Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Tulnas was a rather religious man at heart. As someone whose Direction was identified to be a talented mercenary with the capability to save many lives, he had no choice but to be exactly that.

In the wake of words that called him out to be someone great, he had worked extremely hard to become the embodiment of that set of words.

All this culminated into explaining his relationship with the Purity, or more specifically, the Priests in the Temple within Inhone City.

Because of his constant visits to the Temple after receiving his Direction, offering prayers as well as speaking with the Priests and Priestesses over a very long time, his relationship with the Temple became very solid.

He benefitted greatly from this relationship by getting access to large amounts of knowledge and some inside information on the Purity. He would also help as many times as he could to solve some issues that required his strength.

All this combined had led to Tulnas' plea to the Temple to lend him an object which could counter hostile Primus energy to be reluctantly accepted as long as he brought back the Seed of Quintess' Eye in one piece.

One of the defensive items that the Temple could use in times of emergencies.

However, this would beg the question...

Where the other areas plagued by this Primus, presumably caused by Evenfall members hiding themselves as they somehow created infinite Clusters also experiencing the disease and frenzy among civilians?

Was there even any Primus discovered in the first place?

The answer was no.

If that was the case, then the powerful Mages in other regions and cities would have discovered this and pinpointed the source of the trouble like Tulnas.

This was why the Guild leader had questioned why there was a leak of Primus energy to begin with, wondering if it was a trap.

At this moment, as the Guild leader's eyes scanned around, his senses pulsing around the city, he noticed traces of dark images coming from all directions.

His eyes instantly narrowed, the atmosphere changing around him to become dark and dreary which made everyone pause their celebrations.

The once raucous crowd stopped cheering as they all turned to Tulnas whose expression showed a peculiar seriousness.

Gertreld instantly knew that something was wrong and released a dome of mana around Tulnas which gently pushed away the civilians from the Guild leader.

Natalika grabbed the hilt of her sword while Ginie twirled her staff with a serious expression that looked quite cute because of her young face.

"Is this what you were waiting for?" Natalika asked, her question looking to have no one it was directed to but she received the relevant response.

"Yes. Get ready," Tulnas said. He smirked as he figured that Natalika would probably notice something that he did as well.

He turned to the civilians in his immediate line of sight and spoke.

"Something has been attracted by the light from the treasure I used earlier. Please get back while my companions and I handle it."

The masses instantly began to organise themselves, realising that Tulnas' sudden change in mood, as they had presumed, was because he had sensed a threat.

Their overwhelming trust in this man which had been raised a few notches higher because of the earlier stunt forced them to rush away from the area in a more of less orderly fashion under the guidance of the Knights.

Ginie immediately took action as she wielded her staff to hasten the process.

"Un, Mage-Form Mimicking Art, Coercion!" she chanted while pointed her staff forward.

An irregularly flowing mass of light bolted from staff with a light purple hue, rushing with a speed nearer to that of the sound into the air!

It rose and branched out in mid-air, turning into thousands streams of this energy that dug into the heads of the many individuals, except the children.

Roughly a third of the masses were affected as in the next moment, they raced at top speed, grabbing the vulnerable and the child as they orderly took them to bunch at the centre of the town, while expertly dodging the unaffected civilians who ran erratically.

The scene was strange but quite intriguing to see as Ginie effectively minimised cases where people crashed into each other as they ran and gathered around.

The young girl squinted hard as she did all this, her ability as a Mind Caster allowing her to pull of large scale operations like this, as a Mage could.

Skullius who was still seething with rage watched this with disinterest as he actually paid more attention to the approaching mass of thick energy that registered from his [Elevated Mana Manipulation].

'What's this? It's not Mana. It's more like... the energy that you'd find around Cluster cracks,' Skullius thought as his mana surged.

SCREEEEEE!

A loud, ghastly screech echoed, followed by another and another, visible distortions in the air showing all around from where loud thuds of the approaching creatures sounded!

Multiple large creatures approached from all directions making these screeching noises, their bodies exuding the hostile Primus!

BOOM!

In a rather quick manner, several buildings exploded from all directions of the town, large beasts launching themselves forward as they destroyed everything in their path.

They were four legged creatures with dark, lizard-like skin that reflected the overhead sun!

They used their front legs which were actually large, sickle-like blades that had a dark purple edge to dig into the ground and launch themselves forward at a remarkable speed, their arched backs with smaller legs that had similar designs trailing behind!

They had spherical heads that had multiple orifices around them, small, sharp teeth visible within them.

The loud screeches came from these little holes and nothing else could be seen on the faces of these creatures where large, thick scales covered.

"That's creepy..." Skullius said with a frown.

Gertreld showed an expression of disgust as she saw the creatures that pounded the ground and obliterated everything as they bolted forward, their bodies emitting a dark purple mist!

"Hmmm... that's not quite what I expected..." Tulnas said with a look of disappointment upon his face. "They are vastly weaker than I imagined."

He raised his hand slowly, with his index and middle finger clasped together, a vicious amount of white mana coiling around his body with a powerful quake under his feet!

A low growl was head as he did this, his eyes resolute.

But...

Gertreld held back Tulnas' hand.

"Please, dear," she said with loving eyes, looking up at Tulnas' face. "Let us handle it."

Tulnas smiled and dropped his hand.

That's right. He had trusted companions with him.

"Very well," he said.

Beneath Tulnas' greaves, the dry ground started to ripple, soil moving away as something else started jutting out in popping shifts like boiling water.

Soon, a mass of sand rose from the ground, creating an odd arc shape behind Tulnas.

The golden brown sand that rose had numerous tiny bits of sparkling blue particles like shiny gems within it and as it settled, it formed a simple chair upon which Tulnas sat while leaning against the back rest comfortably.

"Well? Get to it," he said. "Focus on offense, I'll keep the civilians safe."

Gertreld smiled gracefully as she looked to where the creatures were fast approaching.

She felt jittery.

Just like her though, a certain Discount Human was also feeling the same but for a completely different reason.

He wanted to vent to his rage at these monsters.

He formed his hands into fists and dashed forward, Red Rage following after!

His eyes narrowed as he deduced information about these dark creatures.