Chapter 881 Vying For Control

"Phew... glad that worked." Eldrian mumbled, trying his best to maintain the flood of anger and rage running through him. The same wrath that was currently devouring the miasma trying to suffocate him.

'It's just like what death mana does with elemental.' Eldrian mumbled, watching as the flames flooding through his blood raged through his surroundings. Burning all the fiercer the more it consumed.

As it grew in strength, the aimless rage assaulting his mind became more persistent. Eldrian could hardly focus on anything other than the aimless rage.

Rage at the world. Rage at existence itself. Rage that wished to devour and destroy everything. To bring the world to an end. To turned everything to nothingness.

It was a terrifying emotion. And Eldrian did his best to suppress it, but no matter how he tried, it kept coursing through him—just like the flames coursing through his blood. The best he could do was accept it and put it aside for the moment.

The entire situation reminded him of the fact that it was impossible to not think of something if someone mentions it.

People often said to not think of a pink elephant or blue bicycle, and by them saying it, you imagined the very thing they said not to. His situation was simply a more extreme example.

The more he tried to not consider the feelings wrath filled him with, the clearer they became in his mind. The stronger their power in his mind became.

Actively trying to suppress it was clearly not working. Setting it aside and focusing on something else, however, seemed to slow the corruption of Eldrian's mind.

He needed to keep him focused on something other than wrath. Luckily, his situation was tricky enough to allow him plenty of distractions.

He was in the middle of enemy territory, and with the commotion he had caused, he was certain that the city's best were coming for him. That the city defenses were activated proved that they considered him a threat.

Getting a move on, Eldrian dashed aimlessly as fast as he could—which was almost twice as fast as normal thanks to his boosted stats. As he ran, he learned more about wrath. Slowly, he got used to the intrusive thoughts vying for control of his heart.

Eldrian proved that thinking of other things worked far better than attempting to suppress these intrusive thoughts themselves. Of course, this meant they remained in his subconscious and grew with strength as time passed. But Eldrian couldn't do much about that.

It was only a matter of time before he lost control again.

Instead of worrying about that, Eldrian tried to consider the best way to use the time that he had. Opening his map, he hoped only to view the current situation of the city. Shockingly, he found red dots filling the city.

'Their closing the net,' was Eldrian's first thoughts as he observed the organized movements of the dots. No longer were the lower undead running around like headless idiots. Their chain of command was fixed and it wouldn't be long before they surrounded Eldrian.

Once that happened, Eldrian would be screwed. He could kill countless of the lower undead, but once his exact location was known, the elites would come to kill him. They were likely only waiting to grasp his true strength. After all, no one wanted to die.

Scrolling through his system messages, Eldrian was stunned by how many Tier 5 and 6 enemies he had killed. More than that, however, he was shocked that he hadn't run into anyone stronger.

Somehow his rage controlled self had evaded all the elites and focused only on those he could kill. Or perhaps he had fought and retreated against others. Perhaps those stronger had actively avoided him until they got reinforcements or a better grasp of his abilities.

Eldrian had no idea, but he was still alive. That, at least, was a small blessing.

'The slaves are still escaping...' Eldrian noted as he reached a new neighborhood. Sadly, because of the raging flames following him, Eldrian was leaving an easy path for his enemies to follow.

'Should I take out the cloak and circlet?' Eldrian had luckily stored them away before giving into wrath to avoid his grief.

'No, they'll be destroyed, just like my clothes.' Shaking his head in denial, Eldrian instead turned his focus to the source of the miasma filling the city.

The magic tower. Constructed of blackened purple material, perhaps painted or may haps adamantine. Its peak was visible over the rooftops across the park Eldrian had just entered and destroyed with his arrival.

Eldrian hesitated to rush towards the dark tower—what he called it because of its appearance. Destroying a magic tower would certainly be a massive hit to the enemy, but their defenses were sure to be on high alert.

Sadly, Eldrian's caution could not hold out against wrath. As soon as the thought of destroying the tower entered his mind, it consumed all his other thoughts. All the thoughts he had pushed to the side suddenly turning to side with this one crazy idea.

Completely unable to shift his thoughts to something else, Eldrian started moving towards the tower before he knew what he was doing.

He only realized he was losing control when the tower appeared before him in all its glory.

'Th-this is adamantine!' Stunned that the entire tower was created out of the rank 3 material, Eldrian couldn't think of anything to scratch it. However, as he was pausing, his flames attacked the tower.

Immediately the miasma filling the city focus on Eldrian, as did thousands of red dots on his map. 'Really?'

Forced to a corner, Eldrian hesitated some more. Unable to accept how reckless he was being. Unable to grasp what was going on. As he scoped out the strength of those approaching, he realized he couldn't run much longer. He had already discovered three Tier 8's rushing to his location.

'F-fine! You win!' Giving in to the wrath forcing him to destroy the tower, Eldrian took out the large mana crystal and threw it with all his strength towards the top of the tower.

As it soared, flames chased the crystal. And Eldrian realized the danger he was in. Even wrath calmed down, allowing Eldrian to comprehend what he had just done.

A large mana crystal. A crystal with over a hundred thousand mana was going to be consumed by wrath. The explosion...

"Out of my way!" Eldrian shouted at the adamantine doors. Throwing all the smaller mana crystal he had in hand at it. The explosion sent him flying, tearing his body apart and filling the surroundings with an inferno.

'Teleport!' Eldrian thought as he was flying. And not away, but inside. He landed roughly, sliding through the room. His right arm lost below the elbow and several holes filling his body.

They were all quickly replaced by flames. Just as the world turned white.

An earthquake seized the city as the tower defended itself. The resulting clash caused Eldrian's ears to ring.

He had no idea if it actually worked. But one thing was certain, what he had just done was beyond crazy.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)