"Come at me, Root!" Inala roared, reverberating his voice across the region. Through the sky, travelling across the water geyser was Inala.
The water formed a cloud and spontaneously descended onto the Stromar Cliff. Atop the sea of water was Inala, eyeing the approaching figure of Root as his Rutham right spiked with presence.
Secondary Nature—Infused Kinesis Touch!
The water in a radius of 1.8 kilometres was infused with his Prana and clumped into the shape of a serpent. And then, carried by its weight, it descended towards Root, accelerating with the power of psychokinesis.
Root landed atop a mountain peak and lifted his head, noticing that in the blink of an eye, the sea of water in the sky joined into a serpent, and then in a flash of blue, struck him, ’DAMN!’
Ka-Boom!
The water serpent behaved like a laser, sporting water pressure that was present in the depths of the Mrutch Sea. It was as if this pressure was fully released through a nozzle, which condensed the power onto the target, Root.
From many mountains, a geyser of water shot into the sky, thanks to what Root did within the Mrutch Sea. The geysers in a radius of 1.8 kilometres curved through the sky and fed into the body of the serpent.
"What...in the name of..." The oldest Zinger Aristocrat in the group gawked in shock, gasping at the serpent in the sky that had its mouth open. And bursting from it was a jet of water so condensed it resembled a laser.
The laser slammed into Root and pummelled him into the mountain, causing cracks to rupture across its form. There was a sphere of water surrounding Root as he lay pressed within a crater. Perfect Biome Domination sought to divert most of the water within the laser into a protective barrier, which helped defend against the laser better.
But still, the water pressure from the stream continued to press upon him, furthering the cracks. And a few seconds later, the pieces of the mountain crumbled, rumbling into the canyon.
Prana surged under his feet, infusing psychokinesis into the later of water underneath him, allowing Inala to stand on the back of the water serpent in the sky. He had placed a Rutham Spirit Weapon on the mountain peak, which would assist him in maintaining his position, if the water serpent were to collapse.
He was well within his Spirit Weapon range of 1.8 kilometres, ’Once I complete my Billakin’s State of Harmony, I’ll be able to increase my Spirit Weapon Range to 18 kilometres.’
Nothing would be able to harm him from that point. And if there was anything dangerous enough, Inala would simply hover at an altitude of 18 kilometres, well past the sea of clouds.
Calmly, he stood atop the water serpent, continuing to focus the laser on Root. The moment he noticed the water bubble surrounding the latter, Inala knew the laser wasn’t doing any damage, ’It is as expected.’
The flash flood lasted for twenty minutes, the duration of which Inala took advantage of and maintained the water laser. Towards the end, he caused the water serpent to turn its head and aimed at the Quip Zingers, swatting them down like flies.
Many of them were wiped off from the region, and as the last of the water serpent fired at Root, Inala had already leapt back into the crater. A few seconds of controlled fall later, he retracted the Rutham Spirit Weapon lodged into the mountain peak and plunged into the Mrutch Sea.
He also managed to grab hold of a Muscl and gained control of its mind by changing his left into a Naran Spirit Weapon. As they fell into the Mrutch Sea, Inala patted the Muscl’s two humps and smiled to see it was full, ’There’s enough to last a while.’
"Press forward." He commanded and saddled himself on its back.
Primary Nature—Spring Ram!
A layer of psychokinesis wrapped around the duo as the Muscl moved through the water like a bullet, quickly heading deeper into the Mrutch Sea.
"Hah," Root lay slumped in a crater at the bottom of the Stromar Cliff. The rubble from the mountain’s collapse surrounded him. The water laser had drilled straight through everything, making him feel as if he was at the bottom of a deep well.
Water covered the rest of the well as Root got up slowly and slithered out of the well. He landed at the top of the rubble and leapt to emerge out of the water and landed on the foot of the closest mountain.
A second of twirling later, he dried himself and stared at the sky, ’Our numbers have fallen by a lot.’
"Where is he?" Root asked as a Quip Zinger glided his way.
"He leapt back into the Mrutch Sea." Said the Quip Zinger. "He grabbed a Muscl before the plunge. He probably has the means to control it."
"Of course," Root analysed, ’Since the Muscl will be the one moving, Inala will have enough time to replenish his spent Prana. He probably used everything in the last attack. The Muscl has enough reserves to last an entire month, even while on a constant move.’
Root only had three Tangible Natures, two of which he had already activated, while the third was Prana Stitch.
’Mrutch Sea doesn’t have any natives living in it. I won’t be able to replenish my reserves in it, which makes it a perfect place to flee into.’ Root thought and broke into a smile as he kicked the ground and arrived on the mountain peak.
