Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1667: The Beasts’ Formula (3)

It was a risky move, firing the Aggrante on the ground (on Edagon, which kept regenerating from damage over and over), but Savast might have become too insane to care. All he was concerned with was the fact that Soizar, without his full focus on his body and powers, was likely to be susceptible to an Aggrante, as he (Savast) had surmised earlier when he fired the first jet.

It turned out that he was right.

Arch-Liches were not Divine. They only seemed so because their expertise with Undeath energy and the soul were so intricate and overpowered that they allowed them to dominate even Deities. But if they lost their access to such powers even for an instant...

BWOOOOOOO!

The howling Aggrante sent Savast flying back as soon as he fired it.

...But it did the same for Soizar. The Lich’s skull was partly blasted off before he went spinning back, the rest of the Ko Aggrante’s fury ripping his suit and his torso in an uneven grinding of damage. Baddan and his collection of beasts would have been caught in the crossfire, but Savast was aware enough to fire the Aggrante away from them.

’That was too frantic!’ Baddan thought as the throng of power died down, leaving behind a horrific trench merely ten meters away from him. ’Were you afraid he’d dodge if you took your time to ground yourself?’ The burden of Aggrante was immense. Baddan knew Savast was reeling from it right then.

...And that was why he took charge. He stormed towards where Soizar had fallen, intent on keeping up the pressure. The Lich wouldn’t perish so easily. Baddan was aware they’d only managed to damage him so because he was caught off guard by their abilities and had waited too long to take them seriously.

’We’ll keep punishing you for it!’ thought Savast, and he sent Lipptis a signal. The Null beast clapped all of its hands together, and then the immense Cluster beast behind it finally surged into action, the remainder of the beasts orbiting around it, maintaining proximity. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Savast leaped into the air and landed on its back. The pulse of Null Life Essence brimming inside the creature surged.

There were more advancements Baddan had made to his technique as a result of the pressure and constant evolution forced on him by the Impossible Task. One of them was that he was now able to employ Sub-Exigencies, additional beasts separate from the original six that Skullius had given him. There was no limit to how many he could add, and he could summon as many of these as he wanted. Baddan had made the Cluster beasts he and Savast had been collecting (including the one they had defeated from the new Cluster) into Sub-Exigencies.

Additionally, Baddan had made it so that while summoning the main Exigencies, he could seamlessly merge them with Sub-Exigencies, which gave the illusion that the Sub-Exigencies had Null Life Essence traces. All the Null Life Essence which had been erupting from the great shark-like Cluster General until now was coming from the first main Exigency Baddan had summoned today: a great ash-coloured centipede that went by the name Crushing World Cerullan. Baddan had summoned it before to crush the masked man, Actuass, inside his Territory.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1084).

The creature’s base ability was compounding damage and weight by four times. As it happened, it shared this ability with the Cluster General Baddan was riding. The beast dove down, heading straight for the battered skeletal body of Soizar, deep inside the blackened, scorching trench left by the Aggrante.

The Lich recovered his mental faculties right then. He made it known with a killing intent so potent it might have been a million physical hands, seizing everything around, that he was beyond furious.

Quicker than the mortals could comprehend, Soizar used an Immors Soul Art to mend his body and soul before the diving Cluster General could get so much as an inch closer to him. By the time it was two inches closer, Soizar had already recovered his suit and glasses.

"I had no idea I had such a weakness against mental abilities. Come to think of it, I haven’t fought any exceptional illusionists or manipulators," he said calmly.

"Lipptis!" cried Baddan, tense from above.

Soizar sneered at that. "Living mortals can teach things, can they?"

He’d raised a hand, perhaps to erase Baddan and every beast in his collection, when Savast came up behind him. Soizar felt him reach into his mind and establish a connection. That was Mimic. The instant he (Soizar) attacked Savast, the Unlimited Star would respond accordingly.

...But then Savast was doing something else.

"Neuron Biting Fist!" Mirages, or perhaps Neural energy so dense that it warped space, was bulging around his fists. He sent a couple of blows at Soizar’s head, but the Lich deftly avoided them. He even managed to dodge the sweeping kicks and the volley of blasting flying kicks aiming for his midriff and neck, each charged with the supposed Neuron Biting Fist.

Above, the Cluster General adjusted and soared up again, casting away the dive just now. Baddan had recalculated his next move with it. He jumped down instead, joining the battle with Soizar. His need for Lipptis remained, however.

As soon as he landed on the ground behind Soizar, Null Life Essence shuddered through him, empowering his body.

The supporting ability called Complication, allowed the main Exigencies to operate with thoughts on the same level as the user, or better yet, advanced Apostles. To what end? Well, the beasts could manipulate Null Life Essence on their own, but couldn’t use it as well as Apostles could.

With Complication, however, they could do things like: reinforce Sub-Exigencies with Null Life Essence more effectively; kill the Sub-Exigencies in exchange for generating Null Life Essence (like Skullius could with [Null Extraction]) and use that Null Life Essence for attacks or to restore their own reserves; or reinforce their master with it, making it seem as though he were using Null Life Essence like a Bearer of Null Life!

That was Baddan was right then.

Soizar immediately noted the Null Life Essence pouring from him and how it was efficiently utilized to bolster his strength.

This was his Savast and Baddan’s formula for a sweeping victory, and it was clear that they were only just getting started.

Soizar was as amused as he was furious at being caught off guard.

"So many specimens..." he said, and all his Undeath Essence flared, lighting up the continent like a fire.