Chapter 178: Massacre
"Double check!" The Free Human uttered after a moment’s celebration, "Have we truly killed him?"
"He is not in the Life Stage," Asking as such, the Free Human turned to face the leader of their assassin group, "Right, Leader Trontal?"
Trontal was a Free Human closest to the peak of the Body Stage. He had just recently elevated his strength to the Gold Grade, which was why he was given the opportunity to prepare an assassination attempt upon GaraBuntara.
"Our spies have been keeping an eye on him since his birth." Trontal huffed, "GaraBuntara is still far from reaching the 2-Life Stage."
He approached the Spectral Boar corpse before him, "Even though none of our spies have ever seen his transformation, I know his presence clearly."
He kicked the mushed Spectral Boar head away, "This is indeed him."
"Then it’s a success." The Free Humans slumped on the floor in exhaustion. Only now did they eye the warehouse, which was strewn with Empyrean Boar corpses. "Still..."
He eyed the small cage placed in the centre of the warehouse, "How did a small team of Empyrean Boars manage to succeed in capturing that beast?"
"It’s just a baby Roshmon." Trontal commented, "And the team of ten dispatched to capture it were all Empyrean Boars with a minimum of 5-Life Stage cultivation. They geared up to complete this mission in the shortest time possible."
"No wonder they were so exhausted." The nearby Free Human commented, "Otherwise, our small team couldn’t have succeeded in wiping them out so easily."
"Don’t let go of your guard, no matter what." Trontal spoke after a minute’s rest, "We need to transport this baby Roshmon to the Empire as soon as possible."
"Everyone has absorbed the Nature of Empyrean Boar Transformation from the Wean Clansmen, right?" Trontal asked, grinning upon seeing everyone nod, "Then, adjust our presence so that we resemble Wean Clansmen."
"We will wait for an opportunity to escape..." Trontal stopped speaking all of a sudden, noticing the world around him had turned monochromatic. ’What the...?’
And just then, from deep below the floor, came a rainfall of spikes aiming for the skies, "E-Everyone...!"
Trontal activated a series of defensive Natures and rushed out, intending to flee from the place, only for him to slam into the boundary and come to a stop, "Dammit! What the heck is this?"
Nature–Empyrean Boar Transformation!
The spikes ascending from the ground were too numerous, each large enough to impale him to death, ’These aren’t a Centinger’s spikes.’
He transformed into an Empyrean Boar merely to tank the attacks better, for the spikes were too dangerous to tank in his human form, ’They are a Millinger’s spikes. Dammit!’
"L-Leader..." A Free Human pleaded for help as two spikes pierced through his body and melted through his entirety, including his Human Avatar.
’Only one existence can use a Mutated Pranic Beast’s Natures.’ His face grew ashen as he hurriedly swerved his head towards the Spectral Boar corpse, ’That’s his corpse!’
"How?" He roared upon slumping into a puddle of his comrade’s blood, having barely managed to endure through the artillery strike. Blood soaked through his clothes, causing a chill up his cold spike.
Glaring at the Spectral Boar corpse, he roared, for he was the only one alive, "How?"
"How is this possible?" Even while he roared, Trontal searched for a means to survive, quickly spotting the intact cage in the centre of the warehouse, ’There!’
"I was made aware in advance, precisely why." Came a voice as in human form, Torq slightly pushed aside the Spectral Boar corpse and walked out of the ground, "I used an extra body of mine as a shield while I used Bone Melting Artillery to dig a hole to jump into."
While Torq jumped into the hole, the Spectral Boar Pet served as his shield. And then, he collapsed upon the hole, serving as a lid while Torq dug deeper and prepared his attack.
Once he had charged up enough, he erected the monochromatic dome first and then fired off a full-powered Millinger’s artillery strike, enough to destroy all opponents.
"That’s impossible!" Trontal roared in disbelief as he leapt towards the intact cage, "You’re only in the Body Stage!"
"You can avoid resisting," Torq spoke casually, stunning Trontal as a silver humanoid stood between him and the intact cage, "I reserved it just for you."
"You’re not at a level where you can avoid my instant death means." He said and began to walk towards the intact cage.
"You...Monster!" Trontal cursed as his body got vaporised by the silver humanoid.
"Now," Torq used a Tangible Nature of himself to restrain the weakened silver humanoid and arrived before the intact cage. He peered inside, observing an unconscious baby Rosmon, ’Wow!’
He looked around and found a key to the cage. Upon unlocking the cage, he observed for a couple minutes to determine if the baby Roshmon was truly unconscious. While he patted it, he poured a concentrated Nectar extract in the mouth of the silver humanoid.
The moment he left the house, he had already come prepared, since he knew assassins would aim for his life. He never expected the entire team sent to capture the Roshmon would be killed by the assassins.
The burly man too had been quickly disposed of, ’If I had been stronger, I could have saved him.’
He sighed for a moment and then watched the silver humanoid experience changes to its body. Once the changes were done, he ripped off a few dozen patches of its skin and then swallowed it whole, digesting its body to replenish his expended Prana.
Just in case something unexpected doesn’t screw up his plans, Torq also gathered a few dozen patches of the baby Roshmon’s skin. He stored them all securely, placed the baby Roshmon in the cage and locked it.
The monochromatic dome vanished as Torq sensed streams of hunger approach him, ’Must be the Wean Clansmen who have noticed what had happened here.’
Bang!
The door to the warehouse was slammed open as over a dozen Wean Clansmen rushed inside, immediately shocked to see the pool of blood that had gathered on the floor.
And in the centre of it all, they saw him, standing alone with the cage containing a baby Roshmon.