Boom!
The Boar King slammed into a hill and arrived at a stop. Most of his bones were fractured from the impact as he was already in a weakened state. He had begun to generate some Prana but hadn't used it yet, keeping it for emergencies.
Hiss!
Pranic Beasts of the region noticed his arrival and began to rush towards him. At his present state, the Boar King's presence was at its weakest, not at a level enough to intimidate Pranic Beasts like before.
Instead, he was the ultimate treasure now. There was a chance an Iron Grade Pranic Beast could mutate just by chomping upon a piece of his flesh. And this chance wasn't small. As a result, expressing a voracious desire for his flesh and blood, the Pranic Beasts rushed towards the Boar King.
"Are they for real?" The Boar King had never witnessed such a sight in all his life. Weak, dirt-like creatures with inconsequential strength were now charging at him to devour him, the strongest existence in Sumatra Continent's history.
'This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been so impulsive.' He thought but didn't regret his decision. At present, he made a loss during the fight. He ended up using two Gold Grade Natures of Subtle Terrain Domination and only managed to recover one Gold Grade Nature of Internal Inertial Gravity.
He didn't complain though, having figured out Loot's true identity, 'In his orb state, he's able to hide within Pranic Beasts. That's why I'm unable to detect him.'
When the armoured figure appeared, the Boar King imprinted the latter's Prana signature in his mind. Now, he'll never forget it. And through that short interaction, he learnt a lot about the latter.
"Loot is at the peak of Gold Grade, but has a Mystic Grade Nature. And this Mystic Grade Nature is what allows him to do everything he wants. He's able to swap the Natures in both him and others, but seeing as how he has acted until now, it seems he's able to use these Natures without limits." He muttered, "It's similar to Astral Chart but has its differences."
Astral Chart could store up to a hundred Natures and theoretically allows the Boar King to stack all one hundred of them for usage. Though once deactivated, the Nature would vanish from his Astral Chart, "But it seems the Natures used by Loot doesn't vanish. Instead, the restriction he faces is the limit of Natures he could equip, which is three."
Virala used two Natures of Bloody Affection against the Boar King. That means other than the Mystic Grade Nature that he possessed, he was only able to equip himself with two other Natures.
The Boar King then thought about the fake Virala that he had consumed, 'He only had two Natures. Why wasn't all his Natures filled with Prana Shock?'
Astral Chart—Rocky Intimidation!
As the Pranic Beasts approached him, a rock pillar jutted out of the ground and unleashed a suffocating presence, causing them all to stumble and lose control of their bodies in fear. As a result, they were unable to reach him, allowing the Boar King some peace of mind.
As long as the 104th Empyrean Tusk's heart is fully digested in his stomach, he'll recover enough Prana to heal his injuries. That was more than enough to hunt and recover his strength following that.
Hence, he continued to think, soon making a relationship between the clues, "I got it!"
"He's hiding within the Natures!" The Boar King felt epiphany, understanding why he was unable to track Loot from time to time, 'When he hides within a Pranic Beast's Nature, there's no way to sense his location. And somehow, he's able to supply his strength to the Pranic Beast too.'
"So, to equip a Nature onto a target, he needs to first occupy one of the target's Natures. Everything makes sense now." The Boar King thought, shuddering at a terrifying possibility, "If this guy ever plans to foster a Tribe, he could equip them all with two Natures of his choice."
"Too bad, he's self-centred." The Boar King had an accurate idea of Loot's character now. Even when Inala acted as Loot, he portrayed the character to be similar to Virala's character. Hence, it matched with the original.
Now, the Boar King personally made the confirmation. From now onwards, all actions done by 'Loot' will be attributed to Virala, vouched for by the Boar King himself.
"You've made it easier for me, Loot." The Boar King grinned in excitement, "Your actions have severely weakened the Mammoth Clan. Even when I had limited strength, I managed to easily kill an Empyrean Tusk. Once I build a second body, I'll come at you with more seriousness."
"Seems I need to make a trip to the Gaja Enclave next." He made up his mind.
Back at the Mammoth Clan, Virala approached the figure of the 102nd Empyrean Tusk upon seeing that it had yet to recover. In terms of Prana and body, it had recovered enough. But its mind had taken a severe hit from the necklace of Rocky Intimidation unleashed by the Boar King, followed by a shockwave-filled slap to the side of its head.
As a result, though it had recovered physically, it remained a vegetable, unresponsive. Its Mammoth Clansmen shed tears in worry, trying their everything to make it recover but were failing.
'This is a pain.' Virala groaned as he approached it. Through the two Silver Nature Weapons of Bloody Affection, he could assist in its recovery. He couldn't cure it, but at least, he could keep influencing it while the rest of the Mammoth Clansmen assist its recovery.
Over time, the 102nd Empyrean Tusk could recover, which was his intention, 'I need to camp in its body for the time being.'
In the eyes of Mammoth Clansmen from his Settlement—105th Settlement—he, Virala, was dead, devoured by the Boar King. Therefore, it was unwise to show himself out in the open anymore.
It was why he either moved as an orb or in his armoured form, taking caution to avoid being seen by others. That was why he kept his two Silver Nature Weapons of Leech active.
But just as he was about to make contact with the body of the 102nd Empyrean Tusk, he felt his body grow heavy all of a sudden. Virala retracted his hand and muttered calmly, "Do you want something, Resha?"
"You've revealed your true self, Virala." Resha stared at him with bloodshot eyes, in disbelief as he observed Virala's appearance, an uncanny resemblance to his Stage 2 transformation of Exoskeleton. It was his power that Virala was now wielding, "You're the cause behind the abrupt weakening of all Empyrean Tusks."
"Your point being?" Virala tilted his head.
"Why?" Resha was angry as the power of gravity acting on Virala increased, sending him kneeling to the ground, "If not for you, the 104th Empyrean Tusk wouldn't have died. You weakened us enough for the Boar King to dare fight us."
He approached Virala as claws formed on his hand, ready to snap his neck, "Tell me, Virala. What the fuck do you want?"
"Pfft!" Virala broke into laughter, "Hear this hypocritic fucker's remarks."
"Mind your words!" Resha grabbed Virala by the neck and increased the strength in his hold, "Blola will be able to revive you, but I'll keep killing you."
"Do you know this, Resha?" Virala grinned without fear, "Do you think the Empyrean Tusks are unaware of what I'm doing? No, they are aware but still choose to remain a bystander. Do you know why?"
He made eye contact and spoke solemnly, "Because my actions are in line with their desire."