Bro, I'm not an Undead!

What had happened?

What had led to this contrived set of events, one might wonder in confusion.

Well...

The plan Skullius had, had borne incredible fruit!

What was this plan?

The one that hinged on him having Null Life Essence in reserve?

The one that needed the Cluster General to get near him?

Well...

It was to get rid of what Skullius considered the biggest pain in the pelvis – the nullifying ability of the greatsword!

This skill was a problem to Skullius as it threatened to dispel any of his skills, thus cutting off his possible channels of victory.

Just as it had portrayed, the greatsword's halo had dispelled Skullius' [Silent Revelation of the Bright King] leaving him susceptible to the atrocious heat belched up by the serpent which was also summoned by this damn weapon!

To solve this, Skullius wanted the Cluster General to get close enough for him to extract it with his Null Life Essence!

And he had done so successfully and quickly!

With his new level of mana manipulation that allowed him to claim higher level skill from items and the fact that he could now control Null Life Essence in general, the extraction of the skill from the greatsword had been faster than when Skullius extracted the skill enhancement feature of the Elimparidis Stone Staff!

The fact that the Cluster General couldn't see or sense Null Life Essence gave Skullius a beautiful edge, the Cluster General's slow reaction to the events that followed after bearing even more delicious fruit for the Penetrator!

Right after the extraction, Ferex had executed his own plan after Skullius hurriedly affirmed, the conditions now being perfect for it!

The Apostle shifted his form once again, producing a whip of Unliving Thread that travelled along the Cluster General's greatsword which was still on Skullius' shoulder, its end sharp like the tip of an arrow!

This tip was the one that sank into a vulnerable organ of the Cluster General, its eye, and along with this, a skill was cast from the Pseudo Spirit Walker's Hide that covered Ferex's whip to make it invisible to the senses!

[Spirit Walk]!

~~~

[Spirit Walk]

The hide assimilates with the user's body to allow them to 'walk' within the soul of a target. Usable once a day.

~~~

"ARRRRGHHHHH!" the Cluster General screeched in pain while Ferex vanished from where he had lodged himself, his figure appearing in a completely different space!

It was an island with black coloured soil. All over its wide mass, dark, scaled eggs could be spotted on the ground which seemed barren.

Above was a red sky overcast with dark clouds that blocked the source of the light while also inducing a sense of vertigo.

A thick smog covered everything on the ground except for the glowing cracks that were noticeable over different portions of the rising slopes on this island, all of which met in one place, a peak from which a throne could be seen!

Upon this throne, which was strikingly similar to the one in the Cluster, sat a thin, lanky armed dark creature that resembled the Cluster General!

Ferex who was in his Hound form grinned.

He had done it!

He had pushed his way into the Cluster General's soul!

As he fed his sight the figure seated on top of the throne, he couldn't help but make a comparison to something similar that he had seen - tall, dark boned skeleton in his master's soul!

This dark figure on the throne was the same; the General's Reflection of the soul!

"Who dares to intrude here?!" the creature screamed with a boisterous voice that caused the smog to disperse, giving a clear visual of Ferex!

The Hound ignored however, as within its maw, a red light was chomped on, a heavy blast of energy gathering in its belly and promptly being shot out from Ferex's mouth towards the base of the peak where the General sat!

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the thin creature shrieked as it hurriedly sped from the throne and rushed to meet the incoming blast with a replica of a greatsword that the Cluster General held!

The attack was deflected into the sky but when the lanky armed creature turned to look down at Ferex once again, he was different from before!

He was... massive!

The Hound had grown to up to three times his original size, his figure upright as it manifested six thick arms of Unliving Thread and slammed them down at the island!

BOOOOOOOM!

The eggs near the Hound's surroundings popped like balloons while the ground was smashed in, exploding into chunks!

"YOU FOOL! HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING?!" the dark creature flailing its greatsword growled in fury as its figure darted towards Ferex!

The Hound couldn't be happier.

The Clusters General had never been attacked from the soul before and its Reflection was unable to react accordingly, clearly unused to this kind of assault!

Perfect!

Of course, the Reflection itself was strong, stronger than Ferex, so the Apostle couldn't wreck havoc as he pleased.

Fortunately, his aim wasn't to completely demolish the creature's soul anyway.

It was to provide his master adequate support while he was outside.

With this much, the Cluster General should be writhing in pain, unable to even pay attention to what Skullius was doing!

*

As soon as Ferex attacked the Cluster General, Skullius placed his brittle hand on the creature's body and activated [Greater Mana Crafter], his hold over the mana focusing on his enemy's dull purple mana core!

The Cluster General at this moment shrieked in agony as its remaining eye rolled back!

Ferex's efforts were proving extremely effective!

Now it was Skullius' turn!

'It's hard to manipulate an external mana core when the owner is fully conscious of it. But for you in this state...' Skullius thought as with his skill that was enhanced by 90% and 150% from two separate skills along with his full focus...

CRACK!

A small crack appeared on the dull purple mana core!

A fleshing small crack, damn it!

"It's sturdy!" Skullius remarked in shock!

Even if the core was a dull shade of purple, it was still extremely condensed and difficult to break in a single hit even with his advanced skill in mana!

Holy mother of all bones!

"YOU!"

...!

As a result of this attack, the Cluster General's fleeting consciousness was restored somewhat, the sharp pang of pain in its core jolting its body up!

