Chapter 10 - Overpowered

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

A series of violent explosions reverberated in the vast jungle realm. Boulders with the size of smaller cars were sailing the air, tossed left and right by a humanoid silhouette standing at the epicenter.

This silhouette was naturally Aziel. He was currently clearing out a path, casually throwing the rocks or more precisely boulders after boulders out of the way as if they weren't even there to begin with. He was creating a pathway with him in its center.

Finishing up, he created a path that stretched roughly 70 meters in length, purely out of the boulders in the area.

"Mhm!" Holding a boulder over his head casually with his left arm, Aziel was visibly proud with the results of his work.

His thirst for further knowledge in understanding his own limits and capabilities not satiated by the slightest, Aziel had created this path with the idea of testing the limits of his speed. He wanted to see actually how fast he could reach by the end of this straight, narrow course.

*THUD!*

Placing the final boulder behind him, Aziel leaned against it, crouching into a running position.

Taking in a deep breath, he focused his full strength into his legs. This caused his lower half to seamlessly morph into its reptilian form, growing in length and becoming digitigrade in the process.

To maximize his start off, Aziel decided to morph his arms as well, causing them to expand exponentially. Leaning forward, with the aid of his now shapeshifted arms, he went into a deeper, more feral crouching position than before.

"3.." Aziel began to count down, tensing his muscles, simultaneously building up pressure.

"2…" His body was now beginning to flare up. The muscles expanding from the stored energy, radiating off immense heat.

"1…" On the last count, Aziel released a deep primal growl.

"SWOOSH!"

He vanished without a sound.

*BOOM!*

Soon after his disappearance, an explosion rang out, shattering the rock Aziel was braced on just a moment ago. Debris was sent flying as the sonic shockwave released from his launch that instantly reached and crossed the speed of sound, was equivalent to hitting the rock with 20 pounds of pure dynamite.

Aziel was not seen at his intended mark. In actuality, he had launched himself up to two miles away from it, only stopping when he imprinted himself on the side of a nearby mountain.

"Argh…"

Aziel released a pain-filled groan as he pulled himself out from the solid surface. Brushing the dust off of himself he looked behind him to see that he was far beyond his intended target.

"Well… This is new…" he muttered, shocked by the distance he covered in such a short time.

Turning around, he began running, gradually transitioning into a sprint this time choosing to not activate his demi-human form. He didn't want to overshoot the distance again.

On his way back, he came across a creature that he was a little too familiar with. This creature was the tank-like dinosaur he had met earlier in his journey when he was on the other side of the fields, enjoying the vast emerald greenery of the grass.

The very creature that utterly humiliated him, wrecking and toying with him as if he was an ant, trying to scrape an elephant.

This creature had deeply imprinted itself in Aziel's memory; the vision of the pain and humiliation he felt as it slammed its spiked morningstar of a tail into his back, paralyzing him.

Instantly his mind was filled with a rage that he fought he had already forgotten.

Seeing that the creature did not notice him, and continued to leisurely feed on the grass, Aziel immediately morphed his legs into its more digitigrade form, running up to the creature to engage in a shoulder charge.

*BANG!*

Ramming into the creature's side, the force of the impact carried the two a few feet from the creature's initial position, knocking it back.

The creature was startled by his sudden charge, disoriented from the impact. Aziel then reverted his legs back to normal.

He glared at the creature, waiting for it to regain its composure.

The creature recovering its senses looked at Aziel with anger burning in its eyes. Wasting no time, it spun around, aiming its blunt tail at Aziel's right side.

*CLANG!*

The tail of the creature hit Aziel, bouncing off as if it collided with an incredibly hard surface, leaving only a small bruise on his right arm, vastly different from his previous encounter.

Looking in shock, the creature gazed into Aziel's eyes, growing slightly intimidated.

It swung its tail at him for a second time, this time with even more force carried behind it.

Sensing that the creature's attack held more power in its swing, Aziel agilely ducked out of the way, effectively dodging the blow. The creature's swing threw it off balance.

Noticing the chance, Aziel morphed his hands into claws and pounced.

*SLASH!*

Aiming to end the fight quickly, Aziel lunged at the neck of the creature, cleanly separating its head from its body.

*THUD!*

"What? That's it?!"

Not expecting this to happen, Aziel was shocked.

He did not expect this, he did not expect to kill the creature he had lost so horribly too, in just one fell swoop. The victory was just too swift for him to properly enjoy.

"I guess I did become stronger…" He sighed, not sure of how to feel with the ease of victory.

A moment later, he just shrugged his shoulders and walked up to the corpse of the creature to absorb it. In the next moment, the carcass began to liquify just as he drew near it, floating towards him and fusing with his body.

After a few seconds, the assimilation process finished. Aziel's body began to vibrate. His back morphing into its demi-human state and slowly changing, growing a layer of thickened skin, covered in the bone-like protrusions scattered across its surface.

His tail also began to grow back out of his body, ending with a thicker, more blunt accessory with a spiky point at its end.

Analyzing the upgrades his body went through, he undid all the changes, reverting to his humanoid form.

"That should be enough…"

Aziel began walking with no particular destination in mind, just wondering to see where his next challenge would be.