The sole indicator of whether or not the Boar King caught up to a Brangara puppet was his movements. It was already planned beforehand that when the second Brangara puppet gets caught, it'll speak for exactly twenty-eight seconds before committing suicide.
Therefore, if the Boar King were to stop moving for that duration, it would be an indicator of the second Brangara puppet's death.
Since the Empyrean Zingers had the Secondary Nature of Internal Inertial Gravity, they could always locate the Boar King's position through fear. And now, they were taking advantage of the exact same fear to time their actions.
The only time the Boar King stopped for twenty-eight seconds was when he faced the second Brangara puppet. Hence, immediately after that, a boulder on Fral Island shattered to reveal the third Brangara puppet.
It leaped onto the Dralh Sea and ran in the direction of the Guna Caves, intending to lead the Boar King towards this three-dimensional shifting maze, hoping to buy as much time as possible.
In the meantime, Inala was sweating buckets, stressed to the limit, hard-pressed for time. Veins popped on his forehead as he tried his best to increase his operation speed, controlling four Spirit Containers to their limit.
Through his Secondary Nature, he felt the Boar King head in the direction of the Guna Caves, soon able to hear faint rumbling sounds generated by the Empyrean Snappers hot on his trail. As the Empyrean Snappers moved, the size of the thunderstorm they condensed around them continued to increase, becoming more and more terrifying, akin to a cataclysm.
Unlike Empyrean Tusks that were explosive in nature while attacking, Empyrean Snappers were accumulative during fights. The longer they fight, the stronger they get, able to terraform the terrain into a form suitable for them, target their opponent in waves, and gradually wear them down.
Their clash was thunderous enough for the shockwaves to reach all the way to Inala, at the deep corner of the mine on Leh Island.
'Time is running out.' Inala wiped his sweat and asked a nearby Empyrean Zinger, "How many have we accumulated?"
[18,671]
"Good, good." Inala nodded and continued to extract Wittral's Spirit Containers. He wasn't sure how many of Wittral's Spirit Containers were needed for Gannala to reach the necessary accumulation. Hence, he would have to gather more Free Human Spirit Containers in the future.
'For the time being, this is the limit.' He sighed and nervously executed the process, soon extracting the last Spirit Container from Wittral.
"Now to stabilise my biome," Inala grabbed his Sumatra Lantern and expanded it to its original size. Following that, he swallowed all its contents and stored them in his biome.
He then activated Mystic Bone Art and gradually turned the Sumatra Lantern into a semi-molten state, making it soft enough for its body to be moulded but not to the extent the Mudropper's power in it would collapse and cause the Sumatra Gold to separate itself from the bones—his bones—forming the lantern.
Stage 1—Jaw!
"Aah!" He gagged while swallowing the Sumatra Lantern, bit by bit after making it resemble a thick noddle. As it was in its original size, there was no compressed space within it. Therefore, putting it into his biome wouldn't be an issue.
Had his body been as massive as an Empyrean Tusk, swallowing it wouldn't have been an issue. Plenty of Storage Lanterns were kept in an Empyrean Tusk's body in their original size without issues.
Of course, if it was just to store in his biome, Inala wouldn't have risked damaging his Sumatra Lantern. He could simply bury it at a spot deep underground and retrieve it in the future.
Until now, he had been accumulating for Gannala's growth. His current actions were towards his own growth as he finished swallowing the Sumara Lantern.
Once it appeared in his biome, it landed on his stomach walls and began to spread on it like butter, forming a layer. It gradually expanded throughout his biome like a sponge, retaining its powers. The space within had already vanished once its form was destabilised.
Inala was currently using it to stabilise the biome in his stomach. After all, the body of the Sumatra Lantern was made out of his bones. So technically, it could be considered his body.
Hence in extension, Inala wanted to attach the Sumatra Lantern to his stomach and transform it into stomach walls, thereby making use of the power of the Sumatra Gold to stabilise his biome.
