Chapter 1026: Castle Storm Eye
“So…how much longer until we finally reach out destination?”
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“Ah…okay then.”
The walk from the front gate to Castle Storm Eye was actually about ten minutes, more or less. But the constant stares and sideway glances directed their way was emotionally tiring to Zhen Hai and Zhen Feng.
That sounds weird, but in the same way a mild buzzing noise can go from annoying to maddening…one dirty stare is annoying, a hundred is…discouraging.
Regardless, once the delegation made it to the central castle, they couldn’t help but be taken aback.
Not because the castle was a destroyed ruin that made them question its durability.
Not because the castle was so magnificent it made them question their lives.
And not because it was so alien in architectural design that it offended their sensibilities.
The reason why they were taken aback was because the castle looked so simple, so normal, that it was absolutely jarring when they compared it to the aura that was radiating from its walls.
While Zhen Xun Po, Zhen Hai and Zhen Feng couldn’t exactly describe what they were feeling from it, Zhen Xun Tian and Zhen Liu knew exactly what they were feeling.
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[This place reeks of Chaos…. appropriate for a Kaijin Lord.]
[Wait, did she make the castle herself or did she have the kaijin do it for her?]
[Probably both.]
[Think it’s bigger on the inside like the library?]
[Maybe.]
[We’ll find out once we get pass the guards. They don’t look friendly to us in the slightest though…]
[You think it’s because who our hosts are or because of how they look?]
[Bitch, please, we look good in black.]
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The entrance to the castle consisted of a pair of large stone doors that were covered top to bottom in decorative carvings that gave people the feeling they were staring at a collection of vicious sea monsters being lashed together into a single, unified piece. More impressively though was the dense energy array that Zhen Liu and the others could sense was strengthening the door’s protective qualities. Zhen Liu was fairly certain that if he tried to use his brute strength against it, it would lead to his hand getting obliterated.
Guarding the entrance was a pair of Aquarum warriors that Zhen Liu sensed were at least Grandmaster rank.
The two guards initially stared at the Zhen Clan delegation with clear contempt, but immediately schooled their expressions and stiffened their backs once they saw Tortallion approach.
Almost immediately, Zhen Liu could sense that they went from hateful to respectful, faster than a school child in trouble.
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Tortallion continued to exchange pleasantries and intimate life events with the guards for a couple more moments, much to the confusion of the Zhen Clan delegates.
“Ya know…for a guardian, he’s strangely…familial,” Zhen Hai couldn’t help but to comment to his family.
It was a known detail of life that Aether Warriors of high cultivation tended to look down upon others of a lower rank.
Age, nobility, race, none of these matter to the truly powerful. The only exceptions to this indifference was possibly family or close friends. Either way, seeing someone as powerful as Tortallion treat a pair of adults as old as their parents, maybe older, as children was…unusual to say the least.
Then again, maybe this was normal here.
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The guards were quickly, but gently, pushed to the side as Tortallion stepped forward to the front gates and proceeded to place his hands against the massive door.
‘Huh…that’s interesting,’ Zhen Liu noted as soon as Tortallion placed his hands against the gate.
Thanks to his intimate understanding of [Chaos], Zhen Liu realized that if anybody other than a kaijin like Tortallion attempted such an action, they would’ve been immediately assaulted by whatever defensive mechanisms were installed in that door.
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BOOM!
“Holy-!”
With a forceful shove, Tortallion pushed open the massive stone doors like they were made of plastic. Evidently, the guards were not used to such a sight, as they both flinched in response to the sudden action.
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Tortallion, on the other hand, treated the moment like it was nothing special and signaled for the Zhen Clan delegation to follow him as quickly as they could. Not seeing any reason to linger around, they complied and quickly followed suit.
As they left, the guards at the gate couldn’t help but to gossip once the Zhen Clan delegates were out of earshot.
[Yeesh! What’s the deal? Why is Old Man Tortallion helping out those outsiders so much? Especially ones from related to that warmonger from the Pearl Scale Empire!]
[I’m not entirely sure either, but…]
[But what?]
[Those kids…that woman…I think they were radiating a type of Chaos similar to Lord Tortallion and the Storm Witch.]
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‘So what’s the deal with this place?,’ Zhen Liu asked Logos and Pathos as he walked through the castle’s halls alongside his family.’It feels like the Library but…lesser.’
Unfortunately, the inside of the castle was not bigger than the outside like the library was, but it was still impressive nonetheless.
From the decorative portraits, to the pillars to the furniture, Zhen Liu could sense from the ambient [Chaos] that the Kaijin of the Storm Queen were involved in every facet of the palace’s construction. Normally, such ambience would lead to weird mutations in the environment, but here, it was oddly tamed.
=What we can say though, is that this place was built by a coordinated effort done by Tortallion, Clobstar and Viceshell. I remember the reason as to why was…to quote, “Nobody with a soft body and a lack of a shell can build a proper palace”. If I recall correctly, that lead to a fight that partially destroyed the castle.=
‘Paratially?’
‘Yeah-oh.’
=I believe they used the last of a rare type of lumber to build the initial roof.=
‘Well that’s a…wait a minute…why do I sense hostile intent?’
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In the eyes of the Zhen Clan, to appeared as if three different architects had pooled their efforts together in an attempt to build a cohesive whole. It mostly worked, but there were a few inconsistencies.
The skylight also made no sense, as it appeared to be cut off what was supposed to be a whole mural connecting two opposing walls.
Regardless of the architecture though, the Zhen Clan continued to walk alongside Tortallion with the faint hope that-
FWOOMP, FWOOMP, FWOOMP, FWOOMP!
“Incoming!”
[What the hell?!]
Suddenly and without warning, four different colored balls of concentrated [Chaos] came flying out of nowhere and began to barrel towards the Zhen Clan delegates. The angle from which they flew were all in Tortallion’s blindspots, meaning that the old turtle wasn’t able to react and block in time.
[No!]
Thankfully, his assistance wasn’t needed.
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Zhen Xun Tian, Zhen Hai, Zhen Feng and Zhen Liu all made moves to block or counter the incoming attacks.
However, none of them used their regular aether powered moves. Instead, running on warrior instinct and a sudden flash of inspiration that they couldn’t quite pin their fingers on, they all ended up using [Chaos] empowered moves.
How they went about doing so we’re, completely different from one another.
