52 Bone Cocoon

Aura Beam!

Boom!

The Armed Beak landed on the ground, opening its mouth to reveal countless tentacle-like tongues within that extended out, diced up the flesh, and pulled them into the mouth. As it gobbled them all, it felt bloated, closing its eyes to fall asleep.

Upon Jyorta's instructions, it slumped atop a white platform. This had been created by a joint venture between Tier 2 Floating Spiders, Tier 2 Steel Porcupines, and Tier 2 Spindle Bees. All along, they hadn't participated in any battles, slowly eating the flesh of the killed Aura Beasts to replenish their energy reserves as they constantly worked on this project.

It was just to create a platform for the Armed Beast to sleep upon while travelling. As it was now resting, all the Tier 1 Floating Spiders took action, pulling up the cloth platform, lifting the Armed Beak easily.

The rest of the creatures that were land-based too boarded it, now travelling in the air as a result. As for the weight that had to be carried by the Floating Spiders and the natural buoyancy of the Floating Spider silk in the platform, it was of no concern.

Even in this place, aura could be used to vary one's body weight, just like on Earth. So, while onboard, everyone retracted their auras accordingly to ensure their total weight equalled the lift generated by the platform.

This way, the platform would always maintain a state of equilibrium, allowing the Floating Spiders to move it easily.

Flying beside it was the egg within which Jyorta cozied up, eating a banana. Currently, there were a variety of fruits placed before him, his harvests from another oasis, one that was larger than the first one.

He also created a big enough container to store in the water that he had siphoned. The contents were enough to last him for three to four days.

Moreover, he had noted down the place, leaving behind a couple of Spindle Bees, Floating Spiders, and Crust Mantles at the place, enough to take care of any casual intruder.

Once his supplies were exhausted, he would return there to stockpile. For the next two days, all he did was hunt the Aura Beasts to temper himself. At first, he indeed wished to expand his army. But, he decided against it, prioritising his tempering the most.

Any army he makes would be useless once the aura personification collapses. But, the strengthening of his presence was beneficial. Currently, he was tempering his presence at a rate faster than training using the Tier 5 Artifact.

During the past two days, he had indeed come across many Bone Family members, picking them up on his platform. That was also the intention behind its creation.

Most of those he rescued was at Tier 1 and Tier 2, those involved with the most basic of operations in the Family Mansion. They had been pretty helpless, trying their best to survive.

After inquiring about the details with them, Jyorta understood that they had all been dropped at safe places by the stronger members of the Bone Family to remain in hiding. It was similar to what Havita Bone had done by dropping Jyorta at an oasis after deeming that it was safe.

After that, she had gone to rally all those at Tier 3 and beyond to deal with the aura personification.

Having been scouring around for two days, Jyorta had pretty much scouted the entire aura personification. Its size was almost on par with Marble City.

After finding a large enough oasis, he dropped all the Bone Family members there to take refuge, leaving some Spindle Bees and Steel Porcupines to act as sentries that would warn them.

Though, there wasn't any cause for concern.

After all, any and every strong Aura Beast—Tier 4 and above—had been summoned towards the centre of the aura personification. As for the remaining ones, they were Jyorta's targets, ones that he happily scooped up.

'It takes time for the aura personification to create an Aura Beast. Now that the Ancestors had made a move, its growth has been contained. So, it would only be able to create Aura Beasts based on the presence signatures it already possesses. And, that would take time, unlike at the start where it created them based on the presences that were pulled into it.' He summarised his thoughts.

With that said, he made some more rounds through the aura personification, watching the extent of his aura reserves continue to grow in the realm of Tier 3. But, after another day had passed, he frowned, noticing a sharp decline in the creation of the Aura Beasts.

'Has Aunt and the other higher-ups taken action?' He thought, changing his plan as he began to fly towards the centre. If they had already determined a solution to the problem, then it would be an enlightening experience for him.

Within an hour of travel, he reached the core of the aura personification, noticing a giant cocoon of bone made in the centre. And, slumped on the ground next to it was Havita Bone, exhausted.

Her body was brimming with power but her eyes were a bit dull, signs of mental exhaustion. Upon seeing his arrival, and that too with an army, she was surprised for a moment before chuckling, "How did your harvest go?"

"Pretty great," He laughed, landing on the ground. Just based on the presence he exuded, Havita Bone was able to determine that he had been hunting, hence her question.

"I've also grouped up everyone that had been scattered about." Jyorta said, "They are currently taking refuge in a large oasis. I've left some Frenzy Beasts there to patrol the surroundings."

"That's pretty nice of you," Havita Bone said, motioning for him to sit beside him. She then pointed at the massive bone cocoon, "We've managed to contain the entity managing this aura personification. Now, the rest is for the Espers to figure out a method for us to leave this place."

"Since you have quite the insight into aura path yourself, join them. Your horizons would be broadened." She laughed, pointing at the group of Ground Controllers that were huddled on one side, discussing something as they constantly probed the bone cocoon with their psychic arms.

"I'll do that." Nodding in response, Jyorta approached the group, feeling his heart thump in response as he gazed at the bone cocoon, 'An entity that manages the aura personification.'