A New World, an immersive game experience

When the noise settled and Eldrian's mind cleared, he finally took note of his terrible condition. Thanks to wrath having calmed for the moment, Eldrian's mind was clear for the first time since losing control.

His body, it was beyond repair. The fact that Eldrian was still alive shocked him. About forty percent was missing, either decayed by rot, left behind in his hasty teleport, or otherwise lost.

Where his flesh, muscles, and bones were missing, flames filled the gaps. It was also through these locations that the flames devouring his surroundings spewed. However, they were currently quiet. Only filling in the damaged parts and not ravaging the surrounding room.

'Do I have control?' Eldrian asked, but quickly denied it. It had only calmed down for the moment.

'I can't dispel it either...' Eldrian sighed, realizing that as soon as he canceled wrath, he would die. The damage he had sustained was simply too severe.

Eldrian couldn't even rely on the system to figure things out. Wrath was burning his lifeforce to fuel him with strength and keep him alive. The loss would be permanent at this point, and the system was incapable of measuring the condition of his soul.

Eldrian had also lost plenty of lifeforce from the attack on his soul. His condition was certain to be terrible once the dust settled.

He couldn't even confirm the condition his soul was in. With two gone and wrath raging through his body, his control was too lacking. If he split his focus to peer into his soul, he would lose all the control he had gained.

Luckily, the intrusive thoughts normally filling his mind had calmed down along with the flames. Eldrian took this time to try and figure out his next move.

He was now out of mana crystals and fighting any of the elites coming for him was beyond dangerous. If he lost control again, Eldrian was confident he wouldn't be able to recover.

'That's the vampire from earlier.' Eldrian noted, the three Tier 8's he had spied were approaching him from different directions. Aiming to pincher him and prevent his escape.

As for the tower and its surroundings, his map showed that the surrounding half a kilometer was flattened. The tower still stood, what condition it was in, Eldrian couldn't tell from inside.

'I guess I can do a little more damage. Then... I think it is time to retreat.' Eldrian thought, moving to the center of the room where the teleportation formation was. Little by little, Eldrian pulled at the flames raging through his body. Forming a blade out of the flames recreating his lost right arm, which he used to carve into the formation.

The adamantine it was engraved in proved to be resilient, but it couldn't resist the persistent heat from wrath. Once it started to melt, everything moved smoothly. Eldrian even cut a slab and stored it for later. Adamantine was extremely expensive, after all.

"Prepare to die!" A grotesque monster shouted as it entered through the destroyed doors, finding Eldrian busy cutting a second slab of adamantine.

Much like the former Zonthan Eldrian had fought, this monster was also a freak. However, instead of embedding crystals into its flesh, it was more like a Frankenstein.

It had six total arms, a pair from a ghoul, a pair of claws from a wyvern, and its normal Zonthan hands. Along with this, it had the wings of a wyvern and its skin was a mix of scales and the pale gray skin of a Zonthan. Its stats were also impressive, but after the first attack, Eldrian realized the man was a fool.

Its modified body gave him great strength, but it was uncoordinated. Either the man had yet to master the extra ligaments, or he was too daft to even notice the problem.

As the wyvern claws passed harmlessly over Eldrian's head, the ghoul claws aimed to imprison Eldrian. The wyvern claws moving to block his escape while magic formed above the Zonthan hands.

It seemed like an impressive attack, until Eldrian's sword-arm separated the ghoul ligaments from the Zonthan's torso. Eldrian then grasped one of the wyvern claws with his left hand and used it to throw the Zonthan into the wall opposite the exit.

With a crash, the man lost all focus and his spells harmlessly returned to the surrounding mana. As the man attempted to recover, Eldrian severed his head from his shoulders. Having learnt that it was the surest way to kill or at least incapacitate the undead.

Even if they survived the attack, losing their head normally caused them pause. Long enough for a follow up attack to defeat them.

'Four million XP, he wasn't even worth more than a normal Tier 5.' Eldrian grumbled, taking the rings on the Zonthan arms and discovering to his surprise that one was a dimensional storage.

As Eldrian moved to leave the tower, he browsed its content. It was of the smallest make, but still worth a good deal. There were also a few valuables, mana crystals were what caught Eldrian's attention. Sadly, only two medium crystals and a few smaller ones, but they would come in handy.

'First, I need to escape.' Eldrian thought. He had done enough damage at this point. Staying any longer would be foolish.

In his retreat, someone caught up to him. Their confrontation happened at the edge of the city, opposite where the players where helping the slaves escape.

"I won't let you go!" Shouted the scarlet haired vampire, a spear of dark flames blocking Eldrian's retreat.

"Did you save your brother?" Eldrian asked, his calm demeanor causing Selena to frown. His condition was clearly extremely precarious. She couldn't fathom how he could be calm in his state.

However, she had gotten a multitude of reports on the elf ever since her first encounter with him. He was not to be underestimated. They had confirmed he was only tier 5 thanks to Lilian, yet he had caused Valerie to rely on Devour.

And somehow, he was still alive. The news that Eldrian had not died had nearly caused Valerie to pass. Much like Selena, she was weakened because of Eldrian.

"I won't let you escape." Selena repeated. Constructing a large scale barrier to prevent Eldrian from using spells. She also summoned magic to defend herself from Eldrian's mana crystal bombs. Sending a signal into the sky at the same time to notify the others of her location.

She only had to keep him in place until then. While she would prefer to take revenge with her own two hands, she knew that in her weakened state she could not let the elf have a single chance at escape.

"I see. So this is a magic interference barrier of a Tier 8 mage? Impressive." Eldrian mumbled, yet he did not appear impressed. Worse, the flames flowing through him and surrounding him were not impacted by the barrier in the slightest.

To complicate matters even more, Selena was already noticing an extreme pressure on her mind. As if Eldrian was already attempting to overpower her barrier. Yet, he hadn't even attempted to summon a spell.

"I'll admit, in my current condition I can't win." Eldrian said with a sigh. And Selena's heart filled with dread. That was when a mana crystal appeared in Eldrian's hand. It appeared to be a medium crystal, what Eldrian had used to overwhelm the Zonthan parents.

"Let's test if you can survive a point blank explosion in your current state." Eldrian said with a smirk.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)