“Ha..hahaa..”
Zilan softly chuckled as his gaze swept through the ever growing army of golems rushing towards him.
“Phoo…” He then took a deep breath before closing eyes. His thoughts wandered for a moment before he forcefully centered himself, finally coming to a decision.
He had never tried what he was about to attempt before however, theoretically it should be possible. Whether or not he would be mentally strong enough to handle it is a question he did not want to answer.
Zilan took one final calm look at the situation at hand before unhesitatingly activating the second level of the Gift of love. The difference this time though was that he was controlling it to do something he’d never tried before. The enhancing of a single emotion!
What emotion exactly? Rage!
It was a proven fact that enraged people, let alone practitioners exhibited extreme strength when pushed. It was this fact, that prompted techniques to be created that could help not only increase rage but also harness it into raw power. Something that could turn a weakling into a crazed killing machine and a strong man into a tyrant.
Zilan however, did not require these techniques since he was pretty sure the second level of the Gift of love could enhance his rage to a level that should not be possible, even exceeding the capabilities of those top grade manuals.
As for the side-effects of going through with his plans, he had no clue.
“Tak,tak..tak”
Within Zilan’s mind, hypothetical switches were constantly being flipped. Some were turned off while others were switched on.
And as for the results? They could be termed as unexpected.
A deep anger burst forth from within Zilan. Memories of the mysterious ‘Order’ and all of their unforgivable crimes resurfaced.
Repressed feeling about his family, all of the loved ones he had to leave behind as well as his tortured Ancestors caused not only his heart pain but also added fuel to the fire.
However, the unexpected outcome of the experiment was that Zilan’s mind didn’t get muddled nor did it even show any hints of it crumbling.
In fact, Zilan felt slightly in control of his actions. Of course, this control was only limited to, when he wanted to end his rage ‘mode’, he felt that could.
As for his other actions? To put it simply, Zilan was no longer controlled by Zilan.
His rage had taken over.
………………………
Currently, the gap that had formed from Zilan’s wild killing of golems was quickly being filled by another wave of the persistent creatures.
Their approach blotted out the horizon however, as if not noticing any of this or maybe not caring, Zilan simply took one step forward, a scary killing intent that seemed like it could devour everything in existence was steadily being released by him.
There was only one thing on his mind. ‘Kill! Kill more! Kill until there’s nothing left!’
His steady steps suddenly turned into a slow jog before moving into a normal run. Finally, with a deep beastly roar that should normally only originate from Ancient Beasts, Zilan flashed forward into the army of golems.
His speed was now in a realm that could only be described as the peak of the Tempering stage, possibly even slightly above that, coming closer to the soul-compression stage.
He conjured tens of water weapons to combat the earthen golems just like before however, even in his current state he still instinctively made sure to steer clear from the water golems.
Once again, a massacre ensued but replacing the usual blood and gore that was commonly associated with such situations, was an outpouring of mud, sand and frightening earth shaking sounds.
In his current state, Zilan didn’t care for his own wellbeing at all. In fact, at this very moment his whole body was covered in many nicks, bruises and even cuts. However, all of these didn’t seem to matter because as soon as he saw a golem, his entire body would go into a frenzy, as if he would not be able to rest peacefully until all of them were eradicated from this earth.
This was also the case even when the 20+ foot rock golems suddenly joined the fray. Not only did Zilan not hesitate to engage, he went full force.
He conjured a similar sized, twenty foot mallet of water using his Blood Force before resolutely smashing it into the humanoid collection of rocks that looked more like a moving mountain. The first strike didn’t seem to do much damage to it, only causing it to stumble but Zilan in his rage induced madness, did not give up. If one strike was not enough, then pummel it till it falls.
Thus ignoring the small fry that were the earthen golems, he entered a gradual rhythm of pounding on the rock golems.
*Ton, Tao*
Stones of all shapes and sizes, unceasingly fell to the ground as their bodies quickly crumbled, piece by piece.
For the tenth and final strike, the angry Zilan roared once again. He then stretched out his left hand and conjured an identical mallet, which he used all his strength to grab hold of.
The veins on his arms suddenly became visible, enlarging to the size of earth worms.
“ARRGGHH”
Raising both the mallets above his head, Zilan suddenly jumped high into the air to the point that he was looking down on the golem. He then furiously threw both giant mallets down on top of its head.
“BANG!”
Almost instantly, the rock golem came tumbling down. Stones and sand rained down on the battlefield, causing clouds of dust to form all around.
Not even bothering to catch his breath, Zilan swiftly took care of the earthen golems that had gathered around him but unfortunately, the water golems not only still gave chase but their numbers had grown substantially.
Seeing this, Zilan’s rage burned even more fiercely. His hatred for them was growing by the second but like a rat that saw the delicious food right before him however, did not dare to devour it because it knew it was poisoned, Zilan could not make a move.
It was at this moment that a crazy thought that only someone in his current state could think of entered his head.
He quickly looked around before spotting his desired target, another rock golem!
With a slight movement of his feet, Zilan almost immediately arrived before the golem. This time though, he did not conjure any weapons to combat the creature, instead he shifted all his strength into his arms before shockingly, grabbing the golem by its feet, then lifting it high into the air.
In his mind Zilan couldn’t help but laugh, he was no longer depressed by the emergence of the water golems, in fact, he now felt that this was a good opportunity to take down three birds with literally one stone. A very big, quasi-living stone, but a stone nonetheless.
