Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"BREAK."r

With the command from the Hybrid Luman's mouth, the sound of hundreds of thousands of mana cores shattering rung in the air in a messy rhythm that irked the ambient mana.r

This was true treachery.r

The goblins affected by the clutch of [Greatest Mana Crafter] which had a vast range, did not even know that they had died as their consciousnesses were still trapped in the sweet enclosure of wishful thought.r

Of desirable dreams.r

In many ways, this could be considered a very merciful way to be die as if one recalled, having the mana core broken outside safe conditions, was a harrowing experience. Furthermore, even if there were powerful existences among these goblins who had profound enough control over their mana cores to resist the grip of the Insurgent Magnus' skill in mana manipulation, they could not exercise it with their minds cast elsewhere.r

As the dead or dying bodies of the goblins slumped to the ground, Skullius focused on the outrageous bursts of mana rising from the victims and called the function of the only other mana manipulation skill he had.r

[Greatest Mana Attraction].r

The mana coming from the goblins, in wild disarray as it was suddenly stopped and darted towards one direction in an instant, as if pulled on by a mana magnet!r

Such was the function of this cast skill, after all.r

It attracted all the mana its user could sense to them as long as they wished for it and above that, it could also be used to condense it all into minuscule sizes.r

These functions were displayed as the streams of bountiful mana rode the unseen air to reach Skullius who stood amid the corpses, each predetermined amount being compressed into the size of a pin head before being sent to orbit around the Hybrid Luman's mana core.r

The process was finished within a minute, prompting Skullius to begin moving around to another section of the goblin capital where he couldn't reach with [Greatest Mana Crafter].r

Figuring that he might as well do something else while replenishing his extra mana reserves, Skullius summoned the Bashful Abomination from his storage and hung it on his shoulder.r

A thick cloth had covered its entirety, this being Skullius' safety measure against accidentally killing off someone he didn't want to be unalived.r

"It's been a long time since I've been back here," the sword said.r

"Really?" Skullius questioned.r

"Yes. Hobbu Bobbu didn't like to stay inside the city. He would usually train his skills outside. Somewhere remote. If not, he would be sitting outside the city, meditating."r

"That's hard core."r

"It is. Haha."r

Skullius didn't think talking to a sword would be such a casually relaxing experience like this. Or maybe it was because the Bashful Abomination was just that friendly after having been bound to someone who actually promised to treat it right?r

Who knew.r

"So, are you ready to make a new affix? I can't wait to see what you choose for yourself," the sword said enthusiastically with a bit of a wiggle.r

Since each user got one chance to place an affix of their liking on the sword, Skullius, as a new user of the Bashful Abomination could remove the previously assigned affix for a new one.r

"I don't know yet. This is something I should really take some more time to think about. It would be an absolute waste if I just choose to enhance something I can already do. For now that doesn't seem like the right answer. I want something different. Something powerful that I can rely on," Skullius said while killing another large group of goblins to absorb their mana.r

The Bashful Abomination was pleased with this answer.r

This hiddenly meant that Skullius wanted to have it represent an external trump card that he could use when all that he had was irrelevant or inadequate!r

In other words...r

"I am really special, aren't I?" the Bashful Abomination squeaked with a voice oozing of low self esteem.r

"You sure are," Skullius reassured.r

Jeez.r

He was now trying to affirm to a Pseudo-Mythical grade treasure that it was special. How ridiculous.r

From above, a golden figure launched itself below, arriving in front of Skullius with a smooth landing.r

"You truly stole the enjoyment I expected from this excursion, Master," Red Rage said with a bit of fury noticeable in his voice. "I loathe that staff of yours."r

"Deal with it. I was in a life or death situation and I had to use all of my cards to survive," Skullius responded.r

The Pelvic Arbiter shook his head disappointedly at these words, his sight then going to focus on the wrapped up sword that was longer than Skullius was tall with a fold of his arms.r

"For someone who was in a life or death situation, your take aways sure came sweet. Is that an additional sword?"r

Skullius breathed out exasperatedly.r

He then threw out three glass boxes at Red Rage's feet.r

"There! Alright?! Can you stop nagging me now?" he huffed lightly.r

Red Rage perked up.r

Within the glass boxes were five Tier 9 goblins that Skullius had knocked unconscious. These were the guards stationed outside Hobbu Gogo's manor. Skullius had knocked them out and stored them in a breath before, intent on giving them to Red Rage, though probably not in as begrudging of a fashion.r

The glass boxes allowed for creatures that were alive to be stored within lesser storage vessels. A convenient aspect to their make.r

The Pelvic Arbiter quickly picked up these spoils with a happier air about him.r

"You see? That wasn't so hard was it, Master?"r

Skullius gnashed his teeth.r

The nerve.r

"Dear master, who is this?" the Bashful Abomination asked.r

"An irritating piece of my life," Skullius replied.r

Right then, the march of a group of monsters registered in the silent city as Red Rage's army entered.r

He had flown ahead, leaving their march to the capital behind and now they had caught up.r

As they entered, Red Rage proudly introduced the results of their journey.r

"Despite the setbacks, I'm pleased to inform that many of children are ready to evolve. Some even awakened more unique abilities from their bloodlines and will be very useful in future operations," he said.r

"Good for you," Skullius said with little interest. "Anyway, I was planning on storing this entire city in the Elimparidis Stone Staff but since you're here... tell me if you'd want it for your beasts."r

Red Rage took a moment to think over this. This certainly would benefit him as this city was the best among all the others structure-wise.r

Also, it seemed like there would be quite a lot of useful material if a little digging was done within it and Skullius was willing to let relinquish most of these gains to Red Rage's storage, the freakishly long cape.r

"I'll take it," the Pelvic Arbiter said.r

---r

Skullius and Red Rage exited the crackling split in space with halos around them.r

The Cluster had been successfully cleared.r

Red Rage had let his monsters slaughter all the remaining goblins in the Cluster before Skullius finally dealt the last blow to Hobbu Gogo, causing the separate space to hurry their exit.r

The Hybrid Luman could quite happily say that the gains from this one Cluster run were the greatest he had gotten since he began this entire journey and his Apostle could concur as most of his army had evolved twice during the last stretch of murder, making him highly anticipative of the time he was going to spend analysing all the changes.r

This was mood between master and servant was rising... until it wasn't.r

Skullius' smile slumped as he felt the presence of three, clingy people ahead of him.r

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been enjoying hiding from me," a sweet voice called from one of these three individuals.r

All good things definitely did come to an end eventually.r