Chapter 221: Water Is a Problem?

"Where were you all this time?" Renna asked as her sobs began to die down.

She took a step back, although her hat was still lowered, hiding her eyes beneath it.

"I don’t really know. I entered a cave and somehow ended up getting stuck there," Magna answered, telling her as much as he knew himself.

Renna raised her head, revealing her tearful eyes. "You got stuck somewhere?"

She was confused. What kind of place could possibly turn him into a monster like this?

She could still vividly remember the explosion that had erupted on top of the Desolation’s head.

She was the only one who knew that Magna possessed a very rare Bloodline Trait, one that allowed him to acquire new traits over time by eating mana-rich food. But this?

12 years was a long time, but surely not long enough to turn a human child into a superman.

"Yeah, I guess I got scammed by a Stoneman." Magna felt frustrated just thinking about it.

Rhadak’s trick had cost him 12 precious years of his life.

Renna didn’t know exactly what had happened, but seeing his frown, she spoke in a heavy voice.

"I don’t know what happened, but I’m sorry you can’t take your revenge anymore. The last Stoneman is sitting over there, completely frozen."

She pointed toward the enormous mountain covered in ice.

"After her seal broke, she devoured all her children. There are no Stonemen left anymore."

Magna was stunned, forgetting his frustration entirely.

He hadn’t expected to hear that an entire race that had existed for thousands of years had gone extinct during the 12 years he was gone.

He actually felt a little bad about it. Rhadak might have tricked him, but he had also fed him, and there was that crackhead Stoneman who had been quite decent. Magna could even have called him a friend.

But that wasn’t all.

Renna let out a heavy sigh, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her robe.

"So many things happened while you were gone. I think we need to find somewhere to sit so I can tell you everything."

She turned toward her unit, only to find them all looking in her direction.

The moment their eyes met, however, they quickly turned away, pretending to be busy with their own business, as if they hadn’t been listening at all.

They only looked back when Renna called out to them.

"Stop pretending and get ready to return to camp."

While the unit prepared to leave, Magna looked at the frozen Desolation with interest.

"What are you planning to do with that?"

He still had the mind of a gamer. Although he hadn’t gained any experience points, he was hoping there might at least be something worth looting from its body.

Actually, he wasn’t even sure whether the monster was dead.

Its entire body appeared frozen, but it was still intact, with the enormous gemlike eye merely cracked rather than completely destroyed.

"Our mission was to stop it. We don’t have any way to bring its body back," Renna explained, her voice much more relaxed now. "We’ll report what happened and let the Grand Witches decide."

She went on to explain that although the Devouring Desolation was a major threat, it was also an important source of resources for Witches and Shadows alike, particularly because it was their main source of Grak Steel.

Magna learned that they used the material to craft artifacts, just as he had suspected. The Shadows’ armor, in particular, was made entirely from it.

So, in fact, it would be better for them if the Desolation wasn’t dead.

They could simply seal its body again and continue harvesting the precious resource, which was actually the creature’s poop.

Before long, the unit finished preparing to leave and moved into formation. The Shadows formed a wide protective circle around the Witches, then everyone began making their way toward the camp.

"Are you planning to walk the whole way?" Magna couldn’t help asking.

He had expected them to use some kind of transportation, perhaps summoning horses or other mounts to ride.

"We don’t have enough mana left to waste on traveling. Besides, food and especially water are serious problems here. We barely have enough for ourselves, let alone any mounts," Renna explained as she walked slowly beside him.

Every now and then, she glanced at his face, wanting to ask something but holding herself back.

She wasn’t alone. The other Witches and Shadows were also stealing occasional glances at the half-naked man, although everyone remained strangely quiet.

Magna could feel all those eyes on him, but he couldn’t blame them. He had a pretty good idea of what they wanted to ask.

"Water? Why is water a problem?" He ignored their stares and asked directly.

He was already disappointed after hearing about their food shortage, but he couldn’t understand why water would be an issue. Couldn’t they simply cast spells to produce it?

The basic water spell didn’t even consume much mana.

He knew that all the Witches here specialized in fire, but as far as he understood, that shouldn’t prevent them from using basic spells from other branches.

At the very least, they should be able to produce a Water Sapphire.

Apparently, however, things weren’t as simple as he thought, judging by the curious looks directed at him.

"Don’t you feel it?" Even Renna looked at him strangely.

She then raised her hand and began chanting a spell invoking the Matriarch of Life.

A Water Sapphire slowly began forming above her palm.

So far, it was the same spell Magna knew, but as he watched, he realized that the water wasn’t growing beyond a few drops.

No matter how much mana she continued feeding into it, the water kept disappearing at almost the same rate.

"Because of the Devouring Desolation’s passive aura, water in this region drains away extremely quickly, including the water we produce with spells," she explained before looking at him again. "We usually rely on our clothes. They’re artifacts with properties that help preserve the fluids inside our bodies."

Magna finally understood the problem.

He hadn’t really noticed the effect this time, although he remembered encountering something similar when he first arrived in the Underworld as a child.

Back then, he had solved the problem using Water Sapphire.

The draining effect hadn’t been nearly this strong, however. The water he produced with his spell had lasted long enough for him to take showers with it.

Apparently, things had become much worse after the Desolation’s seal broke, allowing its aura to gradually spread throughout the entire region.

As for Magna, he could feel his mouth and throat getting dry, but the effect wasn’t particularly strong. His absurdly high stamina was probably helping him endure it without much difficulty.

"It’s really amazing that you can withstand it without wearing any artifacts."

One of the Witches who had been listening silently behind them finally couldn’t contain her astonishment and spoke up.

With one Witch breaking the silence, the others also found the courage to join the conversation, bringing up the question that had been bothering them all this time.

"Seriously, I just don’t understand. How did you manage to produce that much ice in a place where there’s practically no water at all?"