The Oracle Paths

By the time the battle ended, a pool of blood about five centimeters deep had flooded the gallery in which Jake and Lu Yan were standing. A mountain of corpses had been erected in front of and behind them as monsters kept pouring in from both sides of the corridor.

At first, Jake had taken advantage of the pileup and the turmoil in the enemy's ranks to slaughter them, but soon another tide of enemies had caught them in a pincer movement, blocking the other side of the gallery. Lu Yan, who thought she could escape the battle, was forced to join in and it turned out that she was not as badly off as she claimed.

She was wounded many times, of course.But after being sprayed with Flint red blood on numerous occasions, a reddish glow had started pulsating behind her dark golden iris and her lucidity had then been given way to an unstoppable killing wrath.

Jake wasn't outdone, either. He thought he could resist this berserk state with the help of the Green Soul Stone, but he had still taken great care to avoid enemy blood splashes because deep down he wasn't that confident. Indeed, after some repeated contact with the enemy's vital fluids, his own consciousness had twisted into an unbridled murderous rage.

Thanks to the Green Soul Stone, his lucidity had barely been sustained, or perhaps it was due to the recent progress of his Spirit Body and the increased resilience of his body and brain. Either way, he had held on and this time he had been able to consciously experience the effects of this berserk mode.

And the first word that came to his mind was "Awesome!". He felt so overpowered in that state, that he wished he could have stayed that way forever. His veins, rarely visible under his skin, had begun to glow as if all his blood had been suddenly replaced by the lava in the heart of the volcano. His irises and pupils had begun to emit the galactic light mixed with silver and gold that fed his Golden Spiritual Eye Skill, while his Warrior and Spiritual Transe skill had reached a level never seen before.

Under the influence of Flintium, or rather the Red Soul Stone, his fighting aptitude had been magnified by at least a factor of three. Enemy movements seemed slower and full of loopholes to exploit. His reflexes, strength and reaction time had almost tripled while his control of the Aether, heat and earth was better than ever.

Even the Aether of the hard rock beneath his feet was bending to his command. Furthermore, the red bestial aura of his enemies had also become unable to hinder his telekinesis, nor any of his mental strikes.

In the midst of these creatures, he was literally invincible.

Unable to feel the slightest fear and driven by the program contained within the red crystals encasing their foreheads, these tides of hostile monsters had feerlessly sacrificed themselves by pouncing on them wave after wave without being able to survive for more than a second or two.

The few beasts that managed to carry out an attack on Jake had not even been able to seriously injure him. The red marks on his skin were barely deeper than those that could have been left by a slightly teasing kitten. It was as if his Myrtharian Bloodline had been upgraded a few times at once, giving him a body of incomparable resilience.

The battle had lasted several hours, with waves of enemies seemingly endless, but as Jake and Lu Yan waded deeper and deeper into the blood of their opponents, to the point of resembling two bloodly red humanoid demons, their killing intent had only grown stronger and stronger to the point of almost turning physical. When it had exceeded a certain threshold, the boundless fearlessness of these monsters had suddenly vanished. The visceral fear that should always have been there had returned in all its splendor, annihilating even the soul program that drove them to sacrifice.

With a mental ripple from Jake, the crystals inserted in the foreheads of the still living monsters had then been reduced to dust and having abruptly regained their cognitive faculties, the latter had immediately scrammed their tails between their legs.

Despite this overwhelming victory, neither Jake nor Lu Yan had time to celebrate.

"Die! "Lu Yan roared with absolute rage as she swung down her sword with all her might with the intention of slicing his body in half.

" Know your place. "The target of this deadly attack snorted, revealing impressive translucent fangs.

BAM!

Lu Yan slammed into the half-destroyed wall of the gallery more than twenty-five meters from where Jake was standing. This telekinetic blast had been so vicious that half of the young woman's bones had broken into dozens of pieces on the spot.

And yet, even with such injuries, Lu Yan was still refusing to listen to reason.As if she was spring-loaded, she instantly got up as if her injuries did not exist, and the creaking sound similar to crushed glass that followed was chilling.

"Cough, cough! I-I'm going to kill you! "Lu Yan shouted again before darting at him while lifting a gust of wind in her wake.

BAM!

Unsurprisingly, she crashed back to square one a fraction of a second later. Jake was also possessed by an intense desire to kill, but a certain impatience was starting to build up inside him.

"Lu Yan... I am pressed for time. This is your last chance. After that, I won't be responsible for anything."

It wasn't just empty words. From the beginning, he could hardly tolerate her company, so under the Flintium's influence it was a pure miracle that she was still breathing. Without the Green Soul Stone allowing him to preserve a semblance of lucidity, he would probably have cut her into pieces along with the other monsters without even noticing.

In his Berserk state, Lu Yan was a fierce opponent, perhaps even strong enough to corner Jake in his normal state. But in his present form? Defeating him was a dream that would never come true. Even if her strength miraculously doubled, the result would not change.

He wasn't lying, either, when he pretended to be on the verge of losing control. He had thought of several ways to gently neutralize the young woman, whether by knocking her out or briefly choking her, but he had been forced to give up these peaceful solutions. If he really tried his Vader grip in his current state, Lu Yan's neck would simply explode.

Still, this did not mean that he did not have a plan. Every time he pushed Lu Yan back, the direction in which she was thrown was not insignificant. By dint of repeated telekinetic blasts, he had managed to gradually draw both of them away from the previous battlefield.

After this last beating, they had finally come out of the pool of blood. Here the gallery was clean and dry.If this was not enough to calm Lu Yan, he would be forced to kill her or not far from that.

Fortunately, Lu Yan was finally starting to feel the brunt of all her injuries. This time she did not manage to get up straightaway, and this proved that the Red Soul Stone was not invincible. It stimulated their fighting skills, but no matter whether their regeneration had doubled or tripled, it would take time to repair a bone structure reduced to dust.

Taking advantage of this respite, Jake retrieved his backpack and pulled out a canteen filled with water. He had to focus hard not to break the container because he wanted to destroy everything so badly, but he managed to remove the cork. He then spilled the water all over himself to rinse off the blood covering him, and it was only then that his inner rage subsided.

His Myrtharian Bloodline quickly returned to its normal level and his feeling of invincibility was immediately supplanted by a sense of acute tiredness, as if he had expended all the calories in his body. In fact, he had. His muscle mass had noticeably melted during these few hours of fighting and his fat mass was bordering on 0%. In other words, he looked almost like a mummy.

As for Lu Yan, to say that she could have made a blind man puke in disgust in her present state was an understatement. After having her bones pulverized, her appearance resembled that of a dehydrated mollusc.

No wonder he had been unable to move a finger after that fighting night of the second trial. He probably looked like this back then!

Once again fully in control of his abilities, Jake retrieved Lu Yan's canteen from her own bag and sprinkled her with water as well before she had time to react. The blood covering her was rinsed away, and the madness distorting her face faded away, giving way instead to a grimace of pain.

"What has happened? "Lu Yan croaked in a dry voice, while opening her parched lips with difficulty.

"Well, nothing much. "Jake chuckled as he pointed to the two mountains of corpses behind them.

Seeing this, Lu Yan's wounds suddenly relapsed and she fainted instantly.