43 The Raging Storm Comes (1/2)

Graing again!” He rushed to open up the obsidian metal skull. Crazily hacking in a way that would make swordsmen cry and miners proud, he thrust the blade over and over only to cry out in frustration,

”Impossible, I can't even make more than a few scratches on this stuff, it's too hard!”

GRAAAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lineir had to resist the urge to drop Mei and clap his hands to his ears.

”Come on, just let me get the ordinary ones at least!” he sprinted towards the nearest silver colored golem and began to butcher it. In terms of hardness, it was no worse than the smaller golems lower on the pillar, but it was much much thicker! To get his arm in there, he could only carve out a bigger hole to wedge his whole shoulder inside or he wouldn't be able to reach.

”Just a little more....” Suddenly, he spotted the core inside. As his hand was about to close in on it, a horrible feeling engulfed him, the feeling of being hunted! The glowing core suddenly seemed to shine incredibly bright. As a matter of fact, everything else had fallen dark, instantly wreathed in an obscuring shadow. Lineir's head was snapped back as massive talons curled around his body and he was lifted into the sky, his fingers uselessly trying to curl around the glowing core that had been left inside the body of the golem.

”That core was as big as an apple damnit!” However, he quickly paled and turned around to stare into the slitted red eyes of the creature carrying him. As expected, it was a vast familiar dragon. However, as he looked, the claws carrying him shook as suddenly the flight became precarious. Tumbling around wildly, the dragon roared so loud that Lineir felt his ears popping, and then careened down from the sky into the pillar again.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRR!!

Flung about wildly, somehow Lineir was not crushed as man and dragon crashed back to the rocky pillar path, and Lineir indignantly thought,

”Why'd you have to go and pick me up if you were just going to put me down again!”

The dragon lay there trembling, belly up, clutching Lineir in its claws, it brought him to its eyes which were rapidly turning green and shrinking,

”What is wrong with this place, TELL ME OR I'LL eat... you....” A moment later, it shrunk into the same noble looking girl, wearing a bloody red robe. Lineir wrinkled his nose. Close up, the smell was atrocious, it brought up terrible memories of the bile and blood inside the False Water Serpent. She had both her hands wrapped around him and Lineir instinctively reared back, frantic to escape her grasp. Eventually, he wriggled his way free, and he realized that she was unconscious.

”Now what... she pulled me over to a different section of this level of the pillar. God knows where all those delicious cores went..” At that moment however, the startled Lineir remembered something.

”I definitely consumed the core of one of those obsidian golems directly. Such a strong golem such a core was at least six tier... possibly higher...” He quickly looked inside himself and paled.

”NOT GOOD! Mei help!” Inside of him, writhing turbulent energies were spiraling about, and his Second Heart was rapidly enlarging. Mei was speculatively analyzing his internal meridians.

”Hmmmm I think you ate a seventh tier core. This devour ability is terrifying to let you directly consume that and absorb the energy in one go. Furthermore, you just finished that sixth tier in your mouth. I think you're breaking through realms again. Better get ready, the tribulation lightning is going to be beyond imagination. Breaking through two realms this quickly, while training in my lightning techniques... even with the sword as a conductor, just the scattered lightning may very well be enough to kill!” At that moment, the noble blood covered girl on the ground woke up and lunged for Lineir,

”You!!!!!!!”

Lineir tossed the sword directly in her path, and crouched down again, shielding his head and neck with bone scythes.

KAAAAAAAAAANG