Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1411  Taming Fellow Cluster Beasts

"I repeat, do not kill the Cavern. Doing so will only make the crystals stronger. Red Rage and I are about to extract more information about them. Once we do, we'll let you know. Make sure you don't kill any of those dark creature by mistake, Brains. You're especially susceptible to missing the point in what people tell you. I've noticed. Oh well, byeeeee!"

A vein throbbed on Savast's temple as the illusory figure of Kintar vanished between him and Baddan.

The Sky Watcher gave a chuckle.

"She really has it out for you. Is it because you gave her a hard fight back when you were a Cluster General?" he asked.

"She still beat me with a mere three attacks in the end," said Savast. "Life was so much easier before she became so powerful. Does she think I owe her?"

"Maybe you do. She's the only reason you're still alive."

"Well, yeah, but does master rub it in your face that he's the only reason you are useful out of your Cluster?"

"Fair point," said Baddan with a grin.

Savast was right. Even if he managed to live long after his Cluster – which had been the Venue of the Premium Age Royale back then – was destroyed during the battle between Rayn and Skullius, Baddan wouldn't have had any abilities at all. As a Sky Watcher, his powers were centred around the sky of the Cluster he had lived in. He had lost them after it was destroyed.

"But at the same time, it's really not a fair comparison," Baddan said as they walked into the lake. "Kintar is just… Kintar. Perhaps that's how she expresses her affection. By saying awfully hurtful things. No one really understands her. I doubt even master understands her completely. That just might be why she had the most outstanding result in the Impossible Task – her doubles must have been confused by her just as much as they confused her."

Savast found some funny in that.

"Now that's a fair point," he said.

Before the intensive training regiment leading up to the Impossible Task, Skullius (as Replicus) had drawn a large number of Clusters using the Fallen Reincarnator's Shadow into the Timemould Mirror Box. Some were  weak and some stood at the pinnacle of fatality.

Red Clusters.

Skullius would sometimes bring out creatures from these Clusters and have them fight the Stark Troops.

Savast was a Cluster General from one the red Clusters which Skullius had brought in. He had been matched against Kintar, and they had had a very brutal fight which ultimately ended in Kintar's victory.

After the battle, she refused to kill Savast though, and asked Skullius if he could join their ranks. Savast's powers, according to Kintar, were a counter against anything that could think and should be preserved.

And that was how Savast ended up joining the Stark Troops.

He dreaded those days, however. At first, he had been happy that he was spared, but when Skullius inducted him into the brutal training, he had screamed on several occasions that he would have rather died after Kintar defeated him.

But here he was, diving into another Cluster, happy to be part of the Stark-Soul Order.

"Get the Stor ready," he said to Baddan as they were devoured by the rich waters.

The red Cluster he and Baddan had entered featured a lot of water bodies, big and small. The Cluster beasts never left the water. It was no different with the Cluster General. Even though Baddan and Savast had made a show, killing its kin, it never came out. It waited for them to come to it.

The two dipped into the water, powerful experts not averse to slaying creatures categorised the same as them. One, a silver-furred humanoid with dark eyes, the other a humanoid with three, pupilless eyes. Both were adorned in the Granted Star Armament, but in different styles. Savast's was pretty unique. It spotted seven golden horns on the helm which revealed his face in full while hugging the sides of it.

The waters under the Unlimited Stars was particularly clean and empty.

Nothing but a pale sand floor could be seen.

That roused the two's suspicions.

"Let's get this over with. I think we'll collect this one too," Savast said. It was a trifle for him and Baddan, talking underwater. He snapped his fingers. There was no sound, but a pulse stormed violently from him, coursing through the entire water body in a flash.

…And then there was a scream.

The modest mental attack Savast had released was powerful enough to hurt it terribly, throwing its mind into chaos.

The creature seemed completely imperceptible under water. No sensory ability could detect it. If it were any other expert from Aigas having to face it, they would have been killed without knowing how or why.

But Savast's attack just now, allowed him to see the form of the creature through its mind.

He was especially good with everything to do with the mind.

All kinds of minds released pulses of energy, and he could detect them, read them, manipulate them.

~~~

[ Name : Savast QUEi]

[ Tier : 97 ]

[ Level : 348 ]

[ EXP : --- ]

[ Core(s) : Purple ]

[ Class : Batty Mind Caster]

[ Race : Warpsing Fleshimon ]

[ Inv. Status : Considering dismantling Kintar's brain nerve by nerve ]

-------

[ Stats ]

[ UNGENTLE APPULSE (II) : 122,900 ]

|Host can attack three targets with a single action|

[ WHIP STEP (II) : 400(231,900) ]

|Every movement with the intent to cross a large distance by the host may (if they desire) be amplified fourfold|

[ BEYOND SMART (II) : 134,094 ]

|Elevated intelligence; every unit of intelligence recorded is worth two extra units|

[ THREE-BLOW QUO (II) : 675,000 ]

|Host cannot be harmed unless they receive three consequent blows each above a certain threshold of strength (The threshold is 675,000 (II))|

[ LUCK : 165 ]

-----

[ I RESIST DEATH : 44/50 ]

|The host cannot be killed until all automatic reviving charges have been exhausted|

-----

[ MANA (II) (x4) : 40,453,000/50,210,000 ]

…

[ NEURAL ENERGY STORE (x9) : 14,499,576/18,050,785 ]

~~~

Savast read it when the invisible Cluster General attacked them, sending drilling streams of water reinforced with millions of units of golden quality mana their way.

Baddan languidly activated his armour's Stagnant Parameter, a barrier of Null Life, to block the attacks, but Savast left himself wide open. Two massive storms of spinning water drilled their way to his position and smashed into him at the same time.

The former Cluster General was unfazed and unharmed.

Because of his unusual stat, Three Blow Quo, he couldn't be harmed unless he was hit by three attacks in succession.

He lifted a finger at the agitated enemy that only he could imagine and gave a smile.

"You're an ally now. You will fight with us against the Cavern."

And that was enough.

As soon as the creature heard his words, it stopped. Its mind was altered according to Baddan's words.

It even began to reveal its frog-like body, white as snow and scaled like a lizard. It was quite large. It was a Tier 670 phenomenon.

"Take him," said Savast, and Baddan warped towards the creature with a small white sack called the Stor.

His and Savast's objective was to gather powerful Cluster beasts to use against the Cavern and so far, they had caught 87,907. All of them were above Tier 300 and all of them were in the Stor.