Lord of Annihilation

Entering the [State of Devour], Lucius kicked off the floor of the lake and jumped towards the dimly shining barrier.

Raising his humungous, disproportionate right arm which bulging with muscles and covered with silver-colored fur, he punched at the center of the barrier.

BANG! BOOM!

An ear-splitting roar resounded, as arcs of lightning struck Lucius and flung him back. Instantly, black shadows extended underneath his feet and hundreds of pitch-black tentacles exited the void. 

There wasn't a single scratch on the barrier.

Controlling the [Void Hands] to pierce themselves into the ground to form a grip, Lucius managed to stabilize his flung body and dissipate the rebounding force.

"ROAR!!" A guttural roar exited his mouth, as he jumped towards the barrier once more.

Using the [Void Hands] as a slingshot, he flew towards the barrier with even greater momentum. Learning from his preliminary attack, Lucius angled his attacks downwards to reduce the rebounding force and save time.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Punch after punch, explosion after explosion, Lucius attacked with all his efforts. The water in the area surrounding the barrier had been vaporized forming a dry zone of battle within the surrounding hundred meters.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

His bones cracked and his muscles tore. Viscous black blood leaked from Lucius' two arms as he mindlessly punched at the barrier. Void energy and [Annihilation Energy] continuously poured into his hands and was shot off in his attacks.

Crack!

Under his relentless single-minded attacks, the barrier finally cracked. Seeing the crack form, Lucius roared with even greater ferocity and punched harder and faster.

His two hands had turned into blurry shadows, unseen by the naked eye. Each attack seemed to be greater than the previous one, as the shaking of the barrier grew larger and larger.

Looking at his scene from the sidelines, Ka'lor'ah's shock was so great, that it couldn't be described in words.

'Su-such power! That barrier must be able to ward off attacks from a Stage 3 being. Even though it's been weakened to a certain extent, it's not something that can be damaged by a mere Peak-Level Stage 1 being!'

Her eyes carefully scanned the aura emitted by Lucius, and finally came to a realization.

'His physical body is already comparable to Mid-Level Stage 2…no, his fists seem to be even stronger! And [Annihilation Energy] seems to be eating into the energy threads of the barrier, constantly weakening it!'

Seeing that berserk figure crazily attack the barrier, Ka'lor'ah thought to herself.

'In his [State of Devour] he can fight and kill the weaker Peak-Level Stage 2 beings, and this is with his soul only being at Stage 1. When he grows stronger in the future…how much more terrifying will he get? 

Ka'lor'ah's body shivered at the thought. A tiny seed of worry and fear implanted itself in the depths of her mind.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOOOOM!

A thunderous explosion much larger than the previous ones quaked the entire lake body. Water in the surrounding few hundred meters was instantly vaporized, creating a strange scene of dry land at the bottom of the lake.

Ka'lor'ah rocked out of her thoughts and looked towards the spot where the barrier had been present. Clouds of dust and debris, alongside rays of light, blocked her vision shrouding the scene beyond.

Just as she was about to use a spell to observe the scene, a deep, mechanical voice sounded out.

"The barrier's broken. Let's go." 

'ALREADY?!' Ka'lor'ah was shocked once more.

Since Lucius had begun his attack, less than three minutes had passed. In other words, Lucius had managed to break a near-Stage 3 strength barrier in less than three minutes.

As a mere Stage 1.

'Mo-monster.' 

Making her way past the clouds of dust, she finally arrived at the scene behind the layers of dust clouds.

A bowl-shaped crater, tens of meters in depth lay before a large boulder. Standing within that crater, was a tall, dark figure with bulging muscles and grossly oversized arms. The majority of his body, save for his arms were dull stone-grey in color. 

His two arms, or rather what remained of them, were a mixture of exposed pale-white bones, shredded silver muscles, dripping black blood, and strands of silver fur.

Lucius' face was malevolent in expression with barely suppressed madness and desire. His pupils had expanded to occupy the entirety of his eyeballs and were deeply colored in their respective shades.

His entire body was charred and damaged beyond recognition, with blood and bone seen at every inch. However, his broken body did not in the slightest diminish the aura of savageness and desire to devour.

