Chapter 475: Attack of the Otters
=I…don’t think so…wait…yes. I think it was a kaijin named…Thundermaw. He was an empowered crocodile who was willing to forego aether for [Chaos].=
=I believe it was…=
________________________________________________
“Oh fuck the Geyser Hippo is coming right at us!”
“It’s working with the otters?!”
“No, but I think it’s up to something much worst!”
Right before everyone’s eyes, the Geyser Hippo rushed towards the carvan at a breakneck pace, causing many to initially assume it was going to try and blow right pass the Raijin Hippo at the front and destroy the rafts behind it in order to escape the encroaching Ravager Otters.
However, just as it reached the distance many people would assume it would try and empower itself so that it can plow through a few rafts, it immediately about face to the right at a very sharp angle.
“ARFHEHEHE!”
“FUCK!”
The turn was so fast and sudden that a few of the Ravager Otters failed to turn in time to continue chasing the injured Geyser Hippo…at least that’s what the people in the back of this initial assault thought.
To those in the front lines, it was painfully obvious to them that a few of the otters decided to forgo the injured hippo that have been evading them, in favor of the much easier to snack on mortals.
Presence of a fourth tier hippo beast be damned, there were more of them and they could definitely outmaneuver yet another massive hunk of fat and flesh, especially one that happened to harness to a raft and had tasty, tiny mortals on its back.
In fact, the Ravager Otters were so certain of this idea, that three of the younger and more reckless members of the pack, all of whom were about first tier juveniles, proceeded to launch themselves out of the water in an attempt to eat one of the three humans sitting on the hippo’s back.
The Ravager Otters didn’t know at this time, but this was going to end very badly for them.
________________________________________________
‘Spring Brawler, real quick, are you able to fight?’
[Ugh…don’t think so, ringmaster. I can handle the motion of the ocean, but the river flowing is throwing me off.]
‘Weird…alright.’
[Milord, do you want us to return to the front and deal with these waterborne rodents for you?,] Nepherage asked.
[Maybe also grab that bitch of a hippo and make them pay for screwing us like this?,] Hurricroak followed up with a slightly sinister tone.
‘Hmmm…nah. You four hang out in the backline and act in case shit goes sideways. I think the girls and I can handle this…probably.’
________________________________________________
“ARFHEHE!”
“Holy shit!,” Zhen Liu cursed.
“I thought otters were supposed to be cute!,” Rianna complained as she readied her saber.
Surging from the river below, in a blind spot that Tiny couldn’t do anything about in this moment, three Ravager Otters came rushing towards Zhen Liu, Jin Fang and Rianna, claws and/or fangs ready to rip, tear and devour whomever it managed to rip apart first.
(Un)fortunately, the people these otters targeted were considered some of the toughest/most vicious members of the Zhen Clan and we’re definitely not the type to just be eaten without so putting up a fight.
________________________________________________
*Bing-Bong*
The writer of this work would like to notify the readers that in order to better relay how Zhen Liu and the girls repelled the otters, their respective counter attacks will be told in the form of individualized scenes.
Please note that all three of the following scenes technically all happen at the same time.
We now return to your regularly scheduled chapter.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
________________________________________________
How Zhen Liu repelled the otter.
‘Ah, fuck.’
Due to being the man standing at the foremost front of the carvan, Zhen Liu had the dubious honor of being among the first people to be attacked by the encroaching pack of angry murderous otters.
“ARFHEHE!”
More specifically, a particularly vicious looking Ravager Otters proceeded to coat a claw in water aether, extending and enhancing the already vicious looking natural weapon into one straight out of horror slasher flick.
If that claw was aimed at any of the people behind Zhen Liu, they would have easily been chopped to ribbons as soon as their flesh made contact with that hydropowered claw.
(Un)fortunately, the target this time around happened to be a (mostly?) indestructible otherlander who had freakish strength for his level and a little trick that caused aether tricks to go a little…haywire.
“Fuck you!”
“Hehe?!”
The attacking Ravager Otter looked to be absolutely bewildered as he saw how the human it was aiming to devour had suddenly turn to punch it’s claw.
The otter didn’t sense any aether fluctuations coming from this scrawny mortal, so was it suicidal?
*Splash!*
*Crack!*
“Arf?!”
