EU: Chapter 035 | Pronto Staff

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“Grahhh!” Pronto’s screams resounded in the forest as Pinaka casually twisted his wrist. He casually jabbed his index finger into the latter’s head and curled it around as if he were playing in mud.

Pinaka then casually waved a hand through Pronto’s neck, slicing through it like butter. He then retraced his path and mended the severed section, making the neck seem whole. “Looks fun, right?”

“It was just a demonstration, you needn’t stare at me with such fear.” Pinaka then turned around to stare at a figure of Pronto who appeared like a dumpling now. His limbs had been turned into a cocoon that encased most of his body, only leaving the head out.

“W-What the heck are you…?” Pronto asked in fluster, amidst screams of his voice. He wasn’t the one being tortured. He was just wound up as a dumpling and gently placed under the shade of a tree.

The one getting tortured was a clone of himself, which was what terrified him the most.

“Stop! Please, spare me! I’ll tell you everything!” The clone pleaded before collapsing on the ash road, lifeless. Blood trickled down his eyes, his blood vessels had burst from the strain. There were four clones of Pronto lying as corpses on the ash road.

“Whatever you need from me, I’ll cooperate. So, please…” Pronto tilted his head downward, as much as possible, pleading, “Please, don’t make me watch it anymore. It’s terrifying.”

“Oh, I apologise,” Pinaka said and touched the four corpses. Grass grew over them as their bodies were rapidly used up as nutrients. Pinaka rolled up the grass and threw it towards one of his clones nearby.

“It is my first time appearing on Gangnea in this form, you see.” Pinaka smiled wryly and crouched before Pronto, “So, I didn’t know the best method to get a Human’s cooperation. I apologise if I startled you.”

Seeing Pronto’s terrified nod, Pinaka introduced himself, “Does this appearance seem familiar?”

‘It’s…that Elf!’ Pronto recalled the fight between Pinaka and Nunaka. “I’ve seen your fight.”

“He was a son I dotted on pretty well, you know.” Pinaka embodied the same level of nonchalant omniscience he felt from the World Tree when he was reincarnated to Gangnea, “He started to death in your prison, since he would rather die than live as a slave. It was his final wish, you see.”

“That’s why I manifested myself in his appearance.”

“W-What was his wish?” Pronto asked, hoping for this entire sequence of events to just be a nightmare that he could wake up from. He was out of his wits here, and the horror factor he experienced made him unable to exercise rational thoughts.

“He wanted the Elves to live like they did in the past. So, tell me, child.” Pinaka’s expression remained placid as he closed in on Pronto, staring right in the latter’s eyes to ask, “Do I grant his final wish, or not?”

“N-No, I…It’s not…my place to say…” Pronto wanted to refuse at the start, but however, he couldn’t voice his thoughts, feeling like he was just being asked the question for no reason whatsoever.

“It’s good that you know your place.” Pinaka clapped a little, “So, here’s what we’ll do. We will be killing a large number of Humans from henceforth.”

“And you…” He patted Pronto on the cheek, “You’ll be my mount. If you serve me well, I’ll create a large forest teeming with life in the Human Race’s territory when everything’s over, enough to satisfy their needs thrice over.”

“If you cooperate with me, the Human Race will benefit in the end. Otherwise, single-minded destruction is all that awaits them.” Pinaka then asked, “So, what is your answer?”

“I, Pronto, swear to heed the World Tree’s every command willingly.” Pronto expressed.

“Good, then you’ll use your powers every time I command you to.” Pinaka said as the force he applied through his palm on Pronto’s cheek increased slightly, “To help you cope, I’ll gently shut out your senses, except for your hearing, when I tell you to.”

“Gah!” Pronto didn’t know what happened after that. It was as if he was cut off from the entire world. In reality, Pinaka had only sealed his eyes, ears, and mouth shut.

“Phew, that was nerve-wracking.” Pinaka collapsed on the ash road, a tad exhausted from the whole ordeal. He was a nervous wreck after everything he had to do. If the entire sequence of events didn’t play out as it did, or if Pronto somehow managed to gather his bearings, things would have dragged off for a while.

Pinaka had prepared enough to ensure he could pull Pronto back to the ground if the latter managed to take to the skies. However, if his skill proved lacking for even a moment and Pronto were to capitalise on it, he would have flown high up into the sky.

Beyond a certain range, Pinaka’s arrows wouldn’t manage to get close to Pronto. That was the worst-case scenario.

That was why Pinaka had created a crowd of himself, to spook Pronto and prevent the latter from harnessing the full extent of his abilities. ‘Thankfully, that worked to my favour.’

Most of all, the Ogre Race’s Relic was his trump card. Since he trapped the metal carriage in the pit, Pinaka forced Pronto’s attention to the area, subtly influencing the latter’s unwillingness to flee without the Relic he had worked so hard to obtain.

Now that Pronto was physically and mentally compromised, Pinaka could finally get to the next step of his plan. He turned around and stared at his group of clones, “How does it look?”

After Pronto lost consciousness after staring at Pinaka’s fabricated Status Window, Pinaka focused on making as many clones of Pronto as possible. That way, the clone would at least have some thinking and reaction capability.

That was how it could scream when tortured.

Only after reaching a satisfactory point did Pinaka wake up Pronto. The rest played out pretty well in his favour.

In the meantime, the crowd of Pinaka clones worked on erasing all traces of battle from the place. One of the clones could wield his authority, who primarily removed scorched portions in the forest, regrow those parts, collected the arrows and gathered everything into a pile.

Pronto’s companions were dead, having suffocated within the metal carriage. Couple of them were skewered by the expanding arrows shot inside.

Pinaka cones disposed of the bodies after the one with the authority turned them into manure and fed it to the trees. Now, all that was left in the pit was the metal carriage and the Ogre Race’s Relic.

