Chapter 1092: Evil Mollusk
Meanwhile, in the streets of Undertow…
Shortly after Zhen Xun Tian, Zhen Xun Po, Jinju Ren and Cornileus awoke the Undertow Leadership council from their poisoned stupor, the latter put out a call for an emergency shelter that the citizens of Undertow were surprisingly well-prepared for.
[Please form an orderly line as you enter the shelters, thank you.]
“You guys weren’t kidding about being prepared for this kind of disaster scenario.”
“When you live where we do, something like this becomes second nature.”
“Makes sense.”
Mildly unsettling statement aside, not all members present for this sheltering action were happy about participating.
Namely, a certain battle hungry princess.
“Now can I leave to go and fight that giant puppet thing?,” Jinju Ren asked the nearest authority figure after helping escort her fourth group of citizens to the shelters.
That authority figure being Zhen Xun Tian’s son.
“No.”
“Why not?!”
At this question, Zhen Xun Po simply let out a deep sigh.
“Aside from the fact that you’re not supposed to be here in the first place, that thing over there is way way too dangerous for even my mother to face and she is stronger than both of us. So the fact that she’s still here means-”
“Alright, that’s the last of the citizens, I’m gonna go fight and probably die now, byeeee!,” Zhen Xun Tian informed her son literal seconds before flying towards danger like a moth attracted to a wild inferno.
Zhen Xun Po had a grimace on his face as his own mother disproved his point in the showiest way possible.
Opposite to his misery though, Jinju Ren had a smug and almost expectant look on her face.
“So can I…”
“Just…just go.”
“Sweet!”
Approval received, Jinju Ren bolted off after Zhen Xun Tian.
Shortly after she did though, and unbeknownst to the rest of the people who were in charge of the sheltering, Cornileus left as well.
Although, he wasn’t aiming for the giant mechanical monster.
He was aiming for a spot a little bit behind it.
‘Come on memories, don’t fail me now…’
…
“Huh…Xiao Liu. Can I just say, now knowing what I know, that you are oddly terrifying,” Zhen Feng commented.
“In what way?”
“How the hell did you know to send out an attack squad of Kaijin to deal with that monster before it could do anything?,” Zhen Hai asked.
“I didn’t,” Zhen Liu admitted. “The kaijin just sort of know how I think. Literally.”
“Huh…”
“Have I told you yet that I love how prepared you are?,” Jin Fang openly praised.
“Not yet, but I love to hear it anyways.”
Literal seconds ago, Zhen Liu and his group were getting ready to try and defend themselves from an unrelenting blast of energy that surely would’ve destroyed them all.
But now, they found themselves floating safely in the air, watching in awe as Zhen Liu’s kaijin was actively harassing the mechanical monster, with the help of an unusually powerful ship that fired them like high impact cannonballs.
That stated, they found themselves mildly disappointed by this turn of events.
Storm Knights even more so.
But only for a couple of seconds.
[Well, this is kind of boring,] Slug-at-arms commented. [I figured there would be a lot more drama and violence on our debut date.]
[Bah! It’s fine my boneless buddy. That just means we get to be better prepared for a future crisis!,] Shellvalier said as an attempt to comfort his slug-like companion. [Don’t you agree, Wavebreaker? Wavebreaker?]
Instead of answering Shellvalier, Wavebreaker was busy staring off towards the direction of the [Shadow Sovereign]. An intense look was plain on her face, as she felt something was…off.
But this time, it was a bit more subtle.
[Wavebreaker, what’s wrong?]
[Something’s coming. Not as big as that Shadow Sovereign thing, but still pretty damn dangerous.]
…
Shortly after Hurricroak impacted the [Shadow Sovereign], she managed to leap off of its massive body to return to the [Storm Queen’s Galleon]’s deck with a smile plain on her face. Granted, she did tumble into a roll before stopping in a seated position like a child.
[Welcome back, Hurricroak. How was the ride?,] Springerdermain asked as he helped her get back on her feet.
[Wooo! That was fun! I wanna go again!]
[Save it until after Nepherage and Frosttusk’s turns.]
