Chapter 1049: One Boar Fighting
With Zhen Hai busy dealing with the Fallen warrior titled “Swamp Slaughterer”, Zhen Feng was left by his lonesome to free the rest of the Zhen Clan soldiers. Granted, that was easier said than done.
‘Okay…excluding the ones maintaining the array, I just need to fight…fifteen or enemies. Great…’
[Including them, you have to fight thirty-three enemies.]
‘I am aware of that, thank you.’
Technically speaking, he wasn’t alone, he just had assistance in the form of empowerment as opposed to physical assistance.
[Speaking of, incoming!]
Before Zhen Feng could figure out a plan of action, alongside the voice in his head(Razorstella), two of the Fallen warriors, a pair of peak Aether Acolytes, took it upon themselves to run distraction and give the others time to prepare.
Armed with spears, they charged at Zhen Feng with a fairly standard Corporeal aether art.
[Twisting Tidal Thrust!]*2
As a pair of spears coated in swirling Aquarii aether threatened to perforate him full of holes, Zhen Feng proceeded to tap into himself and began to channel the power of a newly acquired gift of his.
[Permafrost Guard!]
Due to being more heavyset than his cousins, Zhen Feng learned how to take hits and block them as opposed to avoiding them. As such, guarding tactics were more his speed as opposed to jumping and dodging like his cousins.
A thick shield made of frozen earth, manifested in front of Zhen Feng and intercepted the spears of the two Fallen warriors, surprising them on just how sturdy his makeshift shield proved to be. Evidently, the shield was so sturdy that aether art empowering the spears were dispelled on impact and caused the Fallen warriors wielding them to recoil due to the momentum of their charge being forced back into their spears.
…
[I probably don’t need to mention this, but now would be a good time to do a follow up.]
‘I know that, but too many of my attacks take too much time to power up to be useful.’
[Yours take too much time, mine take no time at all. Downloading, now!]
‘Huh? What are you-OOP!’
…
In the same moment that the Fallen warriors were forced to take steps back due to the momentum rocking through their spears and arms, Zhen Feng stepped forward to do a follow up attack with his [Red Ogre’s Cleaver].
However, it wasn’t an attack empowered by Terraqi aether or ice aether, rather it was empowered by aether that made it appear as if the cleaver was coated in starlight.
[Crescent Star Cutter!]
With a swing of the cleaver, Zhen Feng launched a crescent shaped blade of energy that looked as if he ripped off a chunk of the night sky and used it as a weapon.
The recoiling warriors were caught completely off guard as the blade of energy impacted their torsos and sent them flying backwards.
The attack wasn’t strong enough to kill them on impact, but it was strong enough to knock them out and shatter several ribs each.
…
‘By the heavens! That was stupid fast!’
[Speed and grace is my name, piggy boy. But you may want to pay attention. I don’t think the rest of the Fallen appreciate my artistry.]
…
Seeing two of their number get taken out so quickly, the rest of the Fallen Warriors went into high alert.
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Amongst the Fallen Clan guards present, several of them were low tiered Aether Masters.
Since a pair of Acolytes weren’t a enough to take down Zhen Feng, the Fallen figured that an Aether Master, even one in the first ring, would be enough to end him.
…
[Oh, this is one is a bit stronger than the previous two.]
‘I can sense that to be the case, yes.’
[You want me to help with this one, or you have something in mind?]
‘The latter…actually wait…can you provide me a speed boost?’
[Done. Do you want to come from your entire body or just a specific part?]
‘You can do that?!’
…
[Blazing Tiger Claw!]
In a shocking contrast to the predominantly Aquarii wielding warriors of Roaring Tide, the Fallen Aether Master made use of an Ignatii aether art.
Under normal circumstances, this would’ve been a smart approach.
Zhen Feng had made it obvious that he could use a special type of aether ice for defense, ergo, the best way to counter such an obvious display would be to use aether of an opposing element.
Unfortunately, the Fallen failed to realize that Zhen Feng’s display of ice power was merely his secondary attribute.
His real attribute was like his father, Terraqi.
[Stone Tusk Smash!]
Instead of counterattacking with his cleaver or blocking with another ice shield, Zhen Feng opted to go power for power and impact the incoming claw with a fist covered in stone armor shaped like a boar’s head. However, unlike the previous times in his life when he employed this art, there was a distinctive starry aura propelling the fist forward. Evidently, this had a different effect than intended.
Zhen Feng had initially wanted to smash away the incoming attack in order to follow up with an upward cleave chop, but the speed boost provided by Zhen Liu’s puppet(Razorstella) had actually made him speed right pass the attack and clock the Fallen Aether Master right in the center of his face.
CRACK
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CRUNCH
A gush of blood and the sound of broken bone and cartilage echoed outward as Zhen Feng’s fist had pummeled through the Fallen Master’s shield and landed a blow directly on the center of his face.
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At this point, and seeing that three of their numbers were just taken out with the strangest of ease, the rest of the Fallen warriors not maintaining the array had decided to go all in attacking Zhen Feng, despite it being considered overkill and dishonorable by most warriors.
Then again, they were already considered criminals by the rest of the world, so why bother worrying about such things?
Unfortunately for them, this was actually the worst idea they could’ve possibly conceived.
…
‘Oh balls, they’re attacking all at once.’
[Oh, this is actually perfect!]
‘It is? How?!’
[You’re about to feel it…in five seconds.]
‘Okay, I’m starting to understand why Zhen Liu acts the way he-NAAAAAHHH!’
[Oh you’ll be fine… probably. You might lose a lot of your fat in the process though…actually, that might be a good thing?]
…
As the attacking Fallen began to charge up their aether to perform a variety of aether arts, Zhen Feng was charging up his own aether in order to unleash a devasting attack of his own.
Normally, in such situations, [Echoing Frost] would be ideal as it would allow him to freeze multiple enemies at once. But several of the charging warriors were using Ignatii aether arts to counter such an attempt.
Alternatively, Zhen Feng was taught by his father an aether art known as [Reckless Mountain Boar Chage].
This major Corporeal aether art, would’ve coated Zhen Feng in a thick shell of dirt and rock before he would charge forward and use the momentum generated by such a large mass moving at high speeds to knock away anyone dumb enough to get even close to him.
Alas, he wasn’t using this aether art either.
Instead, standing as firm as a mountain, Zhen Feng empowered his free hand with aether until it started to glitter and shine like starlight moments before punching forward.
A hail of star shaped aether energy balls shot forward and impacted all of the attacking warriors in various spots of their bodies.
None of the charging warriors seemed to notice or care about these balls of light, due to them not sensing any killing intent coming from any of the balls.
But that turned out to be a very stupid decision.
Because these balls of light may have not been the attack or the killer payload, but they were something equally dangerous.
Targets.
Cleaver in hand, Zhen Feng took in a deep breath as he empowered his legs, arms and back with a lot more aether than he was used to using. In fact, it was so much aether that his body began to release steam!
Once the enemy warriors were close enough, Zhen Feng finally decided to act.
[Starlight Cutter Dance!]
Faster than any of the Fallen warriors could react, Zhen Feng launched forward by the power of starlight and began his assault…by smashing in the leg of one of the charging warriors, using the force to propel himself upward, elbowing the face of another Fallen warrior before launching upward to punch another warrior all in one fluid motion. All of these moves, just so happened to hit exactly where those balls of light made contact.
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It was in this exact moment the Fallen realized they were absolutely screwed.
