Chapter 1013: First Contact
Meanwhile as Zhen Xun Tian decided to catch up on lost family time…
[Welp, I’m getting a whole lot of nothing. What about you?]
[Negative, my dancing razor bladed boo.]
[Please don’t call me that.]
[What about Razzie?]
[Blargh.]
[BTW, are you having issues with the local wildlife? They seem to be running scared from me.]
[Same, although, that’s not a bad thing.]
Since their job this time around was to act like actual scouts and not spying toys, both Razorstella and Hurricroak opted to remain in their fully grown kaijin forms as they flew in the respective directions of their assignments.
Now, if a normal aether warrior attempted to do what these two were doing, it would end with them getting constantly assaulted by both the creatures living in the [Shadow Water] and the [Shadow Water] itself. Thankfully, the kaijin were like Zhen Xun Tina, Zhen Shi and Zhen Hai, as in, they were both exceptions to the rule.
Due to a combination of possessing innate light and [Chaos] aura, the two kaijin were essentially ignored by anything that would aim to kill them.
Not in a “too weak to fight” or “can’t notice” sense, but more in a “that is an apex predator” sense. In other words, even sea monsters had a sense of self-preservation.
Regardless, as the kaijin continued to zoom off in their respective directions, not finding anything of note, they decided to tap into the senses of the zakos that were swimming in the same direction as they were.
While none of the information they could received from the zakos couldn’t contain actual words or thoughts due to their existences being emephereal at best, they could still pick up information through their senses.
[Any of the zakos in your direction, find anything yet?]
[Other than the occasional whale carcass and the sound of what appeared to be singing eels? Nah.]
[Hmm.]
Unfortunately, they also found jackshit.
Much like the aboveground ocean, the [Abyssal Lands] was just a whole lot of nothing for miles on end.
Both Hurricroak and Razorstella were this close to giving up and heading back, until Razorstella received new orders.
[As you wish, director.]
[Huh? New orders from the maestro?]
[The director said that since I’m the one closest to where Undertow should be, he wants me to go check it out. He thinks that we’re being led on a wild goose chase.]
[Really? Why?]
[If I had to guess, it’s because his great grandaunt is keyed to tracking the guy with the whale arm, and not those other sources of [Chaos] that Logos and Pathos picked up.]
[Makes sense to me,] Hurricroak nodded despite not being near anybody who would appreciate seeing such a gesture. [Should I come along with you or try and see why our compass keeps getting turned around?]
[The latter. Push come to shove, we can send alerts.]
[Right.]
With their new orders given, Razorstella changed her flight plans and flew in the direction where Undertow was supposed to be located. As for Hurricroak, she started to think a bit deeper as to why and how they were getting led around the nose like this.
[Wait…Logos and Pathos did mention Chaos has a habit of leaking into the environment when left alone…but that only applies to treasures…but what about… hold up.]
Hurricroak’s train of thought eventually led her to think about the only other time they had to deal with multiple hostile [Chaos] entities at one time, Marlancer and his weird coral minions. Those things weren’t exactly zakos or kaijin, but they were made with bits of his infused power.
Perhaps that same thing was happening again?
[If this War Elder guy figured out how to plagiarize zakos, then this upcoming battle might get a lot more interesting…best to tell the zakos to look out for these possible copycats…or find them myself.]
As soon as this thought entered her head, Hurricroak proceeded to mime the action of putting goggles over eyes.
[Banzai!]
Afterwhich, she dove headfirst into the ocean of [Shadow Water].
Splash!
[Oooh, tingly!]
Now that she was in the water though, she began to sense something…new.
[Alright, let’s see if…huh?]
More specifically, she began to sense the presence of something very fast coming towards her, that was positively radiating with [Chaos]. [Chaos] that was reminiscent of the Fallen Clan’s War Elder.
[So that’s how they’re doing it…well then, time to play “Fisherman”! Thunder Fist!]
