Chapter 65 Fury plus Rage equals Massacre
< The host is advised to retrieve the crystal and vacate the region; dangers are approaching. >
"Let them come," Karsha muttered, deep in his rage, ignoring the system. He was angry and needed to vent that anger somewhere, so if those snakes decided to become his punching bag, he was happy to oblige.
The reason he hadn\'t encountered any monsters before encountering the Dark Mutants was because of the Dark Mutant Karsha had just slain—or, more importantly, the fist-sized crystal embedded in its head.
The crystal contained a condensed form of fire essence, its energy formidable. Because it was powering the Dark Monster, none of the other creatures dared to attack it. They kept their distance, allowing it to maintain its domain.
The crystal is valuable but dangerous. The other snakes knew that, so they stayed far from the domain of the Dark Mutant Karsha had just killed. After all, who would be foolish enough to remain close to a monster that could enter a rage at any moment under the influence of the stone crystal?
The nature of the crystal is complex, with many forms. There is the white crystal, which contains the essence of an absolute healing flame, and the golden crystal, which holds the essence of the divine flame.
Each form contains different variations of flames. However, the fist-sized crystal embedded in the monster Karsha had just killed was black—black as obsidian.
The light around it was constantly devoured. It was the strongest form, and Karsha had just slain a being that wielded it. The moment it died, the others noticed and all wanted it.
The only thing standing in their way now was Karsha. He wanted the crystal, and his rage from the failed comprehension had risen to new heights.
"Berserker Rage," he muttered, his eyes lighting up. The 150% mad rage boost surged through him, making him feel more powerful and dangerous.
Activating his yin-yang lightning, Karsha dashed forward, instantly reaching the first snake. His right sword slashed its belly with lethal intensity, and blood gushed everywhere. He blinked, appearing in front of another snake, landing an overhead slash that killed it instantly.
With the same vigor, he dashed toward the next snake, running rapidly around it and encasing it in a lightning net. The snake\'s crawling was halted, and Karsha, now in full rage mood, slashed his sword, sending two arcs of fire that killed it instantly.
"Domain," he muttered under his breath. The domain appeared, sealing in 12 Tier 5 and 3 Tier 6 snakes. Karsha, with over four minutes left of his rage ability, dashed at a Tier 6 snake while the variations in the domain bombarded the Tier 5 monsters with deadly attacks.
Inside the domain, Karsha commanded everything. The variations ignored the Tier 6 monsters but continued to inflict damage on the Tier 5 monsters.
His movements were swift and deadly, allowing him to move quickly across the battlefield.
Perhaps due to his intense anger and rage, he didn\'t notice it, but his sword attacks had evolved during his battle with the Dark Mutant. The attacks had multiplied, becoming more powerful than they used to be.
Strangely, the more he used them, the more powerful they became. However, Karsha hadn\'t noticed any of this yet. His focus was solely on releasing his pent-up anger on the pitiful snakes.
Three minutes passed quickly. With two minutes left, Karsha continued to pile up bodies. Within three minutes, he had killed over twenty snake monsters and showed no signs of stopping.
He still had Berserker Fury, so he wasn\'t worried about running out of time. He could have used both Berserker Rage and Fury during his battle with the Dark Mutant. The combination would have boosted his attack power by 320%.
However, Karsha wanted to test his strength, and the result had been disastrous. If it hadn\'t been for the sensation he felt, he would have failed the quest, risking the loss of a legendary-grade weapon in the process.
Although he would have succeeded in killing the monster eventually, he wouldn\'t have been able to do so within the given time frame.
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Now that it was over, he felt no need to hold back anymore. He let his rage take over, and as a berserker, it was only natural to vent his anger through a massacre.
As more bodies piled up, the other monsters grew wary. Their numbers started dwindling. Only the ones confident enough advanced toward the dead Dark monster.
Of course, they were met with sword attacks that instantly cut the thread holding their life force.
Gradually, the snakes stopped coming, but dead bodies littered the battlefield, numbering in the fifties. Karsha stopped by the Lesser Monster and jammed his sword into its skull.
