Bro, I'm not an Undead!



The sea was a beast with a grueling call that could devastate the ear. The common folk wouldn't know, and they wouldn't have survived the incredible sound that blared out as the waves crashed against each other, forced to cram into themselves by the force of the battle so far away.

It was truly astonishing.

Even now, the waters still towered vast heights from the last impact, and they weren't given a chance to return to the cool and calm, because another shattering burst of deafening noise crackled from the distance, forming a pale, spherical impact in the air that showed for a micro-second!

The ocean far away shrieked and shuddered outward, blocking the view that all wanted to see!

The red glow that had only vaguely built up until now, grew intense, making the world blush.

When another impact that seemed to shake the entire ocean and turn up its temperatures by several hundreds of degrees came, the light around the vast expanse dimmed, leaving only the red glow.

Then the world turned unclear... and then back to clarity.

'The stark difference...' Replicus thought while looking ahead.

The moment he sensed the Undeath energy brewing further up, he had compared it to the one he knew.

Clearly, this was the foe they were hunting down, but he didn't know if it was the same one he had encountered back then.

To his surprise, it was hard for him to tell.

It wasn't because of the distance, but because the presence he felt clashing with another far away, was encased in a qualitative shell of sorts. Diluted, yet voluminous. It was like trying to guess the flavor of a small portion of concentrated fruit drink that had been diluted by twenty times the amount of water.

In this case, the dilution didn't mean a loss of concentration. In fact, it was the opposite.

The presence he felt with only the casual signature of undeath he knew, was incredibly vast.

Soaring far above the sea had given Replicus and his crew an immense advantage, but as he looked down, he saw that each Faction had its own means of not getting bashed down by the raging ocean.

Frankly, even without intervening, the vessels probably wouldn't get a scratch even if the ocean waters slammed into them for a full day, however, amidst more enemies than allies, it was unwise to allow yourself to be placed in compromising positions.

The crisp blows rampaging beyond continued to wreck the sanity of Aigas' skies and seas, seeming to grow more intense by the second.

"Master..." Pherdanta called to Replicus.

She had arrived by the Penetrator's side as soon as the ship was airborne.

"Let's hold on for now," Replicus said.

He had the best senses out of everyone here, with the only one who could even dream of contending being Grim. However, even the gifted Unlimited couldn't really tell exactly what was going on ahead.

...!

Replicus' sockets flickered.

Amidst the blasting waves, he sensed something approaching at a shocking pace from the distant location of the ferocious battle ahead, its trajectory unchallenged by the chaotic motion of the abundant ocean.

It drew a course straight towards the line of scattered ships below in less than half a second – much to Penetrator's utter befuddlement – and before Replicus could speak, it showed itself.

An explosive splash of the winding waters on the surface caught everyone's attention.

An enormous creature with dark, stone-like skin emerged!

It looked much like a cross between a lizard and a mantis, its head similar to the former, and its limbs a mix of the two – in total numbering up to twelve.

Half of its body arched up to a straight posture, while the rest remained buried underwater, the limbs around it whipping the excessively violent ocean waters away.

"It's one of those things again!" Grim exclaimed.

Pherdanta thought so too, and her eyes narrowed.

However...

"Not exactly," Replicus replied with a somewhat grave tone.

No.

It wasn't exactly the same.

After all...

The enormous creature's eyes were different from those of the tower monsters.

This one had great, greenish-black flames flaring madly from its sockets!

Replicus groaned inwardly.

"That masked bastard..." he said to the others. "He's fighting on two fronts. He already noticed our approach and sent this thing to stall us. He's both confident and incredibly cautious."

Grim, Allora, and Pherdanta were stunned to hear this.

To think the masked man had even enslaved one of the tower monsters with Undeath!

According to the information Kenno had gathered, the stronger ones among them were usually on their own. This massive existence seemed like a prime example of the lone fiends!

The great creature in the sea suddenly opened its toothless mouth wide.

Very wide.

Its face contorted to accommodate the elongation of its maw, and only when its visage had become at least two hundred meters, did it stop, and let loose from the dark, colossal gap on its face... thousands upon thousands of undead creatures!

...!

They all fell like vomit from its maw, some immediately taking flight, some sinking to then start swimming forward at breakneck speeds, and others simply running over the water as though it was the most natural thing to do!

"You've got to be kidding me!" said Grim... but with a wide grin on his face.

Replicus' sockets grew bright.

The enemies were many.

And none of them were fodder.

Among the rotten and fresh corpses fuelled by Undeath, he spotted at least several hundred with purple cores, several hundred with enormous mana signatures – Cluster Generals, likely plucked from high-level Clusters – and many others with an odd energy about them.

Actually, it was more than odd.

'What in the world...?'

