False Territory, Frostbourne Desert.
This was a high-end Special Skill that Tulnas devised in order to cover for all that he lacked at this current stage.
An Advanced Class.
The truth of the matter was that Advanced Classes for Energy Formers were way harder to obtain than those of other categories. This had led Tulnas to Class Branch, gaining abilities that would otherwise not be his forte as an Energy Former, like swordsmanship, stealth, close range battle instinct and hand-to-hand techniques, most of which he had exhibited in this fight.
The False Territory was not his own idea however, but one that he had been given by the Grinning Jester Fox that he had tamed.
He had met this creature when he travelled to Maqi, finding it on his venture into a massive forest called Oumior.
It was still a cub back then, being roughly six years old, but exhibiting extreme intelligence and strength above Tier 4.
The Grinning Jester Fox was not a common creature to stumble upon in any location and this young one, from seeing and appreciating its qualities through a short battle, Tulnas did his very best to try and tame it.
From its extraordinary ability to read his moves and tell various aspects of him just by observing him with its orange eye, Tulnas could see that this was a worthwhile creature to strive for.
Unfortunately, it was no small task as in the end, he only managed to win it over by besting it in combat after three days and then performing the Taming Rite.
Growing with this creature had been a hassle as it took a long time for the two to get used to each other but given the fox’s intelligence, it quickly learnt how to communicate with him and became more friendly to him, opening up more about what it knew and wanted.
The two had gotten along pretty well, Tulnas helping the creature grow and treating it as a friend instead of a pet.
After some time, the fox had thought of something about Tulnas and asked the simple question, “How would you like to own a trump card, an ultimate technique that could allow you to use all your tamed beasts’ abilities as your own and with greater efficiency? Excluding mine, of course.”
Tulnas had found the idea absurd at first as his reply was dismissive.
“I’m trying to achieve that by learning how to obtain an advanced class, you idiot. Are you hungry or something, you can just tell me, you know?”
“No, you fool!” the fox had growled at Tulnas before sighing out its rage to more clearly express its point. “I’ve seen some older beasts use manifestations of hmm, what do you call it again, of space… Territories to enhance their mutations and abilities. Humans do it too, right? What if I told you that I can help you create such a thing, but as a lesser version that lasts only for a short time?”
“Oh?” Tulnas had finally paid attention as he looked at the grinning figure that protruded from his back. “That would be pretty handy. It would cover up for my offensive weakness if it could also boost my physical abilities. Interesting. What would I need?”
“Hmmm. Your Aura. All of it, at once. It possesses information about your tamed beasts and your abilities. I could temporary exhaust all my energy to create a separate space that enhances these abilities and assimilates them into you. But, it will be a one-time use with a limited duration. My healing capabilities will have to be used to a limited effect prior to using this technique, so make sure not to die before then.”.
Tulnas had grinned after mulling this over.
It was way more than worth it to bet on this and his expression had told the fox all that it needed to know.
….
At the current moment, the four Tulnases rushed around the water creating a turbulent water vortex that spun at a crazy speed!
All their figures in addition to Guissepo’s could barely be seen in this insanity and the cultist grit his teeth.
‘Extravagantly Intriguing. I can’t tell which way is up or down. It won’t matter even if I could unless I can manage to outmanoeuvre these clones, which I guarantee will be extravagantly difficult. In that case, I’ll use all I have to blow this dimension and slaughter all these heathens! I will attract more of them eventually and start over. Tomin’s fears were not unfounded after all!’ Guissepo thought before he curled around himself like a ball, gathering his energy as bits of fireworks started to appear around his body!
This time however, they all seemed to be of the same colour.
Blue!
They started to generate a mass of multiple shades of the colour while illuminating the water which started to boil immediately!
The four Tulnases sensed the surge in power and they looked amongst themselves, one of them immediately swimming towards one of the larger cracks on the Territory wall while the rest stretched out their hands in their respective positions.
Their transparent, starry bodies as well as luminous eyes quivered while Guissepo’s body prepared to release the craziest explosion with a blue tint enveloping everything within the Territory!
With this glow came an incredible quivering of not only the Territory, but even the cavern as this was a prelude to a calamitous event!
The explosion created no further suspense as it came right after the glow, the water within the Territory rumbling as it was pushed back by the initial impact!
Yet…
“Now!” one of the Tulnases ordered as in the next moment right as the explosion was about to wipe out everything!
GRRRRRKCHH!
In less than a second, everything froze.
Literally.
The Tulnases, the water and Guissepo who was the very centre froze up into a large circular white block that had hints of blue originating from its centre where the dreadful explosion that Guissepo had been about to use had begun.
As this occurred, the Tulnas who had left the others, exiting through the crack, landed on the ground outside the large sphere where his starry body instantly transitioned into his flesh and blood, losing Alphat’s physical traits as he was outside the Territory.
He looked around to see Skullius a few meters behind him with a quizzical expression on his face as he looked at his spatial storage ring before turning his head to look at him.
On the other side, Natalika and Gertreld were each holding down Gwendelina and Tomin who looked up from his grounded position.
‘Seems like everything has been settled,’ Tulnas thought.
As he was about to pay attention to his Territory, his sharp senses noticed something very odd.
Primus.
There were remnants of Primus that still leaked through the air even after the formation had vanished from its handlers dying.
