Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1508: Are We Even Needed?

Jenson was one of the Stark Troops who had followed Pherdanta into the Under.

He was fighting Cavern, just like everyone else, including the Divine ones, committing to effective formations with his fellow Stark Troops.

Pherdanta had been right. Holding back on slaughtering the Cavern was a hard feat, especially when every one of them – Stark Troops and Unlimited Stars – were basically fresh out of the Timemould Mirror Box. Skullius' training regiment had emphasised lethality. Finesse was only something he taught when mustering supernatural forces – controlling energy for offense and defence – not when it came to showing restraint. Naturally, that was a skill the Troops learned for themselves outwards, but it was hard to adapt to not killing suddenly when dealing with creatures like the Cavern.

Jenson used Granted Warp right then to warp behind three Cavern and deliver terrifying strikes to be backs of their necks, knocking them out once. Oddly though, this trick didn't work on every single Cavern. While their biology was somewhat similar to that of humans, more often than not, you were likely to encounter a Cavern that wasn't humanoid at all.

Two more of the enemies came from behind him, but Jenson didn't bother to turn and respond. Another Stark Troop flashed between him and the Cavern and blasted them with a regular Aggrante. It wasn't even a Singlefold. A Master could survive one.

Coordination and cooperation was another lesson Skullius had taught the troops before he introduced the Impossible Task. Having another Troop's back and expecting the same was par for the course with the Stark-Soul Order. Even though it might have been a little different for the Unlimited Stars.

Jenson, like the rest of his fellow infantrymen, had killed 100 of himself during the Impossible Task. The idea that Pherdanta had killed 8,009 of her clones, and Kintar a whopping 14,000, was still beyond him.

With Granted Vision, he spotted an enemy coming from what it thought to be his blind spot, and sighed. He didn't bother defending. He simply warped elsewhere and looked up.

'Were we even needed? Never mind us Troops,' he thought and spied the other weaker experts. 'Were they needed? The Commander could probably deal with the force down here on her own. Was she just being charitable? Trying to be a good leader?'

Jenson indeed understood that there were Divine Cavern, which were for the most part, impossible to kill as a mortal, but after fighting them himself – and struggling, indeed – he couldn't help but feel that Pherdanta could take them on somehow.

Jenson lost himself in thought.

'What was the objective again?' He spied the massive halberd in the sea of darkness. That was definitely meant for Boron's hands. But what was it doing here? Had it been forged by all the Cavern down here? The Stark Troop frowned.

If that was true, then why was the finished project yet to be sent into the right hands to wield it? Why was it still in the Under?

'Don't tell me there's an actual reason the Commander dispersed our forces to fight these Cavern instead of doing it on her own.'

The massive Territory overhead hid Pherdanta, mirroring her immense power with its great size.

Few understood it, but the Stark Troops were only just now getting to know Pherdanta as a Commander. Everyone had changed after the Impossible Task. Some had grown stronger, some smarter, some both.

It wouldn't surprise Jenson at all if he was missing some point Pherdanta had already caught on to. There was a reason she was the one Skullius decided to name the Commander, after all. The role didn't necessarily need to belong to the strongest among his subordinates.

"Jenson!" cried one of the Troops. "We'll use the old monster's technique to stun those things. We'll start with the uglier one. Get ready."

Jenson gave a nod and with a thought, he warped to fill an empty slot in a formation six of his peers had already erected one of the Divine Cavern. The creature, shaped like cactus, scoffed at them, and raised its fingerless hands to crush some of them, filling its flesh with Amras; a direct or even indirect hit would be lethal.

But the Stark Troops hadn't waited for it to ready any attack before launching their assault. The Divine Cavern had only managed what it had because it was faster than them in general.

"Aggrante!" three of the Troops cried and with two fingers propped out, they sent shimmering, violent beams of condensed mana and Null Life Essence streaming straight into the Cavern. There was a wild flash as the rays met the creature's skin. It groaned and defended immediately with Amras.

Its defence was effective, and the Cavern grinned, mocking the Troops, but then…

"Stagnant Parameter!" Jenson and the rest of the gathered Troops pointed forward and large plates of Null Plates encased the Cavern in a prison at once.

Just when the creature screwed its face in confusion, an old monster readied his technique, his body throbbing with Nitros.

Rudus Morde was the most nebulous among the Six House Heads. He was the oldest and most reserved. His whole family was a bunch of recluses. Some of the other House Heads didn't even what his House's Technique was.

Jenson and the others had seen the older man use his technique as soon as they landed and were assailed by the Cavern. It was simple yet, devastating. It could also be tame, if the Rudus used it right; it seemed he was skilled enough to use it in moderation.

But now, he didn't need to restrain himself.

Propping forth a bow larger than he was, the older man nocked… nothing. He drew.

The string crackled as he pulled with all his might, puffing his cheeks with air.

And then it showed.

An arrow appeared, unclear, like dirty wind. It was thick and long, ringing lightly.

When Morde loosened it, all the Stark Troops hurried to cover their ears with mana. Jenson and three others wished they could have plugged their fingers into their ears as well, but they had to keep the Stagnant Parameter barrier around the Cavern up until the very last second.

And they did.

Just when the arrow was five meters away, an inch from the barrier, they released it.

The Divine Cavern snarled and attempted to catch the arrow.

That… did nothing.

Jenson and the others erected the Stagnant Parameter barriers again, trapping the vague arrow and the Cavern together.

By Morde's desire, the arrow exploded… with the most atrocious blast of noise known to man. It exceeded the abomination that would have been every living thing on Aigas screaming at the top of their lungs. The noise scratched at every solid piece in a Cavern's body, including the brain, bones and even blood.

It was frighteningly effective even against low class Divine beings.

The old man, Rudus Morde, was an Advanced Archer.

He didn't use physical arrows. When he drew the string to his bow, he harnessed concepts into concentrated shapes. The longer he drew the bowstring, the stronger the arrow of energy, essence or concept would become. In this case, he harnessed sound and launched it as a projectile rigged to explode against the Cavern, while also adding a quirk he had developed for his technique through the [Soul Talisman].

The shorter the distance between him and his target, the more the power of the arrow would grow.

At present, he had managed to apply a 1.5 exponential increase to its potency – the second highest figure he could manage.

"RAAAAAAAARRRRGH!" the Cavern didn't die or get terribly injured, but it crumbled to the ground, blood flowing from its ears, its teeth gnashed.

The Stark Troops didn't let it recover.

They took down the Stagnant Parameter barrier and then pointed at the creature with three fingers.

Normally, Skullius forbade the use of a Triplefold Aggrante, but in this case, the Troops had the freedom to do as they pleased.

And thus…

"Nos Aggrante!"