Bro, I’m not an Undead!

“A Cluster, huh? This is the first time I’ve heard of it. I should have milked more information from Elita while I had the chance. Then again, she didn’t trust me. Wait! What did I just say?! Ugh, never mind that. You really think we should do this, Red bro?” Skullius said.

He donned a beige shirt that did its basic duty of covering up his upper body along with a pair of black pants that barely reached his ankles. Shoes that were nothing more than… shoes, adorned his feet, having a very rough texture as if they were made from dry grass, but the Discount Human couldn’t feel it.

After the men had made their requests to Red Rage, the Pelvis Boar-Man had merely nodded while letting them spout all sorts of exposition like the direction of this Santhi place and little about the actual source of threat, the Cluster. After that, Red Rage promptly left.

Skullius had taken in this information greedily, connecting it to what he already knew about Aigas. While adventuring and seeking this Cluster thing did seem attractive, it didn’t beat getting more information about the powers of this world.

Yet…

After the constant pleas from Red Rage, the Pelvis Boar-Man begging his master to fulfil the request that had been asked of him by the poor valiant citizens, Skullius had eventually been worn down.

Appealing to Skullius’ conscience did nothing as the Discount Human didn’t feel even an itch from being blamed for the nice old man’s death, as he claimed that the wrinkly bro brought it upon himself.

Instead of this though, Skullius was attracted by the fact that he could use this opportunity to level up.

The task which demanded him to obtain the cores of Tier 2 creatures still remained uncompleted and perhaps this was his chance.

Back to the current moment, Red Rage nodded to Skullius without hesitation as the two moved on ahead, leaving behind the small village of Namu.

They journeyed North West to a small town called Santhi that was a few miles away. From their current position, they could see it quite well, many figures seemingly evacuating from the place on foot and horse-drawn carts.

“Is this Cluster stuff that bad?” Skullius questioned.

Was he biting off more than he could chew then?

Maybe. Maybe not.

At the very least he had to see it.

Over the differing slopes between Namu Village and their destination, the two saw different creatures in the open fields, some feeding on the various shades of green grass, others merely trotting over them in the heat that made Skullius pull out a sling bag that held in it cool water which he gulped from time to time.

A few in other distant villages were cultivating their crops peacefully, making Skullius wonder if the same hell he had seen back in Eofel was part of this seemingly different side of Aigas.

Still, his eyes remained on the prize.

On the journey, he gave Red Rage an earful about smacking him like a little brittle boned moron before praising his genius idea which actually netted him free food and clothing without much trouble.

Red Rage was even donning the new armour he had received from the blacksmith and his apprentices which looked glossy with bold choices in the breastplate and shoulder guards.

It was not as protective as the armour he donned before which was to be expected from something created by a small-time blacksmith but it would do.

On reaching Santhi, Skullius noted the few people that remained pulling on their donkeys and horses that pulled carts with their possessions as they sadly left their homes behind.

One of them saw Skullius and Red Rage and a spark of hope was lit in his heart.

He rushed to Skullius and Red Rage, his eyes being drawn more to the Knight armour as he addressed the Pelvis Boar-Man.

“Sir! Sir! Have you come to deal with the Cluster?! Are the Guilds finally responding?!”

Skullius was annoyed by the little attention he received and chose to walk away from the two.

He took a few steps into the city and was about to pay attention to the structures within when suddenly.

FWOOOOON!

A powerful energy was caught in his senses.

A wisp of condensed, unknown energy that wasn’t exclusively mana.

Skullius turned from one direction to the next before rushing to where this powerful energy signature was coming from.

He raced through the more refined surfaces of the town where business sections were erected with symbols of various services advertised on old and wooden signs along with the respective equipment cluttered outside.

Even with all its bigger space, Skullius didn’t spare much of it a glance as he followed the energy signature.

Even though Skullius didn’t know what a Cluster was, the fact that the people of this town were only evacuating now and at such a slow pace made the Discount Human believe that the danger wasn’t immediate.

Even the man who had told them of this did imply that this Cluster had yet to release whatever made it terrifying.

The energy signature got stronger and stronger as Skullius rushed through the empty streets, his eyes opening wide when he finally set his eyes on what this Cluster was.

“Wow…” Skullius expressed his awe.

A Cluster.

A large crack stood before him, appearing not on any material structure but on the air.

It was crooked as most cracks naturally were, with a bright white colouration about it that lazily waved forward and back with the thickness of a blanket.

Vicious winds blew around the crack while the inside could almost be seen, but tinted with a blur caused by the frightfully distorted air.

Skullius’ auburn hair danced as he stood fifteen meters away, blown by the winds while his face was caressed by the white energy that threatened to spill from the crack.

He instinctively used his guidance field to try and identify more about this unnatural thing, his vision being covered by a screen that detailed what a Cluster was.

~~~

[Low level Cluster (White)]

A supernatural yet common phenomenon in Aigas where a clash of the four Deities’ power creates subspaces that produce monstrosities which grow to sustain the minispace and eventually spill out when the surrounding space can no longer hold back the growth of the subspace.

~~~

“Hoo…”

The large crack before Skullius released a low howl as if anticipating his entry…