Bro, I'm not an Undead!



The freakishly long cape fluttered in the wind, drawing closer to Skullius with each passing second. If the Hybrid Luman didn't know any better, the exaggerated image before him would have led him to believe that he was about to be graced by a divine fashionista giving an exhibition on quality cloth and cloaks.

Actually, perhaps the thought did cross his mind.

"What were you doing up there?" he asked Red Rage despite expecting an answer that he already expected.

"I was giving Goblin-Man 3 permission to fly outside the Screen and seeing him off. He wanted to explore outside some more, Master," the Apostle explained with pride.

Skullius cocked his head to the side.

The Chieftain Screens – inner and outer – had been equipped with authority settings.

Basically, their functions could only be controlled by Red Rage, Skullius, Silrat and Theurien. Without these four individuals, no one could get in or out. Thankfully, Red Rage who was permanently stationed here unless Skullius had dire need of him, could accommodate all immediate needs pertaining to the Chieftain Screens.

"Really?" Skullius asked with genuine surprise. "You're comfortable letting your precious beasts wander outside the Estate?"

The precious beasts in question were the goblins Red Rage had tamed from the Hau Kaka goblin Cluster. The Goblin-Men, as Red Rage called them. Their variety in classes and high tiers made them extraordinarily valuable, and it had taken a long time to tame them all.

A sound akin to a sniffle came from behind Red Rage's helmet.

Skullius could have sworn Red Rage was turning into mother bird with how he actually viewed all his tamed beasts as his own children. Worse yet, they all seemed to radiate the same creepy fetish, treating Red Rage not as their master, but their parental figure. Skullius hadn't quite understood this until he saw a few sneaky interactions between Red Rage and Buzz 0, the original giant white fly.

Hell, as he was talking to the Apostle at this very moment, the giant ram with the body of the bison neared their position and showed a sickening neediness that Skullius tried to ignore.

"Anywaaaaay... I'll be going back to Genhuis City very soon. I need to prepare for the Royale. I would feel safer if I arrived in the city a day before it starts," he told Red Rage who was scratching the underside of Bull 1's chin.

"I see, Master. So... you want that, already?"

"Yep, it's time," Skullius spat, a bit annoyed.

Red Rage paused before giving a reluctant nod.

"You're not even attached to the damn thing. You collected it for this very purpose, didn't you? Don't get all sappy on me now," Skullius said.

"I know, Master. I know."

Before long, Red Rage and Skullius had reached a fairly secretive portion of the Estate within the veil-like, wispy inner Chieftain Screen.

Red Rage extended his cape with his right hand, and with a thought, he made a large creature come out, phasing through the solid underside of the fabric of the cape as if it was permeable.

The creature had a tall, thin frame, gaunt really, with small and narrow arms, hands, legs and feet. It looked like a starving man with furry skin. Perhaps 'Thin foot' was a suitable name, as most of its features resembled a human's.

It was fairly strong, but didn't have any special quirks that made it irreplaceable.

As Skullius had completed another set of missions for the Guild's Association as an exclusive mercenary, he had once again ventured into high tier Clusters, on occasion with Red Rage.

A few beasts that Red Rage wouldn't tame for the purpose of keeping had been captured for another objective along the duo's adventures. One such beast was this one, Thinfoot.

"You should probably look away," Skullius encouraged Red Rage.

The Apostle shook his head, his stance firmly set on seeing this through to the end.

"All right," Skullius shrugged before facing the tall, lanky beast that didn't know what was about to happen.

Skullius extended his hand, and a cruel red flame that tore away at the moderate weather appeared, raising the temperatures considerably.

Thinfoot felt his fur burn instantly and drew back in fright without taking his eyes off the ball of flame in front of Skullius' palm.

The Hybrid Luman sighed.

What he was doing was keeping his end of the deal with Aurolio: giving him Null Beasts to kill.

Since the pale man revealed that he didn't actually need the beasts to be as strong as the Null Badubs since he was after their souls instead, specimens born from weaker beasts were usable.

To create these Null beasts, Skullius had two options.

