Chapter 476: Up River, but not without a paddle
=I doubt it. Besides, the two of us are kind of unqualified when it comes to these kind of talks.=
=Yes, but we also haven’t been outside of this library since our inception except for like that…one time…I think…=
=I keep forgetting whether it was alive or dead at that time.=
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“Holy shit!”
“No wonder that guy can ride on a Raijin Hippo so easily!”
“And here I thought those two girls were nothing more than arm candies!”
In one decisive blow each, three of the Ravager Otters were taken out of the fight.
One had its proud claws smashed to pieces, alongside its arm, and then thrown into the distance by a man who didn’t look like the type to able to do so.
Another had its mouth slashed open as a blast of fire was released down its throat, burning a good chunk of flesh to a charcoal finish by a woman dressed in chitin armor.
While the last had its skull cracked and teeth broken as a maid viciously kicked it in the jaw.
“GRUNT!”
*BOOM!*
“BY THE SAINTS!”
As the coup d’etat for these would-be killers, Tiny had also blasted the airborne Ravager Otters with a blast of concentrated Aeroqi aether and sent them flying even further.
Whether or not they were alive was up to debate as they had been sent flying through several trees before disappearing over the horizon altogether.
To say that the onlookers of this devastation was shocked to be an understatement.
Granted, the ones who had a front row seat to this power were mostly people from the Skyscales company and they had never met Zhen Liu and company up until this moment.
If they had been either branch or main Zhen Clan members, they would not have reacted with the same amount of shock, because they were already used to Zhen Liu’s freakish strength.
They were, however, not accustomed to seeing Jin Fang and Rianna performing as well due to those two being relatively low-key figures in terms of displaying their abilities.
Not that any of the observed cared about their thoughts or looks in the moment, there was an ongoing crisis.
“Huh…I did not expect you to pick up how to use [Chaos] as quickly as that.”
“Well, I am used to…”
Jin Fang was about to say manipulating [Chaos] was a bit like manipulating aether with just a fuckton more effort, but then she recalled that Zhen Liu had never used aether until very recently. As such, she decided to stuff it and say something close to the truth so as to not inadvertently hurt their feelings.
“…I am used to watching you and the kaijin manipulate this stuff. Visual learning, I think was the term Pathos used.”
“Huh…I figured you’d say you’re used to controlling aether so [Chaos] was the same just weird feeling.”
“…”
Jin Fang had a funny look on her face as her boyfriend just called her out on her original reasoning with such casualness. She was fairly certain Zhen Liu couldn’t read minds, that was more of a Logos and Pathos thing, but at this point…she wasn’t entirely sure.
“Grunt.”
“Huh?”
That being said, not everyone present really cared or noticed these relationship shenanigans.
They had other things on their mind…like revenge.
“Grunt, grunt.”
“You wanna go and teach that hippo from earlier a lesson in responsibility?”
“Grunt!”
“…yeah, alright.”
As soon as Zhen Liu gave the go ahead, he proceeded to move towards the latches of the harness holding Tiny to the rafts and undo them.
“But what about the rest of the otters?,” Alicia pointed out as she watched Zhen Liu work.
“I’m fairly certain the rest of the clan can handle the otters,” Zhen Liu pointed out as he continued undoing the latches, “besides, you do remember that it ain’t just them mixed in there, right?”
“Oh yeah…”
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[Hah! Looks like our maestro’s insistence to practice his boxing forms paid off! I knew he’d be able to do it right!,] Hurricroak praised.
[Wait… weren’t…you…against…it…in…the…first…place?,] Frosttusk asked.
[I was not!]
[No, but your exact words were “This is boring! He does know he can just rely on us to do the murderous stuff for him. Why do we gotta sit around and watch him practice punching for hours?”,] Razorstella pointed out.
[See? Completely different from me saying I’m against it.]
[Not…really…]
[Oi! Y’all shut your gobs, we have a pack of murderous otters bearing down on us like a pack of wolves. Focus on assisting where we’re needed,] Nepherage instructed.
[Pfft! We’re hiding out among of clan of beast tamers and warriors, how much do we need to assist?]
[The merchants we’re caravaning with?]
[Oh right.]
[Them…and…Uncle…Snake…]
[Wait, what?]
