Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 859 - 859: All According To Plan

Milo could feel that whatever had just happened when he had headbutted Frenand had provided a small refreshment to his golden mana, and even slightly healed him, but it was like a drop in the ocean, he was still losing blood at a rapid rate, the undead still had the upper hand, but Frenand was definitely feeling the strain of being invaded by golden mana as well, the skeleton had resisted it for far longer that should have been possible, as this wasn't something one could just power through easily.

It was insidious and quick, the undeads Milo had faced before being taken here had nearly dissipated instantly after receiving a head-on blow from him, the lieutenant meanwhile, had endured multiple, including whilst Milo had in that strange state of rapid energy flow, and even taken that strange attack that filled the room with gold directly, but for all intents and purposes, he was still fine.

The mana was doing its work obviously, but it was far from being enough, he could still maintain his vertex without any issue, and he barely seemed weakened at all.

The difference in how the undead elites had succumbed to the gold and how Frenand was resisting it, there might be a dire disparity in power between them, but it could not possibly justify such a great difference in relation to the golden mana.

"Say, since you love to run your mouth so damn much, why don't you take some time to explain how you are not turning to dust when infested by my mana?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Golden Boy?"

"So it's a closely guarded secret, I get it…" Milo spat another mouthful of blood, and raised his hand, surging forward once more toward the undead, whose now revealed skull made it seem like he was perpetually grinning in the most obnoxious way possible.

'Shit, if I can't defeat this guy, what was the point of all that training?' as the two warriors clashed once again, Milo had to play aggressively, he was on a timer, if he waited for too long, he would just collapse like a sack full of rocks, but the problem with being too aggressive, was that the undead was very much willing to trade blow for blow, as he quite literally did not care about receiving hits head-on.

But Milo could hardly afford to get hit more, so he had to somehow be incredibly aggressive in his fighting style, but also leave himself enough room to avoid all of Frenand's attacks, in a perfect world where Milo was at his best right now, he probably would still get hit, so right now, it was a pipe dream.

His fist crashed against the durable skull, and without gold flashing, the damage inflicted was not noticeable, the vertex granted an incredible reinforcement to the undead, but this augmentation was impressive because it had the foundation of a skeleton that was already incredibly durable to begin with, much like Milo, it seemed like Frenand's greatest strength was actually his durability.

It spoke to just how potent the headbutt alongside the flash had been to leave a crack upon the undead's skull.

As he landed the ineffective hit however, Frenand struck him in the chest, breaking at least one rib judging by the sound, the living did not back however, grabbing the undead's wrist, and spinning around him to prevent getting kicked, picking the corpse up and flinging him right into the ground.

Not letting go of the undead's wrist, Milo stomped down on it with his left leg, pushing his right knee right up against Frenand's chest, before begin to pummel him in the skull repeatedly, the strike made Milo's hand numb as the undead was so awfully tough that he was hurting himself trying to destroy the lieutenant.

Instead of dealing damage to the corpse, Milo was shattering the ground below them, pushing his enemy into the ground like they were upon quicksand.

With the flames still burning strongly in his sockets, Frenand laughed.

"Nice play, very nice! So you really can't control your own mana, huh?" the undead mocked him.

'Mmh, so he gets tougher the stronger he is hit, and the more he attacks, the more powerful his punches become…' Frenand found it quite impressive, as although the difference in strength was not nearly as great as the difference in toughness he had noticed earlier, he could definitely feel it, little by little, Milo was hitting harder.

Being able to grow more powerful like this, whilst in the midst of combat was definitely an impressive ability, and it seemed like it was all to be owed to the golden mana specifically, that strange element was interacting with its user, Milo, in a way unlike any other element should, but by now, it was obvious that the gold was not a typical element, as Bellah had discovered, it seemed like that element permeated everything about Milo, the living just did not know it.

'If what you believe is true, is it really wise to do things in this manner, General Loimos?' for a second, as his skull was being battered and pushed deeper into the ground, Frenand had a moment of doubt, but it was immediately chased away.

'No… It is just like when the headhunter in white was allowed to run around on Belliste, I simply lack the wisdom to see the bigger picture'

Just as the living's fist approached once again, the flames in his sockets surged, and he opened his jaw wide, catching Milo's punch right in his mighty jaw.

"Golden One, you didn't really think that I was at your mercy, did you?" And he bit down, crushing Milo's hand into a mesh of red paste and pale shards.

The moment of weakness that followed was brief, but was all that Frenand needed, barely even requiring any leverage, he rose up, lifting himself and Milo off the ground before shaking his head like a shark that had caught a prey, up until the living was sent bouncing against the ground, his destroyed hand still stuck in between the undead's teeth, the mess of gore was thrown to the ground like a piece of trash as the lieutenant stepped toward the living.

"Hey- Do you hear me, Golden One? Come on, stand up, you just lost your left hand, you can still hit me with the stump, and your legs are working just fine, you still have the means to defeat me, or is the bloodloss getting too much to handle? What a shame, if only you didn't have to worry about such a thing… Mmh, I feel like I spoke of something that would allow for that…"

Grabbing Milo by the neck and lifting him off the ground, Frenand squeezed.

"Come on, if you have any ace up your sleeve, now would be the right time to pull it out! I don't know, think about your wife and kids, power up or something! Prove yourself worthy of the importance General Loimos placed on you!"

Frenand tightened his hold, right as something flickering beside him, just a few meters to his right, a crack appearing upon the very air.

He did not recall that anyone else was supposed to join the party here, so why was a portal being opened up?

The way the fissure formed was just as he would expect from the usual gate being opened up, but instead of a fellow undead appearing, it was a stream of deeply condensed, wind mana that came out slamming into him, and pinning him right against the wall.

Striking down with his fist upon the spell, he managed to break it after a few strikes, only to find that both Milo and the portal were gone.

Frenand looked around.

Just in time for another portal to open up, this time another undead stepping out.

"Oh hey, Erestel, any idea what the hell just happened there?"

"I don't have a clue, but you got mangled a bit there, Frenand"

"All according to plan"

Erestel looked at where his fellow's right arm should be.

"Sure, all according to plan…"

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