Sumatra Chronicles: First Minor Crisis (Part 2)

Amongst greyish shades of ivory sped serpents with a pair of forearms. The grooves were more than wide enough for their movements as they slithered forth, uninhibited.

A Mud Viper sneakily latched onto the head of a human and ripped it apart, slurping his spine like noodles. It then leapt forth to begin slithering, only to notice its body grow heavier.

Followed by a screech as its claws dug into the ground, its body arrived at a halt, now twenty times heavier. A second later, most of its body felt lithe as the feeling of heaviness was focused solely on its heart, causing it to pump out blood with enough force that it ruptured the blood vessels and organs.

Blood spurted out of the Mud Viper from all orifices, carrying with it mashed remains of its organs.

One after another, the bodies of Mud Vipers grew heavy, following which the forces of gravity acting on them were focused on their hearts alone, resulting in their bodies blowing up.

The 44th Empyrean Tusk had taken action against the invaders. But to kill a Mud Viper, it needed to focus attention on their hearts, which took some time. As a result, even though hundreds of Mud Vipers exploded among the groves, thousands rushed through the splashing pockets of blood.

“K-Kill them!” A Mammoth Clansman thrust forth with his bone spear and revved it through psychokinesis, using it as a drill to easily skewer the body of a Mud Viper. He extended his reach and pierced through a second Mud Viper.

Unfortunately for him, his thrusting motion hadn’t even reached its extremity when a Mud Viper jumped on him from the walls to the side, chomped on his nose, and ripped it apart. Accompanying his screams was a second Mud Viper that jumped from the surface above the groove and bit onto his neck.

The spinning spear came to a halt, no longer being supplied with energy to do so, as the Mammoth Clansman using it now remained headless. The forerunners among Mud Vipers that killed him were satisfied with eating his head, leaving the rest of his body behind for their brethren charging up.

Like a blot of ink spread across a paper through a fibrous pattern, Mud Vipers flowed across the grooves of the Empyrean Tusk, starting from its feet, all the way to its stomach.

They spread out through all possible paths, leaving no holes barred.

When viewed from afar, they were like a sea of sludge that intended to drown the 44th Empyrean Tusk.

A portion of this sludge had now crept upon the Academy, staring at the tall Academy walls. But that was of no use, as followed by a bombardment of Mud Balls, a mud slope had been created, allowing them to crawl forth and pour down into the Academy Grounds from everywhere, causing the defenders to become flustered.

The Mud Vipers hissed, tasting the air through their tongues to detect the scents of Mammoth Clansmen, detecting over three hundred traces from a corner. Standing guard before the location was a gruff middle-aged man oozing a nauseating stench as if he had bathed with the blood of Pranic Beasts for years.

“WHY?”

Sixty metres from the middle-aged man was a student, too weak for the Mud Vipers to bother about, non-threatening to the extreme. A couple of Mud Vipers slithered his way, curious about the most non-threatening existence they had ever witnessed.

The rest of the Mud Vipers swarmed Instructor Turo. They hissed, sensing the scents of students through their tongues, observing a stream of scent leading into the Shelter. And that was where they went, without hesitation.

“Stop them!” Instructor Turo’s face paled at the sight of the thousands of Mud Vipers as he roared. The Instructors posted at the two nodes leading into the Academy began targeting the Mud Vipers, but the invading numbers were too high to make a difference.

Instructor Turo inhaled a deep breath as he firmed himself, ‘Even if I were to die today, I’ll protect the Shelter.’

Energy waves emanated from him, subtly causing the air to flicker in response as his needle-shaped weapon hovered beside him. Followed by a hymn, it rotated at terrifying speeds, producing a sonorous buzz.

An energy produced from the fusion of the energies of the body, mind, and soul, that was Prana, the energy employed by all creatures born on the Continent of Sumatra. It allowed cultivators to control a weapon through psychokinesis, their primary means of battle.

After a cultivator seeps his Prana into an object over a period of time and refines it into displaying affinity towards him, the object becomes a Spirit Weapon. Only a Spirit Weapon could be controlled through psychokinesis, and depending on one’s cultivation technique, the material forming their Spirit Weapon varied.

For the cultivators living on the backs of Empyrean Tusks, commonly addressed as Mammoth Clansmen by the denizens of Sumatra, the material capable of becoming their Spirit Weapon was bone.

