Chapter 303: Suddenly, Verbose
As Zhen Liu and the kaijin watched over the huntress currently undergoing possibly the fastest language lesson in the multiverse, the former realized something odd.
“Wait… Hurricroak, you’re inarguably the most vocal member of my current cast of kaijin. Why did you ask Nepherage to give the hunter here her language lesson?”
“Oh you want to know?,” Hurricroak croaked in an amused tone, “well, both Frosttusk and I had already possessed someone up till now to suddenly bestow knowledge, and I thought it would be a good idea to let Nepherage have a chance before we leave the continent. It was only fair, you know?”
“Huh…that’s really sweet of you actually.”
“Aww, shucks. No need to say all that, maestro. You flatter me.”
“Yeah…side note, you do realize that since I’m connected to your soul, I can tell when you’re lying right?”
“…”
“…”
“Shit,” Hurricroak cursed.
“There’s no shame in saying you were lazy,” Zhen Liu reassured.
“Yes…there…is…,” Frosttusk added.
[Shots fired!]
“Shut the fuck up, Frosttusk,” Hurricroak snapped back, [you too Razor.]
“Huh?”
“Hmmm!”
Before their conversation could go on any farther, the hunter girl suddenly doubled over and the bright, colorful particles that were Nepherage going inside began to flow out of her and reformed into Nepherage.
[That was…a weird experience. I think I prefer possessing our lord more than other people,] Nepherage said as she dusted herself off, [granted, that might be due to why I possessed her in the first place.]
“Buuugh…my head..”
Speaking of the hunter girl, after Nepherage had made her impromptu exit from her body, the girl began to straighten her posture a bit while grumbling and rubbing her temples in the process.
“Huh…a pale-skinned jungle amazoness hunter…isn’t the trend usually tan, taut and tall?”
“Well, she is wearing what’s presumably a full suit of insect chitin armor, probably all day?,” Hurricroak added.
“True.”
“Bleh…huh?,” Hearing Zhen Liu and Hurricroak’s comment, the hunteress stopped rubbing her head and looked straight at the two of them. At which point, her expression went from pained to rather miffed. With fury in her eyes, she quickly stomped over to Zhen Liu’s position, the latter of whom didn’t have a panicked look on his face about the enraged woman…more like nostalgia.
“Huh…why am I getting a sense of deja-”
*BOOF!*
“Oof! There it is.”
“Why the fucking fuck did you just shoot me in the fucking face you fucking tiny-ass twink?!,” the huntress shouted at Zhen Liu after punching him in the gut. While this didn’t actually hurt the man, it was still shocked getting punched in the stomach like that…again.
‘Ow… lemme guess, none of y’all felt any ill-intent from her when she decided to punch me in the stomach?’
[Yes milord.]
[Yup…]
[It felt more like concern and distress tbh, maestro, also damn, she swears more than a sailor.]
‘Ha…like when I first reunited with Jin Fang…but somehow louder.’
=Technically two for two, four for four if we include outside factors and enemies.=
‘Silence.’
As Zhen Liu recovered from the shock, he stood himself back up to defend himself…sorta.
“Well excuse me Nausicaa, I think it’s safe to say turnabout is fair play when you’re the one who shot at me first. With an arrow tipped with something significantly more lethal.”
To emphasize his point, Hurricroak helpfully used her tongue to place the aforementioned arrow into Zhen Liu’s hand, who he then gave back to the hunteress.
“I was fucking justified with my firing of that arrow at your stupid, adorable face, since you were trying to release the fucking miasma!” Nausicaa argued back, “also Nausicaa?”
“I don’t know your name so I had to come up with something to call you other than hunter girl.”
“Oh…I don’t have one so…I’ll use that. Thank you!”
“You’re welcome, my name is Zhen Liu. Also miasma? What miasma?”
“Well, fuck face, it’s…”
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As the humans began to argue/converse over why it was an incredibly fucking bad idea to open let alone touch the discarded shell of the former Spider Queen, the kaijin had their own discussion.
[Huh…I just realized the next time our lord meets and charms a girl by accident again, it’s probably gonna be a soldier girl or something.]
[What?]
[What…?]
