The familiar figure unleashed the suffocating presence for less than a second, only to make his point towards the Boar King. After that, he fully retracted his presence.
'This is disappointing.' The Boar King stared at the sky, sighing in response to the question, 'My race's fate is frustratingly cruel.'
"You needn't know." The Boar King spoke calmly as a vapour cone erupted from his spot; his figure flickered and appeared behind the familiar figure.
Boom!
He slammed the familiar figure into the ground, "Goodbye…"
"Hahaha!" The familiar figure laughed raucously as blood gushed out of his mouth from the impact, "I knew you wouldn't reveal the secrets that easily. But no matter, I was just trying my luck here, since we were from the same race. I'll come at you with full strength in the future."
"You're making it seem as if you'll be alive after this." The Boar King snorted and exerted greater strength in his hold, creating crunching sounds from the familiar figure as his bones shattered.
"This is merely a clone, after all." The familiar figure grinned, "So, my actual body isn't at harm. Aren't you curious where the Iron Empyrean Tentacle's Primary Nature in your possession went?"
"Were you behind it?" The Boar King glared.
"Yup!" The familiar figure laughed, "I left a checkpoint far away."
"Is that so?" The Boar King snorted, "I'll find you then. A day's journey for you is merely a matter of minutes for me."
"You think I didn't come prepared for that?" The familiar figure nudged to the side with his eyes, "I have kidnapped the Cooter Clan's prized Empyrean Snapper, Wittral. They were unable to differentiate our presence, since it's very similar. And now, they'll chase you with everything they got…"
"Fucker!" The Boar King snorted and exerted some more strength in order to obliterate the familiar figure's body. But a moment before that, the familiar figure shrunk into a grain.
The Boar King grabbed the grain and inspected it, 'This can only be done using Internal Inertial Gravity. It seems he managed to hunt a couple of Empyrean Tusks on the other continent. He doesn't even want to leave any clues behind in his corpse.'
"Internal Inertial Gravity, Checkpoint, and a human form." The Boar King's expression turned serious for a moment before he chuckled, "To think I'll have an enemy from my own race."
"That's a first."
'As long as he doesn't come into contact with a Bolt of Transcendence, it would be impossible for him to reach the Mystic Grade. Besides,' The Boar King analysed, 'It doesn't seem like he has the Astral Chart. That means he cannot store a large number of Primary Natures in his body without losing his mind.'
The Empyrean Boar's Primary Nature of Voracious Nature could theoretically store an infinite number of Primary Natures. But when the number reaches the double digits, the Natures would start a tug-of-war with the Empyrean Boar's mind and influence it to the point of oblivion.
Only through Astral Chart could Voracious Nature be kept in check and actively suppress the influence of the Natures in his body. It was thanks to Astral Chart that the Boar King hadn't gone insane due to the sheer number of powerful Natures in his body.
'Without Astral Chart, he's not a threat.' The Boar King thought, no longer mad, for he indeed came to learn a few things from this trip, 'I wasted five days. It's not much.'
"But this…" He stared at the sea of clouds speeding his way, "is bound to be annoying."
The goal of the familiar figure was to stall the Boar King long enough for the Cooter Clan to catch up. Moreover, the familiar figure riled up the Boar King through his shocking statements, causing the latter to emit his presence, which ended up registering in the senses of the Empyrean Snappers approaching the desert island.
"It'll be hard for me to escape by water." The Boar King stared at the Dralh Sea, conflicted. No matter how fast he could travel through it, he wouldn't be faster than the Empyrean Snappers.
The only way to go faster than them was to either use Internal Inertial Gravity to treat the sea as flat ground and run on it or use Subtle Terrain Domination to speed through the water.
The Boar King wasn't inclined to use either of them, unwilling to waste a powerful Nature for something so insignificant. He would rather lose a life than waste these Natures that he worked hard over the past two millennia to gather and suppress the influences of.
But he was at the Body Stage now. And hence didn't have lives to spare.
The Boar King looked around the Dralh Sea in his vicinity, unable to find any Pranic Beasts there. They had all fled when he and the familiar figure unleashed their respective presence.
"That's a spectacular trap. I'm surprised," The Boar King muttered in praise, despite being the target of the trap. He couldn't put a lid on what he was feeling at the moment. But honestly, he did feel a bit relieved to see another brethren of his race alive, even if the latter was trying to harm him.
If not for the fact that he planned to revive the Empyrean Boar Race, which could be targeted by the familiar figure to reach the Mystic Grade, the Boar King might have been so hard on the latter. He wasn't completely about how to deal with the familiar figure, but until he made up his mind, he planned to play around a bit here.
The Boar King counted the billowing clusters of Prana moving within the sea of storm, "There are 28 Empyrean Snappers."
"Can I handle them?" He muttered and inspected his Astral Chart, focusing on the disposable Natures he had accumulated. "There are twelve Prana shocks left. That should be enough."
The storm spread around the desert island, converging upon it from all sides, intending to trap the Boar King in the centre. The latter didn't try to flee or anything, and instead calmly sat upon a dune and observed their actions, 'It has been a while since I last fought a tough battle. I can use the horns of the Empyrean Snappers to refine a beautiful necklace for Yarsha.'
He thought nonchalantly, watching twenty-eight figures leap out of the Empyrean Snappers and land on the desert island, stopping a kilometre away from the Boar King.
The old man took the lead among them, shouting in rage upon failing to spot Wittral, "Where's Wittral?"
"Not in my belly, if that's what you're worried about." The Boar King said casually, "The one that kidnapped him is someone else."
"There's only one existence in Sumatra that dares make a move on the Cooter Clan," The old man glared at the Boar King, "You!"
'Yup, they don't listen.' The Boar King groaned mentally as he got up and cracked his stiff joints, "If you want to die that badly, come here."
He said and unleashed his presence, causing a sea of Prana to slam radially from his position, for a moment making all twenty-eight Settlement Leaders kneel in response.
The Boar King calmly approached them, "Even when the Mammoth Clan fought me, only the Empyrean Tusks attacked me while their Settlement Leaders stood at the side to watch helplessly. They only joined when the situation became desperate for their side. But what is with this bullshit?"
"Mere Settlement Leaders are taking the lead?" He muttered in disbelief, for a moment pinching himself to find out if he was dreaming, "It seems the Cooter Clan is pretty delusional."
Astral Chart—Prana Shock x12!
The Boar King stared at the surrounding Empyrean Snappers as he snapped his finger once, causing the heads of all twenty-eight Settlement Leaders to explode once. "Are you scared?"
His mockery-filled tone was addressed towards the Empyrean Snappers, causing a storm to erupt in response. The grey sand forming the island began to move up like a tsunami from the edges, turning into powerful serpents that raved about, building up strength before attacking the Boar King.
"That's the spirit!" The Boar King laughed as he ignored the Settlement Leaders and rushed towards the closest Empyrean Snapper, unleashing twelve waves of shock from his location to shatter the sand serpents.
He clenched his hand into a fist and released a beam of shockwave, targeting the closest Empyrean Snapper's head. The air around the latter congealed to form multiple layers of barriers, defending against the shockwave beam, and resulting in thunderous sounds.
But one after another, the layers of air were punctured through before the shockwave beam slammed into the Empyrean Snapper's face, spurting out blood.
"Are you awake now? Do better." The Boar King stared at the gigantic bloody face of the Empyrean Snapper that healed to a pristine state in a matter of seconds. Seeing the latter's expression visibly morph into a state of intense anger, he grinned, "It's getting interesting now."
