"What?" Councilman Hyak stared agape, thinking for a second before asking, "Your second body...what is it?"
"You’ll see now," Yoribu revealed a confident smirk as she walked in the direction of the Forest Boars, distancing herself from the Mystic Humans. There was a visible fluctuation of air around her as her presence spiked, and then, she transformed.
Intermediate Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Empyrean Megatrice!
With a Prana capacity of 5880 and a lifespan of 1420 years, the Megatrice was a newly born Pranic Beast from the Sanrey Plains. It was an evolved form of the Rockatrice, reaching the peak of its genetic growth.
It reached a strenuous height of 140 metres and sported a hundred arms. The arm count was similar to its Silver Grade counterpart, but their length wasn’t. Unlike the Rockatrice that had arms of the same length, the Empyrean Megatrice’s arms increased in length the closer they were to the top.
The arms at the foot reached a length of twenty metres while the topmost arms spanned a whopping 580 metres.
Physicality-wise, not only was the Empyrean Megatrice tougher, just like Gold Grade Pranic Beasts, but it also had some mobility now.
A Rockatrice had little to no mobility, stuck to a spot and moved like a snail. The Empyrean Megatrice, on the other hand, had a spring-action type mobility.
Its feet were a mix in shape between a piston and a drill, also attached to a radially expanding hook. When necessary, the feet would penetrate the earth, puncturing to a depth of 140 metres. Then, the hook would expand and grab onto the earth at the bottom, yanking the body into the bore.
It was capable of executing the entire process in a second. Upon burrowing into the earth, it would lie in wait there. The crown of its head was all that peeked out. It was shaped like a tree resting upon a mound, which had mild camouflaging properties. If the Empyrean Megatrice burrowed in a desert, the mound would take on a sandy texture while the tree would morph into a cactus.
In a grassland, the mound would mimic the same while the tree would resemble the local vegetation.
When the Empyrean Megatrice wanted to leave, its feet would expand to a length of 140 metres like a spring, propelling its body out of the earth. And as it emerges to the surface, its arms would unfurl and slap the earth.
The slap would generate forward momentum, causing the Empyrean Megatrice to curve in the air and leap over a long distance. If the arms don’t take action, it would only move up vertically, the launch force barely enough to get its feet off the ground.
At the end of the jump, an Empyrean Megatrice usually uses the landing momentum to burrow into the ground easily. And then, it would jump again. This was its mode of travel. In terms of travel speed, it wasn’t anything worth noting about, as a majority of Silver Grade Pranic Beasts could outpace it.
But it was a leap from its Silver Grade variant. And besides, the Empyrean Megatrice was a defensive unit in the first place.
Primary Nature—Hilly Intimidation!
It was pretty similar to Rocky Intimidation, but could now create hills. These hills didn’t necessarily have to be made out of rock. The Empyrean Megatrice could also layer them with soil and cause trees to sprout similar to the surrounding vegetation.
It simply had to infuse its Prana into the created hill and trees would grow. That made its camouflage perfect once it burrows in the hill. And when an unsuspecting prey sets foot on the hill, hands would shoot out of the ground, capture the prey, and pull it back into the earth, all in one swift motion. And the moment they emerged, the hill would unleash a powerful intimidation effect, stiffening the prey.
It was a perfect defensive unit.
Yoribu didn’t have Hilly Intimidation, as she was a Mystic Human. But that didn’t matter, as the Empyrean Megatrice’s body was extremely powerful in a defensive battle.
She had the Boar King body for offence and to give chase while the Empyrean Megatrice was useful for steady defence and capture.
Tertiary Body Stage 2 Partial Transformation—Root!
Her legs resembled the Empyrean Megatrice’s as they punctured into the ground and pulled her inside. Yoribu had done this right after the Forest Boars noticed her, luring the group towards her. ’There’s a total of fifty of them.’
She observed and analysed, ’There are only Forest Boars. That’s good then. It would have been difficult to fight if a Heavy Boar was part of the group.’
"It’s a blatant trap!" A Forest Boar roared upon seeing Yoribu’s head gently peek out of the ground and retreat after making a disgusted face towards them. "Just charge right at her. She’s only one person..."
It had just spoken as such when its feet entered the range of the Empyrean Megatrice’s arms. Yoribu didn’t take action immediately and waited two more seconds. When over thirty were within her reach, she assumed a full transformation.
Her feet spontaneously punctured through the earth and spontaneously camouflaged her transformed body, following which arms shot out of the ground and began to spam punches onto the faces of the Forest Boars.
