Lord of Annihilation

Controlling his rising 'excitement', Lucius did not immediately rush towards the area, from which the scent was originating. 

Rushing head-first into the unknown was one of the stupidest things to do, and also the dumbest way to die.

'Come to my location. Immediately.' He mentally sent an instruction to Ka'lor'ah.

'Got it.' 

While waiting for Ka'lor'ah to come over, Lucius started to scout the surroundings of the lake. Exploding the soul power, underneath his feet, he instantly reached his top speed turning into a phantom.

In order to increase the range of his search, he extended the shadow beneath his feet to the maximum range possible and also pushed his recently discovered ability of 'Smell' to the utmost. 

Under the combined effort of both these factors, he quickly scouted the area and confirmed their safety. With his speed, it only took him a few minutes to scout the extremely wide area a couple of times.

The location of the lake was fairly simple and plain. Shaped in the form of a crescent, it was almost 20km in length, from one end to the other.

Humungous trees native to the Dark Shade Forest occupied the banks of the lake, covering the surrounding. Atop a few of the trees, shacks were constructed by the Stone Skin Tribe, acting as watchtowers and warehouses.

Double-checking the surroundings, Lucius then stopped and waited for Ka'lor'ah.

"I'm here, what's up?" Ka'lor'ah arrived near Lucius and asked.

"Use your detection ability on the lake and check if there is anything underneath it." He instructed.

Sensing the seriousness in Lucius' voice, Ka'lor'ah immediately grew serious. Using [Greater Area Detection], she spread her senses covering the entirety of the lake.

She did not extend her detection to cover the 55km circular radius, restraining it and instead, using it to penetrate underneath the layers of water.

Time passed, with Lucius reaming silently by her side, alert and cautious. 

"I don't detect anything. My senses penetrated 30km deep into the lake and the ground beneath but found nothing." Ka'lor'ah stated. Her voice, however, lacked surety.

"It might just be me, but something feels odd about this place." 

Lucius nodded in response to her words. His 300 years of battle experience, had crystallized and formed an inexplicable 'instinct to danger' within him.

The longer that Lucius stood by this lake, the more his instinct was warning him that something was wrong in here.

"There seems to be some danger underneath this lake." Lucius honestly stated.

"Indeed, you feel it too."

"Try using [Life Sense] and try to sense the life force beneath the lake." 

Ka'lor'ah followed his instruction. This time the results were clearly different.

"Oh my… An extremely dense life force is present underneath this lake. How did you know?" Ka'lor'ah turned to look at Lucius.

"Scent. New ability." He shortly replied. Unknown to himself, the color of Lucius' eyes deepened and saliva started to drip from the edges of his mouth.

His breaths were also starting to get increasingly restless as if he was trying to hold something back.

"Interesting," Ka'lor'ah remarked. She then threw this matter to the back of her mind and continued, "the density of life force under there is no joke. It's extremely close, if not, already equal to the amount possessed by a Stage 3 being." 

A Stage 3 being! 

Beings that were powerful enough to alter the very world, with their strength!

No matter how incredible or experienced Lucius was, he simply stood no chance against these beings. Even escaping with his life intact would be a near-impossible feat!

"Weird though….something feels off about this life force. The spread of the energy is too wide and makes no sense. What life form could be so large?" Ka'lor'ah mumbled quietly.

Nonetheless, the possibility of a Stage 3 being living underneath that lake still existed. With their strength trying to intrude into its territory would be suicidal.

"We have to get moving. Whatever it is underneath the lake, it's not worth the risk…Lucius?" Ka'lor'ah spoke her thoughts while turning around, only to find Lucius missing.

Splash!

The sound of something hitting the water sounded out. Ka'lor'ah hurriedly turned in horror towards the origin of that sound. She immediately spread her detection ability in that direction.

'Don't tell me…' Ka'lor'ah stiffened in shock. Her mind turned white in horror.

Rapidly approaching that sun-like mass of energy was a small, black dot humanoid in shape and 1.9m in height.

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

Inside the water, Lucius was moving towards the bottom of the lake with incredible speed. 

Soul power condensed to form a shield, acting as a barrier to protect him from the surrounding water, keeping him dry and decreasing resistance.

Dashing at his top speed towards the bottom of the lake, a single thought resounded within Lucius' mind.

