The charge was chaotic when it happened.
The Pikeakes remained still, staring at them eerily with creepy red eyes as they awaited their charge.
They were bunched tightly in a formation meant to prevent them from disturbing the likely ascension in the cultivation of the Beast King.
Tara had no reference to describe the sheer scale of the battle before her. There were likely around a thousand on each side, and though there had been human armies far larger, the sight of this many large, intimidating beasts together was disturbing.
Tara estimated the average Pikeake was the size of a small shark, with the larger ones being the size of killer whales, and some appeared even larger than that.
A thousand of these creatures stood protectively around the large mysterious plant, and the amount of Pikeake it took to form a protective formation around it showed its sheer size.
And right now, Tara, instead of shivering in fear at the sight of the thousand-strong swarm of shark-like creatures, Tara was charging head first towards them with a myriad horde formed of giant Frogs, Turtles, Toads, Eels and Salamanders.
If Tara on Earth saw this, she would assume she had gone mentally insane, though maybe she already had. The immortal's tampering clouded her judgment even now.
Pushing it to the back of her mind, she knew she could not be distracted.
Focusing on the charge, she stared around her, noticing the tightly packed Iron Salamanders by her side. Lady and Claw would focus on the stronger Pikeake, and they decided Tara's best utilisation would be to cause chaos in the Pikeake formation by doing what she does best, whatever that means.
Either way, she had a tough fight ahead. She was likely the strongest below the top-tier beasts at Qi Gathering Six and needed to make the most out of her influence.
Lady mentioned the stronger Pikeake would focus on the Qi Gathering Six beasts, allowing her to do greater damage to the Pikeake if she made it count in the early stages.
When they closed in fast, the Frog Queen and many frogs and toads began launching poisonous projectiles into the swarm of Pikeake.
For the first time, Tara observed the Glacial Swamp Pikeake variant's abilities.
Utilising their Qi, the Glacial Pikeake began forming ice barriers to block the poisonous projectiles.
The Frog and toad's poisonous attacks battered against the ice, burning and corroding through it almost as quickly as it was formed, yet the ice barriers protected the Pikeake from the early barrage, serving its short-lived purpose.
Tara noticed the Frog Queen being the only real one to do damage among the Frogs and Toads. Her attacks were highly damaging to small groups of Pikeake. Yet, she noticed the Greater Glacial Pikeake, who seemed wary of her and stood protectively behind groups of Pikeake, were emboldened by her attacking range.
Tara realised they might be in trouble if those things could launch an attack from a range similar to the Beast King, and it seemed the Frog Queen was the only thing holding them back from doing so.
They swiftly pushed forward, swimming through the water rapidly towards the Pikeake, and Tara could see the Frog Queen finally launch an attack with true deathly intent.
It was as if the Frog Queen was lulling the Pikeake into a false sense of security with her earlier movements, and Tara could see why as it made a Glacial Greater Swamp Pikeake bold enough to provide the Frog Queen with a direct line of attack.
The Glacial Greater Swamp Pikeake was preparing an attack of its own as it created a large spear of ice to launch at the encroaching gathering of beasts.
Other Glacial Pikeake, though on a far lesser scale than the Greater Glacial Pikeake, began to do the same, demonstrating they could launch projectiles of their own.
The Glacial Pikeake attacked before the Greater Glacial Pikeake launched many swift spear ice-like projectiles into the gathering of beasts, skewering and causing significant damage among their numbers.
The Toads were primarily targeted, and the Pikeake, wary of their poison and being among the more fragile in comparison to the Iron Salamanders and Snapping Turtdrakes, were killed in droves.
Seeing this seemed to enrage the Frog Queen. Yet, her lack of response to targeting the Greater Glacial Pikeake, the clear leaders of the swarm in the absence of the Beast King, finally seemed to embolden one of the Greater Glacial Pikeake enough to attack itself.
However, the Greater Glacial Pikeake's actions seemed to be what the Frog Queen awaited.
Its anticipated grand entrance into the battle was all for nought. The incredible power it gathered to launch towards them was interrupted as a wild gleam emerged in the Frog Queen's cunning eyes.
Before now, the Frog Queen's attacking range fell short of the Greater Glacial Pikeake, and even Tara was fooled by her actions.
Knowing how much she valued her subjects, Tara was deceived into believing the Frog Queen would not hold back in such circumstances.
Tara found she underestimated the Frog Queen's ruthlessness.
A large gathering of energy began to rumble from the Frog Queen as a poisonous purple cloud emerged from her body.
The Greater Glacial Swamp Pikeake seemed aware of the danger as soon as it laid eyes on the Frog Queen, yet it would suffer a heavy backlash from the monumental attack it was preparing if it stopped now.
Deciding to continue, the Greater Glacial Swamp Pikeake began to form a swarm of projectiles.
Its eyes held bloodthirsty ruthlessness as it searched for the Frog Queen, yet the moment it found her, its initial confidence wavered as the Frog Queen's eyes met its.
A daring, challenging glint filled her eyes as she locked eyes with the Greater Glacial Swamp Pikeake.
As the Pikeake prepared to direct its attacks towards her, the Frog Queen acted.
The glowing gem sat atop the crown-shaped appendage on her head, which began glowing brighter as the poisonous cloud in her surroundings absorbed back into the Frog Queen's body before she eyes the Greater Glacial Pikeake with a dangerous gleam.
Tara barely saw the attack coming as the Greater Glacial Pikeake attempted to launch the power it had been gathering, believing it could counter whatever the Frog Queen planned.