[D’awww.]
Speaking of Frosttusk, the mammoth kaijin was on the gun deck, getting ready to fire himself and turn the [Shadow Sovereign] into a giant ice pop.
[Wonder if it’s considered a coincidence or luck that I get to freeze yet another mechanical bastard?]
Unfortunately, before Frosttusk could do just that, something happened.
Moments before he could load himself into the cannon, the entire ship suddenly shook as the waters surrounding it began to boil and become significantly more turbulent.
If the kaijin weren’t as heavy as they were naturally, they would’ve been knocked over by the sudden change in the waves.
[What the hell?]
[We got something rising to our starboard side!]
[Starboard side?]
[To our right!]
[We gotta get outta here, now!]
Sensing that getting caught in the wake in whatever was breaching the surface was a terrible idea, the kaijin and the galleon proceeded to gun forward.
Just in time too.
Soon after they left, a giant shell that was at least five times as big as the galleon, covered in malignant growths arose from the water in a manner that no less dramatic than the [Shadow Sovereign]. Unlike the aforementioned weapon though, this shell was radiating an odd mixture of [Chaos] and aether.
Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the [Chaos] was originating from the growth’s specifically while the rest of the shell was radiating aether.
It didn’t take the kaijin too long to figure out why this was the case when a booming voice enhanced by aether came echoing out of the massive shell.
[Hello, Kaijin,] Gao Ao Long’s voice echoed outward from the giant shell. [Behold, the Darkshell Citadel! Now, this would normally be the part where I’d demand your surrender, but knowing how you lot think, I’m just going to skip that part and blast you and your ship to smithereens instead.]
Shortly after this announcement was made, the malignant growths covering the shell began to glow with the power of [Chaos].
[Uh oh.]
Seconds later, a barrage of [Chaos] bolts was unleashed upon the [Storm Queen Galleon] and its current occupants.
[Oh fuck.]
[Defensive maneuvers, now!]
And while the kaijin were preoccupied with the incoming attacks, this meant the [Shadow Sovereign] was now free to recharge its attack.
A forebodding sense of dread began to fill the air as this occurred.
…
“Huh…that’s…incredibly annoying to see,” Zhen Liu griped despite knowing it was coming.
A small part of him had hoped that the Fallen would’ve just taken this opportunity to go and screw off somewhere once they saw that their mighty weapon getting knocked around like a punching bag. But alas, he forgot to take into account that he had pissed off the Fallen pass the point of logic.
That and Buzza was around and he was probably the worst influence possible in anyone.
Oh well.
Knowing what was going to be inevitable at this point, Zhen Liu took a deep breath, readied his weapons and turned to address his cousins, kaijin and girlfriend.
While none of them could see his face at this point in time, they could clearly sense his mood.
And it wasn’t exactly great.
“Okay, it looks like the Fallen have decided to keep fighting despite the fact that their element of surprise is essentially dead and most of their forces have been more or less captured or decimated. Now, I don’t about the rest of ya, but I am more than happy to send these bastards scream into their graves at the bottom of this literal sea of darkness.”
After making this statement, Zhen Liu used his [Hammer of the Dearly Departed] to convert his bone club into a matching hammer.
“Feel free to come along if you want.”
And with that said, Zhen Liu immediately flew towards the [Shadow Sovereign] and the [Darkshell Citadel], ready to fight.
As for the people he left behind, they were a little stunned.
“That…was possibly the worst speech to give before going to battle.”
“Yup.”
“…we’re going after him?”
“We’re going after him.”
“We’re going after him!”
Zhen Hai, Zhen Feng, Jin Fang and the recently created Storm Knights proceeded to follow after Zhen Liu, ready to fight themselves.
However, there was still a pair of lingering warriors that had yet to join the fray.
As for the reason why…well…this is something better shown than explain.
…
[Come on, Papa. We can use this time to get you something to help you recover,] Terra said as she grabbed Tortallion by his good arm. [In the worst case, you can at least retreat.]
[No, my dear Terra. Not this time. It’s finally time for me to pay my debt.]
[…what?]