Since Yoribu was at the 4-Life Stage when she became a Mystic Human, and the Empyrean Megatrice she gained as her Tertiary body had reached maturity, her transformation was at full power.
Normally, she would have had to grow the body from its baby self. But Gannala first equipped her Tertiary Nature slot with the Nature Weapon of the Empyrean Megatrice. She then used the Skill of Nature Weapon Assimilation, and then allowed Yoribu’s Astral Weaponiser to take effect.
That’s how Yoribu obtained a mature Empyrean Megatrice as her Tertiary body. Currently, only her fourth body, which was growing, had a young Empyrean Megatrice and young Boar King forms.
That meant, the Yoribu in the field now, was at the peak of the Body Stage, able to unleash the full potential of her build. ’Let’s see how effective a Mystic Human’s power is.’
Prana surged through her body and reinforced her arms with psychokinesis, turning them faster, and allowing them to hit with more power. Their defensive strength too had been boosted by psychokinesis, making it hard for the Forest Boars to destroy her arms.
Every second, a Forest Boar received at least five punches to its face.
"Urgh!" An angry Forest Boar brough out a stomach and poured the stomach juices on the ground, knowing that Yoribu’s body was hidden right below the surface. The Forest Boars surrounded the arms and splattered the Spirit Weapons—in the form of stomachs.
Stomach acids filled the region, as a second later, the hands vanished. Like a spring, Yoribu launched herself out of the ground, assuming human form. Her body flew towards a Forest Boar as she revealed her teeth like a starved individual.
Arriving before a Forest Boar, she assumed her Boar King form, opening the mouth to chomp upon the Forest Boar’s neck. And then, there was a gulp as she landed on the ground in human form, waving her hand to shield her face from the rain of blood sprinkling out of the Forest Boar’s decapitated body.
The severed head of the Forest Boar fell with a loud thud beside her as she casually leapt onto its forehead, glaring at the remaining 49 Forest Boars, "Do you intend to prevent me from reaching the Dralh Sea?"
"Afraid I’ll become part of the Mystic Human Council?" She chuckled upon seeing the expressions of the Forest Boars twitch in response, "First time in political waters, huh? The lot of you only have strength going for you...oh, I forgot that you’re all still inexperienced."
[If you wish to trigger an enemy, don’t just hurl insults at them. Observe them first, analyse what offends them the most, and tone your insult accordingly.]
Before he left for the Varahan Challenge, Narkahamy left a pile of Vara Slips for Yoribu, meant to assist her in living life as the Varahan Empress. She hadn’t developed as an individual much after falling into Narkahamy’s hands.
As such, placing responsibility on her lap, especially the authority of the Varahan Empress was a fool’s paradise. Hence, Narkahamy gave her an encyclopedia. What to do, how to act, how to think, what to think, when to do anything, etc.
A good majority of the variables that she might have to face in the present and the future as the Varahan Empress were recorded in the Vara Slip. If Yoribu wasn’t sure of something, she could refer to the encyclopedia. That would give her enough grounds of competence to work on.
And as long as she acts on the encyclopedia’s info, she’ll eventually digest and make them a part of her own, maturing into a competent leader of the Varahan Empire.
Politics, diplomacy, war tactics, research, development, society, governance, etc. Everything, including whatever Narkahamy had researched and collected throughout his life, was dumped into Yoribu.
Narkahamy Encyclopedia!
It also had Narkahamy’s conjectures on how Sumatra Continent would develop next, what were the intentions of the major players, and finally, what was the best course of preparing the for the Continental Invasion.
Everything that Narkahamy could think of had been put in it, ensuring the encyclopedia would remain relevant for at least the next few decades. By then, Yoribu would be ready.
At present, she was reading off a script, ’Allying with the Mystic Humans would technically make the Brimgan Empire an extended ally to the Varahan Empire.’
’They are afraid against that possibility, despite the sheer number of Forest Boars and other variants pouring out of the Kalahatra Desert.’ She chuckled and read off a line from the encyclopedia with bravado, "Unfortunately, you guys are ill-prepared to face me."
"Come, I’ll kill you!" She bellowed as her presence spiked, alarming the Forest Boars to take defensive stances when suddenly, like a released spring, her body shot out of the encirclement and landed far away.
It took a second for the Forest Boars to realise they had been fooled, watching Yoribu assume Boar King form and flee out of sight with the rest of the Mystic Humans on her back.
"See you...fools!" Echoed her voice as the Boar King vanished from their line of sight, too fast to catch up.