"It has finally begun," Krune muttered, dragging a large bag with him as he ran through the forest. Using a full-powered Sonic Radar, he managed to get a glimpse of everything that happened in one part of the Primary Landmass.
As for everything he managed to sense, Krune took around a minute to process all of it, soon coming up with a plan for a scenario that he had already accounted for. After all, his prime mode of attack was to rely on the traps.
So, no matter the plan, only the arrangement of his traps differed. Now, upon seeing that both the first and second villages were gearing up for war, Krune darted through the forest, collecting most of the traps he had set over the months.
The number of combatants in each village numbered around 300, a tenth of their total population. At this moment, they were geared up from head to toe, brimming with bloodlust to tear their opponents apart. Their primary weapon was still their fishing rod. But now, they had also sharpened their fangs and jaws while holding in their mouths something that seemed like a pouch.
As for what it did, he was unaware. Though, upon seeing all the Monster Geckos hold one in their mouths, he judged that it was a potent item. There was a straight path from the first village to the second. It was the widest path in the forest terrain.
Because they were marching forth with an army, they were bound to use this path. Otherwise, they would lose their advantage in numbers. So, Krune carefully waited to see their approach, instantly sprinting forth with all his speed towards the center of the path.
Calculating the collision point based on their speed of march and their time of exit, he approximated a place where the forces from the two villages would clash with each other. With that, he dragged the bag of traps with him, immediately setting them up in the approximated place of the battle.
This way, the inflicted damage would be maximum. That was Krune's plan all along. He quickly set things up, sweating along the way as he was pressed for time. After that, he sprayed the rock powder over the traps to assimilate them into the surroundings.
Krune inspected the terrain using his Sonic Radar, noticing that the position of the traps wasn't evident. After all, they were just tiny spikes that one wouldn't even notice at first glance, looking no different from the rock that formed the ground.
They weren't sharp enough. So, their efficiency also wasn't much. Then again, he made up for that with their numbers.
As long as his targets were attacked, he would be satisfied.
Once he finished the setup, Krune left the area, heading far away from the battlefield as he hid behind a large tree. From there, he hummed with a low tune, spreading his voice into the surroundings as the sound waves reflected back to him eventually, allowing him to perceive the entire place clearly.
Krune continued to do that as he activated his Ocean Heart, supplying more energy to his throat, which increased the power behind his Sonic Radar. Through this, he increased its range and precision, also making it more difficult for the monster elites to detect his position.
Over time, the sound waves he continued to emit resonated with the land as Krune's eyes shot open, muttering to himself, "This is the land's resonant frequency."
At a particular frequency of the emitted soundwave, the land would resonate with it, allowing the sound wave to travel with almost no loss in energy. That was the phenomenon of resonance. The sound waves caused the land to mildly vibrate.
Though, due to the difference in energy levels, the vibration of the land was negligible. Only if one was in a meditative state would one be able to sense it. As for Krune, this was a chance.
After achieving resonance with the land, his Sonic Radar worked even better, allowing him to spot the two marching armies. Moreover, the Kings on both sides failed to locate him. He was spying on them using the land itself, so they were unable to pick up the traces through whatever method they relied on before doing so.
Now, he could spy on them without any tension, watching twenty Monster Geckos on both sides carry their respective King. The Mutants of both sides took the lead, brimming with killing intent.
Both sides were evenly matched in numbers and elites, so it wasn't possible to determine the victor among them. Soon, they were two hundred meters from one another, now able to see each other.
The armies paused as the Kings gazed at each other with a frown, expressing anger as they felt betrayed. In their minds, the opposite King had let go of their pride as a King and went against their word. As such, they no longer had any intentions to talk.
Diplomacy was always the solution for peace in a war-strained situation. But if diplomacy was attained, and the situation remained the same as before, both sides would never be able to trust each other ever again.
This was basically what Krune had achieved before when he unleashed a beam of light on both villages.
Now, the two sides had no other choice but to duke it out until one of them emerged victorious. The two Kings bellowed a war cry, causing their underlings to do the same as both sides charged forth.
Among them, half of the troops sprinted forward while the other half limped a little while running. They hadn't managed to make a complete recovery yet. After all, even though the ocean water had a healing effect, it was way too weak.