Using all his strength, he waved the gigantic body of the rock golem 360 degrees, doing away with all of the other golems around him.
Just because he couldn’t directly touch the water monsters didn’t mean he couldn’t smash them to bits. Not to mention, the thing he was using to smash them to bits was also taking immense damage along the way. Thus creating a perfect situation for Zilan to be in.
Time slowly moved along however, the destruction and killing continued on at an incredible pace. In normal circumstances, Zilan would not have been able to keep up with this speed of killing but with the injection of pure rage into his system, common sense seemed to no longer apply to him.
He was already on his fifteenth rock golem and by now, he’d sort of instinctively figured out their weaknesses thus getting rid of them became easier. So now, instead of brandishing their entire, extremely large figures, Zilan opted to use some of their body parts such as their long arms or sturdy legs. Of course, he was not doing this to conserve energy but rather inwardly, he felt that using his new method, disposing of the golems would be much faster and relatively more satisfying.
Unfortunately though, his plans were destined to be cut short.
The wind suddenly picked up causing his dishevelled hair to wildly flutter. Zilan slowly raised his head to look up at the sky, only to roar in extreme fury.
Gathering in the sky were the first to appear of the mechanical creatures. Flying monsters that ranged all the way from the smallest sparrow to the largest Hippogriff.
Their sheer numbers actually eclipsed a part of the sky. However, rather than feel dread, Zilan’s body was shockingly trembling due to excitement. He wished for nothing more than to destroy all of the enemies before him and he was not going to rest until his goal was accomplished.
A kettle of eager vultures whose bodies were seemingly made of blade edges, could no longer hold themselves back. They immediately dived down towards Zilan, thrusting their obviously longer, sharper, and stronger than normal talons in his direction.
Seeing this, Zilan’s body glowed with an even stronger lustre than before. He had unknowingly forced himself into a minor breakthrough.
He then pointed both of his hands slightly above not just the group of vultures, but also the many creatures high in the sky.
*Tcha*
A crisp cracking sound assaulted the ears of the many monsters who all simultaneously turned their heads towards the origin of the sound, right above them.
“Waterfall?” was the first thought that entered their minds upon seeing the scene above them.
However, they couldn’t have been more wrong!
It was true that the thing above their heads did resemble flowing water but if someone far away was to look at the thing hovering in the sky, they’d be left dumbstruck. And this was because it did not resemble a waterfall at all!
In fact, it was impossible to mistake it for something as gentle and inspiring as a waterfall.
The thing hovering in the sky was actually a gigantic sword, the likes of which would put any tower in the mortal world to shame. The strangest thing about this sword though was not the fact that it was made of water nor was it its surface which was completely covered in many, many inscriptions.
No, the most interesting thing about the sword was the simple fact that the water that formed it was enchantingly flowing about. Don’t get it wrong though, this ‘flow’ was anything but calm. If it were to be described using but one word then it could only be Unruly!
Zilan’s face quickly turned pale however, his bloodshot eyes powered by the resentment he felt, still glowed. He longed to see the blood of the mechanical creatures.
With his preparations done, he quickly threw his hands in a downwards motion. Unsurprisingly, the humungous sword in the sky also commenced its swift, precise and devastating descent.
“CrAAaaaa!!”
“YEEeeerrr!”
“Graaaughg!”
“NoooAA!”
Various types and tones of pitiful screams echoed throughout the entire domain. The other mechanical Beasts that heard these wails frantically but ultimately unsuccessfully tried to flee the area.
As for the person who ‘dropped this pain’ on them? He was completely immersed in enjoying the moment. The cries of the creatures were like a sensual serenade that excited his heart while the act of variously coloured liquids raining down from the sky was almost the greatest scene he’d ever laid his eyes on. Zilan made sure to burn every second of it into his mind.
Unfortunately, this brief period of pleasure did not last long.
Zilan’s senses crazily flared. There was something approaching from beneath his feet at an incredible speed.
He hastily tried to dodge it but even with his current speed, his reactions were still a step too slow.
*Puh*
Zilan suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood as his body was flung high into the air. The pain and pressure he felt upon contact with the thing that hit him was almost akin to a mountain falling directly on him.
He quickly stabilised himself in the air, preparing to land but once again the area directly beneath him abruptly crumbled and a large, extremely long, lightning fast creature came flying towards him. Just like before, he was too slow to avoid the hit thus he could only curl up and take it head on.
*Puh*
Another collision, another mouthful of blood.
He was now greatly ticked off however, his instincts told him that ‘what happened once could happen again’ let alone what has already happened twice.
Therefore with that in mind, he took the necessary measures. He decisively blasted a jet of water from his legs, sending him quite a distance away but not far enough that he wasn’t able to notice the gigantic figure of a somewhat brown mechanical serpent bursting out of the ground that he was previously about to land on.
Looking around the area, he noticed three other identical heads staring at right him, with their cold yellow eyes. He could sense that they possessed Beast force however, still in his ‘rage’ mode, Zilan did not care.
He was all set to charge towards them when suddenly five other identical heads popped out of the ground, all around him. He was essentially sealed off by the snakes, with no path to retreat.
“Hydra!” cried the internal Zilan who could feel the strong Beast force inside it.
The hydra was known as a legendary monstrous serpent that had nine heads, supremely poisonous venom and was exceedingly hard to kill.
This was a terrible opponent for Zilan. However, like a gift that just keeps on giving, the Hydra actually allowed other powerful Beasts in possession of Beast force, to enter the encirclement while making sure to trap him inside.
An,
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