Multiple pieces of bone fell into the expanding sponge-like body of the Sumatra Lantern and merged into it, little by little, gradually causing the effects of the Sumatra Gold to seep into them too. Like an expansive cave, Inala extended it until it became a network of beams and pillars running across his entire biome.
The Empyrean Zingers in his stomach took action immediately and splashed the Prana-rich fluids of Prana Bombs onto this network, causing it to stabilise and merge into his stomach walls.
Immediately in response, Inala felt the strain on his mind ease up a little. The Sumatra Gold was making things easier for him, allowing him to continue maintaining his stomach biome following what he was about to do next.
Following the Sumatra Lantern was the Sumatra Ship, and finally, even his Sumatra Canon was similarly fused into his stomach. Now, his stomach biome was robustly stable and didn't even strain his body and mind.
"That should do," Inala nodded, exhaling in relief, "I'll be able to endure this now."
He began cleaning up the place, sending everything to his stomach biome which was pretty massive now, thanks to the effects of the three pieces of Sumatra Gold. Once the tunnel was wiped clean of his traces, Inala rolled around a Prana Bomb on the cave walls, absorbing any traces of Prana that had seeped into them.
The three items using Sumatra Gold were in his stomach biome now. That only left the six Sandy-Grey Bombs, which were transported by an Empyrean Zinger Scout to the bottom of a mine shaft that was narrow enough for only its miniature form to pass through.
Arriving at depths far beyond reach, it dug a hole and buried the Sandy-Grey Bombs there. Following that, it blocked the shaft with a layer of soil and committed suicide, erasing all traces of itself in the process. Now, even the Boar King's senses would fail to detect the Sandy-Grey Bombs.
'He should be waking up shortly now.' Inala thought as he stared at Wittral who was now free, removed from the Prana Bomb coffin and the drugs that kept him unconscious.
He created a tiny altar using the soil from the cave, clumping it together into a structure no stronger than a sand castle. There were two stone cups at its top, in the former of which he poured a fluid that emanated a dense presence of Wittral. In the second cup was the familiar figure's presence.
Following that, he placed a Bone Slip before the two cups, exhaling softly as he stared at himself, controlling his trembling hands, "I might never recover from this if I mess up."
He swallowed all the Empyrean Zingers except the Empyrean Zinger King. Inala transformed into a woman and used his sharp claws to make an incision on his chest. He seeped Prana into his heart and took in a deep breath, "Take care of everything."
[We'll be waiting for your successful return, Inala!]
Prime Skill—Spirit Container Harvest!
"Gah!" He shouted suddenly as strength left his body, feeling as if he had been cut off from all his senses. He was no longer able to sense his stomach biome, for there was no longer any Prana circulating through his bloodstream.
Had he done this before, his biome would have exploded, unable to be maintained without Prana circulation. It was why he used three Sumatra Gold pieces to stabilise it. Now, the stomach biome acted like an independent entity, able to sustain itself as long as there was enough Prana in it to keep the space bent.
The Empyrean Zingers would take care of that and pour the fluids of Prana Bombs into the stomach walls at regular intervals.
The Empyrean Zinger King grabbed Inala's Spirit Container and safely stored it in a Lifeforce-rich Life Bomb. It then poured some of the same fluid into Inala's incision, waiting until his injury healed.
Following that, it tied up both Inala and Wittral and crawled into Inala's mouth, causing him to choke in response and cough intermittently. Albeit with some difficulty, it managed to pass through his throat and arrive at safety in his stomach biome.
'That was terrible!' Inala gasped for breath as his eyes shot to the side, inspecting the cave, for a moment nodding in relief at the fact that he hadn't committed any mistakes. He then closed his eyes to inhale a deep breath. But then, when his eyes shot open, he got a jump scare, staring at the figure that had appeared before him without his notice.
"What are you thinking?" The Boar King stared at the face of Inala in closeup, sporting a mild frown, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
