EU: Chapter 033 | Pinaka Swarm

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9th Day of the Eighth Moon; before dawn, Pinaka consumed his first World Tree Fruit as a potion factory. His stats jumped as a result.

[Name: Pinaka]

[Race: High Elf]

[Authority: Lifeform]

[Control Factor: 2]

[Weight Factor: 34]

[Volume Factor: 2]

[Range Factor: 20]

[Speed Factor: 4]

[Creation Factor: 2]

[Spell: Status Epidermis, Root Glove]

Day 40, Day 41, and Day 42 of the Eighth Moon, followed by Day 1 of the Ninth Moon, Pinaka had consumed four more World Tree Fruits. And each time, he digested a tenth of it to boost his stats while focusing on developing Spells necessary to take action next.

This was the result, a massive jump in strength.

[Name: Pinaka]

[Race: High Elf]

[Authority: Lifeform]

[Control Factor: 3]

[Weight Factor: 68]

[Volume Factor: 8]

[Range Factor: 22]

[Speed Factor: 22]

[Creation Factor: 62]

[Spell: Status Epidermis, Root Glove, Wood Ski, Pinaka, Pinaka Arrow]

Using the Spell of Root Glove on each foot engaged both units of Creation Factor. In such a state, as Pinaka tried to use his power over flesh to morph the skin on his hand, he gained experience rapidly, especially by doing this when consuming a World Tree Fruit.

That brought his Control Factor to 3, which Pinaka abused to the extreme. With a Range Factor above 22, he could easily scale up and down the walls in no time, allowing him to flee far away from the prison quickly.

[Spell: Wood Ski]

While travelling, he used the Spell of Wood Ski with all three stats of his Control Factor. One was on the moving foot. The remaining two were on the anchor foot, one to create a base of wood to the front of the foot and the other to break down the wood on the back of the foot into leaves.

This way, as Pinaka travelled across the forest floor, there was just a trail of leaves left in his path, which just camouflaged into the leaf-covered forest ground.

Deep in the forest, Pinaka created an archery range to practice. The range was fully camouflaged by a dense foliage of trees. It was also a fully sealed place to prevent any sounds from reverberating out.

Within the lava moat, the forest sections were at most a couple kilometres wide each. Their borders were sawed through daily and fed into the lava moat. But thanks to the vitality of the soil, supplied by the World Tree, the forest regrew overnight.

Some Elves were employed to maintain their growth. But most of their activity was during the day. Pinaka entered them to train during the night, returning to his prison only when it was time to consume a World Tree Fruit as a potion factory.

His clones trained nonstop, helping to add some more stats to his Creation Factor, which was the hardest to raise.

Scouting, training, and World Tree Fruit consumption, Pinaka did it like clockwork and attained his current level of strength.

From the office, he obtained clues about Nancho’s summons for all the officers to the Ogre Gate, the gathering date, etc. He inferred the situation was getting dangerous for the Humans and hence stationed a clone within a tree adjacent to the ash road. There was a small hole in the trunk, with a piece of bark acting as a lid. The clone peeked through the hole and waited to take action on D-Day—the 1st Day of the Ninth Moon.

It succeeded in killing the messenger, successfully stealing the bike’s Sun Stone. That was Pinaka’s ticket to crossing the lava moat.

Occupying one stat of Control Factor, this clone made its way to Pinaka.

In the meantime, employing the remaining two stats of Control Factor was Pinaka.

[Spell: Pinaka Arrow]

He created an arrow, in the shaft of which was his spine. This spine was created right after Pinaka intended to use his power on the arrow to increase its size. This way, the spine maintained the same thought after being launched.

Pinaka drew the bowstring first and used the Spell of Pinaka Arrow while thinking of employing his power to increase the arrow size. Spontaneously, he released the arrow.

If Pinaka’s thoughts weren’t clear at the time he used the Spell, the spine wouldn’t carry the same command. Moreover, even if the thought was perfect, the arrow had to be released immediately.

Because, the moment it appeared, it began to increase in size. If Pinaka was even a tad late, the arrow would have grown bigger, which meant the speed at which it shot would reduce as it was now heavier.

Serious skill was a necessity to pull off this move. Remote authority, here was being unleashed through the spine alone. So, this was the limit.

If Pinaka could stuff his entire nervous system in an arrow, he would have done so already. That clone would be able to easily follow all commands and wouldn’t have as many restrictions as present.

‘Good, I’m doing some damage to the carriage.’ Pinaka thought. The arrow he launched travelled at a speed of eighty metres per second. As he shot from a distance of 200 metres away, the travel time was 2.5 seconds.

[Creation Factor: 62]

It meant he could create 62 kilograms of wood every second. Pinaka kept a stat to himself while another stat was held by the clone rushing towards him. That left 60 units of Creation Factor in the arrow’s spine.

By the end of its flight path, the arrow weighed 150 kilograms. Reaching a length of 5 metres, it slammed into its target with deadly might.

‘We’re approximately five kilometres from the Human Gate. These sounds won’t be reaching them.’ It wasn't a mere estimate. Pinaka had already tested it the previous day by creating a similarly loud sound.

The forest stretch absorbed all the sounds, which acted as a perfect cover.

