The [Hell's Inferno] made Skullius feel confident... for the most part.
He was happy he had a heavy hitting skill and he intended to keep upgrading it.
As a quick flash, Red Rage by his side saw an opening and darted forward while Skullius was mulling over the details concerning his skill!
The Boneman heard the sound of something falling to the ground and turned his head to find that the last orc had been decapitated.
Red Rage had swiped the steel sword in a clean lateral slash and beheaded the orc before it could react.
"The [Basic Sword Mastery] is being put to good use it seems."
From the looks of the equipment that the orcs had, which consisted of large stretcher-like objects made of wood with four protruding beams and rope, it seemed the orcs had just come to take away the bodies of their dead.
Skullius turned to the black stretch of land that was ahead.
He then looked behind him in the opposite direction and thought of the best course of action.
"I might as well take on the orcs now. Though..."
The Boneman hesitated because of the large boar he had seen yesterday which had been able to injure a Tier 2 goblin.
To be fair though, Tiers among different creatures were not exactly relative in strength. For instance, Tier 2 for an orc was different for a goblin, with the former being stronger if the same class was considered, all else remaining constant.
Still though, it didn't change the fact that Skullius was at risk as he was still at Tier 0.
"I'll just have to be smart about it. For now... let's check what happened there. I need to scout for what I can find in that direction anyway. Maybe there will be another settlement of beasts that I can hunt."
Skullius called to Red Rage who was salvaging the equipment from the orc that didn't get burnt in the [Hell's Inferno].
He found an axe which he looked proud to own now. Well it was only fair, after all, finders keepers, losers skewered violently.
The two cautiously but briskly went over to inspect the black patch. It only took a few minutes.
The ground was hard and brittle.
The only trees that still had a semblance of their former selves remaining, were the large ones.
Their remains were merely black trunks that had the leaves burnt off, leaving a lifeless husk that reminded Skullius of the vegetation from Deadmanland.
'What really caused this?'
The two's movements made crisp sounds on the earth, ash staining their bony feet.
Skullius sensed the remaining embers of mana that had been expelled. It was a faintly hot remnant that tickled his core.
'This couldn't have been a skill, right?'
As the two went deeper, Skullius started to get anxious.
Something was terribly wrong. The further he walked, the more the feeling of foreboding grew worse.
After walking a few more steps, he stopped, and Red Rage did the same.
His socket flames burnt fiercely, depicting the unease he felt.
He had sensed something he hadn't encountered before until now.
A thick blanket of mana was gushing in to surround him from the opposite direction!
"Let's turn back, Red bro," Skullius said nervously before beginning to backpedal.
Unfortunately for him, the blanket of mana followed and Skullius found that even when he leapt backwards, the mana didn't leave him alone.
'Is this like [Mana Sense] or [Basic Mana Manipulation]?'
He stopped and shook.
Since it was like this, he activated [Basic Mana Manipulation], his mana stretching to cover a large distance until it picked up something that made Skullius' knees give out!
He sensed a figure in his range, but that wasn't what shocked him the most!
The thing within this figure was what made Skullius stumble and feel an overbearing reaction in his core!
A blue mana core!
That's right!
A light blue core that released very dense mana!
Skullius' core reacted on its own, almost as if showing respect to the superior might it sensed through his [Basic Mana Manipulation]!
Skullius looked ahead and caught a trace of what it was that was releasing this power; [Basic Mana Manipulation] didn't give the details he needed.
There, sitting down and leaning against a charred tree trunk was a...
"Human...!" Skullius exclaimed.
At that moment, his previous instincts as an undead told him exactly what this creature was and the first thing he thought to do... was to run!
VOW's countless warnings rang in his mind and Skullius didn't intend to ignore them.
'Young undead. If you haven't realised it, you're in a different world. This world is full of living beings. STRONG, living beings... Particularly, the humans...' VOW had said.
Skullius dashed and hid behind one of the tree trunks, and Red Rage followed suit, concealing himself behind another which was two meters away.
The expanse of mana around the area followed him everywhere so he decided to hide and think of a plan.
He was afraid of being seen as he knew the instant reaction of all living creatures when they saw him.
He wondered if this guy already knew what he was. There didn't seem to be any movement or commotion, so Skullius thought about whether or not he was in the clear.
He waited a few seconds and peeked from behind the trunk, getting a better view from the angle he chose.
What he saw was a wounded creature that hung its head.
Blood and scratches were what he could see from this distance.
'He's injured? Is he dead or alive?' Skullius wondered.
Suddenly, the human lifted his head and looked in Skullius' direction with one eye that released a scary glint!
Skullius hid his figure again. If he had a heart, it would have been beating like a drum right now.
He looked to the trunk behind him where Red Rage was hiding.
Even this overzealous Apostle was not keen on fighting that monster.
"I know... you're there... Come out... Or I'll kill you...bleurgh!"
A boisterous voice that was filled with mana reached Skullius and Red Rage, making them tremble.
'He knows! But wait! This must mean he doesn't know that I'm a... But still... if I come out like this he'll know and kill me!'
Skullius' mind churned.
This guy was definitely critically wounded judging by the way he spoke. His words implied that his intent was to scare him into revealing himself. Well, Skullius hoped that was the case.
'That's equally bad though! I don't doubt that he can kill me even from that distance.'
"Hey! Come out here! If you don't.. Urgh...! I will blow everything around here to bits!" the man growled.
Skullius shook and almost stumbled.
By Somanda's cruel whim! He believed every word!
Blow this whole area to bits?!
As Skullius contemplated whether he should just prostrate himself and attempt to bullshit his way out of this - as he had done with Azila - the image of the human being stuck in his mind, he immediately got an idea.
A human image!
Of course!
'Ah... I have that... Should I use it?'
Using that skill had its demerits.
Skullius shook his skull and cast away all worries and hesitation, immediately casting the skill that could potentially save his Null Life.
['Flesh It Like You Mean It' has been activated!]
Mana surged and covered the entirety of Skullius' skeletal body under the robes and armour.
For a moment, Skullius forgot that he was in a perilous situation as a strange sensation overtook him!
Strange bubbles of flesh started growing on his bones, releasing wet and crunchy sounds!
They had bobbing red veins and they began to stretch and cover Skullius' body from skull to the phalanges (toes, apparently)!
Quickly, his earlier frame vanished, replaced by something else entirely!
[Cosmetic flesh successfully constructed. Alteration complete!]
[Configuring Status...]
[Status Configuration Complete!]
[Inserting New Status]
~~~
[ Name : None ]
[ Level : 1 ]
[ Class : None ]
[ Race : Discount Human ]
[ Inv. Status : Still doomed ×2 ]
-------
[ Stats ]
[ Strength : 10 ]
[Agility : 10 ]
[ Intelligence : 5 ]
[ Endurance : 10 ]
[ Luck : Atrocious? ]
-----
[ Health : 30/30 ]
-----
[ Mana : 20/20 ]
-----
[ Skills ]
[ Basic Mana Manipulation | Lv. 4 ]
[ Flesh It Like You Mean It | Lv. 1 ]
[ Bitter-Sweet Hell's Inferno | Lv. 3 ]
[ Artless Dodger | Lv. 1 ]
[ Mana Bolt | Lv. 4 ]
[ Null Extraction ]
[ Greater Communication | Lv. 2 ]
----
[ Affinities ]
....
~~~~