Corrupt Creations

Those crimson flames were little by little, destroying the defensive layer of Mana protecting that golem and the main motive behind that, was the unending supply of energy Seth currently had. He kept increasing the strength behind his fire technique, until at a certain point, it broke through the red crystal golem's defenses and fiercely assaulted the beast.

Roar!

The creature made of tough crystals, should have been completely resistant against most types of fire, but those red flames, burned it as if it was burning a body made of flesh. The fire clung to the surface of that creature's body, quickly turning some crystals into ashes and making it lose its notions.

Seth suddenly accelerated, diving towards the huge burning area filled with his raging flames. While passing through it, his greatsword absorbed those flames and assumed an unholy appearance, already announcing doom was about to descend. When Seth arrived beside the crystal monster, he saw it was struggling hard to put the fire off of its body, so he took advantage of that situation to strike decisively.

He swinged his greastword from the bottom to the top, creating a red line right in the middle of that big creature made of crystals. That line kept shinning with a crimson glow, inducing despair on any of the creatures that happened to see it.

Crack!

The frontal part of that crystal golem started to crack and many parts of its crystal coating, started to fall off. The monster stumbled backwards, but each step it took, more and more parts of it were falling off, until it took one last step, before completely stopping. If it were to take another step backwards, the creature felt its whole body would crumble and its existence would cease.

Suddenly, at that moment of life and death, the crystal beast started to feel that its core was heating up. From inside it, a Mana shockwave left and rapidly went through everything. The energy wave strangely did nothing to Seth, but for the other beasts witnessing that fight, it was like they were fed with power and adrenaline.

That Mana shockwave served not only as a signal, but as a buff. After being blessed by that buff, those spectating monsters felt their Mana getting stronger than ever. All of them felt restless and immediately charged forwards, ignoring the fact they were not Seth's opponents.

However, there were so many beasts, that Seth couldn't even begin to count. The number of different Mana signatures approaching him was so high, that with a quick scan of his powerful Soul Sense, he was able to pick more than a thousand and five hundred different auras.

All of them had already exposed their claws and bared their fangs, ready to destroy that single common enemy that had disturbed their peace; disturbed the balance.

"Snort!"

Seth suddenly grabbed his greatsword with both his hands and pinned it down on the floor. Half of it instantly entered the ground, lodging there while waiting for Seth's next move. Seth continued to hold the weapon with both his hands, making it seem like he had given up fighting. He closed his eyes and assumed a stance that was not a battle stance, totally concentrating on something else.

However, he wasn't really giving up and from inside his body, a strange thumping sound echoed through the entire area. Those mindless beasts were not able to notice it and only Lan Xue realized that something was off.

Red lines appeared on both Seth's arms, spreading towards his greatsword. After they appeared on his greatsword, they quickly started to spread towards the ground, going everywhere around that area. The speed in which those lines were advancing, was at least hundred times faster than the speed those beasts had, while charging towards Seth.

When Seth felt he had encapsulated every single one of them, he abruptly opened his eyes and lightly said while looking towards the red crystal golem: "It's time for your doom..."

Suddenly, his dark elemental energy exploded out of his body. Mixed with it, there was a lot of essence of corruption, creating a spiraling energy that was red and dark at the same time. That energy entered his greatsword and powered it up to a new height. That power was then directed towards the soil, already marking the end for each one of the creatures standing on the area he had marked.

At that moment, there were already hundred plus beasts jumping towards him, ready to bite him to death. All of them were already releasing their special abilities or trying to suppress him with their strong aura. Some of them were turning their Mana into specified elemental techniques, but suddenly, a dark crimson light made everything stop.

"Doomsday."

Seth calmly announced the end of the days for his enemies and right at that moment, the corrupted darkness accumulated inside the greatsword, traveled through the whole marked floor, covering an area of more than ten kilometers and just excluding the spot Lan Xue was standing in.

Even before the creatures present on that area were able to look down and see what unusual thing was coming towards them, the whole floor exploded upwards, sending everything stepping on it flying away. Darkness and corruption rose from underneath, completely swallowing everything.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

In a single second, everything ceased to exist. Darkness and corruption had completely engulfed those beasts, obliterating them. The red crystal golem was in the middle of them and even his sturdy Mana Sovereign Realm body, wasn't enough to save him from demise. The red crystals around that creature's body were disintegrated and the core shattered completely.

The whole abyss experienced some degree of tremor. Some places experienced it harder and other places barely felt it, but the whole abyss shook with that single wide area attack.

After painting the whole scenario in a dark shade of red, the corrupted essence of darkness started to slowly fade away from the atmosphere; however, that whole place was now devoid of any living beasts. The precious uneven floor had turned into an evened hole, that could have been the graveyard of those dead beasts, if their flesh and bones had been left behind. However, nothing remained, not even the traces of their previous auras.

Seth started to feel tired. After battling more than two thousand enemies, he was finally starting to feel tired. But suddenly, he felt the area being filled with a fresh essence of corruption, from which he decided to absorb and replenish his stamina.

That event was happening because the corruption previously stored inside the bodies of those monsters, had now returned to the world. It was now serving as a tonic for Seth.

That situation, had already happened multiple times before. Like back then, when he was doing a side job for the lord of the Hilkhell city. That process wasn't a new thing for him, but this time it felt different. He wasn't able to actively control that process at that time, what he could easily do now and was actually doing while not sparing any efforts to absorb everything.

Lan Xue silently observed what that had happened. She was already out of words to express the shock she had received. Every single time, Seth was able to shatter her vision about him, deepening her opinion about his talents and character. However, that last skill was something she felt hard to believe even after witnessing it.

At first, she thought he was a talented individual hard to come by, but during this trip together with him, she was now completely sure he was nothing less than a monster. He was able to jump the ladder and fight stronger opponents; his senses were even better than hers; he completely dominated fire and darkness; he was able to heal with a strange green light and there was even that crimson energy she was inwardly afraid of, but refrained to comment about it.

The last technique he had displayed though, had left her thoroughly speechless. She was sure that right now, she would not be his opponent anymore.

While Lan Xue was having a hard time believing the previous scene, Seth kept absorbing the energy of corruption.

Suddenly, he felt his energy veins expanding and initiating a process every cultivator loved to pass through.

Bang!

The Mana around his body started to circle faster, getting more and more robust. Each time it circled, it was compressed to a denser Mana, that seemed to be at least ten to a hundred times stronger than before. That was the process that happened when a cultivator was about to leave the Mana Control peak-stage Realm and enter the Profound Mana initial-stage Realm.

It didn't take that much time for Seth's Mana to completely be renewed, making him feel stronger than ever. There weren't any major or bright events throughout that Realm upgrade, just some noises of Seth's energy veins expanding and contracting, changing shape to accommodate the new form of Mana he would be able to use from now on, while expelling the Mana that couldn't be compressed.

Seth was now, left with only a meager amount of a stronger type of Mana, but it didn't matter that much for him, since he kept absorbing the corruption in the air and transforming it in more and more Mana.. Like that, he would be soon returning to his top condition.