It was a result of them practicing a cultivation technique called Mystic Bone Art, a technique labelled one of the top two cultivation techniques on the continent. It was what Instructor Tura was about to make Resha display the usage of before the Mud Vipers invaded their Settlement.

“Phew! Be calm and grind through them all.” Instructor Turo focused on the swarm approaching him like a tidal wave, hissing and screeching. His Spirit Weapon whirred into motion and swerved into an arc before him, hooking a line of holes in the heads of dozens of Mud Vipers.

With their brains punctured, the Mud Vipers dropped dead. Casually climbing over their corpses were their furious brethren who charged with undiminished momentum. Like a meat grinder, Instructor Turo controlled his Spirit Weapon and killed countless Mud Vipers.

As they approached closer, his body bulged before transforming into a Pranic Beast with a humanoid upper body and a serpentine lower body, robust enough to shred the Mud Vipers in close combat.

Intermediate Iron Grade Pranic Beast—Shock Lizard!

The scent of blood intensified in the air as Instructor Turo was unrelenting in his attacks, intending to protect the Shelter’s entrance to the bitter end. His claws swiped without rest, shredding his targets into slices.

Upon reaching a high enough cultivation, a Mammoth Clansman could fuse with a Pranic Beast and gain all its power, which was what Instructor Turo employed to fight at present.

Primary Nature—Prana Shock!

Instructor Turo opened his mouth in his Pranic Beast form and condensed a cluster of Prana before blasting forth a wave of energy that slammed into the Mud Vipers, the impact shocking their muscles and internal organs.

Some of the Mud Vipers that faced the brunt of the shock went into cardiac arrest. A second later, Instructor Turo’s Spirit Weapon pierced through their heads.

“Urgh!” Resha felt heavy as covering his back and the head was a layer of mud. As he was trying to crawl towards the Shelter, one of the two Mud Vipers slithering towards him ended up targeting him. It shot a Mud Ball onto his back, one that splashed upon impact and covered his back and head.

The weight forced him to the ground, preventing him from crawling forth anymore. Only a small portion of his face wasn’t covered by the mud. As he was facing the ground, it seemed as if his upper body had been turned into a sculpture.

Halfway from his thighs dangled out of the mound forced by the Mud Ball impact. And very obviously, they were targeted by the two Mud Vipers. Once they had a bite, they felt he was tastier than other Mammoth Clansmen.

Without hesitation, they gorged on his flesh, not even leaving the bones of his legs behind. Screams echoed from under the mound, but the Mud Vipers instead only became more excited.

His hands were safe, as he placed them before his chest. Getting his legs clobbered was horrifying, but the pain was something that accompanied him daily. It was his closest companion. So, though he hollered and cried in pain, he didn’t faint.

Instead, even now, he wanted to survive, to live for another day. He had a year left before the Mammoth Clan sentenced his death. He’ll persevere until then. Thinking as such, Resha craned strength in his arms, grunting as they creaked in response to lift himself a bit.

It was then, that he saw a hill of corpses laying before Instructor Turo, doing an exemplary job of protecting the Shelter all alone. But silently creeping forth on the shelter walls behind him, having climbed up from the other side were three Mud Vipers.

Upon seeing them, Resha cried out instinctively, “Watch out!”

“Eh?” Instructor Turo reacted, turning around to target the Mud Vipers, only to see three Mud Balls flying his way. He blasted forth a shockwave of Prana to counter the Mud Balls. But leaping through the collision of mud and Prana was a Mud Viper that accurately latched onto his neck and bit off a large portion.

“Keuk!” Instructor Turo felt light waft out of his eyes. He didn’t even have a moment to brace himself for death. As always, when it rained, it rained a lot. He was swarmed by Mud Vipers from all sides and gorged upon.

Hiss!

Mud Vipers spat out large mouthfuls of toxins on the Shelter entrance, beginning to melt through it. When the entrance became soft enough, the Mud Vipers swarming Instructor Turo rushed forth, using his body as a battering ram to crash through the entrance, eliciting screams of horror from the students hiding within.

“Help!”

“They’re inside!”

“Instructors! Are there any other instructors?”

“Save us! Please!”

The students screamed as Mud Vipers poured into the shelter more and more. And through the collapse, Resha saw, his line of sight focused upon the flustered figure of Ruvva holding two crying, ten-year-old students.