So, they needed more than a few months to make a complete recovery. Of course, Krune never gave them that time.
Followed by a brutal roar that caused the nearby bone trees to shiver, the two armies clashed, brandishing their fishing rods to pierce into the hide of their opponents. A Monster Gecko pierced its hook into the eye of a far-away opponent, flicking its wrists to twirl the thread around the opponent's neck. When it pulled with all its might, its opponent's neck was cut open, causing it to bleed.
The opponent clutched its neck, failing to move as it eventually bled to death. As for its killer, it had just retracted its fishing rod when an opponent arrived behind it, spitting the pouch from its mouth.
The pouch was like a sac that exploded the moment it touched its opponent. Surprisingly, spilling out from it was blood, the same one in their bodies. Through, this seemed concentrated, colder. The coldness in it caused the opponent to freeze up immediately.
After that, the attacker followed up with a smack using its fishing rod, bashing in the opponent's head. Similarly, the Monster Geckos beat each other up nonstop, dwindling their numbers to half within a couple of minutes.
Upon seeing the situation, the Monster Gecko King from the first village finally took action, getting off from its throne as it limped a little, gazing at the battlefield as it glanced at the Mutant under it. Followed by a nod, the two joined the battlefield, cutting down the numbers of their foes like a lawnmower cutting grass.
Seeing the situation, the two elites from the second village had also joined, clearing out the opponents from the first village along their way as they clashed at the center. Without saying anything else, they exchanged numerous attacks nonstop.
Krune's heart thumped as he watched the intense exchange, muttering, "Thankfully, I didn't do something foolish as fighting them head-on. I wouldn't have lasted more than 20 seconds in there." Well, Krune had never been a head-on fighter to start with.
He then smirked. "Anyway, it's time they sprouted."
Coincidentally, as he said that, a Monster Gecko screamed in pain as a bone tree sprouted from its feet, traversing up its legs as it continued to grow. The same situation happened one after another as the war stopped as abruptly as it started.
Hearing the screams all around them, the elites frowned as their expressions paled. At the same time, they gazed at their feet, noticing small shrubs sprout like a thicket. Alarmed, they tried to pluck them out.
"Now!" Krune sprinted out of his hiding and ran towards the battlefield as fast as he could. Each of his footsteps caused loud noises as he was currently wearing a pair of hard shoes that he had created using a mixture of leather, bones, and thread.
As a blacksmith, creating a simple pair of shoes was easy. Now, he didn't have to be afraid of becoming prey to his own traps. Without any hesitation, gripping the Whale Tooth Sword, Krune sprinted straight towards the Mutant closest to him.
As both their legs sprouted the bone tree saplings, they had to remove them one after another. After all, if they sat on the ground as is, the bone tree saplings would next grow out of their butts.
As such, they were pressed for time. If they delayed, their lives would be forfeit. Unsurprisingly, this was the perfect time for Krune to attack. He wouldn't get a better opportunity to attack them.
First, the moment he arrived at the battlefield, all eyes fell on him, disturbed by the intense sounds his footsteps created. Fortunately, this worked in his favor as Krune's body emitted intense light. It was further amplified by his Ocean Heart, so the intensity of the light caused his opponents to lose consciousness.
All the normal Monster Geckos tumbled to the ground, instantly losing consciousness as their eyes bled. As for the two Mutants, they also lost their balance, falling on the ground as they barely maintained their consciousness.
As for the Kings, they were still okay but had been blinded for a couple of seconds due to what happened.
Krune slashed with his Whale Tooth Sword, severing the left arm of the Mutant first. He slipped past its unbalanced body, slashing apart its other arm as well. He then left it and attacked the other Mutant.
Since they had been fighting, they were next to one another, making it easy for him to attack. But, when he targeted its arm, the Mutant lost its balance, causing its head to come in the way as he hacked it, killing it, unfortunately.
'Don't mind, continue!' He mentally propped himself and had just planned to target the King next when it lashed out with its fishing rod in reflex. Krune barely managed to make his sword come into contact with it as the impact sent him flying, causing him to crash into a couple of trees before stopping, bleeding profusely.
