Chapter 441: Grand Fisher’s Fury…PSYCH!
“What ho?! Such arrogance?,” Grand Fisher exclaimed in an offended tone.
“I’m sorry! Did I get under your skin?!”
“No, it’s just been awhile since I fought prey with some backbone!,” Grand Fisher exclaimed in a voice that was equal parts glee and offense, “I’m going to enjoy flaying yours though!”
After nearly getting his skull caved in, Grand Fisher immediately jumped backwards until the rope attached to the harpoon went taut.
Once it did, the fishman proceeded to yank the rope as hard as he could and pull the harpoon back towards himself like he was reeling in a big catch.
Of course, in reality, he was pulling it back in such a manner that the harpoon would be pulled back directly into Zhen Shi’s exposed back!
Zhen Shi, however, wasn’t an old warrior for nothing and proceeded to sidestep the incoming harpoon.
“Hah! Incoming!”
Bam!
“Bah!”
As soon as he did however, and the harpoon had whizzed past him, Grand Fisher had immediately used that opportunity to launch himself forward and kick at Zhen Shi.
The attack had happened so quickly that Zhen Shi had no choice but to block the kick with his only arm.
Normally this would be enough given his aether armor, but just like how the harpoon distorted his shield art earlier and the scales had warped the armors of his sons, Fisher’s Kick was enough to break through his armor and allow the strange humanoid to directly attack his bare flesh.
A stinging dull pain accompanied but the sensation of moist flesh slapping against his own caused Zhem Shi to recoil in pain.
‘Dammit! It’s like fighting like a Novice when trying to block his attacks,’ Zhen Shi observed.
If he wanted to not occur anymore damage during this fight, Zhen Shi was going to have to rely on speed and reaction time.
Unfortunately for him, Grand Fisher wasn’t going to let him do that.
Sensing he had taken the advantage again this fight, Grand Fisher let out a gargling chuckle as he pulled the rope attached to the harpoon and brought it back to his hands.
“Now then, little guppy, prepare to be skewered a thousand times over!”
[Ameonna’s Lament: Heavy Rain!]
“Shit!”
Grand Fisher, once again, proceeded to use that strange barrage-based aether art to launch forward thousands upon thousands of spear thrusts that threatened to puncture Zhen Shi full of holes.
‘Need to dodge it, now!’
Remembering how just moments ago that his shield art could barely do anything to block this attack, Zhen Shi decisively made the choice to dodge the barrage instead.
Which was what Grand Fisher was expecting this whole time.
The fishman let out a demented chuckle as he saw how his opponent avoided the attack, his eyes not directed at him however.
Instead, it was directed towards the ship below and all of the significantly weaker people on it.
“When I repelled your offspring, you got real mad and started fighting harder…does that mean if I slaughter your other kin, you’ll give me the challenge I desire?!”
[Ameonna’s Lament: Downpour!]
“No!”
Like a bastard, Grand Fisher redirect his barrage attack away from Zhen Shi’s position and proceeded to aim directly downard.
More specifically, he aimed for the parts of the ship where there were high concentrations of people standing in the ship.
Grand Fisher didn’t know who among the passengers were actually his opponent’s family members, he just knew that if he killed the right people, this would send his opponent into a frenzy.
(Un)fortunately, someone else saw this coming miles ahead of time.
‘Intercept and block! I’m going to fry this fucker!’
[Of course, maestro.]
[Okay…]
[First time I’ve danced in the rain.]
[Can’t block it, but I can pull!]
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[Ameonna’s Lament: Downpour!]
“That weird attack is coming towards us!”
“We gotta get outta here!”
“Zhen Hai! What are you doing?!”
As the torrent of spear strikes came down onto the ship, many of the people onboard proceeded to run as fast as they could in an attempt to escape the onslaught, looking for cover or at least some means to weaken the attack.
Some however were a bit more…foolish.
