Chapter 672: Divide, Conquer, Win! (2)
[From teaching children how to make pitfall traps with varying degrees of deadliness to doing high speed deliveries…what a strange day this is turning out to be.]
[Meh. This ain’t that much different from my work day consisting of blood, bones and guts. I mean, there’s more screaming involved this time around though.]
‘It…it still confounds me how you two carry yourselves like proper ladies of nobility and yet say the most violently disturbing things.’
[Insect/Arachnid privilege.]
‘Ah.’
[I prefer the term: Creepy Crawlies Cuties privilege or 3C privilege. Rolls off the tongue better better than Arachnid/Insect privilege.]
[Insect/Arachnid.]
[Arachnid/Insect.]
[Bitch, I will cut you!]
[Bring it!]
‘Now is not the time for bickering!,’ Zhen Liu interjected with tone that wasn’t so much as angry as it was tired. His plans today required the utmost care and perfect timing, and arguing like normal would ruin that. Thankfully, Archanidame and Lacerage understood this fact very well.
[Yes, boss/young master. We apologize for bickering.]
‘Good. Now then…go and toss those weird bone arms at the tattooed lady up there. I have someone precious to rescue.’
[Yes, sir!]
_____________________________________________
Captain Zhen Bai Yin’s Delivery Service
‘Holy shit!,’ Zhen Bai Yin’s quietly cursed when he saw what Zhen Shi had done. ‘Why the hell would he go this far to save them?!’
It took a lot of balls to threaten an Aether King without being their equal, it took more to take members of their entourage as hostage in the process of doing so in an incredibly suicidal manner.
On the positive side though, he could see that it was now possible to rescue the High Elders from their precarious hostage situation.
Unfortunately, Zhen Bai Yin couldn’t go and save them right now because he still needed to wait for an opportunity to hand off the [Dragon Stranglers] to the matriarch.
Granted, she was still in the middle of exchanging blows with the Fallen Clan’s War Elder and neither side was letting up in the slightest.
The exchange had actually gotten so violent at this point that there were now cracks in the walls and on the arena floor due to the intense shockwaves that were generated every time the two Aether Emperors clashed fists and kicks. Mixed into these cracks though were clear fist and feet imprints. Apparently the two had indeed leveled up to using aether arts, but only the low grade ones…for now.
‘Dammit, why can’t I find a fucking opening already?!,’ Zhen Bai Yin cursed as he began to grind his teeth in frustration.
With how long this battle was dragging out, Zhen Bai Yin entertained the notion of just suiting up in his [Regalia] and just…flying directly at the dueling pair.
It would be quick, easy and-
‘Wait…gotta-I have to stop thinking like that, that only leads to trouble. Why do I keep forgetting that being in the same area as her causes impulsivity and aggression to go up?’ Zhen Bai Yin stopped himself before doing something reckless, unclenching his teeth in the process.
Nobody, save the High Elders, knew why, but Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian had this weird ability to cause everyone around her to become way more aggressive and reckless whenever she got involved in a fight. Some of the inner circle members referred to this ability as being a “psuedo-Dominion”, a sign that she was close to breaking, while others, who weren’t cordial with her, called this effect her “Maddening Aura”. It also had the effect of making everyone act significantly more casual and crude, but that was a minor effect.
Regardless of the naming, this aura made it rather difficult to pull off delicate strategies that required a lot of coordination or perform aether arts that would required a serene mind and calm demeanor. Or in the case of Zhen Bai Yin, it made it difficult for him to think of a plan that wasn’t just “rush in like a moron”.
‘Okay, I just need a minute to stabilize my thoughts and-‘
[Basilisk’s Gaze!]
[Puppet Enhancement Art: Rapid Reaction]
<
Before Zhen Bai Yin could finish his thought, his attention was grabbed by the sight of a rather dramatic intervention occurring where Zhen Shi was playing a game of suicidal captivity with the Fallen Clan’s leader.
Both the Gate Elder and the Puppet Elder had appeared as if from nowhere and had assisted Zhen Shi in rescuing the High Elders. However, Zhen Bai Yin wasn’t able to enjoy this sight for long though.
