Primary Nature—Biome Nature!
Secondary Nature—Accel Growth!
Tertiary Nature—Perfect Biome Domination!
Her 270-metre-tall body turned jet black for an instant, following which the Bolt of Transcendence nervous system shone brightly. It outshone through the darkness generated by her grey sand stomach.
Every droplet part of her Attributed Water body trembled once, generating a shockwave. Due to the sheer mass of every Attributed Water droplet, the generated shockwaves were like a tectonic collision.
Such rumbling should have generated tremendous noise, but the sounds were consumed thanks to Perfect Biome Domination acting upon the grey sand stomach. However, unlike the Sandy-Grey Void, they weren't nullified but instead were suppressed, like storing hot gas in a container.
The effect of Biome Nature came into effect, turning this into a pressure cooker for the shockwaves to be stored while Accel Growth expanded the region occupied by this. The Bolt of Transcendence nervous system gathered within the stomach, which was where this was happening, and mildly resembled the shape of a throat.
G-Gong! Gong!
"What is happening?" The old Empyrean Snapper stared in confusion, noticing a moment later that a droplet of sweat had trickled down his forehead. 'Am I…getting nervous?'
"But…" He stared at the figure of the Zinger Representative that was emitting a golden glow amidst the rest of its jet-black body, feeling intimidated, "It's not a Mystic Grade existence!"
'Then why am I feeling this way?' He couldn't answer, however, he instinctively prompted all the Empyrean Snappers to crank up the absolute domain protecting them, watching the golden glow hum out of the Zinger Representative's body as it gathered within the stomach.
The Zinger Representative's body resembled the night sky now, perfectly jet-black without any defining features. Exactly three seconds later, Zhya's eyes shot open as she eyed the Empyrean Snapper group, "Final warning…"
"Fine!" She snorted upon seeing the group not budging in the slightest. She opened her mouth as there was a flash from her stomach that moved through her body and ejected out of her mouth in the form of a focused wave, concentrated in a beam form.
State of Harmony—Zinger Roar!
Using her Attributed Water body as a container, the tectonic shockwaves generated by the collision of every Attributed Water molecule upon its neighbour was gathered in the stomach and stored until the cage—her Attributed Water body—was unable to store anymore.
And then, these shockwaves were released in the form of a Zinger Shriek, containing enough Prana that the shockwaves produced a golden glow, resembling a Bolt of Transcendence.
At a speed a whopping fourteen times the speed of sound, these shockwaves rammed into the absolute domain erected by the Empyrean Snappers to cause a five-metre-deep dent.
KA-BOOM!
"That's… absurd." Nancral expressed in horror as blood trickled out of his nose. Their absolute domain indeed managed to neutralise the attack. Or rather, the attack only managed to pierce five metres deep. They had a Spirit Weapon range around 540 metres, so there was plenty of room in their defence.
However, the sheer impact placed enough strain on the Subtle Terrain Domination of every Empyrean Snapper that a trickle of blood dripped down their nose. They felt a tad tired mentally.
It was despite 216 Empyrean Snappers joining their strengths to create the strongest absolute domain.
While the group was in shock, three more seconds had passed, following which Zhya unleashed a second Zinger Roar.
KA-BOOM!
"Stop!" The old Empyrean Snapper shouted, coughing as he felt the strain across his body. His face paled as he noticed the Zinger Representatice's body turn jet-black once again as the light emitted by its Bolt of Transcendence nervous system gathered in the stomach. Three seconds later…
KA-BOOM!
"Argh!" The weakest Empyrean Snapper felt lightheaded, noticing the trickle of blood dripping down his nose had become a stream now.
KA-BOOM!
A fourth Zinger Roar slammed into the absolute domain, followed by a fifth, then a sixth. There didn't seem to be an end, as Zhya didn't even appear in the slightest exhausted.
"Are you confused?" Zhya chuckled upon seeing the paling expressions of all Empyrean Snappers, "This is the power of a State of Harmony. And unlike other States of Harmony, mine is economical."
Zhya only needed to wriggle the molecules part of her body, store the generated tectonic level shockwaves, and compress and store it to the limit before unleashing it. Most of the Prana used was in storing the shockwaves.
