SMASH

*Groan*

Amver was sent flying pretty far. It wasn’t to the extent that he was thrown away from the entire battlefield, but he was at a considerable distance away from the Aberration.

Shaking off the dizziness, Amver stood and tried to return as soon as he could to aid Jortus, but as soon he rose into the sky, he noticed that the battlefield was turning unfavorably.

More specifically, the fae were getting singled out and slaughtered.

While the fae forces were much more powerful in terms of individual combatants, they had vastly lower numbers. Their lack of tactical ability started to show as their forces became scattered and were being systematically suppressed.

The expeditionary force of the felvalim tried to supplement where they can, but the areas they needed to support were scattered too thin.

From the distance, Amver had located Ogmai and could see that he too was trying to assist where he could, but he was also too far from Amver for any support.

The enemy had penetrated too deeply and the battle had devolved into a free-for-all.

This showed that the Red King had the ability to command its forces despite fighting the four of them at the same time.

Amver seethed that they got outmaneuvered, but there was nothing he could do but push the enemy back where he can.

He worried for Jortus and understood that stopping the Red King was more important, but he was too far from them and he wasn’t sure if he could make it before the fae armies completely fell apart.

It was at this point when he was paralyzed by indecision that a sudden change in the battlefield occurred.

Large spherical objects suddenly rained down from the sky crushing swathes of the Nachtnamari.

They continued to rain down, but for some reason they never fell on the fae.

What’s more, the earth suddenly rumbled like thunder as though a storm was fast approaching.

– - –

“Ook, ook?”

The large ape was scratching its head appearing as though it were confused.

Jortus stared at the beast with his mouth agape. He was just as perplexed as how the ape appeared. What was a primatus doing all the way out here?

[What… is this lowly creature that dare struck me?]

The old mage was curious, but now clearly wasn’t the time to be dazed. Taking the opportunity since the Niskari Lord was distracted, he gathered all the mana he could muster and wrapped his body within it. Soon, his form began to fade as he slowly slipped through the Aberration’s hand.

Noticing too late that its quarry escaped, the Niskari Lord let out an angry roar.

It turned towards the beast that distracted it only to see it roll away in fright.

In a fit of rage, it ran after the ape, but as it chased after it, it began to notice something strange happening to its forces.

Simply put, they were dying at an alarming rate.

Just what was happening to its forces while it had been distracted?

It stopped its chase and raised its “eye” to scan the battlefield.

The Niskari Lord trembled. What it saw was a vast army of beasts surging from the western end of the clearing.

Large rocks as well as trees sharpened into makeshift spears flew to crush and pierce the Niskari.

Some of those “rocks” were beasts in disguise that were similar to the one that struck it.

Again, the Niskari Lord trembled. But not out of fear for the beasts. It sensed something amongst them that instinctively gave it caution.

From the back of a giant four-armed beast, it saw.

A being as deep as the void from whence it came. It could sense it. It was another “Fathomless One” like itself.

– - –

Jortus felt it was a miracle. He never thought he’d be able to slip away from Bolragmal’s grasp, but to him it felt like the goddess of fortune still favored him.

Not only that, as soon as the Niskari Lord was distracted, the party of three it possessed suddenly became like puppets whose strings were cut.

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Using this opportunity, he and Loen managed to slip away.

“What’s going on?”, asked Loen between bated breaths.

Shaking his head, Jortus collected some mana into his palm and formed a little bird. He then released it into the sky.

“I honestly have no clue. I should be dead by now, but that Wing-armed Primatus distracted Bolragmal while storming off.”

“Wait… a Wing-armed Primatus? Here?”, asked Loen while scrunching his face in confusion. “More importantly, why wasn’t it dried up into a husk?”

This was the main question. As far as everyone knew and across years of countless study, it had been determined that Niskari had a powerful influence over all entities of the world. In short, almost nothing could resist the corrosion the Niskari’s presence caused, not even magic. Much more so for living creatures.

And yet, somehow a beast that was entirely out of place from its environment was able to resist the corrosive red mist surrounding an entity on the level of a major Outrealm power.

Even Jortus only managed to barely collect his remaining mana while using it as a shield against its corrosive mist even with the assistance of the silere powder, and yet somehow a primatus was fine smacking onto it directly while still looking surprised.

The mage remained quiet as they continued to move. It was only when the bird-shaped mana familiar he had sent out earlier returned and was reabsorbed into him that he finally spoke.

“This… is most unprecedented.”

Loen tilted his head and listened closer as they neared their camp.

