Chapter 491: …Viper’s Rising!
‘Frosttusk, you manage to get out of the way okay?’
[Indeed…milord…]
‘Okay that is good, but oh balls, that is not good,’ Zhen Liu noted as he watched the Thunderscale Dragon Otter rush forward to break apart its own lightning attack.
[Yeah, it appears the dragon otter wishes to be a spotlight hog,] Razorstella commented, [although, it should be fine, assuming the big lumox is a touch slower than-]
[Razor, you need to get yours and Uncle Snake’s ass out of the blast zone, ASAP,] Nepherage suddenly commanded.
[Wait, what, why?]
[Otherwise, y’all about to get turned into popsicles,] Hurricroak added.
[…godsdammit.]
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‘Shit, shit, shit! What do I do, what do I do?,’ Zhen Ye panicked as he saw the encroaching Thunderscale Dragon Otter.
As of this moment in time, Zhen Ye was still performing his strange feathered serpent dance, because he knew that the moment he stopped, the Ravager Otters would immediately disburse, which wasn’t ideal.
Zhen Ye’s plan of using the Thunderscale Dragon Otter’s attack against her pack was technically still possible, but it was highly dependent on timing and speed.
Namely, he had to hope the ice shield went down fast enough for the lighting ball to start moving again, have that lighting ball move faster than the Thunderscale Dragon Otter that fired it, and Zhen Ye had to hope to the heavens that his own escape plan allowed him to move fast enough that he could avoid both the lighting ball and the Thunderscale Dragon Otter that would definitely change directions towards him if she saw him leap in the air like that.
Not impossible, but it was a massive pain in the ass to time correctly.
However, the hope that he could pull off his plan with near impossible odds soon became impossible as the Thunderscale Dragon Otter managed to catch up to her own attack literally moments before the ice shield finally melted away in its entirety.
The Thunderscale Dragon Otter let out a roar as she swung down one of its claws directly into the ball of lightning, preventing it from moving any further but not outright destroying it.
As far as Zhen Ye could tell, the dragon otter didn’t try and destroy her own attack, because she knew doing so would cause it to explode and injure herself in the process. Instead, she was attempting to reabsorb her own attack.
‘Godsdammit…,’ Zhen Ye cursed as he realized he was rapidly entering what was essentially a lose-lose situation.
If he attempted to stop his dance right now and escape, the Ravager Otters would no longer be entranced and probably move to safety so that their matriarch could have free reign to deal with her own attack accordingly or they would more likely move to attack all of the people that were hiding in the trees.
And depending on how long it took the Thunderscale Dragon Otter to resolve her issue, it was likely that it would participate in the ensuing slaughterfest.
His father and much stronger brothers might be able to handle these bastards easily, but there would still be a number of casualties before they could bring this fight to an end.
On the other hand, if Zhen Ye did keep dancing, then it was very likely he would just die altogether due to the Thunderscale Dragon Otter being so close to his face.
His dance might’ve had an effect on all of the Ravager Otters surrounding him, but it would definitely do nothing against the Thunderscale Dragon Otter, if anything, it would probably just enrage her further.
He didn’t know how long it would take for the Thunderscale Dragon Otter to handle her own attack, but it was probably gonna be able to do it faster than himself getting out of the danger zone.
‘I mean…if I keep dancing, it at least keep the Ravager Otters off my family a little longer and give my brothers a chance to just take them all out at once,’ Zhen Ye told himself in an attempt to justify possibly killing himself.
However, just before he could put his fatalistic plan into action…
[Is now a bad time?]
‘Probably, since I’m pretty sure I’m going to die here.’
[I mean yeah, if you stand here any longer, you’re going to get encased in ice.]
‘Wait, what? Don’t you mean “burnt into a crisp by lightning”?’
[No, take a look behind the dragon otter. I know she’s fat, but you can still look pass her.]
Doing as the voice in his head suggested, Zhen Ye looked pass the Thunderscale Dragon Otter to see what exactly she was referring to.
In the distance, Zhen Ye could see his father and first, third and seventh brother all taking up the same stance and making the same hand seals almost simultaneously. Surrounding the four of them were white wisps of aether and cold air, swirling and pooling into them as they did so.
‘Oh that’s what you meant…yeah, that ain’t what’s gonna do me in.’
[That’s…awfully confident,] the automaton’s voice said in a surprised tone, [the four of them are charging up a World class aether art, right? Aren’t those famous for being heavy in regards to collateral damages?]
‘Normally yes, but if you look closely, you can see that they’re not actually charging up the attack, they’re trying to dial it back. If there’s one thing I know about my father and brothers is that they would gladly take a pot shot with an attack if it meant making sure none of us got hit by -hold up…’
As soon as he thought about how likely it was for his brothers and father to hold back their power since he himself was still in the middle of the battlefield, a brand new plan came to fruition in the corners of his mind.
Well, technically it was just the original plan again, with some minor modifications added on top of it.
‘Huh…looks like we’ll be able to get rid of the entire pack of otters in one fell swoop after all…,’ Zhen Ye realized as he began to concentrate aether into his legs.
[Thunder Step: Rising Blast!]
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“Come on boys! Just dial it back a bit so that we don’t accidentally hit Zhen Ye in the process!”
“I am trying, father!”
“I ain’t exactly talented in the art of holding back!’
“If we can’t dial it back so we don’t hit him together with the dragon otter, then at least drop it to half so don’t accidentally kill him!”
“But then it won’t do jackshit to the otter if we do that!!”
“I know!”
About several dozen feet above and away from the Thunderscale Dragon Otter, Zhen Ye and the pack of Ravager Otters, the main fighters of the Zhen Clan were busy trying to end this fight in one powerful blow.
That blow being in the form of a four-man [Echoing Frost] attack that should, in theory, encase the Thunderscale Dragon Otter entirely in ice…presuming they timed the attack with each other correctly and they used just the right amount of aether to not accidentally hit and probably kill Zhen Ye.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.
“Shit, why couldn’t the only World class art in our entire library be an Ignati attributed one,” Zhen Yan muttered as he tried his best to control the power of his attack.
Out of everyone presently able to use [Echoing Frost], Zhen Yan was undoubtedly the worst at it, or more precisely, he was the worst at controlling it.
When it came to utilization of brute force in regards to this attack, Zhen Yan could match up with his brothers no problem. However, due to the aether art’s affinity conflicted with his own, ice and fire normally don’t mix all too well, Zhen Yan had to put in at least three times as much effort in trying to get the art to do what he wanted it to do
Which was, ironically, being weaker.
“I am ready to fire whenever,” Zhen Shi told his sons, “what about you three?”
“Ready, father!,” Zhen Long confirmed.
“Just about!,” Zhen Lao added.
“Not yet,” Zhen Yan refuted, “but I think if I just-”
*BOOM!*
“Huh?”
“What the fuck!”
However, before Zhen Yan could try something else in regards to weakening his own attack, to sync up with his family, a sudden explosion of sound caught their attention, followed by the sight of a giant feathered serpent made of aether soaring upward.
It didn’t take the four of them long to figure out that this rising serpent was none other than Zhen Ye…the same relative they were trying to avoid hitting with their-wait a minute.
“What are you all doing?!,” Zhen Ye called out in an uncharacteristically booming voice, “fire your attacks now before I fall back down!”
“Huh? Oh.”
“Oh!”
“Oh shit!”
[Echoing Frost!]x4
Once they had realized they didn’t have to hold back their attack anymore, Zhen Shi and his sons immediately fired off a coordinated [Echoing Frost] attack at not only the Thunderscale Dragon Otter, but all of the little Ravager Otters behind her.
Things were about to get…frosty.
