Chapter 385 - 385 – The Invasion Begins
"We notice earth movement coast," an 80-meter-tall dung beetle transmitted to the gathered beasts. Yet, the beetle’s imposing height couldn’t intimidate anyone because, right now, it was lowering itself in front of the beasts standing before it.
The only thing that could be seen around the gathered beasts was some stone and the bright sky. The clouds were far below them, creating a picture where it looked like the gathered beasts were at the top of the world, away from the mundane life of mortals.
"This could be a sea invasion," a 200-meter-long viper said from the side. It was coiled together like a cobra, ready to strike. The red viper had some intimidating spires on its head, making it appear incredibly dangerous.
"A most humiliating incident, indeed," an absolutely enormous pangolin said from the side. This pangolin alone took up nearly half of the peak of the Spire. Together with its tail, it had an intimidating length of about 800 meters. If Gravis were to meet this pangolin, he would be impressed by its incredible size. This would be the biggest Spirit Beast he had ever met. One would even have to ask how it managed to get up this incredibly tall Spire.
BANG!
"Insolence!" the beast in the middle shouted as the stone cracked around it. This was the smallest beast of all the ones present. Yet, it sat in the center, at an elevated position.
It was a brown scorpion, only around ten-meters-long. Yet, it radiated an aura that would force every Spirit Beast to kneel before it deferentially. This was the Tribe Leader of the Sand Tribe, Crilas, the Sand Lord.
"Ever since my ancestors have been slain, we were forced to relocate time and time again," Crilas said. "We have fallen from grace, and now, even the lowest of the sea beasts dare to covet our lands!"
"All enemies look down upon us, but we’ve managed to persevere. We shall show them that, even though we have fallen from grace, we are still not something that some mere shrimp from the water can attack!"
Crilas stood up as he walked forward into the middle of the Spire, the other beasts all lowering their heads. "After we break this attack, we will gain new lands and more power. We will use that newfound power to reclaim our ancestors’ territories. Immediately prepare for battle!" Crilas shouted.
The other beasts lowered their heads further. "Yes, my Lord," they said in unison. The viper immediately slithered away while the dung beetle also left. After a while, only the pangolin and Crilas were left.
"Do not underestimate an invasion from the sea," the pangolin said. "Our Tribe isn’t very good at fighting the sea beasts. We must take care in the upcoming battle."
If anyone else had dared to speak to Crilas like that, they would have been killed and eaten by him. Yet, the pangolin was special.
"You know me, teacher," Crilas said. "I won’t take any foe lightly."
"Very well, my Lord," the pangolin said. Yet, strangely, it didn’t move from its spot. It merely remained at the top of the Spire while the whole Sand Tribe was going crazy around them.
Different kinds of beasts started coming out of caves in the Spire and started readying themselves for battle. After some minutes, the whole Tribe had gathered before the humongous Spire, looking upwards.
After some seconds, the viper appeared some kilometers high on the Spire.
"To the coast!" it shouted with a mighty hiss.
"Coast!" every beast answered. Then, they started charging in the direction of the coast. It would only take some minutes until they reached the coast 200-kilometers-away. A war was about to break out!
The beasts arrived, but they saw no sign of an invasion. Slowly, they grew confused. Where was the enemy?
The viper that had followed them looked with narrowed eyes at the silent coast. Was their intelligence wrong?
"Sea Scouts, enter the sea and investigate!" the viper ordered.
Quickly, four relatively small lizards stepped forward. The biggest of them was only around two-meters-long, incredibly small for Spirit Beasts. Then, the four lizards charged into the sea. They had the ability to camouflage themselves and dig into the ground. Together with their small size, they were the perfect scouts.
The viper waited for several minutes, and just when it grew impatient, the lizards returned.
"Report," the viper ordered.
"52 viper-lengths, nothing special," one of the lizards said. "53 viper-lengths, immediate depth. Over 100 viper-lengths deep. Can’t go lower to investigate."
The viper narrowed its eyes. It had taught the scouts how to properly transmit accurate lengths. So, it had told them that they should just inform it how many vipers the distance had. Of course, one viper-length was just as long as the viper itself, about 200 meters.
"Are there any sea beasts?" the viper asked.
"None. No beasts. But, we found big cave," one of the lizards explained.
"How big is the cave, and where is it?" the viper asked, narrowing its eyes.
"70 viper-lengths deep. Cave has size of five viper-lengths," the lizard reported.
The viper narrowed its eyes and looked at the sea. Then, it looked at the ground. "Dung beetles, is there ground movement?" it asked.
The dung beetles lowered themselves to the ground and remained still for several seconds. Then, one of them stood up. "Weak ground movement," it said. "Coming from direction of Spire."
"Initially, there have been reports of small earthquakes at the coast," the viper muttered to itself, "yet, now, there are no beasts in sight."
The viper looked to the sea again. "Yet, they have created an Abyss right in front of our coast. There is definitely an invasion happening. Yet, there are no beasts. This can only mean that the beasts are somewhere else. One cave wouldn’t be able to host an entire invasion of sea beasts."
Suddenly, the eyes of the viper widened. "Unless that’s not a cave, but a tunnel!" it shouted.
"To the Spire!" the viper shouted to everyone with urgency. All the beasts heard the urgency and ran with everything they had.
The viper knew that they had been fooled. It had left the Spire with about 80% of its forces. If the enemy ambushed their home, it would be hard for them to defend. They had to get back to the Spire as soon as possible!
Yet, after only running for 150 kilometers, they found that their home had completely changed. A vast river blocked their path forward, around 30-kilometers-wide. But that was not the only bad thing.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
They saw lots of sea beasts swimming right in the river. Their enemy had arrived, and the enemy was between them and their home.
The viper narrowed its eyes in anger. "Go around it!" it shouted.
The army quickly started circling the vast river before them, but they quickly noticed that it went around the whole Spire. Right now, their home was surrounded by an abyss of water, ready to engulf it.
The viper grew more nervous. It had to get back to its Lord! Without their Lord, they would only be food for the adjacent Tribes. They couldn’t let their Lord die!
"There’s no other way," the viper said. "Ready for combat!" it ordered.
The beasts grew nervous. They couldn’t fight properly in the water!
"Earth Movers, create a pathway to the Spire. Everyone else, defend the Earth Movers!" the viper ordered.
The beasts calmed down. Meanwhile, the dung beetles and several other beasts stepped forward, closer to the water. The remainder of the beasts started protecting the Earth Movers in their midst.
"Charge!" the viper shouted.
And with that, all the beasts charged at the water chasm.