Lord of Annihilation

"Understood. I'm ready." Olivia replied.

Acting as bait was her own idea. As such, she had already prepared her mind and was ready to face the dangers.

Lucius nodded his head and grabbed Olivia by her waist. Jumping from atop the mound, he dashed in the direction of the Fjord Beast horde. 

"When we get within range, attack one of those bigger beasts in the background. Immediately after your attack, turn back and run. Your survival depends on the quickness of your actions." Lucius advised her.

Without bothering to hear her reply, Lucius continued to run. With his speed, he rapidly closed in on the distance.

100m....80m....60m.....50m...

In an instant, he had already crossed into the 'no man's land'. This time however instead of slowing down his speed, Lucius detonated a portion of his soul power beneath his legs and increased his speed.

Just as the beasts stood stunned at the suddenness of his actions, he released his hold on Olivia and instructed.

"Attack now."

Immediately after receiving his instruction. a flash of violet light left Olivia's hand and headed towards a Fjord Beast in the background. This beast was almost thrice the size of its brethren with visible aura leaking out of its body. It was one of the Peak Level Stage 1 beings in the horde.

The attack crossed the distance instantly and squarely struck the face of the Fjord Beast. The spell that she had just cast was called [Distress].

[Distress] had the effect of attacking a person's psyche and deal serious damage to their consciousness. Against a beast that only possessed basic intelligence and was reliant on its instincts, this was this most effective attack.

Not bothering to stay and look at the effectiveness of her attack, Olivia immediately turned around and ran with all her might.

A loud bellow sounded out behind her and the sound of a stampede followed.

'It worked! Lucius should have gained an opportunity, right?' she thought to herself and looked around. Lucius' body had disappeared. 

Olivia was slightly shocked, but then immediately calmed herself. 

'He must have spotted an opportunity. Looks like the plan succeeded.' she sighed with relief. 

'Alright. I just have to cross this remaining distance and I'll be safe." 

Just then, a change occurred in the beast horde behind her. A Fjord Beast, which was dark-blue in color suddenly appeared from within the ice.

Its size was smaller than its brethren but the aura surrounding it was far more terrifying than the Peak Level Stage 1 Beasts. However, this aura was concealed within the snow and could only be felt nearby.

Its eyes shone with intelligence as it looked at Olivia's retreating figure. With a voice that was slightly different from the mindless roars of its kind, it shouted.

『Do not let that creature escape!』

Hearing its command, the other Fjord Beasts immediately regained their rationality. Recognizing its command, they moved in obedience.

A Stage 2 Being was leading the horde.

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Lucius who had used his [Void Steps] and had entered the Void was naturally unaware of the change outside. Crossing a distance of 15m inside the Void, he then reappeared in the outside world.

Noticing the beasts frantically chasing after Olivia's retreating figure, Lucius understood that her plan had been a resounding success.

'Very efficient.' he mentally thought to himself.

Not paying any more attention to the beasts or Olivia, he started to dash towards the mountain wall. Taking care to remain within the blindspots of the beasts, Lucius quickly crossed the rest of the distance.

At the very foot of the mountain wall, were ice caves which seemed to be the dwelling of these Beasts. The caves were numerous in number and occupied much of the mountain's foot.

'Is there a path to the door at the top through these caves?' he asked Ka'lor'ah. 

If a path existed did exist within these caves, Lucius would be saved from the trouble of climbing the smooth mountain wall from the outside. Having expected this question in advance, she quickly replied.

'No. Most of these caves are very shallow and do not contain paths to the top of the mountain. Looks like we have to do it the hard way.' she bitterly laughed.

Lucius clicked his tongue in annoyance. There was no other choice but to scale the wall from the outside. Extending the scythe in his hands, Lucius mobilized his soul power. He then controlled his void energy and activated his racial ability.

[Void Hands]

Over the past month which he had spent in secluded training, Lucius had spent most of his time on [Void Hands]. He wanted to achieve complete control over most of the tentacles, which would increase his combat efficiency.

Although he did not succeed in grasping total control over all the tentacles, his control over a majority of them had gotten much smoother.