“The primatus have rallied. Not just one kind, but the whole within Noctus Lagoon. The species as a whole have strong solidarity for their kind, but usually only towards their own troupes and species. This… this is the entire population of Noctus Lagoon!”

Jortus’ eyes widened from this realization as well as Loen’s. All the primatus living in Noctus Lagoon was by no means a small number. In fact, they numbered in the several thousands and possessed enough potential to topple a mid-sized city.

The primatus were primarily avoided by the Guild due to the troublesome nature of their solidarity and their vengeful nature. It wouldn’t be surprising for a massive troupe to come raiding when they discovered one of their own was slain, but the fact that all the primatus of Noctus came implied either one of two things.

One, the Niskari have attacked each and every single one of the troupes that existed in Noctus, or two; a powerful Tyrant had managed to gain control over all the existing primatus.

With so many species coming together, Jortus was inclined to believe the second reason.

The question is, how powerful was this Tyrant? And, how were they able to bypass the Niskari’s corrosive powers?

“Could it be Zamorg?”

Loen asked with the Tyrant he knew that controlled the greatest number of primatus. It was discovered only a few years ago that one of the largest troupes was controlled by this powerful Tyrant. Its strength was unprecedented and was considered as one of the most powerful Tyrants to have ever been recorded. It was then given a title bearing the word, “Demon”.

“…”

Jortus was silent, but had a look as if he was chewing on a shoe.

In a low and unnerved sounding voice, he answered.

“Zamorg… no, it can’t be that one. After all, it’s still a primatus and is unable to contend with the powers of corrosion. However, it’s present here on the battlefield along with another Tyrant we long thought dead, Oneris.”

Zamorg and Oneris; the Demon of Destruction and the Weathered Sage. They were a combination that Loen could never have imagined together. If the primatus were truly governed by these two Tyrants, then it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the primatus truly ruled all of Noctus Lagoon and maybe even Noctalum. That was how highly he measured their power.

However, Loen couldn’t help but twitch over Jortus’ initial statement. They weren’t being led by the two Tyrants?

“The one leading them… seems to be a small bipedal creature on the back of an unnamed Tyrant Four-armed Kong. The two are flanking it as though they were escorts. The most unusual thing though… is that this little creature feels oddly familiar.”

– - –

The changeling had arrived.

What it saw before it was an odd assortment of creatures that few it believed were logically impossible to exist.

Humanoid creatures made of wood and stone as well as being on fire confronted what it believed to be the kin of the creatures that had attacked the primatus troupe.

Seeing the moving entities made out of elements rather than flesh matter, it couldn’t help but think that these were the kin of its little green companion.

After all, it too was composed of plant matter that moved more similarly to fauna.

This thought was solidified when it felt the little green one bouncing energetically on top of its head.

When they arrived, it had caught a few of the more noticeably imposing variants and have assimilated them unto itself. Surprisingly, it had learned that most of them actually originated from several different species and were forcibly transmuted into their current forms; the same way as the first one it had caught.

It was strange how despite them being composed of several species of creatures; they were all transformed into the same entity with several uniform variants. It had known that this way of gene alteration was already incredible, but it had never expected it to be this specialized to an extreme degree.

Through its consumption of them, it had also learned that the ‘altered species’ as a whole possessed varying levels of a red virus that altered the matter around them while siphoning vitality and nourishment.

It had learned about these beforehand from its first assimilated creature, but it now had a clearer picture and a priority list of which variants is more dangerous. The source of these, were again, the crystal-like protrusions on their bodies.

Fortunately, having learned of their corruptive nature previously, it had managed to modify the bio structures of the primatus to combat these corrosive traits while they were on their march. In a similar manner to these ‘altered’, it had created its own specialized virus that spread across the primatus through exposure which had now rendered them immune to the ‘red mist.’

As it scanned across the battlefield, it noticed that these strange creatures appeared to move systematically despite the absence of a commanding figure.

The variants performed specialized roles based on what it had observed, but so far none of them appeared to move or communicate in a way that formed a clear command structure.

Yet, somehow, they moved as if their actions were being guided in real-time.

The changeling felt that the cause may again be the red crystal-like protrusions on their bodies as it had felt a will being emitted when it held one before.

Now able to sense the pulses of the crystals after its first experience, it homed in on their frequencies.

Soon, it located the source and turned towards the direction it originated.

In the distance, it could see a gigantic red reptilian-like entity with disproportionate limbs and a massive “eye” on its head.

The entity stared at it as well and the two locked gazes.

One identified the other as a competitor; something that dared to interfere with its hunt for prey.

The other one on the other hand, saw the other one as prey.

***