𝗈𝗏𝑙xt.𝗇et
It was soon dawn as Inala returned home and slumped on his bed, resting. He had been constantly busy with a lot of things, oftentimes to the extent he had to forgo sleep.
‘I just want to cultivate and roam Sumatra in peace.’ He thought and closed his eyes, falling asleep immediately. Unfortunately for him, an Empyrean Zinger Scout arrived beside his bed in its miniature form, exiting from a tunnel entrance nearby.
It opened its mouth and let out a short screech. Inala’s eyes shot open in response, slightly red. “Is that true?”
“Keek!” The Empyrean Zinger Scout said in response and retreated into the tunnel, closing the entrance behind it.
Inala sat up straight, frowning in thought, “Something’s about to happen.”
The Empyrean Zinger Scouts had been dispatched throughout Ellora City, located in crowded places where people refrained from using their Prana. It was the best place to remain hidden while spying around.
And after the night’s ordeal, he sent hundreds of them outside, keeping them perched on the trees in their miniature forms. It was a contingency measure.
In the likelihood of Gudora, the Ellora City Lord figuring out his identity and going in for the kill, these Empyrean Zingers would swarm the city. As they were all Silver Grade Pranic Beasts, the city would enter a state of full alert.
That would ensure Gudora would have to focus on thwarting the crisis first. He might resort to jailing Inala after breaking his limbs to prevent him from escaping.
As long as that happened, Inala would survive. He could easily recover from such an injury and wait for Asaeya to rescue him.
Moreover, these dispersed scouts would also serve as his information network, casting a wide net over the region. He had just returned after casting the net when a concerning piece of news was discovered.
The water level of the river flowing through the Ganrimb Kingdom was steadily declining. It had already declined by a couple of metres overnight and was only accelerating in pace.
That was already a cause for concern, as reported by people who exited the city at dawn to travel around. The Empyrean Zinger Scouts tailed after a few informed people who were sons and daughters of the city’s powerhouses.
Through the information gained from them, Inala realised that this wasn’t an ordinary event. And the meeting he was invited to was related to it.
‘Is it a Minor Crisis for the Ganrimb Kingdom?’ Inala thought. Upon coming to this conclusion, he couldn’t sleep. A Minor Crisis was too dangerous to take lightly.
He survived the First Minor Crisis only because of his location. His settlement lost half its population as a result. This wasn’t a normal group of people but Mammoth Clansmen, twenty thousand of them.
Moreover, they were situated atop an Empyrean Tusk, fighting in favourable conditions. Also, once the 44th Empyrean Tusk moved far enough away from the Mud Viper nest, the First Minor Crisis ended prematurely.
It was because the Mud Vipers disliked being far away from their home.
But things would be different on flat ground. The invading party would be arriving in full force and wouldn’t disperse until every last one was killed.
The strength of the people here was vastly inferior to the Mammoth Clan. Moreover, there were too many people.
The Mammoth Clan’s strength in the 44th Settlement was concentrated in the forty-plus thousand Clansmen. Everyone could fight, including the students, since they were primarily trained for that.
But Ganrimb Kingdom wasn’t like that. There were too many people belonging to non-combat professions. Therefore, when disaster strikes, the combative personnel would be dispersed throughout the large Kingdom, spread too thin while protecting the largely helpless population.
As a result, something on the level of a Minor Crisis would be ten times more dangerous here. It was why Inala became restless, ‘Why now? Two years later, my preparations would have been perfectly complete. I would have left after that.’
He got up, dressed flashily, slung his Storage Lantern to his hip, and exited Ellora City through its front gates. Once he was away from view, he changed into his Mammoth Clan clothes that were comfortable to move around and fight in.
Armed with his two Prana Hands and two Life Hands, Inala rushed in the direction of the river. A couple of the Empyrean Zinger Scouts in the vicinity landed on his head and hid between his hair.
He went through their memories and gained further understanding of the situation at hand. He arrived at the river and indeed was able to notice its drop in level. But that wasn’t all. He could see some Slump Lizards swimming deeper in the waters, agitated for some reason.
He observed their reaction as his expression turned solemn, ‘They’re afraid. What is the enemy to induce such a strong reaction in them?’
“Kieek!” He suddenly heard a sound and rushed in the respective direction, arriving before a massive cactus. There was a tiny hole in it, one created by an Empyrean Zinger Scout three years ago.
The scouts entered through it and spied upon the Mollusc Tribe living within. In regular intervals of a week, one of the scouts would exit and transmit the information to the Empyrean Zinger King making its way to Ellora City.
The Empyrean Zinger King would then inform Inala through a Bone Slip it chucks at him like it did with the Prana Bombs.
But now, the scout brought forth disturbing news.
Raising his body weight through his Secondary Nature of Internal Inertial Gravity, Inala kicked the cactus and slammed open its entrance, sensing a thick stench of blood immediately. He rushed down the flight of stairs and arrived at the large dome, “What the…fuck is this?”
Everyone part of the Mollusc Tribe was lying down on the ground as corpses in their transformed states. Their transformations seemed to have been activated for extended durations, causing their mutations to go wonky, leading to multiple organ failures.
Adding to that were their bodies that were made to forcefully collide with each other, in a method similar to controlling Spirit Weapons. It was apparent that the Carcass Snail had taken action to get rid of its Ravaged Tribe.
Inala stared down at the Carcass Snail that was gradually shifting its massive body into the dome. Originally, half of its body peeked into the river. But now, it was planning to hole up in the dome, secreting a mucous that upon mixing with its Shell Moss created a chitin armour to patch up the hole.
Inala observed the Carcass Snail, noticing that safely tucked in its body were two Mollusc Tribesmen, a boy, and a girl, barely adults by this world’s standards. They were being protected by the Carcass Snail.
After all, their transformation as Mollusc Tribesmen was the most advanced in the Tribe. Hence, the Carcass Snail prioritised protecting only them, with the intention that as long as they were alive, it could repopulate the Tribe. They’ll be better than the current Mollusc Tribe.
It was gorging on as much of the river bed as possible, preparing to hibernate for a long time. The fact that even an Advance Silver Grade Pranic Beast was taking such drastic measures to hide could only mean the approaching danger was that much horrifying.
