Bro, I'm not an Undead!



Maxim took a sharp breath, half a scowl on her face.

"Teleportation," Tallo answered her most obvious, unexpressed question. "Any decent Mage, Prime or higher can do it."

He then turned to Skullius, and revealed one of his hands from beneath his scaly robes which he used to flick his fingers. As he did, mana gathered around the spear in Skullius' head, and pulled it out.

Maxim wore a dark expression as blood trickled from the Hybrid Luman's head.

"Do you have anything that can save him?" she asked.

She had saved Skullius' body from falling out of the bounds of the game, but the truth was, she wasn't sure he could be saved. She had several Living Pellets that were produced by her Family so that they didn't have to rely on common means of revival, and restoration, but they were only effective when consumed before death.

And as for other, stronger means-

"I don't think I need to," Tallo said nonchalantly.

As soon as he removed the golden spear, Skullius' wound healed, and he blinked a couple of times before shooting up in a bit of panic.

Maxim was beyond surprised.

"I think I heard that man in the white cloak scream out loud that you had taken a potion. I guess it really was true," Tallo said.

"Yeah..." Skullius said, a bit dazed. He gave Maxim who showed a bit of relief a nod.

It was weird. It was like he had fallen asleep for a moment, before waking up now in Maxim, and Tallo's presence.

"Look alive," the Mage said as he gestured ahead.

For the second time, the three saw Baddan return to the first circle.

"This is most certainly frustrating..." he said, while trying to keep up a calm face. He raised his hand, and his golden spear shot from the ground right into his grasp.

Tallo spoke in a low voice to Maxim and Skullius, ignoring Baddan.

"Let me honest. Defeating this creature is close to impossible, and killing it is a fantasy. None of us with all our combined efforts can do it.

Baddan raised a brow, and spoke with a slightly frustrated tone.

"What? Did I not explain the rules thoroughly? I am allowed to use anything I wish in the last circle... the outermost one. Are you that inattentive?"

Skullius was a bit confused at the silver-furred creature's words, but Tallo continued to speak so he gave focus.

"I've been watching. Observing. Baddan's skin is too tough, and it takes effort to affect his frame even in the lightest sense. I'm sure you both felt that for yourselves."

Skullius recalled his hand turning into chunks when he used the absolute best physical strike he could muster against Baddan. Maxim remembered her full power lariat with Perfect Aura barely knocking him off balance.

However, the Hybrid Luman did notice that while Baddan didn't flinch in the face of blunt, physical attacks, when it came to his sword strikes...

'He dodged that one time... And when I slashed that clone, his head came off. Maybe I'm being too optimistic..' Skullius thought.

Baddan sighed in exasperation, and began to exposit, re-explaining the rules as he faced them.

Maxim and Skullius frowned, and turned to each other.

What the heck was this bastard doing?

Yet, Tallo continued speaking, drawing a part of their focus to his voice again.

"According to my own understanding of this Cluster, all ordinary beasts here gain their powers from the environment, and are at its mercy. However, Baddan, and several of his kind that he claimed were all slaughtered by that boy, Rias EverSword, had the ability to control the environment, and exploit it. We can't fight against something like that. Not when we don't know what Baddan's limits are. Our Incarnations won't help when he's using Super skills either."

This was certainly was true.

Another thing Tallo had omitted, according to Skullius, was the fact that Baddan could likely revive through the clouds even if they managed to deal a fatal blow. And as long as he was up and running, they were pretty much screwed.

This really made Skullius wonder...

What kind of monster was Rias EverSword?!

Was he really just a Master Stage expert? A teenage one at that?

Did a good technique simply overpower the significance of mana cores, and Stages?

"Wait. I didn't get to tell you earlier, but I think I know his limits," Maxim said. The centipede Incarnation drifted lower, and turned dim as the pink haired woman reduced the amount of mana she converted to Aura to supply it.

  Baddan kept re-explaining the rules of the game with emphasis on certain parts while gazing at them. Skullius couldn't take it anymore. He had to verify if he was perceiving this right.

