Bro, I'm not an Undead!

With how he had been the sole Bookworm with a fully useful Innate Holder for the longest time, he couldn’t describe the joy he felt when Kotaman and Hafuman were able to learn their first spells under his tutelage.

Grooming them so that they began shaping up as proper, powerful Bookworms afterwards was a chore, but it was worth it and he had thought that with time, hundreds more would follow.

Sadly, such a thing would likely not happen, given how the majority of his Bookworms had been killed by the individual with the green coloured sword, others being slaughtered by Ferex while the rest were panicking in his poison infested water vortex.

“I HONOUR YOUR SACRIFICE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! MORE OF YOU WILL BE BORN AS LONG AS I REMAIN, STANDING BY MY SIDE ONCE AGAIN!” Bragmaster said, addressing the Bookworms caught in the flood and poison.

At this point, he couldn’t bother with his weak peers.

Skullius shot towards the powerful Bookworm who already had three more pages in his hands, actively anticipating the worst from the foes he was facing.

Only two remained of the three, one of them with a golden glow around him rushing in the opposite direction as if chasing something. Something that Bragmaster could not see.

Three orbs of darkness rushed towards the Cluster General at extreme speeds as per the Projected Skullius’ command, but Bragmaster narrowed his eyes as he activated one of the spells in his hands.

Transmutation Magic, Self Spiritualisation!

The page imbued with this spell shone, the hidden light it produced rushing through Bragmaster within an instant!

The result shocked Sila who was swirling in the vast waters after having deactivated [Revenant Flames of Ecstasy] layered on top of [Null Life Aura].

This was incredible!

As someone who understood to a degree the classic intricacies of ethereal beings, he was fascinated by the concept presented by Bragmaster!

The Cluster General’s blue body became hazy, the colourful vibrance over it becoming muted in an unsettling way. It now looked transparent, with the shocking development of steady flight accompanying this change!

‘Has it become a Spirit?’ Sila thought with narrowed eyes.

Skullius orbs passed right through the creature that turned to grin at him, its Holder and the rest of the pages it had torn floating above its hand.

“DO YOU SEE HOW SMART AND SKILLED I AM?! DO YOU?! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR CULLING MY RACE, RIGHT HERE AND NOW!” Bragmaster called in a loud voice.

In truth, this new form was different from a Spirit, contrary to what Sila thought. It was actually merely changing to a transparent and permeable state of being.

While this couldn’t exclusively be chalked up to transmutation as most knew it, it went to show how advanced the Cluster General’s powers were, nearing a breakthrough into a different realm of power entirely!

‘If I use my [Perfect Night Domain], will I be able to hit him?’ Skullius thought, very much doubting the prospect.

He looked to Sila who hadn’t made a move yet, merely riding the waters that were now littered with dead Bookworms as a result of the poison. Such a thing couldn’t affect him when he was hidden in his [Null Life Aura], the convenience of this skill being proven all the more.

Another page from Bragmaster’s Holder shone, the Cluster General grinning wide as another spell was activated.

Transmutation Magic, Turn light into dark!

As if some switch had been turned off, the world around the Cluster General, encompassing the swirling water vortex and Skullius who floated turned dark!

…!

Skullius gaped at this unexpected move!

Given how he understood that [Evil Darkness] and mere darkness were different, he knew he was at a disadvantage.

He couldn’t see jack!

His black, white and grey vision was seemingly ineffective in the presence of basic darkness! How ironic!

‘Well, I don’t think that thing can attack me I any way still. The only problem is, I don’t have a way to retaliate. If only I could do some dam—”

SHIIIIIIIIING!

…!

Skullius heard a familiar sound.

The cutting apart of air by a sword meant to harness death!

“ARGHHHHHHH!” the Projected Skullius heard the Cluster General shriek in pain.

It had been hurt by Demion’s Dance?!

Quick movements over the raging waters sounded as Sila, who with his incredible senses and use of [Elevated Mana Manipulation] could actually still ‘see’ the Cluster General in the darkness, rushed over the swivelling tide as if it was the most natural thing to do!

He focused on the Cluster General which had the hand holding the pages it had torn from its Holder sliced clean off and wielded the Elimparidis Stone Staff, pointing it at the creature!

Bragmaster gritted his teeth.

As the caster of the spell, he could see everything despite the veil of darkness and the image he saw was terrifying.

This man who didn’t even have a worm tail had managed to attack his ethereal form successfully?!

“RIDICULOUS! WATCH ME! I’LL SHOW YOU THE HEIGHT I HAVE REACHED WITH MY TRANSMUTATION MAGIC! AFTER BEHOLDING IT, YOU WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO KNEEL!” the Cluster General said as he planted mana into the very last page at the end of his Holder, the page glowing bright as it activated the spell buried within its face!

This was another way to use the spells etched into the book’s pages but it was more convenient for spells that did not have any need to be directed manually.

As such, this new spell did not need to be directed at a specifical point as it affected everything within Bragmaster’s range!

Once again, the Cluster General grinned as it truly believed that it was checkmate for its enemies!