It wasn’t until it felt its aether coating disappear and the claw it was covering break that it realized the human it was aiming for wasn’t suicidal, it was hiding it’s strength.
“You want to try cracking your teeth on me next?!”
________________________________________________
How Rianna slashed through the competition.
‘The books lied to me!’
“Heheh!”
Rianna had rather mixed feelings as she saw the attacking Ravager Otter aiming to devour her face, literally.
Due to spending a lot of time in the Library of Nowhere, Rianna had a chance to read up on all the other types of animals that existed in the world beyond giant insects, discovering the existence of adorable furry creatures such as otters, chinchillas and sheep. Therefore, she was a little shocked to see an otter in the flesh for the first time, but she didn’t expect the aforementioned otters to be Ravager Otters.
This particular Ravager Otter appeared to be drooling as it saw Rianna specifically, which may had to do with the fact that latter was wearing her homemade insect shell armor and looked suspiciously like a bipedal crustacean to the Ravager Potter’s eyes.
It didn’t help that Rianna was carrying a red scabbard on her hip.
Then again, the saber sitting in that red scabbard was going to help Rianna a lot right now.
‘I didn’t want to do this a fluffy and adorable creature such as yourself, but I’m also a believer of survival of the fittest!’
Just as the Ravager Otter was about to clamp its massive jaws down around Rianna’s form, the latter suddenly exploded in a burst of red flames as she quickly drew her saber and slashed across the monster’s mouth, repelling the attack and leaving nasty burn across its mouth and a cut mark across its face.
“You have the honor to be the first to fall to my new swordplay. Have at thee!”
________________________________________________
Jin Fang’s new trick.
‘Well then…time for me to see if those lessons stuck.’
As the Ravager Otter got closer and closer to Jin Fang, the latter began to channel a peculiar type of energy into her legs. More specifically, channeling energy from a certain girdle Zhen Liu and his companion had made for her quite some time ago.
Apparently, Logos decided to sneak in a little something…extra.
‘Aish, no wonder my boyfriend’s gone nuts, this [Chaos] stuff feels weird!’
However, despite whatever weirdness she felt, she was more than willing to put up with it if it meant being by Zhen Liu’s side, or rather, to make sure he doesn’t die on her again.
Out of all servants in the Zhen Clan, Jin Fang’s status was…weird.
Aside from being the personal maid, and former body guard, of Zhen Liu, she was also his lover, which by most polite society standards would be considered a taboo due to the differences in status.
However, aside the lot of them being from the frontier where such statuses tend to mean jack shit, she also happened to be the direct protege to one of the scariest women in the entire branch clan, so any complaints people may have had in regards to Jin Fang’s dating of the Fourth Young Master, was quickly silenced as they realized it was probably planned.
Granted, it also probably helped that around the time people were complaining, she was a peak Aether Acolyte who was just a step away from becoming an Aether Master, who then proceeded to become a full-on Aether Master around the time Zhen Liu suddenly exploded in power and potential.
Most people would be estatic to be in Jin Fang’s perceived situation, being an Aether Master at such a young age and having been squarely placed in the heart of a young master with explosive potential…but Jin Fang wasn’t most people.
If anything, she had become increasingly nervous of her status and place in Zhen Liu’s heart as her once talentless boyfriend kept growing and growing thanks in no small part to a certain magical library.
When Zhen Liu risked his life again to do something stupid and survived, she took that opportunity to force him into a situation where she could make him agree to a very simpled demand of hers: teach her how to use [Chaos].
Or to put it in more eloquent terms, “I am sick of being ditched while you galavant and go into increasingly more dangerous situations. I ain’t telling you to stop, I’m telling you I want to come along and be there in case shit goes wrong!”
This statement now culminating in this moment, where she straight up wheel kicked a second tier Ravager Otter like it was nothing more than a soccer ball.
People watching this situation was shocked, but she was more shocked.
‘Ohhhhhh, that’s why Zhen Liu can fight so wreckelessly…fuck.’
________________________________________________
=To be fair, Alicia had been practicing how to do that trick with her saber for a while now. I’m just more surprised at Jin Fang being able to figure out how to use those tools we made her so quickly. My calculations estimated should would need another month to tap into those powers.=
=Really? What did I forget?=
=I…fair enough.=