'Such a wonderful scent! Eat…I need to eat it!' his eyes had changed colors turning into a beautiful pair of golden-white and crimson red, dazzling with a gluttonous desire.

Lucius' skin had turned stone-grey in color, while his two enlarged arms had dull grey-colored fur growing atop them. His pitch-black nails had also extended in size reaching almost 20cm in length, becoming thicker and sharper.

Lucius' entire body was also larger and more muscular, stretching the fabrics of his clothes. His two arms even more so resembled the arms of the Silver Fist Apes.

"Eat! Eat! EAT! EAAT!!" he let out a beastly roar. Lucius' eyes turned savage and fearsome and his aura seemed to break past the limits of Stage 1.

BANG!

With a thunderous explosion, his body landed at the bottom of the lake. Pausing for a moment, the 'berserk' Lucius raised his head and sniffed the air.

Sniffing in multiple directions, his eyes suddenly brightened with fervor. Kicking off the ground, his body cut across the water moving towards another location under the water.

The surrounding pressure which was around 16 tons per square inch, seemed to have no effect on his body or his speed!

A few seconds later and Lucius arrived before a decrepit-looking boulder, covered in strangely shaped blue-colored moss. The brightness in his eyes increased and a visible joy radiated off of his face. Lucius unconsciously opened his mouth revealing the hundreds of dagger-like teeth, dripping with thick, viscous saliva.

'It's here! That delicious scent is here!' the aura radiating from Lucius' body turned even more savage and threatening. 

Seemingly noticing the threat possessed by Lucius, the blue moss started to shine with radiance. A serene blue spread into the surrounding water gathering energy.

Clink! Clink! Vooorrm!

Crisp sounds of mechanical components moving and clicking together resounded within the water. Suddenly, the strangely shaped moss glowed with intense radiance, blinding Lucius for a moment.

"Arrrggghhh!" Feeling his eyes burn, Lucius quickly broke sight with the moss and covered his eyes. Soul power immediately flowed into his eyes, repairing the burnt cells.

"Hateful!" Lucius roared, the madness in his eyes however receded.

He turned around once again, only to find a barrier enclosing the large boulder and the area surrounding it. The barrier shone with dim blue light and looked extremely solid. 

Lucius dumbly stood before the barrier, his body shivering uncontrollably. His mouth opened and closed multiple times, as soundless groans escaped his throat. 

If not for the barrier formed of pure soul power blocking the outside water, Lucius might have actually drowned to death.

"..wha-..where am I?" intelligence returned to Lucius' eyes, as the color within his eyes dimmed noticeably but did not disappear.

Raising his head, he looked around in confusion and incomprehension.

'I..wasn't I standing next to the lake? How did I end up underwater?' he wondered for a moment, before hurriedly looking at his hands.

Disproportionately large and covered with silver fur, with thick black claws growing from the ends of his finger. The fur covered his hands, reaching till his upper-arm, upon which dull stone-grey painted the remainder of his skin.

'I lost control again?' Lucius quickly realized. 

He hurriedly sunk his consciousness into his mindscape, only to see the ocean of foul-looking darkness trying its best to stir and revolt, only to be restrained by the [Annihilator] soul and the golden sun.

'This…' Lucius was dumbstruck. 

"Lucius!" A worried voice resounded within his mind. Lifting his gaze, Lucius saw a palm-sized dark-gold crystal rushing towards him.

Upon confirming that Lucius had indeed jumped into the lake, Ka'lor'ah cursed at him for his reckless behavior before following him.

'You better have a damn good explanation!' Grinding her inexistent teeth, she quickly found Lucius, absentmindedly staring at his hands.

"You id--!" just as Ka'lor'ah was about to lecture him, she suddenly paused. She looked at the inhuman state Lucius was in and immediately understood.

"You lost control, again?" Ka'lor'ah calmly asked.

Exiting his mindspace, Lucius' eyes quickly turned cold and calm. Hearing Ka'lor'ah's question he nodded his head.

"What happened?" she questioned with a serious tone.

Randomly losing control was no joke! At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before he died.

"Are we going to talk in here?" Lucius pointed at the barrier in front of him and asked.

"Ah!" It was then, that Ka'lor'ah noticed the dimly pulsating blue barrier encapsulating the large boulder. Her crystal body flickered with light, as she unconsciously mumbled.

"Such beauty~!"