There was no other living being in the vicinity, save for an egg in the cave. No human or Pranic Beast could target it from far away without it detecting them first.
Therefore, the only culprit that could attack it was the blasted Centinger acting concerned right before it. An artillery strike had enough power to blast its face to such an extent. And a Centinger was capable of shooting a single spike that would vaporise upon impact. That was within their capability.
Once was fine. It could be treated as a prank.
Twice, it could be endured. Maybe it treated the other party badly in the past and this was its revenge. That too was within its endurance capability. But a third strike? That’s going overboard, especially since all three attacks destroyed its face and blinded it.
Primary Nature—Bone-Melting Artillery!
The Centinger activated its Primary Nature in full and attacked the other party, causing a battle to break out between the two. There were incessant screeches between the two, as they were arguing in their language while fighting.
[I didn’t do it!]
[Take me for a fool, will you? Eat shit!]
Inala absorbed a data cluster from the male Centinger’s skull related to the language of the Centingers, able to slowly make sense of their screeches. Of course, it would take some time to get used to, but there was no urgency.
He was only doing this to ensure his plan was working well.
[I didn’t attack you!]
The second Centinger continued to plead while defending against the artillery strike. The centipede upper bodies of both coiled around each other, grating through their respective exoskeletons. Thunderous banging sounds reverberated from their clashes, causing ripples to form on the lake.
The battle lasted for a good twenty minutes before stopping. The second Centinger somehow managed to convince the angry Centinger.
[Sleep beside me, then! I can’t attack you in that case, even if I wanted!]
That was how the two Centingers made peace. They slumped beside each other and fell asleep. The Prana in their Spirit Containers circulated through their bodies, slowly mending the damage they had sustained.
Once both were fast asleep, two Empyrean Zingers crawled out of the lake. All of them hid within the Rockatrice’s corpse, having encased themselves in Prana Bombs.
The moment the Centingers spread their Prana around, the Rockatrice’s corpse reacted to it, causing a large bump on their skin. But that was it. Since their Prana reacted to its corpse, it couldn’t seep deep inside.
As a result, the Prana Bombs deep within its flesh remained beyond their detection. Of course, in their senses, the corpse of the Rockatrice was registered as a large piece of mass that was reacting to Prana.
This was the limit in terms of detection capabilities for Prana, no matter the existence. Hence, the Centingers failed to detect the presence of the Empyrean Zingers hiding within.
And once it was time, two of them broke out of their Prana Bombs and swam towards the edge of the lake before making their way to the second Centinger.
They spat out their respective Sumatra Zingers simultaneously and began to charge it up slowly. These Sumatra Zingers barely possessed half the strength of Inala’s Sumatra Zinger, a difference that arose due to the source organs forming them.
Inala’s Sumatra Zinger was created using his organs, those toughened from cultivating Mystic Bone Art for longer durations.
In contrast, the Empyrean Zingers used to make Sumatra Zingers were all younglings, aged between one and two years.
But despite being weaker, these Sumatra Zingers still packed a decent punch. Ten minutes later, the two Empyrean Zingers crawled underneath the second Centinger and positioned themselves right underneath its crotch, the most sensitive location on its body.
They aimed the nozzle right into the canyon entrance on the groin and shot two Prana Bombs, committing suicide immediately after swallowing their respective Sumatra Zingers. As they fell to the ground as two specs of dust, the second Centinger howled in pain.
It was its turn to glare at the other Centinger, roaring in pain.
[I told you it wasn’t me! Why attack me sneakily?]
[I didn’t!]
Tensions increased between the two as they no longer fell asleep, remaining briskly awake. If not for the fact that they didn’t wish to kill fellow brethren, they would have fought to the death already. 𝒩𝑂𝚟𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t
The two Centingers remained awake, constantly emitting Prana to keep watch over their surroundings. But maintaining it for more than a couple of hours began to tire them out. Hence, they eventually retracted it.
But they kept vigilant watch over each other. Unfortunately for them, the moment they retracted their Prana, six Empyrean Zingers crawled out of the lake and approached them.
They were nail-sized and blended in with the surroundings, too small for the Centinger eye to make out, especially since such a small Pranic Beast didn’t exist, at least based on their knowledge.
Moreover, the six miniature Empyrean Zingers approached them from their blind spots. Three per each, they climbed onto the Centingers. Their exoskeleton armours weren’t as sensitive as skin.
And once they lightened their body density to the limit, the Empyrean Zingers were no different from air, impossible for their weight to be felt by the Centingers.
Slowly, they positioned themselves on the centipede upper bodies of each, camping right at the scuttling legs. This was where the artillery strikes would be shot from. Hence, they were the perfect spot to attack from.
Ten minutes later, all six Sumatra Zingers had finished loading. The Empyrean Zingers were ready, keeping most of the Sumatra Zinger’s shaft within their mouths. Right as the shot finishes, they would swallow it and commit suicide, becoming a speck of grain, taking less than a second for the entire process.
Even the Prana Bomb would vanish upon impact, as the dense power of Internal Inertial Gravity within it would create a singularity and cause it to shrink into a grain of sand too.
The six Empyrean Zingers kept watch alertly, observing the direction faced by the sight appendages of the two Centingers. The moment their eyes faced elsewhere, six shots were fired, three on each.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
[Again! And again! And again!]
The two Centingers roared in anger. Since the attack stemmed from the scuttling legs of each, which was from where they launched their artillery strikes, in the minds of each Centinger, the other party was now assuredly the culprit.
They no longer pulled punches and went in for the kill, resulting in a bloody fight as large body parts were torn off and strewn everywhere while artilleries punctured through their tough shells.
Two hours later, one of the Centingers died while the other was too wounded to move around. Suddenly, a bunch of Prana Hands slammed into it, short-circuiting its exhausted brain. Inala rushed before it and placed his hand on its body, seeping his Prana into it, “Finally!”
“Your data is mine!”
Prime Skill—Empyrean Extraction!