194 One Shotting A Cluster General! (1)
“What is he doing now?” asked Fore as he turned in Skullius’ direction, watching the Discount Human dash from corpse to corpse while stretching out his hand.
“He’s surprisingly quick for a Mage, though. I can take away at least that much,” said Bron as he propped his hands on his waist. “Though I doubt he can handle the Cluster General single-handedly.”
Stylla didn’t give any remarks. She just watched as Skullius did his thing.
The passive, [Great Rush] amplified Skullius’ speed to a considerable degree and with his constant usage of the skill, Skullius was looking forward to when it would evolve.
He also had [Mana Shroud] active, a firm layer of protection surrounding his body.
In the next twenty seconds, he collected the Null Life Essence from fifty Sunlight Shooters before the timers ran out, continuing with the hot rush against time while not giving his party members who gazed at him questioning eyes any mind.
The Sunlight Shooters gave 25 Null Life Essence points each, the amount being slightly higher than that of the goblins, the weakest creatures he had ever fought.
Some Sunlight Shooters converged towards Skullius as he ran, collecting the precious resources he aimed for which annoyed him.
The orange blobs of light that whizzed through the air were nothing to him as he easily ducked and dodged, reaching his enemies.
Bron’s brow furrowed when he saw Skullius getting close to these creatures.
‘Does he think he can replicate what we have been doing just because we said the Sunlight Shooters were weak?’ he thought concernedly, really beginning to wonder if the Deities had done him a favour by not allowing him a chance to fanboy over Skullius back at the Association building earlier when the Discount Human had ignored him and Fore.
‘That’s idiotic. Even with that much pride, he should at least know tha—”
WHAM!
A crisp and resounding blunt force was heard as three Sunlight Shooters were blown away by a single punch from Skullius!
‘The hell?!’
Bron was shocked!
He watched as a light gust of air circled around the point of impact, the two unfortunate opponents of Skullius flying into their companions pitifully.
That power!
Seeing Skullius’ form, he could see that he was heavily lacking in skill but his power and speed were incredible for his stage!
Stylla nodded while hacking away at the Sunlight Shooters, finding Skullius more intriguing despite his other questionable antics.
The Discount Human himself was also shocked by the development too. He was quite sure that the enhancement from the Enriching gems played a huge role in making the force he unleashed to be devastating, especially when he coupled it with the skill, [Brawn], which amplified his blunt damage force.
He had extracted this skill from one of the items he bought from Frock.
After creating some space for himself, Skullius decided to earn a few experience points.
He stretched out his hand, conjuring a small mass of [Evil Darkness] that he hurriedly compressed and formed into a small ball that began to spin with his advanced control until it generated a breeze!
Without any delay, he sent it towards the most Sunlight Shooter congested place around, the ball blasting out like a missile towards them!
This unlike the merely intriguing display of physical power that Skullius had displayed earlier, thoroughly fascinated the trio that Skullius called temporary partners!
What was that mass of darkness?!
Was it a spell?
Some form of mystic arts?!
Was this man actually a prodigy?!
A smile bloomed on Stylla’s face as many thoughts already began to spawn inside her mind.
VWAAAP!
A circling impact shot out with ruthlessly loud clap, dozens of Sunlight Shooters having been pierced by the quick ball of darkness that spun ferociously!
Juices sprayed as the Sunlight Shooters died helplessly, Skullius not stopping to celebrate even while piles of notifications flashed in his vision.
He had already known that these creatures couldn’t take an attack that like that.
He went about collecting Null Life Essence while his partners grew a bit more interested from the earlier perspective they had begun to impose on Skullius because of his behaviour.
Within a few minutes, the Sunlight Shooters were all killed yet no one was tired. Except Skullius.
All the running around had drained him somewhat, but it was worth it. He collected plenty of Null Life Essence.
He hadn’t used much mana as he had to save up for the Cluster General but his body refused to give him an easy time.
He looked around, wondering if the Cluster General would emerge similar to how Jackpot did back then.
This simple action made him feel weird though.
Here he was, actively looking for a Cluster General as if it wasn’t anything special.
Perhaps it was an instinct spawned by the fact that the opponents in this Cluster were abysmally weak.
He wondered what kind of special trait they were supposed to have, but it was possible that they wouldn’t have any as well.
“You’re looking in the wrong places. The Sunlight Shooters emerged from underground, so where do you think the big one will come from?” Stylla asked with a brow raised in amusement.
Skullius looked under him, realising that naturally, the strongest enemy should emerge from where the others came from.
The space within Clusters differed depending on the level of the Cluster and this one wasn’t all that impressive.
It also determined how strong opponents one met would be like.
RUMBLE!
A bright flash of golden light dug from below, exploding upwards and blowing away the dirt as it shot up in a brilliant display of luminance!
The entire subspace became tinged in gold as multiple spots of golden flew up in a fantastical light, the ground beginning to quake unsettlingly!
The sudden shudders almost made Skullius topple over as he focused his vision on what was emerging from the ground.
Massive blocks of crust rose as a brilliant, massive sunflower rose from the ground, its petals fluttering vivaciously while producing a light so bright, it made the party turn away while still bearing protective coatings of mana!
After the sunflower came out, the six meter body of thick and muscular stem with leaves as tough limbs that looked like they were used solely for bench pressing all their lives, it emitted a low growl!
Thick, veggie thighs made squelching noise over the ground as the giant sunflower stood, its petals now directly facing the party of four.
The size of the flower was intimidating and Bron found himself excited to fight this monstrosity.
Fore merely covered his eyes with his hand while Stylla prepared a stance.
Bron turned to Skullius who had made the request to get the Cluster General for himself.
“Are you still planning on fighting on your own?” he asked in a mocking fashion.
Naturally, the three knew the massive Sunlight Shooter’s special skill and were aware that Skullius would be affected by it too.
The Discount Human propped up his shield as with continued exposure to the bright Sunlight, he felt himself growing weaker and weaker!
His body grew heavy and he had to try and prop up his shield to try and mitigate the skills effect.
The guidance field had shown him the attributes of this creature along with its name.
Father Sunlight!
On top of this skill, it also had some high physical stats as a Tier 3 monster unlike its smaller counterparts.
Fore, Bron and Stylla watched as Skullius struggled, the thin man sighing as he looked pitifully at the Discount Human. They completely ignored the sunlight effect as if it didn’t affect them at all while watching Skullius’ performance.
Father Sunlight’s large petals increased their light intensity, responding to the nonchalance of the three.
“Do you really not want any help? Pride will only get you killed!” Bron called to Skullius with a slight grin on his face.
The Discount Human did not respond.
Not verbally at least.
His response to the eyes that expected him to swallow his pride, was the coiling of a large amount of mana as skill was cast, a bright red overtaking the gold hue within the Cluster…!