Lord of Annihilation

Exiting the mountain crevice, Lucius descended the mountain in a smooth manner. Making it to the bottom he gazed at the empty scene in front of him.

'Almost all of the Fjord Beasts are gone! How is this possible?!'

Seeing the hoof-prints of the Fjord Beasts leaving their marked territory, he immediately understood that the plan to draw the beasts had gone horribly wrong.

'The beasts would never leave their territory, unless....!' with his experience, Lucius immediately understood what had happened.

Due to the unhindered growth of the Fjord Beasts, coupled with the favorable environment present on this planet, a rare case of evolution had occurred. An evolution that might have possibly resulted in the birth of a Stage 2 Beast.

'Stage 2...Even I would have a difficult time fighting against such a being.' 

He then recalled Olivia's condition at the time of his leaving. 

'That girl has no chance of survival against a Stage 2 Being. But then where have the beasts been running too? And what was that sound earlier?' Lucius' brows furrowed.

Looking at the direction of the valley, he considered for a moment, before choosing to head towards it. He wanted to check the location of the noise and also...

'I have to see if [Devour] really made a difference to my body. If I can get my hands on the body of a Stage 2 Fjord Beast, it would be for the better.'

Inhaling the cold air into his lungs, he regulated his pace and dashed off, following the large hoof-prints on the snowy ground. 

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

As he ran farther and farther away from the mountain, confusion started to grow within his mind. He was confused about why the Fjord Beasts had traveled this far.

However, his confusion was soon resolved. With his sharp sight, Lucius spotted a faint trace of blood on the ground. Most of the blood had frozen and had been trampled upon, hiding underneath a layer of snow. However, the crimson stain could still be vaguely seen in this pure white ground.

Stopping near the bloodstain, Lucius lowered his hands and picked up with frozen crystal in his hands. First, he smelled the blood, before using his tongue to lick a small portion of it.

This was a habit that Lucius had formed during his time as a [Killer]. He would often track his prey using their smell and taste. With the improvements to his taste and smell as a Void Eater, his skill in tracking had also improved.

The frozen crystal of blood, melted within his tongue and gradually entered his body. A stream of void energy then came up and began to assimilate the blood. However, at the very next second, Lucius' face scrunched in displeasure and he spat out the blood.

'Revolting!.... but this confirms that the blood is indeed from Olivia. It's still quite fresh.' he thought to himself.

For reasons unknown to him, Lucius' instincts as a Void Eater found Olivia's soul power to be revolting. It was revulsion that one would feel when they see something unpleasant or abhorrent.

However, right now, this allowed him to confirm the reason behind the Fjord Beasts moving this far.

'Seems like they were chasing after her.' 

He once again stood up and started to follow the hoof-prints.

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

Running for another 15 minutes, Lucius could vaguely see the outline of the valley. Seeing that he was getting closer to his destination, the speed of his movement also rose.

At this moment, Lucius had regained a sufficient amount of soul power. Although it wouldn't allow him to battle against a Stage 2 being, he would have no problems in outrunning it.

Closing in on the ice valley, Lucius could finally see the cause behind the loud sounds and fierce tremors, he had previously felt. The entire valley, starting from the mouth had collapsed in on itself. What was originally a flat surface, now that millions of tons of ice piled atop it to form a small mountain.

Seeing this scene, most of the questions within his heart were resolved. The events that had occurred started to take form within his mind.

'The plan of drawing the herd with bait had been successful. In fact, it had been too successful.'

'An evolved Stage 2 Fjord Beast, must have gained intelligence and led the horde to capture Olivia. Seeing that there are no bodies along the way, they seemed to have failed in the capture.'

'However, this brings us to a question. How did a Stage 2 beast fail in capturing a Mid Level Stage 1 human? Even if the Stage 2 beast had sacrificed its strength for intelligence, it is still a 'higher grade lifeform'. Its attributes as a beast must surpass that of a normal human.'

'That girl also had little to no strength remaining in her body. There was no way that she managed to continuously outrun the beast horde. There has to be something else that I'm missing here.'

Indeed, Lucius' assumption was very correct.

As for why the Stage 2 beast had not attacked Olivia directly, even though it possessed sufficient strength to do so, we have to look at the scene of the chase.

While Olivia was running away from the beast horde with all her strength, there was a certain change in her body which she herself did not notice. From her back, a faint image of a broken temple and an altar was projected into the air.

The Stage 2 beast which was preparing to directly capture this impudent human, was startled from seeing this projection. A sense of great danger filled its heart and it subconsciously slowed down in its chase. It also commanded the other beasts to not kill the other party.

Climbing the newly-formed snow mountain, Lucius continued with his analysis.

'Now this leads us to the next question. How did that girl have enough strength to run all the way over to his valley? Even if she had the will to run, her body was in no state to do so.'

'Not only did she possess enough strength to maintain her running speed, but was also able to coincidentally arrive at his valley at the time of its collapse? There are too many suspicious points here.'