Her Spirit Weapon, in the shape of a sphere, revolved around her, fist-sized. It slammed into a Mud Viper and only managed to knock back the latter. After shrugging off the damage, the Mud Viper closed in on her.

“Ruvva!” Resha screamed in despair to see the only person he cared about in this Settlement get targeted by the Mud Vipers. “No! No, no, NO! Please, not her! Fuckers!”

“Eat me, not her!” Resha stared at the two Mud Vipers that were camping nearby, holding a leg of his each, having severed it from his body. They were munching on it with relish. For some reason, the taste seemed intoxicating enough that they hadn’t even bothered with his screams.

“Fuck it all!” Resha knew that he had to do something. He didn’t know what, but he had to do something. Otherwise, Ruvva would die. He lifted himself a little and felt around the dome of mud on his back, observing that it was shaped like a hemisphere, ‘I can roll around on it.’

It was reckless, stupid even. But he didn’t care. Death was his mate, hoping to be united with him all along. So why should he fear courting death?

Resha exerted all the strength he could gather in his arms and lifted himself up, as if performing pushups. He then rolled like a ball, taking advantage of the hemispherical dome on his back to approach the closest Mud Viper and landed on its back.

His hemispherical shell of mud faced outside while he lay on its back, grunting in pain as he wrapped his arms around the Mud Viper and activated Mystic Bone Art, fusing his fingers together. This way, he successfully managed to tether himself to the Mud Viper’s back.

Hiss!

The Mud Viper screeched in alarm and thrashed about, failing to harm him. After all, his back was protected by the hemispherical shell of mud, cushioning all blows. As it thrashed about, Resha held onto it firmly. It was then did his jaw dug into its nape, suddenly turning it delirious.

And when he jerked his shoulder and applied pressure on the Mud Viper’s arm, he noticed it shooting out a Mud Ball. Thoughts whirred in his head as he was desperate, knowing what to do next.

The delirious Mud Viper thrashed about and sped towards the Shelter as Resha tried his best to control it and veer it in the Shelter’s direction. It wasn’t perfect as they crashed into many Mud Vipers, but washed by the flow of Mud Vipers rushing towards the Shelter, they managed to gain entry into the Shelter.

“Argh!”

“It…hurts!”

“Mother! Father! Save me!”

Students cried as they fell one after another, devoured by the stronger Mud Vipers. The number of students had sharply reduced to two hundred by now and was still dropping fast.

“Hah…haah!” Ruvva gasped in exhaustion as she dragged herself to a corner of the shelter, having used the corpse of a Mud Viper as a shield. Her right leg had become a mud sculpture while her left arm was no more.

She also lost her left eye and her left ear, all ripped apart by the Mud Viper that she managed to kill somehow. Her body covered by its blood, she dragged herself, wanting to survive, tears streaming out of her remaining eye as she stared at the widening entrance, “Resha…”

“I’m scared! Please…please be alive.” Even though the possibility of that was unlikely, since Resha was on the floor, injured the last she saw him. But in this bleak situation, hope was all she could churn in her.

“Ahh…haha!” She chuckled helplessly, watching four Mud Vipers approach her as she leaned on the wall and coughed out blood. She stared at the crumpled Spirit Weapon to the side and tried to control it through psychokinesis.

The Spirit Weapon hovered in the air two centimetres from the ground, wobbled a bit, and then collapsed to the ground, becoming unresponsive. Ruvva no longer had any Prana in her to control her Spirit Weapon. “It’s over.”

She resigned herself to fate, watching a Mud Viper leap onto her and rip apart the remaining arm. the pain…was no more. It felt as if she was watching someone else getting killed. Ruvva had detached herself from all sensation, watching a second Mud Viper gang upon her to steal her second eyeball.

Now, she could no longer see. But strangely enough, she felt hope, for resounding aloud in her ears, almost thunderous, was the voice of someone she cared about, ‘Ahhh! Even if this is fake, let me hear his voice one last time.’

“Fuckers! Scram!” Resha roared as Mud Balls slammed into the two Mud Vipers, following while he crashed into them like a bowling ball, knocking them away.

With tugs from his shoulder, and his jaw pressing deep into the Mud Viper’s nape, he managed to control its motion to a certain extent, making it behave as an extension of his body.

