"I have no idea what you are talking about." Orakha expressed his confusion while his back was drenched with sweat, "Anyway, I'm done with the report. So, I'll be returning now."
"Sit," Gannala's tone turned serious as she kicked a nearby chair and aligned it perfectly under Orakha, "If you run away now, I'm coming after you with all my strength."
"You think I'm afraid of that…" Orakha stopped speaking, feeling a disgusting feeling as if a slimy tongue was dancing upon the back of his head. He turned around and noticed the figure of Mammoth Clan Virala walking out of the kitchen to flash a smile his way, 'This fucker is moving about in the open here?'
"Are you bored of living?" Orakha cursed in anger as he pointed at Virala, "You're begging to be detected by Brangara by this point."
"If he was actually Virala, you would have detected him the moment I brought you out." Gannala snorted, "Think a little."
"Tch!" Orakha clicked his tongue in annoyance and glared at Virala, "Do you have to look like that even while in disguise?"
"I can't help but be handsome." Virala casually yawned, "Since I have the option, I would definitely prefer to look good instead of disguising myself as an average Joe."
Currently, Virala was occupying the Secondary Nature slot of the man whose appearance he had transformed to resemble him. As he was hiding in a Nature slot, Brangara wouldn't be able to detect him.
Both Gannala and the Mammoth Clan Virala had replaced the owners of the rundown tea house after occupying their Nature Slots.
"Besides," Virala shrugged, "I've only changed to look like this a few seconds ago. Until then, I've been maintaining this body's original appearance."
"You can get some rest now." Gannala tugged with her index finger when a Nature Weapon jumped out of the man's body and landed on her hand. The man's appearance also returned to normal as she swallowed the Nature Weapon. She then stared at Orakha, "Now, we have some privacy."
"You've been wielding him like a convenient tool." Orakha commented upon seeing her actions, "Don't you realise what this bastard is capable of?"
"This one is fully under my control. Besides, it's only temporary that he's with me. Sooner or later, he'll die." Gannala stared at Orakha with a knowing gaze, "A certain orange is cooperating with the other rogue violet to get rid of my violet toy."
'How much does she know?' The more he listened to her, the more he became nervous. A thought later, he made a decision, 'This will become riskier. I need to kill Gannala!'
"Woah, hold your horses! That's very rude, uncle!" Gannala acted surprised before casually spitting out a Biome Bomb that she slung around her neck like a necklace, "Can you bear the consequences of that thought process?"
Orakha focused his senses on the Biome Bomb, feeling a tug at his presence before he hallucinated of being in the presence of the Royal Zinger, once that had wrapped him in one of its palms, threatening to snuff his existence.
"…Fine," Orakha slumped on his seat as he focused on calming down, having broken out in cold sweat, experiencing goosebumps, "I apologise for that."
"Good," Gannala grinned and swallowed the Biome Bomb, continuing the conversation casually, "Well, the reason I said the Virala in my possession will die is not due to the Mystic Human Virala. I'm not foolish enough to become prey to his schemes."
"I have a good idea of what you're all planning."
"Then?" Orakha frowned.
"Ruvva will kill him soon enough." Gannala sighed, "Born as a Mystic Human, her arrogance is ten times Yarsha Zahara's. Her ego as a human supremacist is even stronger. So, she stares at the Mammoth Clan Virala as if he were a trash."
"Are you helpless even with your methods?" Orakha asked, "I thought you would have brainwashed her or something to control her better."
"Mystic Humans are free of influences, that's the core of this existence." Gannala clicked her tongue, "So no matter how many times I brainwashed her, she ended up recovering her memories soon after. Moreover, the Mystic Path connection between her and the Mystic Human Virala is many times stronger. The Violet Mystic Path is almost rejecting to be filled by the Mammoth Clan Virala's actions."
"The Mammoth Clan Virala is a brainwashed slave of you. The goal of the Mystic Paths is to birth Mystic Grade Empyrean Tusk variants capable of countering the Boar King. An enslaved being's experience runs counter to the established purpose." Orakha analysed, "So I understand why the Violet Mystic Path in Ruvva is behaving as such. Though, I never thought it could be selective like this."
"Anyway, the day the Mystic Human Virala kills Grehha is when Ruvva will try to break free from my biome. I'll be forced to release her." Gannala expressed her irritation, "So, you needn't cooperate with him for futile reasons."
