Chapter 1043: Rallying the Troops(1)
*Bing-Bong*
The entire chapter is in Tide Tongue, so regular quotation marks will be used.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
…
“Oh…you weren’t kidding about us being needed elsewhere.”
“No shit.”
“Wait…Xiao Liu, how the hell did you know that this was going to happen?”
“You know how I share senses with my puppets? What do you think I do everytime we visit someplace new?”
“Oh…”
“I want it say that’s incredibly paranoid, but…”
…
In chaotic situation like this, this would’ve been the perfect moment for the Zhen Clan to act.
Not only had the Fallen essentially landed in their laps, but they were causing chaos all across Undertow. Meaning that, if they managed to intervene in time, they would not only be able to deal a heavy blow it their ancestral enemy, but also be able to generate good will with the people of Undertow.
Everyone likes being saved from utter destruction after all.
Alas, that was going to be easier said than done, because they were being held back.
Literally.
“Maintain the formation! Make sure none of these Zhen Clan bastards can escape!”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“Fucking hell!”
“Stupid barrier!”
After Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian and her delegates met with the Undertow Council, they had managed to gain access to an old barracks for the soldiers to make use of for resting, which was significantly more comfortable than resting in the cabin of a giant sea serpent.
Unfortunately, this also allowed a bunch of weird looking warriors dressed in unidentifiable black armor to sneak up on them and set up an [Imprisoning Black Water] formation array around the barracks and prevent them from being able to escape.
To their credit, the Zhen Clan warriors were doing their absolute damnedest to break free from the array, but it was mostly for naught.
The thing about imprisoning arrays was that unless the imprisoned was significantly stronger than the casters of the array, the caster of the array would be able to keep their target imprisoned for as long as they wanted.
And in the case of the Fallen, they just needed to keep the Zhen Clan soldiers imprisoned for about an hour. Which was long enough for the Grafted and their Matriarch to achieve their goal.
Ideally.
And as an added bonus, the citizens of Undertow had been blaming the invaders on the Zhen Clan. Meaning, if their collaborator did their job, then the Fallen would soon gain a powerful ally that could help facilitate even more attacks against the Pearl Scale Empire.
…
“Alright, we are now a several hundred feet above the enemy forces…you guys have your landing maneuvers planned out or…”
“Just drop us already.”
“This ice ball is starting to get heavy.”
“Alright.”
…
And all they had to do was maintain this formation and-
[Echoing Frost]*2
“Incoming!”
From directly above the Fallen Clan soldiers, Zhen Feng and Zhen Hai launched their most powerful coordinated attack.
From their combined efforts, a shark and a boar made of freezing air came roaring down upon them like localized natural disasters.
The majority of the soldiers present were a mostly peak Aether Acolytes or low tier Aether Masters, meaning that once this attack made contact, they would be frozen solid.
(Un)fortunately, they had a rather powerful expert keeping them safe.
From amongst the Fallen Warriors, an Aether Grandmaster stepped forward to prevent the worst from happening.
“Keep the formation steady!”
“Yes, captain!”
[Marsh Lizard Seal!]
In direct opposition of the two icy constructs, the Fallen Grandmaster launched an attack that took on the form of a giant lizard made of mud.
Normally, this would’ve been a very bad matchup.
[Marsh Lizard Seal] was a major Ethereal class aether art, meaning that it would’ve been easily overpowered by a World class aether art like [Echoing Frost]. Not only that, but the icy components of the [Echoing Frost] would normally freeze something as liquid as a giant lizard made of mud into an ice sculpture.
But alas, the power difference between the Zhen Clan scions and the Fallen warrior captain was enough to render these advantages moot.
The mud lizard construct pushed back against the icy boar and shark for a couple of moments before he former managed to overpower the latter and break through the both of them.
This left Zhen Feng and Zhen Hai at the mercy of the giant mud lizard and its widening maw.
“Ah, shit.”
