The Empyrean Zinger Scout—perched on his head—leaped onto the three Slump Lizards, devouring their corpses. Thanks to the power of Internal Inertial Gravity, it could store a lot of food in its stomach.
As a result, it continued to eat the corpses. Of course, its limit would come pretty soon, as it was a mere newborn. Inala had two Empyrean Zinger Scouts at the moment. He planned to first feed them to the limit before making more.
His Life Bomb would have to absorb the Prana of a dozen Slump Lizards before hatching. So, he wouldn't use it before filling his and Asaeya's Prana reserves to the brim.
After having its fill, the Empyrean Zinger Scout ran on the ground and peeked from the edge of a house, making faint screeches upon noticing a group of Slump Lizards. Its screeches garnered their attention, making them chase after it.
The Empyrean Zinger was way slower than the Slump Lizards on ground, as it was only a scout. And with every few steps, it tumbled and fell to the ground, losing a lot of speed. Right as they were about to pounce on it, the Empyrean Zinger Scout entered Inala's Range, causing him to pick it up like a Spirit Weapon and place it on the roof of a house.
Two Prana Hands swooped in like a bird and grabbed a target each before flying away. Once the two Slump Lizards were depleted of Prana, they were dropped nearby Inala where the Life Hands pounced upon them next, shrivelling them up.
And finally, their shrivelled corpses made their way into the stomach of the second Empyrean Zinger Scout. This way, Inala's actions would remain discrete, leaving behind no traces that would alert the Rooster Tribesmen.
After three hours of stealthy hunting, Inala reached 100 Prana. Since he hadn't begun building his body yet, this was his limit in Prana Capacity. His nose was swollen, having fallen 240 times by now, a bit more than once per minute.
By now, he had created one more Empyrean Zinger Scout. But in terms of strength, this felt a tad weaker than the other two Scouts, making him realise a piece of important information.
'If the source of Prana is a piss-poor infant even among Beginner Iron Grade Pranic Beasts, the created Empyrean Zinger Scouts would be a lot weaker than their usual selves.' He thought and grabbed the Prana Bomb that was just filled to the limit. Contained in it was 100 Prana.
Inala sent it into the house where Asaeya was calmly watching his actions. He already cracked the shell enough for her to poke in a hole and slurp its contents.
After she downed the entirety of the fluid, Asaeya activated her Mystic Bone Art, beginning to convert it into Prana. An hour later, her Prana reserves were full.
With that, she confidently stepped out of the house and clapped her hands once. In response, two Slump Lizards suddenly lost their motor functions and plopped to the ground, unmoving.
Primary Nature—Linked Rupture!
Every sound produced by a Grim Knell would sonorously resound, akin to a bell chime. The entity that hears the chime ends up becoming the target. The Grim Knell would then be able to link two of their respective senses and rupture them in unison.
By destroying its sight, the same effect is carried onto the target too, turning it blind. The effect was temporary and could only be sustained until the Grim Knell ran out of Prana.
This ability was a perfect double-edged sword. It took out the senses of both the castor and the target equally.
Linked Rupture was the reason Death Knells were feared by other Pranic Beasts. They were Pranic Beasts with dozens of senses that could be traded away for activating their ability. And they could perfectly time it to interrupt the attacks of their targets.
They excelled at counters. Of course, they could only target as many senses as in their possession. So, there was an obvious limit. It was why despite the potency of their power, they were only Beginner Silver Grade Pranic Beasts.
But their mutated version was the Grim Knell, an Expert Silver Grade Pranic Beast. Its ability was optimised to counter large swarms, the reason why it was the most valuable treasure in the 43rd Settlement's treasury.
The reason was its second ability.
Secondary Nature—Akashic Transfer!
It was a simple power. The second edge of Linked Rupture, which would affect the caster; Akashic Transfer simply transfers it away to another target. Meaning, as long as the targets were in even numbers, the Grim Knell could easily take out their senses.
The side effect would be borne by another target. And the requirement to activate both Linked Rupture and Akashic Transfer was a soundwave.
Moreover, once the second edge was transferred to another target, Linked Rupture would be maintained until the second target ran out of Prana. Therefore, with minimal Prana consumption, Grim Knell could counter large hordes.
Of course, the stronger the target, the greater the consumption for a shorter effect duration. Moreover, since the second edge was herself when she activated Linked Rupture on the Boar King, Asaeya's Prana reserves were emptied in an instant.
Soft ringing sounds reverberated in their vicinity as all Slump Lizards dropped to the ground, losing their motor functions. Prana Bombs jumped on their bodies every second, draining them of all Prana.
And before they regained their motor functions, Life Bombs—ones that would birth the Empyrean Zinger Queen—followed suit, sucking them of all their lifespan. Since they were only Iron Grade Pranic Beasts, the eggs would never hatch. Hence, they remained as a reserve of lifeforce for his later consumption.
Through the Life Hands, Inala recovered his age bit by bit. It was a long, eventful night. And as dawn approached, the Slump Lizards began retreating.
By now, Inala had absorbed enough lifeforce to become a fourteen-year-old girl. His reserve expanded to three Empyrean Zinger Scouts, ten Prana Bombs, and two Life Bombs—with lifeforce.
With their Prana reserves full, Inala and Asaeya stole some harvested grains from the settlement and scaled up the mountain, reaching the peak. From this height, he observed the actions of the Rooster Tribesmen that reverted to their human forms upon sunrise.
Ten metres below the peak on the outer side, Asaeya drilled a cave for them to rest and cultivate. Exhausted from the fight, Inala fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes.
Asaeya stood watch near the entrance and observed the Slump Lizards retreat into the river, surprised to notice the swarm erasing their traces as they retreated, 'It seems like a scheme to lure in unsuspecting prey, from both sides.'