Stone Relic of Ogres—Sky Boulder!

It was a stone in the shape of a pyramid, with rough, chiselled edges and a coarse surface covered by traces of moss. It spanned a metre in size and was chained to the floor, for it casually hovered in the air.

The metal chains creaked constantly, barely managing to keep the object constrained. There were traces of tears on the chains, due to all the rocking the metal carriage sustained from Pinaka’s attacks.

The Sky Boulder weighed a bit over a tonne in weight and could lift ten times its weight. It was the perfect material to create a flying ship. After all, unlike the Sun Stones that have to be activated by a Human, the Sky Boulder had its power passively maintained. It didn’t need an Ogre’s touch to be activated.

That was why Sky Boulders were incredibly alluring to the Human Race, and also why they hadn’t succeeded in obtaining one to date. They were few, and each Sky Boulder was heavily protected by the Ogres.

These Relics were also only available deep within the Ogre Race’s territory.

“It’s a floating rock.” One of the clones commented upon opening the hatch leading into the chamber with the Sky Boulder. It approached the Relic and touched it, giving its analysis, “Probably as hard as granite.”

“Pronto, my dear.” Pinaka unsealed Pronto’s ears and mouth, “My kids are clueless. Why don’t you explain more about the Ogre Race’s Relic to them?”

“Yes,” Pronto jerked awake, finally feeling like he wasn’t completely cut off from the world. He began to dutifully explain, “Based on what I know, a Sky Boulder’s power is passive. It can generate a lift ten times its weight. If left without a tether, it’ll escape into the sky and eventually return to the Ogre Race’s territory.”

Stone Authority of Ogres—Heavenward Mountain!

It was an inverted mountain that seemed to extend infinitely into the sky. Its peak was situated close to the ground. It covered the sky and was visible the moment one stepped into the Ogre Race’s territory.

“Even if ground to dust, the Sky Boulder fragments would eventually settle on the Heavenward Mountain. Based on records from the Ogres,” Pronto explained, “That dust would collect and turn into another Sky Boulder.”

‘That’s good enough for me.’ Pinaka thought and sealed Pronto’s senses once again. He then commanded his clone with his Authority, “Break off a piece that’s a tenth of Pronto’s weight.”

“Okay,” The clone approached the Sky Boulder and caused a shrub to appear on it. The roots of the shrub covered the Sky Boulder and latched onto it. Slowly, as it grew, just like all plant life, tiny tendrils of the roots eventually found themselves piercing the stone.

They were absorbing faint particles from the boulder while doing so. Unsurprisingly, when these particles experienced chemical reactions, they lost their floating properties.

A World Tree Fruit could be burnt to ashes, a Sun Stone could be melted by heat beyond its storage capacity, and chemical reactions could destroy the Sky Boulder. Relics could be destroyed in various ways.

Once they found a way, the roots dug deeper into the Sky Boulder. They expanded and selectively formed a layer. Once they had formed the layer, the roots grew in thickness and caused a portion of the Sky Boulder to break off.

Two clones hurriedly grabbed hold of the piece and found themselves being lifted slightly in response. Once they regained their grip, they anchored themselves and carried the piece out.

Then, a group of clones placed it carefully in a large mortar and used a heavy pestle to grind it to dust. Another group carried an umbrella to catch the dust of Sky Boulder as it formed and collected them in separate container, each heavy enough to counter the lift and stay on the ground.

In the meantime, Pinaka began to reshape Pronto. He removed all excess mass from the body, limbs and all.

The nervous system was surrounded by organs. They were protected by the necessary tendons and muscles to cushion the organs and a bone structure to give hard protection.

Pinaka then gave it a light bone casing, and covered it with a layer of wood. This way, it wouldn’t feel creepy when he held it. After all, he had turned Pronto into a staff, bulbous at the top, and two irregular bumps along the stem.

The two bumps held the lungs, and the bulbous top contained the brain. And at the very atop, right over the bulbous portion, Pinaka placed the Sun Stone. The eyes were attached adjacent to the Sun Stone, so that they could see in the direction Pinaka pointed the staff head at.

They were seated at present. The mouth, ears, and nose were along the stem. And at the bottommost tip was the rectum, to eject shit. The functions of Pronto’s body were preserved as is. The wood covering was just there to easily seal the orifices when necessary.

“Pronto, my dear.” Pinaka uttered and unsealed the staff’s eyes and ears while pointing at a pile of arrows and semi-burnt tree barks, “Burn it all, will you?”

Since the mouth was sealed, a response couldn’t be spoken. However, Pronto seeped fire into the Sun Stone, and ejected a stream out of it.

[Spell: Torch]

“Thank you,” Once the pile had burnt enough, the flames were absorbed into the Sun Stone, leaving behind a small pile of ash. Pinaka then asked, “Show me your status.”

‘Good thing I attacked his mind more than himself.’ Pinaka subtly said his prayer as he sealed Pronto’s senses. ‘He truly is an absurd monster for his age.’

[Name: Pronto]

[Race: Human]

[Authority: Fire]

[Control Factor: 4]

[Heat Factor: 608]

[Volume Factor: 898]

[Range Factor: 260]

[Speed Factor: 220]

[Creation Factor: 164]

[Spell: Torch, Fire Thrust, Flame Whip, Solar Hero, Flame Vortex, Candle, Fire Line]

“Well,” Pinaka rubbed his cheeks on the staff, “That monster is now my staff. And since he’s alive, he’ll continue to grow.”

“I am now a magician, with a growth-type artifact!” For a few seconds, Pinaka indulged with the magician’s cosplay.

Authors Notes: Gangnea Daily Article 35: The clones Pinaka makes of others won’t share the original’s authority. They would only be regular clones, unless the owner agrees to share their authority.

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