Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1665: The Beasts’ Formula (1)

"I’ll give you this," said Soizar, his temper flaring. "You children know how to antagonize a Lich."

The dense Null Life Essence chugging from the Cluster General Baddan had called forth was bubbling and surging like a tide in the area. The creature was monstrous, born out of a new type of Cluster that resulted from Boron’s powers mixing in with the already chaotic residuals of Listafelle, Suzamete, and Quintess. It looked like a massive, scarlet-furred shark with more than a dozen fins. Some obscure racial trait it possessed allowed it to float over the ground without any conscious effort. Only the Faction Leaders knew how dangerous that simple quality made this creature, which already had Divine-level attributes.

The hundreds of thousands of creatures orbiting around its hefty mass were some of the Cluster beasts bred in the same Cluster the General had been born. The rest were creatures Baddan and Savast had secured because of their mission – where Skullius had ordered them to collect a significant number of powerful beasts.

The mission’s original purpose was lost, but the beasts still served a significant purpose.

Beads of sweat fell down Baddan’s brow as he focused on his technique, Incarnation of the Six Wild Exigencies.

"Any day now, Baddan!" cried Savast.

"Shut up!" The Sky Watcher roared.

The Null Life Essence from the Cluster beast clashed with the Undead energy around Soizar, and the grating friction sent sparks flying. The Null Life Essence was swiftly pushed away as Soizar took a step forward.

...But then the massive Cluster General opened its huge mouth and emitted a roar that was more akin to a hiss.

...!!!

Suddenly, the Null Life Essence it was expelling increased exponentially. It quite literally turned the entire swath of land it was suffusing darker, as though night had been layered over night.

This stunned Soizar, but so did what followed.

The hundreds of thousands of beasts around the great Cluster General also expelled explosive bursts of Null Life Essence that tried to crush him. The units expelled by a beast individually were insignificant, but as a collective, they were hefty. Skullius would have been staggered by the sheer amount of it if he had seen it.

...But Baddan was working some other magic at the same time. A dark blue cloud erupted from him and instantly coiled around Soizar, acting like a smokescreen. It too had Null Life Essence properties. Against even an Arch-Lich, it was effective...just so long as they didn’t retaliate.

Savast capitalized on the instant before Soizar reacted. He warped inside the cloud, behind the Arch-Lich, and hovered his hands on both sides of the Lich’s head.

"Charged Stroke!"

...!

Soizar felt a deafening crash in his mind, and he staggered forward. The attack was quick and effective – a metaphysical blow that assaulted the mind directly. This one strike would have disabled even the masked man for a few seconds, leaving him vulnerable.

...But Soizar was a worse creature than Rias despite not being Divine.

"I get your game, insect!"

A shuttle of Undeath energy blasted from him and cleared both Savast and the wad of Null Life Essence trying to squeeze him in. The sheer force of it sent the beast Baddan had tamed flying, along with all the beasts orbiting it. But Baddan remained firm. He pointed at Soizar and...

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Thousands of explosions of Null Life Essence erupted in clusters around Soizar. They were easily dispersed because of his Undeath energy, but they bought the 0.00001 second distraction Savast needed to recover from being obliterated and...

"Autist Range!" The Unlimited Star had weaved back into Soizar’s range, weathering through the Lich’s burst of Undeath energy using Tranquil Instance. The Starmation allowed him to use Null Life from his Granted Star Armament defensively.

Soizar recognized the field of energy that expanded from Savast instantly – Autist Range. It was related to the mental attack he’d received just now, only...

"Oh. You’re a little dangerous," remarked the Lich.

The field Savast had just erected felt warm and fluid. Static and barely discernible whispers could be heard from everywhere while trapped within. A staggering amount of power was expended to create it, and as it happened, Savast was the only Mind Caster capable of a feat like this. He stored his own mental energy and that which was salvaged from enemies, much like mana, and condensed it into cores. He possessed nine cores of this nature – Neural Energy Stores – and each had a quality comparable to a golden mana core. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The Neural Energy Stores were used to power Savast’s own brand of powers. Inspired by Kintar’s Magecraft, he had created his own kind of powerset: the Mentalcraft.

Charged Stroke was part of his Mentalcraft, as was Autist Range.

...But Soizar refused to let Savast establish himself. In a pocket time the Unlimited Star couldn’t comprehend, he struck. He’d noted how the insect wouldn’t stay dead if hit by mere physical attacks. Thus, layering his palm with Undead energy, he grabbed Savast’s face. He would infect every inch of his being with Undead energy and then cause them to explode into nothingness.

...But he seemed to have mistaken the air for Savast. He grabbed nothing but the wind.

The Unlimited Star had somehow juked him, flashing twenty meters away just when the Lich had attacked!

...But that wasn’t without cost.

Savast’s three eyes bled profusely, and he almost stumbled over, belching blood. A grin remained on his face, but only just.

"Oh damn!" His eyes were bloodshot, and it seemed every neuron in his mind was firing beyond its natural capabilities.

Soizar laughed madly and fixed the crease on his suit. "This is precious." He pointed at his head. "That’s some exceptional technicality. I don’t even feel you probing my mind directly. How did you do that?"

Savast might have vomited a lung. He meant to say something, a retort, but he faltered. Luckily, he wasn’t alone.

"You’d better pay attention, you formal bastard!" Baddan cried. "GRANT ME THE CHANCES!"

Indeed, he chanted a second time, and it happened.

Another one of the Six Wild Exigencies was summoned: the Masked Façade Lipptis.