Bro, I'm not an Undead!

[You have relieved the good people of Aigas from a great danger. You will now be bestowed a BLESSING from the Deities]

....

[The 'Binds of Fukal' resist. The BLESSING bestowal has failed]

[You have received a 'Conqueror's Halo' for clearing a 'Low level Cluster']

"Uh..." Skullius read the notifications in exasperation. "You receive a blessing every time you destroy those monsters in a Cluster?"

That seemed ridiculous. Right?

Skullius remained lying down as he digested this information.

When someone cleared a Cluster, there were two rewards involved outside of what they actually found in the Cluster.

The first was a BLESSING enhancement which made the effects of their blessing more profound.

This was different for Skullius because he never had a blessing to begin. He didn't even fully understand what it was.

The guidance field, or rather the Voice of Worlds acted as he mediator in this situation.

"It figures that anything benefitting me from the Deities will be rejected by these damn Binds of whatever," Skullius sulked as he had hoped he could get something else.

He turned to Red Rage's remains after his mind had calmed.

He had been making sure through his mental link with Red Rage that the Apostle was still nullive and it turned out that the Pelvis Boar-Man still had some fight in him.

After the two had wiped out the Lucky Strike gremlins, Skullius had absorbed the Null Life Essence from the creatures and so had Red Rage.

With his evolution into Tier 1, the Pelvis Boar-Man had received the skill [Null Extraction] which allowed him to absorb Null Life Essence as well.

It had come as a shock to Skullius during his fight with Jackpot when the Apostle had told him that utilising Null Life Essence was keeping him alive and the consumption of his reserve wasn't too high.

The problem was his core which was fading bit by bit after having been shattered with only a quarter remaining by Jackpot's Special skill.

Skullius didn't know how to help with this, but as an idea, he willed the Chains of Damnation to wrap around the half skeleton with a split torso and slowly insert it into the Null Devil's Aegis of Damnation.

Since the armour had the passive effect of improving Mana Regeneration and Mana Points, Skullius thought that perhaps this could delay the Apostle's demise.

Thankfully, it did a well enough job.

The core of Red Rage grew brighter but went on a a fluctuating trend where it would dim and glow after several minutes each time which was still reassuring.

As long as Red Rage remained wearing this armour, his core wouldn't collapse.

However...

"Now the problem is the Null Life Essence. I remember when I first summoned this sockethole, the guidance field said that he was sustained by Serenity. After meeting Serenity I think I understand what that means a bit more..."

The fact that Red Rage was sustained by Serenity made Skullius think that what kept him alive after summoning was his connection to the source of Null Life in general, which Skullius wagered to be the vast sphere that was blurred out during his encounter with Serenity.

Mana wouldn't help with the Apostle's Null Life but Null Life as a concept, would help Red Rage remain alive.

"His Null Life won't last forever, but the rate of consumption doesn't seem to be a problem. I have a few days at most though. I have to collect Null Life Essence and delay Red bro's demise while trying to find a solution."

Skullius looked at the Null Devil's armour. Since he still couldn't move, he merely gave the Apostle a sentimental guarantee.

"Don't worry bro. I'll have you back on your feet in no time," he said with a smile.

"Hmm? What was that? I don't need to worry because you'll be fine anywa—flesh you, you bastard! I'm trying to comfort you here!"

The Discount Human went back to resting while bathing under the hot sun.

He began sweating again as after his immediate worries were solved, he was reminded how hot this region was.

To draw his mind away from the heat, he began replaying his fight with the Lucky Emperor Gremlin.

His last stunt after the Gremlin had dodged his condensed orb of darkness while he was using [Crude World Projection], pulling the sucker into the rainbow turbulence outside the cave with the Chains of Damnation, had succeeded even though he didn't have much faith in it.

He thought that under the influenc of [Divine Coincidence], the gremlin would somehow find its footing but it wasn't the case.

'Looking back, it does seem like that ugly bro could get lucky every second. Red Rage managed to hurt it right after it had managed to pin me down. So I guess I was... urgh... lucky?' Whatever. It's over for now.'

Perhaps [Divine Coincidence] didn't provide consecutive batches of luck during its duration was Skullius' hypothesis as to why Jackpot's skill hadn't helped him survive.

Skullius' leg which had been impaled by the venomous teeth of one of the Lucky Strike gremlins had swollen up, having a peculiar discolouration that reached up to Skullius' thigh.

It would have been hurting like a female dog if he actually had good senses but the Discount Human was rather relaxed as he waited for his mana to regenerate.

As his thoughts spiralled, his mind finally churned out the memory he had experienced during the tough battle.

The girl in the snow.

What bothered him the most about this scene he saw was the fact that when it had shown up, he had felt a mix of rage, guilt and... hate. The type of hate that one would feel after cultivating it for a very long time.

He loathed whoever this girl was and she seemed to be dead in the snow.

'Why would I get such a memory when looking at Red Rage? What does that mean?' Skullius thought as he tried to recall, to draw this memory and figure out the entirety of what it entailed.

But...

Skullius' odd face scrunched up as a wave of immense pain assaulted his mind, throwing his thoughts in disarray for a short time.

[Doom Factor 2 has been triggered. Your mind begins to fracture. 2%]

...!

Even while in pain, Skullius couldn't help but gasp at this notification.

Seriously?!

Right after surviving a rather brutal battle, he was exposed to the second Doom Factor that hadn't acted up until now?!

The pain began to subside as Skullius settled his thoughts.

'Trying to push my mind to remember that memory is a very bad idea. Gah! Give me a break!'

For the next few hours, Skullius continued to rest even after he had regained the ability to move earlier.

First, he used [Luminant Healing] to recover from the damage he had sustained within the Cluster and then waited for a mana refill again.

Seeing his over 250 Mana Points back some time later, Skullius finally stood.

He injected mana into his ring, taking in Red Rage and the armour into storage.

It was time to move on.