Ash and steel swirled in Zacs eyes as he pushed forward, urged on by the call of battle. His muscles trembled in anticipation and veins were popping out all across his body to accommodate the overflowing Miasma, and there was even a red haze rising from his very pores. It was no doubt weakness leaving his body, a miracle that the Zhix warriors could only dream of achieving.
The trial no longer mattered. The E-Grade skills no longer mattered. The only thing of import was the thrill of the fight, to use this smithy as an opportunity to temper himself in the fires of war. His axe was already salivating corrosive venom across the floor, no doubt anxious to bite into their shrouded enemy.
A third explosion erupted from within the haze, but Zacs anticipation only grew as his arm swelled. His power was already enough to rival the firmant itself, but it wasnt enough. He pushed into the cloud, but he only took two steps before he sharply stepped to the right as his axe fell. The pincer of a massive tong suddenly appeared and barely missed his head, its size enough to grab Zacs whole torso even when he already had turned into his ultimate form that rose over three ters into the air.
Zac only sneered as his bardiche fell toward the exposed hand, his response already planned out. His soul was one with the Dao itself, so how could a paltry sneak attack ever work? However, he scread in anger when his foe didnt have the decency to lose his hand from the transgression. What should have been a fountain of nurturing blood only turned into a reverberating clang that finally pushed all the dust out of the area, exposing his prey.
And it was big.
The target towered almost three ters above him, but Zac didnt care about the specifics. There were weapons to clash with and limbs to cut, what else was there to know? His first attack had only left a jagged scar on tal and a small festering wound, far from accomplishing his goal. But wasnt that great news? How boring would it be if one swing would have ended the fight? This way he could keep tempering himself, keep reveling in the glory of slaughter.
The massive slab of a hand swiped out at him after being cut, and Zac laughed as he moved his shield to slam it out of the way. A faint voice whispered in the back of his head about a way to empower its defensive capabilities, but he couldn't abide by such cowardice. An intractable force pushed into the core of his being as he was thrown away, and the sweet taste of miasma appeared in his mouth as he slamd into the ground over thirty ters away.
But Zac had eaten the divine seed, making him invulnerable. He could be kicked down a million tis, yet he would rise again to tear down his foes. Not even a second had passed before he was almost back at his target, launching a flurry of strikes aid to maim and brutalize the big bastard in front of him. The tong kept slamming into him and throwing him away, but Zac was more than happy to go along with the cycle of destruction.
Every ti he ca back he could see a few more scars on his enemy while he was just fine. The wounds were like a beautiful piece of art, and Zac an artisan using his axe as a paintbrush. A bit more and a masterpiece would be born. However, the coward in front of him seed to finally have realized the futility of catching Zac with its tongs.
Zac was the incarnation of war, his technique and movents the peak of perfection. To catch him unaware was as impossible as catching the wind. The miscreant was clearly on its last legs as it reached for sothing attached to its back, no doubt another feeble attempt to take him out. Zac laughed uproariously, as he gathered power in his fist to et whatever his prey had in store. A punch felt like the right decision here.
Violence would be t with violence, and blood would be repaid with blood.
However, a piercing scream of danger finally managed to cut through the madness, and Zacs eyes widened in horror when he saw what was about to hit him. He barely managed to stop in his tracks and move his shield to block, but there was no ti to activate [Immutable Bulwark]. He was also unable to completely dispel his accumulated montum, so Zac was still caught by the edge of the enormous hamr and thrown to the other edge of the platform like a ragdoll.
His whole body hurt, but the pain was still muted and sohow distant thanks to the fierce killing intent still churning in his chest. However, his Danger Sense had allowed him to at least regain most of his rationality, though Zac couldnt be sure. He had felt completely lucid just a second ago as well, and that he had everything under control. But only now did he realize that he had acted like a raving lunatic, and worrying wounds covered his whole body.
Zac had severely overestimated his ntal fortitude when planning this fight. He previously believed himself almost immune to the effects of taking a berserking item thanks to his experience dealing with this kind of ntal affliction before. But it turned out that not even the Splinter of Oblivion had managed to prepare him for the insidious whispers of the [Rageroot Oak Seed].
Thankfully he wasnt hurt to the point of no return, though it didn't look great. His shield arm was hurting quite a bit, and there were even so cracks in a few bones. He hadn't used his defensive skills at all when he fought like a rabid animal, and his body had paid the price. His internal wounds were too nurous to count, and black ichor leaked from the seams of his black armor. He would probably have to use one of his two remaining [Serene Flesh Pills] to quickly recover from this ss.
At least he still felt power coursing through his body, allowing him to fight far above his normal capability. No matter if it was speed or strength, it had nearly increased by 60% as far as he could tell. Besides, Zac wasn't the only one who had taken damage from his insane offensive, and he looked over at his target who seed content to maintain its distance.
