When there were still three days left for the Cooter Clan’s Battleships to arrive, Torq had reached his destination.
The Dralh Sea was a kite shaped body of water spanning 2480 kilometres at its largest and 1920 kilometres at its narrowest. The water was jet-black during the day, boiling hot. And during the night, it glowed bluish-green and was freezing cold.
The moment the coral form that Torq’s Narlakk transformation had morphed into entered the Dralh Sea, its speed slowed down to barely eighty kilometres an hour and also began to float towards the surface.
The Dralh Sea’s water was highly dense due to a thick concentration of minerals dissolved into it. The moment he sensed the changes in the surroundings, Torq began to inspect the region, ’There doesn’t seem to be anything different from the usual here.’
The coral form surfaced as Torq undid his transformation and peered into the sky, inspecting the time of the day, ’This timing is the worst!’
The water temperature seemed to be growing hotter and hotter with every passing second. "Dammit!"
He looked around, wondering if he should retreat past the border, ’No, that will make me lose valuable time that could have been spent on investigation.’
’There should be an island nearby.’ He thought, picturing the Dralh Sea’s map from the past. It was a region that had existed for a long time. Once the Cooter Clan came into the picture, they took control over the region.
Before that, the Dralh Sea was home to many Free Human Kingdoms that were frequently wiped out by Pranic Beast attacks, only for new ones to pop back up years later.
Most of these Free Human groups migrated to the Brimgan Empire after its establishment. The remainder lived a sordid fate in the region, without any accomplishments to their name, until they eventually fell under Cooter Clan rule.
When the Cooter Clan’s branch at the Dralh Sea was wiped out, a good chunk of the Free Human population it had been rearing was also eradicated. The Mystic Humans took charge in protecting the survivors and recovering their population.
The Free Humans were thriving in numbers under the care of the Mystic Humans. The Dralh Sea was home to over 16,000 islands, both big and small, most of which had Free Human settlements of decent to larger populations upwards of 10,000.
As Torq began to move, the Dralh Sea began to gradually turn into steam. In response, every Pranic Beast living in the water rushed to the surface and scrambled to the islands.
In a matter of minutes, a wall of steam covered from the sea bed and reached the sky, shining within thick arcs of lightning and rampant, reverberating roars of thunder.
A large piece of coral rushed onto an island and promptly morphed to resemble a tree. It then hopped its way into the closest forest and watched the heated storm that happened right beyond the island’s border.
It was the Dralh Sea’s Death Hour, a natural disaster that spanned for an hour’s length every single day. This natural disaster was the reason the Cooter Clan’s branch had been established at the Dralh Sea.
For during the Death Hour, the strength of an Empyrean Snapper was at its highest, allowing them to reach a state of absoluteness where they became existences without peers. ’Even with such advantages, they still lost dominance over the region.’
’They remained passive for too long, and when a powerful enemy finally reached their doorsteps, they were caught illprepared.’ Torq thought while he observed the Death Hour for a couple minutes.
And then, he reverted to human form and rushed through the forest, quickly transforming into his Narlakk form to become a tree the moment he came across the Settlement on the island.
The forest was currently chaotic, as Pranic Beasts deep within the Dralh Sea have rushed to the surface. Those with smaller bodies climbed up the trees while those with larger forms either stayed on the shores or made space for themselves by clearing out a forest patch.
A Silver Grade Pranic Beast rushed past him and slammed its body into the ground, piling dirt upon itself, for it desired to have some pressure on its body. The trees that were shattered and sent flying due to its actions fell upon the ground.
Torq didn’t concern himself with the Pranic Beast and instead focused on the trees, admiring their concept of survival. From the stem grew roots that shallowly dug into the ground, taking mere minutes to do so.
And the moment the roots dug deep enough, the stem oriented itself to make the tree stand tall. In real time, its size was growing.
Any large piece of stem grew roots and turned to become a new tree. All the tree species on the island behaved in a similar fashion. The vines regrew from leaves, and the shrubs grew from their seeds.
Torq extended a branch and felt around the soil, ’So many precious minerals are mixed like dirt in the soil. These plants have evolved to treat all these minerals as nutrients. That’s why they could exhibit such bizarre survival characteristics.’
A mineral was a substance that could interact with Prana to produce varied effects. Free Humans used minerals in powdered form to build their Human Avatars. And similarly, Cooter Clansmen used minerals to create Spirit Pools, which they used to build their bodies.
It had been a few minutes since the Dralh Sea’s Death Hour had started. Most of the forest stretch and beach front had already been occupied by Pranic Beasts.
Pranic Beasts were still fleeing out of the wall of steam, however, sporting burnt patches across their bodies, revealing hanging muscles and steaming bones. They were weak and hence hadn’t been fast enough to evacuate to the island.
Having been pushed back by Pranic Beasts that had prepared for the Death Hour, they sustained injuries and arrived late on the island. Their severe injuries were consuming most of their Prana for healing efforts, making them have less enough Prana to focus on fights.
Unable to wrestle for a spot on the beach or the forest patch, these Pranic Beasts rushed to the sole remaining place on the island–the Settlement.
The Settlement was mostly underground, with entrances peeking out from within large boulders. The Free Humans had already bolted the entrances and retreated deep into their Settlement.
Without any means of resistance, the injured Pranic Beasts rushed to occupy the Settlement’s grounds. But there wasn’t enough space for all of them, as they promptly got into battle.
One of them had sustained too many injuries and wanted to replenish its Prana. Without hesitation, it turned to the easiest available nutrition–the Free Humans.
Boom!
A Pranic Beast burst through one of the bolted entrances and rushed deeper into the Settlement, eliciting horrid screams from the Free Humans that were all only at the Spirit Stage.
’That’s pretty reckless of it to do so.’ Torq shook his head mentally upon seeing the Pranic Beast’s actions, ’It must have newly migrated to this place, and hence doesn’t know any better.’
’Every island with a Free Human settlement has at least one of them defending it.’ Right as he had the thought, crunching sounds resounded from the Settlement.
Suddenly, the Pranic Beasts that were squeezing through the entrance were blasted out like bowling balls. At their spot was a man, lazing groaning like their actions were a pain in the ass. He had a short stature, just a teen by the looks of it. Inhaling a deep breath, he released a shockwave, unleashing words in multiple languages used by Pranic Beasts native to the region, all conveying the same intent.
[I’m tired of screaming it every. Single. Damn. Day! Target the Free Humans, and I’ll turn you into snacks!]