Chapter 1053: War in Earnest
“Ha…ha…take…that…you….assholes!”
It took Zhen Feng about five minutes to finish taking out all of the Fallen warriors guarding the array that was keeping the Zhen Clan soldiers imprisoned. He even made sure to include the ones providing power to the array as well.
The art he had managed to deploy, (thanks to Razorstella’s help), had made him move and attack in a manner that was much more cardio intensive than he was used to when fighting though, so for all intents and purposes, he was absolutely exhausted.
“Gotta…lose…weight after this…but for now, I gotta…wait a minute…”
Now that he had a moment to catch his breath and check his surroundings, he noticed that for some cockamamie reason, the imprisoning array was somehow still up.
This turn of events made no sense to Zhen Feng, because he was damn sure he took out every single Fallen warrior in the vicinity.
Thankfully, he wasn’t alone in figuring out this mystery.
…
‘What the fuck? Did I miss someone or something? Why is this stupid imprisoning array still up?’
[Wait…I think I know why…hey, can you check one of those circles where those empowering guards were standing earlier? Doesn’t matter which, just pick one.]
‘Uh…okay…’
[Let’s see…oh…yeah, afraid that was the case, great…]
‘Huh? What’s up?’
[The runes used to make this array have been slightly modified. In the event that all of the people empowering this array are defeated or rendered unconscious, the array will maintain itself for about an hour or so before disappearing in order to give new people time to arrive and take over empowering duties. So…good news, bad news.]
‘An hour?! I don’t think we have an hour to spare in a situation like this!’
[Well then, you’re just gonna have to go with Plan B.]
‘Plan B?’
[Plan: Brute Force.]
‘Oh…okay.’
…
“Alright, with Swap Slaughterer out of the way, I can finally head back and…what the fuck?”
Shortly after Zhen Hai had won his battle against the Swamp Slaughterer, he had decided that the wisest course of action wasn’t to try and find more champion type enemies to fight, rather, it was best to go and see if his cousin still needed help freeing the rest of the Zhen Clan soldiers. This turned out to be a rather good idea.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“Huh…”
Once Zhen Hai had returned, he saw that his cousin Zhen Feng had managed to defeat all of the remaining Fallen soldiers and was now attempting to break through the imprisoning array…by smashing his cleaver against it.
Solid “A” for effort, but an “F” in terms of execution.
Regardless, with the way things were going at this point in time, it was probably a better idea for him to go over where Zhen Feng was and determine their next course of action.
“Zhen Feng.”
“Huh? Oh! Hey, Zhen Hai. You managed to beat that Swap Slaughterer guy? Or did somebody get involved and give you an escape?,” Zhen Feng asked in-between chops of his cleaver against the barrier.
“I managed to defeat him and came over here afterwards to check to see if you needed help defeating the rest of them. From the looks of it, you didn’t.”
As if to help punctuate this point, one of the Fallen warriors let out a groan of pain…shortly before getting kicked back into unconsciousness by Zhen Hai.
“Nah, I managed to put into practice a new aether art that allowed me to hit them all at once like a bouncing boulder.”
“Xiao Liu’s puppet?”
“Xiao Liu’s puppet.”
“Okay,” Zhen Hai nodded in understanding. “So…what does that have to do with you swinging your hatchet against the imprisoning array?”
“Oh, well…”
Zhen Feng proceeded to explain to Zhen Hai that this array keeping their reinforcements in check had been built with a failsafe for in case someone like them had taken out all of the defenders. And that, technically speaking, the damn thing would be lingering for an additional hour unless there was outside intervention.
“An hour?! I don’t think we have time for that.”
As if the universe was agreeing with Zhen Hai’s assessment, the sound of a distant explosion occurred in the general direction of Undertow’s main city.
“See?”
“I know that, that’s why I’ve been smashing against this array!,” Zhen Feng shouted while swinging his cleaver. “The only issue is that I can’t seem to find the weak point.”
An open secret about imprisoning arrays was that all of them had an external weak point, that if impacted with enough, causes the whole thing to break apart like tissue paper. However, this external weak point varied in location from array to array, to the point that it was unclear on how much force or what kind of attack would be needed to break it apart.
Of course, such considerations are considered moot, when…well…
“Question: why aren’t you using [Chaos] to just cut through the thing entirely?”
“Use what now?”
“This?”
Zhen Hai proceeded to draw his [Berserker’s Fang] from his back and began to channel an energy he was just given a significantly more thorough crash course in a couple of moments ago. The effect was immediate, as the aforementioned treasure began to glow with a power that didn’t feel…normal.
But it did feel familiar.
“Wait…is that…”
“Yup. Apparently this is what Xiao Liu uses when he fights in conjunction with aether,” Zhen Hai said as he performed a few practice swings. “And let me tell ya, I completely understand why he practices in an abandoned quarry.”
“Why?”
“Because this stuff feels like trying to lasso three wild bulls at the same time with nothing but string. But the payoff is worth it!”
After making this declaration, Zhen Hai swung his weapon against the imprisoning array and began to tear through its energetic structure like a chainsaw cutting through wood.
“This is gonna take a bit, but like…a minute at most.”
“Better than an hour though.”
As the two young masters of the Zhen Clan did their task though, the puppets [Kaijin] listening to them had other things to discuss about.
Namely…
…
[Oh, now he knows how to wield Chaos properly? What the hell, Screamira? I thought it was only a subtle hint until something big happened.]
[Don’t look at me. That damn fang of his acted up before I could even put in my two coppers.]
[It did?]
[Yeah.]
[Huh…why do I feel like something big is gonna happen?]
[Because the producer is a giant magnet for trouble.]
[Fair.]
…
“And…done! The array is now totally broken!”
“Sweet!”
“Now then…let’s go clear our names and kick some Fallen ass.”
“Why…do I feel like you could’ve said that with more professionalism?”
“Side effect of [Chaos], makes you more…casual.”
“That…explains so much.”
________________Moments later…______________
<
<[Unhand my so-GAH!]>
<[MAMA!]>
Like any despicable raiding force, the Fallen warriors began to not only cause wanton destruction, but pillaged, looted and kidnapped as they pleased.
There would be a fourth activity that would’ve been performed at this moment, but now wasn’t the time for it. That could wait after all the slave collars were implemented.
<
At this moment in time, a family of Undertow residents, consisting of a mother, a daughter and a son were all being manhandled by several raiders dressed in black in the confines of their own home.
The soldiers had already looted everything that was worth something from this place, but some stayed behind because they saw value in the people themselves.
Aquarum slaves were highly sought after in the modern slave markets after all, and they would be remiss if they didn’t take advantage of such a fact.
<
<
<
<[You...outsider...bastards...]>
Hatred, rage and fear stewed in the stomachs of these Aquarum citizens as they were subjected to this wretched fate.
How could such a thing happen to them?
What have they done to deserve such fate?
From what they heard of their friends and neighbors shouting in fear, these soldiers were the Zhen Clan outsiders who had been invited by their guardian.
If that was the case, then how could-
<
<
<[What?]>
Just as the children were about to enter a mental spiral of hatred and revenge, a new batch of soldiers with incredibly noticeable emblems on their armors had barged in and attacked the soldiers in black.
<
<[Wait, what?!]>
Evidently, they weren’t the only residents of Undertow to get confused by such a statement.
