Chapter 1076: New Bloods: A Proper Introduction
Crack!
“Gah!”
‘That’s for desecrating my predecessor’s tomb.’
Without the use of any weapons, treasure or allies that could reliably restrain Zhen Liu’s abilities to fight, Gao Shen Yuan was forced to endure a rather brutal punch to the face.
Not even her [Regalia] proved to be of any help against the assault, due to the [Chaos] coating it. On the plus side, she didn’t lose any teeth.
At this point in time, Zhen Liu was ready to deliver even more blows to Gao Shen Yuan, all the while mentally screaming the reason for each punch.
This is for putting my family at risk, this is for attacking Undertow, this is for kidnapping my woman, et cetera.
However, before he could get away with performing this justified combo punch of pain, Buzza and Gao Dau managed to interfered once again.
“Bah! Unscrupulous curs!”
“Hey! Come back here and fight like invertebrates!”
Despite their best efforts, the slug-like kaijin and shrimp-like kaijin weren’t able to keep Gao Dau and Buzza locked down entirely, especially when the former suddenly blinded his oppnent by emitting a flash of light from his third eye, while the latter managed to fly out of reach.
Evidently, Buzza managed to repair his wings in the small window of time it took for his initial injury to occur, until now.
Once they had disengaged with their respective opponents, Gao Dau and Buzza immediately coordinated to Gao Shen Yuan’s rescue.
“Oh no you don’t!”
Seeing the encroaching opponents, the shark woman kaijin made moves to engage with her greatsword drawn. Unfortunately, Buzza and Gao Dau weren’t looking for a fight, only to escape.
And when a high tiered warrior was looking to flee, they would normally succeed nine times out of ten.
[Shield your eyes! Psycho-Flash!]
“Bah! My eyes!”
“Seriously?!,” Zhen Liu cried out in disbelief as he and the kaijin were blinded by the incredibly bright light being released by a triclops.
________________________________________
*Bing-Bong*
…
|…|
Low hanging fruit much?
|Shut up.|
*Bing-Bong*
________________________________________
“But what about my enhancement?!”
“Not worth our lives, especially when we’re out-numbered.”
These were the last few words Zhen Liu, Jin Fang and the kaijin heard before the Fallen and Buzza made their exit out of the Storm Queen’s tomb.
Shortly after that Zhen Liu and the others managed to regain their sight.
“Well, this sucks,” the slug-knight kaijin began to complain. “First day existing and our quarry managed to escape with their tails between their legs. I was going for a trophy.”
“Worry not, my venomous boneless friend!,” the shrimp-like kaijin proclaimed while hugging him. “We shall claim our victory and trophies soon enough!”
“Please stop touching me.”
“No.”
“Can someone please cut me loose now?”
“On it.”
Initially, Zhen Liu was going to give chase to the Fallen leadership and Buzza, due to him knowing that assholes like them tended to be spiteful shits who were more than likely to burn everything down if they lost due to “honor” or something stupid like that.
But he didn’t do that because he had more pressing things to address before doing so. That and he had the other kaijin to rely on for situations like this.
…Meanwhile…
In the hidden room of a boarded store, Zhen Hai and Zhen Feng were sitting with anxiety in their stomachs while Screamira and Razorstella were laying down on a pair of tables.
The tension in the room was thick enough to be cut with a knife.
“So…how long are these ‘kaijin’ going to be passed out like-”
BAM!
“What the fuck?!”
“Who the fuck?!”
“Screamira! Razorstella!,” Springerdermain shouted as he busted his way into the room. “Get your asses up, we got people to hunt down.”
“Kay.”
“They’re conscious?!”
“And you’re coming with us, come on.”
“Say what?”
…Now back to the Tomb…
“Alright, grit your teeth and close your eyes.”
“Why do I need to do that if you’re just cutting my chains?”
“Non-zero chance of these chains having a bad reaction to [Chaos]. When she cut through my chains earlier, there was a slight popping against my skin.”
“Got it.”
“And…chop!”
Pop!
“Ah!”
“Told you.”
With one swing of his bone axe, Zhen Liu sliced through the chains holding Jin Fang hostage and freed her.
