The unseen form of Ferex remained so while lodged into the wide mouth of the Cluster General who looked absolutely shocked!
Unfortunately, shock was the least of what he was feeling at this moment, as with the edge of the transformed Apostle which had crudely sank into his flesh, drawing blood, came a frightful reaction from his soul!
Gruesome agony!
The frown and grimace of the Cluster General as he howled madly in excruciating pain was mirrored by the scream of Yuyui who died by melting while in the air, UNCoddled punishing her for a wholesome deed!
The Cluster General felt fractures in his soul that temporarily took away his ability to think properly as he could only focus on the horrendous pain that threw his mind into disarray!
When he had been a Fire Breeder, he had experienced all kinds of fleshly pain.
But this...!
Like an inborn itch that one couldn't scratch...!
Like the sensation of bones snapping within but with no means of stopping their torn mass from scraping against the flesh...!
The Cluster General ground its teeth as one of its flaming pupils glared at Skullius hatefully while its body trembled vehemently!
...!
Skullius who had been fast fed all the detail about all Ferex's features while in this form the moment he had caught the Apostle in his hand, was astounded!
His stab to the creature's mouth was supposed to be fatal to all the other Fire Breeders as they had no way of defending their souls, but this creature... it was still standing or rather... floating!
Wasn't it supposed to die like the rest?!
'Damn! He's tough!' Skullius commented begrudgingly.
Fortunately, the Cluster General wasn't attacking as the pain was too great for it to handle. It was barely able keep itself afloat with its red hot wings so continuing to assault Skullius right now was impossible.
Skullius thought fast!
If this wasn't enough, then the many schemes which he had been concocting for the past two days would surely work!
At least one of them had to!
Before sorting through them however, Skullius, as he recognised that Ferex was in a sword form, pulled out the Apostle from the Cluster beast's mouth and flicked him up, pulling along the crown on the Cluster General's head!
...!
The Legendary item fell into the hands of the Penetrator who was currently being blasted by thirty two bolts of Silentburn Levin which repaired his body!
Skullius immediately wore the golden artefact decorated with pink patterns around it and...
WHOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The Penetrator's four sockets flashed with flames that threatened to overwhelm the hot, night skies with a fierce blue glow that signified the horrendous boost to Skullius' might!
Levin silently burst over the surface of Skullius' dark blue bones as everything about him was enhanced many fold, his body being recovered in a instant!
"Hooo..." Skullius hummed with a breath of excess mana blowing from between his teeth while the Cluster General seethed, his hand that still held on the Penetrator's spine, slowly increasing its grip as flame rebelliously flickered from it powerfully!
Yet...
BOOOOM!
Mana gathered under Skullius' feet and launched him up forcefully, the Penetrator escaping from the Cluster General's hold as he flew ten meters above it and gazed down while halting his ascent!
Skullius had created distance between himself and the Cluster General to ensure that there would be no surprises.
"Let's see you handle this!" Skullius bellowed as his body bubbled with mana, his right hand shifting the unseen Ferex to his left as with the former held out towards everything beneath him, something churned and roiled!
The crown filled him with power, elevating what he was already capable of!
It amplified range and power and that was about to come into play.
It brought much to light, and gave a sense of omnipotence to the Penetrator!
~~~
[Incalescent Mountain Breath]
<Legendary>
A crown naturally formed by the igneous conditions under the dark lands of a large Cluster and fed the rich mana and fire essence of all dead and buried Fire Breeders over the millenia.
-Durability-
67,000/85,000
-Special Effects-
• Increases Intelligence by 1500 with absolute conversion
• Increase Mana by 4000 with absolute conversion
• Increase all skill and natural ability efficiency by 150%
---
[Skill: Incalescent Synch]
As per the will of the user, all equipped items are granted the <Blissful Flame>, to increase defence and damage by 70%.
---
[Skill: Reign of Heat]
The user is able to draw on the heat within a six mile radius and condense it into a singular point for one extremely hot attack. Usable once a day.
~~~
An increase in skill efficiency by 150% was the only thing Skullius was interested in from this crown as from when he had seen its effects with the guidance field two days before, he had decided to take it the moment he got the chance.
Everything was good and all, the skills and the stat boosts but...
None of it mattered in this moment, as the circular groves carved into Skullius' hands lit up with a white light again...
A moment that had been robbed of him earlier was about to be regained!
A skill was cast, boosted by 90% from [Epiphany] and this newly attained 150%!
The deadly feeling it gave was amplified all the more as not only did the Cluster General who shot his head up as he felt its dreadful presence again, but the tens of thousands of Fire Breeders that were chaotically flying around a few hundred meters below it also felt it!
An extra terrestrial threat that meant only to harm!
A twisted form of death that only sought to cut apart!
Skullius, filled with confidence and malice as his sockets flared incredibly called out... again.
"Serration Zone: Baneful Edge!"
The shuddering Cluster General growled as it forced out all its might, its figure blurring as just in the nick of time, it shot away from the Skullius' line of sight, flying disorderly as it crashed into the side of the flat hill!
A fraction of a millisecond later however, all the creatures that felt the mad presence of this skill were stunned in fright!
Over a span of a hundred meters that grew in a conical shape to extend over a mile and a half, a light, turquoise blue stained everything!
The air...
The Fire Breeders...
The ground from where a creeping chill was trying to resist the hot conditions cast by the Cluster General...
This blue hue tainted everything and froze it place momentarily!
