The Centinger had a weirdly shaped body, with all its vital organs present within its centre, protected underneath its hard shell. As there existed nervous extensions to all vital information-gathering organs leading into the limbs, it resulted in the brain not being in a somewhat rounded shape as in all creatures but was instead elongated like a serpent with wings.
And to protect it existed a skull similar to the vertebrae of a human body. It was this skeletal structure that was treated as a skull counterpart by the Mind Extraction Prime Skill.
Inala transformed a Prana Bomb into a hollow cylindrical drill and began to puncture a way through its underbelly, spending a lot of time since the Centinger's body was ridiculously tough. 'If I fought it traditionally, it would have taken me forever to kill it.'
Fortunately for him, as long as his Prana Bomb were to touch a target's body part, it was capable of sucking in the target's Prana. That was its power. Therefore, the opponent's defences never mattered to him. He only needed to touch them.
Brute forcing through things wasn't in his nature. And hence, his power system was perfect for his use. As long as he plans and targets at the right time, he can take down opponents stronger than himself.
The Centinger had matured. Hence, it was stronger than him. But when it was busy facing the soldiers and had both its body and mind occupied in dealing with them, he attacked, instantly overwhelming all its senses and caused its mind to short-circuit.
He constantly maintained the pressure until it was robbed of all its Prana and Lifeforce.
"What just happened?" The 2-Life Stage cultivator that dealt the killing blow to the Centinger frowned in confusion, staring at the somewhat shrivelled corpse before him, "Are any of our powers capable of doing this?"
"We need reinforcements!"
"They're too strong!"
There were howls from other areas. The 2-Life Stage cultivator couldn't stop to investigate due to the urgency of the situation. He led his team to help the others, joining up in their battle.
As the Centinger's body covered the ground, the drilling sounds didn't leak out. And even if they did, the sounds were so faint they couldn't be heard amidst the chaos of the battlefield. Buildings shattered, people hollered, the Centingers roared, and countless abilities struck everywhere.
"Goddamn!" Inala cursed, feeling suffocated by the blood that continued to pour out of the Centinger's underbelly. He spat out a bunch of Empyrean Zingers who began to drill into the ground underneath him. Soon, they connected the channel into the underground shelter he had taken refuge in before.
"Run!"
The people within the shelter could no longer stay there, for it was gradually being flooded by the Centinger's blood. Originally, even after the ceiling collapsed, they stayed within, for the damaged part was very small.
They simply retreated away from the location underneath the broken ceiling and huddled in other areas of the shelter. But once the blood began to pour in, they couldn't stay there any more, for through the hole spanning a diameter of ten centimetres, blood gushed out like a torrent.
When the blood gushed out, air seeped in, supplying Inala with the required oxygen.
"Let's try to stop it!" A man took the initiative and sent his Spirit Weapon forward, plugging up the hole. But a second later, he grunted in pain as his Spirit Weapon shattered while he lost a bunch of Prana, "What was that?"
"Let me try…argh!" One after another, the cultivators that stepped forward to seal the hole ended up screaming in pain. Unbeknownst to them, there was a miniature Empyrean Zinger positioned right behind the hole, using a Prana Bomb to target their Spirit Weapons.
This ensured the blood continued to drain into the shelter, allowing Inala to avoid being drowned while he was drilling through the Centinger's body. In a matter of minutes, the blood reached as high as the ankles of those in the shelter, alarming them.
Judging by the rate, in less than an hour, the blood would reach their heights. The Centinger's massive body had more than enough blood to fill up the place to a couple of metres in height.
"Retreat to another shelter!" Screaming as such, the people rushed out of the shelter and flooded the battlefield, causing many to become collateral to an artillery strike.
The Centingers were already aiming for them all along, held back by the best efforts of the soldiers. But once the people fled the shelter, they spread out, becoming easy picking for the Pranic Beasts.
"It's dangerous! Don't go outside!"
"Stop! Don't run!"
Those with some brain tried their best to rein in the people, but panic had already set in. And the majority weren't equipped to handle rational thoughts in such a situation. It had been a century since Ellora City faced anything serious.
Hence, none of the people in the shelter ever had to fear their lives before. As a result, they were ill-prepared mentally for such a situation.
"Many are dying, huh?" Inala muttered from his hole in the ground, with its top covered by the Centinger's belly. He wasn't affected by their deaths. After all, he wasn't witnessing their slaughter first-hand.
He was only fed the information by an Empyrean Zinger. Sometimes, it was best to exercise ignorance. Otherwise, his humane nature would wear down his mental state until he suffered from all sorts of trauma.
Once he had gotten rid of the disconnect he felt from his childhood, he truly became part of Sumatra. Therefore, the influence of morals and the such he cultivated on Earth were gradually waning over the past three years.
But there was still a while longer before he could truly stomach gory scenes of slaughter when not in an extreme mental state.
Four hours of nonstop drilling later, he finished making a deep bore. Inala sent in a couple of Prana Hands that carefully fished out the vertebra-like piece of bone. A bunch of miniature Empyrean Zingers latched onto it and cleaned it of all flesh and blood, making it squeaky clean.
Prime Skill—Mind Slip!
Inala accessed the data within it and nodded in praise, "There's a lot of valuable data in it, especially in terms of the Red-Draft River's ecology, topography, and food chain."
This was information that wasn't available anywhere. Hence, it would allow Inala to have a more comprehensive understanding of Sumatra Continent. One day, that knowledge would allow him to kill the Boar King.
Gaining the data of one male Centinger was enough. There wouldn't be any noticeable difference between the data of male Centingers, at least not to the extent he would risk his life hunting another.
Up next in the list was a female Centinger, followed by a male Millinger and finally, a female Millinger, "But an opportunity for that would only present itself very late. First, I must obtain something else."
He encased the Centinger's vertebra-like skull counterpart in a large Prana Bomb, shrunk its size and swallowed it. Once it was safely tucked away in his biome, he dug an underground tunnel and returned to the house from before.
He grabbed his pillow, observed his surroundings and made way to the city's exit, aiming for one of the collapsed wall segments. His target?
The Rockatrice!