The Human Gate hadn’t been attacked to date, and hence, security there was the most lax. Pinaka had chosen a part of the ash road that was surrounded by a thick forest, located five kilometres from the Human Gate.

It was the perfect place to target Pronto. It was a simple inference.

The Ogres desperately attacked the Ogre Gate, enough for the Ogre Gate Officer, Nancho, to summon all the Officers in the Elven Prison as reinforcements. ‘Based on the documents, it started after Pronto’s arrival.’

There were no written records as to the cause of this conflict. However, based on existing clues, Pinaka derived an answer. ‘He’s a Prince, someone unaffiliated to the Elven Prison. Rachad clearly displayed his dissatisfaction towards Pronto’s presence.’

‘For some reason, Pronto came to the prison. And despite being a Level 2 Human, he didn’t do anything and instead blended in with the background, as if he had no reason to interfere with the workings of this place.’ It was his analysis.

Since the Ogre was attacking with an army, it was obvious Pronto had stolen something of value to them. It was either a valuable Ogre or a Relic.

Level 2 Ogre was valuable, but not to the extent the Ogre Race would launch a war. ‘Most of the Elven Prison is made using stone walls. That means there already is a Level 2 Ogre enslaved here. So, that cannot trigger the Ogre Race into action.’

A Level 3 Ogre? Pinaka shook his head. There was a wide jump in power with each level. Even if Pronto seemed obviously stronger than other Level 2 Humans, even he wouldn’t be able to face a Level 3 Ogre, much less capture one.

‘So, a Relic.’ He arrived at the answer. The Elven Prison had a Dwarf. Mahnaka told him that in his first night since birth.

Level 2 Humans could propel themselves with a thrust of flame. Metal was the best at conducting heat, having significantly high melting points too. Thereby, adding one and two together, he concluded that the Humans had metal locomotives that had flame thrusts to move.

On Day 40, Pinaka observed a large metal carriage transporting grain through the Human Gate. It used the flame thrust to propel itself forward, ‘As Mahnaka said, the first generation of Elves reincarnated here from Earth told the Humans here a lot about automobiles.’

With that, he could confirm his conjecture that Pronto’s automobile was damaged, and he had arrived at the Elven Prison to conduct repairs using the Dwarf. The relationship between Rachad and Pronto was what gave Pinaka the confidence to target Pronto, ‘The Ogre Race’s Relic must be with him.’

Boom!

Another log of wood slammed into the metal carriage, denting it further. After the log of wood impacted, Pinaka retracted his Authority granted to the spine within the log of wood. He immediately shared it to the next Pinaka Arrow he made.

Seeing flames flicker out of the metal carriage, Pinaka brought his index and thumb forward, laced them in his mouth and whistled. He regenerated his thumb in the morning, when he digested today’s World Tree Fruit piece.

At his whistle, a stream of figures walked out of the thicket of trees. They all had a uniform build, reaching the same height as Pinaka. They were his clones, having all his memories from a couple hours ago.

[Spell: Pinaka]

It created a clone of himself, close to perfection. If Pinaka didn’t worry about sharing his authority, he could make as many clones as he wanted.

Informed of Pronto’s route, Pinaka waited at the spot in advance. His clones acted as scouts, moving at breakneck speeds using the Spell of Wood Ski. The speeds damaged their bodies, which didn’t matter, as they were clones.

Once they relayed the message to him, Pinaka created a new clone, transferred the Authority to it and sent it scouting once again. This was how he was able to keep up on multiple fronts, make plans, and act up the plans on time while tailing his target—Pronto.

Puff!

The door to the metal carriage had dented from one of the impacts and refused to open. Intense heat slammed into its sides and melted its hinges. A soldier kicked the door from the inside and sent it flying away.

He had just peeked out of the carriage when the dull evening light illuminated the crowd that had surrounded the carriage, “Im…Im…Impossible!”

Swoosh!

All Pinaka clones were equipped with a bow and a quill of arrows. They were all in a drawn position, and when the soldier peeked his head out, five of them released an arrow.

“Shi…” The soldier’s words were cut off as he was skewered in the head. His corpse was hurriedly retracted into the carriage.

“Move!” An authoritative shout came from inside, young and filled with anger.

“I can’t!” Came an elderly voice filled with frustration, “Our wheels are damaged!”

“Then go out and kill the enemy…” The shout came to a halt, as by now, Pinaka hand landed on the branch of a tree close by and used his power.

Trailing under the ash road along this stretch was a series of empty spaces, created by roots in the shape of rectangular boxes. Each box occupied a volume of eight cubic metres.

The tree Pinaka touched was one whose roots formed the boxes right beneath the carriage. They turned to sawdust, causing the box to collapse due to the weight of the metal carriage above it.

It was a classic trap of all time—a pitfall!

“Argh!” Multiple screams resounded from the metal carriage as it had fallen into a depth of four metres. That was enough to fully trap it in the pit.

“Be ready to shoot,” Pinaka commanded his clones as he drew an arrow, pointed it at the carriage’s entrance and shot it. Due to the close distance, the arrow hadn’t expanded enough when it entered the entrance. “I’ll draw them out like rats now.”

And then, it began to expand within the carriage.

Authors Notes: Gangnea Daily Article 33: The Elven Race fell to the Human Race’s Swarm Tactics.

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