Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1032: Just One More



Meanwhile...

"You are that Thrilled character, aren't you? I remember the robes. I didn't realise you were Bright Storm's captive now?" Eaniss said while pointing at the Ardent Curse.

Here, on this star, Null Life Essence didn't pool, creating a rigid space where sound couldn't travel before.

Thrill was quite infuriated at the new name he was identified with, but he remained silent. Strangling the Flawless Flail of Ruin in his hand was his only way to deal with his surging emotion.

"It is," Replicus answered for the Curse, his sockets flashing bright. "He has chosen to be my right hand man for a while."

Thrill groaned.

Over the gigantic star which spotted towering bright wisps of nullicious heat, and suffocating fumes, an odd standoff had been set.

Replicus, in his starry armour, and the [Nullmancer's Royal Raiment of Acclimation], Thrill in his white robes, and Araeyn on the red ribbon eerily similar to the one Eaniss was wearing, on one side.

Eaniss herself, the Mad Bishop, Warding Pride and several other Faction Leaders and their subordinates on the other.

The Faction Leaders excluding Eaniss used their Nitros to protect their underlings from the supernatural heat. The expenditure of energy was ridiculous, but most of them could handle it. At least for a little while.

The great sea vessels of all the remaining Factions acted as a dark addition to the background, some stacked on top of each, some already beginning to show signs of burning.

Eaniss and Warding Pride quickly stored theirs in storage, and the others followed their example.

Replicus patiently waited for them all.

"Your business with Em-Sul must be really important for all of us to have been dragged along," Eaniss said with a smile.

Replicus chuckled.

Of course she would know. She had seen Em-Sul get dragged into Baddan's Territory. "Indeed. But it's not like we're a team or anything, right? All of us here want to kill each other. This is the elimination portion of the voyage. How about I make the first move?" the Penetrator said, and he whipped both his hands before him.

The giant wisps of heat from the star suddenly surged as Skullius used (Greatest Null Weaver] to manipulate them. Since they were nothing but Null Life Essence embodying the nature of extreme heat, they willingly allowed themselves to be sent towards the Factions as a great, blinding tide that gushed with might!

The tide was very dense, so much so that it cracked the surface of the star, creating rifts and rises that spewed even more nullicious flame!

A litany of scorching explosions then ensued, which, when coupled with the awry tide caused the gathered experts to be separated, scattered to many edges of the star!

Because of the potent Nitros, only a few were killed by the piling heat, but the inflictions were never for Replicus to induce right now anyway!

That role was left for the Astute Duke of Transversal.

Araeyn made the Empyrean Ribbon elongate and carry him with extraordinary speed through the wisps and fumes!

Before he fully dived, he recalled what his master had told him some time before:

'Don't kill THAT individual, if you happen to come across him. He's Pherdanta's to deal with.' Araeyn had grunted but acknowledged the order.

He soon came across one of the scattered members of the Factions, decked in a thin-ish layer of Nitros and he leapt from the Empyrean Ribbon, dropping onto the target with pairs of locked fingers that he smashed down cruelly!

Despite the covering of Nitros, the young man who had been so unlucky to face the Apostle, had his skull squashed into the base of his neck, blood and bone spraying and poking out of his mangled flesh!

[Apostle 'Araeyn Deragin Exonn' has killed LV33 Human. 75 Null Life Essence acquired]

The Empyrean Ribbon wrapped around the corpse of the man, and he sank into its fibres, every bit of him devoured and assimilated.

Right then, a human figure suddenly materialised behind Araeyn, and sent a powerful jab to the back of his head.

Immediately, the Empyrean Ribbon swiftly lengthened and dived to guard the Apostle - despite it being entirely unnecessary. The fist that had been sent his way struck the fabric of the Mythical treasure to no effect.

There was no force of impact at all.

While the assailant's shock faded at this, replaced by the beginning motions of another heartfelt attack, Araeyn's head snapped in the individual's direction.

The attacker, a human in heavy armour lost all the colour in her face when Araeyn disappeared from her sight.

Of course, she wouldn't realise until later on that her head had been divorced from the rest of her body, both being devoured by the Empyrean Ribbon without issue.

Araeyn's eyes scanned the surface of the star. He saw the targets that would be easy pickings for him, and he instantly jumped on the Ribbon had it flash in the direction of said enemies.

In a second, his fist, livid with eight hundred thousand units of Null Life Essence smashed into one Master, ignoring the Nitros that protected him.

His Ribbon reached an enemy a kilometre away and pulled them to the Apostle who simply had them get ground to nothingness by the [Inverted Boundary], the ever-present shield around him which transported all attacks to another dimension.

On and on the Apostle went, mercilessly reaping lives!

He was peculiar, different from the other Apostle's Skullius had ever had.

For one, Araeyn did not have set standards for physical attributes. His physical properties depended on how much Null Life Essence he chose to reinforce his body with.

At the moment, the environmental boost he received from being in a place that could be considered 'home ground' was even more outrageous than the one Baddan and Replicus got. Where the Penetrator received a 300% increase to his Null Life Essence reserves and a 140% increase to the efficiency of all Null Life related skills, Araeyn got double the augments, as he was the one who summoned and controlled this space; the Boring Mine Nova Star Course. On top of that, because the Apostle was... who he was, he didn't require cumulative mana to level up. He only needed Null Life Essence. As such, once he vanquished an enemy, he did not need [Null Extraction] to extract their Null Life Essence. It was extracted automatically, just as cumulative mana would.

Four more carefully picked victims later, Araeyn swerved, turning to go find another when...

"Finally! I thought it would be harder to catch you on your own!"

A pale man with white hair left a long, ghostly trail as he reached the Astute Duke.

He wore a devilish smile, his eyes pinned on his prize.

*

Replicus watched from afar as Aurolio confronted Araeyn.

His socket flames reduced to four concentrated beams.

'Again. That insidious interest in Araeyn...' he thought, but he wasn't too concerned. Araeyn

was hard to kill, especially in a separate dimension where he controlled pretty much

everything.

If anything, he was happy that the Apostle had been doing some heavy work. After all... [Apostle 'Araeyn Deragin Exonn' has killed LV33 Human. You have received 2,000 EXP] [Apostle 'Araeyn Deragin Exonn' has killed LV30 Human. You have received 1,500 EXP] [Apostle 'Araeyn Deragin Exonn' has killed 36 Human. You have received 3,500 EXP] [Apostle 'Araeyn Deragin Exonn' has killed 28 Human. You have received 990 EXP]

...

[You have levelled up!]

Finally, the Titan World Storm Penetrator had levelled up, reaching Level 79!

How?

Well, because Araeyn didn't need mana to level up, Replicus was free to take all the cumulative mana experience that the Apostle still gained from killing living things, and apply

it to himself!

Replicus could almost not remember the last time he had levelled up. He needed vast

quantities of experience after reaching the third tier, not to mention the fact that he was responsible for hundreds of other individuals that he had to share the experience - from

various sources - with.

Only one level left.

Just one level, and the Penetrator would reach Tier 4, the level that Serenity had promised would hold not only the ultimate powers for him, but all the knowledge he needed about what his purpose as a Null Lifeform even was.