"I don't like them covered in mud either."
"Bitch!" Raaha grunted as he transformed into a Brully once again, flickering before Yarsha Zahara when hundreds of composite projectiles slammed into his back, causing him to grunt as a large chunk of his Prana was instantly siphoned away.
But he didn't hesitate and instead switched to a new body to avoid falling unconscious and slapped Yarsha Zahara, sending her flying into the air, 'She's hard!'
His expression gradually morphed into a frown as he unleashed a barrage of attacks on her, noticing that no matter how hard he punched her, the damage was minimal. Moreover, her Human Avatar was like a fluid, constantly morphing in shape as it rippled and formed spikes to meet his attacks, using every opportunity to absorb his stacked power of Internal Inertial Gravity.
'It doesn't make sense!' Raaha was worried the more his attacks did nothing to her, 'She's able to tank everything I can throw at her! Dammit!'
"What the heck are you?" He roared as his Brully formed attacked with the hammer arm on its right and formed a kilometre-wide crater in the ground, with Yarsha Zahara caught in the centre.
"Are you blind?" Yarsha Zahara stared at the bottom of the hammer as her lips curled up into a wide smile, "Did you hurt your head too much and forgot everything about me? Now, that's unfortunate!"
"The fact that you cannot recognise what I'm using to defend myself with is concerning." Her fingers transformed into blades as the stacked effect of two Internal Inertial Gravity flowed through them, making it possible for her to stab the blades through the hammer and absorb even more of the power of Internal Inertial Gravity.
And then, she inched her index finger and gently touched the hammer, coursing a shockwave through it that instantly vaporised most of Raaha's body, "This is the power of that bitch, the only one who wasn't a Deity but managed to injure a peak Empyrean Boar King!"
"What?" Cold sweat dripped down his back as Raaha appeared at the border of the Spirit Weapon range with respect to where his body had been at moments ago, now at the 9-Life Stage. 'W-What hit me?'
Realisation slowly dawned on him as he recalled a conversation with Resha right after the merger.
"Chief, I need your help to capture the egg of a certain Gold Grade Pranic Beast."
"What is it?" Asked Raaha back then, muttering the Pranic Beast's name, "Empyrean Thunder?"
Mutated Intermediate Gold Grade Pranic Beast-Empyrean Thunder!
Primary Nature-Piezo Response!
Secondary Nature Reservoir!
In Sumatra Chronicles, Yahira had fused with the Expert Silver Grade Pranic Beast, Twi- Shocker. Around the Fourth Major Disaster, she completed her Tertiary Nature of Tectonic Rush, which was what she had used against the 10-Life Stage Brangara, and was the only individual who had managed to successfully wound him.
Even Resha, equipped with three Major Treasures, failed to scratch the Empyrean Boar King. In the current timeline, Resha had given Yahira the Empyrean Thunder's egg, which was a Mutated Gold Grade variant of the Twi-Shocker.
The Primary Nature of Piezo Response was capable of converting kinetic energy into vibrational energy and transmitting it to the target through a series of shockwaves. It was an instantaneous conversion.
The Secondary Nature of Reservoir allows the Empyrean Thunder to store the shockwaves for later discharge, resulting in a terrifying combo. And obviously, due to their history, Yarsha Zahara knew a lot about Yahira, aware of the latter's power.
She didn't know about Tectonic Rush but was aware of everything else that Yahira had prepared. Moreover, after interrogating Yennda and learning about Sumatra Chronicles past the Third Major Disaster when she disappeared in the book, Yarsha Zahara learned of what Yahira had achieved towards the end of her life.
"Tectonic Rush?" Raaha muttered in shock, "That's impossible! Yennda and even Grehha have no idea about it other than theoretical knowledge."
"I don't have Tectonic Rush though. Man, you completely lost the script." Yarsha Zahara said as her figure turned into a golden flash, unleashing shockwaves of Prana alongside the stack of two Natures of Internal Inertial Gravity that she had absorbed from Raaha.
Her current self was faster than Raaha, catching up to him before she tapped him on the shoulder, instantly vaporising him once again.
"Dammit!" Raaha grunted in distress as his now 8-Life Stage leaped away and transformed into a Millinger, leaping once to barely evade Yarsha Zahara.