[Well…the first girl associated with our lord is a childhood friend with a mean right hook, next was a rich girl who is way more repressed than she lets on, then came the haughtyish daughter of a prince who is actually more vulnerable than she lets on, and now it’s a mysterious jungle girl with presumably a tragic backstory…it just sorta makes sense that the next girl will be either be a tomboy warrior woman or maybe an older sister type or both.]
At the mention of that last bit, Nepherage proceeded to give Hurricroak dirty vibes.
[…]
[What?]
[Have you been playing those “dating sims” that the caretakers talk about?]
[…no.]
[Hurricroak…]
[I’ve only been watching…]
[And…]
[Making suggestions.]
[Yeesh,] Nepherage went as she rolled her eyes at the revelation of Hurricroak’s suggestion. That being said, she did also quietly hoped that Zhen Liu and “Nausicaa” did get along.
The” fun” thing about possessing someone’s mind is being able to see the little details that make up someone’s soul and memories, and in the case of Nausicaa, it was a lot of…loneliness.
The downside of living alone in a jungle full of monstrous insects, no one to talk to.
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“…and that’s fucking why, you shouldn’t be anywhere near this fucking cursed ass place. Because you’ll fucking die!,” Nausicaa yelled dramatically as she removed her saber from out of the spider’s leg shell.
Nausicaa had just finished explaining to Zhen Liu that this leg shell was sealing in it, a weird purple miasma that could suck the life force out of anything that it touched, leaving them to be nothing but dried out husks.
A sickly purple mist could be seen leaking out momentarily, before getting sealed up as the shell naturally regenerated.
“Well…thank you for the concern.”
“You’re fucking welcome.”
“But I still need to go inside this thing.”
“Fucking stupid pretty boy!”
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‘Logos, Pathos, this miasma shit sound familiar to you two?’
=On it…scanning library contents, keywords: purple, miasma(substitutions include: haze, fog), essence draining…trace amounts of death and toxic aether detected…got it. Miasma identified as [Polluted Underworld Miasma]. A fourth grade aether phenomenon that can drain the life force of anyone below the Grandmaster rank or equivalent, if inhaled, especially to those of organic origin.
Recommended procedure: Kaijin Armor protocol.=
‘Kaijin what?’
[Order…received…]
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“I will not be held responsible if your squishy ass gets-huh?”
Nausicaa was flabbergasted as the first human she had talked to in nearly decade suddenly went silent as a weird energy started flowing out of him. Additionally, one of the “kaijin”, the mammoth-like one started to glow as it absorbed the energy coming out of the squishy boy.
And then…he exploded.
“Huh?! What the f-”
*CLANG!*
“Huh?”
As the mammoth-like kaijin exploded into particles of light, the particles quickly reconstituted into pieces of armor that slammed themselves onto Zhen Liu’s body.
“Grandmaster?! No, wait…this is different?”
Unusually, the armor didn’t full encapsulate his form like it would a traditional armor used by Aether Grandmasters. Instead, it sorta piecemealed at arms, legs and parts of the torso, looking more like it was supposed to be worn with aether armor…but that shouldn’t be possible…right?
*CLANG!*
The last piece of armor formed was a face cover that had the image of a charging mammoth, complete with tusks jutting out where the mouth was located.
Nausicaa found it mildly impractical that the piece of armor covering Zhen Liu’s head was only a mouthpiece at best…but it also looked cool as hell and she wasn’t complaining.
“Well then…shall we be on our way?,” Zhen Liu asked in a casual tone, despite undergoing a rather dramatic shift in his external appearance.
Nausicaa could only nod in response, she was still gobsmacked.
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Kaijin Ability: Armor Bestowal!
Due to being made of [Chaos] and aether, kaijin are unable to create their own versions of aether armor.
Instead, they are able to become armor for others, including each other!
Making this ability even more absurd, this armor can stack on top of an existing warrior’s aether armor, causing a sharp enhancement of the warrior’s abilities and in some cases, even cause mutations of aether expression!
However, when combined with a practioner of the [Chaos Body Forge] at the same level, things can take an… unexpected turn.
Because, well, the Grandmaster rank used to be known as the “Hero” rank, and you can’t have a good hero, without a good demon lord…
