Lord of Annihilation

『KILL!!』

『DIE DEMON!!』

The two Low-Level Stage 2 warriors of the Stone Skin tribe, jumped from their perches, towards Lucius who was standing atop the mountain of corpses. 

His face remained indifferent, as he leisurely swung about his scythe reaping the lives of the residents of the Stone Skin Tribe.

The gaze of this pair of ambushing Silver Fists Apes was saturated with hatred and pain. Their faces were completely twisted and their eyes were bloodshot. 

Their silver-colored fists which were drawn back had finally accumulated their full power, as seen from the silver curtain of light covering their fists. 

Pouring the entirety of their strength and grievances into their fists, they punched out.

Boom!

The sharp sound of air breaking resounded, as the two pairs of fists broke the sound barrier. Pillars of silver light exploded forth, heading towards Lucius' head. If the attack was to connect, his head would be crushed and Lucius would die.

"Finally decided to come out, huh?" Lucius' calm voice suddenly sounded out.

Lifting his head, he gazed towards the pair of falling Silver Fist Apes. Lucius' mouth curved into a smile, as he calmly watched the pillars of silver light head towards him.

Seeing the smile on this slaughter's face, a shiver ran down the spine of this pair of Wild Beats. An ominous feeling filled their mind and the confidence within their heart disappeared.

Seeing a fatal attack come towards him, the enemy did not flinch or show fear.

'He's looking at us with…disdain?" being a Wild Beast kind with considerable intelligence, they could recognize the emotion that Lucius' smile portrayed.

He was actually smiling with disdain.

"I've wasted enough time. Time to finish this." Saying so, Lucius suddenly disappeared from their eyes.

Their mighty punches which were just inches away from meeting his head had suddenly lost their target. 

BOOOM! BANG!

Carrying the complete strength of two Stage 2 beings, the silver-colored pillars landed on the corpse mountain and exploded. Heat, light, and immense tyrannical pressure erupted, crushing and incinerating the mountain of corpses.

The lake of crimson blood underneath the mountain spontaneously began to boil and instantly evaporated from the heat. In a single attack, more than 60% of this 50ft tall mountain of corpses was destroyed.

BANG!

Another loud explosion sounded, as the mighty bodies of the two warriors landed on the ground. Trying to stand up, their knees buckled.

They had poured every ounce of energy that they possessed into that attack. Having used everything they had, they now possessed neither physical strength nor soul power.

『Wh-where did that demon go?』 one of the warriors looked around in confusion and asked.

Their attacks contained their peak strength and their time of ambush was also perfect. But the demon which should have fallen to their assassination had suddenly disappeared at the final moment!

After arriving at the Stone Skin Tribe, Lucius did not waste any time and immediately started his indiscriminate slaughter. With Ka'lor'ah acting as the radar, Lucius sought out every Stage 2 warrior at the beginning and fought them first.

The Stone Skin Tribe possessed a dozen Stage 2 warriors all of whom were at Low-Level. With Lucius' combat experience and his cheat-like body, he had no problem killing 10 of them at the same time. 

After getting rid of the top-level combatants he then began to leisurely slaughter the Stage 1 and unawakened beings, devouring their bodies and soul whenever he felt either of his energy run low (void and soul).

After his mindspace had undergone a change and his two energies started to co-exist within his body, Lucius discovered that his abilities, both his soul's and body's had vastly improved.

[Annihilation Energy] which used to previously exist as separate energy within his mindspace, had now become a property/attribute of his soul power. Lucius could now freely switch between pure, unattributed soul power and [Annihilation Energy]. 

[Annihilation Intent] and [Flaw Detection] also saw their power and rage increasing, becoming more powerful and versatile.

The changes to his racial abilities were even greater.

[Devour] seemed to have its efficiency improved as Lucius was able to convert more void energy for lesser amounts of food. 

[Void Hands] had their range and number of appendages increase to 50m and 300 tentacles, respectively. His control over the ability had also become much smoother, seemingly having released from some invisible bindings. Its cost of activation had also decreased.