"What is he doing?"

"Oh, I cast an illusion around us. Its enough to stall for a little while as long as it doesn't carry on for too long. Right now Baddan thinks we are genuinely asking for him to re-explain the rules," Tallo answered. "And no, it won't work for stalling him for the entire 10 minutes of the game. He's too strong to be fooled that easily. In any case, you were saying?"

Maxim, and Skullius looked a little relieved, but also exceptionally anxious. They both recalled that Tallo had done something like this during his first match in the Preliminaries, and caught the crowd off guard. He had never used that again though, which was why it slipped their mind.

How convenient!

Putting aside that thought, Maxim explained her theory.

"Baddan mainly uses clouds as a means of attack. But, the most important thing, is the shapes he creates. They aren't random. I've seen fish, and bears in this place. It's just a thought, but I think he can call on individual beasts with different elemental affinities – some even mixed together. Like taking inspiration from the fauna here. I have every reason to think that there's only a few types of animals here, so he can't have an unlimited amount of techniques..."

"I see... I did spot monkey-like creatures with long heads somewhere. Could he have an attack inspired from that too?" Tallo asked while paying Baddan some attention.

"Possibly," Maxim said, also keeping her eyes on the Sky Watcher.

Skullius agreed with her observation.

The giant cloud fish.

The large bear that wanted to hug him, and turn him into mince meat, or worse...

The clones of himself.

He hadn't seen the fish or bears around, but he believed Maxim.

All the Sky Watcher's attacks had beastly shapes, with some involvement of the clouds.

Maybe all that remained for Baddan to show was a technique with the shape of a Fleeting Pioneer, and one with a shape like a Beckoned Retriever.

Perhaps that was his whole arsenal.

But...

Skullius grimaced, and fattened his cheek before letting out a breath.

"Well. I might have an idea about how to beat him, but you're probably not going to like it."

Tallo, and Maxim turn to Skullius, clearly not having expected him to say this.

"I've lost too many Units already. Spill it," the pink-haired woman urged.

*

As Baddan finished explaining the rules, in roughly a minute and a half – time he didn't mind wasting since he knew that eventually, his enemies would tire themselves out enough for him to just fling them lazily about without much effort, as their attacks barely did anything to him anyway, the Sky Watcher saw a surprising sight.

Skullius gripped Maxim, and used [Boundless Evil] to soar ridiculously quickly overhead. Tallo turned into a mash of colour that zipped in their direction as well, but not nearly as fast.

Baddan narrowed his dark eyes.

'What scheme are they conjuring...?'

The answer to the Sky Watcher's question, began with a head-tiltingly strange detail.

The trio was headed towards the second circle on their own!

Baddan hummed in suspicion, and blasted his way towards them, arriving just in time to see them land perfectly, all close to each other.

Skullius, with an uncertain look on his face, decided this was an appropriate time to question Tallo about his sudden change of heart.

"I must say I'm a bit surprised you decided to work together with us in the end."

Tallo scoffed.

"I only do things that have an educational benefit. This isn't a friendly team up. You owe me answers to my earlier questions. I did save your life," he said.

"Sure."

Baddan, with the clouds bubbling above him, as if to spit yet another giant fish, spoke.

"I never would have thought... you'd deliver yourself to death without my help."

"Says the hypocrite who has failed to kill us four times in the last three minutes," Skullius taunted with a drop of sweat trickling down his brow.

Baddan gave a low grunt which Skullius couldn't tell if it was a subdued cough, or rising hostility.

"Well, two of you are leaning on external sustenance to survive... and I... am trying my utmost to suppress the cruel burn in me, that desires to do to you.... terrible things, unbecoming of a warrior."

Skullius didn't have any other retort.

At least Baddan was honest. Maybe that was why [Immoral Authority] depicted him as mostly a saint.

Speaking of [Immoral Authority]...

"Let's do this!" Skullius urged his temporary partners.