The swift Profound Toxic beasts rocketed forward on Eik's command. Gih the Madman shifted into a low stance to prepare to meet them, the length of the whip held up in front of his body, ready to catch and protect against attacks.

But the five slender summons didn't deign to offer even a glance at the A-ranker cultist as they passed him only to tear into the robed troops behind him. For a moment, he was distracted, and that was enough for Eik to make a move of his own.

Once more, his glimmering crown of blue rose into the air above his head, signifying the coming of the Monarch's Will. Streaks of piercing brilliance flowed across his skin as it shed away in dry flakes to reveal the toxin coursing underneath.

And finally, like an explosion of pressured air, Eik's aura came to life, a hue of blue seeping into the fabric of the energy. Having gotten in plenty of practice during his time as a prisoner, Eik pushed the aura further out from his body as he downed three Potions of Mighty Strength class 4, power surging through him like liquid death.

He recalled the last time he had fought Gih back on Earth when the insane man had led an army of cultists through the city of Forest, murdering and abducting Eik's people. Gih had been too much for any Earthling to handle back then.

Eik had tried. Tried to fight. Tried to save someone. But he hadn't been able to. He had been too weak, and Gih the Madman had played with him like a cat playing with an insect.

Sonja had died.

Travis Lockwood had died.

So many had died.

Only Andihar Dayarunar's timely arrival, followed by the forces of the Nidafjeld Alliance, had allowed any Earthling to survive the ordeal.

And this time Andihar Dayarunar and the forces of the Nidafjeld Alliance were also on the way, called to his location by the crushed beacon stones.

However, there was one great difference between the situation now and then.

This time Eik would not leave a single cultist alive from which Andihar and the Nidafjeld Alliance could save him. Instead, he would leave a sea of blood and death for them to wade through and find him waiting on a mountain of corpses.

For the first time since they met, Eik met Gih head on. The armored cultist's whip snapped toward his head but fingerless as he currently was on one hand, Eik simply conjured five wicked claws from the knuckles, each of them half a meter in length. With them he caught the base of the complicated weapon to prevent free manipulation and erected thick shield all along his back, shoulders, and neck to protect himself against the whip as it came back around.

The other hand he enveloped in a gauntlet of crystal and punched Gih in the stomach at full, toxic-boosted power, practically folding the bastard in half with a gasp. "Now you're on the other side of the beating. Do you still want to laugh, you creepy piece of garbage?"

Blood seeped out through the face cover of Gih's helmet, but before it could fall to the ground, it was sucked back up, seemingly defying gravity. A giggle flowed hollowly from inside the helmet. "Aah, it feels so good!" he howled and suddenly leapt back, landing a few rows behind his troops who were all fighting madly against the Profound Toxic beasts.

He went at the guardians, assisting the other cultists, against Eik's expectation. His summons were putting up a good fight, but with an A-ranker in the fray it wasn't sustainable, especially because, judging by the displays of strength, Gih the Madman seemed to not be the only high-ranker.

Taking note of the their surroundings for the first time since coming out of the fracture building, Eik realized that they were basically smack dab in the middle of what looked like a medieval town.

In the distance, disappearing between the buildings, some people were running in the other direction. Maybe everybody here wasn't quite as devoted to the cause of Moon Shall Swallow as those who had pursued Eik here were.

They were standing right where three gardens met, a narrow creek running along their borders. It would appear that Eik had planted both feet in the middle of a herb garden. What had been nice lawns and well kept bushes and plant beds had now been completely trampled and destroyed.

The five guardians tore through the ranks of mostly B, C, and even D-rankers, not giving the cultists even a moment to recuperate. The monsters felt neither pain nor exhaustion, and fear was a foreign concept. They snarled with what looked like rage, but the emotions that Eik could feel through their mental link was pure, unadulterated glee.

There was nothing they would rather do than tear apart these robed meat sacks, and Eik sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to stop them.

In fact… How about a helping hand?

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Since Gih the Madman had been kind enough to put some distance between the two of them, Eik might as well use the time to test out an idea that had struck him when he had been sitting alone in that damned cell.

Conjuring a massive ball of crystalline toxin more than a meter across, he lobbed it high into the air above the gathered cultists like an overpowered basketball player. With a thought, it softened and became liquid, bursting like a water balloon and scattering millions of tiny blue droplets across a wide distance.

Like rain it fell.

It felt so nice on Eik's skin. Like a spring shower.

The same could not be said for the cultists as welts quickly began to appear on the exposed skin. Eik smiled serenely as the droplets dribbled from the tips of his hair and down his face. Such tranquility.

"What shall I call that, I wonder?" Eik said out loud.

Just then, a burning sensation shot the skin of his arm.