He grunted and arrived before Ruvva, roaring in rage upon seeing her bloodied state. But before he gave in to blinded rage, he noticed that she was still breathing. ‘She’s alive! Thank goodness!’

“I’ll protect you, Ruvva! Hold on!” Resha roared and faced the Mud Vipers. His Spirit Weapon flew into the opened mouth of one and lodged itself in its throat, suffocating the latter.

Hiss!

A Mud Viper attacked him but he managed to defend it using the hemispherical shell of mud on his back. Another leaped onto his back and injected toxins into it, turning the shell of mud soft. His Spirit Weapon slammed into its nape, turning it delirious.

His Mud Viper wriggled its body and threw off the one on his back. It was a desperate attempt for survival, unknown for how long he was fighting. But he truly did everything he could, noticing that his figure now lay next to Ruvva, both in a similar state.

His hands had been ripped off by a Mud Viper. And the one whose body he was controlling now lay dead next to him. ‘I…I need to fight!’

Resha shed tears, unable to even move, grunting with all his strength as he could hear Ruvva’s breaths turn fainter with each passing moment. “Ruvva! Hold on! Don’t give up.”

“Is that…really you, Resha?” Ruvva wheezed, “Are you…are you alive? Are you there?”

“I’m here! I’m alive. I’m lying right next to you.” Resha spoke in a hurry, trying his best to hide his despair as his body was lifted up by a Mud Viper, with his hips in its jaws. “Hold on, Ruvva. You’ll live!”

“You’ll…live!” Resha said, feeling the teeth of the Mud Viper dig into his hips and cause even more pain to his already pain-induced state.

‘You’ll live, Ruvva. You’ll live!’ Resha muttered, no longer discontent in dying. After all, even as a Death Row Student, he protected the life of someone. That alone was a consoling grace that he could take with him and face death, ‘This is a fucked-up world.’

He glared into the eyes of the Mud Viper that was gradually crushing him, ‘So, you’ll be the Pranic Beast mouth that ends my life. That has been my fate all along. Good riddance.’

The Mud Viper clenched hard but failed to kill him. Instead, its jaws became dislocated. Present in its head was a thin line of blood that expanded in breadth before soon, its body fell off as pieces.

Time seemed to have slowed down in his perception as a chakram of bone moved before him for an instant before disappearing. In a matter of seconds, all the Mud Vipers in the Shelter dropped to the ground, dead.

“For a Death Row student, you’re one tenacious kid.” A voice suffusing power resounded behind him as a soft palm touched his back, following which a fluid of some sort surged into his body and stabilised his wounds.

It collected in his stomach and caused his Mystic Bone Art to activate automatically, following which the substance was rapidly converted into blood to be supplied to his body. His most pressing injuries closed up for the time being, allowing his condition to stabilise.

“Ah, Ruvva was here.” The source of the voice moved past Resha, revealing a woman who seemed to be in her late thirties in age, sporting shoulder-length hair parted to the side like an umbrella.

She crouched before Ruvva and placed her index finger in the latter’s mouth, pouring in a stream of liquid. Immediately in response, Ruvva’s condition stabilised, following which, her eyes began to regenerate.

“We’ll stop here for now.” The woman said once Ruvva’s eyes shot open and was able to see without issues, “You’ll live, Ruvva.”

“Grandma…” Ruvva spoke weakly, “What about Resha?”

In response, the woman shot a glance at Resha to ask, “Are you Resha?”

“Yes, Granny Oyo.” Resha nodded.

“Then console her. What are you spacing out for?” The woman addressed as Granny Oyo chided in response and got up, intending to rescue the other injured students. She then stopped in her tracks and commanded him, “Later tonight, I want the both of you at my residence.”

“Go, finish off the rest!” Granny Oyo commanded a group of guards who charged out in response and began to clean up the remaining Mud Vipers.

When viewed from the sky, the 44th Empyrean Tusk managed to barely cross the territory of the Mud Viper Nest it had destroyed, entering the territory of another nest. As a result, the Mud Vipers stopped invading it, with a good majority of those climbing its legs making a retreat.

With that, the Mammoth Clansmen were able to clean up the rest of the Mud Vipers and protect their Settlement, surviving the crisis, one of the many that would follow suit in the future.

Sumatra Chronicles: First Minor Crisis—The End!