman, turned, and looked at me.
“……Heh, quite handsome, isn’t he?”
After seeing my face, it curled its lips upward, licked its purple lips with its purple tongue as if its mouth was watering, and smacked its lips.
Knowing that it preferred men to women, and handsome men to just any men, was why I described the situation as arriving “just in time,” despite the imminent danger.
Now that it had seen me, all its attention would be focused on me.
“Yes, sucking the mana of men is better than that of women. Congratulations, handsome human oppa. You’ve become my appetizer.”
Whoosh!
“Kyaaak!”
Thump!
The Hobbes, having abandoned its original prey, the gray-haired freshman, tossed him into the bushes like a garbage truck driver throwing a trash bag, and slowly walked towards me with heavy steps.
“Sigh, haaa……”
The unhurried composure that only an overwhelming force could display. While it was walking towards me, I reactivated my frozen mana core.
Vitality surged through my body, and power filled my limbs—the effect of body enhancement due to my A+ grade mana sensitivity.
Although Solar Constitution limited the amount of mana I could possess, my mana efficiency was second to none.
To a demon capable of sensing the amount of mana in an opponent, my trait—a small mana pool but incredibly high efficiency-would be a useful hidden card to induce carelessness.
Thus, while Hobbes leisurely approached, I was able to fully prepare for battle.
“Oppa, my ass. You’re a centuries-old mosquito hag.”
་་
..What?”
The moment it came within range, I uttered a magical phrase that was guaranteed to trigger any woman, human or demon, and threw a punch with all my might.
Slam-!
A full-force jab containing the essence of the Azure Dragon First Strike from the Azure Dragon Twelve Swords, learned from sparring with the brat every day for three years.
There was nothing better for catching a careless opponent off guard and inflicting a critical hit. This jab was the most complete and powerful I had ever thrown in my twenty years of life.
Moreover, the opponent was completely unguarded and had lost its composure after being provoked by my words, so the impact would be doubled.
It was truly the ultimate jab, embodying all the positive effects I could hope for in that moment.
“Heh, did a mosquito bite me?”
“Damn it. Guess it didn’t work.”
To the Hobbes, it was no more than a mosquito bite.
This was inevitable.
After all, even the protagonist, who was born with the destiny of a hero, couldn’t deal any damage to a mid-tier demon at this point.
How could I, who hadn’t grown stronger since the age of 13 in terms of combat ability, possibly harm it?
It was expected, but after directly confirming that my full-force punch had no effect on the enemy, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of futility.
I really need to train hard when I start academy life. Not being able to deal any damage is truly shocking.
“Anyway, shall we begin the meal?”
While I was internally resolving to live diligently in the future, Hobbes removed my fist from its face, opened its mouth wide, and revealed its sharp fangs.
Soon, those fangs would pierce my neck, and it would suck my mana until my mana core was empty.
Since superhumans die when there’s no mana left in their mana core, the Hobbes was planning to suck me dry.
It was truly an act befitting its moniker, “Mana Devourer.” By sucking the mana of others and converting it into its own power, the Hobbes had become a monster that saw even superhumans as mere meals.
“Thank you for the meal. Aah. Haa.”
Crunch!
“Kugh!?”
Without hesitation, Hobbes plunged its fangs into my neck and chewed on the flesh.
I couldn’t help but gasp as the flesh was torn and chewed, but I kept my wits about me and raised both arms to wrap them around Hobbes’s head.
“Hmm?”
Hobbes made a puzzled noise, surprised that I was embracing it instead of pushing it away. But its confusion was fleeting.
Sucking my mana was more important to it than questioning my actions, and thanks to its “Mana Devour” trait, my mana began to be drained.
“Kuh, ugh……”
Having mana sucked out along with blood was not a pleasant sensation, not even as a joke.
Was this what it felt like to experience the lightheadedness of excessive bleeding doubled?
Anyway, it was hard to stay conscious.
But I, Yang Woobin, had tenaciously endured those awful years in the Yang family and had risen again with burning vengeance even after becoming impotent.
I wouldn’t lose my mind to the dizziness of bloodsucking and mana draining.
I gritted my teeth and used the trait I had gained through seven years of relentless training, “Mana Fluidization,” for this [Mana Fluidization (A) has been activated. The user’s mana has become fluid.]
The notification I had seen while playing “The Legend of the Reversal Hero” appeared in the corner of my vision, and the mana within me began to change shape and move according to my will.
I immediately drew a strand of mana from the mana being sucked out by the Hobbes and stretched it out.
“Chwoooooop.”
The mana was still being sucked into it, but the connection remained unbroken.
As long as the mana was connected in this way, I could sense it even if it was being devoured by the Hobbes and entering its body.
“Kuh, kugh……”
My mana, which had been steadily drained, was originally small in quantity, so it was quickly depleted.
Now, only enough remained for one more suck.
This was the first time I had ever experienced such a depletion of mana, and the resulting mana exhaustion was more difficult to endure than expected.
But it was okay. I had endured until now for this very moment.
Squeeze.
I tightened my arms around the back of the Hobbes’s head, pressing its head even closer to my shoulder.
Even if I gave it my all, I couldn’t have a meaningful impact on it, and it would be easy for it to break free from this restraint if it wanted to, but it was okay.
It would be over before the Hobbes even thought about escaping from this hold.
“Hey, mosquito.”
I said to the Hobbes, which was continuing to devour my mana in order to suck out the last remaining trace, in a voice devoid of strength, whether I tightened my arms or not.
“It’s going to be very spicy.”
“Hmph?”
Ignition.
With those words, I applied a tiny shock to the thin, elongated strand of mana.
This damn mana with the Solar Constitution trait was incredibly sensitive, so it began to react violently to this small shock.
Whoosh-!
The flammable mana of the Solar Constitution created a path of fire along the stretched strand of mana, like a fuse.
“Ugh, ugh?!”
Only then did the Hobbes realize something was wrong and try to open its mouth, but the path of fire had already reached its esophagus.
Most of my mana was already inside its stomach, so there was nothing it could do to stop it now.
The spark transmitted along the path of fire reached most of my mana inside its stomach.
Fwoooooosh! KABOOM!!!!
The mana of the Solar Constitution, which had instantly ignited, detonated from within its stomach.
The Hobbes was annihilated, leaving not even a corpse behind.
Of course, I, who had been caught in the blast at point-blank range, was not unscathed either.
Whoosh-
I was sent flying high into the sky by the force of the explosion, before crashing through tree branches and falling to the ground with a thud. That was the end of my memory.
*
[*Impossible Achievement! Completely annihilated the mid-tier demon Hobbes!]
[* Due to the influence of being connected to the annihilated demon until the very end, you have absorbed the opponent’s trait ‘Mana Devour (A)’!]