“You bastard…,” Zhen Hai growled as electrified energy began to spark all over his body, “it’s bad enough you injure my father, but now you attack us?!”
Zhen Hai quickly made a series of hand seals as he began to charge up an attack.
“Fuck the power gap, I’ll tear your head off!”
[Megalodon Thrash!]
ROAR!
Zhen Hai punched upward as a gisnt shark made of water and lightning was sent surging out of his fist and towards the weirdo marlin man calling himself Grand Fisher, directly in the path of the incoming spear strikes.
For a few moments, his attack managed to weather through most of the incoming strikes, but it was eventually overpowered as the rain of spears tore apart the water shark like a paper glider.
Zhen Hai was about to launch yet another attack, just as the rain was about to hit him, when a hand and a voice suddenly stopped him.
One that he swore he heard not too long ago.
“Ay caramba nino, you ought to know that there is a stark difference between being stubborn and having resolve. Even an elephant knows when to take a circular route.”
The next thing he knew, a strangely familiar woman with a mask and neon blue bobcut appeared in his field of view.
“Why don’t you let big sister handle this mess?”
Just as the attack was about to hit, the strange woman’s aether suddenly went into overdrive.
[Storm Shell!]
In the blink of an eye a giant crab shell made of thunder lighting aether suddenly manifested before her, blocking the torrential rain of spear strikes.
“Barely a drizzle,” the woman commented with a haughty laugh.
Zhen Hai swore he heard a mild croak to that laugh.
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[Ameonna’s Lament: Downpour!]
“Incoming!”
“Run away! Run away!”
“Wait! The elders!”
The Zhen clansmen were in the middle of getting their injured members off of the battlefield when Grand Fisher decided to release a torrent of spear strikes that threatened to turn everyone onboard into a perforated sponge.
Coordinating the effort were the respective spouses of the injured elders Zhen Yan, Zhen Long and Zhen Lao: Daria Nerisa-Zhen, Zhen-Mao Mei and Zhen-Ren Fa.
Such an effort would normally fall under the purview of one of the other elders, i.e., one of the injured’s brothers, but they were at other parts of the ship about to deal with the same raining bullshit.
“Here comes the attack!”
“I don’t think even our powers combined can block that ! What do we do?”
It should be noted that not all of the wives of the Zhen Clan elders were warrior types.
Up until a certain point, all of Zhen Shi’s sons married for the sake of love and not power or prestige, but that was gradually phased out once the clan got a bit more prestigious in Stone Claw City.
This unfortunately meant that while their hearts were in the right place in wanting to protect their respective spouses, none of them could offer as much protection.
Well…except maybe one, but she really, really didn’t want to.
‘Fuck! Am I really going to have to release that seal, after all this time? Over an abomination?,’ Daria thought to herself as the rain of spears got closer and closer,one of her hands holding a silver locket decorated with a constellation pattern.
She was just about to steel her resolve and open the damn thing, when the appearance of a giant of man suddenly land down in front of her.
“Whoa!”
“Where’d he come from?!”
“Don’t know, but why does it feel so cold?”
“What the…?”
Daria couldn’t see the man’s face since he was facing forward, so she settled on staring at the giant’s back as he stood there.
Before she could ask who this guy was or where he came from, he suddenly spoke in a low, slow, rumbling voice.
“Don’t…be…like…me…”
“What?”
“Don’t…do…something… you’ll know… you’ll regret… forever…”
“How did you-”
[Glacial…Seal!]
FWOOM!
“Ay! What’s that sound?!”
“Forget the sound, look at that seal!”
“What…”
Before Daria could even ask her question, the giant released an inhuman amount of aether and created a giant seal of ice that proceeded to block the incoming spear strikes. Some strikesndidnhet through, but they all seemed to fall apart the moment they hit the giant’s skin.
For a brief moment, when the giant did this action, Daria swore she saw a familiar figure in front of her.