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While those who were at the front of the caravan we’re gobsmacked at the display of power being displayed by three youngsters , who were all definitely punching above their weight class at this point, everybody else was busy dealing with the other Ravager Otters, ones that were a touch smarter and a touch more bloodthirsty than the trio that underestimated their targets.
As such, these particular otters were aiming not for the obviously powerful fighters like the man that smelled of flaming jungle cats(Zhen Yan).
“Don’t think you’ll be able to escape my claws, you water bound rodents! [Fire Lion’s Rage]!”
The man that stinked of wolves and darkness (Zhen Long).
“Perfect timing! I can finally make up for my loss against Grand Fisher! [Shadow Howling]!”
Or the man that smelled of peacocks and hurricanes (Zhen Lao).
“Disgusting brutes! At least have the manners to dry off after bathing! [Feather Bluster!]”
They also tried their absolute damndest to avoid the old man that smelled of ice, death and their favorite food (Zhen Shi).
“Hmm. I believe I read once that otter meat worked as a potent aphrodisiac and made for an excellent gift for newly married individuals…that and they made for fantastic pets… I’ll just capture half of them and prepare the other half.”
Instead aimed lower like the panicking mortals that were running and trying to find people to hide behind…and a pair of particular warriors that seemed to smell like their favorite snack of live snake meat.
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[Cobra Fang Strike!]
[Serpent’s Lash!]
“ARFHE!”
A pair of snake shadows, one in the shape of a demonic cobra while the other had the look of a primeval serpent, lashed out and struck at a pair of Ravager Otters that were midpounce and knocked them away.
The source of these shadows were Sixth Elder, Zhen Ye, and his son, Zhen Tai, who were both looking rather miserable in the moment.
The reason being?
“Xiao Tai! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, father. But why are these fucking water rats aiming for us so viciously?!”
“I don’t think they’re after us. I think they’re after-HEY! STEP AWAY FROM THE CAGES!”
*THWACK!*
“ARFHE!”
Zhen Ye quickly threw an aether enhanced dagger covered in an special venom blend directly into the eye of a Ravager Otters that was about to crush open one of the cages containing a serpentine aether beast.
The accosted Ravager Otter looked dizzy for a few moments before falling unconcious and toppling backwards into the water, smoke and green blood dripping out of its injured eye.
However, despite this small victory, there were still a number of Ravager Otters that were aiming for the throats of Zhen Ye, his sons and his snakes.
And judging from the drool coming from their mouths, they weren’t going to take no for an answer.
“I thought only falcons and fucking howler mice were the only things that ate snakes,” Zhen Tai cursed, “then again, I guess these otters things appear to be overgrown swimming mice.”
“First, watch your language,” Zhen Ye chided, “second, I’m fairly certain we’ll be fine as long as we hold out long enough for the others to-”
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!”
“-deal with whatever caused that response while we deal with these otters ourselves.”
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‘Blasted pups, why did they go galavanting off so quickly?! The bastard was already injured, all we had to do was wait for it to bleed out and then we could feast. Unbelievable.’
Out of sight and hidden in the trees, an unusual beast was plodding along the same path as the Geyser Hippo and the Ravager otters were on just moments ago.
The aether beast in question was a fourth tier one that looked quite a bit like a Ravager Otters, but also decidedly…not.
Its snout was a bit longer than average with a few more teeth than it should normally have.
Its legs were stumpier but seemed to convey more power as a result.
Patches of leathery, scaley skin seemed to pop up here and there along its otherwise sleek and fur covered body.
However, the strangest thing was the otter’s eyes.
They weren’t brown and pinpoint like a normal otter’s eyes, but instead, seemed vertically inclined and yellow, like those of a crocodile.
‘Lousy kits, I ought to-huh?’
As this strange beast came plodding along, she soon stopped as it heard a strange blustering sound followed by a whistling sound coming towards her.
‘What the-‘
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
‘KIDS?!’
Moments later, she soon saw that the source of that sound was none other than his own kits being sent flying through the air and several trees, landing in front of her in unconcious, injured wrecks.
A feeling of pure fury began to well up inside her chest, causing her scales to glow with purple lighting.
“WHO. HURT. MY. BABIES?!”
