"Huff…huff…" Running through the corridor of the ferry's wreckage was Vice Captain Soso, her expression dazed, pathetic even, as she rushed to the bottommost floor of the cabin and barged into the floorspace.
Water had gushed into the place, drowning the dazed crew that had lost their will to live.
Glug! Glug!
It seeped into the mouth of a Cooter Clansman, who began to choke in response while being washed away by the water influx. Vice Captain Soso jumped upon the wave of water in a hurry and rushed with all her might.
The wave carrying her spiked its speed to the limit, allowing her to travel most of the length in under two seconds. Her figure approached the drowning Cooter Clansman and…brushed past, uncaring upon seeing her wave wash away the Clansman and splatter his head open upon slamming him into the hull.
The moment he died, his body deflated like a balloon, generating a thick cloud of pollen that, despite its concentration, was still invisible to the naked eye. The pollen cloud surged into the vat that floated upon the water in the floor's centre, gently wobbling.
The vat now sported a thick, wavy pattern of blue and white that resembled sea waves. And despite the force of the influx of water that pushed towards the other end of the floor, the vat remained afloat at the same spot, rocking gently.
'It's here!' Vice Captain Soso approached the vat, having been desperate to protect it all along. However, the moment she reached out her hand, intending to grab it, the vat morphed in shape.
Reaching a height of eight metres to sport a distinctively humanoid appearance, with the wavy patterns of white and blue streaking across its midriff, the creature developed a head with a pair of deep blue eyes, a mouth with a set of 32 teeth, slightly elongated pair of ears, with the lobes resembling ribbons that gently waved with the wind.
Its arms, long and streamlined, resembling whips, stretched out and grabbed Vice Captain Soso's head. The other party's expression turned elated in response upon the physical contact.
[Disgusting…"
"Aren't you?" Its vocal cords adjusted until the frequency of its voice matched human ears and quickly assumed the language spoken by Cooter Clansmen. As its hand held Vice Captain Soso's head, its index finger turned rigid, like it had an endoskeleton and tapped her cheek, "Though your pedigree is exquisite, since I've now inherited your characteristics,"
"You've lost all value to me." Wind gathered around its palm and assumed the same shape as its hand, though larger, to fully grip Vice Captain Soso's body, "You've done well, as prey, to serve your object of worship right to my platter."
"...Deity?" For a moment, Vice Captain Soso's fanatical gaze wavered. Her facial muscles scrunched, emitting anger for an instant, "You dare target my Deity…?"
Splurt!
"I see," The Narlakk surmised its impression of the woman, "Even though you're completely under my influence, to think you can still regain clarity the moment your Deity is in danger."
"So, this is the Cooter Clan." It chuckled in excitement and increased the pressure applied by the wind upon Vice Captain Soso, snarkling upon seeing the other party struggle while blood spurted out of her body, "Your struggles are futile."
"My body already encapsulates the characteristics of your cultivation technique." It sneered upon seeing an oily vapour cone slam into its head, only to slide off after barely damaging it, "See."
Enjoying the expression of horror from Vice Captain Soso, the Narlakk began to suck in all the pollen from the floor, including the huge reserves it had placed within the woman in its hold, "My physique now has resistance to your techniques. Now, I have enough power to step foot within the space dominated by an Empyrean Snapper."
"And soon," It chortled, "I'll use your Deity to become the strongest in this world!"
"You…you will fail!" Vice Captain Soso collapsed to the water like a withered husk, barely retaining a few units of Prana in her being, which she used as life support.
Secondary Nature–Influenced Gobble!
Now that all the pollen in her body had been extracted, the influence she had been placed under had vanished too, allowing her to recover her original mental faculties. Aware she was about to die, Vice Captain Soso intended to alert her Clansmen about the events that had transpired.
"The Cooter Clan will hunt you down." She roared. "Our entire might will annihilate your Race!"
"Oh, really?" The Narlakk retorted in glee, "The Nirclicks, as a race, are plenty in number. We've infiltrated the bases of every powerful force on Sumatra."
"And most of all," It boasted, "We've been blessed by Nusantara's Celestial to attain power on par with your Deities."
"You're…" It casually swatted its hand and destroyed Vice Captain Soso, "Judging by your reaction, you don't even know what's happening, huh?"
"Oh wait," It smacked its head and expressed a wry smile, "It makes sense she doesn't know, since I've been controlling her from the moment we arrived on this Continent."
It then moved into the hole on the hull and peeked out, eyeing the ship, 'Hmm? The Nirclicks are getting slaughtered by the Cooter Clansmen?'
It swam closer to the surface and noticed Captain Trotro in action, 'He's…strong! The Nirclicks won't be able to defeat him so easily.'
'And…' It eyed the sea of pollen in the sky, trying to get close to the Cooter Clansmen on the ship but failing to break through the misty barrier, 'Since Runthral has taken action, it'll be hard to break through his defences.'
As it spied further, it watched Runthral, under Vice Captain Quoquo's instructors, extract slabs of fat from the bodies of the affected Cooter Clansmen, it spread out a command.
[Nirrkarrlarr! What are you waiting for? Kill that Captain!]
Gollrakh Island!
The Narlakk hiding in the building adjacent to the island's warehouse morphed its appearance to become a five-metre-tall humanoid bearing blue and white stripes across its body. Water condensed under its body to form a wave that carried it towards the shore.
A cloud of pollen formed in the building, turning all the Cooter Clansmen victims into dried sacks, with barely any mass in them. The pollen cloud surged into the Narlakk bearing the name of Nirrkarrlarr, giving it more mass.
Until it burned through all the pollen sourced from the Cooter Clansmen, it could retain its current appearance, bearing physical characteristics that gave it the same powers as Mystic Mist Art.
Once it was wholly consumed, it would revert to its original, membranous appearance. 'I should have enough now.'
…
"We've killed more than half of them." Captain Trotro announced, regaining his calm as more and more of his subordinates made their recovery thanks to Runthral.
He blasted a vapour cone at another Nirclick and shredded it apart, "Maintain our line of defence and we should tide through this issue without any losses."
Boom!
A sphere of water, resembling a bullet in shape, slammed into the ship's hull, blasting a good chunk of the deck.
A geyser burst out of the sea and curved through the sky to touch down upon the intact portion of the deck, cutting through the misty barrier in response.
Mutated Beginner Gold Grade Pranic Beast–Narlakk!
The Narlakk rushed out of the water geyser, closing in on Captain Trotro without hesitation and unleashed a punch.
'What is this creature?' Captain Trotro was caught unawares by the other party's appearance, failing to judge the enemy's identity, 'No matter what its power is, what I need to do remains the same.'
Promptly, damaging his blood vessels slightly to crank up his Prana gathering process, Captain Trotro accumulated enough to unleash a vapour cone, releasing it from point blank upon the enemy.
However, unlike expectations, the vapour splashed like a water balloon upon impacting the enemy, barely doing any damage worth mentioning about. Seeing the fist approaching his head, Captain Trotro unleashed a wave of water that pushed Runhral farther away.
And then, the punch splattered his head.