The Primeval Era-Chapter 79: The Primal Surge! II

Fifth Circle cultivators whose organs had been bathed in Mana until they pulsed with power that most beings could never achieve. Each one of them could slaughter entire Dross tribes alone. Each one of them represented years of cultivation and training and resources that lesser peoples couldn’t comprehend.

And there were dozens of them.

Standing in rows.

Waiting for orders.

At the very front of the vessel, separate from the formations behind her, stood the one who commanded them all.

Imperator Vienna.

She was tall and lean, her body wrapped in crimson armor that seemed to drink in the light around it. The metal was inscribed with runes that glowed faintly, patterns that pulsed with the same rhythm as the vessel beneath her feet. Her hair was pulled back in severe braids that left her face fully exposed, sharp features arranged in an expression of cold focus.

But it was the weapon in her hands that drew the eye.

A bow.

Massive. Elegant. Terrifying!

Its limbs were crafted from something that looked like solidified flame, deep red material that radiated heat visible to the naked eye. Along its surface, magma crawled and flowed in patterns that never quite solidified, rivers of molten fire that should have burned anything they touched to ash.

And yet the Imperator held it with bare hands.

And she was not burned.

She looked toward the mountain with eyes that held no warmth, no mercy, no recognition that the lives below her might matter at all.

Beside her, an attendant stood at respectful attention. Another Organ Sanctification Warrior, though clearly subordinate to the Imperator in both cultivation and authority.

"Imperator Vienna."

The attendant spoke carefully.

"The Holy Daughter of Stone could be stretched out and running countless miles across the Lands of Stone by now. With the Saint of Stone captured and comatose, it will be like finding a needle in a haystack. The territories we must search are vast beyond measure..."

The Imperator did not look at her attendant. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Her gaze remained fixed on the mountain.

"Then we make the haystack smaller."

Her voice was cold and measured.

"To flush out a rat, you do not search every corner yourself. You send in the beasts. You make the rat’s hiding places uninhabitable. You force it to run, and when it runs, you are waiting."

She tilted her head slightly.

"There is the Primal Surge. When the great mountains are disturbed, the beasts within them flee in terror and rage. They pour across the Lands of Stone like water from a shattered vessel, destroying everything in their path."

Her lips curved into something that was not quite a smile.

"We will disturb the mountains. We will send beasts scurrying across the territories where that rat might be hiding. Even the ones powerful enough to cause us concern will be enraged enough to feast and trample on the puny humans who dared to disturb their slumber."

Her grip tightened on the bow.

"And when the rat flees from the carnage, when she reveals herself to escape the tide, we will be watching."

...!

Such terrifying words were said with casual ease.

The attendant turned silent for a long moment.

Then she spoke again, her voice carefully neutral.

"A lot of Dross Tribes will be affected. Maybe even some Sworn Tribes who serve the Dominion loyally."

At such words, Imperator Vienna finally turned her gaze toward her attendant.

It was cold and aloof.

Empty of anything resembling concern.

"So what?"

She said it as if the attendant had pointed out that rain might fall tomorrow.

"It is just animals killing other animals. Nothing much."

Her eyes returned to the mountain.

"Besides, the order has come down from the Murderous Saint himself. He wants the Holy Daughter found. He wants her brought before him alive if possible, dead if necessary. And what the Sainted Blade wants..."

Her voice hardened.

"He receives."

...!

After these words, Imperator Vienna raised her bow.

She drew back the string with a motion that seemed almost lazy, her arm pulling with force that would have torn a normal bow apart instantly. But this weapon was not normal. The string stretched back smoothly, and as it did, something began to form between her fingers.

Mana surged toward this area from all directions.

The air grew hot.

The light grew dim.

And at the point where her fingers held the string, a spear-like arrow of lava began to crystallize into existence. It was long as a man was tall, thick as a torso, glowing with inner fire that made looking directly at it painful. Molten Mana dripped from its surface and evaporated before it could fall, turning to steam that hissed and writhed around the Imperator’s form.

The arrow burned.

The arrow roared!

The arrow wanted to be released!

Vienna held it for one more heartbeat.

Then she let go.

BOOM!

The arrow shot from the bow with a sound like thunder cracking the sky in half. It crossed the distance between the vessel and the mountain in an instant, a streak of orange-red fury that left a trail of scorched air in its wake.

It struck the mountainside.

And it exploded.

Lava-like flames erupted across half the mountain’s face, a wave of molten destruction that melted stone and ignited trees and turned everything it touched to ash. The explosion carved a wound into the ancient rock that would take centuries to heal, a scar of fire and ruin that announced to everything living within that mountain that their sanctuary had been violated.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then the roaring began.

ROOOAAARRR!

SCREEEEEECH!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Beasts surged out from the mountain’s depths.

They came in waves, in floods, in numbers that defied counting. Creatures of every size and shape poured from caves and crevices that had hidden them for generations, their eyes wild with rage and terror, their bodies burning with Mana that had been concentrated by years of dwelling near the mountain’s heart.

They rushed out across the Lands of Stone in every direction.

They would trample everything in their path.

They would kill everything they encountered.

And they would not stop until exhaustion or death claimed them.

The Primal Surge had begun!

From the chaos below, one beast rose higher than the others.

A bat.

But calling it a bat was like calling a mountain a rock.

It was massive, its wingspan wider than the floating vessel itself, its body crackling with lightning that arced between its wings with every beat. Its eyes burned with electric fury as it oriented on the source of its disturbed slumber.

It saw the vessel.

It saw the ones who had attacked its home.

And it surged upward with a screech that split the air, lightning gathering around its form as it shot toward the Imperator and her army like a bolt hurled by angry titans!

Vienna did not flinch.

She drew her bow again.

Another arrow of molten Mana formed instantly, and she released it with the same casual ease as before. The arrow struck the lightning bat mid-flight, and even though the beast was powerful enough to devastate entire regions, even though its cultivation exceeded most Warriors who walked the Lands of Stone, the force of the impact sent it hurtling backward.

It smashed into the ground below with an impact that cratered the earth.

For a moment, it lay still.

Then it rose.

It roared defiantly at the vessel above, lightning crackling around its wounded form, rage burning in its electric eyes. But it did not attack again. Even in its fury, even in its pain, some instinct told it that the beings on that floating stone were not prey.

They were predators beyond its ability to challenge!

So it turned.

And it surged toward another direction, seeking something it could destroy, something it could vent its rage upon, something weaker than the monsters who had driven it from its home.

The other beasts followed its lead.

They spread across the Lands of Stone like a tide of destruction.

Imperator Vienna watched the chaos unfold with cold satisfaction.

Then she turned to her attendant.

"Let us go."

Her voice was flat.

"There are many mountains to disturb."