However this wasn’t had caught his attention as he had felt this before the fight.
What attracted his focus was that amidst the small streams that had been flowing out when the Evenfall members were still alive as they channelled Primus from a formation that Tulnas wasn’t sure where it led to, one particular one stood out to him.
This remnant of the channels that had been fuelled for the past days or maybe weeks in his perception was large and dense.
Very large, almost to the point where it was as large as large river!
A massive amount of condensed Primus was being channelled somewhere.
If each channel was a potential Cluster being formed somewhere in this region, then the small ones would be white to blue-white Clusters.
But this one…
Furthermore, the direction which it extended to didn’t sit well with Tulnas.
If his directional sense was correct then, it was somewhere in the direction of Inhone!
‘Are these bastards mad?!’ Tulnas thought before he refocused on the Territory which had passed its time limit.
Skullius noticed Tulnas’ troubled expression and asked with bountiful anxiety, drawing away from the issue going on with his ring. “What’s happening?”
Tulnas rendered an answer which he deemed adequate as he then proceeded with the next step.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Explosion I was up against was pretty strong. I can’t kill him with any of my current abilities so…”
FWIP!
Tulnas propped up three of his fingers from his right hand as the rest remained planted to his palm, the spherical False Territory beginning to rumble with its cracked and heated mass!
“…I’ll have to seal him and produce him as living evidence.”
From Tulnas’ back, the Grinning Jester Fox emerged, its head focused ahead.
Its appearance spooked Skullius a bit as it really looked like the insanely powerful fox he had travelled with in the Tremur.
“Complete Sand Coffin,” Tulnas called, the massive sphere beginning to shrink rapidly as its exterior turned from a heated molten surface into thickets of shuffling waves of golden-brown sand that maintained the perfectly circular shape.
At the same time, thick dark chains wrapped around this figure of sand and with a loud clank whose impact vividly depicted the completion of the seal, the deed was done.
Tulnas breathed out a sigh of relief while the fox behind him began to recede back into his body.
“I’ll be retiring to recover my energy. Don’t disturb me,” it said with a hoarse voice.
“You live in my body for Quintess’ sake,” Tulnas mumbled in exasperation.
He then looked around, reaffirming that he would definitely need to inform Erkus and Silrat about a potential blue Cluster or worse emerging.
He stored the floating mass of sand into his spatial storage which was quite pricey with the special effects it offered, which allowed him to store a living individual given that certain conditions were met.
Tulnas then walked up to the space where the Evenfall cultists were projecting their formation, his eyes turning to Tomin who looked to be barely alive.
His eyes were bloodshot, with thick veins roaming within as he squirmed in pain.
“He’s not a threat. Whatever poison was used on him by Festos’ summon is rather potent,” Natalika said.
Tulnas nodded as he then turned his eyes to Gwendelina who was held firmly by Gertreld, a short sword at her neck.
She sweated as she wore a dark face with traces of immense rage leaking from the way she looked up at Tulnas with her dark eyes.
Tulnas merely smirked at her in response before speaking.
“I don’t think keeping a Mage alive is ideal. I already have more than enough with Mr. Explosion.”
Gwendelina’s eye twitched.
Dying for a cause and dying like this were two different things.
It was so… dissatisfactory.
Behind them all, Skullius once again turned to his storage ring as the weird tug suddenly happened again.
‘Seriously! What the flesh is going on?’ Skullius thought as he then passed mana into the ring to see what was causing this strange thing to occur through him.
He then found that this was happening in the space within the Null Devil’s Aegis of Damnation!
How could an object do something like this while trapped in a double portion of storage?
Only Red Rage could do that.
As he peered within, Skullius saw…
A small thin, hand-shaped item with a blood red hue.
This…
This was the crest he had been given by Eobald back in the Tremur Forest along with the Arcane Teleportation scroll and the Universal Gate Key!
An item that Skullius had long forgotten about what with how small it was compared to everything else stored in the storage space of the Null Devil’s Aegis of Damnation!
This was the item which was causing this?!
Suddenly, the item shook and left the space within the dark armour, then it went on to leave the space within his spatial storage ring as it appeared outside, floating on its own before him.
Tulnas felt something weird going on behind him and turned to see Skullius looking with anxiousness at the floating crest.
“What’s that?” Tulnas asked as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
“It’s… uhmm…” Skullius tried to explain but couldn’t find the words, yet Gwendelina and Tomin who looked at this had their eyes constrict immediately!
What was that doing on this guy?
Wasn’t that..?
To add more fuel to this abrupt change in events, in a silent corner of the cavern too dark and silent for anyone to pay attention to, footsteps were heard.
Something inched its way from a space that was hidden by the darkness.
The moment it became clearer for all to see, its presence becoming abundant for all to sense, all eyes immediately shot open.
For Gwendelina and Tomin this turned to be chaotic occurrence, for when they saw the colours white and green emerge, they grit their teeth, Tomin especially!
For the rest, this new entrant’s energy caused for them to turn extremely cautious.
“Haa… You’re the one?” a stern and authoritative voice leaked from the hooded figure donning a cracked, dual coloured mask as he looked at none other than Skullius…!
—-
[Author’s Note]
If you’re about to read the next chapter, make sure that you have read the Revia arc from Ch.181-190. If you don’t, your confusion is not on me. Cheers!
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