The Fire Breeders caught in it while flying remained suspended in the air despite not flapping their wings...
The air grew still, being unable to move, the flying ashes and sparks within it also held in place...
It seemed like everything caught by this hue was forcefully suspended in timeless space for a second and then...
"<Rabbet>," Skullius commanded, as the skill wanted to know which method of cutting he wanted between the two available options – rabbet and slash.
As he spoke with naught a care for the Cluster General or the Fire Breeders out of range, Skullius felt a torrential wave blast out like a condensed, heated gust of wind that charged towards everything caught within the light turquoise hue!
Then...
The Fire Breeders.... grew bloody, as groves appeared on them with the pressurised expulsive force that blew them away, their body parts revealed to be severed into rectangular shapes!
All of them!
Neat stacks of rectangular flesh blasted into the ground in the millions, some belonging to powerful Fire Breeders and the others to the opposite as it seemed none of these Cluster beasts came even close to being able to resist!
Experience was funnelled into Skullius who was amazed at this while falling from the sky, but he didn't neglect the fact that he wasn't done fighting.
The Cluster General wore a ferocious look on his face as he looked down at the mess on the ground from his wedge in the hill, his body slowly getting used to pushing through the pain.
Skullius kept his sense on this creature and on the few thousand Fire Breeders that had been outside his range, their masses flying away to watch from a distance!
Mana gathered at the Penetrator's feet as he propelled himself down, reaching within the range of where he could extract the abundant Null Life Essence as well as the mana from the cores of these dead beasts that was yet to dissipate!
With so many Fire Breeders dead from his attack, Skullius had managed to reach level 18 and harvest a total of 10 compressed orbs of mana that rushed to his side as he landed on the ground and looked to his enemy above.
"Unfortunately, my odds still aren't too good..." Skullius said to himself as he suppressed his excitement.
He was still outmatched.
Even evolving right here and now wouldn't change this fact, especially when the Cluster General still held that problematic great sword in his hand!
In truth, over the past two days, he hadn't been concocting a super specific plan of escape. Instead, he created a variety of potential routes to victory and survival, all of which stemmed from one thing.
Null Life Essence.
As the Penetrator looked up, around him circling an over twelve meter radius of serene blue was created by the activation of [Null Life Aura], Skullius scrolled through his options, especially one particular one.
"This is my only hope. Either it works or it doesn't," Skullius said as his socket flames continued to blaze, mirroring his emotions.
During his silence during the two days, Skullius had been trying to finally master his control over Null Life Essence, but that was easier said than done. While seeing the blue skinned creature he had summoned use it to tank heavy damage easily had spurned him to try the same, it was no easy feat to merely make the energy budge outside of his body.
Unless he was merely delivering it to a weapon he wanted to steal a skill from, it was nigh impossible.
He had made zero progress over the first day as nothing helped him understand how to tame this elusive power.
It was different from mana.
It was different from a mere element.
Mastering it wasn't entirely reliant on talent.
However, on the second day, Skullius had changed his way of thinking.
If there was anything he knew most of the ins and outs to, it was mana and while it was different from Null Life Essence, the two had similarities, one of which allowed Skullius to gain insight into how to manipulate the Essence of Null Life.
Variation.
With [Serration Zone: Baneful Edge] Skullius had discovered that there was more than one type of Null Life Essence, and the one tied to this skill was very violent. The same applied to mana which could be shifted to different forms as demonstrated by the Stages Skullius had witnessed first hand.
The Advancement Stage where mana could be condensed to form Full Body Aura.
The Master Stage where this Aura in turn could be fashioned in a more perfect form, a Genuine Incarnation.
By condensing mana, these could be attained.
But what about condensed Null Life Essence?
While it was hard for Skullius to mobilise Null Life Essence out of his body, it was easier to tumble it within his body, compounding it within himself.
What did this do?
It made Null Life Essence thicker and by extension, gave it a more... 'tangible' form that he could grasp!
At this moment...
Slowly...
Silently...
Serenely...
Null Life Essence started to leak from Skullius' body to cover him!
Watching the blue skinned creature he had summoned had granted him hope.
If enveloping himself with enough Null Life Essence could allow him to tank powerful blows like that thing had done then...
"It's worth a try, I guess..." Skullius thought as from within the [Null Life Aura] bursts of sparkling Silentburn Levin shot out with incredible thickness and power!
Naturally, Skullius wasn't a master at wielding Null Life Essence now. He was extremely slow in using it as he had to condense it first and then push it from his body which took nearly a minute!
More than enough time to die many times over!
On top of this, he could wield Null Life Essence at this poor degree ONLY when [Null Life Aura] was active!
Thankfully, this wasn't the entirely of his plan.
It was just the start!
The Penetrator, with the especially luminescent bolts of Silentburn Levin that roiled within the [Null Life Aura], extending his hand forward and shot a massive stream of the element towards the Cluster General which was wedged into the hill!
In an instant, the bolt in all its glory had lit up the night and the hill, causing a monstrous explosion that gouged out a massive portion of the geographical feature!
Yet...
The Cluster General could be spotted hundreds of meters in the air with a furious expression, the light from the explosion highlighting its dark scaled body with the curved greatsword in its grip flaming as if as angry as its wielder!
Skullius was not at all surprised.
This was a Tier 7 Cluster beast with a dull purple mana core.
This was the least he could expect.
It was the end indeed... but only a touch away from the finale where one died and one lived.
Despite the clear disparity in power, one was better in skill and the outcome was anyone's guess!
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