Bro, I'm not an Undead!

They were normally used as points to buy and sell goods for other people in different establishments, which was their general purpose in most settings anyway.

These days, however, there seemed to be quite the bit of congestion as people had developed the notion that it would be best to stock up on essentials in case something like the crisis which had almost destroyed their livelihoods before occurred again.

It was a reasonable assumption as during the mass Clusters, travel was quite difficult as one tended to see more than one Cluster either close up or from a distance on the way.

The uncertainly of whether it would rupture and reveal the creatures it hid or not made it hard for normal people to remain composed and most found themselves staying home.

At this time, in this town called Noseye, there was bountiful activity in and outside of it as established stalls, stores and mini stalls were bought from rather quickly.

At the entrance where many were going in and out in a clustered manner, a couple that was walking in the direction of the town through the dry and dirt ridden ground suddenly stopped.

It was actually the man who held his lover’s hand tight as he then pulled her to a halt her movement.

“Dear? What’s wrong?” the woman asked with the cute tilt of her head.

“Uh…” the man stammered as he started to backtrack. “Look over… there.”

The man pointed with a shaky figure to his right where someone… something was approaching.

He wasn’t the only one who saw this, however, as one of the Capital Knights that were ensuring fluid motion by the town entrance had sensed this oddity’s presence first._.

As the figure approached, the sun bearing down against its figure, everyone who was prompted to turn their heads to see where the Knight was going to, saw that the thing which approached, was not human!

It was a tall creature, squid like in its appearance.

Extra long tentacles that stemmed from its head seemed to be what it wore to cover itself, its slimy skin marred with boils, creeping the freak out of the masses that immediately began to run away as the Knight called for his companions!

Screams were heard as many rushed back into the town as they cocked up dust with their mass retreat while others ran away from it, not wishing to be trapped inside in case things went wrong!

Ten Knights rushed from the city, going towards the slow moving figure of the creature that held a strange looking staff.

“Prepare yourselves men!” a man who looked like the leader of this arrangement of Knights said as he immediately activated his Full Body Aura!

It was extremely clear to him and his fellow knights who mimicked his action that this creature which had suddenly spawned out of nowhere was a terrifying enemy!

They couldn’t even tell the full extent of its powers as the tentacles that covered its body, seemed to also mask the bulk of its presence!

“Charge!” the leading Knight said as he dashed forward with fervour, giving his companions the courage to launch their attack as well.

In response to their charge, the Cluster beast however did not move an inch to defend or counter. Instead…

WHEEEZE…

A raspy bout of breathing was heard as its tentacles squirmed, somewhere under them, an organ taking in a vast amount of air.

A vast, vast amount of it.

The Knights felt the peculiar sensation of the atmosphere being starved of air in the next moment, as terrifyingly all the oxygen was drained out of it!

CLINK!

The leading Knight’s sword fell to the ground as  he felt a terrible set of effects from the creature’s breaths which caused him to lose his burning will to fight and in the process, his life.

No!

It wasn’t only the atmosphere that was robbed of oxygen from the mere breath of the tentacled Cluster beast!

Even the air in the Knight’s lungs had been forcefully withdrawn, leaving him to gasp as his face turned unsightly!

Furthermore, this wasn’t the only thing that had been robbed, as all the mana he had generated in his body was also stolen through his pores!

The Knight along with the others gripped their necks as they buckled down, their eyes turning bloodshot as they skins changed colour!

Sadly, this reality fell upon anyone who was within 400 meters of the Cluster beast as the bodies of thousands who had been running far, could be seen on the ground, dead, while only a few who were already a distance away had managed to escape.

Fortunately for them, this creature had no intent to pursue.

The vast among of air and mana it had pulled within itself visibly danced and twisted around its figure, its tentacles gaining bits of bright white that released popping noises as they became saturated with power.

The Cluster beast looked at the town with its lateral slits and determined that there were thousands remaining within it.

However, they lacked the quality that it desired and were too few in number.

The creature turned its head as its eyes honed in on another location where it both saw and felt a larger setup.

A bigger establishment.

A richer atmosphere with millions of waddling humans, many strong ones sprinkled within it.

This was tens of miles of away yet it still sensed it all.

That is what it desired.

It raised its staff with the white gem atop, and pointed in the direction of the town.

A stream of while coloured energy, like a continuous river of milk poured from the gem at the tip which looked to reflect a vast world!

A misty fog began to appeared where the streak of energy landed as within this fog which contrasted the white colour of the pouring energy in a starkly dark grey, figures that looked like this Cluster beast began to emerge!

Hundreds and then thousands.

The waves of mana they produced in their collective appearance caused the buildings in the town to begin to crumble as they simply exceeded the norm!

The tentacled Cluster beast’s eyes turned into crescents as it held very high hopes for its unbound future.

***

“I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE SOMEONE LIKE YOU WHO HAS INHERITED FULGARDT’S POWERS IS STILL BOUND BY SUCH PETTY CIVIL LAWS! YOU’RE BEING JUDGED FOR KILLING A FEW PEASANTS, TOMATO FLINGER?!”

‘I told you to keep it down, you idiot! Of course I have to get this over with, I’m under a Tie of Exchange!’ Skullius thought.

He didn’t know the full repercussions of not adhering to the ToE but he figured he had enough pending issues that eagerly awaited him to slip so that they could devour him.

He wouldn’t give them a chance.

This had been the other reason why he had rushed back to Inhone City as quickly as he did.

Mysteriously.

No one other than him understood how ridiculous the SPEED he had used to return truly was from where he had been, as from the perspective of the rest, it took Skullius days to return but in reality…

Kek.

“Right! Still… who are they to judge you?! To judge us?! We have a mission you, know, TOMATO FLINGER?! We have a mission!”

Skullius sighed as he looked ahead.

Three hours after his mysterious return, there was once more a gathering to decide his fate.

The same individuals who had been present before had gathered around now, with Skullius seated freely on a chair as he wore the casual clothing that had been handed to him by Silrat before.

He calmly looked at Erkus, Terian and Damilla who had just walked into the room, a practically tangible wave of tension ensuing while he was in an annoying conversation with his new mental inmate.

The City Lord took the time to address him, his no nonsense expression giving the weight to the situation that he desired.

“Greetings once again, Festos. I’m glad you decided to return to the city despite the unfortunate events that occurred during your excursion,” Erkus said in a stern tone.

It had been made known to Skullius that his perfect condition of health, without the slightest depiction of him ever being roughed up at all didn’t help their case at all by Silrat.

Skullius could only silently curse his [Luminous Healing] which had even done wonders for Ginie back then.

Now it looked like the bastard had been on holiday all along.

The Discount Human nodded while Silrat and Tulnas who were seated at the sides couldn’t help but wear expressions of uncertainty.

What was going to happen next wasn’t entirely of their own planning as Skullius had introduced to them his own plan for settling this situation once and for all.

“Good. Let us now formally begin, shall we?” Erkus said.

—

-Sponsored by Mashu_Berusutora-