It was merely a collision of two objects with mass. Zhya was storing that vibrational energy and then releasing it through a stream of Prana. The overall Prana expenditure only reached 450 units. For a State of Harmony, that was nothing.
"Zinger Roar is the most economical State of Harmony," Zhya said upon launching her tenth Zinger Roar, smiling upon seeing the restlessness of the group of Empyrean Snappers, "You're in your human forms, which limits the power you can exhibit through Subtle Terrain Domination. You'll soon reach your limit,"
"While I never will." She announced. 'If you had chosen the Tertiary Nature of Subtle Imprison instead, you'd have been able to quickly accumulate Spirit Pools on your body, which you can use to unleash a variety of effects and also treat them as reservoirs of Prana, which is an Empyrean Snapper's greatest advantage.'
'If you had used your Secondary Nature's effect atop that, you'd be able to huddle together as a group while maintaining your Spirit Pools. At most twenty of you could be in the Spirit Weapon range of each other, but even that is enough.' She thought as she launched the eleventh Zinger Roar, watching another Empyrean Snapper collapse to the ground in exhaustion, 'That absolute domain would have been stronger than what you have now.'
Every Spirit Pool had a certain power imbued in them, which the Empyrean Snapper could use through Subtle Terrain Domination. Every Spirit Pool was basically a Spirit Weapon in liquid form. An Empyrean Snapper could combine various Spirit Pools as they pleased during a fight, capable of easily countering any opponent.
The variety of Spirit Pools an Empyrean Snapper had determined how strong it was. After all, not every terrain was powerful. In the Dralh Sea, the terrain was dangerous enough that an Empyrean Snapper could easily weaponise it through Subtle Terrain Domination.
That was why the Celestial Boar struggled so much while fighting them and had to use sneak attacks and diversionary tactics by switching rapidly between his human and Pranic Beast forms to fight.
However, when over forty of them died at the Dralh Sea, the news came as too much of a shock to the rest. That was why, the Empyrean Snappers were so caught up in their fear of the Celestial Boar that they forgot their every advantage.
'They don't even have a single Spirit Pool with them.' Zhya let out a sigh in lament, "You have your work cut out for you, brother."
KA-BOOM!
The fifteenth Zinger Roar slammed into the absolute domain as over half the Empyrean Snappers were out of commission temporarily. The more they couldn't maintain their Subtle Terrain Domination, the weaker their absolute domain got, and the faster more of them fell to a subsequent attack.
"R-Retreat!" Finally, the old Empyrean Snapper could only glare at the Zhya, "This isn't over!"
The group of Empyrean Snappers melted into the ground and vanished, as if they were never there I the first place.
"Hah!" Zhya expanded her Prana detection means and failed to sense the Empyrean Snappers anymore, 'It's impossible to detect an Empyrean Snapper who is determined to stay hidden, even alone, not to mention when they have an absolute domain.'
"I can only hope they learnt their lesson," She shook her head and observed how devastated the region had become. All this damage was due to her fight with Nancral. The impacts of her Zinger Shrieks were fully absorbed by the absolute domain.
Otherwise, the region would have been destroyed beyond recovery.
"Guess that's it, then." Zhya reverted to human form and chuckled, "It was a good test run. I have confirmed my hypothesis now."
"I am the strongest under the Mystic Grade on Sumatra." If the Zinger Representative were to publicise itself, it might even be worshipped by many groups, 'Of course, before that, I need to enhance my body's existing traits.'
An Empyrean Tusk or Snapper had too many physical traits. That wasn't all. Their Primary Nature alone was so versatile and powerful that their applications were endless. 'Biome Nature is pretty close.'
"Once I stabilise my gene makeup and expand my arsenal of traits, I'll be ready." She muttered confidently, knowing that once she reached that point, the Zinger Representative would reach Deity status.
It would become the third Deity of Sumatra. But for that to happen, the Zinger Representative should manifest all the traits that were involved in the creation of Mystic Royal Art.
Mystic Bone Art and Mystic Mist Art mimicked the characteristics of an Empyrean Tusk and Empyrean Snapper respectively.
"There's never a moment's rest on Sumatra," Zhya muttered as she observed the region of mist before her and ventured into it, "But first, let me explore this place."
"I'm curious about what it holds."