What was the fastest way to reach the Major Treasure of Attribute? Inala's answer was teamwork here. The group of Empyrean Tusks proceeded through all paths.
And if the team in a certain path were unlucky, some Empyrean Tusks from the two adjacent paths would come in to reinforce them. This way, even though only six Empyrean Tusks were moving in a path, when things became difficult, they could group up to form a team of eighteen Empyrean Tusks and deal with all their troubles.
The teams moved in such a dynamic fashion, intending to camp at Layer 5. After all, six people could enter Layer 5 from each path of Layer 6. Empyrean Tusks from three paths would join in a path to form a team of three and then move through the three Compartments to gather other resources.
Only five could enter Layer 4 per Path from Layer 5. So, one had to stay behind anyway. From here, the teams of Empyrean Tusks had two tasks.
First was resource collection. Precious minerals and even Minor Treasures would appear from Layer 5. They had been ignoring all the resources until then since even the most basic resource was hidden within an Attributed Creature. So, they had to collect them now that they were forming a base.
Second was defence. Any other parties that reached Layer 5 had to be dealt with immediately. This was to ensure no external forces would interrupt Inala's claim to the Major Treasure of Attribute.
Virala's plan was simple. Using his tiny Mystic Ewworm form, he could slither through the Compartments without fear of the rainfall. Hence, the only time he spent was to remove a key from an Attributed Creature.
Since he only needed one key, he was rapidly approaching Inala. Next was Orakha. His original plan was pretty meticulous too. But after joining hands with Virala, he took the easier route and placed a Minor Treasure of Orakha's Checkpoint in Virala's body.
When Virala reaches Layer 0, Orakha would revive there. This was the price he asked to place one of the Minor Treasures in Ruvva. This was to protect Ruvva in case the situation was dire.
It would take time for Virala to arrive at her rescue. But Orakha could kill himself and revive beside Ruvva instantly to protect her. Best of all, since he placed his Orakha's Checkpoint in her body, he could detect her condition without issues.
So, the moment Ruvva was in danger, he would know. Basically, Virala wanted Orakha to protect Ruvva. The price for this was him carrying an Orakha's Checkpoint too.
Virala and Orakha would duke it out to lay claim upon Attribute, and the most capable one would obtain it. Because of the complexity of the situation at hand, they decided on this, for it was their best bet.
Accompanied by Wittral, Amita wasn't too slow either, almost on par with Virala's approach. Virala would be faster than her in reaching the centre due to his advantages, but she wouldn't be too late.
Inala was the closest to the Major Treasure of Attribute. This was an undisputed fact. Resha could see that the Mammoth Clan was heavily supporting Inala, judging by the Attributed Creatures that resembled Inala.
He observed the same in other Compartments too. It meant that a group was moving for Inala's success and had been exceedingly successful until now. This group managed to heavily suppress both the Brimgan Empire's participants and powerful Gold Grade Pranic Beasts. Only the Mammoth Clan was capable of it. Or rather, the Empyrean Tusks ought to have personally taken action to display such overwhelming power.
A Gold Grade Pranic Beast reached Layer 6, the fastest among them, only to be ganged up by a group of six Empyrean Tusks and killed in a matter of seconds. When it died, the keys it had obtained merged into the ground and reappeared in their original compartments, opening a new slot for those in the Tenth Layer to obtain and enter the Ninth Layer.
The successful one would begin making its way through the Layers. As many continued to die, their respective keys began to appear in the original compartments, allowing new competitors to join the race.
Resha had zero intentions to join the race. After all, he had a cheat code, one that would directly bring him to the centre, and at the fastest speed.
Boar King!
"Look, your son is dying. His name was…Braga, right?" Resha flew across the place, watching the Boar King tail right behind him. His figure flickered and swerved past an Attributed Creature. A dense field of gravity condensed in his hand as he threw it onto the Attributed Creature, causing it to be attracted towards the Boar King.
A tremendous force of attraction was already being generated by the Boar King's body that resembled a celestial body in terms of mass now, on the level of a small moon. Hence, he was naturally pulling the rain and everything else in his surroundings closer towards himself, which was why Resha's attacks worked so well.
He was using the Boar King's gravitational field against himself. Both the Boar King and the Attributed Creature's bodies were heavy, generating a field of gravity whose effects could be felt by all cultivators.
