Rushing through Compartment 8-M were Harla Brimgan and her group, in a hurry as she could observe mysterious figures rush through Compartments 8-L and 8-N, rapidly defeating the Attributed Creatures.
'Are they the cause behind the disappearance of our hundred Royals?' She thought, worried upon noticing that these mysterious females were strong, tremendously so.
One of the females condensed a bone hammer and slammed it onto an Attributed Creature, causing a good chunk of its body to splash around in response. The group of females rapidly proceeded through the safe route and returned promptly to deal damage once again. In a matter of minutes, an Attributed Creature had been disposed of.
"We need to hurry!" Harla Brimgan's expression turned fierce as she figured out the identities of the females, 'They are Empyrean Tusks! The lot of them! Only then do their insane strength and physical speed make sense. I don't know how they possess human forms…Loot! He was the same!'
'Were his actions merely preparing for the Mammoth Clan's infiltration into the Brimgan Empire?' She became stunned at the revelation, 'My goodness! We didn't even consider such a possibility!'
While Harla Brimgan was freaking out, Amita Brimgan and Dhya—Wittral's female form—were subtly conversing through Water Slips. In Amita's pocket was a container of water that was being infused with information by Wittral. Through the Water Slip Skill and Mystic Mist Art, Amita transformed the Water Slip into a cloud and ate it like it was cotton candy.
The group was equipped with a bunch of Elixirs and were regularly consuming them. She merely treated the Water Slip as such and stealthily consumed it. And once she comprehended the information, she performed the same to the container of water in Dhya's possession.
[Did your male form bring the Mammoth Clan here?]
[I'm not sure. I was contacted by my male body a few days ago, but all I was told was that things were going according to plan and that I only needed to worry about reaching the Attribute on time.]
[If your male form wasn't the cause, then what is happening here?]
Wittral was confused as either side he faced, the respective Compartments were gradually being occupied by a group of women with the power of an Empyrean Tusk. As they were in different Compartments, he couldn't sense their presence to truly confirm their identities.
But as a fellow Deity, he could judge by observing their poise, graceful movements, and absolute power that these women were indeed Empyrean Tusks, and rather strong ones at that.
Suddenly, he felt a boom of thunder resound in his mind as all the dots became connected. He observed one of the women use a Spirit Weapon in the shape of a Storage Lantern and move it around at speeds beyond what an Empyrean Tusk was normally capable of.
It wasn't just that. But from time to time, the women turned into giants, gaining an extra height of three metres, an effect only unleashed through Kinesis Deity. 'Maroppa!'
Maroppa was able to convert the Nature of Kinesis Deity under the influence of Mystic Mist Art and Subtle Terrain Domination into a form suitable for an Empyrean Snapper. And upon seeing a similar Kinesis Deity that was attuned to the power of an Empyrean Tusk confirmed his suspicions, 'Maroppa made a deal with the Mammoth Clan.'
'That explains their newfound power.' He clenched his hand into a fist in worry, unable to judge whether the Empyrean Tusks were allies or not. It would be fine if they were allies. But otherwise, things would get messy, especially since a casual glance spotted a dozen of them.
'Do I talk to her about it?' He glanced at Amita for a moment, observing the latter's eyes were red, with veins popping to a visible extent. Her undereye was puffy, her skin was dry, and she seemed to have lost a bit of weight as compared to the previous day.
Having lived with Amita for a long time, Wittral could judge the latter's mental state, 'She's stressed to the extreme. It makes sense, since without getting the Attribute, she would be unable to live a normal life with me.'
'Guess I'll have to protect her.' He firmed his mind, deciding to not reveal any details to Amita, 'Even though she's one of the smartest women I've known, she has a lot of fragile moments. This is one such situation. Revealing Maroppa's origin and her deal with the Mammoth Clan would only distract her from her goal.'
A shake of his head later, Wittral placed all the thoughts to the back of his mind, focusing on the task at hand as he participated in their fights, increasing the pace at which they dealt with the Attributed Creatures.
"I'm the weakest, so I'll stay behind and guard this gate." One of the team members said as the group obtained all the available keys to Compartment 7-M.
One after another, the weakest in the group stayed behind at the gates while the remainder of the group headed deeper into the Attributed Region. Steadily, their pace was increasing as Wittral began to reveal more and more of his abilities.
"You…!" Harla Brimgan was stunned to see that when they reached Compartment 4-M, the extent of strength Wittral displayed was on par with her. "Who are you? How are you this strong?"
"Tell me!" She activated her Nature of Kinesis Deity and transformed into a twelve-metre-tall golden giant, condensing a massive drill-shaped Spirit Weapon beside her. She activated the Skill of Spirit Weapon Switch and brought out four more Spirit Weapons, aiming them at Amita and Dhya, "Tell me, Amita. Are you in cahoots with this woman? How's she as strong as me while only at the Body Stage?"