Drawing out only four pitch-black tentacles from the Void, Lucius then controlled two of them to tightly grasp the scythe. He then extended the tentacles to their maximum range of 15m.

Having done his preliminary preparations, Lucius then inhaled a large mouthful of air and bent his legs. Gathering strength and soul power, he jumped.

Thanks to the improvement in his physique after transforming into a Void Eater, Lucius' raw-body strength was nothing to scoff at. Even without the enhancement from his soul power, his body contained similar strength as a Half-Step Stage 1 fighting at full strength.

As such, with that jump which utilized most of his strength, Lucius directly ascended 10m into the air. 1/6th of the required distance.

Feeling his momentum starting to decrease, Lucius immediately detonated his soul power, gaining another powerful thrust upwards. This force carried him another 10m, reaching one-third of the total distance.

As his body lost the initial momentum and was starting to slowly fall under the influence of gravity, he calmly controlled the tentacle.

Extending them 15m into the air, he then executed the First Movement of his Scythe Technique.

"Slash." Lucius softly spoke.

The scythe now controlled by the tentacles smoothly completed the set of actions and tore across the air. With powerful momentum, it then smashed against the mountain wall and...

Cut into it!

Having gained a foothold, Lucius controlled the remaining two tentacles and used them to hold his body, lifting himself upwards. Reaching the location of the scythe, Lucius stepped onto it and jumped once more. Removing the scythe from within the wall, he repeated his previous set of actions.

In this manner he smoothly ascended the wall, reaching the crevice which held the white doors.

----------------

Stepping into the crevice, Lucius canceled his [Void Hands] ability and rapidly panted for air.

While the set of actions he performed earlier might sound simple in theory, it had exhausted all of his physical strength. As such, Lucius needed to sit down and take a break.

Not willing to wait, Ka'lor'ah exited his pocket and floated towards the white door. This place had been their original intention and the reason for them coming to this icy-planet.

Beyond these doors laid the 'Catacombs'. A ruin belonging to the previous era.

Ruins belonging to the previous 'era' were extremely hard to find within the Universe. Almost 99% of all such ruins would be destroyed when the Universe resets its 'Cause', with only a very few managing to survive due to special reasons.

Such being the case, this was also Ka'lor'ah's first time seeing a ruin of the previous era. Needless to say, she was very excited.

A dozen minutes passed inside the small crevice before Lucius finally stood up. His breath had been restored to normal and the weakness within his body had already disappeared.

In fact, he had already recovered from his exhaustion in 5 mins after entering this place. But seeing Ka'lor'ah deeply engrossed in studying the white door, Lucius decided to use the remainder of the time to recover his soul power. 

Now that he was done, he proceeded towards the white door.

"Manage to discover the path forward?" he questioned the floating crystal.

"Yep, already done. I was just studying the runes on this door. Whoever constructed this place, was a genius. The method he used for hiding this place from the Lords and the Universe is outstanding." she praised.

Towards her excitement, Lucius simply nodded his head. While he did not understand the rune patterns engraved onto the doors, he would spend some time at a later date to learn it from Ka'lor'ah.

Knowledge equaled power. Runes were used to manipulate Rules. As such, understanding the Runes would deepen his understanding of the Rules.

Having a deep comprehension of the Rules had a profound impact on one's Soul Cultivation. Although the results of this improvement wouldn't be visible at his current Stage, it would have a direct role during his breakthrough into Stage 5.

Having completed her study on the white doors, Ka'lor'ah instructed Lucius to infuse his soul power into certain locations, while she herself chanted some words in an unknown language.

With the soul power infusion coupled with the mysterious chant, a change occurred to the white doors. The blue veins which extended from within the door started to tremble, before gradually shrinking in size. 

The veins continued to become smaller and smaller and were pulled into the large, white doors. Before long, the veins disappeared and the mysterious chant also stopped.

Seeing that there was no change in the doors, Lucius furrowed his brows.

"Something wrong?" he asked Ka'lor'ah.

"Patience. Old things require some time to boot up." she calmly replied.

Just as the sound of her voice fells, the doors finally reacted. With a short but intense tremble, they eventually opened, revealing the magnificent corridor that laid behind.