Chapter 493: Contusions, Conclusions and Clean-ups
*Bing-Bong*
The writer of the work would like to make it known that he is very tired of writing the words “Thunderscale Dragon Otter” so many times and wishes to replace it with just “fat ass” or “dragon otter”…however, after a thorough discussion with the editor he now sees the wisdom in just keeping the name as is and will leave it as such.
|No I didn’t. You just threatened to choke me with a pool noodle while looking at me with something I can only call “hentai eyes”.|
What did I say about back talking? Are you trying to goad me?
|…maybe.|
I see someone is looking for a spanking…
*Bing-Bong*
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‘Damn, good job you two. Looks like you froze those furry bastards solid.’
[No problem…milord…]
[To be fair milord, I don’t think Frosttusk and I did much. It appears your father, uncles and grandfather did most of the heavy lifting in this instance.]
‘Speaking of uncles, Razorstella, are you planning on exiting my uncle now or later?’
[Soon milord, just wanna try something first…]
‘Alright…wait a minute, does anybody know if Tiny is okay?’
[I can go check on her, maestro.]
‘Huh? Ah, thanks Hurricroak.’
[No problemo~]
[…]
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“Is it over?”
This was the question going through the minds of the members of the Zhen Clan, both main and branch, and the Skyscale Company as they peeked their heads out of their heading places in order to view the aftermath of a four-person World class aether art attack.
To say it was devastating would be an understatement.
“Judging from the ice white statues of otter aether beasts on the newly formed glacier made of our rafts and frozen river water…yeah, this shit is over.”
As a feeling of deja vu came over the members of the branch Zhen Clan as they stared at the scene, the main Zhen Clan and the Skyscale Company looked positively shocked at the devastation that the patriarch and his sons managed to muster for a single attack.
The rafts that the otters were standing on were now frozen inside of newly minted glaciers made of fresh river water. If one were to look into them, they would see various items of food, clothing and generalized trading goods, frozen in the ice.
On the plus side, while it was going to be quite the endeavor to thaw out all of the goods, none of the animals that the branch clan had brought with them got caught in the blast of ice aether.
The same could not be said for the Ravager Otters.
What once were frolicking, murderous, Ravager Otters were now a series of ice-white statues, all of them stuck in varying poses of either surprise, rage or fear.
Some were frozen solid whilst diving into the water, while others simply recoiled like cats upon the deck of whatever raft they froze on.
Whether or not any of the Ravager Otters were still alive in their frozen state was definitely up for debate.
Granted, while a few people were worried about the Ravager Otters’ state of being, more people were worried about the state of the Thunderscale Dragon Otter, namely whether or not it was actually frozen too.
From what they could see, the Thunderscale Dragon Otter had its back turned and wings spread wide as soon as the [Echoing Frost] art hit its mark.
Some of the people speculated that maybe it was trying to shield its pack, others speculated it was trying to fly away.
Whatever the case may be, it failed to do what it has planned to do.
One of the braver members of the non-combatants, a clerk from the Skyscales Company, walked towards the Thunderscale Dragon Otter’s frozen form and was just about to touch it, only to be stopped by his co-worker.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“What? It’s frozen solid, I wanted to touch it.”
“Are you nuts?! Do you know how many stories there are about someone touching a ‘frozen’ monster or statue and the damn thing suddenly springs back to life?”
“Uhh…”
“Way too many to count! So please, for the love of the heavens, don’t touch anything until the Grandmasters and the Lord come down here and-”
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Meanwhile, about several dozen feet above all of this conversation…
[Hey, I think my time talking to you is about to end soon.]
‘Wait, what? Why? Aren’t you a part of me?’
[Technically speaking yes, but I am supposed to be in your…subconsciousness. Meaning I normally wouldn’t be able to talk to you like this, I’m supposed to be something you think about without having to actively think about.]
‘…what?’
[Don’t worry about it too much. Anyways! Before I go back to being a more subtle influence on your life, I have one more suggestion for you. Do you see that frozen dragon otter down there?]
‘Yeah…’
[Try channeling your aether into the soles of your feet like so and…]
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“Geronimo!”