"It has finally begun," Krune muttered, dragging a large bag with him as he ran through the forest. Using a full-powered Sonic Radar, he managed to get a glimpse of everything that happened in one part of the Primary Landmass.
As for everything he managed to sense, Krune took around a minute to process all of it, soon coming up with a plan for a scenario that he had already accounted for. After all, his prime mode of attack was to rely on the traps.
So, no matter the plan, only the arrangement of his traps differed. Now, upon seeing that both the first and second villages were gearing up for war, Krune darted through the forest, collecting most of the traps he had set over the months.
The number of combatants in each village numbered around 300, a tenth of their total population. At this moment, they were geared up from head to toe, brimming with bloodlust to tear their opponents apart. Their primary weapon was still their fishing rod. But now, they had also sharpened their fangs and jaws while holding in their mouths something that seemed like a pouch.
As for what it did, he was unaware. Though, upon seeing all the Monster Geckos hold one in their mouths, he judged that it was a potent item. There was a straight path from the first village to the second. It was the widest path in the forest terrain.
Because they were marching forth with an army, they were bound to use this path. Otherwise, they would lose their advantage in numbers. So, Krune carefully waited to see their approach, instantly sprinting forth with all his speed towards the center of the path.
Calculating the collision point based on their speed of march and their time of exit, he approximated a place where the forces from the two villages would clash with each other. With that, he dragged the bag of traps with him, immediately setting them up in the approximated place of the battle.
This way, the inflicted damage would be maximum. That was Krune's plan all along. He quickly set things up, sweating along the way as he was pressed for time. After that, he sprayed the rock powder over the traps to assimilate them into the surroundings.
Krune inspected the terrain using his Sonic Radar, noticing that the position of the traps wasn't evident. After all, they were just tiny spikes that one wouldn't even notice at first glance, looking no different from the rock that formed the ground.
They weren't sharp enough. So, their efficiency also wasn't much. Then again, he made up for that with their numbers.
As long as his targets were attacked, he would be satisfied.
Once he finished the setup, Krune left the area, heading far away from the battlefield as he hid behind a large tree. From there, he hummed with a low tune, spreading his voice into the surroundings as the sound waves reflected back to him eventually, allowing him to perceive the entire place clearly.
Krune continued to do that as he activated his Ocean Heart, supplying more energy to his throat, which increased the power behind his Sonic Radar. Through this, he increased its range and precision, also making it more difficult for the monster elites to detect his position.
Over time, the sound waves he continued to emit resonated with the land as Krune's eyes shot open, muttering to himself, "This is the land's resonant frequency."
At a particular frequency of the emitted soundwave, the land would resonate with it, allowing the sound wave to travel with almost no loss in energy. That was the phenomenon of resonance. The sound waves caused the land to mildly vibrate.
Though, due to the difference in energy levels, the vibration of the land was negligible. Only if one was in a meditative state would one be able to sense it. As for Krune, this was a chance.
After achieving resonance with the land, his Sonic Radar worked even better, allowing him to spot the two marching armies. Moreover, the Kings on both sides failed to locate him. He was spying on them using the land itself, so they were unable to pick up the traces through whatever method they relied on before doing so.
Now, he could spy on them without any tension, watching twenty Monster Geckos on both sides carry their respective King. The Mutants of both sides took the lead, brimming with killing intent.
Both sides were evenly matched in numbers and elites, so it wasn't possible to determine the victor among them. Soon, they were two hundred meters from one another, now able to see each other.
The armies paused as the Kings gazed at each other with a frown, expressing anger as they felt betrayed. In their minds, the opposite King had let go of their pride as a King and went against their word. As such, they no longer had any intentions to talk.
Diplomacy was always the solution for peace in a war-strained situation. But if diplomacy was attained, and the situation remained the same as before, both sides would never be able to trust each other ever again.
This was basically what Krune had achieved before when he unleashed a beam of light on both villages.
Now, the two sides had no other choice but to duke it out until one of them emerged victorious. The two Kings bellowed a war cry, causing their underlings to do the same as both sides charged forth.
Among them, half of the troops sprinted forward while the other half limped a little while running. They hadn't managed to make a complete recovery yet. After all, even though the ocean water had a healing effect, it was way too weak.