'Piezo Response, Reservoir, the innate toughness of her Sumatra Gold Human Avatar, and now my power of Internal Inertial Gravity!' Raaha's expression was foul as he realised why Yarsha Zahara could afford to nonchalantly hunt them.
Her build countered the Mammoth Clan completely!
Any Prana-based abilities would simply become a part of her arsenal while physical attacks will also be absorbed. Her Human avatar was robust enough to withstand Raaha's full- powered punches without dying, which was more than enough for Piezo Response to work its magic.
This meant that irrespective of what he did, all he could achieve would be to strengthen her further. And worst of all, this was just Yarsha Zahara. The Celestial Boar had yet to make an appearance, for the time being, content with supplying Prana and Tangible Natures for her
use.
'What the fuck am I supposed to do here?' Raaha felt like he was going mad, unable to figure out a way to deal with the situation. Had he possessed the power of the Gold Empyrean Tentacle, he could work on a solution, since he had fought against Brangara plenty of times in the past with it.
He had enough experience and tactics to ingeniously use the Gold Empyrean Tentacle's power. However, he had never fought anyone strong with his current build, so his versatility and adaptability were lacking.
This would have never been an issue. After all, simply activating his Secondary and Tertiary Natures was more than enough to dispatch any Gold Grade Pranic Beast to the afterlife. The issue came about because he was facing Yarsha Zahara, one empowered by Brangara.
"Two done, eight more to go..." Yarsha Zahara turned silent all of a sudden before turning in the direction of the pit, 'Is he finally taking action?'
A few seconds ago, right as the storage lantern appeared and all the Empyrean Tusks entered it, a bunch of storage lanterns exploded, generating a powerful gust of air that slowed down the composite projectiles and sent a good majority of them flying away.
The remaining few impacted the storage lantern as Vhalla grunted in response, feeling her Prana being siphoned through her Spirit Weapon. Not only that, but upon absorbing her Prana, the composite projectiles strengthened the power of Rocky Intimidation that they had been generating.
Moreover, at the bottom of the pit was a group of Tangible Natures of Pranic Beasts, intensifying the trap. The storage lantern accelerated in its fall towards the bottom, acted upon by the Nature of Drifting Tunnel.
There were smaller holes throughout the pit, spewing out composite projectiles. Drifting Tunnels trailed from the pit to the surface where Yarsha Zahara had piled the composite projectiles. Tangible Natures of Shifting Ants were busy collecting them and pouring them into the tunnels to fill up the pit.
"Hold on!" Vhalla shouted as she filled the space within the storage lantern with Internal Inertial Gravity, ensuring they wouldn't sustain any damage from the fall. Her expression morphed into shock when she noticed a thin flash of light flicker across the inner fall, as if something had penetrated.
There were six such lines, with them all meeting at one spot, following which the storage lantern shattered into multiple pieces, revealing the culprits to be Tangible Natures of Bludders.
'Should I blast this place?' Vhalla thought, for a moment thinking of assuming her Empyrean Tusk form when Orakha tapped her on the shoulder.
"That won't be necessary." He said as jet-black smoke billowed out of his body and dispersed throughout the place like an explosion. The composite projectiles dissipated portions of the smoke upon absorbing the Prana forming it, but the quantity of smoke was significantly
higher.
Hiss! Hiss!
The smoke thickened to resemble a cloud and rained Mystic Eaters in large numbers, each the size of a finger. These Mystic Eaters were different from usual. They sported thin, butterfly- like wings, too small to fly, acting like fins. As the Mystic Eaters spread their wings, they were
able to achieve a buoyant effect through the cloud, allowing them to change directions and swim about.
As they fell, they slammed into the composite projectiles. A Mystic Eater pierced one of them and consumed the fluid forming the Prana Bomb counterpart. As it pierced appeared on the other side, it had grown in size while the composite projectile shattered into multiple pieces.
It munched onto the minerals that it had consumed from the composite projectile and continued to steadily fall towards the bottom of the pit, targeting other projectiles headed its way. In a matter of seconds, the bombardment of composite projectiles was consumed by the
Mystic Eaters.
Boom!