‘Wait…isn’t this guy…”
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[Ameonna’s Lament: Downpour!]
“Fuck, fuck fuck!”
“We gotta get outta here!”
“Ah, my leg!”
“Shit!”
As soon as the rain of spears came down, many of members the crew and Zhen Clan did their best to get out of the way and into someplace where there could be cover.
Unfortunately, as a result of this chaotic mess, many people either got tripped up or injured, especially the ones that got hurt during the fight with the coral monsters.
Case and point, during that scuffle, the Zhen Clan scions, Zhen Xing and Zhen Guo, had been fighting off those weird coral monsters.
The former had attempted to punch one and ended up eviscerating their hand as a result, but then the latter had kicked a little too hard and ended up slicing their leg.
While both injuries weren’t crippling and could be easily treated, in a situation like this, they were akin to death sentences.
Zhen Xing was trying his best to carry Zhen Guo out of the situation, but circumstances weren’t looking too good.
“Shit! Those spears are getting closer!,” Zhen Guo yelled, “you gotta drop me and go!”
“Fuck that!,” Zhen Xing shouted back, “we’re family man, ride together die together!”
“Don’t fucking jinx it!”
“Move it!”
“Aah!”
While in the midst of carrying his cousin to safety, Zhen Xing was knocked over by a panicked member of the main branch trying to get to safety.
This collision lead to the two of them being knocked to the ground, just as the rain of spears was about smash into them!
“Oh shit!”
“We’re gonna-”
*SPROING!*
“-wait, what?”
“And yoink!”
“Wah!”
Before the rain of spears could impale Zhen Xing and Zhen Guo, a large toy-like hand attached to a spring arm suddenly launched from out of nowhere and grabbed the two young men, pulling them towards safety.
The two were intiially confused, until they saw that the arm belonged to Zhen Liu’s puppet, Spring Brawler.
“Look! That’s Zhen Liu’s puppet, we’re gonna make it!”
“I don’t know about that, look!”
Despite the speed in which the spring hand was retracting, the rain of spears proved a touch faster and we’re just about to impale them, just as the hand was about to reach safety.
[Starlight Cyclone!]
“What the fuck?!”
However, just as the two of them were set to be impaled, a glowing figure leaped in from our of nowhere and proceeded to spin like a top in order to block the attack.
Oddly enough though, the spear energy didn’t disappear as it slammed into the spinning figure, instead, they got caught up in the cyclonic spin and began to revolve around the figure.
“Oof!”
Once the two boys were released from the Spring Brawler’s grasp, the two of them were awestruck by the sight of the spinning figure. Granted, they weren’t the only ones staring.
“Now then ladies and getlemen, be amazed as I show this would-be trophy fish, what true star power is!,” the figure announced.
As she did, her spinning increased even faster and the spear energy began to blur into lines.
________________________________________________
“What ho, what ho, what ho?! What are they doing here?!”
“What on Valresta?”
As soon as Grand Fisher released his torrent of spear strikes, Zhen Shi was about to go into a frenzy and try to this fucking fish’s head off with his barehands.
However, before any of that could occured, three mysterious figures, all at the Grandmaster rank, appeared out of nowhere and intercepted attack!
Making matters weirder, all three radiated the same energy as Grand Fisher!
{MoReee…ChAooss…}
‘No shit, who the hell are these-what the fuck am I sensing now?’
{aBOve.}
‘Huh?’
[Meteor Impact!]
“Whoa!”
Sensing the incoming flux of energy coming above him, Zhen Shi immediately flew backwards as a red-skinnrd, humanoid monster came flying downard with a glowing red fist aimed directly at Grand Fisher.
Oddly enough, the arrogance the fishman had just moments ago, disappeared as soon as the red horned man appeared.
“You?! It can’t be!”
“Yeah, well! Fuck you too!”
________________________________________________
‘Hold up, how does this guy recognize me?’
<=He doesn't.=>
‘…okay, what?’
