"Get ready, Nurnur." Prana surged through Wittral as he became battle-ready, "We have no other choice but to heed his order. It's impossible to escape from this place otherwise."
"What if he…" Nurnur was unable to continue her sentence. She was afraid the Boar King would swallow Wittral for his Primary Nature.
"He would have done it already if he wanted to do so." Wittral sighed, "I'm pretty sure he's aware of my identity. We don't know his objective, but playing this game is our only choice."
As their surroundings began to darken, Wittral glared at the Pranic Beasts, "Besides, we were killing each other anyway. Let's just see it through to the end now!"
"To the end!" Nurnur shouted and erected a jet-black cloud that spewed waves of heat at the Pranic Beasts.
"To the end!" Zakzak echoed in response and combined his powers with Nurnur and amplified the heat waves, causing a pungent scent to waft out.
"Remain in Wittral's proximity and give everything you got!" The captain shouted and split his body into five to protectively stand around Wittral while launching attacks on a Clumped Finger. "To the end!"
Time was running out as their surroundings fully darkened. The entire area became part of the Sandy-Grey Void, beginning to gradually assimilate them into it.
The cloudy layer forming their foothold began to rapidly melt and turn into grey sand as the Cooter Clansmen were alarmed. In response, they attacked faster, wishing to kill the Pranic Beasts as quickly as possible so that the Boar King could bring them out.
A sense of urgency had been created as a result, causing both sides to clobber into each other with maddened states.
"Argh!" Blood leaked out of his orifices as Wittral forcefully used his Primary Nature on the grey sand. At the mere contact, most of his Prana was consumed, since he was trying to control the grey sand as part of his Spirit Weapon.
With a grunt, he unleashed a tsunami of grey sand, causing it to spill all over the Pranic Beasts, eliciting endless screams. But due to the nature of the Sandy-Grey Void, it was deathly silent.
The Cooter Clansmen felt like they were launching attacks into the void, for there was no sound. They had to rely on their Prana senses to determine that there were others around in the area, both friends and foes.
At the ten-minute mark, the Sandy-Grey Void abruptly stopped expanding, beginning to stabilise. But at the centre, there was water underneath the layer of grey sand that expanded to a depth of 600-1000 metres.
The loose grey sand was heavier than water and hence began to sink into the latter.
"Thanks!" Nurnur shouted upon being imprisoned by the Primary Nature of the Clumped Fingers. Wittral sprinkled some grey sand on the layer of dust coating her and destroyed it, allowing her to break free.
She then charged towards the closest Clumped Finger, launching attacks recklessly, uncaring if she were to die.
She left behind a body beside Wittral. As long as that survived, she could recultivate. Besides, protecting Wittral took the utmost priority.
The cloudy layer was fully consumed, causing everyone to set foot on the unstable grey sand. As large volumes of it were sinking into the Dralh Sea, some of them suddenly fell through, not leaking a sound after that.
Both Cooter Clansmen and Pranic Beasts were in the same state, being consumed as they drowned in the mixture of water and grey sand. On the sinking corpses of Pranic Beasts hovered miniature Empyrean Zinger Scouts.
And connected to them through an energy stream of Prana was Inala, standing at the edge of his Spirit Weapon range. He used two Empyrean Zinger Scouts to monitor Wittral. They couldn't see or hear anything but were able to sense Wittral's state through their Prana senses.
Of course, Wittral would notice them when they did that, killing them in response. A couple seconds later, another scout would take its place. By expending the lives of the Empyrean Zinger Scouts, Inala kept tabs on Wittral, ensuring any variable, if it were to arise, wouldn't upset his plans.
Gently resting on the grey sand was a hollow cylinder, spanning a length of 10 metres and a radius of four centimetres. Holding it at the top with one hand to hover was Inala, having reduced his weight to the minimum.
The cylinder too was weightless, hence it wasn't pulled into the grey sand as quickly as others. This meant it was being consumed at a slower rate. And whenever its height was reduced to nine metres, Inala condensed a Prana Bomb at the top to recover its height to ten metres.
His hand would then shift to hold at its top end and dangle from there, expending minimal Prana even in such a dangerous location. Without the Mudropper's data, he wouldn't have been this calm.
The Sandy-Grey Void wasn't uniformly dangerous. Though slow, the loose grey sand slowly moved through the region, creating a concentration difference. Eventually, areas formed on the Sandy-Grey Void that were less treacherous than others.
The Mammoth Clan of the past used such safe areas to forge a path to another continent. The Boar King too instinctively made use of such paths to take advantage of the Sandy-Grey Void during his early days.
With the Mudropper's data, Inala was able to detect such areas and camp there in safety while observing the battle taking place.
As the grey sand in the ship's area collapsed into the water, Wittral had an easier time, with some of the water from the Dralh Sea surfacing. There were particles of grey sand covering it, causing a sharper drain on his Prana.
But using it, he was able to harm the opponents with greater effectiveness, using his everything to seep the grey sand into their bodies and cause their destruction from within.
The battle raged for close to eight minutes, at the end of which, the last of the Clumped Finger breathed its last, bursting to spill out a pile of grey sand.
"We…won!" Nurnur lost all strength in her legs, gasping in exhaustion as she was completely drained of Prana. She had lost two bodies in the final stretch, which was a lot better than she had thought. Wittral's usage of the seawater mixed with grey sand was a turnaround for their side.
"H-How many of us survived?" She asked but didn't receive a reply as none could hear her. She flailed her hands around in the dark until someone caught her, giving her a vial.
There were barely a couple of drops of medicine left in the vial as Nurnur consumed it to generate barely enough Prana to activate her Prana senses, "Zakzak!"
She also sensed Wittral safe and secure in Zakzak's embrace, having fallen unconscious. Zakzak had two bodies left, both positioned on either side of Wittral, protecting him. Nurnur expanded her senses further to notice fourteen others had survived.
"Zakzak! We survived! We can leave now…" Nurnur shouted in excitement as she approached Zakzak, only to be met with a splash of warm blood on her face. A blade peeked out from his neck, the cause being a Cooter Clansman right behind him.
He was part of the group dispatched to Fral Island and the most familiar to Wittral among the Cooter Clansmen on the ship. Hence, he, along with his comrades from the Fral Island formed the group closest to Wittral, acting as his secondary protection, with quite a few of them losing their lives in the fight before.
But now, this secondary protection betrayed them at their most unexpected moment. The sneak attack targeted both of Zakzak's bodies first, since he had the most amount of Prana among the survivors.
"W-What is happening?" Nurnur was momentarily flustered, intending to retaliate. But suddenly, the Boar King's presence washed over her, dulling her reaction, during which, a blade pierced her neck.