"Blind it." At his words, Asaeya placed her mouth before a vent and unleashed a sharp screech, causing two of the three Gold Grad Pranic Beasts to lose their sight immediately. She flinched in response, observing that merely using her secondary Nature on these two Gold Grade Pranic Beasts expended forty Prana.
She had only blinded them. Had she targeted their other senses too, then the amount of Prana being sharply drained from her Spirit Container might have caused her a heart attack.
Mystic Bone Art—Prana Blood!
Right after they became blind, Inala seeped large amounts of Prana into the Sumatra Ship and used Internal Inertial Gravity to make it almost weightless. The ship's lungs ejected all the air in them through the vents, resulting in a powerful thrust that caused the ship to lift off.
Within three seconds, the Sumatra Ship reached an altitude of four hundred metres as a pair of wings appeared behind it, allowing it to glide forward, only possible because of its weightless state. Since the thrust stopped already, the ship merely glided. It wasn't considered flying.
"Whooooshhh!" A sound akin to a geyser resounded as the third Gold Grade Pranic Beast peeked out of the water and stared at the gliding ship for a good two seconds, imprinting its image into its mind.
Following that, it retreated into the water and disappeared. The two blinded Gold Grade Pranic Beasts quickly figured out how the Grim Knell's power worked. The Prana of one of them was being consumed to blind the other.
And since the ability was a double-edged sword, its sight too was taken out in the process. The two Gold Grade Pranic Beasts moved away from each other, observing their sights return once the distance between them crossed one hundred eighty metres.
The ability's action range was equal to the maximum Spirit Weapon range for a Pranic Beast at maturity, which was one hundred eighty metres.
The first Gold Grade Pranic Beast's Prana was consumed to blind the second Gold Grade Pranic Beast, treating the latter similar to a Spirit Weapon, carrying the double-edged sword. The effect was unleashed through an energy stream connecting the two, whose limit was the maximum Spirit Weapon Range. Hence, when they moved away, the connection collapsed, as a result ending the ability's effect.
After regaining their sight, the two Gold Grade Pranic Beasts didn't bother chasing after the Sumatra Ship, for it was too far away. But, they unanimously took note of it, intending to target it later. In that short interaction, they gained a good amount of info on their target.
"I can't see if they have left or are still tailing us," Asaeya said as she stared at the ink-black sea, unable to make out anything happening in it.
"We're close. Let's worry about it after reaching our destination." Inala said, watching his Sumatra Canon suck in air. He was becoming ready to shoot the Gold Grade Pranic Beasts if they were to sneak upon them.
The Sumatra Ship eventually returned to the water and continued to sail at its optimal speed. Soon, they arrived at a large island.
The Dralh Sea was littered with 16,000 islands, with the areas of each ranging from a square kilometre to a couple dozen square kilometres. The one they arrived at was called Leh Island, a landmass spanning an area of six square kilometres.
The beach barely spanned a couple metres, steep in nature. The Sumatra Ship crawled onto it and opened its mouth, ejecting out all the contents within it.
Inala grabbed the Prana Bombs and stuffed them in his Sumatra Lantern. Once the Sumara Ship emptied its interior of all foreign substances, it began to shrink in size until it became small enough to be pocketed.
Inala slung it to the side of his hip and patted it, feeling the numerous scratches that had formed on it, "I need to spend some time repairing it."
He then took out a Bone Slip and gave it to Asaeya, "Use it."
"Okay," Asaeya accessed it and observed some information regarding the islands in the locality. The Bone Slip crumbled into powder immediately after. Her face turned pale as she stared at Inala while looking around restlessly, "There are Ewworms here?"
"Plenty," Inala nodded, "This place borders the Guna Caves. So, a good number of its Ewworms flee here in search of food or to escape the Bludders."
Intermediate Iron Grade Pranic Beast—Ewworm!
This was the third Pranic Beast race native to the Guna Caves, one with a disgusting hobby due to the power they possessed.
Primary Nature—Rectum Merger!
Ewworms remained hidden in the earth, hiding their presence to the extent most Prana detection methods would fail to spot them even if they were barely a couple of centimetres deep underground. They would remain waiting there, conserving their energy.
An Ewworm could remain immobile for close to eight years before requiring sustenance. When it spots a target, the Ewworm would jut out of the ground like a geyser and stab into the target's anus, entering it.
Once it had drilled deep enough, its head would fuse with the target's rectum, thereby becoming an extension of the target's body.
An Ewworm's primary diet consisted of human or Pranic Beast excreta after fusing into their rectum. It would consume it daily and use it to grow. Its length would continue to increase until it seemed like the victim had grown a long tail.
Technically, an Ewworm didn't affect the target beyond that. It was neither capable of influencing their decisions nor did it affect their body or Prana. Rather, it only consumed the body's waste, as a result actually making the target healthier.
Moreover, they defended their targets from harm using their whip-like tails. And if an Ewworm were to grow long enough, it would grow a weapon at the end of its tail, using it to harm any predators targeting its host.
The only way to extricate oneself from an Ewworm would be to sever their rectum and regrow a new one using Prana.
Asaeya emitted Prana through her surroundings, failing to detect any Ewworm. Failing to find them only made her more nervous, "Can't we leave this place?"
"Relax," Saying so, Inala snapped his finger, causing an Empyrean Zinger Commander to position itself on the buttocks of each, "They can easily stop an Ewworm…"
He hadn't even finished talking when an Ewworm drilled out of the ground and made a beeline to his butt, only to face a Prana Bomb that obliterated it. For a moment, goosebumps formed on his skin, despite managing to easily kill the Ewworm.
"Let's go," He said and took a step forward, encountering another Ewworm. The Empyrean Zinger Commander created a Prana Hand and used it to grab the Ewworm and strip it of all its Prana. Its crushed body was then chucked to the side.
All three Empyrean Zinger Commanders took similar action to protect the trio of Inala, Gannala, and Asaeya as they headed deeper inland.
Five minutes of walking later, they arrived at a cave entrance, one that led into a mine. Seated at its entrance was a gruff-looking middle-aged man, asleep. Placed on the table before him was a scroll, and scribbling on it with a pen was his tail.
The gruff middle-aged man was a Free Human. The tail was obviously an Ewworm. Upon noticing Inala and group, it took up a pose similar to a cobra, its actions waking up the gruff middle-aged man who shouted in a fluster, "W-Who are you?"
"We're travellers who wish to visit the revered abode of Immortals." Inala cupped his fists with a respectable tone.