"Your Highness, Lord Cuck!" Virala reverted to human form and came to a standstill twenty metres before Resha, "Miss me?"
"…" Resha stared at Virala in a daze for a moment before clarity returned to his mind. He bellowed in anger, "Disgusting fuck!"
Resha unleashed a gravitational pull, intending to bring Virala closer when the latter's mass changed abruptly as a worm drilled into the ground. The ground acted as a strong barrier towards Resha's Prana detection, preventing him from sensing Virala's position.
'Ewworm?' Resha was surprised by the transformation, observing that he was unable to detect the latter's movements anymore. Prana pulsed out of his body, condensing the effects of External Inertial Gravity that slammed into the ground and caused shockwaves to course through it.
There was a pull, followed by an immediate push, looping dozens of times every second. The disruptive shockwave wasn't destructive in the least. If any Pranic Beast were to be underground, it would only feel a mild discomfort.
However, this fluctuation allowed Resha to build a mental imagery of the ground based on the varying levels of density. Soil pattern, types of minerals, etc. He was able to detect them all. And eventually, he was able to detect a minor movement in the density of a certain location, honing in on the place, "There you are!"
A powerful suction force was unleashed as the topsoil flew toward Resha. Amidst the stream of soil was a metre-long Mystic Ewworm, unable to slither away as all the soil that its body was in contact with was being pulled towards Resha.
In response, the Mystic Ewworm's tail transformed into a hook that latched onto Barla, causing the latter to resist fiercely in her Empyrean Boar form. Barla was unwilling to be pulled towards Resha and hence tried to free herself.
Unfortunately for her, the hook had stabbed itself into her tusks and hence couldn't be removed easily. She would have to revert to human form to escape the hook, but doing so was dangerous since sharp projectiles were flying in the region thanks to the tornado.
She dug her hooves deeper into the ground and stopped herself. Using her like an anchor, the Mystic Ewworm coiled its tail to roll up the string connected to the hook and closed in on her.
"You!" Barla glared in anger to see the Mystic Ewworm slither over her body and slap her away, causing her to lose her balance and be sent flying towards Resha.
"That guy is someone desperate to kill your father." Virala's whisper resounded in her ear, enticing her emotions, "He has been creating a weapon personalised to counter the Boar King. If you don't save yourselves, all your siblings will die."
"Shut up!" Barla churned Prana through her body and unleashed Prana Shock, sending Virala flying away. She then hurried to the rescue of her siblings upon seeing them resist the sharp projectiles flying their way once they moved farther away from the eye of the tornado.
"I…am not going to kill my children!" Yarsha Zahara grunted desperately as she felt a tremendous amount of hatred build up in her. She suddenly was distracted by the sounds of Ruvva's crying, causing her attention to focus on the latter.
"This…is…" She felt difficulty in processing her thoughts. After Resha's statement, she realised that Ruvva wasn't birthed by the union of her and the Boar King. She could easily connect the dots upon sensing the frequency of Virala's Prana fluctuations.
The sheltered Yarsha Zahara wasn't able to, but the Sumatra Chronicles version could do it as easily as breathing. She could confirm that Virala had fooled her by transforming into the Boar King to make her birth Ruvva.
To be honest, she wasn't as disgusted by Ruvva as she would have had originally. After all, Ruvva was a Free Human and not an Empyrean Boar. Moreover, as both her selves were merging, Yarsha Zahara could feel Ruvva's speciality as a Mystic Human.
She observed that Virala too was a Mystic Human, a Free Human that was uninfluenced to the limit. However, the concentration of Mystic Human genes was higher in Ruvva, for she was born as such, having inherited all the genetic characteristics of Yarsha Zahara.
Even Barla failed to inherit all of Yarsha Zahara's latent talent. Her siblings too were more or less similar. But Ruvva was different.
'She can achieve my dream!' As the influence from her Sumatra Chronicles version grew stronger, Yarsha Zahara thought as she stared at Ruvva, extending her hand in an effort to grab her, only to see a row of Mystic Eaters jut between them.
Her fingertips transformed into her Sumatra Gold Human Avatar as a beam of Prana flooded out of them and slammed into the Mystic Eaters, absorbing some of them. "Keuk!"
She stared at her back to see a Mystic Eater had gushed into her stomach and leaped out from the other side, carrying another Sumatra Gold in its stomach. The moment Yarsha Zahara focused on dealing with the Mystic Eaters preventing her from taking hold of Ruvva, another batch targeted the Sumatra Gold in her possession.
"You are…resourceful." She scowled at Orakha, slowly beginning to stabilise as waves of Prana began to form around her.
'Oh, fuck!' Even though Orakha put on a strong front, he was internally shitting bricks to see that the two personalities of Yarsha Zahara were already starting to stabilise. Sumatra Gold could stabilise and make everything practical. And now, that was also helping to integrate her two selves at a practical scale.
