Bro, I’m not an Undead!

A dark hill stood attached to the wall of the ginormous cavern that was the Cluster, holding a sense of sacredness that exhumed breath-like sounds of heat and steam.

A pool of boiling magma that was excessively hot, writhing and blazing in mini-swirling flames of orange-pink that leapt in and out of the mass like fish taking a dive out of the water circled this hill, with a radius of at least sixty meters.

The heat that circled around the hill was constantly sucked onto the hill with an unforgiving suction, a unique treasure bringing this about.

Perched on the side of the hill was a flat platform looking to be dug out cleanly as it was flat and big enough for several figures to settle on.

At the very end of this platform was a another small pool of magma, its fiendish heat warping the air for distorted imagery that obscured the real proportions of what could be seen.

Within this smaller pool, a simplistic throne comfortably settled in.

It was pitch black with glistening patterns on the armrests and back that sizzled with diabolic heat. On this lengthy backrest that rose high were three items that looked like stones, two smaller ones and one that was triple the size of the others.

The throne as a whole was large, so large that the figure that sat on it could barely match it despite his body being huge, yet he could still reach the armrests.

This throne was a natural treasures at the Legendary level, one of the three Skullius had sensed.

The dark feet of this creature were in the pool of mana, comfortably enjoying a bath in the torridity.

Its scales were extremely thick, with curves that shone, steam seeping from under them every minute. A bulky, rocky armour, a chestplate that was set aflame adorned this creature’s torso, its image being lit in an orange-pink hue that frizzled, giving it a frightful picture.

On its face were large yellow eyes and a wide mouth that released a raspy breath while shut, on its head four large, curved horns that that were white hot while over the creature’s head was a golden crown that pulsed with heat and untamed mana, sizzling pink patterns streaming around it and its eight peaks.

This was the another natural treasure at the Legendary level.

A massive sword that was dug into the pool of magma, its height being almost three meters and with a girth of at least a meter, pulsed with the same astounding presence as the other two items.

Naturally, it was the third natural treasure at the Legendary level in this beast’s possession.

Three tall Fire Breeders with sizzling armour stood around this pool and throne, gazing upon this beast with worried eyes.

They were all Tier 7 beasts with radiant blue mana cores that drummed with power, the Cluster General’s guards.

One of these beasts bowed to the Cluster General and posed a question respectfully.

“My lord. Shall we truly do nothing while our people die out there?”

There came no reply.

At least not immediately.

The beast upon the throne merely stared into the distance without an expression.

After thirty whole seconds, it finally spoke.

“Your duty is to serve me.”

Succinct.

That was the reply that the guard got. One it couldn’t argue with.

“That… is so, my lord but there truly seems to be a powerful enemy. If we can handle it quickly, we can save many,” the guard stressed with worry. His fellow guards remained silent.

They felt the same way, but it was better for one to speak at a time.

Another bout of silence ensued with a reply coming after the same amount of time as the last instance.

“If the enemy is powerful, then you should guard ME.”

The guard felt frustration welling in his chest.

Their lord as they had known was a selfish existence but they hadn’t figured that he would neglect his subordinates at a time like this.

The guard to pose the question to his lord felt a rush of rebellion within him. He could just rush off to save the others and pay the price later.

His lord was currently at an important phase in his transformation after many decades, seven shy of the next merging.

There was no way he would compromise his growth just to stop him right?

“Take a step and I will kill you.”

…!

The guard froze.

What?

Who was his lord talking to?

“Your duty is to me. Any ideas you have against that will be punished with death.”

The flaming pupils within the Cluster beast yellow eyes flamed as it focused on the guard who was petrified.

The hell?

Was his master able to read thoughts now?

How?

Since when?

The Fire Breeders did not have reproductive organs. They reproduced by gathering the flame essence they were naturally able to produce, pitting the energy of two or more of their kind to create an egg that would eventually hatch into a Fire Breeder.

But…stronger Fire Breeders could accomplish this on their own, the flame essence they could produce alone being enough to form their own eggs.

The Cluster General was one such example.

The throne he sat on was capable of pulling all kinds of energies, condensing them and improving their quality.

As such, the heat which was prevalent in the Cluster would be drawn and used to nourish the eggs that the Cluster General gave birth to.

After every 100 years, the Cluster General would merge with the unborn Flame Breeder inside the egg – the young one inside was forbidden from coming out by the General as he didn’t need it to hatch for the merging to be successful.

The Flame Breeder younglings were capable of absorbing the flame essence in its purest form, making it phenomenally convenient for the General.

Now though, for the past 100 years, the Cluster General had not risen from his throne or spoke much about anything.

So his ability to read minds was something the guards were just now discovering.

Did this ability work on every living creature, one would wonder?

The guard who had been about to rush to the rescue of his brethren cancelled out those thoughts.

His master had gotten stronger again after another merging.

He could probably kill him in an easier manner compared to before even if he was unwilling to move.

“Your service is needed against THAT.”

The Cluster General said with a sharp tone that caused all the guards to involuntarily turn behind them where a plume of dark smoke with golden particles was blasting towards them.

***

[‘Permanent Random Upgrade’ decided]

Skullius’ socket flames ignited with a crazy flame. He was anxious.

It wouldn’t turn out to be a trash skill right?

Things had turned out pretty good so far, shockingly.

Why would they take a turn now?

Skullius had funnelled 6000 Null Life Essence points into this to ensure that he got a decent skill after all.

6000 Null Life Essence points allowed him to get a Unique weapon with the Hedoness Easper’s Lord Slayer which could be considered to be as powerful as a basic Legendary level weapon.

Sadly, the spear was gone, but it had served its purpose.

Now, Skullius hoped he could get something good too.

[‘Permanent Random Upgrade’ Complete]

[Your skill ‘Slaughter Fence’ has been upgraded to ‘Serration Zone: Baneful Edge’]

~~~

[Serration Zone: Baneful Edge]

The user, as long as they are a Chosen Null Lifeform, can draw upon the malefic Null Life Essence that gathers in the contaminated, sodden and aphotic depths of the Dreg Valley, to <Rabbet> and <Slash> apart anything within its zone.

-A minimum of 1000 Null Life Essence points is required to cast the skill for tremendous damage.

-A maximum 40,000 Null Life Essence is required to cast the skill for apocalyptic damage.

Mana Requirements: —

Duration: —

Cooldown: 4 minutes

~~~

“Hooo!” Skullius exclaimed in surprise and joy.

This skill…

It didn’t require mana for its casting!

As he was jovial quivering at the seemingly incredible quality of this skill, on his arms small circular rings began to appear with a white glow in various sizes before dimming down but leaving their groves on them.

“What is this?” Skullius said as the process happened so fast before he could express his shock.

The key word he took note in the description of the skill was ‘Chosen Null Lifeform’.

What did that mean?

A mental message interrupted his thought process as he was drawn to something in the sky.

Ferex was showing him something unexpected.

The Fire Breeder that had been baptised to the Passion of Debauchery left a trail of smoke as it headed towards the location of the Cluster General!

“Huh? Why is it headed there?” Skullius thought as he then hurriedly mobilised Ferex to take them there with his Hide’s effect.