"Amita," Wittral said, his words acting as a signal as Amita Brimgan coiled four strings of Prana around his back. There was a stir in the air as Wittral assumed his Empyrean Snapper form, his expansion sending everything flying away due to the rapidness at which he assumed his Pranic Beast form.
He had only transformed for a fraction of a second, which was more than enough to send Harla Brimgan and the two Free Humans accompanying her flying towards the walls of the Compartment.
Primary Nature—Subtle Terrain Domination!
Taking advantage of the surprise attack, Wittral activated his Primary Nature, accurately targeting Harla Brimgan and the other two to send them flying through the gate connecting Compartment 5-M to Compartment 4-M.
"You're an Empyrean Snapper!" Harla Brimgan screamed shrilly as she retracted the dome-shaped Spirit Weapon brought out to protect her and her two teammates. She glared at Amita Brimgan, feeling betrayed, "I trusted you. The Empire treated you well. And you pay our graciousness with betrayal? Fucking wench!"
"Your Majesty!" One of her teammates hurriedly grabbed her and pulled her back right as she was about to jump through the gate.
"Why did you do it?" She snapped at her teammate, only to realise a moment later as she patted her body, realising what had happened, "My Key! Where's my key?"
The key that would lead her to Compartment 4-M had been snatched by Wittral when he transformed into an Empyrean Snapper. Through Subtle Terrain Domination, he was able to sneakily snatch the key from her pocket. And as he had only stolen the key to Compartment 4-M, Harla Brimgan remained unaware, for the remaining keys that she had collected until now were still in her possession.
"Sneaky Bitch!" She glared at Dhya, "The Cooter Clan will pay for disgracing the Brimgan Empire!"
Had her teammate been a tad late in stopping her, she would have been destroyed by the gate. It a was scummy but calculated move from Wittral. And she felt victim to it wondrously. Now, Harla Brimgan was unable to move forward on Path M.
"Quick! Let's go to Path N!" She said and rushed to deal with an Attributed Creature. They already had two keys leading to Compartment 5-N and only needed one more. With that, they could proceed through Path N and reach the Attribute on time.
And since she knew Wittral's identity now, the latter could no longer ambush her using the element of surprise. With her strength, she was more than capable of holding her own against an Empyrean Snapper.
The current her was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Wittral. But once Wittral gains experience with his new abilities, he'll begin to overpower her, especially after assuming his Empyrean Snapper form and activating the Secondary Nature of Empyrean Mist Deity. He'd become a humanoid Empyrean Snapper, a mountainous human-shaped giant with turtle shell armour and a neck reaching a length of two kilometres at the very least.
Before such a creature, Harla Brimgan would be no different from a mosquito. They wouldn't even be in the same dimension of comparison. But at present, even Wittral didn't know the full extent of his capabilities.
Thirty minutes of furious battle later, Harla Brimgan managed to destroy an Attributed Creature in Compartment 5-N, only to have the key snatched by a metre-long worm that appeared from out of nowhere.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" It was Virala in his Mystic Ewworm form, ignoring the safe routes as he directly slithered through the region bombarded by the rain. His tiny form worked to his advantage, as it allowed him to easily crawl through the gaps between the impact location of the raindrops.
Moreover, his Mystic Ewworm form was agile enough to react to any droplet heading his way. There was a second for the droplet to go from the ceiling to the floor, which was more than enough duration to curve his tiny body out of harm's way.
Upon reaching the end of the Compartment, Virala reverted to human form and stretched his aching muscles, "That took a toll on me. I still need more practice."
"How are you here?" Harla Brimgan screamed in horror, "What have you done to my husband?"
"You're still asking that?" Virala laughed with a tone of mockery as he pointed to the surface, "The Boar King is ramping in the Brimgan Empire now. No matter what enmity we had between each other, at the end of the day, I'm his precious younger brother."
Saying so, he transformed into a miniature Empyrean Boar King form, grinning as his voice resounded in the Compartment, thundering in Harla Brimgan's mind, "Do I need to explain further?"
"My husband's…dead?" Harla Brimgan collapsed to the floor in despair, "Brandal Brimgan is…dead? Someone as strong as him died? Just like that?"
"He did put up a decent fight, but it wasn't anything special." Virala shrugged and ignored Harla Brimgan's vengeful screams as he passed through the gate, turning around to see a Spirit Weapon slam into the gate but fail to pass through.
'I'll ensure that you survive, Harla. After all, I need you alive to carry this hatred back to the Brimgan Empire.' He concealed the grin forming on his face, whistled casually, and began to speed towards the closest Attributed Creature.
"Even an Empyrean Snapper has joined the race? Who the fuck is that?" Virala stared at the figure of Dhya in the adjacent Compartment in confusion, "How the heck did I never detect the existence of such a powerhouse?"