At this moment, the anger in Chen Luo's heart was not entirely because he had any deep emotional bond with them, but mainly because he had failed the third mission. Although skills did not always mean everything, having them was still better than having nothing; he could accept losing a few companions, but when more than half of them had fallen, and this time only a single survivor remained, Chen Luo ultimately could not hold back any longer and exhaled breaths filled with extreme fury.
-"That's right, be angry. Go ahead and hate. Hate them for ruining your plans, hate yourself for still not being strong enough. If you accept me, we will avenge you, slaughtering everyone who dares to stand in your way. How about it?" A deep, muffled voice rang beside his ear, like the whisper of a demon, exuding a sweet and eerie temptation.
The monsters were slowly closing in on Chen Luo, while he was gradually being dragged into the abyss of rage by a surging tide of resentment. Chen Luo completely lost his awareness of his surroundings, feeling only that his chest was immersed in an extreme excitement, an unprecedentedly frenzied pleasure.
-"An unexpected system error has occurred, Mission 3 has unexpectedly failed, updating status......failed......New Mission — Eliminate all obstructing targets." The system's notification began to flicker and become chaotic. After a burst of piercing noise, the third mission was directly replaced by a blood-red, horrifying announcement board, with the words "Wrath" flashing in a thick, blood-like red that made anyone who saw it tremble with fear.
-"Th... what the hell is that?" Alice, standing not far away, witnessed Chen Luo's transformation with her own eyes and could not help but be shocked and terrified. She saw his entire body begin to be wrapped in a thick, blood-colored evil aura, his body slowly floating off the ground and swelling in an abnormal manner. His muscles expanded to their limit as if they were about to tear through his skin, while his skin turned a fiery red like blazing flames, releasing an oppressive aura that made everything around him tremble and bow their heads.
-"Congratulations, Host, on unlocking the True Self — Wrath. You have obtained the exclusive skill 「Berserk Body」: normal attack damage increased by 300%, while Attack Speed and Movement Speed are increased by 150% while in the Wrath state; as the price, player will temporarily be unable to use normal active skills or passive protection skills that do not belong to the True Self system."
-"Congratulations, Host, on unlocking your first True Self. All skills of the 「Hellhound」 form have taken over:
-「Hellhound」: Summon 1 (increases by 1 each time the skill levels up) hellhound spirit to charge in a designated direction, dealing (35% AD) physical damage to the first target it collides with and inflicting Blindness and Weakness (amplifying damage received when striking weak points) for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
-「Hell Rope」: Throw a dark energy orb toward a designated location; bound targets will lose the ability to resist while suffering Exhaustion (greatly reducing damage dealt) and Fear (temporarily deducting a portion of current HP; if no additional damage is received, the lost HP will gradually recover after the effect ends) for 8 seconds. Cooldown: 45 seconds.
-「Hell's Eye」: Summon the illusory eyes of a pair of hellish demon wolves at a designated coordinate, revealing all targets within the affected area and laying down a ghostly path for the Hellhound to charge directly toward its target. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
-「Hellish Nightmare」: Summon countless monster apparitions to frenziedly pounce upon and bite targets within the area in front, while simultaneously applying Blindness, Exhaustion, and Fear to all victims as it reveals targets and lays down a ghostly path. Cooldown: 3 hours."
Chen Luo was now like a bloodthirsty war machine, while a gigantic manifested three-headed Hellhound howled toward the sky before frenziedly charging into the surrounding monsters and tearing them apart, causing them to collapse in droves within the blink of an eye. Chen Luo himself wielded the Lonefang Wolf Blade, fighting at a speed that tore through the air and with an absurdly enormous amount of damage. With every life-taking slash, the killing intent and evil aura surrounding him grew denser. The leader monster had only just roared and attempted to approach when Chen Luo's berserk combo forced it back step by step; the battle quickly evolved into a pure contest of strength between two giants.
A howl that tore through the air mixed with the clang of metal, while chaotic fragments of memories continuously echoed in his ears, fueling the flame of rage within Chen Luo's heart more fiercely than ever and making his physical form even more formidable. The leading monster gradually fell into a disadvantageous position. It began to sense the terror emanating from the enemy before it and attempted to retreat to widen the distance. However, under the endless chain of attacks, all attempts to escape became meaningless. After more than three hours of frenzied combat, the leading monster finally let out a desperate roar and collapsed to the ground.
