Bro, I'm not an Undead!

[ Name : Onumbassssss ]

[ Tier : 4 ]

[ Level : 30 ]

[ Race : Light Streaking Death Weaver]

[ Inv. Status : Annoyed ]

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[ Stats ]

[ STRENGTH (I): 140 ]

[ AGILITY (I) : 370 ]

[ INTELLIGENCE (I) : 99 ]

[ ENDURANCE (I) : 119 ]

[ LUCK : 10 ]

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[ HEALTH : 5320/5320 ]

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[ MANA (I) : 790/790 ]

....

~~~

What was this?

The...the layout of the status had suddenly changed, adding bold and (I) to this monster's stats!

What... what was this?!

Skullius slowly drew back as the intimidating presence of this monster got to him. Benzard's words immediately rang in his mind as he noticed that this creature was a Tier 4!

Just like that man had said, there was something about the fourth tier that made these beasts glow up!

The Light Streaking Death Weaver raised its head up high, its long body following until it towered over the five individuals even more. Its eyes gleamed as it watched these little creatures, noticing that they were not weak at all... with the exception of the curious existence that was frozen a distance behind the others.

"Curioussss...." the Weaver spoke, Benzard and the others frowning as they heard its words travel to their minds. "What brings you to my territory, humanssss... and friend...?"

Maybe it was because the four were on edge, focusing more on the Weaver's movements than its words that they didn't understand what that last part meant.

However, Skullius was momentarily caught in a panic as he thought that this creature might have recognised that he wasn't human.

Could that be?

Benzard didn't relax his guard.

This wasn't the first time that he had faced a creature of this Tier that could speak. Many Tier 4 and above beasts could not converse, but those that could, were a problem, as that implied that they were older.

And if they were older...

"We're just passing by," Benzard responded while his crew didn't shy away from showing that they were ready to engage at any moment.

"Issss that sssssoooo? Where would your destination be, with those relics in hand?"

...!

Benzard's expression flickered. Had this creature discovered that he had the Keys in his possession?

These were the only objects of great value he had and they were rather precious.

Irlen gripped the handle to his shield steadily as his role was quite important for what could possibly come next.

'This serpent is pretty observant. Or rather, it can see hidden things,' he thought.

"Would you be discourteous to a couple of sentient, respectful travellers by asking such a question?" Benzard asked as he prepared to make his move in the next moment.

"I have no such tendenciessss, as you humansss do. Perhaps I should Indulge myself since it'ssss been a while..."

Benzard waited no longer.

His body exploded with mana as he wielded his raised sword. Reon also held his sword which was a dark coloured katana with a red hilt, preparing to back Benzard up.

Benzard darted forward, his body leaving a trail of thin bolts of lightning and after images as in the next moment, he appeared right in front of the Weaver, his body hunching forward in a low stance as he then sliced with his sword upward!

The fearsome blade turned white as it was charged with lightning, a force to be reckoned with threatening to rip the Weaver into two clean halves!

Unfortunately, the massive snake turned into a swift shadow that dashed through the air around Benzard and his sword as it headed for Denille!

Its form looked ethereal, the background visible through its large, swiggly mass by those who could even keep up with its movement.

Of the five, one such person existed.

It was Reon whose wide open eyes followed the large shadow that had crossed a vast distance in a second!

Reon gathered mana in his sword and legs as he then raised the katana and slashed elegantly in a vertical line!

'All-Imagining slash!'

A blue slash raced towards the shadow that almost reached Denille and grazed its figure!

The massive snake pulled back on its momentum which allowed the swift Denille who was quick to pick up on the flow to draw back and launch her own attack!

On her rather large bow which had a well furnished special, golden wood as a base for its design, an arrow with a sharp head was also nocked!

Denille pumped her mana into it, and it shone with a deep purple glow!

'Bursting velocity shard!'

She released the arrow and the air reacted to the release with a loud crack. The arrow tore through folds of the elements in the air and bore a hole in the Weaver's chest and bolted through it!

Surprisingly, the Weaver didn't react or show any signs of injury. It merely darted to and fro at ridiculous speeds while Reon who could follow its movements saw that where Denille had borne a hole with her arrow, the Weaver had already healed!

