Domain
Volume 2 upgrade specialist chapter 27 - limit break
Opening the door we all entered the lobby. With large windows and several pillars around the edge of the room, it felt very spacious. The room was empty except for one coffee table and chair. In the centre.
Sat on the chair was a burly man, built like a bear. Holding a small cup of tea he seemed extremely out of place.
Chieftain: I've been waiting for you. You must be the people who have been attacking my stronghold.
Entering slightly into the room I answered him.
Solomon: we are, I'm sure you know why we have come.
Setting his tea down his demeanour instantly shifted. Compared to the calm appearance before he instantly turned into a monster. He started letting out an insane amount of bloodlust.
Under this pressure, it felt like I was stood before a king. However, compared to several of the people I had met before, it was extremely weak. Pushing back against it I released my own bloodlust. Though I had not got a huge amount of strength it allowed me to move unhindered.
Like me the rest of the people with me did the same, freeing themselves from the pressure.
Chieftain: HAHAHA, quite impressive. I have a proposal for you all. Join me.
Completely surprised by his offer I was unsure of how to reply.
Solomon: why would we ever join you? We came here to destroy you.
After finishing my sentence the chieftain disappeared. At the same time, I heard popping sound behind me. Turning to look I saw that he had appeared behind me. With a swipe of his hand, he had crushed the head of one of the bobs.
Seeing this everyone jumped back.
Chieftain: you can keep your lives.
At this point, cold sweat drenched down my back. He swept his gaze around at us. When his eyes landed on me I felt like a lamb before a wolf.
At this point I the gravity of my actions landed on me. The words I had spoken had cost the life of one of my comrades. At this point, we all realised we had no chance at winning, but more than that we couldn't even run away. With his strength, he would hunt us all down.
With no options left I made a decision.
Solomon: EVERYONE, RUN! I'LL HOLD HIM HERE AS LONG AS I CAN, SO ESCAPE!
Though it sounded like a cliché line it was not something I wanted to say. I knew I could not hold him for long so I made a plan.
Hearing my words everyone said their thanks before running away.
Chieftain: I can let them go for now, it's you that interests me the most. Do you truly believe you can keep me here till they escape? Or is this your last ditch effort as their leader.
The longer he spoke the more evil his voice sounded. It was probably just an effect of the situation, but to me right now he sounded like Satan.
Solomon: I plan to do more than just keep you here, I'm going to kill you.
Hearing my words he broke out into laughter.
Chieftain: HAHAHAHAHAHHA. Your quite funny, but don’t think your jokes can save you.
Taking the arcane orb I took a huge risk. Holding it towards the chieftain I pumped it with half of my qi. At this point, it began to grow unstable. From their I kept forcing more qi in.
In front of me, the chieftain watched with an amused grin. Unlike the demon before he didn't even seem concerned about this calibre of attack.
Continuing on I managed to force 75% of my qi into the orb before I reached my limit. Having hit it I did something extremely dangerous. I pushed beyond my limit. As the qi kept flowing in my body began to struggle. At 80% I spat blood. At 90% blood poured out of my nose. At 95% blood began to leak from all of my facial orifices.
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As the chieftain observed this his face became more and more serious. When I had reached 95% he took a stance, Preparing to receive the attack.
Now at 95%, I could feel that my mind was on the brink. If I kept pushing I only had a 10, no 5% chance to pull it off. At this point, I couldn't falter. I pushed on. 96% I coughed up a lot of blood. 97% a blood vessel blew in my right eye, temporarily blinding it. 98% I fell to one knee. Pain wracking my mind. 99% a limit in my mind breaks. Pain assaults me. Pain I had never even approached before. Pain that reached deep into my soul, trying to destroy my existence.
As I knelt there, on the cusp of 100% I began losing to the pain. Just as I was about to succumb the emotions in my gut stirred. Working their way around my body. I once again felt the unfairness of death. As this emotion spread around my body it began to fight back against the pain. After a few seconds, it had more a less removed the pain. With the pain gone I could make that final push.
At this point, the chieftain looked genuinely concerned. then again, I could understand why.
I had pushed beyond my limit. If I failed I would implode. At my strength, the implosion would be enough to injure him. However, the thing he was most concerned with was me actually succeeding.
As I took that final step the last bit of qi was forced into the orb. With so much power in it, it began to glow a bright red. With the full power attack, I performed the flame serpent art.
The qi broke forth from the orb, creating the usual lizard head and shoulders. After creating them the qi took a change. The usual red tinted qi began to fluctuate. It slowly turned from a solid layer of energy into a fluttering fire like shape.
In this new form, a sudden insight-filled my brain. This form of qi was the true potential hidden within my salamander race. I could feel instinctually that this was the case.