He surveyed the region and made a few leaps to land before a Muscl, "Thank you for the meal."
He didn’t kill it and instead simply chumped upon its two humps. Since a flash flood had just happened, there was enough Krave Fil for the Muscl to consume and fill up its humps once again.
Root consumed from over a couple dozen Muscls and then entered the Mrutch Sea. His Homing Satellite assumed the shape of a fish and swam through the water, ’It’s an endurance race.’
Suddenly, a droplet of blood dripped down his eyes, surprising Root. It healed spontaneously as it bled, causing only a droplet to spill out. Root wiped it and uttered, "Shield of Thorns, is it?"
"You’re making it hard for me to find you, huh?"
As Root moved, he began to create more and more Homing Satellites. In the meantime, by digesting some of the refined Krave Fil, and the Tangible Nature of Perfect Biome Domination, Root condensed one more Tangible Nature in his Zinger World. He stored the remainder of excess energy in his body.
Tangible Nature—Accel Hurl!
Homing Satellite, Accel Hurl, and Prana Stitch; he now had the three Natures that were part of a Zinger Guard. These three were the only Natures present in him now. He might implode if he had any more at present, for his current training only allowed him to do one action at a time.
As naturally as breathing, he harmonised them and unleashed a powerful ability.
State of Harmony—Piezo Rush!
Immediately in response, blood spurted out of his eyes, nose, and ears, for Inala was guarding himself using Shield of Thorns. Normally, that would have prevented Root from sensing the other party’s position.
However, it was why he unleashed Piezo Rush. It allowed him to connect with all his Homing Satellites. And as information travelled through the Homing Satellites, even the retaliatory effect of Shield of Thorns had to travel through them and reach him.
And by positioning the Homing Satellites at various locations, Root made it as such it took the information a different time for every single possible route. And hence, after unleashing his Prana detection means, Root counted to see when his orifices started bleeding. "Got it!"
Based on the time, he was able to locate exactly where Inala was. Moreover, even if a Homing Satellite were to be destroyed, it would instantly allow Root to know where Inala was. After all, every Homing Satellite was now displayed in his mindspace as dots.
Root moved through the Mrutch Sea, analysing every time his orifices bled, ’He’s moving to the same spot as the previous time. Is something there?’
Root thought as steadily, he closed in on the target by taking the most optimal route, ’No matter what you do, I can detect your position now.’
He kept releasing Homing Satellites in the shape of fishes that slithered and positioned themselves at farther locations in the Mrutch Sea. And they all appeared as dots in his mindspace, allowing Root to see which route caused him a bleeding. Based on the time spanned for the retaliation, he perceived Inala’s location to a decent accuracy and moved.
Slowly, he arrived within a thirty-kilometre radius of Inala, at which point Root’s preparations were done. He released a lot of Prana to ensure the effect of Piezo Rush would be maintained for at least a few more seconds.
And then, he combusted the Tangible Natures of Homing Satellite, Accel Hurl, and Prana Stitch into pure energy. He spontaneously began condensing a new set of Natures.
Zinger World—Biome Nature!
Zinger World—Accel Growth!
Zinger World—Perfect Biome Domination!
"You’re done for," Root chuckled as he harmonised the three Natures while using most of his reserves to condense a layer of Attributed Water around him, alongside a small stomach of grey sand and a spark from a Bolt of Transcendence. The preparation was minimal, which was enough here, since his Zinger World could generate enough weight on its own.
State of Harmony—Zinger Roar!
’Water travels faster through a denser medium, especially at such depths!’ Root thought as he released the Zinger Roar straight towards Inala’s position. He diverted a portion of it through the Homing Satellite network and released from all of them, which was all directed at the general vicinity where Inala was moving.
Boom!
Suddenly, the entirety of Stromar Cliff quaked as violent streams of geysers jutted into the sky, stunning every native in the region. Many of them straight up fled the region and gathered outside, watching water gush out uncontrollably to such an extent the landmass that formed the Stromar Cliff seemed to have sunk by a few metres.
The entire region got mercilessly flooded as the earthquake spread far and wide, bombarding the Rumtara Kingdom. It travelled so far that a faint tremor reached even the Brimgan Empire.
Root continued to release Zinger Roar for a whole two minutes and stopped only when it seemed like the entire Stromar Cliff would fragment into smaller chunks and absolutely collapse.
Slowly, he swam through the water, able to feel a skin prickle as Root soon approached his target to notice a cocoon of Rutham shielding the figure of Inala inside, bloody and unconscious. "That took some time."