[Natural skill evolution — (Unique) Profound Toxin]

[Evolved skill (Unique) Profound Toxin. Skill acquired trait Pesticide]

Reading the name of the new trait, Eik laughed out loud, looking skyward. "My thoughts exactly!" he hooted and launched another Pesticide sphere, mixing in as many Living Manifestations as he could summon to resupply the mass of the remaining couple of guardian beasts as well as form new ones to replace those already destroyed.

The blood frenzy was real. He felt halfway to insanity and he wasn't even affected by Visage of Death. This was just the simple reality of being the heir of the Worldbreaker called Profound Toxin.

Gih's whip cracked across Eik's body but the Earthling had already wrapped himself up in shell-like protection that blocked most of the powerful impact. About a dozen small Living Manifestations poured out of his skin as he slammed another gauntleted fist into Gih's face, the armor too tough to approach properly with a blade.

The Living Manifestations swarmed in through the narrow gaps in the armor and detonated in multiple small but contained and close-quarter explosion of Accelerant. Gih fell to one knee but still chuckled through the damage.

The spiked gauntlet hammered into the cultist's head three more times in rapid succession and Eik once more caught the length of the whip when it came around, but didn't manage to block the butt of the handle as it struck him in the temple.

All of a sudden Gih was much stronger, the blow which Eik would have expected to be able to shake off without too much trouble sending him reeling to the side, crashing through the wall of what looked to be a residential building like a industrial wrecking ball.

Before he could climb out of the rubble, Gih was in the air above him, whip cracking painfully against Eik's chest and shoulder. He groaned and hurled a blunt point spear into his shoulder, knocking him off balance and sending him to the ground. Eik was on him in a second, ramming his fist into the cultist's groin and stomach but he was suddenly hauled away by the shoulders.

A blade emerged from his abdomen and a piercing pain preceded a mouthful of blood drenching the front of his cult robes. Before he could be stabbed again, he unleashed a burst of aura infused with the concentrated essence of Profound Toxin, thrusting away his attacker as he shifted into Toxic Liquefaction and essentially melted off the blade like an ice cream melting off the stick under a hot sun.

The attacker groaned as the entire front of his body began to sizzle. His skin bubbled and boiled angrily as if he had been covered in acid. Eik reformed behind him and returned the favor, driving all five of his finger blades through his back, detaching them into the wounds, and detonating them to devastating effect.

Gruesomely, the man's entire midsection exploded in a blast of gore.

Eik's arm burned as he activated Movement Boost and charged Gih again.

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 59]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 52]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 53]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 54]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 121]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 122]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 73]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 74]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 75]

Gih's armor was reddening, not just blood stains, but something more. Was that why he seemed to be growing stronger by the second? What Eik had felt from the man in the beginning compared to now was leagues apart. It was as if the cultist had gone through a whole power rank.

He had to die quickly

But before that, another high-rank cultist broke free from the crowd, tearing one of the guardian beasts in twain, and came at Eik. Using each hand like fire hoses, Eik shot spouts of Profound Toxin at both Gih in front of him and the other high-ranker coming in from behind.

Triggering Accelerant on both, he followed up with a throwing spear hurled through the newcomer's throat, putting him to rest instantly. Like he had done with the youngster in the fracture building, he cocooned Gih in solid toxin while he was still recovering from the Accelerant.

With a glance back at the fray surrounding his summons, he detonated all four of the remaining beasts with a thought, crystalline fragments shredding cultists in all directions. As he walked back to Gih's crystal encased form, new forces swarmed out of his back like a waterfall, merging into their superior forms as they rushed the exhausted cultists.

He would allow them to rest when they were dead.

His ears told him that they clashed and he knelt in front of the hated bastard on the ground.

Releasing the man's head, he grabbed it by the ridges of the helmet. "You destroyed my home. Killed my friend!" Eik snarled.

Infuriatingly, Gih only giggled "And I enjoyed it too! I swear your people have been put to good use."

Eik had decided to make the guy suffer but more than anything he wanted to murder him right this instant. "They're becoming loyalists?"

"The ones that came voluntarily, yes. The rest…"

Eik slammed a spike gauntlet of blue into Gih's face five times like a sledgehammer. "What did you do with them?" he roared. He felt the cultist try to break his prison but Eik simply thickened it.

"I wonder," the insane man sang. Eik punched him thrice more but he only continued to laugh. Would the oracle know?

"I'll kill you, you fucking bastard!"

"Then get on with it, you silly boy. My life is the Lord's regardless. I've already made sure nobody interferes in our little game here," he said with a toss of his head in the direction of the other cultists.

At those words, a vicious grin cracked Eik's lips. "Ah, that's right," he began mirthfully. "Since you don't want to tell me, I'll tell you something else instead, Gih. About your precious oracle."

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