When Resha amplified that through External Inertial Gravity, these two heavy bodies were naturally attracted towards each other. As a result, the Boar King had no other choice but to destroy the Attributed Creature, for only then could he break free.
And until he did that, Resha revolved around the Attributed Creature. Normally, travelling at such speeds was impossible as he would physically tire out. But now that the eye had retreated, he could fly freely.
So, once he turned his body weightless, Resha could fly at speeds on par with the Boar King's running pace.
In the Ninth Layer, the Attributed Creatures stood atop geysers, making it dangerous to approach them. The only realistic way to reach its top is to surf through the geyser when it forms a pattern allowing one to do so.
The instructions and timings for the pattern's arrival were engraved on the monoliths scattered across the various Compartments.
Followed by a flicker, Resha unleashed a stream of bullets, taking advantage of the surfing time to poke open a hole, Resha threw Braga inside and flew past the geyser.
Boom!
The Boar King slammed a punch at the bottom portion of the geyser, clearing it out to ensure the water wouldn't reach his son.
With the geyser cut off, the Attributed Creature standing on its top fell to the floor, in its way was Braga.
"Shit!" The Boar King unleashed a thrust to stop his momentum by turning his body weightless as his figure shot back toward his son, noticing a Gravity Funnel form between Braga and the falling Attributed Creature.
"Fuck you, Resha! If you're a man, face me! Why the fuck are you targeting my children?" The Boar King roared, desperately unleashing the strongest of his thrusts as he activated over a dozen Natures of Prana Shock and slammed them into the Attributed Creature, intending to slow it as much as possible.
"Son!" The Boar King cranked his gravitational field to the limit to overcome the force of repulsion between him and Braga, shouting in relief upon managing to catch his son. Their figures barely moved past the Attributed Creature, avoiding a head-on collision.
But the Attributed Creature wasn't a living being, lacking the intention of self-preservation. It simply attacked the Boar King when the latter was in its range, stabbing its whip-spear through his leg.
Its other whip spear coiled around his hip. And as it fell, it dragged him to the floor.
"Argh!" The Boar King intended to push Braga away to safety and infused Internal Inertial Gravity in the latter's body for safety, only then realising that the Gravity Funnel pulled Braga closer to the Attributed Creature. "Dammit!"
"Let…GO!" The Boar King roared as he ripped apart the Attributed Creature's arms and kicked it faster to the ground. Followed by a thrust, he caught his son again and increased the latter's density so that the pulling force of the Gravity Funnel would become negligible.
Upon succeeding in the effort, the Boar King subconsciously felt relieved momentarily, stunned to see a shadow loom above him as Resha roared maniacally and transformed into an Empyrean Tusk, instantly assuming battle state.
"Shit!" The Boar King realised that he had fallen prey to another trap of Resha, hurriedly assuming his Empyrean Boar King form in an effort to tank the attack. His mouth opened, intending to store Braga in the safety of his stomach biome, only to notice the latter's skeleton erupt with Prana and influence his Spirit Container, causing him to assume his Empyrean Boar form.
His Empyrean Boar form was too large for the Boar King to swallow. His expression was distraught as he observed his son's face expressing unbearable pain.
"F-Father…" Braga muttered, shedding tears in despair upon seeing Resha's Empyrean Tusk form somersault in the air like a Beyblade, condense a gigantic hammer at the end of its trunk and slam the Boar King with it, sending his heavy body reeling into the ground.
Boom!
The Attributed Region rumbled faintly as the Boar King slammed into the ground, atop the Attributed Creature. Its body did splatter from the impact, but not before shattering the Boar King's spine due to its ridiculous density and toughness.
"Please…don't worry about me, Father!" Braga muttered weakly as the influence from his skeleton vanished, causing his Spirit Container to deactivate his transformation, "My entire body is being controlled. You…need to save yourself!"
Cough!
The Boar King couldn't react as her nervous system failed after his spine was shattered. Prana surged at the location, intending to heal it, but it would take a few seconds at the very least. But, Resha had no intentions of letting up the attacks.
'I'll keep pushing you to recklessly attack the Attributed Region. Soon, even you'll hit your limit.' Resha thought as he reverted to human form, grabbed Braga by the neck and shouted at the Boar King, "It seems you don't care about your son too much. Then, what about one more?"
He took out Baga and held him too by the neck, grinning upon seeing the Boar King force himself to get up before he managed to heal himself, "There's an easy solution to stop your suffering, Brangara."
"You only need to give up on your children."