Bro, I'm not an Undead!

As with the goblins and Vine Prowlers, Sacred Forests held many areas where beasts spawned, as the Grinning Jester Fox had alluded to.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.28 & 106).

Usually these spawning areas were best for the beasts that grew within them, having friendly conditions that aided in accelerating their growth.

"That's one ugly sockethole," Skullius said as his socket flames flared.

The beast that gazed at him from the sloped distance was a large humanoid creature with a pale face full of pimples, bumps and boils, a thick nose and massive eyes coloured with a hollow black.

It was bald but with greyish silver fur growing from its hunched back all the way to its ankles where exaggeratedly large, hideous feet finished the rest of an ugly tale.

Its body was muscular under the fur, with chunks of ice growing on its shoulders and chest in a weird manner but it didn't seem bothered by it, only a little weighed down as evidenced by the hunch.

The beast lugged a thick, bloody club that settled over the ice on its shoulder, the complete scene being capable of terrifying a normal human out of their mind.

'It couldn't have sensed my presence. Is it my socket flames? Ah... living a double life really makes me forget that I can fix that,' Skullius said before prompting his fierce socket flames to turn into light blue spots within his dark sockets.

This was the equivalent of squinting for the Penetrator.

Unfortunately, the damage was already done as the hulking creature before him turned its body and started to walk over to him with its three meter tall mass.

With his guidance field, Skullius ascertained the name of this creature as well as its strength.

It was called a Burdened Ice Troll and it was a Tier 4 beast, though with only a white core, albeit a very bright one.

The Troll wore a ferocious look before opening its wide mouth that had jagged teeth oozing with dark, putrid saliva and calling in a loud noise that sounded like a cross between cow's moo and the roar of a lion!

...!

Almost immediately, Skullius felt his [Elevated Mana Manipulation] tug at him, alerting him of sixteen figures whose mana cores throbbed in his sense from a large distance and...

Wait!

Skullius came to a screeching halt with his immediate thoughts.

'Wait! Wait! Wait!'

What he had sensed just now didn't wait for him to think about the anomaly he was currently experiencing though, as soon, sixteen Ice Trolls rushed from the cover of trees and circled around him, some hiding and some openly showing themselves with arrogance.

As all this happened, Skullius wasn't actually focused on the beasts as he grasped his chin between his fingers.

Strange...

Seeing the enemy not showing a reaction, the first Troll to identify Skullius dashed towards him with fury painted over its ugly mug, its figure crossing the distance in a breath as it then made a light leap, club overhead and swung down with all its might!

The air roared as the club descended, a testament to the creature's raw strength!

Yet...

"I'm thinking about something right now, dammit!" Skullius said with annoyance as his hand sparked with Silentburn Levin, a bolt of the silent destruction storming upwards to meet the club which was ripped to shreds instantly!

...!

Skullius' socket flames flashed with an intense fire, evidently an expression of how the Penetrator just internally said 'Flesh It!'.

His hand flashed over to touch the shocked Troll's chest and a skill that Skullius had never used (on page) was activated.

~~~

[Fulgurous Virulence <Currently empowered by 'Epiphany'> | Lv.3]

Infect a target with a condensed infestation of Silentburn Levin, causing an implosion from the inside. This attack deals 80% Serenity Damage.

-Caution-

Limited effects on stronger opponents or reinforced physiques and constructs.

Mana Requirements: 800 Mana Points

Duration: ---

Cooldown: 3 minutes

~~~

The skill was currently being empowered by [Epiphany], causing its usually 30% Serenity Damage to skyrocket to 80%!

Sparks flew from Skullius' hand and a vibrant line was traced over the skin of the Troll as shockingly, after a certain checkpoint over its skin that the line ran over, a large white blot of Levin would swell, growing brighter and brighter with time!

Before the span of two breaths could even arrive, forty of these had appeared on the body of the Troll which screamed in pain before...

BOOOMZZZTT!

It imploded into compressed burnt chunks that lit up with sparks of Levin before falling to the ground with a hiss!

Experience was funnelled into Skullius, but he wasn't focused on it as he was more intrigued by what he had discovered, the effect of [Epiphany] on [Elevated Mana Manipulation]!

The other trolls were shocked by the instantaneous death of one of their own by strange means they couldn't understand, their eyeballs bulging at the harsh reality!

This same reality seemed to tell of fortune for Skullius instead however.

'This is crazy! With [Epiphany] on, I can sense more than just mana and the colour of cores!' Skullius thought.

Just now, when the now dead Troll had called its fellow beasts, Skullius felt the loud thrum of mana from the cores of these sixteen other creatures from the varying distances they were, even if they were outside his effective range!

Their emotion and reaction, as well as how they funnelled mana into their bodies through their mana pathways, the reactions of their flesh as a result, the direction they would come from based on the flow of their mana...!

All of this was told to Skullius just from [Elevated Mana Manipulation]!

What was even crazier was that if Skullius focused enough, he could practically see the inner workings of the cores of the Trolls, their Centre, their generic Refinery and the Shell... all of it, in addition to feeling a very faint connection of this core to their very existence!

This... was ridiculous!

'I didn't think the boost to the skill would be this much. Though I guess that my understanding of mana cores and mana in general now helps me use [Elevated Mana Manipulation] more effectively,' Skullius thought.

The Trolls around him growled as they gathered courage and pounced on him all at once!

Their bodies flared with icy chill, some even exuding a frosty air as they seemed to have ice-related abilities!

Frankly, each one of these Trolls had physical stats that were way higher than those of Skullius, at least in terms of endurance and strength as Skullius could augment his agility with Levin to at least not be too far behind.

However, this did not matter as Skullius had the upper hand in skills.

And now, it terms of skill...

The Penetrator raised his hand, a thick coil of mana rushing around it as he imbued 100% of his focus on what he was about to pull!

"Die, you ugly mugly socketholes," Skullius said with a chilling voice and...

...!

...!

RAAAAAAAAAARRR!

The collective pained roar of the Trolls echoed throughout the space as they halted mid attack, their eyes wide open in shock and tremendous agony!

Every single one of them felt it!

A sturdy grasp on their mana cores!

No.

A cruel hold that choked their mana cores!

Then....

VWOOOOOOOSH!

The mana within their cores started to flood out with reckless fury through their mana pathways with atrociously high output that didn't match the size of these channels!

As a result, the Trolls growled horribly, bitterly, as their pathways ruptured and in turn their bodies, as the light of mana flared from their orifices with a cruel brightness!

The collection of three openings on the faces of the sixteen Trolls, all lit up like white lanterns illuminated the image of the cloaked Fulgurant Bone Penetrator in an unintentionally majestic reverence, the Nullmancer foreshadowed to conquer all kingdoms relishing in his power and in the death of the enemies not worthy of even landing a blow on him...

---

[Author's Note]

We have passed another milestone with the story. It's good to see another 100 added. I'm happy that I've gotten this far and it's all because of your support. If you're reading this, or rather if you paid for this chapter and then read it, you FLESHIN' rock!!! Heavy thanks from this side!