As a result of this action though, Jin Fang had almost fell on to her butt due to the chain’s destruction.
“Hey, whoa!”
“I got ya!”
However, Zhen Liu was fast enough to catch her and spin her into a pose reminiscent of a dancing dip.
From an outsider’s perspective, it appeared a demon king was dancing with his magical girl foe. Honestly, it was kind of cute.
“So…nice outfit. Same to assume that Pathos had a hand in this?”
“They did. Said it would be a way for me to learn how to channel [Chaos] without messing with my own cultivation. Not too sure about the outfit though.”
“I kind of like it.”
“Really? Well then, I guess I should give you a closer look of it later…”
“Ahem,” the shark woman kaijin interrupted. “I don’t mean to be rude my lieges, but there is still an active combat situation going on. That and my brothers and I have yet to give our oath of fealty yet.”
“Ah!”
“Right.”
Having their intimate moment interrupted, Zhen Liu and Jin Fang corrected their postures and stood at attention. They didn’t need to smooth out their clothes, because their current outfits were made of energy and could be corrected with just a thought.
Once they were looking proper, the shark woman kaijin called over the shrimp-like kaijin and the slug-like kaijin.
“Oye! Get over here!”
“Sure thing, big sis.”
“As you command!”
Once all three marine type kaijin had gathered together, all three immediately went down on one knee, supported their weight with their respective weapons and bowed their heads in a coordinated manner.
[We are the new Storm Knights,] the shark-woman kaijin began to say in [Chaos] speech. [Born from the last will and remnant of the Storm Queen, we three heeded the call to appear before you, current Kaijin Lord, and to you, Daughter of the Storm Queen.]
“How official,” Jin Fang awkwardly replied, having never been treated like royalty before.
‘I wonder when I can get an actual title, Zhen Liu thought to himself.’
[My name is Wavebreaker, Knight of Valor and Inheiritor of the Fang Brothers, Grand Fang, HammerFang and SawFang. Point me at your enemies and I will rip them into pieces,] Wavebreaker stated before stabbing the ground with her sword.
Next, the shrimp-like kaijin spoke up.
[My name is Shellvalier! Knight of Chivalry and the Inheiritor of the Hardshelled, Clobstar, Viceshell and Tortallion. Whether you need me to break down a wall or shoot down the enemy, none will escape my sight.]
To emphasize his point, Shellvalier punched his palm with a fist, causing a minor shockwave and a bright glint to shine in all four of his eyes. It was this point, Zhen Liu realized Shellvalier was a kind of shrimp chimera.
Last but not least, the strange slug-like kaijin spoke up.
[My name is Slug-at-arms. I am the Knight of Skill and the Inheritor of the Strange, Medusina, Puffer and Krakelios. Like the slugs my body came from, I can mimic the skills and abilities of friends and foe alike. As long as I’m by your side, you’ll never be outmatched.]
As if to make it clear that he was a scavenger and a copycat, Slug-at-arms weapons consisted of a lance that looked like the skeletal version of swordfish, and a shield made from a turtle shell. Evidently, this trait of his might explain why he had no face either.
Once all three had finished their introductions, the trio of Storm Knights rose to their feet.
[We three swear our fealty to the two of you, in honor of the Storm Queen and as a means of righting her wrongs. Now, what do you wish for us to do?]
This would normally be there part where Zhen Liu would instruct the kaijin to help them with their current crisis, but not this time.
Instead, he passed the responsibility off to Jin Fang.
“Well? What are your orders,Storm Princess?”
“Me? But you’re the Kaijin Lord!”
“I am, but you heard them. They were made for you too. Sides, I know you can feel your connection to them. Don’t you want to try it out?”
“I mean…”
Jin Fang would’ve been lying if she didn’t admit that she had thoughts about how things would’ve been different if she was the one to find the [Library of Nowhere] first and became the current Kaijin Lord.
This particular fantasy got even stronger when she found out who her birth mama was.
So now, given the chance to follow in her footsteps in such a roundabout…she couldn’t help but to smile a little.
“Okay then…Storm Knights! Undertow is under attack, and I refuse to let the Fallen continue to do so. So…follow my lead!”
“Aye!”*3