[Dodge man, dodge]
Using a bit of aether to reposition themselves in the air, Zhen Feng and Zhen Hai angled themselves so that they could kick off of each other’s feet in opposite directions away from the mud lizard’s maw. Once they narrowly avoided getting eaten and probably crushed to death, the two Zhen Clan scions fell to the ground in a roll before getting back up to their feet with their respective aether treasures drawn.
Once they had landed, the Fallen Grandmaster decided to step forward.
“Most interesting…if memory serves me right, you two are a part of those branch clan scions that caused quite a stir during the Zhen Clan tournament and the subsequent assault. I can’t tell if it’s fortunate or unfortunate that you two have appeared before me. Especially since your family has almost recaptured me after the prison break.”
From the way he was as talking, Zhen Feng and Zhen Hai had figured that this guy must’ve been one of the convicts that was recruited during the attack.
“I was once known as Zhaozhe Jun, the Swamp Slaughterer, but since the Fallen picked me up, I have since change my name to Gao Zhaozhe Jun. Not a big difference, I know, but I think the name ‘Zhaozhe’ just fits me, you know?’
…
“Wait a minute…is this guy seriously named ‘swamp man’? Like unironically?”
“Don’t question it.”
…
“Anyways, kiddos, while I commend you on your efforts in trying to free your kin, I can’t have you guys getting in our way,” Gao Zhaozhe Jun continued to say. “So either leave now, and I can possibly spare your lives, or resist and I definitely won’t spare your lives. The choice is yours.”
Zhen Feng and Zhen Hai stared at each other in mild disbelief, both wondering if such high and mighty intimidation ever actually worked, before redirecting their focus at Gao Zhaozhe Jun.
A part of them wanted to try and taunt this guy into doing something reckless and force them into attacking them, like how Zhen Liu would mock people, while another part of them was thinking that the best course of action was to just attack the people maintaining the array formation so that they could get some back up, which was just plain smart.
After a quick exchange of looks…they decided to try and do both.
“Hey, Swamp Slaughterer, real quick has that type of high and mighty intimidation ever actually work?,” Zhen Hai asked. “Because it made you sound like a blowhard moreso than an actual threat.”
“Haha! I see what you’re trying to do, Zhen Clan scion. You’re trying to goad me into doing something wreckless, like your kinsmen did during the tournament, yes?” Gao Zhaozhe Jun asked in a condescending tone of voice.
To Zhen Hai’s credit, he didn’t react with his usual aggression when counter taunted. Instead, he decided to go even lower.
“Well, you caught me,” Zhen Hai admitted with an unserious tone of voice. “I was trying to goad you into attacking me. But your skin is surprisingly thick.”
“Hah! Indeed.”
“Then again, I really shouldn’t be surprised by someone called ‘Swamp Slaughterer’…tell me and my kinsman something though, are you thick skinned like a crocodile or like a hippo?”
“Hahahahaha…wait a minute, what did you just ask?”
“Well…it’s just, you have a title like Swamp Slaughterer, and your clearly have thick skin since my little taunts seem to do nothing to you, so we gotta know. Are you thick skinned because your skin’s texture is scaly and tough as an alligator’s, or are you thick skinned like a hippo and covered in so much fat that you can’t -”
BWOOM!
Before Zhen Hai could finish a taunt that was honestly not as bad as it sounded, Gao Zhaozhe Jun had already rushed forward and attempted to punch his head clean off. Thankfully, Zhen Hai managed to block the attack in time using his [Berserker’s Fang]. Granted, the attack did force him to take several steps back.
“Oh did I strike a nerve?”
“How dare you mock the physique my mama gave me! She says I have skin like a dragon!”
“Wait, that’s what pissed you off?!”
…
“Huh…that worked better than anticipated,” Zhen Feng said to himself as he watched Gao Zhaozhe Jun send Zhen Hai flying. “Now then, looks like I just have to take care of the rest.”
…
[And here I thought baby-sitting duty was going to be boring.]
[Perhaps not…but we should still try to wrap up this fight quickly so we can deal with those Grafted weirdos…]
[True!]