So, they needed more than a few months to make a complete recovery. Of course, Krune never gave them that time.
Followed by a brutal roar that caused the nearby bone trees to shiver, the two armies clashed, brandishing their fishing rods to pierce into the hide of their opponents. A Monster Gecko pierced its hook into the eye of a far-away opponent, flicking its wrists to twirl the thread around the opponent's neck. When it pulled with all its might, its opponent's neck was cut open, causing it to bleed.
The opponent clutched its neck, failing to move as it eventually bled to death. As for its killer, it had just retracted its fishing rod when an opponent arrived behind it, spitting the pouch from its mouth.
The pouch was like a sac that exploded the moment it touched its opponent. Surprisingly, spilling out from it was blood, the same one in their bodies. Through, this seemed concentrated, colder. The coldness in it caused the opponent to freeze up immediately.
After that, the attacker followed up with a smack using its fishing rod, bashing in the opponent's head. Similarly, the Monster Geckos beat each other up nonstop, dwindling their numbers to half within a couple of minutes.
Upon seeing the situation, the Monster Gecko King from the first village finally took action, getting off from its throne as it limped a little, gazing at the battlefield as it glanced at the Mutant under it. Followed by a nod, the two joined the battlefield, cutting down the numbers of their foes like a lawnmower cutting grass.
Seeing the situation, the two elites from the second village had also joined, clearing out the opponents from the first village along their way as they clashed at the center. Without saying anything else, they exchanged numerous attacks nonstop.
Krune's heart thumped as he watched the intense exchange, muttering, "Thankfully, I didn't do something foolish as fighting them head-on. I wouldn't have lasted more than 20 seconds in there." Well, Krune had never been a head-on fighter to start with.
He then smirked. "Anyway, it's time they sprouted."
Coincidentally, as he said that, a Monster Gecko screamed in pain as a bone tree sprouted from its feet, traversing up its legs as it continued to grow. The same situation happened one after another as the war stopped as abruptly as it started.
Hearing the screams all around them, the elites frowned as their expressions paled. At the same time, they gazed at their feet, noticing small shrubs sprout like a thicket. Alarmed, they tried to pluck them out.
"Now!" Krune sprinted out of his hiding and ran towards the battlefield as fast as he could. Each of his footsteps caused loud noises as he was currently wearing a pair of hard shoes that he had created using a mixture of leather, bones, and thread.
As a blacksmith, creating a simple pair of shoes was easy. Now, he didn't have to be afraid of becoming prey to his own traps. Without any hesitation, gripping the Whale Tooth Sword, Krune sprinted straight towards the Mutant closest to him.
As both their legs sprouted the bone tree saplings, they had to remove them one after another. After all, if they sat on the ground as is, the bone tree saplings would next grow out of their butts.
As such, they were pressed for time. If they delayed, their lives would be forfeit. Unsurprisingly, this was the perfect time for Krune to attack. He wouldn't get a better opportunity to attack them.
First, the moment he arrived at the battlefield, all eyes fell on him, disturbed by the intense sounds his footsteps created. Fortunately, this worked in his favor as Krune's body emitted intense light. It was further amplified by his Ocean Heart, so the intensity of the light caused his opponents to lose consciousness.
All the normal Monster Geckos tumbled to the ground, instantly losing consciousness as their eyes bled. As for the two Mutants, they also lost their balance, falling on the ground as they barely maintained their consciousness.
As for the Kings, they were still okay but had been blinded for a couple of seconds due to what happened.
Krune slashed with his Whale Tooth Sword, severing the left arm of the Mutant first. He slipped past its unbalanced body, slashing apart its other arm as well. He then left it and attacked the other Mutant.
Since they had been fighting, they were next to one another, making it easy for him to attack. But, when he targeted its arm, the Mutant lost its balance, causing its head to come in the way as he hacked it, killing it, unfortunately.
'Don't mind, continue!' He mentally propped himself and had just planned to target the King next when it lashed out with its fishing rod in reflex. Krune barely managed to make his sword come into contact with it as the impact sent him flying, causing him to crash into a couple of trees before stopping, bleeding profusely.
