Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Something had been bothering Skullius for a while.

Now that his mind was much clearer, the question Skullius had when he had run away had received an answer.

It had been a spur of the moment thing when he had rushed away from Denille after seeing that she had her hands full with the creature at the beginning of the Labyrinth.

Why had that creature let him go?

Wasn’t it some kind of guardian?

Would he also be considered a trespasser?

In that moment, Skullius had just bet on a chance and it had worked, but now he understood.

The giant fox had given the answer already when it gave an introductory speech to Skullius and his group.

“… he didn’t acknowledge the weak but he never harmed them, never putting them in his sight.”

He was ignored because he was weak. The guards were made bearing the same philosophy as Fulgardt and therefore didn’t attack Skullius.

However, that wasn’t the only reason. The other more meaningful reason was something Skullius didn’t know but it went a long way in explaining an ancient history between Fulgardt and the Deities.

Get to the point, what was the reason, one might yell?_.

Skullius hadn’t been acknowledged by the Deities. This detail was vague but enough.

Skullius opened his mouth to say something just to check what [Pseudo Evil Veneration] would do but he suddenly stumbled.

Something within him had changed for the worst.

His mana supply had suddenly declined!

The once abundant streams of mana that he was feeding from the arrow in him to his mana core suddenly became thin wisps that staggered, slowly showing signs of dissipating!

“Damn it! Not right now! Did Denille decide to cut off her supply of mana from me?” Skullius surmised.

That wasn’t right. That was something she would have done a long time ago and it was implausible for her to only now consider it.

Was she dead?

Maybe!

Or perhaps she was injured and couldn’t afford to supply him mana anymore!

Whichever the answer was, Skullius wouldn’t be able to find out anyway!

“What to do! What to do! Wait! If I can get more souls, I can increase the amount of mana I can handle! Will that work? VOW bro did say that I have to support myself with mana so maybe the reason I’ve been unable to save myself is because I don’t have enough mana for it! That’s why he said I needed to reach Tier 1! Gaaaah, my mind!”

Skullius clutched his head as he felt a painful pulse in his mind!

The tense situation had caused him to go into overdrive, working out many things at once!

When it came to his intelligence, he wouldn’t suddenly turn into an idiot just because his stats had decreased like what happened when he had used [Flesh It Like You Mean It].

His mind would simply become clouded but he was still equally as capable of thinking as he did with his high stats in his Boneman form.

Skullius shook his head and rushed forward. He didn’t know what exactly he needed to do to move on from this place but assumed that going forward was his best chance.

He ran past the corpse of Sila and went deep into the darkness, cautiously making his way ahead.

Soon, a little visibility emerged, four paths appearing before Skullius.

The Discount Human halted and looked at these paths.

There was double the number of paths as last time!

Also… it wasn’t a simple matter of choosing the one he thought he could survive in anymore.

All of them hissed with different types of powerful presences and hostilities that Skullius had never felt before!

His fake body mimicked the swallowing of a large lump of saliva as Skullius’ grey eyes raced between the four paths, his mind working against the limited time he had to see if there really wasn’t a better option!

After confirming that there was no better choice, Skullius just ran ahead, disappearing into the second path.

He was desperate to not meet his maker anytime soon!

As he went in, Skullius’ bold choice and unrelenting will to survive was not rewarded by something reassuring.

In fact, it was the opposite!

Skullius felt his whole body shudder as another illuminated figure appeared in his view, bearing a magnificent appearance that was soiled by the piled on layers of age and thick darkness around.

A soft wind of power blasted Skullius continuously as this being who was bound by a yoke just like Sila, raised his head to look at Skullius.

A humanoid appearance with a tall frame knelt down as a thick yoke bound his hands, sturdy chains connecting it to the floor.

This figure had golden hair that flowed to his feet, bearing traces of dust and dirt. His face was dirty, different mixtures partially covering the untended skin, while sharp eyes that held a bright, true sapphire light gleamed in the darkness.

An armour that looked to have been made for a celestial king adorned the tall figure, being a combination of gold and crimson, the breastplate bearing a grand insignia that made Skullius instinctively back away.

The armour was very old with rust eroding most of its former grandeur.

The most intriguing feature about this being however, was the single, massive wing that came from his back!

It held numerous white feathers that were covered in muck and dust, twitching from time to time as it lay on the ground.

Unfortunately, a sad tale could only be told about the other wing as a bloody stump was all that remained of it.

“This…” Skullius stammered.

His [Basic Mana Manipulation] tried to reach the figure but it was blocked, Skullius not even being able to tell what this individual’s core was like.

[You have encountered your next opponent, ‘Arch-Luminant Dezrael’]

[As a rare individual, a carrier of both affinities, you have been given the privilege of two choices. You can choose to release ‘Dezrael’ from his yoke, honouring him with a fair fight or you can kill ‘Dezrael’ while he is yoked, depriving him of honour]

[The first choice grants an enhancement to ‘Just Light’ plus the guaranteed gain of a skill from ‘Dezrael’, while the second grants an increase in ‘Evil Darkness’ plus a chance to steal the soul of ‘Dezrael’]

[Which do you choose?]

‘What do I choose?! I don’t even have a fair choice! Who in their right mind would free this guy?! I’m not even sure I can get near him!’ Skullius panicked.

Dezrael’s eyes flared with mana and he spoke with a frightening voice.

“El’u suv Ka’ril.”

Those simple words caused even the darkness around to tremble as even though Skill didn’t understand what they meant, something clicked in his body and core.

He stood aloof and suddenly, his body jerked forward!

‘What’s going on?! What is this?!’ Skullius thought as his body involuntarily moved ahead.

His legs moved against the raging energy that exuded from Dezrael until it stopped a meter from him and…

He bowed!

Both of Skullius knees touched the ground and while in unbelievable shock, the Discount Human’s upper torso leaned forward!

Dezrael looked down at Skullius with eyes that showed a regal authority and he spoke, this time in a language that Skullius heard.

“Free me.”