“What the hell happened?” Resha was stunned when the blood churning in Gannala’s heart turned stale. The muscles were beginning to sport tears while the cage of bone surrounding the organ cracked rapidly.
“Wasn’t there still time…?” Resha wondered before he stared at himself, “I see, so I was the one that accelerated her death.”
Resha condensed strength in his legs and shot out of the heart, using the ruptured blood vessel to enter a channel. He looked around in fluster, watching the channel beginning to shatter, “There’s no longer any presence of her Primary Nature here.”
His heart lurched as Resha could conclude, watching everything in his vicinity shatter, “It happened, huh.”
Gannala was dead!
He choked up, feeling an urge to cry. But knowing very well of the important matters at hand, he rushed out, intending to protect the Clan and minimise damage to a minimum, ‘Once these channels finish collapsing, the space within the organs would rupture and cause all the resources in them to spill out. It would be akin to a volcanic eruption.’
In his previous life, this eruption killed more Mammoth Clansmen than the Zingers. The explosion didn’t just shave the Mammoth Clan population, but also injured more than a dozen Empyrean Tusks, drastically bringing down their fighting power.
It was a vicious cycle following that, an unending downward spiral until their eventual annihilation. Without wasting any time, Resha jumped out of a channel and arrived at the surface, stunned to see a shadow loom over him, “Oh! Fuck!”
The 43rd Empyrean Tusk was falling towards him. With a snap of his finger, Resha caused Gannala’s exoskeleton bone nearby to flow towards him like water and condense into a spear. Its ends extended into a rope that he held.
“Urk!” Followed by a grunt, Resha threw the bone spear towards a Baobab tree far away, accurately hooking it. He lightened his body to the limit and tugged the rope, flying towards the cliff. Upon reaching the peak, he turned around and stared in shock, watching the 43rd Empyrean Tusk collapse upon the 44th Empyrean Tusk.
And the cause was an individual at the sight of whom, Resha shuddered in fright. An instant later, he raged, “Boar!”
“Isn’t this Gannala?” The Boar King uttered in surprise after making the 43rd Empyrean Tusk fall. His figure flickered and appeared before the 44th Empyrean Tusk’s eyes. He plunged his hand and pulled out her hill-sized eye, clicking his tongue as he turned it into paste.
Looking no different from a human but sporting strength to move mountains, that was the Boar King. He clenched his hand into a fist and increased its density before slamming down a punch, causing tremors to ripple throughout Gannala’s head as her skull shattered.
“Come on! Why are you dead before I could kill you? That isn’t fair, you know?” Even though he complained, his fists didn’t stop moving, caving in Gannala’s head, “Your blasted herd annihilated my entire race. Isn’t it courtesy to remain alive until I exact my revenge?”
“Wait a second…Ah, I see.” He grinned, “No wonder. It makes sense now.”
“Kurr-Rhaaa-Alalala!” Followed by a thunderous trumpet, a trunk slammed into him and sent him flying.
The Boar King crashed into a mountain and emerged from the other side, stopping only after penetrating ten such mountains. Laying in the rubble of the last mountain he crashed into, the Boar King expressed admiration as a trail of blood leaked out of his nose, “That was a tough punch!”
He stared at the Empyrean Tusk that had attacked him, grinning as he jumped onto a mountain peak and stared down at his opponent, “Considering your strength, you must be the leader of this herd.”
The one that had attacked him was the 1st Empyrean Tusk, the leader of the herd and their strongest. Only it had enough strength to actually injure the Boar King.
“Let’s see…oh, where are my manners…” The Boar King coughed once before speaking. But this time, his voice was audible only to the Empyrean Tusks.
[Gannala finished her inheritance ceremony, right? So, that baby is the new Gannala? Don’t worry. I’ll go kill her after annihilating the lot of you! Your race will end at your generation!]
Phew!
Suddenly, all 43 Empyrean Tusks ejected their respective Mammoth Clansmen, gathering them on a mountain.
Immediately in response, the settlement structures covering their bodies melted to create a uniform surface, raising the strength of the exoskeleton.
[Wow, you’re gearing up for battle pretty quickly!]
At the Boar King’s comment, the Empyrean Tusks snorted and completed their preparations. Their exoskeleton moved across their body like a river, constantly circulating from head to toe. Their joints too had morphed to allow dextrous and flexible movements.
Their Primary Nature was activated in full swing, consuming the resources stored in their bodies at a tremendous pace. Their bodies became heavy, causing the ground to begin sinking naturally.
Upon seeing their actions, the Zingers immediately vacated the region, creating a battle space of three dozen kilometres that was bereft of their existence. It was a large enough space for these Deity-like existences to duke it out.
“Kukugaaa!” A shout resounded through their community as they further widened the encirclement. Most of the Zingers retreated deeper into the Dieng Canyon’s core, afraid.
Terrifying pressure crept upon the region, causing the mountains to faintly tremble in response as 43 Empyrean Tusks and the Boar King stood in a face-off. It lasted for two minutes before being broken by the Boar King.
“Come! Today is the day I eradicate the Empyrean Tusks!” The Boar King roared as he leaped, entering hypersonic speeds as he made a beeline towards the 1st Empyrean Tusk, intending to deal with the leader of the herd first.
As long as the leader died, the rest were easy picking. 𝒩𝒐𝚟𝑙𝒩xt.𝑐𝒐𝐌
In response to his lunge, the 1st Empyrean Tusk pointed its trunk at him and blew out a stream of high-pressured water, instantly negating his momentum.
The moment he was stopped, a shadow loomed over him as the 2nd Empyrean Tusk leaped into the sky, rapidly moving its centre of gravity in a circle as it began to spin. Using the motion, it unfurled its trunk like a whip and slammed the Boar King into the ground, creating an earthquake as dozens of mountains collapsed.
Following suit was the 3rd Empyrean Tusk that stomped upon the ground, reverberating shockwaves through it that accurately acted upon the buried Boar King and sent him flying out.
By now, 24 Empyrean Tusks had taken a circular formation, having compressed air in their trunks to the limit as the snots were pointed at the Boar King. Right as he came in position, all 24 Empyrean Tusks unleashed an ultrasonic soundwave, concentrating everything onto their enemy.
“Urgh!” The Mammoth Clansmen grunted in pain as their eardrums ruptured merely from the faint dregs of sound waves that wafted out.
The 43rd Empyrean Tusk rushed toward them and stood between them and the shockwaves, protecting them. This way, while it protected the Mammoth Clan, the stronger Empyrean Tusks could focus on fighting the Boar King.
The Mammoth Clansmen stared agape at the scene of mountains casually being destroyed like they were paper cards. Such was the peerless might of the Empyrean Tusks, worshipped as Deities by the Mammoth Clan.
And these Deities had gone all out in order to vanquish their foe.