"Futile?" Orakha bellowed, "I wouldn't have thought of targeting the powers of the Silver and Gold Empyrean Tentacles if the Celestial Boar hadn't appeared. My current build would have been sufficient against an endgame Boar King!"
"I've talked to the Chief countless times and tried to sound him out. He has absolutely no intentions of becoming the Mystic Empyrean Tentacle." Orakha cursed, "If he had the guts, I was ready to give up on my Secondary Nature. After all, if we had the power of the Mystic Empyrean Tentacle on our side, we could challenge the Celestial Boar before he becomes too strong."
"The Chief will be a 10-Life Stage Mammoth Clansman with the power to transform into the Mystic Empyrean Tentacle. Our power will instantly surpass the current Celestial Boar!" He huffed in anger, "But no! He doesn't dare do anything even after I instigated him plenty of times."
"There's a reason for that." Gannala sighed.
"That's bullshit." Orakha snorted, "Reasons mean shit if you have the chance to wield the Mystic Tentacle's power."
"You're right about that. Unfortunately, the Chief is incapable of consuming the other Empyrean Tentacles." Gannala shook her head, "He's at the 10-Life Stage. Yahard Tusk has just reached the 8-Life Stage while you're at the 2-Life Stage. Basically, there are ten Gold Empyrean Tentacles, eight Silver Empyrean Tentacles, and two Iron Empyrean Tentacles."
"If the Silver and Iron Empyrean Tentacles were at the 10-Life Stage, the Chief could have consumed both the powers. As there aren't enough bodies of the other two Empyrean Tentacles, he'd have an imbalanced distribution of power." Gannala continued, "He'd simply implode. The only way to avoid that is to kill the extra bodies of all three. And once everyone is at the 1-Life Stage, he'd be able to consume the powers of all three to become a Mystic Empyrean Tentacle."
If Raaha wanted to consume Yahard Tusk, he'd have to kill two bodies and drop down to the 8-Life Stage. This way, his eight bodies would consume Yahard Tusk's eight bodies and successfully gain the Secondary Nature for all his bodies.
But to consume Orakha, he would have to drop down to the 2-
Life Stage. Otherwise, two bodies of his will have three Natures while the remaining six would have two Natures. Due to the imbalanced build, his Spirit Containers would explode, leading to his death.
"But it's different for you." She stared at him, "You only need to consume two of their bodies. And when you gain the power, due to the Rule that states there can only be one copy of the power of the Empyrean Tentacle race, the Primary Natures of both Yahard Tusk and the Chief would be erased."
"You already have Renduldu's support in this case, which is how you managed to steal the Iron Empyrean Tentacle's power from the Boar King in the past." Gannala said, "So if it's you, it's possible while minimising the losses."
"Why…are you trying to support me? No, what are you after?" Orakha frowned upon hearing the explanation, "What do you gain from this? I can't think of a reason why you'll try to support me."
"I want to strengthen your tether to the Mammoth Clan." Gannala revealed a slight grin, "It's a business transaction, which is the language that you speak the best. All I'm doing by helping you is increasing your reasons to stay loyal to the Mammoth Clan."
"I know you don't have any affection for this place. You're simply staying here as it's your best option to gather a lot of resources." Gannala got up and took a few steps towards Orakha, "You want to forge genuine bonds with your loved ones, which was your regret on Earth. But you're scared, since the woman you ended up falling for is a Mudropper."
"The moment her existence is revealed, Brangara would target her with all his might. All Empyrean Tusks know about her. Grehha and Yennda too are aware. So, you're desperate to avoid them revealing about Maroppa to Brangara." She continued, "But you have no methods to check if the information has already been revealed. In that case, instead of getting cornered by Brangara in the wilds of Sumatra, you judged it to be safer here. After all, the moment Brangara comes across an Empyrean Tusk, he'll focus on killing it first."
"You judged that the Mammoth Clan will act as the buffer between Brangara and Maroppa." She stopped before Orakha and stared down at him, "Have I accurately portrayed your thoughts?"
Seeing Orakha's expression transform into a frustrated scowl, Gannala spoke further, "Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with the Mammoth Clan for life. So, I'm, just giving you a way to integrate your fate deeper with the Mammoth Clan's."
"With my help, you'll stably inherit the Mystic Empyrean Tentacle's power and overcome the danger that exists in your Human Avatar." She smirked upon seeing his eyes widen in confusion, "You mean, you didn't realise that?"
"Your current build has a serious risk." Gannala laughed, "The moment you reach the 4-Life Stage, you'll explode like a bomb."