A large Mystic Eater, 20-metres long landed on the bottom as it extended itself and swallowed a bunch of Tangible Natures. If it grows any bigger, its mobility will take a hit. Hence, the 20-metre-long Mystic Eater broke down into a hundred smaller Mystic Eaters that began to clean up the place.
A group of them even invaded the Drifting Tunnels and headed to the surface as Vhalla landed
on the ground, carrying Orakha and Maroppa to safety.
Boom! Kaboom!
Inhaling a deep breath, Vhalla unleashed a gust of wind that sent the layer of earth on the pit flying out, allowing the group to hear muffled sounds of punches being exchanged.
"Please..." Maroppa grabbed Orakha's arm in a hurry upon noticing his intention to face
Yarsha Zahara, "She'll kill you!"
"You promised to flee with me, didn't you?" Her eyes were moist, "I can transform a portion of this enclave into the Sandy-Grey Void. We can hole up inside it if necessary!"
"Unfortunately, that seems unlikely to succeed." Orakha's expression hardened as he noticed a Parute Tree rapidly sprouting within the pit. A glare from him and it turned to ash. He extended his thumb and activated his Human Avatar, tapping across his chest that produced
colourful ripples.
His fingers danced across his body and changed the arrangement of the minerals composing his Compound Human Avatar. He then adjusted the two pieces of Sumatra Gold to the centre. Since he was at the 2-Life Stage, he was carrying two pieces of Sumatra Gold in him, one per
Human Avatar.
They served as the core of his power, amplifying his strength to great levels. He quickly made the changes and stared at the 10th Empyrean Tusk, Wrunnala, "Where's Yahira?"
"Safe in my biome." Wrunnala nodded, "Resha asked me to keep her safe and secure."
"Take her out." Orakha said without missing a beat, "Yarsha Zahara is using the same set of
abilities as her. Only Yahira can play proper defence against her attacks. In the meantime,"
He stared at Maroppa, "I'll create an opportunity. When you see it, use your power on Yarsha's flesh."
"Flesh?" Maroppa expressed her confusion, "Isn't she already at the peak of the Body Stage?"
"Nope," Orakha chuckled, "She needs 600 pieces for that and the amount I'm sensing in her
Human Avatar isn't even close. She's probably relying upon a bunch of skills alongside Subtle Terrain Domination to manipulate her Human Avatar and cover her body with it. Her internal organs are still made of flesh and blood."
He stared at Wrunnala, "Send a shockwave through her Sumatra Gold exterior, and she's
dead."
"Stay far away and simply use wind and shockwaves to assist me," Orakha said as he activated
his Human Avatar, transforming into a greyish-red humanoid. A Mystic Eater extended out of his body like a spring and elastically attached to the top of the pit.
It contracted and launched him to the surface as Orakha made an arc towards Yarsha Zahara,
frowning upon seeing that Raaha had been killed until he dropped to the 6-Life Stage, 'He has been pummelled a lot. Indeed, his current build is getting countered hard by Yarsha Zahara.'
'There's only one option.' He sighed and stared at his trembling hands. For a moment, he
focused on the pit, watching the Empyrean Tusks carry Maroppa and leap out, following which they began to run deeper into the Manu Enclave.
For an instant, he made eye contact with Maroppa, letting out a wry smile upon seeing her
worry, 'Seems a peaceful life isn't my fate.'
"Farewell, my dear." He said and turned around, no longer worried about the safety of his
family. His expression turned fierce as he glared at Yarsha Zahara, focused on the latter, "You're not intending on letting go of us?"
"Do you have to ask?" Yarsha Zahara laughed when the ground she was standing upon turned
into quicksand, its depths unknown. Immediately after, the soil was set on fire, becoming a
natural fire in a matter of seconds as large Mystic Eaters rushed around and threw large trunks for fuel.
"Tch!" Yarsha Zahara punched the quicksand, only to see that it was too fine and curved around her fist. And even when she unleashed bursts of air, sending large volumes of the
quicksand flying away, she found herself in the same state as before, with her surroundings still a quicksand, larger, and deeper.
Steadily, she was sinking into it, her eyes turning serious as she glared at the figure of Orakha
walking through the sea of flames after landing on the ground with a soft thud, unaffected, prepared to fight to the death.
"Do you wish to reverse all the efforts taken by your beloved son, Yarsha?"