'Ten…fifteen minutes tops.' Orakha made an estimate as he began to combine Mystic Eaters to strike faster. Yarsha Zahara had managed to obtain a few of them during their tussle the moment her Sumatra Chronicles self gained better control of her body.
If he were to dally any longer, she'd manage to gather enough Mystic Eaters to retaliate against him.
"Sheesh! How long do you need?" Virala grunted in annoyance as he grabbed a piece of rock and hurled it at Yarsha Zahara, distracting her when necessary.
He then approached Brana, evaded a lunge by turning into a metre-long Mystic Ewworm, and threw a Spirit Slip in the latter's mouth. The Spirit Slip exploded and caused a bunch of information to flood Brana's mind, causing the latter to stare at Resha in alarm and flee farther away.
The six siblings protected themselves in a corner while Virala popped out of the ground from time to time to target Resha and Yarsha Zahara.
"Phew!" Orakha sighed in relief as he grabbed Ruvva and retreated into the shelter, watching the Mystic Ewworm slam nearby in a fluster and become a bloodied Virala. His body was covered in wounds as he developed the tool at the end of his tail into a cradle and placed Ruvva in safety there once again.
"Thanks!" Virala grabbed a Sumatra Gold, feeling satisfied with just one as he ignored the pile in Orakha's position. He became a Mystic Ewworm and drilled into the ground, making a retreat.
'Is he heading to the Golden Giant?' Orakha thought as he unleashed the power of his Human Avatar to heat up the region and turn the ground into lava, 'Yarsha Zahara won't be able to absorb this lava since it's not the product of a Nature.'
As long as her Human Avatar doesn't come in contact with the jet-black ink he released through his Human Avatar, she wouldn't be able to gain control of his ability. The lava was merely soil that had melted due to the heat and hence wasn't considered as the product of a Nature.
'This will keep them busy for the time being.' He targeted Barla and her siblings with the lava and made his escape.
"No!" Yarsha Zahara used the Mystic Eaters she had gained control of to block the lava that was about to splash onto Barla, "Are you alright?"
"Yes!" Barla shouted as she put her siblings—after they reverted to human form—in her mouth and made a leap, jumping onto a piece of land that wasn't lava. But the moment she landed on it, the piece of land fractured and began to sink into the lava that had already spread underneath.
Orakha had used most of his Prana to unleash the attack, for he wanted to buy enough time to safely flee with the pile of Sumatra Gold that he had stolen. Once he rejoins his body near the Golden Giant, he'll be at full strength and could then focus on integrating the Sumatra Gold into his Human Avatar.
With that, his preparations will be complete to enter the Attributed Region.
"Mom! Save us!" Barla shouted, staring in despair to see Yarsha Zahara remain unresponsive. She watched as her hooves plunged into the lava, causing her to scream in pain, "MOM!"
There was a flash of green, following which a bubble enveloped her body, tanking the heat from the lava as it gradually hovered up and carried her. Another bubble appeared at a spot in the lava and began to unleash grey mist that solidified into a platform of bone.
The lava in contact with it cooled down and solidified into stone as the bubble carrying Barla popped, causing her to fall on the platform of bone.
"Resha, calm down." Grehha's voice resounded as grey mist began to circulate through the tornado, turning it grey. And then, it solidified into bone, forming a colossal spiral of bone that reached the sky.
Resha glared in the direction of the voice when an Empyrean Incubator slammed into his face, blocking his vision. A field of gravity protected him from the impact, preventing the Empyrean Incubator from actually touching him.
He swatted it away and noticed that standing before Yarsha Zahara was the figure of Grehha, one whose hand had extended to offer her support.
"Do you mind if I help you?" Grehha asked her as he used a kerchief to wipe the sweat on her forehead, "I know what is happening to you. If It's okay with you, I can help you ease up the pain."
Her eyes shot wide open as Yarsha Zahara observed Grehha. She then accepted his help and got up, asking promptly, "Give me one of those bubbles you made."
"Sure," Grehha replied happily and created a fist-sized Empyrean Incubator, watching the latter use her Human Avatar to gain control over it.
Yarsha Zahara instantly expanded its size and enveloped her head with it, unleashing incessant waves of Prana through it that impacted her. Her Minor Treasure of Storage Lantern activated in response as three pieces of Sumatra Gold were built into her Human Avatar.
A few seconds later, the Empyrean Incubator was expended as Yarsha Zahara's gaze was calm, having stabilised herself. Her gaze moved from Resha to Grehha, followed by the shelter from where Virala and Orakha had fled the scene, and finally, to the six children she had birthed, her mutter filled with a tone of mockery, "What a repulsive scenario."
"It's fitting for a sheltered idiot like me."
