Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1076: The Logic-Defying Clash Across Null Remnants! (17)



The masked man hadn't planned to use this card until he was assured of victory, but while he was growing stronger through learning how to actually utilise Divine energy properly, the truth was, the Herald still held the largest advantage. His reserves of energy were massive and were only continuing to grow because of the effect of the Undeath Class which the masked man had imposed earlier.

Such an advantage was further emphasised by how he had nearly ended the battle with his last imposed Rule; the absolute frost. If the masked man had been a second late in countering with his own Rule which kept him safe from the cold, things would have gotten pretty bad.

That said, on the matter of Rules, the masked man had noticed that they had similar limitations to Creeds, the major one being that if the gap in power between the user of a Creed and his target was obscure or worse - in the target's favour - it was hard to affect them directly.

Rules worked the same way.

Jerthrax and the masked man weren't able to simply call for a Rule that caused the other to fold or die. Their case mainly wasn't because Actuass was on par with the dragon, but simply because he had the power to counter Rules with his own through Divine energy brimming within him.

Strange as it was, the amalgam's Rule-level concept Maximum Catalyst worked in a similar manner. He was unable to target finer concepts on stronger opponents. He could only chip them away one at a time, like with Jerthrax's shadows.

All this was to say, all the combatants here had limits and they knew what they were, the masked man especially.

Thus, he whipped out one of his trump cards, the whip, and attacked the dragon's soul.

The blade at the end of the whip was a ruse. The portion of the masked man's soul in the weapon extended past the tip of the dark blade and the spines on its long body, hidden from even Jerthrax's keen eyes.

When the masked man bit into Jerthrax's soul, it had not been a simple feat owed only to his prowess. He only managed this because the dragon was distracted, the spear he had whirling above him occupied with something else.

What could be attributed to the masked man's prowess, was him using his own soul as a weapon to strike at the dragon's own, which was vast and sturdy. The experience was rather painful for the masked necromancer.

And thus, he only managed to deal that one, heavy blow while also simultaneously extracting a large amount of Divine energy from it before the dragon swiped away his whip.

With each use of a Rule, the masked man had been feeling himself grow weaker, but this stolen well of energy rejuvenated him extensively.

He had set the situation in his favour in an instant, and with that advantage still pulsing, he made a gesture with both hands and called out...

"Majestic Territory Expulsion, Deathward Maw."

...

The amalgam had been on the receiving end of Territories before. He had faced many of them, some impressive and some rather bland.

He always felt the violent bubbling of Nitros whenever a human Territory caster called out the name of the Territory. It was usually the prompt for Creeds to be used to double their reserves and enable them to cast their Territory.

However... this felt different.

When the masked man's Territory exploded out, there was a weight to it unlike any other he had felt.

Nevermind human experts, Vohnvolt wasn't sure even Azila's or the Grinning Jester Fox's could compare!

And this was all before the Imaginary GeoScape of the masked man's Territory was even established!

A canvas of dark green encased everything in the next instant, and then titanic, yellowing fangs started to spring up rapidly from above and below, bordering the area where Vohnvolt, the massive figure of Jerthrax and the Null Devil King were in!

The Territory was humongous!

This was especially emphasised when textures and details of dozens of carcasses of great, fallen mythical creatures yet to be seen by ordinary eyes in Aigas, some close to being as large as Jerthrax, some even more majestic than him, sprang up from the rugged ground, which almost felt like a dark tongue!

These dead behemoths, some merely reduced to bones, exposed large, tainted mana cores that reeked of Undeath. They acted as the only light source in this doomed space, adding onto its already potent eeriness.

Droplets of what seemed like green liquid fell from above, emitting unnerving plops every now and then as they hit the ground while a particularly forceful storm of suffocating energy pressed on everyone.

The amalgam gnashed his teeth.

'I need to act fast!' he thought, and his already activated layer of [Neutral Maximum] was fuelled by all the mana he could spare from both the Malleable Form Core and his remaining purple core!

Normally, Territories cut off the supply of mana, but because [Neutral Maximum] was already in effect, protecting Vohnvolt's body from the influence of the Territory, he was safe as long as he didn't let the skill get disrupted even for a second.

The Primary assault function was coming, and the only hope he had at the moment was to maintain this skill!

Jerthrax had a similar idea.

Because he had been disrupted by the pull from the Null Devil King, and most importantly, the stabbing pain from his soul, he was milliseconds late in reacting to the masked man's Territory in any way. The trembling of his eyes showed his agony. Unlike his body, his soul, which he had never had to worry about, wasn't so guarded.

When he set to respond by casting his own Territory, the eyes of the masked man, who was yet to be seen within the designs of his Deathward Maw, shone bright.

He had been ready to ensure that this wouldn't happen.

And that's exactly why, instead of using Creeds to erect the territory, he used a Rule instead to empower his Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary functions!

Thus...

"Ordained Reverent Machination."

The Primary assault function was immediately applied.

Everything instantly became blurry as though vibrating at tremendous speeds!

Vohnvolt saw the scattered corpses of mysterious beasts start to appear doubled in his vision.

But worse than that was the hammer-like pressure that pushed against his [Neutral Maximum] with such ferocity that he felt even more of a burden to his expenditure just by

trying to keep it up!

'URGH...'

Vohnvolt knelt down as the pressure mounted, but he didn't buckle. The collection of purple and gold crystal-like shapes embossed over him held as well as his will!

The same couldn't be said for Jerthrax though.

The Primary assault function caught him before he could even mobilise energy for a Territory.

If Ordained Reverent Machination was like a giant hammer on the amalgam, then it was like a five thousand of them to the Herald.

After all, the masked man apportioned its power; 20% for the amalgam, 20% for the Null

Devil King and 60% to the dragon!

And, contrary to expectations, Ordained Reverent Machination did not prompt the dragon to

shriek in pain or topple over.

He simply... staggered and froze as he stood on all fours.

...!!!

Vohnvolt was stunned.

What did this Primary assault function do exactly?

Subtle, unclear attacks were more terrifying than straightforward ones.

With such anxiety mounting him, Vohnvolt couldn't help but attempt to strengthen his [Neutral Maximum] again. He had a really bad feeling about this. If he was hit, he didn't feel

he could escape whatever these effects entailed.

The masked man finally revealed himself, appearing out of nowhere to stand before the docile dragon, his whip in hand. Beside him, Eobald-Minobu also appeared.

The masked man took a breath.

And then he looked back at Vohnvolt who hurried to clad himself in Null Life Essence on top of

[Neutral Maximum].

The necromancer then pulled on the sleeves to his eerie, green robe.

"Now, you have all my attention," he said. "Until my Secondary attack comes, that is."

Vohnvolt scowled.

A Secondary assault...

Just thinking of it when he was already close to keeling over from the Primary...

"Why do you sound so triumphant? You still have me as your enemy."

The Null Devil King, like the amalgam seemed to also be unaffected. He gave the masked man

a hollow look.

Vohnvolt wasn't sure how the Null Devil King was once again able to resist some of the

ridiculous attacks both the masked and the dragon through.

He was shrugging off the Territory too?

Well, Vohnvolt couldn't have known because of his special circumstances, but the souls of

Null Lifeforms were heavily guarded. Only Null Life creatures could truly harm and take the souls of other Null Life creatures. The amalgam's soul was bare, half of it even being owned by Somanda. Perhaps Skullius would have understood the mechanics of this due to his

dealings with Aurolio months ago.

In any case, the amalgam decided to worry about himself first. After all, in the next instant, the bold figure of the Transcendent Stager Eobald-Minobu blasted towards him while the masked man headed for the Null Devil King.