These specific ones didn't look dead at all, whether they be human or monster.

They didn't have flaring flames in their sockets and they even looked to have their souls intact. Yet... they were definitely undead.

Replicus flashed from the deck and appeared on the bottom of the ship, which was facing toward the skies.

Pherdanta, Allora, and Grim followed with Limited Granted Warp.

Around the four, the numerous monsters attached to the keel of the ship had grown still. They presented a rather admirable picture of Replicus and his Unlimited standing among them.

The group looked at the dark mass of creatures rapidly approaching them with various means of flight.

"Don't you dare!" Grim suddenly said while holding his hand out to Pherdanta, who was about to draw her sword and no doubt obliterate many, if not most of the undead assailants. "Let the rest of us do something, will you? Aren't you supposed to be on break anyway?!"

Pherdanta gave Grim a cross look, but he merely scoffed at it before turning to Replicus.

"Ahem. Can I...?" he said imploringly.

"Can we, you mean!" Allora pitched in with the same degree of zeal.

Replicus sighed helplessly.

"Just don't waste too much of your energy, or armour accessories. And be careful. Some of these ar—"

"GOT IT, BOSS!"

Grim was off before Replicus finished speaking.

The ship rocked a bit when he launched himself high and far towards the enemies.

He whipped through the turbulent, humid air like an arrow shot from a Divine bow, multiple pale rings of air booming outwards as he went.

In a moment, he was facing the first few in the charging cordon of flying foes.

With his white hair furiously rustling about, his red eyes gleaming with a bit too much excitement, and his pristine teeth pushing away his lips in a vicious grin, Grim howled and swiped with his right hand across his own field of vision.

...!!!!

Noticeable for only a micro-moment, was the soft light from long, gleaming claws that inched out of specialized openings at the end of his right hand's gauntlet.

Then...

Five, long gaps were carved out of the image of the monsters approaching just now!

Then came the crackle like thunder, and the splash of different colored blood!

Many of the enemies had been erased, decapitated, and disemboweled before they even knew it!

Grim didn't care enough to tell them that they were already dead!

With the same murderous zeal, he kicked off their still airborne corpses, one after the other to force himself forward, and swiped at the air menacingly again!

Hundreds more were eviscerated!

Some were adorned in Legendary grade armor.

Grim's claws didn't give a damn!

Some had purple cores powering their bodies.

That didn't ward away death from a distance!

With the atrocious boosts from the Mythical grade Granted Armament, in addition to Grim's Hidden Class, what would have been terrifying foes turned into glorified fodder!

Grim became a blur that whizzed past the long stretch of undead creatures with relative ease. For tougher opponents, he only needed to actually make contact with his claws, and for those stronger than that...

A starkly bright light streaked from his index finger as he yelled, "Aggrante!", a pompous highlight lighting his face.

The corrosive might of the condensed beam of Null Life Essence and Mana tore most enemies apart, reducing their flesh to nothing. Not even ash.

Replicus looked on with mild interest.

The wave of enemies was sizable. Even with Grim practically deleting them by the dozens, there was still a lot.

Thankfully, that wasn't inherently a bad thing.

After all...

[1,000 (I) Mana has been added!]

[4,000 (I) Mana has been added!]

[22,000 (I) Mana has been added!]

[2,300 (I) Mana has been added!]

Each kill that the Unlimited made with the Granted Armament, stole 1-5% of the slain enemies' mana, and added it to Replicus reserve.

A handy feature installed by the Titan World Storm Penetrator!

Allora had barely seen an opening to intervene yet.

It was ridiculous how quickly Grim moved.

"Must be nice to be blessed with Form Using techniques," she muttered with a frown. "Well, I wasn't going to rely on my Hidden Class anyway."

Allora pointed her fingers toward the enemies that were quickly being dismantled by Grim.

"Chaining Fury," she utterly eagerly.

A crushing wave of heat howled at the end of her fingers, turning from red, then yellow, then orange, white, and blue!

It then fizzled out, vanishing from sight.

Allora beamed.

The boost by her Granted Armament was immense, even to her former Shamanic abilities which were coming into play now.

This only showed when the vacant spot at the tip of her fingers shone blindingly and set off a rich column of flame so precise that it looked like a pale, grey string from the distance!

It traveled furiously and made contact with the first enemy, who was immediately set ablaze... and turned into a glowing ball of imploding flame that grew rapidly!

But then, the link of pale grey stretched from this great fireball, and caught another enemy, then another and another, turning them all into scorching, miniature suns which inflated out to sizzle almost silently!

The pale column and Grim's rampage seemed to work in harmony, eradicating the enemies perfectly.

Replicus was pleased to see the enthusiasm between the two childishly jovial Unlimited, however, he knew things weren't going to be so easy.

Soon, he was proven right.