Chapter 83 - The Final Sacred Stone
"Kee-yeek?"
Bewildered chirps leaked from the mouths of the beasts lunging at me. From their perspective, I'd vanished right before their eyes.
Thud, tatatadat! Ignoring the noise, I kept charging forward. I could see them growing even more confused.
'This is more fun than I thought.' With that idle notion, I leaped straight onto the sacred stone.
'It's completely stopped functioning.' I yanked out the defunct old Stone of Restriction and slotted in the new ritual tool I'd prepared.
The sacred stone began to change the moment I swapped it.
Thoom!
A bizarre wave pulsed outward from the stone in all directions. The gushing black-red energy visibly dwindled.
"Chiriririt—."
"Kee-yeek."
The crickets and locust primal species clustered nearby reacted too. They cocked their heads, then quickly dispersed. Some even beat their wings with a fwoosh! and took flight. They headed toward another sacred stone, where the black-red aura hung thickest.
'One down.' I dropped Stealth and stepped off the stone. Thanks to that jumping spider primal, I'd handled it with less ether drain than expected.
'Hope the little guy's okay.' I glanced at where the spider had rampaged, silently wishing it luck. Then I slipped toward the second sacred stone.
* * *
Sssshhh.
The black-red haze blanketing the Riandri Mountains thinned once more.
"Elder Hose, that's the third one already."
"Unbelievable..."
The elder called Hose nodded, his face flushing with excitement as he eyed the weakening aura.
'My judgment wasn't wrong.'
That young mantis kid who'd begged him to entrust the job, brimming with confidence. Truth be told, Hose hadn't believed the boy could replace all five sacred stones. Logic screamed it was impossible.
But Aleck's gaze had swayed him. Half impulse, half hunch—and now this.
'To think he'd deliver results like these.'
Then—
"Elder! The kids' conditions are improving rapidly!"
"...!"
Hose clenched his fists at the warrior's urgent report. Perfect. They could halt the evacuation prep now.
'Just two more...!' He stared at the Riandri Mountains, his gripped hands trembling.
* * *
'The last one.'
I eyed the fifth sacred stone. Since swapping the first, things had gotten messier than expected.
'The peak was the third swap.'
A blowfly primal had appeared out of nowhere. Like most primals, they were ambush masters. It glided silently from the sky, then dove with rapid wingbeats—targeting a small cricket hatchling at the rear of their pack.
Kwajik!
It pierced the hatchling's belly mid-strike. Saliva-like paralytic venom flooded in, freezing any resistance. The blowfly clamped legs around the stiffened body and soared back up.
A clean kill—I couldn't help but admire it.
"Chiriririt!"
But even that brief spectacle riled the cricket and locust primals. They screeched and leaped skyward after the diving fly in a frenzy.
Over a hundred strong, their pursuit turned the site into chaos. Then, amid the madness, a gold dust tarantula—one of the tarantula breeds—showed up.
Not the largest breed, but this specimen was massive, its body gleaming golden.
"Grrrooo—."
Its low growl sent chills racing across my exoskeleton.
Kwajijik!
In a blink, it shredded several long-wing crickets at once. Stiffened by its roar, they offered no fight—easy prey.
Tough biters themselves, the long-wings were mere snacks to it. Overwhelming brute force!
Thud thud thud!
It bulldozed trees and boulders alike, laying waste to the area. The might of a giant breed apex predator. I'd need Complete Body at least to tangle with that thing.
Tarantulas of that size were all physical freaks.
But the locusts and crickets didn't back down.
"Chiriririt!"
"Biriririri!"
"Kee-yeek!"
They roared in unison and charged. Sane, they'd have fled—but the haze had them half-mad.
Fwoosh!
Hundreds leaped, blackening the sky as they swarmed its body. A spectacular sight.
'Futile...'
I shook my head inwardly. You couldn't brute-force a gold dust.
Even the strongest—cricket lords, island lords, long-wings—couldn't pierce its carapace.
'Primals or not, apex breeds wield ether instinctively.'
As if on cue—
Fwaaah!
Golden light exploded from the tarantula, buried under the swarm.
And that was catastrophe for the primals.
Fwhoosh!
Its golden hairs, infused with ether, shot out like razor spines. Every clinging primal was impaled, massive holes torn through them.
Hundreds of crickets and locusts slaughtered in one blow.
"GRRRRR—!"
Thud! Thud! Boom!
Furious at the "prey" assault, it stomped the raining corpses into pulp, venting rage.
Finally calming, it lumbered off. I watched the whole thing from afar.
'Gulp.'
I swallowed, staring at its retreating form. A sudden, fierce urge to hunt it surged.
'...!'
I shuddered, snapping back. A desire I'd never felt before.
'What the hell?'
The new Predation trait from reincarnation? Or the awakening Megaera M