Evidently, Hurricroak aimed to use a loud sound to try and stun her incoming prey, kind of forgetting that sound travelled a lot faster through water than air.
To put this in perspective, she had essentially fired a rubber bullet at the supersonic speeds towards something that…used to be a fish.
Now it was just chum.
[Whoops…gotta dial back the power on that..]
As she thought about this, even more high speed fishes bearing [Chaos] came swimming towards her. In other words, she had more chances.
…
<
“What’s weird?”
<>
“Meh, worry about it later,” Zhen Liu assured his great grand aunt. “You still have my cousin strapped to a table.”
<
________________________________________
Meanwhile, as Hurricroak was exploding fish…
[Alright, if I follow Rodenia’s and Kit’s memory reports, I should be passing by some weird looking rock pillar…whoa…]
Once Razorstella was given her new orders, she had transformed herself into a shooting star and flew off in the direction where her compatriots had marked off where [Undertow] should’ve been located. Granted, the only map they could use for reference was a touch outdated, so they had to fill in some blanks.
Either way, there was enough information and notable landmarks that Razorstella was eventually able to find the place with little to no issues.
Well…except for one spiritual one.
The moment she saw those aforementioned weird rocks jutting out of the water, something in her caused her to pause.
She wasn’t sure why, nor did she feel forced to stop her flight over the rocks but…it felt right for her to do so.
Razorstella ended up hovering those rocks for a quite few moments in silent reverence, before unconsciously snapping off a salute before flying forward once more.
[Huh…that was…weird. Wonder why I…hold up.]
However, once she started flying forwards again, she noticed the presence of something…familiar.
It was a presence that reminded her of that nearly fallen kaijin named Marlancer, like the stolen arm of Grand Blue and the bestowed ink from Krakelios. But at the same time, it had a significantly more…defensive flavor to it.
Like a steadfast rock.
[I guess I’m getting close-whoa.]
Eventually, after several more minutes of flying, Razorstella eventually arrived at what could only describe as polished pillar of solid stone.
From the very ceiling of the [Abyssal Lands] cavern to what Razorstella could only assume was the floor, polished black stone walls stopped her flight forward. Granted, she could’ve just flown around it, but her guy told her that this was the place.
[Huh…I guess this is the place. Now where’s the-]
[Oi! Who’s in our airspace?!]
[Huh?]
Just as Razorstella was about to fly around the pillar to try and see if there was an opening or something strange she could report back, a voice spoken in [Chaos] language interrupted her.
[If you’re going to be buzzing around here, do me a favor and come down here to-]
[Yeah, yeah! Give me a minute. My bad.]
[That’s what I…wait a minute…YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME?!]
[Yes I…hold up.]
At this moment, both parties understood what the other actually were.
Not an abomination on the verge of collapsing.
Not some mortal cultivator that got access to [Chaos] from a stolen body part.
Not even a well-read human that learned how to speak [Chaos] after discovering something that shouldn’t exist in this world or the next.
In that short exchange of words, they both understood that they were kaijin made by different lords.
And had done something that had a one in a million chance of happening: come on contact with one another.
As Razorstella touched down to the unknown kaijin’s level, the two of them began to eye each other up in an appraisal manner. They needed to see how they measured up in terms of crafting quality after all.
[Mechanical…your lord made you a woman on purpose?]
[Proto-kaijin actually,] Razorstella answered. [Used to be an aether puppet before realizing my desire.]
[Interesting.]
[You appear to be organic and something else…reminds me of two other kaijin I know… Razorstella’s my name. Don’t wear it out.]
[My name’s Tortallion, the Last Shield.]
[Charmed.]
[Now then…is it safe to assume your lord is still alive?]
From this short exchange, both parties could tell that they were going to get along…great.
________________________________________
[Maestro!]
[Director!]
[We got news!]*2
‘Good or bad?’
[I figured out how we got misdirected!]
‘Good.’
[The Kaijin in charge of protecting Undertow wants to talk.]
‘That’s also…wait a minute, what?’
