Kence's body was now fully covered with the combination of his own blood and the blood of the creatures he killed. The pain didn't knock some sense on him but instead fueled more of his insanity

He slammed his foot on the ground and around his foot tree roots were generated and impaled all the creatures around him. Thr creatures howled in anger and pain before they lose consciousness forever

"HAHAHAHA!" Kence laugh like crazy and this time he actually attacked a peak-stage Knight human fallen

He poured more energy on his sword causing it to glow with light green blinding light

"[Innate Skill: Sword Overdrive!]" The new skill that he made finally has the chance to show its might. The swords looked as if it was on the verge of breaking as cracks started to spread around it

Kence hold his swords in front of him and mercilessly thrust it towards the fallens. The unfortunate creatures between Kence and the fallen were killed without any exception. This cause more cracks to appear on the sword and was even more close to destruction

Finally, Kence reached the fallen and his sword met a great resistance from the gray colored wall made by the fallen. The fallen roared angrily at Kence and the latter roared back like a mad beast

He put all of his strength into his arms and swords and cracks started appearing on the gray wall. However, the swords finally reached their limit and it exploded. The fallen's barrier was finaly destroyed while Kence was forced back by the impact

His hand bleed and cause pain to Kence but with all the torture he experienced how can this little of pain affect him?

Kence ignored the pain from his arm and madly revolved his energy on it and punched the fallen on its face. The punch may not be enough to completely kill the fallen but it still make the fallen to bleed gray colored blood that has a nauseating smell

The fallen's head was forced back from the impact and Kence continued by throwing a kick on the fallen's abdomen. As Kence's foot still has his wood armor the damage it brought was even greater than his punch. Kence transformed his arms into roots and used it to continuously punch all over the fallen's body

To think that a peak-stage fallen can't even counterattack Kence, who knows if it might be because of the latter's craze state or thanks to his energy control skill

Nonetheless, the fallen's fate was already sealed. The crazy man ignored the other creatures coming to him and continued torturing the fallen that cannot feel any pain. It was as if he was venting all his anger on the fallen that was already killed because of his nonstop a.s.sault

Another muscular gorilla entered the scene, if Kence was in normal state he will stop what he was doing to confront the gorilla. Too bad, he wasn't sane now. The gorilla threw a punch on Kence's head causing him to flew back and his head landed on the cold ground filled with blood

The impact on his brain finally brought back his sanity. Looking at his bloodied and injured body he knew that he need to escape now. Only a bit of his energy was left on his body, the new skill he performed used a huge chunk of his energy

Ignoring the dizziness on his head, he took a blue fruit to restore his energy. He took one last glance at the gorilla who punched him and waved his hand. Thousands of leaves were instantly generated and it made the gorilla to looked like a porcupine. The gorilla's body landed on the ground that add up to the mountain of corpse everywhere

Kence use his floating ability and covered himself with leaves to make him fly. There were a few flying type animals attacked him on the way but he easily dealed with them as they are all mostly in the warrior rank or early stage of Knight Rank

Seeing that no one was chasing him, Kence sighed in relief and looked back at the area with a complicated look. Although he was consumed by his insanity he still remembered all the things he did and even he can't believe what he did. He felt satisfaction on slaughter that he just did

When Kence left, the battle royale didn't stop there, although he killed quite a lot of the creatures present there but with their quant.i.ty he didn't even made a dent on their numbers

With the vision provided by his flying position, Kence immediately saw King and the others. They were waiting for him outside the forest where they first entered. Seeing them, he flew down and landed on the ground

"M-My Lord, what happened to you?" King asked worriedly when he saw Kence's current state. Kence can't possibly tell the truth and lied to them "Nothing, I just practiced by fighting skills"

After settling down, Kence took a green fruit and ate it to heal his injuries. The fruit's effect was really good and all the injury he got were instantly healed in the rate visible to the eyes

"Lord, please don't do that again. What you did is dangerous" King s.h.i.+vered at the thought of joining that bloodbath. No one can  blame him though as everywhere you looked in the area you will see countless creatures fighting and killing each other

The corpse and internal organs littered everywhere was almost impossible to distinguish to know where it came from

Seeing as his injuries were almost healed Kence stood up "I'll just go find a river to clean myself" the stench on his body was too stinky and uncomfortable for him

"Let me accompany you" King said afraid that Kence will encounter any more danger. Kence shook his head "no need, I'll just wash myself"