The Weaver suddenly materialised with its grand solid body!

While it seemed to be capable of flying through the air in its ethereal form, it seemed to lose that ability when it reverted back, which was evidenced by the loud boom that came after its body landed.

Its figure still speedily moved along the ground though.

It cocked its head and hissed. From its wide open mouth, a stream of purple-coloured poison that seamed to drain the light from the surroundings pouring out!

From a distance, everyone felt an immense heat waft from it as it barrelled forth like a sandstorm towards them!

Irlen charged ahead and planted his hexagonal shield with a mix of silver and blue forward.

"Defender's Sphere!" he cried.

A burst of silver light exploded from the shield and covered everyone in its circular area of effect!

Spots of light danced within the space of the protective skill.

Skullius gaped in awe.

The poison failed to penetrate the shield, affecting only the surrounding vegetation and land.

What happened next made the five grimace.

The poison made everything melt!

Trees, grass and even the ground!

The poison broke down everything, changing their composition into sludge!

Benzard while in the [Defender's Sphere], wielded his sword again. He hadn't been idling this entire time. He had been charging his mana ever since his upward slash had been dodged by the massive snake.

His body radiated bolts of white lightning that ran along his body and made his figure look like a divine being!

He then became covered in a thick film of lightning, and in the next instance, he shot up and penetrated through the stream of poison in a bright flash of white!

His sword blitzed through the Weaver's neck, bolts of excess lightning from the swift attack erasing the surrounding forestry; this left only a collection of charred stalks!

The Weaver hissed in pain!

This time, blood flooded from the portion of its neck that had been cut through!

Before it could even think to retaliate, arrows that travelled like shooting stars bore through multiple portions of its body without much resistance and the figure of Reon darted forward for another attack!

Benzard too didn't let up, a noise like thunder erupting as his shining figure streaked across the air without touching the ground!

He attacked the Weaver from behind while Reon used his [Imagining Slash] to strike from the front!

"Wow..." Skullius mouthed at the sight of these monsters tearing through another monster. "They are... strong..."

The Weaver, Onumbassssss' eyes gleamed as it saw that it was in a precarious situation. It turned into a dark shadow that tore through the air and rose into the sky.

"It seemsss I still have shortcomingssss..." Onumbassssss said before it flashed away.

Benzard frowned.

"It's fast... but it won't escape," he said before he turned to Reon who nodded and breathed out a gust of hot air and swung his black katana with a super fluid motion that also packed his full strength!

Skullius saw the blade leave after images as it swiped through the air, a dense blue line being expelled from it and racing through the air towards Onumbassssss' direction at breakneck speed!

'Divine Imagining Slash!' Reon called in his mind.

Onumbasss who had been retreating was suddenly split in half from the tail to the head!

Blood flooded from the split portion of his body and the massive snake had a dumbfounded sort of gape as it reverted back to normal and fell to the ground!

If Skullius had been in his Boneman form, his jaw would have dropped. Literally.

He was so amazed by this show of power that he didn't hear Denille calling to him.

"Hey!" a powerful smack to the back almost made Skullius vomit his nonexistent lungs.

"Huh?"

"We're moving ahead, you idiot. Don't slow us down," Denille said with a scowl.

Skullius nodded and followed. The group reached the corpse of the Weaver where a section of the forest was stained in purple blood entirely.

[Felled prey lies before you. Would you like to extract the Essence of Null Life? Remaining time 6 seconds]

Skullius immediately absorbed the Null Life Essence from the massive beast, finding it to be 90 points!

However, he couldn't find it within himself to celebrate as the fact that he was among such powerful monsters that could end him very easily was once again reiterated.

"This thing was strong. It knew to retreat even before it sustained fatal damage. There may be fights like this ahead with even stronger opponents, so be on high alert. Let's salvage what we can from this corpse," Benzard said before giving Skullius a glance.

Skullius didn't need 70 points of intelligence to understand what the man meant with his gaze.

'If you try anything funny, we'll flesh you up nomatter what you have up your sleeve.'