Under the extremely shocked gazes of the survivors, the tall figure with crimson-red skin slowly turned his head and walked toward them, before his body shrank back to its original size and collapsed unconscious. Chen Luo's body was now covered in red marks caused by excessive expansion, flowing beneath his skin like magma, while fresh blood began to seep from his pores, sending chills down the spines of everyone who saw him. Alice was the first to recover from her shock. She hurried forward and exhausted the last of her meager strength and depleted Mana to treat his external injuries. Fortunately, although his body had completely recovered, the enormous energy shock had plunged him into a deep coma.
In the hazy realm of dreams, Chen Luo suddenly saw a jade sphere lighting up among the familiar circular symbols deep within his consciousness. At that moment, he suddenly understood — he had awakened the True Self system, one of the branches of primordial power that had been forgotten since the birth of this world. The reason it had been lost was because this system had originally existed only during the testing phase of the game, after which it had been dismantled and split into the later awakening stages, leaving it discoverable only within certain special NPCs.
-"I never thought... I would actually awaken the Wrath branch. Bearing this power truly doesn't feel good; my body feels as though it is about to be torn apart from the inside. If that's the case, then let me see exactly what secrets you are hiding."
In this strange dreamscape, Chen Luo's soul floated through an endless current. The scenery around him swept past at an astonishing speed, while the expression on his face constantly changed. It was difficult to imagine that a system once collectively demanded to have removed by all veteran players could contain such terrifying and destructive power. Indeed, just as the "historians" of Infinite Profession Users had speculated: if this True Self system truly existed in the real world, human order would completely collapse, plunging into chaos many times more terrifying than an ordinary apocalypse.
However, what concerned Chen Luo even more was another detail. The system interface before him had a peculiar difference compared with the original data from the beginning. A magical deep crimson accompanied the profound words "Wrath" — he tried searching through all the memories of his previous life and the game history he had read, yet he could not find any form remotely similar to this. At that time, the recorded True Selves were clearly divided according to biological races, and there had absolutely never been such a purely violent and bizarre form.
His intuition told Chen Luo that some terrifying secret was hidden behind this world, but his current vision was still insufficient to reach the truth.
While his consciousness was still immersed in a pile of unanswered questions, a warm golden light suddenly lit up at the end of the path. Chen Luo's drifting speed abruptly increased as he headed straight toward that light. He quickly calmed down from his initial panic, completely adapting to the dizzying speed. Then, when he blinked and let the dazzling light retract into his eyes, his consciousness slowly returned to reality.
-"Big Brother is finally awake? Everyone has been so worried about you, you know!" Alice's sweet yet choked voice rang beside his ear. It turned out that she had been letting him rest his head on her lap all this time, her small hands gently stroking his hair. "While you were unconscious, you kept mumbling some really frightening things... I couldn't understand any of it. But strangely, every time I rubbed your head, your breathing would gradually become steady again."
-"Is that so... Thank you so much, Alice." Chen Luo slowly moved his somewhat stiff body and asked in a hoarse voice, "Have I been asleep for a long time?"
A brief silence spread like the calm surface of a lake at night, and Chen Luo was startled when he heard the answer: "You've been asleep for an entire week. Ever since you collapsed, everyone has been restless with worry. Our group has also moved forward several dozen kilometers." As she spoke, Alice gently helped place his head onto the cold stone, stood up, brushed off her clothes, and smiled. "Now that you're awake, go outside and get some fresh air. Don't keep everyone waiting and worrying any longer."
Outside the tent, the lively conversations suddenly fell silent when Chen Luo's figure emerged together with Alice. The moment everyone saw the group's main force actually standing firmly on his own two feet, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief, followed by an eruption of joy. Without needing to say anything, the crowd surged forward; some hugged him, while others wiped away tears of happiness. Although they had not been together for long, after enduring so many life-and-death hardships, they had already become deeply connected to Chen Luo by an invisible bond. On the day he collapsed covered in blood, everyone had been certain that he would not make it; if not for Chris and Alice's stubborn insistence — the two who firmly claimed that they could still feel the faint breathing from his chest and swore to protect and carry his body away — Chen Luo would probably have been buried long ago.
At first, the others thought the two girls were simply too heartbroken to accept the cruel reality and had even planned to persuade them otherwise. But now, seeing the living young man standing before them with a smile, all doubts and worries vanished, replaced by incomparable joy.
-"Hey, hey, loosen up a little... You're hugging me so tightly that I can barely breathe!" Chen Luo helplessly coughed several times, quickly patting their shoulders to signal everyone to back away. Once everyone finally let go, he cleared his throat, steadied his breathing, then looked directly at everyone and asked: "So.....are we still going to continue forward?"