Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Aurolio had been convinced after using his senses to scan what made up the enemies that had attacked the city.r

What had acted as a better form of evidence was the identification offered by the appraisal in his eyes, which labelled these creatures as, Null Badubs, or more specifically, Fledgling Null Badubs.r

The Head of the Velanqi Family had been convinced that what he felt from these beings, was the same sharp sliver of energy he had felt from that young man he had marked at the introductory gathering to the Premium Age Royale.r

The fact that the young man had a strange race, the Hybrid Luman, and a Hidden Class – both him and his green-haired girlfriend to boot – had been surprising, to say the least. However, those details weren't what truly hooked him onto that man named Festos Dawn.r

His display against the pompous show-off Kurtish Oldd where he stacked mana and another unfamiliar energy onto his sword, had been what truly caught his attention.r

Even then though, he hadn't been too inclined to follow up on just this. That was too vague a thing to look into.r

At the time, he had figured that this Festos guy and Gabel, the bounty hunter who he had found to possess Veneration, were the two main suspects attached to the objective of his journey.r

For the past month, he had been leaning more towards Gabel being why he had been directed to this city... until now.r

The energy that made up the six invaders was similar to the one he had sensed from Festos that day.r

Of this, he was very sure.r

There had to be a link between Festos and these monstrosities which, quite frankly, gave him a distant sense of... kinship, for whatever reason. All this pointed with blaring instinctive alarms that what that walking fossil had divined, had to do with Festos.r

Definitely.r

"I said hang back. You'll only get in the way."r

Aurolio's words were not pleasing to hear for Ruhrees.r

His eyes sparked with a furious light and he grabbed the pale man's shoulder to push him away before he got hurt because of idiotic hubris.r

However...r

Aurolio opened his mouth and spoke.r

"| Old men seldom listen to genuine advise, don't they? |"r

...!r

Ruhrees' body suddenly lifted off the roof where he and Aurolio were standing.r

It made a sharp ascent with each word the pale man spoke, as if triggered into flight by the complexity of each individual piece of speech.r

Well, that was the case actually.r

Ruhrees' mouth opened wide.r

"What... what's going on?!" he called, his face turning as pale as Aurolio's when he discovered that him exerting his mana or Aura to control his body didn't help at all.r

Thankfully, when Aurolio stopped speaking with the same authoritative tone, Ruhrees' body did not continue to rise.r

"Since you decided to flaunt your pride, I retaliated. Try anything else and I'll send you into the clouds," Aurolio warned apathetically before dropping from the roof.r

He murmured a few curses in the process.r

'That ate up a bit of my mana... but it was worth it just to see that face. Ah, fuck it's cold!' he thought.r

He made his way towards the blue Null Badub with skin like tree bark. The creature spared a glance to its previous opponent before focusing on Aurolio who walked towards it with the same calm, slow gait.r

A different expression etched itself on the thing's face.r

'I thought as much,' Aurolio confirmed what had been a minor suspicion of his. He stopped moving and crossed his arms as quickly as he could.r

As soon as his arms formed an 'X' in front of his face, a screaming blue fist layered with a dull blue glow had already reached him, pounding against his arms violently!r

"Hngh..." Aurolio gave a muffled groan as the heavy rush ran through his body, coursed through legs and passed on into the lit ground!r

The protection from the Beacon of Ardour was ravaged ravenously, crumbling in a wide radius around the Null Badub and Aurolio, along with everything it had been protecting!r

Thankfully, because the encasing of light acted as a connected network that shared the strain, the damage did not extend over more than twenty meters, but whatever came before that was obliterated.r

Everything except Aurolio.r

The fuzzy coat he had been wearing was torn at the sleeves.r

...And that was the extent of the damage he took.r

Ruhrees who was positioned firmly fifty-six meters above ground gawked. r

No way!r

He was sure of it!r

If he guarded with all the Perfect Aura he could muster, he might be able to survive given the added benefit of his physique which was stronger... but a mere Master Stage expert?r

How?!r

Unfortunately, the answer was elusive even to an Incandescent Stage expert with his eyes attuned to seeing extraordinary phenomena.r

A pale purple glow created a spiky, light stroke around Aurolio, its texture similar to the one around the Null Badub's fist!r

This protective purple layer was the secret behind Aurolio's impressive feat just now and... also why the Null Badub had suddenly turned feral, acting more violent than it had been before encountering him.r

'I was right not to go give in to curiosity and rush over to that crazy presence. If this Fledgling whatever is this strong... I can imagine what that thing is capable of,' Aurolio thought with a toothy smile.r

He was proud of his judgment. If he had chosen to head straight to the Bryne Family Residence... he'd rather not continue down that line of thought.r

The Null Badub glared at him with an ugly visage of pure hatred.r

While Aurolio had guessed that something like this could happen, he hadn't been too sure. He still didn't know the REAL reason why he was cause for such fury from this creature but this occurrence at least confirmed some pieces of information he had that didn't tally.r

"For now, this will do," he said.r

At the same time, his opponent threw another malevolent attack, a vibrant hook that Aurolio didn't hesitate to dodge by flashing backwards only to watch a long stretch of the city get utterly demolished by the shockwave from his enemy's punch alone!r

The pale man grinned at the showcase of power.r

He had to end this thing before it levelled the city all on its own.r

For that, he opened his mouth to speak.r

" | You're monstrous beyond belief! That second punch would have broken my arms if I guarded for sure. |"r

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Null Badub seemed to get smacked by something unseen right in the head, its body getting forced to kneel before being pushed into the ground by a terribly heavy force!r

With each word that Aurolio spoke, it grunted as if mountains of weight slammed into it continuously – contrary to the effect Ruhrees had suffered.r

'Good. At least this works on these things too,' Aurolio thought.r

While the Null Badub was subdued, he sped forward, the purple glow around him growing more ferocious. r

As soon as he appeared in front of the blue beast whose head was arching down towards the ground in an attempt the lessen the brutal effects of Aurolio's speech, the pale young man raised his leg and gifted his enemy a flamboyant axe kick to the noggin!r

It was swift, tracing a purple line down towards the Null Badub's head silently, but in the next moment an unsightly ripple rolled out from where Aurolio's heel descended, followed by a great implosion on the ground!r

The rugged ground was tormented once again.r

Ruhrees was left to doubt his eyes when the glow of his protection was erased further by another monstrous combatant as if it was nothing!r

And this time, when the vibrant effects of the attack faded, Ruhrees' heart almost skipped a beat.r

The Null Badub... the Null Badub's head... it had been squashed, its indescribable insides sprawled on the abused ground for all to see!r

'No way!' Ruhrees thought.r

With just one attack? Something as tough and powerful as that...r

The Paladin Champion couldn't believe it.r

Meanwhile Aurolio frowned when he saw the internal makeup of the Null Badub's head.r

He swiped away black blood from his shoe and scoffed.r

"That was easier...and more disgusting than I imagined. I expected brains at worst," he said. r

Six figures rolled in his sight as a reward for defeating his opponent, which made Aurolio lick his lips, a rarely seen dose of excitement burning his eyes.r

He quickly gazed in another direction where Ornamont was having a tough time with another Null Badub.r

"Might as well deal with all of them then," he proclaimed with passion.r

Yet...r

A silver glow that sifted from the Control Seal on his arm shot down his enthusiasm.r

"Well, damn."r

The timing was indeed impeccable.r