It was proved to underestimate her as a storm of ice shot towards the army of beasts on a far greater scale than the other Glacial Pikeake; it rapidly approached the area of the Frog Queen, its intent to deal with her.
At that moment, the Frog Queen's eyes took a purple glow as she opened her mouth and shot a condensed ball of purplish, toxic-green substance that shot rapidly towards the Greater Glacial Pikeake like a tractor beam.
The gem on her forehead seemed to dim, and she appeared strained for a period. Yet, Tara saw a victorious look in her eyes. Tara could not closely follow the condensed ball of poison that burned through the Greater Pikake Glacial ice attack like nothing before slamming into the beast itself.
Tara observed the Greater Glacial Pikeake going from assured confidence to complete horror as it could not avoid the Frog Queen attack.
The Greater Glacial Pikeake was unable to muster any resistance when the condensed ball of poison slammed into it; Tara found it to be a version of the poison she experienced with the frogs and toads, only multitudes more toxic as the body of the ginormous shark was corroded entirely, its flesh being burned through like paper as the poison seemed to ignite like a flame when it made contact spreading to every part of its body as it was dissolved into nothingness, the shrieks and erratic movement of the sharks dying breaths was chilling as the other Pikeake hovered around it trying to save the thing, Glacial Pikeake even trying to cut off the flesh infected with poison using their ice attacks, only for one who strayed to close to maintain slight contact with the poison quickly finding themselves similar corroded like the giant shark.
The Pikeake appeared helpless as they gave up saving the life of one of the leaders taking charge in the absence of the Beast King died a helpless death.
Tara found the momentum of the battle completely shifted at that time. The Pikeake's early onslaught utilising their superior, more devastating range attacks with their ice projectiles, initial confidence wavered, and the horde of beasts grew close enough where they were more effective.
Tara knew the poison of the Frogs and Toads was most devastating up close, and the Salamanders, Turtles, and Eels all favoured fighting at close range. The Pikeake's early superiority at range was short-lived, and the real clash began.
Tara could have been pre-emptive with her Metal Manipulation trait, yet she knew using her Qi at this stage would be wasteful.
The swarm of Pikeake was so dense she would at most deal with a few grunts of the swarm; she could not control her Qi to form an attack capable of launching at such a distance the Frog Queen could do as of yet.
Tara knew she might be called upon to deal
life-threatening damage to the real threat, and they had an overwhelming advantage in this part of the battle.
The Pikeake became restless at the death of the Greater Glacial Pikeake, and all hell broke loose upon its death.
Iron Salamanders, Snapping Turtdrakes, Eels and Toxic Bog Toads were the first to meet the incoming Pikeake who initiated their charge, utilising their speed and agility to make the initial clash as advantageous as possible for them.
It was pure, absolute chaos, each beast ripping into each other with absolute savagery.
Ice projectiles and poisonous clouds erupted everywhere from the collision of the Glacial Pikeake and Toxic Bog Toads and Frogs. They hit their targets with absolute mercilessness, leaving countless beasts skewered, bloodied, and burning in agony.
The cloud of gathering beasts was so dense that friendly fire could not be avoided, often not the toxic poisons of the frogs and toads causing damage to their side.
Tara met countless Swamp Pikeake of her own who attempted to tear her to shreds.
Tara's new limb shows usefulness when a Pikeake, who avoided her jaws, used its agility to move to sink its jaws into her side swiftly. However, its momentum made it move head-first into her bladed tail, which pierced through its head, killing the thing instantly.
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 252/20000 into progressing to Level 6.]
Tara killed countless more. The previous Swamp Pikeake at Qi Gathering 3 and 4, previously challenging for her, could not mount up any resistance.
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 272/20000 into progressing to Level 6.]
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 292/20000 into progressing to Level 6.]
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 312/20000 into progressing to Level 6.]
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 332/20000 into progressing to Level 6.]
Tara's enhancements, level-ups, and preparations were on full display as she felt like an apex predator among the gathering of beasts. For her cultivation level, she was monstrously strong, and Tara saw the system's potential on first display if she continued to use it well.
More Pikeake fell to her claws, teeth and extremely lethal new limb. The Pikeake's usual strategy of swiftly moving around her jaws to target her vulnerable neck or underbelly proved disastrous when she had her bladed tail that was flexible enough to strike at them like a whip from anywhere if they moved into her vicinity.
Another ten Pikeake fell, and another after that. Blood began pooling in the waters around Tara as she became like a wrecking ball in her section of the Pikeake formation.
Notifications piled up.
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 732/20000 into progressing to Level 6.]
That was when she finally attracted the attention of a big one.
Lapidus and the Snapping Turtdrakes were like living tanks as their necks elongated as their powerful jaws crushed the Pikeake; they had taken a great deal of attention away from her, and so had the other powerful beasts among their ranks, yet a Greater Pikeake had found its way to target her.
When she first saw the gigantic shark-like beasts, she was terrified of them. Only through sheer luck had she felled one and faced the other when she had the support of Elder Salamanders; now, she faced one down in the middle of a battle where none around her stood a chance against the thing.
The Greater Swamp Pikeake looked at her with the viciousness and arrogance of a predator used to being on top of the food chain. Despite her massacre, in its eyes, she was beneath it in cultivation level and still weak in its eyes; she would be crushed in one bite.
Tara was full of anticipation instead of fear as the large monster approached.
'Time to see how much I've grown.' Tara thought.