Without saying more Kence once again flew in the air and started searching for a river. When he spotted one he immediately flew down and removed all of his clothing. Anyway, his current clothes were torn everywhere and full of dried and fresh blood. He can't use it again

Kence's naked body submerge itself on the cool water in the river. The cool water brought a sense of comfort and satisfaction to him. The blood on his body dyed the river in red and his mind started to wander

The reason why he didn't want King to accompany him was because of his own emotional state. He wants to have some time alone, he can't show weakness in front of his family

"Mom, dad how are you?" Kence looked at the clear sky and the floating clouds drifting off to who knows where

In the silent and serene river, a man looking at the sky with melancholy painted a heart aching scene. If another person were to saw this they would inevitably feel a sense of sadness on their heart

The water on the river flowed gently as if comforting the naked man who shed silent tears. He finally can't stop himself and tears fell down from his eyes

"W-why? Why does these things need to happen?"

"Why am I still so powerless to do anything?"

Kence's tears landed on the silent river

"Why? Just why am I so weak?!"

Although he appeared strong outside but there was a sense of insecurity inside him. He was not as powerful as Sun, if King and the others didn't help him he might be dead now. When he met the Angel Ariel he knew she was far more powerful than him and can easily kill him, when Calter killed the Supernaturals who pursued him he sense a terrifying power beyond any that he felt before

All of these things were silently kept on his heart with nowhere to vent it out. Now, all of it started gus.h.i.+ng out and consuming him

"I am unwilling! This forest will be my first step towards reaching the peak!" While submerge on the cool water of the river, Kence close his eyes and the plentiful amount of plant attribute energy in the forest gathered around him

Although he was in a river where the water energy particles are also abundant he ignored those and only absorb the light green ones

The energies revolved on his body and filling him with more strenght. Maybe because it was because he was already in the peak stage of Knight Rank for quite some time or it was because of the recent fight but his cultivation was smoother and faster now

Soon enough, Kence felt that familiar barrier separating him from the next rank. However, unlike before when he needs to forcefully break it the energy on the surrounding gathered around him naturally and dissolved that barrier

It was not the forceful breaking through he was familiar with but rather a smooth and a natural one. The energy particles around gently flew towards him and was easily absorbed by his body. His body was bathed with light green light. Kence can't stop a satisfied moan from escaping his lips. This breakthrough was not like the others he had before

It cleared his mind and he don't have to do anything, his body was breaking through on its own. All he need to do was savor this satisying feeling. When his body absorbed enough energy the light around him slowly vanished and leaving him with a more powerful body

*ding. Congratulations to Host for successfully reaching the Grand Knight Rank!

The Voice of the World that he hasn't heard for a long time once again resounded on his mind. Up until now he still thought of what other things it could do. If its only use is to inform the Supernaturals of their breakthrough which they obviously already knew then isn't it something useless?

Kence sense a mighty power coursing through his body, he was more than a few times more powerful than before. The amount of energy he has before can't even compare to what he have now. Using his [Innate Skill: Sword Overdrive] a few times now was not going to be a problem

"The third Rank finally!" Although he was now more powerful than Harold, a Grand Knight still can't defeat an entire city. However, this can already be considered as a big step towards his goal

Kence tried controlling the energy inside his body, it now flowed more smoothly than before. He doesn't know if it was because of him entering the third rank though

With how his energy flowed smoothly now he can attack faster than before. He decided to practice to get used to his new power from now and flashes of lights appeared on the silent river. Energy attacks flew everywhere disrupting the gentle flow of the river. Only when he was satisfied did Kence decided to go back to his team. He took the bloodied clothes from before and wash it in the river, he forgot to bring a new set of clothes and he can't possibly go back there naked. When the clothes were at least a bit tolerable he wear it again even though he was unwilling

He once again used his floating ability and covered himself with leaves. The process of flying now was easier than before and didn't strain Kence's mind too much now. He landed on the ground and saw the worrying faces of King and the others. He can't blame them for worrying though, him letting out his pent up emotions on the river plus breakingthrough and practicing took more than an hour

"My Lord, why did you just--" King stopped what he was about to say when he sense the aura of Kence which he did not bother to hide

"Y-you reached the third rank?" The aura of Kence was even more powerful than even Calter's aura on normal times. This can only mean one thing, Kence reached the next rank!

Kence nodded and smiled at them, he was back to his usual self and threw the bothering things at the back of his mind again. The turmoil inside his heart was once again supressed but who knows when will be the next time it would suddenly erupt