A series of hills littered the ground, with quite a few of them being tall enough to be called mountains. The soil was fertile and abundant with groundwater. Bountiful rains caressed the land, creating a tropical climate that fostered life.

Pranic Beasts grew here in droves, leading lives of plenty, surrounded by Parute Trees that grew with staggering numbers.

Large Pranic Beast colonies formed here and fought against the Brimgan Empire, a growing Free Human settlement where a significant number of geniuses emerged all the time. Even though the fights were always bloody, due to the fertile lands, it was easy to recover lost numbers for all sides.

Fertility was at an all-time high in the region, as it always was. Many colonies of Pranic Beasts mingled around the place, occupying their territories based on their strength and size.

Leading one such colony was a Gold Grade Pranic Beast, having entered the Gold Grade through a Mutation. It became an overlord of the region and protected its Silver Grade brethren, resisting attacks from equally powerful Pranic Beasts.

Today was no different from the others as it continued its duty, until it couldn't. It happened during the peak hours of the afternoon, a time of leisure after a hearty meal.

Making its home at the peak of a mountain in the region, the Gold Grade Pranic Beast had closed its eyes to sleep, hearing the usual cacophony of sounds that were ever present in the place, a sign of bustling activity from its brethren that roamed the place and made merry.

Suddenly, all the senses it had honed through countless life-and-death battles went haywire, alarming it to the maximum. A threat was approaching, one unlike anything it had ever witnessed.

The Gold Grade Pranic Beast lifted its head in alarm and despairingly stared as a column of night descended onto a mountain a dozen kilometres away. As night hit, all signs of activity on the mountain came to a cease.

It was silent, drowning out all sounds as a second column of night descended, right adjacent to the mountain, connecting the two like a wall. The wall extended in length, spreading out in all directions to drown everything in sight.

"Kreeeee!" It screamed in a fluster to alert its brethren and felt all strength leave its being as the wall of night extended its way until it enveloped its territory in a region of night, soundless.

The Gold Grade Pranic Beast couldn't hear the sounds of its brethren anymore. Despite being a powerful Gold Grade Pranic Beast, it was terrified, observing the soil under its feet turn into grey sand and begin to consume it.

In a matter of seconds, the grey sand acted as a quicksand, beginning to swallow the Gold Grade Pranic Beast into the ground. It hurriedly unleashed a flurry of attacks to break free and expanded its Prana sense, detecting its closest brethren to rush in its direction.

Followed by a light chomp, it threw the brethren on its back and continued to run, rescuing more of its kind, all while enduring blighting pain as the grey sand continued to eat into its legs. "Kreeee!"

The Gold Grade Pranic Beast picked a direction and rushed forth in a straight line, following its instinct as the mountain that it grew up on, its home, crumbled into grey sand.

Too much of its Prana had been consumed by the grey sand while it was rescuing its brethren. Almost exhausted, the Gold Grade Pranic Beast collapsed right as it crossed over the blanket of night and arrived at regular land.

Its brethren had just disembarked from its back when suddenly, a tidal wave of grey sand splashed on it from the Sandy-Grey Void behind, grabbed its body, and yanked it back into the treacherous region.

"Keee!"

"Kree!"

"Kruaaa!"

Its Silver Grade brethren screamed in sadness, watching it be devoured by the grey sand before they could no longer see it, their vision obstructed by the curtain of night.

The Gold Grade Pranic Beast lay in the grey sand, helpless as it gazed at a group of individuals surrounding it. It opened its mouth and commented in the local language of the region.

[Damn Mudroppers!]

Grey sand sprinkled on its body and diced it up into multiple pieces. Tongues latched onto the pieces and grabbed them.

"Kroak!" A Mudropper swallowed a large body piece of the Gold Grade Pranic Beast, feeling satiated as the food was extremely nourishing.

Prana surged around its body and created a platform out of the grey sand, one that acted as a boat to move about in the Sandy-Grey Void, the primary means used by Mudroppers to travel, since biologically, they could only jump once a day, with each jump covering a kilometre.

Jutting out of the grey sand were Mudroppers, numbering in the tens of thousands, launching an invasion. They drilled through the Sumatra Continent, creating large networks of Sandy-Grey Void tunnels, through which they popped up in any region of their choice, consumed all the Pranic Beasts there, and retreated.

In the Sandy-Grey Void, they were absolute. Even Gold Grade Pranic Beasts were helpless against them.

Large colonies of Pranic Beasts were wiped out as the Mudroppers invaded their lands, destroyed their habitats, and devoured them all.

"Hmm, what a surprise. The Mudroppers are indeed here." A calm voice resounded as a figure leaped onto a mountain and stared at the wall of night approaching her location. It was a human woman, sporting a ripped body with ivory hair that reached her ankle.

Held in her hand, wrapped around by a purple ribbon was a tentacled creature appearing no different to a plushie. She ruffled the creature's tentacles and commented happily, "You're improving a lot, Cutie Ren."

"Master, I'm twenty years old. Please don't treat me as a child." The tentacled creature pouted in protest.

"Twenty years" The woman pinched the tentacled creature's cheek, cuddling it, "You're not a child. You're a literal baby."

"Come to momma!"

"They're coming, master." The tentacled creature retorted upon seeing the column of night close in on them.

"Right on time." The woman placed the tentacled creature on the ground and leaped casually, covering a couple kilometres in distance before suddenly, a gigantic entity landed on the ground, creating an earthquake as the region rumbled.

"Kurralalalala!" Followed by a trumpet, the creature raised its weight, creating a storm as a large volume of air was sucked into its trunk. Aiming into the approaching column of night, the entity became ready, activating another ability.

Nature WeaponSandy-Grey!

A tornado was unleashed through the trunk, filled with the power of her Nature Weapon. It slammed into the blanket of night and destroyed it, like popping a balloon, revealing a large group of Mudroppers stuck on the grey sand, staring at the colossal entity in absolute terror.

The beings that caused terror all across Sumatra Continent now stared at this ginormous entity of untold proportions, in absolute terror.

[There's a lot of you this time!]

A voice resounded from the ginormous entity that lifted its trunk and danced, one that would later be passed down through times as the Legendary Dance of Annihilation.

After all, right as the dance ended, the bodies of many Mudroppers turned into fist-sized Nature Weapons and flew into the trunk. Seeing so many of their brethren lose their lives caused the rest of the Mudroppers to flee underground, taking advantage of their Sandy-Grey Void network to run away.

"They are like worms." The ginormous entity reverted to human form and commented, expressing mild annoyance, watching the large regions of Sandy-Grey litter the place, sighing at the end, "At this rate, Sumatra Continent will collapse."

"I need to do something about these parasites before that."