[Pardon us, but we’ll be taking that for delivery.]
<
[Hey, didn’t your mother teach you its rude to stare and cuss like that? You need more disciple, Captain.]
Before Zhen Bai Yin’s eyes, a pair of strange chitin covered warrior women, one reminiscent of a spider while the other was reminiscent of a lacewing, appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the [Dragon Stranglers] straight out of his hands as effortlessly as a master thief pickpockets a wallet.
He was all set to lash out and take back the [Dragon Stranglers], but in the same breath that the warrior women had taken the aforementioned aether treasure, they had already proceeded to launch it away from themselves and directly towards Zhen Xun Tian.
To be more specific, the spider woman had created and attached a spider silk parachute to the [Dragon Stranglers] and had essentially tossed it at the lacewing woman like she was throwing a ball. The lacewing woman then proceeded to produce a pair of wings from her back and launch the package towards Zhen Xun Tian by kicking a gust of wind that cause the parachute to puff up and carry the aether treasure off with it.
It was in that exact same moment, Zhen Bai Yin noticed that there was lull in the battle between Zhen Xun Tian and Gao Ao Long. A lull that was just long enough for the package to get there in time, without Gao Ao Long being able to react.
‘Wait a minute…’
Once he realized that these two weirdo bug women had actually helped him achieve this moment, Zhen Bai Yin paused in order to get a better look at them and ask why they had helped him. Unfortunately, he was too slow (which appeared to be a fucking trend this entire battle).
[Apologies of the roughness.]
[Thanks for the assist, byeeee!]
By the time he managed to face the same direction as these two weirdo women, they had already sped off away from the scene.
Zhen Bai Yin could only stand there with a confused look on his face and a paused mind.
*BOOM!*
<
A paused mind that booted right back up once he heard the sound of Zhen Xun Tian equipping the [Dragon Stranglers].
Realizing the danger he was in, Zhen Bai Yin concluded the best course of action would be to simply run like hell.
‘Ah hell, I gotta get out of here!’
As Zhen Bai Yin ran out of the arena floor and into the arena doors he threw a quick glance behind him to see how the matriarch was holding up. Needless to say, he was pleased with what he saw.
‘Hell yeah, matriarch! Give that bastard hell!,’ Zhen Bai Yin mentally cheered as he saw Zhen Xun Tian activate the aether treasure that he managed to deliver after painstaking effort. He was just about to turn forward in order to focus on running, until he noticed something weird in the arena floor below the clashing Emperors.
Or to be more precise, he noticed someone weird lingering in the arena floor.
‘Wait a minute…who the fuck is that?,’ Zhen Bai Yin asked himself before realizing he was cussing again, as well as trying to move over to the weird figure. Luckily, he caught himself in time, again, and proceeded to just focus going forward. Although, there was another question that popped into his head.
‘What kind of psycho stands up close to a fight between Emperors?’
_____________________________________________
[By the way, boss, why did you have me and the toxic control bitch handle the delivery on this?,] Lacerage asked. [Wouldn’t it have been better to have us just flat out attack that corpse stealing bastard or rescue your grandpa from the suicidal clutches of that Fallen Clan woman over there? I bet I could’ve at least lobbed off that sour looking bitch’s arm if I flew fast enough. Well, hers and her squad of fuck boys. Actually, I think I could’ve just decapitated them.]
[I think my webs would’ve flown faster than your gossamer thin wings…flighty skank.]
[You wanna go, spider bitch?]
‘Hey! Enough bickering you two, you can save it until after we end this battle and you two can go back to making sure the estate isn’t on fire.’
[Of course young master/boss, apologies.]
‘Speaking of the estate, I think the last time we talked, you mentioned how y’all filled the Zhen Clan coffers with bounty gold and some new high grade minerals? And I think a wandering ruin got mentioned?’
[Oh, yes! We were actually sending in the scouts today before Lacerage and I were summoned. I think they should be exploring it by now.]
‘Excellent.’
