Quip Zinger x8750!
The army had arrived, spreading itself along the peaks of the closest twenty mountains. Followed by a humming sound, Homing Satellites caused streaks of vapour cones as they landed on each peak, forming a stone giant. These stone giants were made using the rock of the mountains, and existed solely to launch the Quip Zingers into the skies.
To conserve space, all the Quip Zingers had reverted to human forms. Position-wise, they had completely surrounded the mountain where their target stood. But strangely, they didn’t take action. Or rather, they were gripped by nervousness.
The Homing Satellite carrying the sculpture-turned figures of Loya, Pitorah, and Shuwrak Zahara was scaling up and down the walls, intending to leave the Stromar Cliff and reach the closest Quip Tower.
Zinger Aristocrat x92!
The Zinger Aristocrats gathered on the same peak as their target, nervously standing behind their leaders. Even though they had succeeded in their previous attack to a great extent, they too were gripped with nervousness.
One after another, they reverted to human forms, for it consumed the least space and allowed them to huddle together. Eight stone giants appeared before them, acting as a wall for their safety. But despite such protection, the Zinger Aristocrats felt their heartrates gradually accelerate.
"Hkk!" One of them suddenly broke into a fit of hiccups upon making eye contact with the target of their hunt.
Who was the predator? Who was the prey? That didn’t matter. Who was the hunter? And who was the prey? That question just became irrelevant.
The target of their hunt stood a fair distance away, somehow exhibiting a casual stance. Arms had reverted to regular, Brully claws. The ten-storey Storage Lantern hung at the side of his hip. He showed no signs of activating it.
"What...what is he doing?" Rhonya stuttered, having observed Inala sever his Rutham right—shaped like a Millinger’s head—and store it in the ten-storey Storage Lantern. And then, he formed his hands into a base Rutham, without any special modification.
"Is he...for serious?" Wenka stared at Hunsar to ask, "You’ve interacted with him in the past. What the heck is going on in his mind?"
"Go all out," Hunsar said in panic, breathing in and out in an effort to calm down, not for a moment breaking eye contact with Inala, "When he stops using a bunch of convenient stuff and sticks to one tool, that’s when he’s serious."
"He said he wouldn’t kill us, but that’s worse in my opinion." He said, "It means he’ll keep attacking us until we’re all unconscious."
"What do we do then?" Rhonya asked, "If he doesn’t use a Spirit Weapon, I won’t be able to restrict him much."
"Make decisions on your own." Hunsar said as he began to retreat, "I’ll make arrangements and support from afar. If your situation is at risk, I’ll assist you with my Homing Satellites."
"Take the vanguard, Wenka. You’re the one who has the toughest body here." Hunsar said as he merged among the group of Zinger Aristocrats and hid himself. He began preparing a Homing Satellite and quickly laid out an intricate Prana Stitch within it.
Sweat dripped down the foreheads of the Quip Zingers as they carried Prana Bombs in their hands. They had stitched a Tangible Piezo Slip into the Prana Bomb, whose function was to place the target in a state of sleep.
Upon making contact with the target, they would absorb the target’s Prana and use it to launch this Tangible Piezo Slip. The more these Prana Bombs stack upon Inala, the faster they’ll knock him unconscious, and the longer he will need to wake up.
Trying to force him to sleep would interfere with the effects of Inala’s Primary Nature of Cyclic Stability. It would fiercely resist, which would increase Inala’s Prana consumption to maintain the Nature’s passive effect.
Only after Inala was expended of Prana was there a chance to make him fall asleep. Therefore, the Quip Zingers had all planned in unison to make this preparation. So, they all used a Prana Stitch with the same intent.
"Urgh!"
"Chrrr!"
"Kreee!" Saliva churned in their mouths as their throats struggled to swallow them. All along, their target, Inala, was just...standing.
His eyes casually scanned the surroundings, the smile on his face unceasing. However, the more casual his bearing was, the more pressured the Quip Zingers felt. After all, they all knew the truth.
The existence they faced wasn’t a mere Gold Grade Pranic Beast in human form. No, it was literally a reincarnation of their Deity, in a form suited for battles.
Technically, the Royal Zinger wasn’t a fighter. It was a thief capable of stealing Prana and lifespan from its enemies. This was made obvious from the fact that a majority of the Royal Zinger’s strength is concentrated in its arms. The remainder was in its throat.
