Chapter 251 Keeping Up Appearances
With a max Prana capacity of 1172 at maturity and a lifespan of 90 years, Bludders were an annoying bunch. Since they were Iron Grade Pranic Beasts, they had insane fertility, capable of ballooning their numbers to terrifying levels in a short time frame.
As Expert Iron Grade Pranic Beasts, they were the strongest in their Grade. When a Bludder activates its Primary Nature of Eddy Blade, Prana would surge into its body, accumulating as its body continues to rotate.
This rotation helps hasten the transfer of Prana from its Spirit Container to the respective location on its body, hence possessing one of the fastest Prana accumulation rates on Sumatra Continent.
Close to 300 Prana was consumed during an attack, as the Eddy Blades would be strengthened to the limit, not to mention making them vibrate at a very high frequency upon contact. As it was a highly taxing process, the Bludder always went in for the kill.
Inala barely managed to react and hence managed to evade, only losing his arm in the process. He was honestly shocked to see his Prana Bombs being slashed through like they were paper.
Well, it made sense when comparing their Prana consumption. Even though a Prana Bomb could absorb and store 100 Prana in itself, it only took Inala ten Prana to create a Prana Bomb. Hence, Prana Bombs were a low-effort item.
Even though it was tough, the source of its creation was only ten Prana. Therefore, it had obvious limits when coming face to face with an Eddy Blade condensed using 300 Prana.
"I'll leave the defence to you," Inala said to Gannala as he used Internal Inertial Gravity to wary his body's centre of mass, as a result dancing during his free-fall like a butterfly, making it a bit harder for the Bludders to aim for him.
Four Prana Bombs revolved around him like satellites, acting as the first layer of defence.
"Haaap!" He glared deeper into the tunnel and radiated a stream of Prana in that direction, sensing Asaeya's figure at the end, protected by the Mystic Eater. He became nervous when a Bludder leapt towards her.
But in response, the Mystic Eater shot a jet-black substance. A smaller Mystic Eater was birthed through it as it slammed into the Bludder and got shredded into bits. The bits dissolved into jet-black ink and condensed into tiny Mystic Eaters that burrowed into the Bludder's body, reaching its heart.
Their actions flustered it, as a result causing it to unfurl itself, ending up missing Asaeya as a result. It had deactivated its Eddy Blade and landed on the tunnel wall, burrowing through a hole and focused on treating itself.
The Mystic Eaters plaguing its body were killed by tiny Eddy Blades. But right as it killed the last of them, the Mystic Eater coiling around Asaeya shot forth and stabbed into its chest, consuming its Spirit Container.
It then retreated and digested the Spirit Container to replenish its Prana, regenerating its body following that.
'Ok, it can manage itself for now.' Observing the state of things, Inala let go of his worry. He could focus on bridging the gap without any stress.
Four bone hands flew around like insects and slammed into the tunnel walls with force, having become heavy. The impacts caused the tunnel walls to tremor, making it a bit harder for the Bludders to accelerate.
"Aah!" Gannala unleashed a fierce scream, causing shockwaves to boom out of her mouth and traverse throughout the tunnel. The soundwaves bounced off the tunnel walls and continued to echo through it, making the Bludders tremble in response as their ears burst.
[Talk to me like this. My ears went kaput.]
Inala conversed with Gannala through a bone slip as he felt lightheaded. Blood burst out of his ears even though he protected himself. Soundwaves were unable to travel only in a vacuum. Hence, even if he covered his ears with layers of Prana Bombs, the sound still travelled through them and reached his ears.
[Sorry Dad, I was focusing more on catching them off guard.]
Gannala then inhaled a deep breath of air and exhaled with force, creating a tornado that occupied the tunnel, forming a barrier between them and the Bludders.
By turning their bodies heavy, Inala and Gannala fell through the tornado's funnel, finding it hard to breathe due to the lack of air there. Thankfully, they increased the capacity in their lungs beforehand, hence being able to travel without any issues.
[Inala! We're close!]
The last Empyrean Zinger along the path said. It was the one that had jumped into the tunnel first to chase after Asaeya, being at the forefront all along and had succeeded in keeping an eye on her.
The Empyrean Zinger approached Inala and landed on his head in its miniature form. By transforming its stomach into a biome, it swallowed the bunch of Prana Bombs and a Life Bomb given to it by him.
"The fastest way to kill the Mystic Eater is by stealing its Prana." Gannala accessed Orakha's information and infused a plan of action in a Bone Slip, feeding it to the Empyrean Zinger.
Stage 1—Jaw!
"Go!" Once it was ready, Inala threw the Empyrean Zinger with all his strength, watching it make a beeline towards Asaeya.
The Mystic Eater detected its approach and tried to accelerate Asaeya's free fall. But as the Empyrean Zinger increased its body density in its miniature form, the air resistance it felt was minimal as it glided towards Asaeya quickly.
Primary Nature—Prana Bomb!
The Empyrean Zinger hurled dozens of Prana Bombs at Asaeya, causing them to latch onto the latter. When the Mystic Eater tried to consume the minerals of a Prana Bomb, it lost Prana upon contact.
The Empyrean Zinger used Mystic Bone Art to transform the Prana Bombs into Prana Hands, causing them to roam all over Asaeya's figure to consume Prana nonstop.
The Mystic Eater retaliated in response, consuming Prana from time to time, but its losses outweighed its gains as the Empyrean Zinger was controlling four Prana Hands simultaneously.
The Mystic Eater continued to shrink in size when a Prana Hand grabbed it by the neck and crushed its body after absorbing all its Prana. Without Prana, it couldn't regenerate its body and ended up dissipating.
The fight barely took a couple of minutes as the Empyrean Zinger landed on Asaeya and opened her mouth, pouring the contents of a Life Bomb and a few Prana Bombs. Her body activated Mystic Bone Art and naturally digested the contents.
A minute later, her eyes shot open, having recovered significantly. By emitting Prana, she detected the Empyrean Zinger perched on her body, observing a mild change in its behaviour, becoming giddy in response, 'Inala is here!'
'Wait, shit!' Her mind regained absolute clarity as she sniffed herself, only now noticing the stench she was emanating, 'Not like this, no!'
Prana billowed out of her body and cleaned her up. This was a casual technique taught to everyone at the Mammoth Clan's Academy of Refinement. It was how Mammoth Clansmen maintained their hygiene. The process barely consumed a Prana if someone was very messy. Otherwise, it wouldn't even consume that.
Asaeya went overboard and burnt through 200 Prana for the same, looking like she had been taking a bath nonstop for a month. An aromatic scent wafted out of her as she finished tiding her hair and even changed her clothes.
Looking fresh, she took out a Spirit Weapon in the shape of a spear and stabbed it into the tunnel walls, using the friction to decelerate. She then swung around it and pole vaulted upward, chirping in joy as she leapt into Inala's embrace, "You're back!"
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