The grasslands were eerily quiet during the night, most of the monsters that could be seen running around and fighting during the day were absent from it, each one of them was sleeping, they weren’t fully asleep however, the grasslands were still dangerous during the night and those beasts needed to be alert, otherwise they might end up as a meal.
Monsters that usually stayed underground during the day made their way to the surface as they carefully observed their surroundings, some lived deep underground and only came out every couple of days while others created nests in the ground from which they came out every single night.
The night in the grasslands was always a restless one, most of the monsters would target the young and the old beasts as they were easy prey while other, stronger monsters would go for the strong and healthy ones as they would provide more nourishment.
Monsters that looked similar to moles could be seen coming out of holes that they dug out. Strange monsters that had a figure similar to humans could also be seen sneaking around the grasslands as they came out of the river that flowed through it. Gills could be seen on the sides of their necks and stomachs as they walked slowly while leaving a trail of water behind them.
Reign and the others quickly started fighting, they were still on the periphery of the grasslands and most of the enemies here were weak. The moles were the first enemy they encountered, the moles felt the vibrations from the ground and quickly dug their way beneath the party and attacked them. They were incredibly annoying to fight against as they spent most of the time underground, only going up to the surface to deliver an attack or two before diving back into the ground.
Their attacks consisted mostly of claw swipes and the usage of their earth manipulation. The moles could use mana and manipulate the earth, that was the reason why they could seemingly swim through the hard ground with ease, the ability also allowed them to of course use the earth as an attacking method. Sharp earth spikes, potholes, quicksand, the moles used everything they had in order to defeat their enemies, of course even with all of that, their chances of scoring a victory were non-existent. Reign and the others killed the moles without sustaining any injuries, the moles were after all bottom feeders and they were amongst the weakest monsters in the grasslands.
They would usually hunt for babies of other monsters, once they could confirm that a cub was away from its parents the moles would immediately dig a tunnel beneath the cub, the tunnel would usually be at least 12 meters long while being twice as wide as the cub, after a cub falls they would usually die on impact as the tunnel went straight down, for the cubs that survived the moles would be merciless as they would attack with everything they had before they manage to kill their prey.
The river monsters turned out to be spirits of some kind, their bodies were seemingly once human but after death, they were cursed and reborn in a body that was half fish and half-human. During the daytime, they slept in underwater caves that they build, but after night falls they would come out and attack everything that was near the river. Their new bodies craved flesh and they had to do their best to find some, they were tricky opponents for the monsters, their skin was extremely slippery and scaly so it was hard to get a proper grip on them, even cutting them was harder than normal thanks to their bodies.
Reign and the others had only small issues with that, Greenie was the one that got annoyed the most, his hammer was a bad weapon against that type of enemy and quickly he tossed it aside before using his hands. His nails grew longer and soon they almost looked like claws, with each attack the claws would get a slight purple hue around them as Greenie used his arms like spears.
Inferno Eruption, Demonic Spear
The skill was seemingly something that was newly made as it used both the power that Greenie obtained from the demonic ogre and the inheritance, the result was of course even beyond satisfactory, his hands were now strong enough to penetrate through his enemies with ease, not to mention that with each successful attack Greenie was able to feel the skill becoming slightly stronger and faster.
“They’re certainly an interesting bunch,” Vajra says as he looks at Greenie who was using the Demonic Spear to kill his enemy. Vajra picks up a glass before he gulps down the entirety of the drink.
“I know, what about you, I’m actually surprised that you aren’t mad after seeing the young ogre.” The white-robed Reign says as he looks at his old friend with a smile on his face, the red-skinned Vajra puts the glass down before looking back to the huge mirror in front of them, the mirror was what they were using to observe Reign and the others, they had already been here for some times, but to beings such as them that amount of time was nothing, just one meditation session could last for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Vajra looks back at Greenie before switching his gaze to the purple hue covering his arms, his lip twitches a bit as he looks back at his old friend.
“I have to be honest, it doesn’t sit well with me to see one of my ogres being tainted by a power of a demon ogre, but you were correct last time, I need to change, otherwise my ogres will not be able to survive.” Vajra suddenly says as he looks at the mirror with a tinge of sadness.
“That was thanks to you and that dumb pride of yours, your Vajra ogres are amongst the strongest races in the universe, born as Transcendent beings, Saints upon reaching adulthood, there are only a handful of races that can boast something like that,” Reign says as he pours another drink to himself and Vajra.
“Yes, I know that, but reaching godhood is many times harder for them compared to other races, not to mention that they can’t improve their abilities decently either, still, I don’t know how you managed to create yours, a race that has no race, one of the most powerful and dangerous powers is at your disposal and yet they’re so weak and feeble in the very beginning, just how did you achieve something like this old friend?” Vajra looks back at the smiling Reign as the latter just laughs it off before getting up.
“Honestly, I didn’t, as I have always said it simply happened, there was no master plan to create my army or anything, one day I managed to unlock my powers and it simply happened, after many years there were sightings of people with a similar ability after I had checked it out I realized that they were in fact the same race as me, which shouldn’t be possible as I was the only one in the universe back then, had no children and yet, more and more kept appearing, most of them died.” Reign suddenly exclaims as he turns around to face Vajra. 𝙚𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝙜
“Others simply lost control and were destined to be simple observers of their body, some others decided they couldn’t take it anymore and killed themselves, only a small percentage of them remained, and well, I believe you know the rest.”
“Yeah, the beginning of your Immortal Army, most will know the story.”
“Anyway, as I said, do the same as before, give some ogres a chance to become Vajras, just like you did back then, stop relying on the true blood Vajras that are born powerful, make new ones, let them struggle, let them grow, in turn, they will become more powerful than the ones that are full of pride and never had to do anything in their life.” Reign suddenly utters a low shout as he looks at Vajra with fire in his eyes, he had always had a problem with how Vajra acted with his ogres, he wanted them to follow in his footsteps to become stronger and never let them experiment with their powers.
Because a Vajra ogre was born as a Transcendent they were hailed as one of the strongest races, their weakness, however, was simple, only a small number of them managed to go above the Saint tier, races that are powerful at birth all suffered from a similar drawback and that was that the talent of their descendants was simply not as good as the previous generation’s, even when there are some that had great talent they would still struggle immensely as that was the way of the universe, everything needed to be balanced.
The two old friends continue watching Reign and the others as they wonder what would happen next and how the party would grow in power, for beings that had everything in the universe something like this was quite fun to do sometimes.