The Royal Zinger’s arms were stronger than the Celestial Boar’s. However, the rest of its body was pretty fragile in comparison to other Mystic Grade Pranic Beasts.
Therefore, as the Royal Zinger, Inala spent most of his time planning meticulously. And the first time he truly took serious action after becoming the Royal Zinger was to join the Third Major Disaster, which was when he ended up defeating the Celestial Boar.
A prepared Royal Zinger could face even the Celestial Boar. Conversely, an unprepared Royal Zinger could be killed by any Mystic Grade existence. That was the type of existence it was. Thankfully, Inala’s planning nature helped unleash this build’s true potential.
But now, that very same individual inhabited the body of a creature that was born to fight. A Brully was extremely balanced in terms of offence, defence, evasion, and sensory means, having virtually no weaknesses.
Some prep time would indeed make it stronger, but even otherwise, a Brully didn’t lose out too much. An adult Brully only needed to wield his tool-shaped arms to fight.
And currently, in the name of the Major Treasure of Weapon, Inala had the means to instantly make preparations.
"It seems you’re all ready," Inala said as he began to walk towards the duo of Wenka and Rhonya, his pace gradually building up as excitement filled his face, "Come at me with the intent to kill, but don’t fret. I have no intention to take a life."
His feet made faint tapping sounds as Inala ran across the rock floor of the mountain peak, "I will only use Billakin and a basic Rutham on my arms. I won’t use any Spirit Weapons, no constructs of Billakin or Rutham, and most of all,"
His smile widened until his lips traversed the full section of his jaws, "I won’t use my Major Treasure either."
"Just me, and my arms against the lot of you."
Mystic Sumatra Art—Prana Blood!
The amount of Prana being carried through his blood increased as Inala rushed towards Wenka, watching a Prison Bomb fly his way. It arrived in its intangible form to prevent him from countering it through Billakin.
Using its adhesive properties, the Prison Bomb latched onto the rock surface, perfectly covering Inala and his surroundings. A layer of dirt began to form on his body as Inala stopped moving.
In a matter of seconds, a thick layer of dirt had condensed over Inala, almost a metre thick, causing Wenka to gawk in shock, "That...did it?"
Inala had been turned into a sculpture. That much he was sure, since he could control the sculpture as a Spirit weapon now. Jus the fact that he could easily turn Inala into a sculpture puzzled him, especially after how much he had been intimidated by the latter.
"Just in case," He uttered and tripled the layer of dirt covering Inala. Now, a layer of dirt three metres thick covered Inala, having solidified into tough rock. It could be further reinforced by his psychokinesis, which he actively did.
There was silence in the place as all the Quip Clansmen expressed their bewilderment. Their Deity’s reincarnation was captured, just like that?
"Are we...are we..." A Quip Zinger asked in disbelief, "Are we being pranked?"
Boom!
Suddenly, the sculpture turned into dust and collapsed to the ground, revealing Inala’s figure.
"Impossible!" Wenka bellowed in shock, "I turned you into a Spirit Weapon. You shouldn’t have been able to..."
He stopped speaking upon noticing faint traces of blood in the dust that had collected at Inala’s feet. He tried to think of an answer, but before he could figure it out, Inala had begun running towards him.
"Do it again, and you’ll have your answer." Inala laughed as he leapt out of the confines of the first Prison Bomb and rushed forward, only to be caught within the second. A few seconds later, the sculpture shattered into dust.
"I see," The second time, Wenka had his answer, for he had been focused on the sculpture. When the dust began to layer itself over Inala, the latter used psychokinesis to pressure the blood vessels and spurt out blood through the pores on the body.
This formed a thin layer of blood over the body. As it carried his Prana, the Prison Bomb considered it as the target’s epidermis. Hence, once the sculpture formed, Inala wasn’t stuck to it. Only the layer of blood he created was.
His body, hence, wasn’t constricted. It was just trapped within the hardened layer of earth. This meant that he could clearly target this Spirit Weapon, which he did by changing his hand to Billakin.
Billakin could create a Spirit Weapon out of a mineral and also destroy a Spirit Weapon into its mineral form. And by targeting the sculpture with Billakin, he shattered it into dust.
"It’s a neat trick, right?" Inala chuckled, "Next time, you need to use Prana Stitch smartly. If you simply use Prison Bomb on me, I will easily break free."
"I had only used two units of Prana in that last exchange."