Ourous: limit break detected. Congratulations. Reward for a limit break. Racial abilities evolution. Skill Salamanders flame magnification upgraded into salamander flame essence conversion.
The words of Ourous confirmed it. I watched as the new flame like qi formed. Beyond the shoulder the qi formed the torso, carrying on to the back legs. Stopping at the tail it had created a tailless lizard. The power that dwelled within this lizard was huge.
Having finally formed it shot off. Similarly to the chieftain it disappeared and reappeared. As it made contact with the chieftain the full force of the attack exploded forth. A huge mass of qi pushing against the chieftain. To deal with the attack he released some sort of energy from his body.
This new blue tinted energy wound its way around his body, forming into the shape of a bear. With this energy surrounding him he smashed against the qi. Like a tug of war, the two energies fought against each other. Eventually, though the chieftain couldn't hold up against it. With nothing to oppose it the qi exploded outwards.
As it continued to expand it eventually filled most of the lobby. Then like a balloon it popped. The shockwave spread first. As it hit me I was carried out of the doors by it, landing 10 meters away. As I looked at the mansion a huge flash of light blinded me. Accompanied by a thundering sound so loud it made my ears bleed.
When the light had cleared a scene of devastation was left before me. The front half of the mansion had completely disappeared. In its place was a crater. With this level of destruction, I was surprised I had not heard Ourous.
Though he was alive I doubted the chieftain was in good shape. If he was I would surely die. Standing unsteadily to my feet I walked to the edge of the crater. As I reached it and look down in I saw the chieftain. Kneeling in the centre of the crater he was gravely injured. Both of his arms were missing as well as having huge gashes all over his body.
Looking up his face conveyed his feeling. Absolute rage consumed him. Standing up he seemed to ignore all of his injuries. Even being this weakened he was equal to the demonic bandit before.
Knowing I stood no chance now I jumped into dragons fire. As I appeared in the timeless training room I collapsed. Seeing me like this Pluvia was instantly concerned.
Pluvia: SOLOMON!
She quickly placed her head onto my body, filling me with a pleasant feeling. As I watched my wounds stopped bleeding. Though they didn't close up.
Pluvia: how could you let this happen to yourself. You should have just run.
From her voice I could tell she was upset, however, I had no choice.
Solomon: I am the leader, I can't abandon my teammates. I already failed one of them, I'm not going to let the rest die.
Hearing this Pluvia sighed.
Pluvia: haaaah, that kindness of yours will kill you someday.
Solomon: haha, maybe it will. But it's who I am. Nothing I can do about it now.
Though she didn't like it she knew she couldn't change me.
Solomon: but I'm not out of the fire yet. He's still way stronger than me. Do you have a way for me to quickly increase my strength?
After a few seconds of though it seemed she had thought of something, however, she was reluctant to say it.
Pluvia: uh, well. I do have a way but it's dangerous. You could push yourself to the limit of qi cultivation stage 2, however, if you fail you will be weakened for several days. If you can it's safer to fight him after recovering here.
After thinking it through this wasn't an option. Though I had beaten the demonic bandit before I had tricked him. The bandit underestimated me and so lost. But on the other hand, the chieftain won't.
Solomon: I can't risk it, what's the method?
Though she was upset I had chosen this method she didn't refuse. Most likely because it was not as dangerous as the breakthrough I forced before.
Pluvia: it's a technique for absorbing monster cores. You swallow multiple cores and then train with them. The problem is if you can't handle absorbing that much qi at once it will backfire.
Sitting down I prepared myself mentally.
Solomon: all right, let's get started.
Pulling out 5 monster cores I swallowed them.
Pluvia: NOOO! YOU IDIOT!.
Moving quickly she pushed her energy into me, suppressing the monster cores will.
Pluvia: you're only meant to use two or three.
From her voice, it was evident I had made a huge mistake. At the moment I didn't feel anything though.
Pluvia: it's too late now so you'll have to go for it. But be prepared.
Taking her warning I started the yang absorbing technique. As I did a huge pouring of energy came through my arms. I could tell what she meant. The speed at which I absorbed qi was now 5x what it was. If I compared it to before it was like a stream and a river.
After gathering enough qi I tried to stop absorbing, however I couldn't, it just keep pouring in. It seemed this was the issue. The qi would pour in and if you couldn't absorb fast enough you died. Realising this I frantically tried to absorb the qi. Once again to my surprise, I found I was absorbing 4x faster than before.
The best guess I had was my racial abilities evolution. Unfortunately, it still required concentration to absorb at a fast speed. fortunately, it was no longer dangerous.
Settling down, I numbed my mind to deal with the incoming four hours off concentration.