328 In-Between Behemoths!
“Flesh me sideways…” Skullius muttered as he gripped the Chains of Damnation with all his might.
He could feel the impending doom that was a second away as he began wondering…
Why the flesh did this have to happen now?!
After using [Revenant Flames of Ecstasy] which had levelled up, the targets of the skill’s conversion had increased from five to six and upon using it, he had managed to attain six powerful Bulk Terrors as his temporary allies!
Unfortunately, one of them which was a Tier 6 was particularly rowdy, as the effects of feeling pleasure through ecstasy and atrocious pain at the same time caused it to be harder to control!
Skullius had thus bound it with the Chains of Damnation while forcing it to go where he wanted as he couldn’t afford to waste his skill usage.
Why, one would ask?
This was because for each Bulk Terror that his frenzied ones killed, he would gain the Experience for himself!
Damn it!
The Experience was even streaming in right now.
Damn it!
Skullius had even made an effort to change the state of his helmet in order to not freak out the humans just in case he ended up in a place swarmed by them.
This was something he had learned before his battle with Benzard back then when he had donned it for the first time but disregarded this method of changing the swirling design as he deemed it to be a hassle.
To make the swirling red holes that were over the face of his helmet stay still, vastly improving the helm’s aesthetic, he had to chant a rather cringey line, a detail passed to him by the helmet itself into his mind when he wore it.
‘Let mine sturdy heart which resides in the nothingness, in lifelessness, in the void, manifest a face a stone!’ …was the line.
Damn it!
With all this…
WHY?!
Skullius looked on ahead at the excited faces of numerous small-time mercenaries and their zeal as they approached his chains which would do nothing but cause them pain if they touched them!
He watched this scene as if in slow motion when…
“IYYAAAAAAAAAAAAK!”
“AUGGHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“EEEEEEEEEEK!”
“SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!”
The collective cacophony of agony sounded from nearly 200 mercenaries as they all felt an overbearing force smash onto them as punishment for expressing their intent to assist their mysterious helper!
All these mercenaries at this moment felt their blood rush within their bodies as it then splashed from their eyes and mouth violently while they tried to keep it together.
Some rolled, some gripped their faces as they tore their skin in utterly unimaginable torment!
Others gnashed their teeth so hard that they shattered while others scratched the ground with their nails!
This scene caused everyone watching to come to a stop, humans and monsters alike as in this moment, they unconsciously paid respects to the presence of this power as they looked on at the pained victims who screamed or uttered incomprehensible words.
The final nail on the coffin, was when on the bodies of these people, their flesh began to sizzle and melt like hot ooze, flowing over their messy bones until not a human being was left, but a skeleton visibly showing despair.
Silence…
For a few moments no one said a thing.
What the actual f-
“Uh…”
Silrat’s pale face said all of what he felt in this moment!
Terror and complete shock.
This was simply too terrifying and everyone around him shared this sentiment!
Beside him, Damilla was even more pale as she looked at the dark-armoured figure with her mouth agape.
She had seen a bit of what would happen before it actually happened a few seconds ago.
“That’s… that’s him…. The thing I saw back then….” she muttered in a small voice.
Silrat had already felt a sense of familiarity with this scenario as it had been explained to him before.
Damilla’s words were the final straw that brought about the veracity of it all.
“The thing I saw…. when I divined Festos back then…” the Diviner continued to mutter.
Silrat plopped down as he contemplated deeply.
He and Tulnas had vastly underestimated what this curse was said to be.
This was dangerous!
Too dangerous!
Things could have gone horrible wrong!
He could see that now!
Over on the large rock, Skullius’ socket flames behind the helm were flaring as he wondered about the consequences of this.
Literally everyone here had seen UNCoddled at work and while most couldn’t tie to him, some could!
There was no way he was getting out of this unscathed!
‘Damn it! I should at least get Experience whenever this happens!’ he thought with begrudging tone.
Every time UNCoddled claimed a life, he wouldn’t get any Experience or even a notification for Null Life Essence waiting to be reaped.
Nothing!
“Shit! What should I do no—”
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Skullius suddenly felt an enormous pressure slam into him with an unparalleled violent force!
The land trembled as it shattered and broke apart causing the mercenaries and Knights who had been in a stupor to claim back their senses as they ran away, avoiding the caving in ground!
Silrat shook himself and grabbed Damilla as he leapt back to safety, his eyes remaining hinged on what was happening before him.
The massive swathes of thick dust hid a large crater in which a man with long dark hair and green eyes wore a ferocious expression as he pushed down the armoured head of Skullius’ Penetrator form!
His body caused the surroundings to twist and bubble up with extreme mana-induced heat as the bright flash of the energy radiated from his body!
Skullius’ socket flames flashed with a panicked flame as he hadn’t expected this individual he had watched from afar while wondering who he was to suddenly pop up out of nowhere and pound him into the ground!
Terrifying!
This man ignored the effects of [The Forge] entirely as instead of him experiencing the hellscape somewhere where the Aegis of Damnation had been forged, his body was the one that was melting Skullius’ armour simply by him exerting himself over the Penetrator’s body!
‘Shit! Bro, what are you?!’ Skullius screamed in his mind.
“I sensed it from YOU! The evil that flooded out into the air to kill every single of those people who were fighting for the city! Who are you?!” the youthful yet authoritative voice of Unbreakable thundered against Skullius’ skull, completely suppressing him!
The helm to his armour started to crack and melt as Unbreakable’s hand scrunched up over it, peeling its side easily!
