'It feels like a truck smashed into my face.' Iota thought once he gained consciousness, feeling weak all over his body, the exhaustion evident.
"You woke up, sir Iota," Royl said in relief upon seeing Iota stir after so long. "I was afraid you wouldn't wake up."
"How long was I out?" Iota got up and massaged his forehead, still feeling a ringing sensation in his ears. He stared at his hands, observing that the majority of the traces of the fins had subsided by now. A few more hours and he would recover fully. "But,"
He stared at the figures of Royl, Canl, and Menl, "We don't have that freedom of time on our hands, right?"
"Where's Dullip?"
"Lord Dullip went away for some reason." Royal replied in a hurry as he pointed at the bound Kjallar nearby, "He told us to stay here. That Kjallar is supposed to be a bribe for you."
"A bribe…" Iota stared at the tough-looking Rave Beast and broke into a smile, muttering contently, "My golden goose has already started to lay its eggs."
"Golden…goose?" Royl tilted his head, unable to understand the analogy.
"Leave that be," Iota groaned lazily as he got up and approached the Kjallar that was struggling to break free of the binds, "He said he'll be back by tomorrow?"
"Yes," Royl nodded, "He told you to prepare."
Iota observed a string held by the three Shamans, jointly acting to bind the Kjallar. Had it just been Royl's strength, the Kjallar would have broken free long ago.
"Tell me more about this…Rave Beast." Iota said as he condensed a syringe and used the sharpness of its needle to write on the ground while listening to Royl. He wrote the important points regarding the Kjallar and stared at it for a moment.
With that, he would never forget this information and would be able to swiftly recall it when necessary. Iota then caressed the tough Kjallar's body, "Most of its body is covered by a sea shell, especially its chest and back area. Even the regions covered by fur are pretty tough."
Kggh! Kuh! Ugh!
Upon staring at Iota caress its body calmly, the Kjallar felt unnerved for some reason, experiencing an emotion that it hadn't felt to date. It was creeped the fuck out!
"Hmm, this place is soft enough." Iota stared at its inner thigh where the thickness of the fur was vastly less than the other locations. And the closer to the groin he got, the thinner the fur became, making it easy to stab the syringe's needle into it.
The Kjallar grunted and wriggled, failing to break free of the bindings. Royl had expertly tied it while constricting its joints, preventing it from gathering strength. It stared at the syringe stabbed right next to its groin, watching it become filled with blood as the plunger moved back automatically.
Phew!
Iota exhaled slowly as he focused on the syringe, controlling its plunger mentally as it injected the Kjallar's blood back into its body after a few minutes had spanned. It took almost thirty minutes for the golden stream to mix with the Kjallar's blood, making Iota conclude a piece of valuable information.
'The stronger the entity is, the longer the golden stream takes to mix with it.' He was sweating now, on the verge of fainting from exhaustion, having overexerted himself to create dozens of syringes and stab them into the Kjallar's inner thigh.
"Man, I might die at this rate." Iota shook himself and oriented his focus, observing the Kjallar submit to him now, having fallen prey to drug addiction.
Following that, he injected some Nasp blood into himself and exited the cave, smelling around to find traces of a Nasp—trained to his scent—approaching their location. He squinted and observed a boat exiting Garobu City, 'That's probably our pursuers.'
"Well, if a meal delivers itself to our doorstep, it's only fair to eat it up, right?" Iota stared at the Kjallar that gave him a dumb look, making the situation awkward. He gazed at the trio of Shamans, observing that they didn't show any reaction to his words either, 'Wasn't I being cool now?'
It was a sort of reality check, especially since he was always under the delusion that he was cool. Now that he finally had an audience, his on-stage persona seemed vastly less cool than he had assumed.
Iota extracted his blood with a syringe and dropped a droplet of it at the farther end of the cave, ordering the trio of Shamans, "The Priests would be lured to this place. Prepare an ambush."
He injected the remainder of his blood into the Kjallar and spoke to it, "Carry me to the river. Don't fall within their line of sight."
The Kjallar's eyes shined brightly with intelligence as it carried him and rushed down the hill from the other side, making a large turn to reach the river. In the meantime, the Nasp carried by Yuddu reacted towards the hill, sensing Iota's droplet of blood there.
While they were occupied with it, Iota injected fish blood into both as they jumped into the river water and swam forth, eventually reaching a suitable viewing spot from where they could observe the fight between the six Priests and the Kjallar.
Iota noted the various powers unleashed by the Priests, 'Their powers have been developed extensively. If even a Merit Priest is this strong, it makes sense why Dullip is so powerful. Indeed, it's best to treat him as my golden goose than as an enemy.'
"It's your time to act, buddy, Just don't kill them." Iota patted the Kjallar once he subdued Farraiha. With the long-range attacker out of the picture, it was easier for the Kjallar to fight them.
Boom!
Boosted by Iota's blood, the Kjallar with a hammer shell was smart enough to target the leader of the group of Priests, sending him flying away with the attack, shattering his sickle.
"Yuddu!" Vuruna shouted in a fluster when her screams made it easier for the Kjallar with the blade shell to target her, keeping her engaged. She and Yuddu were the prime damage dealers in their group. So, with one of them taken out, the pressure on her intensified.
'Ok, now to target the second most annoying individual of their group.' Iota slithered out of the river and crawled into a bush, ignoring the ants within latching onto his body and biting him in response. He slowly made his way toward Tebula.