Either to use [Unbound] or to use [Ungodly Flames of Debauchery].

The former, as he discovered with some practise after the incident with the Chubby Remnant Child of Polarity, couldn't quite affect sentient living things as well as it affected non-sentient living creatures. For instance, [Unbound] would work on a tree before it worked on something like an infant. The reason it had worked on the egg he had used it on back then was because the creature within the egg was barely sustained – barely alive and developed – especially after being torn away from the supply of fire which it needed.

This discovery has a lot implications, but ultimately it wasn't helpful for the current situation. In any case, [Unbound] wouldn't help.

[Ungodly Flames of Debauchery] on the other than hand...

~~~

[Ungodly Passion of Debauchery | Lv.27]

A flame generated for the righteous goal of granting a blurred line between agony and ecstacy rests at your fingertips, with the capacity for unimaginable destruction.

Every use of the skill can generate up to 40 allies out of the burned targets, with a 50% boost to their overall power. In addition, among the affected allies, there is a possibility for one who accepts the prodding will of DESIRE to be baptised to the Passion of Debauchery, attaining a temporary shift in their racial characteristics to that of a FITTING denizen of the Null Verse.

-Caution-

Differences in strength and level of skill determine success or failure.

Mana Requirements: 3000 Mana Points.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 30 minutes

~~~

Since he began creating monsters for Aurolio, Skullius had levelled up this skill, which increased the chances of a Null Beasts baptised to the Passion of Debauchery being born.

Thus...

Skullius shot the ball of flame at Thinfoot who was devoured instantly, screaming at the top of his lungs while Red Rage shuddered at this injustice.

The Apostle felt like he was walking on a thin line, with either side of him featuring the stipulations of his Flaw. While he wasn't the one killing, and Cluster beasts didn't count as innocent since they were enemies of Aigas' inhabitants, it was as if something in his bones defied the logic.

Skullius couldn't be concerned with Red Rage's excessive morality though, as he was busy watching expectantly as Thinfoot was consumed.

And then...

The guttural scream from the beast suddenly changed, becoming a hoarse, furious growl.

From the wall of flames, something else emerged.

Unlike Thinfoot, it walked on four legs.

It was akin to a wolf with snow white fur, if said wolf was beaten with huge logs and dumped into a river first, that is. It looked misshapen and damp, with the fire not having any effect on it. On its face, hollow sockets could be seen, with a wrinkled snout that quivered as much as its open maw from where the furious growl came.

"Well, what do you know..." Skullius said, but without cheer.

He had succeeded on the first try.

Without wasting any time, he snuck his hand into the open space where it vanished, disappearing for a split second before he pulled on it, revealing the Elimparidis Stone Staff in his grip. With a whirl of the item, he sucked the Null beast within the inner world of Fortune and then doused the growing flames.

After this was done, Skullius walked over to Red Rage and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Cheer up, will you?" he said, struggling to find a follow-up that could possibly make Red Rage feel better.

Skullius hated to admit it, but this deal between him and Aurolio turned out to be more beneficial than he imagined.

Besides the fact that there was no hostility between them... for now, Skullius was surprised by how generous Aurolio was with the information he promised to share.

He divulged many things that helped the Hybrid Luman understand many concepts better, like his manipulation of Null Life Essence, for instance.

After so long, Skullius had reached a level of Null Life Essence control that exceeded the rudimentary level. He no longer had as much trouble funnelling it wherever he wanted, and above that, he now understood the base functions of Null Life Essence as an energy. Suddenly, it was all quite clear why Red Rage was able to do the things he did.

To add honey to the sweet mixture, Aurolio had also kept his word about the other two items Skullius could take from his extensive inventory besides the page containing the Corrupted Deity's soul.

The Hybrid Luman had found two, extremely useful objects that he was quite thankful for. He had even gritted his teeth as he thanked Aurolio, just because of what they meant to him.

What he was going to use them for was very, very important to him.

Skullius sighed.

'Sorry...kin. I've got things I care about on this side of reality,' he said a silent prayer for the beasts he was sacrificing in an attempt to make himself feel better.

And he did.