Right now, Lucius looked the farthest thing away from a human, completely exposing the dreadfulness of a Void Eater, the Enemy of All Life.

He looked and seemed like a…real monster.

"Give me a moment." A grating voice, unpleasant to hear exited his throat…or what remained of it at least.

Breaking such a powerful barrier obviously had its costs. Right now, Lucius was extremely hungry and on the verge of losing his mind. It was only due to his fearsome willpower, that he managed to hold onto his consciousness.

Hurriedly starting a chant, Ka'lor'ah immediately started to cast healing-type spells. However, the moment these spells reached Lucius' body they were instantly nullified.

"Come forth," Lucius spoke once more.

Eighteen Forgotten Warriors rose from his shadows and kneeled before his body. Their heads were bowed in reverence and their hands rested upon their weapons.

"Enter the labyrinth and find me something to eat. Go." Lucius ordered.

The Forgotten Warriors nodded their heads in unison and immediately rushed towards the boulder. 

What was previously a plain-dull rock face was now covered with various symbols, letters, and patterns, inscribed into the rock face. 

Various alchemical and mechanical devices also lay around it smashed and broken into pieces. Underneath his boulder, lay an opening into the earth below, radiating with gloomy miasma. 

Rather than an entrance into a labyrinth, it seemed more like the entrance into the abyss!

Alas, the Forgotten Warriors feared nothing, unhesitatingly jumping into the dark opening, mixing into the darkness.

Quietness descended and water rushed in to fill this empty gap underneath the lake. Ka'lor'ah hurriedly chanted a spell and created a barrier surrounding the entrance, Lucius and herself, to prevent the water from flooding in.

After doing so, she quietly floated, a few meters away from Lucius. Knowing that her spells couldn't heal his damaged body, she did not waste energy casting either.

From the distance, she quietly gazed at the 'monster-like' Lucius, not daring to approach.

'If you approach him right now, you will most certainly die!' This is what her senses were telling her.

Lucius was currently extremely deficient in energy, barely restraining himself. Ka'lor'ah on the other hand was extremely condensed and filled to the brim with delicious energy.

If she were to stupidly approach him, she would most certainly be devoured by him!

'It's not that I don't trust Lucius, but he is not in his best state right now. I can feel the barely restrained desire to consume me, radiating off of his body.'

Suddenly, Lucius raised his head and looked towards the entrance. 

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Noises of something heavy falling onto the ground, sounded out as large fleshy bodies were thrown out of the entrance.

The bodies looked similar to oversized rats, with black-colored skin and veins of lava-like fire energy running across their body. They possessed three pairs of red, bloodshot eyes, and a large maw filled with saw-like teeth.

Their limbs looked short but powerful, with a wart-like protrusion extending from their backs. These protrusions had burst apart and had gross, slimy red-colored disgusting liquid flowing from within them. An absolutely horrid smell spread instantly spread within the barrier.

'Low-Level Stage 2… if I recall correctly, these are Lava Vein Rodents, 1.8m to 3m in length, they always live and travel in groups. They live in narrow, dark tunnels inside volcanic veins where temperatures are high (between 1200°c and 2400°c) '

'They are extremely fast and cunning, making them very hard and annoying to hunt. How did those warriors kill these things?' Ka'lor'ah thought in doubt.

The bodies of these Lava Vein Rodents were filled with cuts and wounds, each at varying locations with varying depths. It was obvious that the wounds were caused by the unshapely weapons of the Forgotten Warriors.

Uncaring towards Ka'lor'ah's doubts Lucius slowly walked towards the dead bodies of the rats and cautiously sunk his mouth into them. In a careful, controlled manner he began to [Devour] them, unbothered by the disgusting puss and stench.

It took him two minutes to consume the first Lava Vein Rodent, a minute and 13 seconds for the second, and 54 seconds for the third.

Just as Lucius was done within these three, another round of dull thuds resounded as more bodies shot out of the entrance. This time it was five dead Lava Vein Rodents.

Unhurried, Lucius continued to eat them and more food continued to arrive.

His body started to repair itself and his eating speeds continuously increased. The skin on his body was also turning darker and deeper, approaching coal-black in color. Faint red-colored veins started to appear on his skin.