Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Skullius saw dead Darewolves sprinkled over a somewhat moist ground and knew that he was close.

He dashed forward and covered the distance from this place and to the site where he had buried Red Rage in five minutes.

This was it. He was almost there. The anticipation he felt was intense.

The loneliness had been real.

He had to be strong all this time while being surrounded by enemies without any form of backup.

Now, it would be different.

Upon reaching the familiar spot, he felt strange.

It seemed like forever ago when all the events he remembered had happened and yet...

He looked around, his vision seeing further than he had been able to the last time he was here.

From here, he could see the goblin settlement that was roughly a hundred meters away with better clarity, the burnt remains making me feel like this could have been him in another reality.

Trampled by the strong while he could do nothing to resist.

He was in this same boat actually. The Doom Factors and his tie to a power that he didn't fully understand was proof of this.

As Skullius looked at the charred remains, he saw a surprisingly sight.

Or rather, the sight was surprising because he was familiar with what it contained.

Even though it wasn't exactly clear because of the distance, he saw a goblin that wasn't burnt to a crisp like the rest.

It was kneeling beside two unrecognisable and burnt stumps while a sword impaled his chest, protruding from the back.

The sword's end supported its body from the back, allowing for the goblin's body to stay steady in its kneeling posture.

This goblin had undoubtedly committed suicide and Skullius knew this creature.

It was Shirota.

'To think this is where I started but where some met their end...' Skullius thought before turning his gaze away.

He didn't care about the dead, only the Null living.

He looked at the bulge on the ground where Red Rage was buried and crouched down. He used his armoured hands and began digging away the dirt.

Soon, the image of the tusked boar skeleton with a fur hood appear and Skullius pulled it out.

He looked at Red Rage and couldn't help but acknowledge that he had definitely faced too much without this bloodthirsty, disobedient yet lovable sidekick.

He laid Red Rage on the ground.

"Wait... how do I wake him up?" Skullius asked himself.

He stored his helmet in the armour storage and began scratching his skull as he brainstormed.

"Maybe if I inject mana...?"

A stream of mana poured from Skullius' finger releasing a bright tint on the ground and flowed into Red Rage but nothing happened even after a full ten seconds of injection.

Skullius shook his head.

No. This wasn't it.

"I guess mana won't do. What about Null Life Essence then?"

This hadn't been his first option because manipulating Null Life Essence wasn't something he could do like he did with mana. Aside from igniting it on his body and using it for skills, he couldn't really do much with it. At least without the staff.

Skullius grabbed Red Rage by the skull and focused on the energy that he stole from dead bodies within him.

A blue flame-like construct bloomed from his hand and shrouded Red Rage's skull. The sensation of Null Life Essence had been clear to Skullius after he had used it take the skills from the two staves back then hence doing something like this wasn't hard.

[Apostle 'Red Rage' is currently resting in the embrace of Serenity. Would you like to wake him up?]

"Yes, wake that bastard up!" Skullius bellowed.

A flash of light coursed through Red Rage's eyes as soon as Skullius gave his affirmation to the notification that had popped up in his vision.

Red Rage's sockets flared with a blue light like bright torches and soon, the Bone Boar was awakened, his body quivering with Null Life!

Skullius removed his hand after seeing the successful return of his bro.

He wanted to smile but unfortunately, his form didn't support such an action.

He stood and watched as the now vastly shorter figure of his Apostle lifted himself up and looked up at him.

"Red bro..." Skullius said affectionately, his arms subconsciously opening wide.

Red Rage's sockets beamed with a brighter light as the Apostle suddenly walked forward and opened its arms wide too.

Skullius crouched down to accommodate his follower, not stopping to wonder about this instinctive action he was performing.

When the two were merely four inches from each other, Skullius expecting the Bone Boar to also be pleased to see him just like he was...

"Huh?"

Red Rage had halted his advance midway and turned back to his grave.

"What the..."

The Apostle pushed away the weapons that Skullius had buried along with it in the grave and comfortably laid down, pulling in dirt to cover itself.

Skullius.... was enraged.

Red Rage didn't pay him any mind. In a matter of seconds, he was once again covered up, sinking deeper into the hole.

"YOU SOCKETHOLE!!!" Skullius yelled as he dug his arm into the covered grave, pulled Red Rage out and kicked the short figure away!

Red Rage smashed against a tree and cracked many of his bones!

He fell and lay down motionlessly.

Skullius rushed over and began giving the insolent bastard an 'earful'.

"Have you any idea what I had to go through to get back here you idiot?! You want to go back to rest after I worked my pelvis off to survive and get back here to find you?! If you weren't my Apostle I would use [Damnation] and send you down to wherever the flesh they take you! Are you even listening you sockethole?!"

Red Rage stood up and patted away the dirt on his bones before giving a vicious nod to Skullius who didn't buy the response at all.

If he had been in his Discount Human form, there would no doubt be a throbbing vein on the side of his head right now.

Still, his bright and magnified flames which depicted his wrath dimmed as he calmed down.

He was really disappointed.

After showing his vulnerable side, this sockethole had just...

"Listen up! We are getting out of this place and entering into the human world. We need to learn more about how everything works. When we do go to these places, I want you on your best behaviour. No senseless killing and no disobeying my orders. You'll get us erased and I don't want that. You hear me bro?"

Red Rage nodded.

Skullius could have just send this order to Red Rage telepathically but being vocal really helped him settle his fury.

Seeing and feeling Red Rage's nonchalance really made him bitter and he found himself questioning why this ungrateful bastard was so privileged with all that ridiculous... talent, if that was the correct term to call it.

"Right! That blessing of Serenity. I should be able to see what it's about now, right?"

Skullius summoned Red Rage's status panel.

~~~

[Blessing of Serenity]

A blessed package given to the first named Apostle of the Nullmancer. It is a congratulatory and supplementary package that serves to support the Nullmancer to boost the long range preference of this class holder. The blessing is manifested through the Apostle of the Nullmancer.

It comprises of two gifts given to the summoned Apostle.

-

[Basic Murder Arts | Lv.3]

<Passive>

The summoned Apostle becomes very adept at killing all creatures, living or dead instinctively either through quick and merciful or slow and cruel means. Knowledge on how to kill any organisms is granted and refined with an increase in the level.

---

[Prodigy]

An aspect of the Blessing of Serenity that allows the summoned Apostle to quickly learn skills, movements or concepts it has seen and experienced at 250% the normal speed.

~~~

"Wow... and here I thought I was cheating..." Skullius said.. dumbfounded. What a reveal. It effectively made him feel bad about himself.

No wonder this bastard was able to learn skills so quickly!

No wonder he was so murderous!

No wonder he was so full of himself!

Such a blessing given to this rebellious bastard.

"This is definitely not undeath," Skullius said, looking at the unreasonable Bone Boar. Perhaps if he had known that being a Nullmancer was so much work he would have chosen differently.

Unfortunately for him, he recalled clearly how the guidance field had strickly warned that he wouldn't be able to change his class.

Sigh.

Now that he learned of this and desensitised himself to the ridiculousness, it was time to make his follower stronger.

What was the use of an Apostle if it couldn't even help its master? It was literally the followers purpose and Skullius aimed to make it count.

"You should be grateful, I'm about to bless you with a ton of experience!" Skullius said grandly while his dark blue skull released tiny bursts of Levin.