“TRANSMUTATION MAGIC, ENERGY RECONFIGURATION!” Bragmaster bellowed out the name of the spell with an immensely presumptuous sense of triumph!

The page on which this spell was etched popped into spots of light, a vicious peculiar force, like thick, moving jelly exploding outwards!

“Hmmm?” Sila hummed in great surprise as the effects of the spell reached him!

The mana….

The mana all around bubbled as if boiling, all things that held this energy starting to warp like mirages, bending in every which way uncontrollably, including the Elimparidis Stone Staff!

Skullius was just as surprised at this phenomenon as while he didn’t have access to [Elevated Mana Manipulation], he could still feel some changes all around!

‘The mana is changing! Its turning into….!’ he thought as he felt the resulting change being something he knew but didn’t expect at all.

Primus!

The spell cast by Bragmaster changed all mama in the vicinity into Primus, a low level divine energy form!

‘Casually using such power… This Cluster General would have been a dangerous being to deal with given more time…’ Sila thought, his surprise waning.

The Elimparidis Stone Staff in his hand started to curl unnaturally as the mana it was supposed to provide changed, becoming Primus instead which was hard to handle for the weapon!

Sila dropped it, resuming his charge toward Bragmaster who floated higher, avoiding Sila.

As the surroundings warped around the Bookworm, Bragmaster frowned, noticing something he hadn’t before Sila let go of the staff.

“You don’t have a mana core?!” he questioned with an incredulous look.

Sila grinned as he leapt up, his body floating at an angle from the jump. Demion’s Dance in his hand was raised, the look upon the aged soul being languid.

“This was an unexpected detour. Unfortunately, it ends here,” Sila said as he brought down the sword.

SHIIIING!

A diagonal slash crossed the distance between him and Bragmaster, cutting the ethereal form of the Cluster General cleanly!

“ARGHHHH!” the creature exclaimed with wide open eyes, a hateful expression etched onto its visage.

Its ethereal form did nothing to protect it from this sword that tonnes more mystery than most expected!

How cruel!

How unfair!

Life quickly faded from the Cluster General’s body which started to reform back to its original state.

The Holder that had floated in its hand shone bright and popped into specks of light, signalling the death of its owner.

The Primus replacing mana all around also receded, bringing back stability to everything around. The waves fell down, their shape and form becoming muddy again while the air turned normal from its poisonous state.

The darkness transitioned into a clear view of the space as it was before, affording back Skullius a chance to see everything perfectly again.

He saw the body of the Cluster General falling from a height, a clean slice separating it diagonally from the shoulder!

Soon after, a series of notifications appeared in his vision.

[You have killed (VI) LV78 Bookworm. 36,543,000 Exp awarded]

[Congratulations, you have killed a Cluster General]

[The Cluster General fueling this space has been killed. Cluster will commence collapse. Please exit immediately]

These notifications appeared before both Skullius and Sila but the aged soul wasn’t focused on them. He dropped as the vortex died down, picking up the Elimparidis Stone Staff which had recovered its shape after the effects of Bragmaster’s latest Transmutation spell had worn off with Bragmaster’s death.

He turned as he noticed that Bek wasn’t anywhere near vicinity. His senses stretched out, covering a large distance but because of how large the muddy platform was, he couldn’t cover it all.

‘Without a doubt, he is probably still here. As for that woman, finding her will be difficult now that the Cluster General has been defeated. She probably has a way to escape this place though,’ Sila thought as he then focused on Skullius who was floating high up.

“Here we are again, tomato flinger. How shall we settle this?” he asked with coy smile.

Skullius frowned.

He honestly didn’t know how to fix this and return to his body.

A distance away, the impenetrable crack on the space tore open, revealing an exit out of the Cluster but none of the two moved.

‘I don’t know if he has any charges remaining with [Jump] but he can still easily create distance between himself me with this new speed of his…’ Skullius thought the worst.

Sila could just run away and keep manipulating the Fruit of World Myths to keep Skullius out of the Discount Human body.

Between the distance created and what Sila was somehow able to do with the treasure left behind by Fulgardt…

Wait.

Skullius suddenly had a thought!

Distance!

Creating distance!

That’s was it!

At that same moment he came to a realisation, a mental message coursed through his mind from Ferex who had successfully evaded the chaotic rush of spells by the Cluster General, mainly by staying outside of its range, a feat he had managed after studying the range of Bragmaster’s first two spells!

Skullius was delighted to hear from the Apostle and he immediately gave an instruction.

‘Don’t lose sight of my body, no matter how fast he runs. I’ll back soon. Hopefully.’

With that Skullius bolted out of the Cluster at full speed under the surprised gaze of Sila who had been prepared for a fight, his experienced mind expecting Skullius to not be his only opponent.

‘Where is he going?’ he questioned himself with genuine surprise.

Away from this suspenseful occurrence, Bek had finally reached within range of the woman with the carriage.

She seemed to have purposefully waited for him, which made him vigilant.

Her smile irked him but he didn’t have the slightest thought to let her leave without answers.