Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Skullius leisurely walked over to the first wolf that was growling and staggering. He raised his Baleful Gale Reaper and brought it down on the head of the creature that trembled as it snarled in fear!

TCH!

It was to be expected, but the sword did not slice through the Darewolf's head all the way. It merely stopped at the level where the eyes were, blood leaking as the body of the creature quivered.

"Gah! My strength is too weak! Even with a sword this strong, I can't fully slice its head apart," Skullius said.

He pulled out the sword and the Darewolf fell to the ground, dead.

[You have killed (II) LV5 Blackclaw Darewolf. 250 Exp awarded]

[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 58 seconds]

"That seems like too small of an amount. These things are strong, you know?" Skullius remarked as he extracted the Null Life Essence from the Darewolf he had killed.

From a single Darewolf, he managed to get a full 40 points!

Not sweating the small stuff, Skullius hurriedly went on to the next Darewolf that started whimpering. In response, Skullius wore a big, malicious grin and held up the Baleful Gale Reaper.

This time he pierced with the sword instead, finding it to be a lot easier.

"You know what they say, 'If you can't slice them, penetrate them.'"

Skullius moved to the next Darewolf, killing it in the same way. Then the next and the next.

Even though he wasn't quite clear on how these wolves were stunned, that didn't mean he would let go of the chance.

The cause of what happened to the poor creatures was due to their own skill [Do you dare].

It was a skill that required the Darewolves to bring together their reserves of mana, connecting themselves to build a large pool to support the skill.

While it was a powerful skill, if one were to mess with the mana connection, something like them being injured internally or dying was very possible.

Skullius' mana bolt which was capable of disrupting mana had managed to interrupt the perfect connection that the Darewolves had, which caused the currently occurring phenomenon.

When Skullius killed the fourth Darewolf, a notification popped in his view.

[You have killed (II) LV5 Blackclaw Darewolf. 250 Exp awarded]

[You have completed one of the qualifications to level up. Please complete the Second Task to move on to the next level]

"What? Second Task?" Skullius asked himself with a brow raised, pausing his previous quick killing spree.

Suddenly, Skullius felt a powerful force knock against his chest!

He flew and rolled on the ground, his sword flying as he hadn't at all expected the shocking attack!

The Darewolf that he had been about to kill next was suddenly free and it growled hatefully as it looked at him with a piercing gaze!

It shot forward, making its increased level of malice incredibly apparent.

Skullius was still caught up in the shock.

This wolf had broken out of its staggered state?

While he didn't expect it to last forever, he didn't think he had been too slow in killing these wolves.

'Gah! If only I hadn't been distracted by that notification!' Skullius grumbled as he faced his enemy.

He noticed that the Darewolf was no longer exuding the red aura which amplified its stats by 30%.

It was back to normal but that didn't reassure Skullius at all as he was still at a disadvantage!

He had used up his mana with the cast of [Mana Bolt] that had saved his current life and now his sword was a distance away.

To make matters worse, the larger Blackclaw Alpha was getting up as well, promising to rip him to shreds with its eyes that foretold exactly how that would go down.

The Darewolf that was heading for Skullius pounced on him, Skullius focusing on its movement as it leapt to take a large bite out of him!

Instead of waiting to be pressed against the ground and torn apart, Skullius rushed towards the Darewolf, aiming to clutch it by the leg so that it would fall to the ground instead.

However...

SLASH!

Skullius saw blood flying everywhere, staining his face and armour as it rained.

He wore a blank look as he couldn't exactly tell what happened in the fraction of a second when he and the Darewolf had been about to clash, crimson blood flying after a white light passed them.

THUD!

The Darewolf's head had fallen to the ground, blood dripping from its severed neck.

Skullius was about to shout expletives when a sword appeared at his neck!

It touched his skin and Skullius vividly felt the power that was running within the blade.

"Don't move."

Two words were spoken to him by the figure of a man who had appeared out of nowhere.

...!

What truly scared the Boneman out of Skullius though, was a sensation that pricked against his core!

The man with the sword had a blue mana core!

Skullius also felt another one from a short distance to his right.

There was a woman with red hair and brown eyes that locked her gaze onto him but he didn't dare turn his head. She too had the same mana core.

From his front, Skullius saw two figures emerging from a distance. Their appearance made the Alpha Darewolf take a few steps to the side even as it continued to snarl.

The two men paid it no mind as they approached Skullius who was currently frozen.

One of them was a bulky man with a large shield behind his back. He had spiky leather black hair and a thick armour that made him look quite intimidating.

The other man however, was more frightening. He donned a stern expression, his sugar grey eyes gleaming with mana. He had combed back havana brown hair that glistened and his blue core seemed to overpower the presence of those of his mates.

Skullius looked dumbly at this man whose gaze never left him.

The Darewolf shivered, its eyes following the slow and steady movements of the man with brown hair. It continued to growl with its mouth open, as if saying 'I'm here too, you know."

It looked to be trying to decide whether to attack or not, the hesitation brought about by obvious reasons.

Before it could decide though, a thin streak of white lightning shot out of the man's finger and darted towards the Darewolf!

It flew into the creature's mouth and in the next moment, the Darewolf expanded while emitting bright lights from its orifices and exploded into chunks of burnt flesh!

Skullius gulped with a dumbfounded look on his face.

The man with brown hair stood before Skullius and spoke.

"Greetings. I believe you and I have a lot to talk about."