The creature drooled lava from its mouth as with its quaking body that could barely move from the pain, it reached for Skullius with a fiercely flaming hand!

Unfortunately for the beast, the Penetrator was unfazed.

"Ferex!" Skullius called, a radiant light flying out from the Cluster General to wrap around his bony hand!

The Penetrator formed a fist and with the amount of mana at his disposal, he activated all the offensive skills he could think of while funnelling man into Ferex's form which was neither a whip, nor a sword at this moment.

It was a bony gauntlet with a hard blue cover made of Unliving Thread, glowing [Boost] arrays all over its surface!

The Penetrator threw a straight punch with all his might while pushing forward his incredible control of mana, his fist aimed at the General's abdomen!

POOOOW!

A bright flash ensued along with a howl of the surrounding mana and air as Skullius' punch smashed into his opponent!

The ground shook from the force and the Levin that smacked right onto the General, a low rumble echoing from the exhausted ground!

The Penetrator's hand crumbled with sparks of flame immediately afterwards as it had been made brittle by flame beforehand!

The scaly body of the Cluster General was left undamaged from Skullius' effort but after the beautiful show of power, the scaly Cluster beast shrieked so loud that its subordinates that were spectating from the air felt a chill in their bones!

What was happening to their lord?

Did he... lose?

The body of General was left intact but its core.... its core was massively fractured!

Its soul was worse, fissured so gruesomely that one would be left to grimace when looking at it.

The amount of pain and shock brought by these two damaged parts was too much for the General to bear.

With lava leaking from its mouth, it fell backwards and breathed its last!

[You have killed (VII) LV110 Grand Flame Bringer....]

A massive amount of experience was funnelled into Skullius as he earned an additional level and a half, just shy of his target.

The 3x required Experience per level led to the figure needed for these latest levels being astronomical!

The Penetrator didn't think too much about it thought, as he immediately plopped to the ground with relief.

"I almost didn't expect to come out alive..." Skullius said.

Unfortunately, after [Silentburn Revelation of the Bright King] was nullified by the greatsword earlier, it had gone on cooldown and he couldn't repair his body.

This little piece of information was especially annoying when Skullius heard the flapping of thousands of wings descending towards him!

Thousands of angry and fierce looking Fire Breeders rained on his position with nothing but malice.

They wanted to tear him apart.

They wanted vengeance.

Unfortunately for them...

The Penetrator raised his torso and extended his one unbroken hand towards this flying horde.

"Give me a break already... [Serration Zone: Baneful Edge]."

[Serration Zone: Baneful Edge] had come off cooldown!

Four damn minutes!

Another burst of dreadful energy invaded the atmosphere, Skullius giving the skill he was using the Null Life Essence he had been using to defend himself.

ALL of it.

The thousands of enemies within the wide range of [Serration Zone: Baneful Edge] froze for a few moments, a rippling pressure blasting them in the opposite direction while applying the effect Skullius wanted!

<Slash>!

Every enemy, regardless of their Tier and core were shredded into vertical slices that flew high up in a bloody mess, creating a beautiful, bloody art piece in the air before falling down!

With all these enemies dead, experience that was in excessive of what Skullius needed rushed into him and landed at the sweet spot!

Level 20!

"I wish I could be happier about this..." Skullius said hollowly with his sockets flaming.

Many notifications speaking to the experience he had just received showed in his vision as well as those spelling the Null Life Essence available.

The Penetrator raised his hand and drew in the Essence from the falling bodies, quickly filling his bar.

It was finally over.

Yuyui who had a roasted face stood from where she had trampled over by the Cluster General's foot and walked up to Skullius.

The Penetrator saw her visage and expressed disapproval with a groan.

"Kill yourself and wipe away that disgusting look on your face," he said.

"That's not how it works, Master," Yuyui said with the puckering of her lips slightly.

She wasn't mad at what Skullius said at all.

A burst of joy could be seen in her eyes as she felt that she had grown from this experience.

She extended a hand for Skullius to help him stand up and the Penetrator obliged, the cloak over his body rustling as if blown by the wind.

"What is this thing, Master?" Yuyui asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure. I'll find out later," Skullius said as he kicked the gauntlet on the ground which was Ferex who had yet to return to his original form.

"Get up already. We won," Skullius ordered, to which Ferex unfurled himself and grew to his original size and form.

He seemed to have attained extensive damage that he hadn't yet repaired, just like Skullius and as he restored his figure he looked at corpse of the Cluster General with greed.

This was potentially the last component he needed for his long awaited plan.

"Woow, Master! Look, the Cluster is closing!" Yuyui said while pointing at the gaping opening on the mountain!

"WHAT?!" Skullius exclaimed with noticeable urgency and realisation!

Right!

The General was dead!

Of course the Cluster would close!

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! Give me the ring!"

"W..what?!"

"The storage ring, you sockethole! Give it!"

Yuyui fumbled as she pulled the storage ring from her finger and passed it to Skullius who took it and immediately activated [Great Mana Crafter], propelling himself into the closing hole ahead at breakneck!

Hopefully!

Hopefully, he would get there in time!

If he missed out on collecting that THING, he would punch himself all night!

---

[Author's Note]

That concludes this arc.

How did you feel about it? Did you like it? Did you hate it?

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Thanks for reading.

The Premium Age Royale finally begins!