Only after having woken up from his furor did Zac get a proper look at what he was dealing with. It was indeed a golem, but calling it a robot might be more appropriate going by its appearance. It was a bulky bipedal machine that reminded Zac of a five-ter-tall dwarf. It was roughly the height of the greatest Anointed, but its circumference was a few tis wider than even Rhubat's. Its four limbs were short and stocky, with an almost spherical torso that was clad in a steel sh apron. The apron was mostly in tatters by now though, and Zac distinctly rembered having attacked it multiple tis already.
Its head was attached straight on its torso without a neck, and in its right hand was an almost picture-perfect copy of the hamr that Brazla had in his hands earlier. The only difference was that it was wrought from so black tal, and it emitted an extrely heavy aura. The array on its hamr face was a bit different too, and Zac almost got a bit dizzy when tracing the extrely intricate lines. This was the weapon the golem had finally grabbed from its back to deal with him.
The golem still held the sa steel tong as before in its left hand, completing the look of a chanical blacksmith. It looked far more like a proper craftsman when compared to the Creators over at Zacs shipyard. Perhaps it really was one too, an assistant who had helped the original Brazla in his work. That would explain why the hamr emitted such shocking pressure.
Anything that could be used in forging spiritual tals would have to be extrely durable as to not break apart after a few days of hamring. The golem blacksmith was clearly made from so sort of attuned materials, making it exude an aura akin to Zac's own Dao Field. It wasnt quite at the sa level, but it spoke volus about the quality of the materials the golem was crafted with.
This was just further proven by his series of frenzied attacks earlier. Zac had maintained so sort of rationality earlier, or perhaps it would be fairer to call it a beast's instincts. He had primarily focused on cutting off the golem's limbs, and over a dozen strikes empowered by [Blighted Cut] and sotis also [Unholy Strikes] had reached their mark before he was thrown away. However, the golem clearly had its limbs, and they seed to be in working order.
However, that wasn't to say that his efforts were completely ineffective. The colors of the tals around the axe scars were decidedly darker than the rest of its body, aning that Zac had lain the foundation for victory. He was clear on how powerful his new E-Grade skill was, and not even spiritual tals would be able to resist forever.
The golem might even have so problems judging by the fact that it didn't move toward him. It just stood in the distance and stared at him. Zac just needed to keep working on it and it would sooner or later lose its limbs. However, now that he was awake he would hopefully be able to do so without directly trading blows. After all, his body was sturdy, but not as sturdy as spiritual tals.
Zac really wanted to just sit down and rest up a bit first though, but he forcibly pushed those ideas to the back of his mind. The tir had started the mont that he swallowed the berserking seed, and he had no idea how long it would retain its effect. He had turned a bit insane there for a mont, but its potency couldn't be denied.
Its boosting effect was far beyond what [Hatchetman's Rage] provided, a qualitative boost that pushed every aspect of his power to the next tier. Zac knew there was no way for him to break through this golem's defenses without it, especially not if he was suddenly forced to deal with a weakened state.
Calrins book only described the general properties of the Rageroot Oak and its seeds, but it didnt provide any details. He didn't know exactly how bad the drawbacks were, and when they would kick in. He only knew that it would last longer than a skill, 15 minutes at the minimum. That left ample ti, but Zac was afraid that he would slide back into his delusions of being a god of war without notice. He needed to quickly finish this so that he could eat a soul-nurturing pill to calm down a bit.
Besides, the golem had finally started moving when it realized that Zac wasn't rushing back toward it, and it was already lumbering toward him.
Its step was slow and deliberate, and its weight caused tremors in the ground. Part of its slow speed could probably be attributed to the scars that covered its legs, but Zac also felt that the golem should have an attribute spread similar to his own; focusing on Endurance and Strength. It definitely wasnt sothing that excelled at speed, which was a sha as his current class was particularly effective against those kinds of targets.
A power-based class was a lot trickier to deal with. That swing before had contained a ruthless finality that had warned him of death and he didnt feel confident in trading a series of blows with the giant in front of him now that it didn't only use the restraining tongs and its fist. Not even with the seed empowering him to unprecedented heights.
But Zac already had experienced dismantling an even bigger golem during the hunt, and he knew how to deal with sothing like this. Zac released a deep breath as he started to walk back toward the golem, causing a storm of corrosive mists to spread across the whole platform. He didnt really expect the golem to be hurt by [Winds of Decay], but he wanted to turn the battlefield more in his favor.
If so of the corrosive mists managed to enter the dozens of festering scars, then all the better.
The miasmic mists of [Fields of Despair] soon billowed out as well, but it barely had ti to spread out before the golems chest expanded to the point that it almost doubled in size. A storm of fire spewed out of its mouth the next mont, spreading hundreds of ters in every direction and utterly destroying Zacs efforts in an instant.
Not a shred of his two skills remained, but the flas lingered on the floor, turning the plateau into an inferno as well. Zac stomped down with force, dispelling the flas in his imdiate vicinity. But the temperature was definitely out of Zacs comfort zone, and he looked at the stoic golem with so trepidation. It looked like the golem had more abilities than just its physical prowess.
Zac had to admit that he might have taken on a bit more than he could chew this ti.
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