Chapter 44: Catch!

“Kukooo!” A Zinger Scout’s shriek reverberated throughout the ravine as hundreds of Zingers perched on the Baobab Trees amplified and echoed the shout.

They let go of their perch and ran on the ground on all fours, like a feline creature, making a giant leap over the cliff. All the Zingers uniformly unfurled their membrane wings, gliding through the air as they approached the closest Empyrean Tusk.

“Kieek!” A scout moving the closest shrieked upon noticing Bone Spears fly towards it, launched by the Mammoth Clansmen.

A trail of air formed around the ends of their wings as the Zingers acrobatically raised their drag coefficient, abruptly slowing down their gliding speed. Their rapid deceleration caused the Bone Spears to miss their targets.

“Attack!” An elite from the 44th Settlement shouted as he controlled his Bone Spear to arc in the air and return, targeting the Zingers on the return trip.

A Zinger deftly avoided the projectiles as it arrived a couple hundred metres from the settlement. It clenched its clawed hand into a fist and condensed Prana into it, creating an egg-shaped object.

It had been gliding using the winds, reaching speeds as high as 60 metres per second. That was similar to a hawk’s gliding speed. A top baseball pitcher’s throw only reached 42 metres per second. It showed how fast they were.

Once it was in range, the Zinger furled its wings in a helical pattern, using the draft to rotate, transferring all its gliding momentum into rotary momentum. In such a state, it craned its hand to the limit and chucked with all its might, hurling the egg-shaped object.

Its rotary momentum plus the momentum behind its throw added into the egg-shaped object, causing it to make a whistling sound as it blazed towards a Mammoth Clansmen.

“Defend!” The Mammoth Clansmen was ready as he raised a Bone Shield large enough to cover his body.

The egg-shaped projectile slammed into the shield, producing a loud ring, throwing off the defender. But it didn’t end at that as the egg-shaped projectile stuck to the shield.

“Ugh!” The Mammoth Clansmen that was controlling the Bone Shield—as his Spirit Weapon—grunted in pain, for the Prana he infused into the shield was being sucked by the egg-shaped projectile.

Primary Nature—Prana Bomb!

The egg-shaped object had the property to absorb Prana from the target they latch onto. The Mammoth Clansmen fell victim to that.

If he hadn’t defended against the projectile, his body would have been smashed into a pulp from the impact. But if he defended against it, his Prana would be absorbed. Moreover, the absorption rate was rapid.

In a couple of seconds, he lost 10 Prana. Such a loss caused him significant strain, as if all the air was knocked out of him. It would take him a couple of seconds to regain his bearing. But before that, two more Prana Bombs slammed into his shield, the impact sending him flying into a wall.

After it had hurled three Prana Bombs, the Zinger raised its angle of elevation, using the wind to glide higher, raising its altitude to a range beyond the reach of the Bone Spears.

While doing so, it retracted its Prana Bombs.

Not only was a Prana Bomb an item it created out of Prana, but it was also its Spirit Weapon. As a result, it could control them through psychokinesis. While it flew overhead, it pulled back the three Prana Bombs it had launched, grabbing them with its claws.

The Zinger acted as a scout and flew over the 44th and 43rd Empyrean Tusks that walked side by side. Soon, it reached the cliff wall on the other side and perched on it. Gliding for five kilometres dropped its elevation significantly.

Using its claws, it scaled up the cliff wall and reached the top, stopping to rest after arriving at a Baobab Tree. It was exhausted, having been climbing for more than an hour. After drinking some water to quench its thirst, it opened its mouth and bit into a Prana Bomb, treating it as an egg.

The jaws of a Zinger were tremendously robust, capable of breaking through the Prana Bomb’s tough exterior that didn’t crack even when it was hurled into a shield with enough force to shatter the human body. There was a fluid within, similar to an egg’s contents.

It was rich with the Prana absorbed from the Mammoth Clansmen. The Zinger relished the taste as it consumed the Prana Bomb, recovering all its Prana. It still had two more Prana Bombs. Meaning, it profited from the raid.

A Zinger leaped from one mountain, attacked its target, and reached the mountain on the other side, ending its trip. There, it would tally its expenditure. If the Prana it gained was greater than its expenditure, then it was a profit.

Zingers that made a significant profit would call it a day and begin cultivation. Those that hadn’t earned enough or even made a loss would make repeated trips.

Moreover, the Mammoth Clansmen alone weren’t the target. There was a bigger target, brimming with more than enough Prana to satisfy all their needs.

The Empyrean Tusk!

The Zingers threw Prana Bombs, targeting any place they fancied on the Empyrean Tusk’s body. Prana Bombs secreted a gelatinous substance that made them stick to a target. Once they do so, they’ll absorb Prana automatically until they were full.

As long as a Prana Bomb came into contact with the Empyrean Tusk’s body, no matter the location, it will be able to absorb Prana.

Once they absorb sufficient Prana, the Zinger would retract the Prana Bombs and fly to safety. This was why they were treated as bandits. They stole Prana from the travellers.

One of the Zingers launched a Prana Bomb at the training grounds of the 44th Settlement’s Academy of Refinement, targeting Inala. 𝓞𝑽𝗅xt.𝒸𝚘𝔪

A group of Zingers had targeted their academy, keeping the Instructors busy. But, it wasn’t as if they could cancel classes, for unlike in previous territories where Pranic Beasts only attacked at full scale, resulting in wars that ebbed like the tide after a peak, attacks from Zingers would be continuous, ever-present.

That meant the cultivators had to learn to perform their duties while learning to deal with the Zingers. Otherwise, all activities would pause, which would only cause them to lose their Prana to the attacks without being able to gain any.

Eventually, their losses would accumulate enough to cause the Empyrean Tusk’s collapse. ‘That is how it died.’

Inala recalled the First Major Disaster from Sumatra Chronicles, ‘Prana Bombs rained down from the sky and sucked Gannala dry of all her Prana. Her Primary Nature deactivated, causing the highly compressed space within to collapse. The items stored in her body, spanning volumes thousands of times her body spilled out like a storm and destroyed the region. Most of the Mammoth Clansmen died not to the Zingers but to this collapse.’

‘But every cloud has a silver lining.’ Thinking as such, Inala finished his live carving session, having created a baseball glove out of clay. Within it were Spirit Weapons acting as the bones of a hand.

Mystic Bone Art—Puppetry!

As a Prana Bomb flew his way, the glove flew forward and caught it. The clay forming the glove deformed under the impact but managed to cushion the force and absorb enough momentum.

Inala infused Prana into it, decelerating its path as it flew towards him, carried by the Prana Bomb’s momentum, barely stopping it mere metres before his face, “I succeeded.”

“Catch!” He roared and pointed at the Zinger, “Batter Out!”

Chapter end