Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The Hound was utterly confused.

This thing before it...

It had control over two of its master's powers!

The Insurgent Magnus powers and the Null Life powers through Silentburn Levin.

What was it?

Heck, what was this space?!

The creature apprehensively looked up where the bolt of Levin was about to fire.

Fighting here probably wasn't going to help but it barely had any chance to do anything in the way of communication before it was obliterated.

If it didn't defend, it would probably die.

While adorning its hide, it was difficult to manifest its Unliving Thread to its fullest potential and thus it opted for then next best alternative.

It opened its mouth wide and three scintillating lights appeared within the dark space, the red light turning solid as it was then chomped on by the Hound to generate an outrageous amount of power that nested in its belly and then fired up into the sky in response to the Levin that rained down at the same moment!

This was the skill [Lanterns of the Pure] in action!

~~~

[Lanterns of the Pure | Lv.3]

The user moulds and weaves mana in three forms that represent a complete cycle of Rage, Repulsion and Recovery.

•Rage features an 30% increase in all stats for 5 minutes

•Repulsion features emitting a powerful beam of condensed energy that forcefully pulls apart anything it contacts

•Recovery features a complete healing of all wounds and defected parts of the body including the Spirit Walker's Hide and Unliving Thread to top health

-Caution-

Each light requires a 2 minute cooldown to recover its effect.

Mana Requirements: 500 Mana

Duration: --

Cooldown: --

~~~

A red beam and a streak of Levin collided to create an outward expulsion of force that rocked the sea and the clouds above, a winner not bring decided by this one clash!

The Hound immediately backed away while the giant skeleton's sockets flared as it raised its hand again.

"You're quite strong, but I won't let you near that place with just that much power!" the giant skeleton said with a loud voice.

To it, the Hound looked small despite its tall mass, making it think this was certainly easier than having to defend from previous 'enemies' it had had to fight.

The Hound acted quickly.

This didn't make sense.

General reasoning told it that the thing before it wasn't actually an enemy.

If it possessed all of its master's powers, then...

Also, didn't it just say that it wouldn't allow any approach to the island in a protective sense? 'That place' could only refer to that island right?

In that case...

The Hound morphed its body, standing on its two hind legs as the ones at its front gained thick masses that gave it a humanoid appearance, much like a werewolf.

At the same time, it started to emit an energy it was sure would catch this creature's attention.

Null Life Essence!

"Hmmm?" the giant skeleton hummed as it halted on any further action.

It felt an energy much like the one it had received many days ago.

What was this?

The skeleton held off on releasing the Levin building up in the sky.

"Hmmm... little one. You have a familiar energy on you. Are you perhaps... not an enemy?"

The Hound clad in the brown hide waved its front paws in denial.

From its chest, a slit appeared, opening up a section of the Pseudo Spirit Walker's Hide.

Tendrils of Unliving Threads spilled from it and squirmed to form the dark blue image of a girl huddled against herself. It was more of an outline really.

On seeing the image formed before it, the giant's sockets which were lit up with the power of the purity from [Just Light] sparked with ferocity.

"Ah... I see. I should have recognised this from even your presenceless visage. You're a messenger aren't you? And seeking that no less?" the skeleton said as it then visibly relaxed and dropped its hand.

The Hound hurriedly nodded and then pointed at the skeleton with its claw.

"You're asking who I am? Hmmm..." the skeleton said as it seemed to enter into conflicted thought for a few moments.

"To put it simply, I am just a piece of will serving to protect that place."

The skeleton turned to point at the dilapidated island.

The Hound looked, finally getting a better visual.

The large island was far from desolate but every second that passed showed small chunks of the island breaking off and falling into the sea that roared in flame as if excited. Its entirety was cracked viciously, the whole thing looking to be seconds away from shattering like grass.

On the outside it looked like simple earthen crust with bits of green vegetation patches but innumerable spots of light seemed to lay scattered over its entirety along with a massive gorge that one could see almost splitting the island in half from a distance.

Within this gorge was a hollow light that kept dimming and brightening constantly.

"A sad sight, isn't it?" the skeleton remarked as it also turned to the island.

"It wasn't always like this. This used to be an intact land filled with so many twinkling lights, more appearing by the day. I was always here. No matter which way I looked, I would always find my gaze drawn back to this place. In that I concluded that I was the guardian of this place, forever tasked with protecting it."

The Hound morphed back into its wolven form and sat down on its hind legs while listening to the tale. The hostility it had felt from the giant skeleton had faded only to be replaced by a calm sorrow.

"After a long stretch of time, wonderful things began happening some days ago. I received this power to call mighty beams from the sky, then shortly after, I gained the power to wield this strange darkness and light, no doubt added powers to protect this place. Unfortunately, even with this power, there were intangible wills that I could not stop from probing and damaging this place. I could only obscure as much of this place as I could but that barely amounted to much."

The Hound nodded as it digested all this information.

Was this skeleton some kind of subconscious will that grew along with the individual?

The overgrown wolf raised its head and looked up at the green clouds.

The skeleton it could understand but what about this strange sky and contrasting red sea.

It jutted its head upwards, the skeleton being prompted to look above.

"Ah... this? It's the influence of the Lich. The clouds and the sea are the biggest problems here. They continuously erode that place and weaken its integrity by the day. My naive mind once thought they were here to protect, but... they make this place very easy to invade."

Such a tragic fate.

The Hound shook its head in angst.

Its master was subject to this?!

This was even more terrifying than it imagined. No.

More than even its master could imagine!

It rose and started to walk over, nudging its snout at the island behind the skeleton.

"Right. I've rambled quite a bit. You can go to find whatever else you're looking for. She will be easy enough to find though, but just be careful with your steps, that place is awfully fragile since a few days ago..."

The Hound nodded before it hurriedly raced towards the island with quick steps.

It didn't take that much to time reach the place as upon reaching the shore which was purely scorched by the flame while the red waters distorted the sandy tone of the ground, the Hound saw the interlocking lines of cracks that stretched ahead.

Around the cracks was a vast field of scattered large violet flowers that held balls of light above their petals!

Within these lights came the numerous voices as well as blurry visions of images walking, conversing, laughing and crying.

These were...

--

[Ding!]

[Arcanzer has donated immensely to the novel! I'm hyped! +2 chaps above the daily quota as at 05/09]