Bro, I'm not an Undead!

This was different from before. When Yuyui had been harmed by the darkness from the serpents before, it hadn\'t been enough to damage her armour but this...r

Boils festered on Yuyui\'s skin as she grunted, eating her flesh away in mere moments, her Legendary grade armour crumbling visibly. Before her Eye of Dispersal could be devoured whole too, she use it to dispel the darkness... but more was coming behind!r

What was happening?r

Was this the Cluster General?r

If so, how was it attacking from two completely opposite directions?r

Was there more than one?r

Yuyui had never encountered a situation like that before. The worst part was that since the location of whatever was doing this was difficult to reach, possibly impossible even, she and Ferex couldn\'t kill this enemy without scouring a large portion of Cluster if not all of it!r

Ferex dove into one of the openings in the wall to evade the darkness and started crawling wherever it lead.r

Since it was big enough to contain his entire boy while he was crouching, the Apostle moved faster while willing a light grey crude sword to emerge from his palm. He then coated it mana, nearly oversaturating it to provide light. By waving it around, he got the chance to see his surroundings clearly.r

As one would expect, the deeper Ferex went, the more a feeling of foreboding crept up on his tough armour body. He was in enemy territory. He could be swarmed easily here. This sentiment prompted him to apply more mana to his body, igniting the arrays etched onto his scales in preparation for what was to come.r

In the distance, he heard Yuyui grunt and start to race forward.r

"Ferex, if you can, follow my voice! We\'ll meet up ahead!" she yelled, seemingly having saved herself from the encroaching darkness.r

Ferex began moving faster.r

There were a lot of junctions and an intricately designed network of burrows but as he moved, Ferex did not see any of the dark serpents. What made this even more strange was the fact that the crevice he had started to move through grew every few meters, until he could even stand within it.r

The holes in the walls, ceiling and floor grew more in number but still no attacks came.r

Another call came from Yuyui, directing him towards where to go but there wasn\'t an opening large enough for Ferex to go through and he feared that simply destroying the wall would do more harm than good.r

On the other hand, going straight ahead... would probably lead him somewhere unpleasant, but it was the better option, as he thought. He couldn\'t evade the enemy forever. Also, he could call Yuyui over if he met the General... or Generals.r

Thus Ferex bolted ahead, preparing his heavy hitters as he watched the corridor grow larger and larger, make a curve and lead to an dimly lit, open space ahead. r

It seemed this was where the corridor or tunnel ended.r

Before he was even ten meters from it, Ferex heard an almost hypnotic cacophony of noises. More than several hisses, to be precise.r

When tens of thousands of eyes lit up from the dark space ahead, all with him in sight, Ferex knew it was danger had resumed its call.r

Then...r

Thousands of serpents burst from the open space, all of them viciously opening their mouths to spread the signature darkness!r

...!r

Ferex extended his hand which held the [Cross Pyre] and the great sword spat out a ghastly stream of flames that began melting the walls to this corridor immediately!r

As it met the darkness, its light did not seem to dispel the eerie attack. Instead, it sank in wholly, the efficacy of it when it made contact with the swarm of enemies becoming an unknown!r

The attack from the serpents though, did not need any speculation of its result. Ferex could only respond to it by summoning thick plates of light grey armour around his body!r

When the darkness devoured him, these plates held better than he had imagined. He felt them being eaten away, as if they were being eroded to rust but the process wasn\'t as quick, especially when he infused Null Life Essence into them!r

With the time he had, Ferex blindly brandished his sword while also preparing to use [Soul Lord ] but...r

...!r

An immense force rammed into violently, sending him flying tens of meters away!r

Ferex crashed and rolled, the bits of light that remained within the enclosed space after the darkness attack had passed serving his surprised sight that eagerly wanted to see what had struck him just now!r

To his shock, the thousands of snakes he had seen were melded into each, forming... forming a gigantic dark scaled serpent that glared at Ferex with its large green eyes!r

Wait!r

Was the Cluster General actually the thousands of serpents combined?r

A forked tongue slipped from the creature\'s mouth before it rushed towards the Apostle at a shocking speed! r

Ferex in turn quickly morphed into a slender, shiny wolf-hound that zipped away in the opposite direction!r

While he fast, his giant enemy quickly caught up and sent another plume of darkness that contended with Ferex\'s quickly manifesting steel. With the darkness blinding him, the Apostle crashed multiple times as he couldn\'t see, this forcing him to take up his humanoid form again where, with the Cross Pyre, he unleashed the full pyro kinetic might of the Legendary grade weapon, a devastating attack instantly melted everything around him with a fierce, unforgiving heat!r

This did not deter the massive serpent, unfortunately. It blitzed through the molten ground, sustaining damage but knocked it Ferex vehemently anyway!r

As if this treachery wasn\'t enough, from the other side of the corridor, another blinding wave of darkness smothered everything – the orange hue of lava and the crumbling surroundings!r

Where did this batch of darkness come from?!r

Another giant serpent?!r

Ferex found his steel plates eroding under the darkness once more and in the next moment, he was smacked hard from the other side, his figure crashing on the ceiling and then the floor!r

Things were looking dire.r

Ferex feared that using [Soul Lord] on thousands of serpents with blue cores brought together would simply be a waste of mana. Truly, this opponent was not an easy one. Some would even say it was bad match-up for Ferex but the real issue remained.r

Ferex was weak.r

Unlike Skullius and Red Rage who had gotten the chance to earn unique evolutions, Ferex was standard at best, as far as Null Lifeforms went. This was why he had been trying so hard to grow stronger. As he was, he wouldn\'t be able to be of use to his master.r

He even recalled that his master had wanted him to become a speed oriented summon, but circumstances had dictated otherwise. He had been proud of what he could do, but at his current level, opponents like could overwhelm him easily.r

The luminous sockets of the Adaptable Body Steel Hound flickered sullenly.r

He remembered delving deep into Skullius\' soul and seeing a little creature that his master loved so much. It was small and powerless but his master had cherished it.r

Its name had been Ferex, the original owner of his name.r

At the time, the Apostle had decided to become a version of that little creature that his master could rely on but with the current set of events...r

As the Apostle was smacked once again within the corrosive darkness, he felt his will to fight wane. It wasn\'t because he was giving up on battling for his life. No it was because...r

\'Is it really going to happen now?\' Ferex wondered.r

This situation had already devolved into a tough battle. No, a perilous one so naturally...r

Suddenly, there was a crashing noise from the wall and the darkness was parted without warning, the image of a young woman with three eyes having come to rescue!r

With clarity restored by the mysterious dull light that had already been present in the Cluster when the two challengers had entered, two large serpent heads glared at Yuyui and Ferex.r

"Why did you grow quiet all of a sudden? Stand up!" the lime haired girl urged Ferex, though with a sullen expression at seeing his pathetic state.r

The Apostle stood and brandished his great sword, but he was trembling.r

He could feel it.r

The RESET Flaw was already beginning to act now.r