[Void Steps] also had its range improve to a whopping 150 meters for a measly 10% of his void energy at a max distance! Its process for activation had also become much faster and discrete, as the annoying 'loading time' (the black shadows rising to cover Lucius and drag him inside) had also disappeared.

On the whole, Lucius found it easier and much smoother to control his body, as his soul finally stopped conflicting with his body. It would be fair to say, that Lucius' comprehensive combat ability had doubled after these changes.

Another good news was that Lucius could vaguely feel the invisible wall blocking his advancement into Stage 2. It was only a matter of time before he could advance.'

『H-how could he disappear?』 his partner also sounded confused.

『Could he be a ghost?』 the first warrior hesitantly spoke his mind.

After seeing Lucius easily kill ten of their kin of similar strength, these two warriors knew that they would stand no chance in a direct confrontation against the demon.

Gritting their teeth and steeling their minds, they decided to hide within the thick canopy of trees, waiting for an opportunity to deal a fatal blow.

While this plan sounded perfect on paper, the matter of executing it, in reality, was almost impossible. 

Lucius found it too troublesome to climb the tree and force them out/ wasteful to use [Void Steps] to teleport behind them. Thinking so, he completely ignored them and started to kill the other Silver Fist Apes.

The two warriors, who were waiting for their enemy to drop his guard were enraged by his actions of genocide. More so, when one of the warriors saw Lucius behead his wife and child in a single attack.

Unable to hold their rage, they moved to a position above Lucius and exploded forth with their attack.

However, with Ka'lor'ah's presence on the battlefield, their ambush was doomed to fail. She had been paying attention to his pair of despicable ambushers the whole time and 'kindly' provided Lucius a heads-up when the act.

Not that he needed her warning anyway.

Just as the two warriors exchanged their thoughts about Lucius being a demonic ghost, growing increasingly fearful by the second, the sound of footsteps resounded.

Step, step, step.

Turning their heads back, they could see the demon garbed with a black-robe reeking with fresh blood, calmly walking towards them a scythe.

The demon's pair of eyes shone with alternate colors of blood-red and bright gold, as he gazed at them with menace and contempt. Apart from the slight smile present on its face, the demon looked aloof and uncaring.

The contrast between Lucius's pale, handsome face and his bloody, demonic appearance, made these two warriors lose control over their bowels.

Any and all traces of anger, courage, and hatred had completely disappeared giving way to fear, panic, and mostly helplessness.

Lucius arrived before their kneeling bodies and quietly stood there, gazing into their eyes.

Knowing that their fates were sealed, the two warriors felt aggrieved. With teary eyes and a shaky voice, they asked.

『Why? What did our tribe do to offend you?』

『Why must you kill all of us? What hatred do you bear?』

Slash! Slash!

The sound of a blade cutting across the air was heard twice. 

Thud! Thud!

The heads of both the warrior fell from their bodies and landed on the ground. Their bodies were unable to stabilize themselves also followed.

"Those two should be the last ones!" a cheerful voice, resounded from the air.

Ka'lor'ah floated down from her point of vantage and spoke to Lucius. Using [Greater Area Detection], she had concluded that this tribe of Silver Fist Apes had completely been cleared.

"How about it? Do you feel any closer to advancing?" she curiously questioned.

Lucius shook his head and plainly replied.

"No. That battle was hardly of any worth. I can still feel the distance between myself and that wall."

After saying so, he bent down and started to manually devour the two warriors

Although he wasn't feeling hungry, he still used [Devour] in order to absorb the special ability of the Silver Fist Tribes.

Within a few moments, Lucius had completely devoured the two remains. His two hands suddenly started to glow with a silver light, as his arms underwent a mutation.

"Finally." Lucius nodded with satisfaction. 

After consuming all the awakened and nearly 400 of the unawakened of the Silver Fist Apes, Lucius had gotten their unique characteristic of strengthened arm muscles and bones.

'The power of my fists must have increased by at least 50%' Lucius analyzed.

It was then...

"Answer me seriously." Ka'lor'ah suddenly spoke with a serious tone.