Replicus didn’t really feel like wasting another Supreme potion on the Paladin Champion. He had surmised that the one he had given the poor man would keep him alive for 24 hours, but would ultimately be unable to heal him. More than half of that time had passed, and he had dedicated a portion of it to attempting to find a solution to the plague that was deep set within the man.

Ordinary healing skills – and Replicus had recovered many from treasures and tools – didn’t work even with his powerful surge of mana from [Sage Save] and [Sage Strain], which bolstered the effectiveness of his skills by virtue of them being used via a higher grade of core than was necessary.

Replicus had expected this outcome though, and could only resort to more drastic means than before.

Killing the Paladin Champion would be easy right now, and earning him as a corpse for a potential Apostle – one that would likely be more terrifying than Araeyn because of the quality of the corpse – was enticing, but with how Grim narrated the end of the battle between this man and his masked opponent, Replicus imagined that his Divine Blessing could be extremely useful.

‘That certainly is a dilemma. The Boneman me would have dived at the chance to earn such a powerful opponent,’ he thought, reminiscing about the old days.

Goodness, those had been a vibe.

When there was danger at every corner, and very little reason to survive said danger.

Most victory felt so satisfying, though the burden of the Doom Factors usually doused the joy he had had.

‘I really wish I had a year, as it was originally…’

Thinking back to when Doom Factor 2 had initially had a counter that spanned to a year. If Replicus had progressed with the same pace for a whole year, how powerful would have been then?

Right now, he was coming up with desperate plans for his battle against Somanda because he truly felt he was far from matching even the Arch-Lich version of him, nevermind the Divinity version.

Asides from going back to the Labyrinth and perhaps seeing if Skullius had found something else that could be useful, Replicus was stocking the bodies of Incandescent Stagers he had killed himself in order to take full advantage of the Nullmancer’s other set of abilities.

Ten Apostles.

When he reached Tier 4 and merged back with Skullius, Replicus expected every single skill he had between the two bodies to evolve, some perhaps to their very limit.

The [Apostle Summon] skill, which he had managed to get to level up decently after all this time, was likely to reach its limit as well. When that time came, he wanted to have the resources necessary on hand. This was why he was collecting the ‘trophies’ – the two Incandescent Stagers he had killed.

‘For now, we wait…’ he thought as he looked at the man laying on the bed before him.

His face had severe burns which obscured his handsome face and made his cherry coloured hair less of a neat spread of fibre, and more of a crinkled spam of dark yarn.

The right side of his chest was pulverised with spots of Undeath that persisted against anything that tried to ease the harassment that bore on his flesh.

“Let’s see then…” Replicus said as he activated one of his Penetrator exclusive skills.

Huge spots of what looked like Levin condensed into dazzling globes, appeared in random spaces over the Paladin Champion’s bed, creating a glaring light within the room that left only Replicus with the ability to see well.

Nineteen globes in all had appeared, and they suddenly started a contest of passing along a particularly beautiful, sharp bolt, rather, throng of Levin which was somehow brighter than all of them.

Replicus narrowed his eyes.

He had to be careful.

The state of his patient was awfully fragile at the moment. If he was careless, he could end him, after all, the skill he was using was tailor-made for healing a Penetrator, rather than a human.

~~~

[Brilliant King’s Adoring Stars (Special) | Lv.5]

Levin blossoms in a humble form – blissful stars – in as many a number as the Penetrator desires, and constantly heals and enhances them with jets of full purity packed with an immense amount of rejuvenating Null Life Essence from the domain of the Crippler. As long as the Levin continues to bathe the Penetrator they may surely never die, while stars for the jets of Levin – fifty at once – enhance the Penetrator’s attack power by 210%.

Mana Requirements: 112,000 (I) Mana, 100 Null Life Essence every minute active; double the cost for another set of stars.

Duration: —

Cooldown: 30 minutes

~~~

This skill had existed initially as [Silent Revelation of the Bright King], a skill Replicus used to heal himself on many occasions, most notably against the Fire Breeders. After evolving, and gaining an upgrade, it was much more powerful.

Replicus’ aim was to try to use the rejuvenating Null Life Essence spawned by the skill in order to stave off the Undeath that was infecting the Paladin Champion.

The bolt that was dancing between the globes ricocheted against them furiously before diving down at a tremendous speed when Replicus’ commanded it.

It struck right where the damage on the Paladin was most severe, and a sizzling sound was heard, its rhythm an indication of tender work as opposed to desperate effort.

…!

Right then, however, a mass of greenish black flame flared from the Paladin Champion’s wound, and attempted to contend against the bolt!

Replicus scoffed with his sockets flashing condescendingly.

“Crafty…” he said, and thirty one more globes appeared over the Paladin, strengthening the bolt immediately which had begun to lose in the tug of war!

At once, the Undeath manifesting as a flame was overpowered with ease, and the Levin dipped into the Paladin Champion’s flesh, resuming its work which remained intricate and precise still, despite its size.

However…

‘Really?’ Replicus thought when he saw the results.

The Undeath might have lost the battle just now, but it persisted in the war, it seemed.

Where the Levin from [Bright King’s Adoring Stars] hit, the flesh bubbled, turning into a nasty shade of greenish black, as though reinforced!

Immediately, Replicus deactivated his skill.

He had expected this work to some degree, but it had failed.

What kind of Undeath plague was this?

‘How about using it raw then?’ he thought and extended his hand over the Champion’s wound.

Null Life Essence gathered around his hand, decking it in a light blue hue.

It then turned to a whitish-green and he planted his hand on the Champion immediately.

Replicus had learned how to imitate different kinds of Null Life Essence, different from his own standard form by summoning different kinds of Apostles – the very way in which he managed to level up [Apostle Summon].

For instance, he had learned how Null Life Essence could be extremely sharp by imitating a skill he had acquired a long time ago, [Serration Zone: Baneful Edge], and now, he didn’t even need to use the skill to achieve the same effect.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.475).

The Penetrator wasn’t cutting anything right now though. He was doing something different.

This time, when he made contact, he saw and felt his energy sink deep into the Paladin Champion’s flesh without the Undeathly green being able to do anything about it.

However…

…!

The Paladin Champion’s entire body became wreathed in a great, towering flame of green and black that took on a frightening form, and hurled itself at the Penetrator!