Unlike the chaos happening in the lower floors, Torq's room was peaceful. He eyed the vat before him with a smile, scaling the six litres of medicine within.
He was steadily releasing mist into the surroundings through the window, masking the place as much as possible. From time to time, he heard low grunts from the students who had taken action at the dorms.
Not everyone had the strength or the means to face the enemies, since a moment's lapse in judgement would mean their death. However, there were quite a few who were raging to go.
Their reasons varied, from intending to test themselves, being battle junkies, wanting to capitalize on the situation by refining medicine, etc. Once they started to take action, the number of Troitails falling dead increased steadily.
In the corridor leading from the entrance, the Boiboi Pet was going ballistic, as the filament of water covering its right hand shredded through the Troitail's insides.
The Boiboi Pet frisked two scales from the Troitail's back and stuck them together. It then pressed the stuck scales in its palms and infused its Prana into it, cranking up the psychokinesis to refine the water within as soon as possible.
The filament of water protecting it dispersed as mist once the Boiboi Pet focused all its attention on the two scales. It was a risky manoeuvre, as it was refining the water in both the scales simultaneously.
Controlling more than one Spirit Weapon increased the Prana expenditure exponentially. At present, the Boiboi Pet was burning through six times the Prana costs as compared to refining a single scale's water.
The reason it took the risk was due to the presented opportunity. When its right hand grated through the Troitail's insides, the scales on the latter's back had been pulled towards the centre in response, forming a line where the faces of most of them had aligned towards the Boiboi Pet's line of sight.
The opportunity to create a chain reaction of explosion was here, which would save a lot of time and effort. And hence, the Boiboi Pet slapped its palms together and pointed at the group of Troitails.
The two scales exploded simultaneously, with the Boiboi Pet's psychokinesis suppressing their lateral expansion. This left their only mode of expansion being forward, through a narrow hole bereft of the suppressive pressure.
There was a flash of crimson first, followed by a bluish-white streak as 1600 litres of water exited through the nozzle that was barely a millimetre in radius, forming a laser of water capable of maintaining its piercing power for at least a few dozen metres.
Swoosh!
The laser water punctured through the line of scales, resulting in a series of explosions. The Boiboi Pet had infused all its Prana reserves into the water laser, which promptly pulled in any water that came into contact with it.
The driving force behind the water laser and the streams of psychokinesis charging through it while maintaining its girth caused more and more water to join it. And the result?
Bluish-white lines marked the walls across the corridor, with rampant explosions occurring every second as thin, crimson lines appeared on the Troitails. In horror, they stared at the individual who had lasered them to death using their own ability.
The Boiboi Pet had dull eyes. Its arms were no more, looking like the barrel of a canon that had exploded from the inside. Blood dripped out of its mouth as its heart had exploded.
At that moment, it had infused 800 units of Prana in half a second. This was only possible by applying Mystic Mist Art to the blood in the heart, building up pressure to then pump it instantaneously to the tip of the arms, from where Prana was being funnelled into the scales.
The sheer usage of pressure had caused the heart to explode. And once the volume of blood necessary to transport 800 units of Prana–which consisted of most of the blood in its body–concentrated in the arms, they too exploded.
This was the cause behind the crimson streak at the start of the water laser that quickly turned bluish-white.
The attack had exerted so much pressure that Boiboi Pet got sacrificed in response. However, the result was worth the effort, as the fifteen Troitails in the corridor ended up dead.
A tsunami of water gushed out of the corridor, resulting from all the scales on the Troitail backs exploding at once.
Less than a minute later, Torq arrived at the dorm's entrance, using Mystic Mist Art to filter the blood from the water. There was plenty of dirt and grime mixed into the blood. But the quality wasn't an issue at the moment, as the sheer quantity of its availability made up for it.
Torq ran across the area in the dorm entrance, gathering more and more blood as he began filtering it. He intended to take as much as possible before another wave of Troitails arrived.
'I could have kept using the Boiboi Pet for a while longer.' He thought while collecting blood from the floor, 'But my Prana expenditure is steadily increasing.'
The more they fought, the better the Troitails were adjusting to his tactics. Each Troitail had around 590 units of Prana. Combined, they significantly dwarfed his capacity. Even with his recovery means included, he was bound to run out in a few minutes.
Hence, Torq made a big move to kill all the Troitails. While collecting the blood, he ensured to keep dispersing mist into the surroundings. This was to mask his actions while buying as much time as possible.
Approximately fifteen minutes later, his skin prickled, 'Another wave is arriving!'
He promptly stopped his collection efforts and rushed into the dorm, quickly climbing to the third floor. Soon, he closed the door to his room shut and resumed refining the giant sphere of blood before him.
Once he completed the refinement process and added the finished medicine to the vat, there was around 42 litres worth, 'This is better than I expected.'
"Each liter of this medicine, upon consumption, will net me around 300 units of Prana. That is plenty." With that, he had attained his first objective, which was to gather enough Prana to charge up the Empyrean Snapper Pet.
Lying in a corner in the room were the remains of the Boiboi Pet. Torq intended for it to be his camouflage, if a Troitail were to inspect his room next. He would use it as a decoy to buy time until he figured out a solution.
Theoretically, he could still rely on his trump card, if nothing else worked. However, doing so would implicate most of the students huddled in the dorm, 'The instructors would already be investigating the students that had fallen unconscious before.'
'Having more cases would only seal my death.' That was why he refrained from using it, unless forced, of course. If his life was actually threatened, he would unleash his trump card in full force, without hesitation.
"Now, to embrace the Cooter Clan's ultimate technique." Taking in a deep breath, Torq drank a mouthful of medicine, swallowed it, and used Mystic Mist Art to absorb its contents better. With a peaceful demeanour, he zoned out of the bloody reality and embraced peace, "Like a true Cooter Clansman,"
"I'll avoid all unnecessary risks."