“Huh?”
Before the rightfully worried clerk could finish reprimanding her more reckless colleague, a man fell from the sky, landed on the Thunderscale Dragon Otter’s back and proceeded to slide down it like an ice skater going down a hill.
This man was none other than Zhen Ye, and all eyes were on him as he skated down the dragon otter’s back and used the uplifted, frozen tail as a ramp to break his momentum and land on his feet.
If this was a gymnastics or skiing competition, that would have been a solid ten out of ten landing.
Needless to say, everyone who was present for these acrobatics and showmanship were a bit stunned, with this shock being more evident in the people related to the man, because there was a bit of mental disconnect between memories and current actions.
“Well, that was exhilarating,” Zhen Ye commented as he proceeded to dust the snow and frost covering his body off of himself, “is everyone okay?”
Instead of immediately answering Zhen Ye’s question, the clerk that had initially wanted to touch the frozen Thunderscale Dragon Otter proceeded to turn towards his colleague with a bit of a smug look on his face.
In response, the colleague in question shot him a withering gaze for a moment before rolling her eyes in disbelief and answering Zhen Ye for them.
“We’re all okay, honored elder,” the Skyscale clerk said with a bow, “thank you for saving us from the Ravager Otters.”
Zhen Ye looked a touch embarrassed at being thanked in such a manner, especially since he didn’t really do much except dance like an idiot…in front of an entire crowd no less…
At this point, it was dawning on Zhen Ye on just how much of a spectacle he had made of himself during the battle, causing a fresh feeling of embarrassment to boil in his stomach. Surprisingly, no anxiety though.
“Huh? I didn’t do much, there’s no need to-”
“And that’s where you’re wrong, my son.”
“Huh? Father?”
“Patriarch Zhen Shi!”
Coming in from the opposite direction of Zhen Ye, Zhen Shi, Zhen Yan, Zhen Long and Zhen Lao descended from where they fired off the [Echoing Frost], dispelling their armor in the process.
Once they touched back down on the ground, Zhen Ye’s brothers were the first to come up to Zhen Ye and praise him before letting their father take over. They had their own families to check on after all.
“Yeesh little bro, I didn’t know you could actually dance like that!,” Zhen Lao praised, “I always figured you’d prefer to be out of the spotlight.”
“Well yeah…”
“You did good, Zhen Ye,” Zhen Long nodded, “just make sure to warn us before you go ahead and attract so much aggression to yourself.”
“I’ll keep that in mind…”
“Hey man, if you want to bail because of all the people, I can just…”
“I’m good, Zhen Yan, thank you for offering though.”
Eventually, the only one left to talk to Zhen Ye was Patriarch Zhen Shi.
“Hey…should we still be standing here? Because it feels like…”
“Huh? Oh…yeah, let’s go. We have a lot of cleaning up to do.”
“On a side note, is otter meat edible?”
Most of the on-lookers and the rest of the crowd noticed that this was slowly becoming a family related event, so they proceeded to leave the two be. Besides, there was a lot of work to be done in the form of thawing out rafts and goods and figuring out what to do with the otters.
At this point, Zhen Ye and Zhen Shi were just standing there, staring at each other in silence.
One could barely connect to his kids but was trying to change that, while the other was predominantly quiet for a reason.
This was honestly the best they could get out of themselves…for the time being.
“Xiao Ye…”
“Yes father?”
“Uhh…”
Eventually, Zhen Shi settled on patting his son on the shoulder.
“You did good son, you did good.”
“Thanks…father.”
It was awkward, but hey…it worked.
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“Alright, Tiny, how far did you fucked off to..,” Hurricroak said to herself as she flew through the trees.
The frog kaijin had been following a trail of destruction, one that could only be attributed to two hippos charging through the woods, and was making a decent headway in locating the two.
However, just as she reached a point that she could determine to be halfway, a familiar voice called out to her.
“Hurricroak.”
“Huh? What’s up, Nepherage?”
The red jade kaijin landed in a tree in front of Hurricroak, giving off a vibe akin to a stern older sibling…one that was about to lecture her ear off.
“We need to talk.”
