Master Of None

Teeth. Not just a few or small teeth either. Fangs that could cut through any of them seemed to have been pulled from different dark elemental monster bodies and stuck in to the body of the undead thorn disaster. It had used more than the bones and a few other parts of monsters to make itself a body. It had used everything they had, including the teeth to create its very own mouths to attack and spit danger itself at prey.

When the first ball of thorny sludge was spit out from the toothed maws, Walker was able to see it break one of Alice’s light shields, something he didn’t think would happen. It was the sheer physical force behind the attack that had done it too, not the decaying effects that countered and even overpowered the light mana making the shield that Alice had created dissipate entirely.

This wasn’t the same strength as what had been used before by the undead thrown disaster, instead it had increased its strength and even begun to throw the gathered pieces of bodies at them. Menaign that it was going all out and abusing the undead aspects of what it was.

If left alone, it could become much larger and gather many more monster bodies to keep itself ”alive”. This meant that it would be able to do more than create balls of thorny bone and sludge to fire at people. It might even make a mess of vines and roots that send these things all around the dark elemental plane.

The very reason why it would certainly be the source of an imbalance.

As Walker was going to tell Alice to be more careful, he saw her face become focused and somewhat angry. To her, breaking the light mana that formed her will due to the swings she was seeing was not just an insult but a show of how she couldn’t help and protect others. If the will she had put in to the song that created that shield had failed, then that meant she did not have enough desire to protect others in her. It meant she was not acting as a saintess or anything even close to one.

With a deep breath, Walker suddenly felt a lot of the light mana he had stored in his body try to pull away toward Alice. He let some of it drift away since he knew that it would go to whatever she was going to do that would be helping them. With the control he had over mana around them, he was isolating the undead well enough that the manas wouldn’t get out of contour even if Alice didn’t draw back the light mana she was using.

The next song that came to everyone’s ears was harsher. It spoke of defensive anger. Of lost allies and those on the brink of death. This wasn’t just a collection of memories from when Alice had spent time as a healer, this was a fear and the source of her song of shields.

The desire to protect from death and injury for all those she wished to protect and more. The desire for peace and protection. The outrage and horrid disgust she felt when she was just healing and unable to protect others as well. That was the true essence of the song as twenty extremely dense light shields formed in the same shape and size of the twin shields that Su used.

As Walker also felt a boost to his agility, he understood that the song had multiple effects that Alice allowed everyone to benefit from. Her buff was to ensure that no one would be touched by the attacks of this undead in its final moments. It went so far to attack them when it shouldn’t even be as it is at all, it was going against nature and they were here to right that wrong.

The shields didn’t just sit idly though, they advanced on the undead thorn disaster. They slammed in to its bones snapping off bone thorns.. They slammed in to the mouths that were about to release balls of thorns and sludge at others to break away. And one even managed to sever one of the vines entirely.

This wasn’t just using light shields with magic made of purifying light mana, this was copying Su’s offensive shield technique entirely without the need to hold the shields at all!

”I praise the great decay.”

”The very source that grants us the ability to grow.”

”The source that breaks free from death and offers new life.”

”Take upon yourself our mana and faith.”

”Cast judgment upon those who break the cycle.”

”Fall and return to nature as you were destined to do under our might!”

”Abyss of decay and return.”

The sudden cry of a mastery level skill related to decay caused the other elite obsidian slime race members to fall and their slime bodies to fall away, their cores lay on the ground in small piles dormant. They had literally given everything to the cleric of decay so that the mastery spell could be sued. A clear example of their unity and faith within the cleric and also in their faith as well.

It was the sudden pitch black mana that covered the entire ground that kept Walker’s attention. He could feel the immense decaying effect that it had. So great that even the ground seemed to be breaking down. The ground that was made naturally by the dark mana within the dark mana elemental plane. The skill was forcing that mana to become part of it, part of the decaying skill now swallowing the undead thorn disaster.

The bone thorns were dissolving and breaking apart. The attempts to shoot more attacks and even begin lurching toward them were nothing but futile attempts to attack whatever it could even though it was now losing the battle against the decay that was already within and now outside of its body.

While this skill was incredibly powerful, the cost seemed a little too great. It could not be used without others to allow mana to flow in to the cleric of decay. It also cost them a high enough price that they were entirely weakened and could easily be killed or captured right now. But with walker here, that was not as impossible since he was already channeling ambient dark mana toward them and seeing that the multiple cores had started to draw the remnant of their slime bodies back to them.

He also noticed that the obsidian slime who was using the spell, the cleric of decay, had shrunk having burned up some of their mana and even body to ensure that this skill worked properly. A price that they sued without flinching or hesitating. They knew very well that they were protecting the balance as their race had always wished to do so.

Using the Decay to force the undead to completely break down and return to the natural flow was a great way to ensure that the undead was defeated and also that there would not be any damage left behind. Instead, the nutrients from this attack would be left behind for new life to bloom.

Decay was not always as horrible or evil as some made it out to be. Without it, there would be no way to return nutrients to the earth and grow anew.

Once the skill seemed to end and there was not a single remnant of the undead thorn disaster to be seen, the party came together and found that the cleric was seemingly in a daze. The cost of the skill on their mind must need some rest which was more than fine. However, they also noticed that dark sprouts of what seemed to be dark affinity herbs had begun to grow quickly around them.

While these sprouts would not be able to be harvested for some time, the fact that they had been waiting for a high amount of nutrients like this was just evidence enough that decay was a chance for new life. That the faith the obsidian slime race held true to was indeed worthy to follow.

”We will rest here for a while. The others didn’t seem to be fighting many monsters surrounding us. Your skill handled the monster better than if we were to force light mana aroun here. Alice will also keep humming a buff skill to help you all regain mana while I bring in more dark mana for you.” The cleric made a slight nod and the party started to set up a temporary camp.

Everyone had seen the mastery skill and they all knew the strength that it took to sue one. Therefore, they would be looking to learn a little more as they went if they could. The obsidian slime race might be a bit stronger than they were expecting.

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