He twisted it clockwise and counterclockwise. The fist-sized dark crystal released a gush of energy, making Karsha, now back to his normal form, feel weary.
The stone released another burst of energy, then another, and then another. A system notification appeared, but before Karsha could read it, the crystal exploded.
Instead of dispersing into the air, the energy from the explosion entered Karsha\'s body almost instantly.
His entire body quaked, his eyes turning blood red. The pain from the absorption began taking a toll on his body.
Had it not been for his armor, visible signs of his body cracking would have been seen. His skin started to crack, and a fiery aura began seeping through the fissures.
The veins on his forehead popped as they pumped blood through his body, and his already red hair became even redder.
The transformation was excruciating. Karsha, enduring this ordeal, continued to grit his teeth through the pain.
He had already experienced so much suffering that "pain" had become a relative term. But what he was experiencing now was a new level of agony. His skin continued to burn, turning redder and redder.
The absolute fire crystal he had absorbed was tempering his body. The transformation was the result of the crystal cooking his skin to make it more resistant to fire attacks.
His body was undergoing a rebirth, akin to the shedding of old skin and the growth of new. In this context, Karsha\'s skin and organs were being completely cooked by the essence of the flame.
After ten minutes—and, strangely, no monster snakes approaching him—the pain began to subside. His eyes slowly returned to their normal red hue, but his hair had undergone some changes.
His hair extended, falling freely down his back. His bone structure had also undergone some changes, enhancing his already handsome features.
Though his height remained the same, the definition of his muscles and abs had also improved, giving him a clean-cut six-pack.
When the pain finally subsided and Karsha regained his senses, he finally saw the system messages.
< Ding! Congratulations, you have extracted and absorbed the venom of a Tier 6 Dark Mutant, Lava Wyrm. >
< Ding! Congratulations, you have extracted and absorbed the bloodline of a Tier 6 Lesser Mutant Lava Wyrm. Your bloodline grows stronger. >
< Ding! You have acquired the blood of a Lava Wyrm. Consume and use the essence to temper your body. >
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< Ding! Congratulations, you have successfully absorbed a complete Absolute Chaos Fire Crystal. >
< +200 has been added to all stats and +20,000 to Mana. >
< You have gained 95% immunity against fire. >
< Two Tier upgrades have been applied to all Fire-type skills. >
< Ding! Congratulations, you have awakened a form of fire element: Chaos Fire. Affinity: Low. >
"Looks like I didn\'t suffer for nothing," Karsha remarked, accessing the Fire Beam skill. Initially, the description of the ability read, \'Using Mana, the swordsman can light their sword on fire. Each sword cut will leave a residue of fire that will keep eating away the Health of the target for as long as the wielder has Mana.\'
However, after absorbing the fire crystal, the skill underwent a significant evolution.
[ Fire Beam: B ] (Tier 8)
-- Channel enough fire essence into the sword and strike, sending a three-meter-tall arc of flames toward the target.
-- The strike will contain 120% of the total attack power of the user.
[ Note: The higher the amount of fire essence gathered, the more powerful the attack. ]
Karsha absorbed the new OP nature of his fire attack. His only concern now was the amount of fire essence he possessed. Unlike most skills that require Mana, this ability required fire essence, and he had no way to determine how much he had.
After all, he was still a beginner. How much fire essence did he actually possess? That question, however, was answered sooner than he anticipated.
Instead of picking up the shining drops on the ground, Karsha opted to draw his Devil\'s Tooth sword and began channeling fire essence into it.
The process was quite simple. He tapped into the new presence he felt in his dantian, the energy flowing through his veins, meridians, and body, much like channeling Mana.
After gathering enough fire essence, Karsha slashed his sword vertically. Immediately, the temperature around him soared, and a towering three-meter-tall half-moon arc, composed entirely of pure fire, surged forth from the strike.
The arc traveled with fiery intensity and collided with a ten-meter-tall boulder, shattering it completely.
"What the heck..."
"Thud." Another sword down.