Arriving at the center of the collapsed valley, Lucius looked around. The top of this mountain was filled with a fresh layer of snow. There were no signs of the Fjord Beasts or of Olivia whom they were chasing.

After carefully observing the traces around the mountain, Lucius then shook his head.

'No one could have survived that avalanche. It's a pity that the body of the Stage 2 Fjord Beast was buried underneath layers of snow. Seems like I can only temporarily pause my research on the changes to my body.'

He then turned around and started to head in the direction of the teleportation runes. It was time to head towards the spaceship.

What about Olivia you might ask?

Looking at the scene of the valley's collapse, it was quite clear that she was buried underneath it along with the beast horde. Even if she somehow had managed to run all this way, it was simply impossible for her body to withstand the pressure of millions of tons of ice.

As such, other than feeling disappointment at the loss of a potential tool, Lucius did not feel anything else. His heart was unmoved and his eyes were indifferent. He had never once carried any significant emotion towards her.

To him, Olivia was simply another existence, just like the innumerable other existences within the Universe.

'It's a pity though. I was considering training her to become a valuable asset. Some of my future plans would have become simpler with her addition.'

Letting out a small sigh, he thought.

'Seems like I can only look for other alternatives.'

Just as Lucius was about to descend the mountain, the entire structure underneath his feet suddenly started to tremble. 

Starting from faint trembles, it then proceeded to become a full-fledged earthquake. Lucius quickly found himself losing his balance and hurriedly adjusted his footing. The earthquake continued to increase in intensity and he soon found himself unable to maintain his balance.

RUMBLE! CRACK!

With a thunderous sound, a sudden crack formed in the center of the small mountain. As the trembling continued, the crack started to expand in size. Before long, the entire mountain was split exactly into two parts and a deep gorge formed in between, revealing the base of the valley.

At the very bottom, laid the body of a young girl surrounded by a layer of deep, violet light. A projection of an altar and a broken temple flickered above her body. 

Looking at this scene from his position, Lucius' eyes shrunk into tiny slits.

"Impossible..." his mouth involuntarily mumbled.

The shock he was feeling was so great that Lucius, jaw unconsciously widened.

'That is...that is...how the hell is she related to 'that place'?!' he cursed.

Although Lucius recognized the temple that was being projected, he did not speak out its name. A formless force gathered around his body and suppressed him from speaking or even thinking its name.

Feeling this formless suppression, Lucius did not panic. Rather, it had verified his thoughts.

The projection continued to flicker, before vanishing into the air. The violet barrier surrounding Olivia was also shattered and the formless force disappeared from his body. Lucius felt the suppression disappearing from his body.

Shaking of the astonishment that he was feeling, he quickly headed down into the gorge, towards the body of the young woman. Nearing her body, Lucius could hear the sounds of her heartbeat. It was faint but firm. 

Olivia's clothes were torn in multiple places revealing her snow-white skin. Numerous wounds, both big and small in size littered her entire body. Her body was also quivering from the cold and the eye-lids on her beautiful face were covered in frost. 

At this moment, Olivia resembled a beautiful ice fairy.

Hurriedly extending his hands, Lucius first infused his soul power into her and helped her body in healing its wounds. He then circulated his soul power inside her body and warded off the cold.

After her wounds had stopped bleeding and her injuries had mostly healed, Olivia still did not wake up. Lucius' brows furrowed as he scanned the state of her body.

'...there are no visible injuries and her soul is also fine. It should only be the effects of overexhaustion.' confirming this he let out a sigh of relief.

He then suddenly turned his head towards the sky and started to laugh.

He started from a faint chuckle, which turned into a small snigger, which then became full-blown laughter.

Lucius started to laugh so hard that his entire body started to tremble. The laugh no longer carried happiness but was filled with crazed madness. His indifferent eyes glowed with dangerous conviction.

"HAHAHA! Perfect! This is simply perfect! I now have one of the 'keys', required for the final step!" Lucius boisterously laughed.

His laughter then abruptly stopped and absolute indifference returned to his face. The maddened laughter from earlier seemed like an illusion.

He looked down and gazed at the unconscious Olivia with his cold eyes.

'I must bring her under my absolute control. Her value to the plan is extremely great!'

'However, this also comes with great risks. If I make even the smallest of mistakes, it would result in my utter annihilation. Not even with the power of all the Lords combined, will I be able to escape my death.'

Thinking this much, a crazed smile formed upon his face.

'But how can such a thing stop me from walking this path? The moment I decided to return to the past, I had already resolved myself to face death. Such a risk, isn't it precisely what I expected?'

'Nothing can stop me from walking this path. And anything that impedes my path to success will be utterly destroyed.' 

Carrying her in his arms, Lucius started to retrace his path to the spaceship.

He had gained plenty of valuable tools which was of great importance to his plans. His gains had exceeded his greatest expectations. So great that he had saved almost 50 years of his preparation time.

And now, it was time to digest his gains and grow his strength. Only with absolute strength, will he be able to continue walking this path.

Only with strength will he achieve true success.