Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Guddhar turned to the pillar of red that rose into the air, seeking attention and eager to be seen.

The Greater Monkey Sage noticed that one of the intruders was trying to resist [Bow to Peace]!

Foolish and stubborn!

What a profound enemy.

The Sage Monkey welcomed an eager tainted that sought to be delivered to peace the hard way and ultimately, be digested in his belly.

Billows of steam and concentrated mana churned from a blue core like his own surging from the distance amidst the white leaved trees that bowed under the might of the Yamogogofafa as in the next instance, a rapidly barrelling cloud of scorching steam shot in his direction, imitating the charge of a certain locomotive from a distant and modern reality!

Within but a moment, it was already before Guddhar, blowing his golden fur back while burning everything else around him.

An amusing attempt.

This was a Special Skill from Stylla's sword technique, the single one that she had been able to master!

When the steam was just a meter away from the Greater Mountain Sage, Stylla's figure appeared with a vicious expression painted onto her face as her body radiated an immense heat!

Her saber fumed with humid steam that actively whistled and heated the air as she slashed diagonally with her might!

Guddhar scoffed in the slowed time that he and Stylla were tangling in.

With an absurdly fast movement, he stretched his hand to the Yamogogofafa which was beside Skullius a distance away, the rare item dislodging itself from the ground and shooting towards its master's position before Stylla's blade touched Guddhar!

BOOM! PFFFSSSS!

An explosive collision of hard material and steam echoed, reverberating with such a crazy intensity that ploughed through the mountain's crust!

Stylla found her heated saber clashing against the large dark blue statue and grunted angrily, beginning to slash with crazy speed as she sought to at least graze the Cluster General!

She had just used a Special Skill, more specifically, an advanced application of her sword technique, Steam Glow, called Steamed Rapid Body which accelerated her physical capabilities for a couple of seconds, allowing her to escape from adverse imposed conditions like poisoning, capture or magical ailments by temporarily changing her form into steam!

The inclusion of her Full Body Aura added a greater enhancement to her technique, granting her the mentioned boons!

Guddhar grinned as he merely twirled the giant statue as if it weighed nothing at all, seamlessly blocking all of Stylla's attacks!

To make matters worse for the tenacious lady, she felt most of her attacks rushing back at her, much of the elemental damage rebounding right back at her instead which chipped at her armour!

'This is thing ridiculously heavy and can counter my attacks! Even if its a Cluster General, shouldn't it have some kind of difficulty using that thing or least in carrying it?!' Stylla wondered frustratedly.

She had wanted to keep a close eye on Skullius just a few minutes ago, but the situation had gotten out of her hand with her losing sight of the Mage entirely.

She had been overconfident.

Survival was not certain even for her and yet she had thought that this would be an easy raid where she could look after a potential addition to her team.

What tragic luck to face a Cluster this troublesome.

Fortunately, she wasn't alone!

An intangible yet visible force fired down on Guddhar like a flood and caused the creature to bend its knees as a massive crater blew under its feet from the force!

...!

The Cluster General was shocked by the sudden attack which couldn't be stopped by the Yamogogofafa.

Fore was standing a distance away while focusing what remained of his Full Body Aura to assault the monkey with his basic psychokinetic abilities!

Since Guddhar had withdrawn Yamogogofafa, [Bow to Peace] had been dispelled, leaving him free.

The force kept intensifying at a rapid rate, threatening to break Guddhar's bones while at the same moment, the Sage Monkey felt a presence rushing from behind him, charging up mana as before he could do anything to not fall for what came next, a shattering blunt force pounded from his back with a hazy ring that exposed his flesh from the golden furred back!

Bron had charged from behind the monkey and released his technique, the Dissipating Fistful Arcs!

Each ring of hazy light conjured by the user would do additional damage from their base strength, stacking on top of each other!

The principle behind the technique was to harness force and use it without waste, maximising damage.

A second and third ring emerged, releasing a crisp clap-like noise which blew the ground apart and sent Guddhar flying!

However, right as the Monkey was in flight, Stylla with her body covered in the immense heat began slashing as hard as she could at the Monkey, her blade chipping away at the flesh of Guddhar whose imbalance hindered him from wielding Yamogogofafa properly!

Red blood flew from several spots on the Sage Monkey's body, steam sizzling from each wound, but that was it!

It not lethal!

The bastard was too damn tough!

They needed more!

Bron's body flared with his Aura which was a basic enhancement to his already existing properties!

He growled, gaining a thick white glow around him before he dashed towards Guddhar and launched an uppercut to its chin!

At the same time, Fore zipped forward with his honed speed, and used his psychokinesis to blow away the Yamogogofafa that Guddhar tried to wield!

BAM!

The Monkey's chin flew up as its weapon left its hand simultaneously, Stylla flying in to slice with her sword at the Cluster beast's neck!

"HUMGH!" Guddhar grunted with its freakishly loud voice and as it steadied its head and with another extraordinary show of agility and dexterity, the Monkey brought its hands together in a clap!

PWAAA!

A profound clap of peace resounded as the thick palms of the Monkey touched, an energy like excessive gusts of wind blowing out to overpower Stylla's steam covered sword and Bron's follow up punch with his radiating Aura!

The three mercenaries were blown away at rocket speed, their attacks being negated easily!

Guddhar drew one of his hands towards the Yamogogofafa, the large piece which had been blown away seconds ago flashing into his hands once again as this time, the Monkey pounded the bottom rune of the Yamogogofafa into the solid ground!

[Ascend to Peace] was cast, targeting Stylla, Fore and Bron who shot into the air with speeds mildly suggesting that they had been shot from cannons!

Guddhar grunted as it then pulled the mass of stone from the ground, focused on Stylla who could barely concentrate from the speeds she was launched at and hurled the Yamogogofafa at her using the skill [Righteous Throw]!

The giant statue flew while spinning irregularly at Stylla, becoming a dark mass that seemingly could not be stopped!

Stylla grit her teeth as she braced for the impact, bringing her saber before her while pumping her mana into it!

The silver saber shone with light and bursts of steam as this was as much as she could do before the object smashed into her, otherwise, she would have used [Steam Rapid Body]!

Shockingly, right before she could meet the incoming smiling stone monkey, Stylla felt a distinct tug dragging her out of the way in the air!

The Yamogogofafa passed where she had been with a ruthless force whose inertia slightly pulled her in its charge!

Yet ultimately, she was safe!

She looked to the side and found Fore with his face shuddering from the speed of upward flight, his mouth opened with his teeth clenched as if in a smile.

His hand was extended towards him, revealing him to be her saviour.

Stylla sighed in relief, deciding to thank Fore later as for now, as their momentum decreased, she looked down at the ground, her eyes not being drawn to Guddhar at first but to the small figure of Skullius who was being assaulted by tens of Monkeys, slapping the crap out of him!

'Shit!' she cursed as a sense of urgency raged within her.

OOOOM!

Yet once more, she found her mind torn from her attention to Skullius as Guddhar in another direction from her aerial view exploded with an enormous amount of mana!

Qualitative mana was being used for an absurd skill!

It seemed the Greater Sage Monkey also had a few more tricks up his sleeve!