….!
‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’ Skullius thought as he hurriedly opened his hand, the light of mana flashing within it only to be replaced by the shine of Silentburn Levin which emitted no sound but struck with incredible speed at Unbreakable’s chest!
It was the skill, [Ful Discharge], a concentrated streak of Silentburn Levin that was supposed to burn the target along with delivering 10% Serenity Damage!
The ground trembled on impact with sparks of Levin running along the crumbling walls of the crater yet…
Unbreakable was unscathed!
He ignored this attack as he ripped off a portion of the helm which revealed the Penetrator’s face underneath!
….!
Unbreakable’s green eyes opened wide in shock as he saw…
A glittering dark blue skull that constantly emitted small sparks of Levin!
“This….!”
What the…
‘Is that…an undead?!’ he thought with his mind spiralling into utter shock.
Where were all these weird creatures coming from?!
Before he could fully take in the shock of this find however, Unbreakable suddenly turned as he felt a familiar enormous presence flash behind him, a staggering amount of power gathering within it!
The purple creature, the evolved octo-humanoid with its rising tentacles appeared as it wielded its staff, its chest inflated as from somewhere behind the tentacles, a malicious outpour of pressurised air bombarded Unbreakable and Skullius!
WHOOOOOOOSSSSHHH! VWOOOOOM!
A bright storm of concentrated air smashed into the two within the crater and went to cascade outwards in a massive exploding hurricane that wrecked everything in its path!
Most of those who looked on from a distance were slow to react and were blasted away gracelessly like limb feathers!
The mercenaries, Knights and Terrors alike flashed away a great distance from the force, the spot where this attack had originated being left as a clean and clear space devoid of anything but an even more massive crater!
The Cluster beast looked on with anxious eyes as before its view cleared, it already knew that its attack didn’t work.
The vibrant presence of an unscathed Unbreakable was palpable as he held onto the figure of Skullius whose armour had taken immense amounts of damage from the wind attack!
The creature’s tentacles became encased in a steady white glow that whistled dangerously, evidently being the shine of highly condensed wind!
The tentacles swung madly at Unbreakable who didn’t move at all!
SHWAAA! SHWAAA! SHWAAA!
Sounds akin to glasses shattering near a sound amplifier echoed as these tentacles crashed into Unbreakable’s body but…
No damage at all.
Each of these attacks caused the walls to the crater to explode on either side but did nothing to their actual target!
All Skullius could see in this battle was the rustling winds that obstructed much of his view as they tore apart the crust underneath.
His sockets flared as he focused his vision to see what was really happening.
His vision honed in on the purple creature he could barely see and the unclear object that it was wielding, his will activating the guidance field to identify what these things were.
First…
~~~
[ Name : MaelStorm ]
[ Tier : 8 ]
[ Core : Purple ]
[ Level : 1 ]
[ Class : Mage ]
[ Race : Elder Totality Galemonger ]
[ Inv. Status : Wants some ]
——-
[ Stats ]
[ Strength (II) : 90 (Empowered) ]
[ Agility (II) : 69 (Empowered) ]
[ Intelligence (II) : 55 (Empowered) ]
[ Endurance (II) : 78 (Empowered) ]
[ Luck : 38 ]
—–
[ Health : 51,340/51,340 ]
——
[ Mana (II) : 350/350 ]
~~~
“Bro!” Skullius yelped in shock.
What kind of monstrosity was he up against?!
He had felt and seen some terrific energies before Unbreakable suddenly showed up but this was ridiculous!
That mana value!
That health!
That Tier!
The guidance field showed it with the double bars to identify this creature as a being that had condensed its stats an additional tenfold over the previous tenfold multiplier by the blue core!
The Penetrator couldn’t even imagine how strong this thing truly was!
“I have to get out of here! This is way beyond what I can handle!”
These were Skullius’ thoughts as his mind instantly opted to run away.
A purple cored Tier 8 creature?! That was ridiculous!
Thoughts of the many options he would have considered otherwise rushed away from him as he tried to pry Unbreakable’s hand away while his gaze remained glued to the hazy purple image and what it held.
But then…
~~~
[ Elimparidis Stone Staff ]
<Legendary>
A staff made in the very depths of the spatially turbulent mountain at the very centre of the innermost island of a certain Cluster. The deadly and erratic waves of energy that constantly crash against cooled magma forged this staff which has a natural affinity towards a vast array of energies.
-Attack-
70,000-90,000
-Durability-
85,981/97,000
-Special Effects-
• +10,000 Absolute Conversion Mana
• Increases skill and natural ability proficiency and power by 300%
• Can store vast spaces [Dimensions] along with all living and non-living components dwelling within it.
• Absorbs excess energy emitted from the stored space [Dimension] to create charges which fuel the innate skills <Jump> and <Jolt Ray>.
—
[ Skill: Jolt Ray ]
A bright beam attack made of condensed and diluted spatial energies incorporated into mana capable of immense levels of destruction.
<Current available charges – 9/23>
—
[ Skill: Jump ]
A short range spatial displacement ability which maxes out at 500 meters from the user. Can be used on anything the user desires.
<Currently available charges – 5/12>
—-
[ Skill: Jaggered Merger ]
The staff merges with the user to grant an additional Absolute Conversion of 4,000 to Strength, Agility and Endurance. Usable once every three days.
-Caution-
All other skills excluding special effects are disabled when <Jaggered Merger> is active.
~~~
…!