Every second, approximately ten metres of the Dralh Sea was converted into the Sandy-Grey Void. From the vertex of the Sandy-Grey Void Octagon to its centre, where the ship was at, the distance measured to about 5.33 kilometres.
This equated to about nine minutes for the ship’s location to become part of the Sandy-Grey Void. Of course, as the Sandy Grey Void spread from the vertices of the octagon, they spread across the surface first, with the depths taking a bit more time, since the sea bed was at a depth of two kilometres.
The effects of the Sandy-Grey Void unleashed by the Sandy-Grey Bombs would last for 24 hours. And the grey sand would be as potent as the one bordering Sumatra Continent.
Of course, if it was left to grow freely, it would consume a catastrophic volume of the Sumatra Continent within 24 hours. With a growth rate of 10 metres per second, if left to expand radially like a circle, it would grow to become a circle with a ginormous radius of 864 kilometres.
This was merely in the horizontal direction. If it were to develop in the vertically downward direction too, then the land was fucked. The crust would be messed up, turned into grey sand. And even after 24 hours, only the effects of the Sandy-Grey Void would vanish.
This region would be a desert with numerous quicksands. Moreover, since it ate into the crust and very easily the mantle too, it would be damn unstable, fraught with frequent volcanic activities as the pressurised magma in the mantle would erupt out from this zone.
Occupying an area of 5425 square kilometres, it would absolutely wreck the terrain. Hence, to prevent such a disaster, the Mudropper remained stubborn about two things in regard to creating the Sandy-Grey Bombs.
First of all, the effect of the Sandy-Grey Void would vanish after 24 hours. Following that, the region would merely be a desert. Secondly, the voracious expansion of the Sandy-Grey Void would only happen for ten minutes, following which, it would become stable like the Sandy-Grey Void Ring surrounding the Sanrey Plains.
It was why Inala made calculations and set the distance between the sides of the octagon to be four kilometres. This meant that at the end of ten minutes, a small portion of the Dralh Sea at the bottommost point, at the centre of the Sandy-Grey Void Octagon wouldn’t become part of the Sandy-Grey Void.
It would still remain as part of the Dralh Sea.
And since the layer above it was the grey sand that was loose in nature, it would sink into the water, creating a small battleground that wasn’t as treacherous as the Sandy-Grey Void but prevented an Empyrean Snapper from using its terrain dominance to its usual potency.
After all, when Prana comes into contact with the grey sand, it gets absorbed. Therefore, Wittral would have to expend an exponential amount of Prana than usual to control his surrounding land.
And that would create the perfect, advantageous ground for Inala to test himself against Wittral.
With every passing minute, the Sandy-Grey Void continued to approach the ship from all sides. As the liveable area shrunk, the Pranic Beasts became more and more violent, fighting for a spot on the ship.
Beginner Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Clumped Finger!
There were three of them, taking refuge at one corner of the ship’s deck as lying next to them were stiff figures, both Cooter Clansmen and Pranic Beasts alike. Something resembling a layer of dust had formed on them. And though it seemed to be a mere layer of dust, for some reason, none of the targets were able to break free.
Primary Nature—Imprison!
When activated, the Primary Nature of Imprison clumps particles of water or air onto a target and roots them to a specific spot, preventing them from moving. The only way to break out of it was either by sheer force, like using Internal Inertial Gravity, or by controlling the terrain that nullified the dust layer, like using Subtle Terrain Dominance.
Only someone at the Gold Grade could hope to break free. And even if they were to do so, the Clumped Finger could imprison them once again.
The Clumped Finger resembled an oyster, sporting a gelatinous body that was fragile to the touch, capable of being easily destroyed by even Iron Grade Pranic Beasts. To protect itself, the Clumped Finger used its Primary Nature to build a series of fingers that wrap around it gently like a protective shell.
These fingers number in the hundreds and behave like an extension of its body, able to attack in close range similar to how a human flexed his fingers. They can curl and lash out. When performed consecutively in the hundreds, a destructive force can be generated.
A Clumped Finger relies on its defensive strength to tank the opponent’s attacks while using its Primary Nature to form a layer of dust on the target. When the target is no longer able to move, it approaches them and unfurls its fingers nonstop, unleashing a flurry of attacks that shatter the immobile creature’s body.
This was the way a Clumped Finger hunted. And of course, despite their strength, they had many weaknesses. It took time to regenerate their fingers every time they were damaged in battle, since the material had to be accumulated from the sea.
If the quality of the material isn’t up to par, the fingers would shatter easily. This was why the Clumped Fingers roamed in the outer zone of the Dralh Sea and bullied the Silver Grade and Iron Grade Pranic Beasts there, not daring to head towards the core zone of the Dralh Sea where there even existed small schools of Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
“Is everyone alright?” Wittral shouted as he sent a group of Pranic Beasts flying with a tornado and charged out onto the deck, staring at the numerous deaths of his Clansmen in anger, “Come towards me!”
“Go! Go! Join Wittral!” The captain of the ship roared in response as the over four hundred Cooter Clansmen under him joined with Wittral, bringing their numbers close to 600. They had lost over four hundred in these short few minutes.
“Create a large cloud. Leave controlling it to me.” Wittral shouted as he activated his Primary Nature to control the clouds generated by his people, creating a tornado of clouds that gradually expanded over the deck.
By now, most of the ship was underwater, with large walls of it cracking and falling apart thanks to Inala’s Gravity Bombs. Hence, once the tornado formed, the deck began to crack in response, looking like it was about to collapse at any moment.
“Create a base!” At Wittral’s shout, a group of Cooter Clansmen generated another cloud that was buoyant in nature, able to float on the sea like a boat. Everyone unanimously jumped onto it as the deck shattered.
Followed by a grunt, Wittral controlled the broken pieces of the ship, transforming them into blades that spun through the tornado, becoming a meat grinder that shredded apart any Pranic Beast that came close.
As the Sandy-Grey Void was almost upon them, Wittral intended to occupy the centre and push the Pranic Beasts away, forcing them to confront the Sandy-Grey Void with their bodies and die in the process.
Understanding that the tornado’s expansion spelt their doom, the three Clumped Fingers activated their Primary Nature and combined their powers, causing a large number of dust, minerals, and dissolved salt in the Dralh Sea to fly into the tornado and stick onto its surface, weighing it down.
Wittral controlled the tornado as his Spirit Weapon while the three Clumped Fingers controlled the dust layer on the tornado as their Spirit Weapon. The tug of war lasted for less than twenty seconds before the tornado stopped spinning, turning still like a statue.
With a grunt from the three Clumped Fingers, the tornado collapsed upon the Cooter Clansmen, forcing them into the defensive. Immediately in response, the Pranic Beasts lunged at their throats.