Chapter 800: No Flash, All Bang! (1)
*Bing-Bong*
We interrupt this chapter to inform you that the following scenes are technically all happening at the same time.
Please keep this in mind as you read the chapter.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong!*
________________________________________
[Kill, kill, kill!]
[BAHAHAHA! NOW THIS IS A FIGHT!]
For the first time in a long time, Olstenna finally felt the thrill of someone being able to match with him in a fight. And all he had to do was travel through multiple continents and break into several tombs to find them!
At this moment in time, the Kaijin Lord had somehow shrunk his bone axe into being about the size and length of a hatchet, allowing him to attack at a much quicker pace than before. (Un)fortunately, Olstenna managed to keep up with the increased attack speed by using his flames to accelerate and enforce his limbs.
[KILL!]
*SWISH!*
[GAH!]
That is, until the Kaijin Lord had finally managed to breakthrough Olstenna’s defense through the power of misdirection before landing a slash across the aetherii’s chest and opening jagged wound that began to leak life essence. Through a mix of instinct, sheer muscle and a bit of aether though, Olstenna had managed to forcibly close the wound to an extent. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely close up due to a strange energy being infused to the axe blade, so little bits of life essence still flowed out from the open gash.
Olstenna was shocked at the sight…and oddly relieved.
‘A wound?! After all of these years?! Finally!’
Ages ago, Olstenna had managed to absorb and gain control of the [Violet Berserker Spring Flame] and had become “invincible”.
The power of this natural aether treasure enabled him to not only travel beyond his homeland’s borders, but allowed him to fight with all manner of warrior and monster that would’ve easily killed him without it.
Unfortunately, this came at a cost he didn’t know about until much later.
‘Ah this sensation of pain! How novel to feel it once again!’
The [Violet Berserker Spring Flame] had gifted Olstenna with an unbeatable body…but that was the problem. While becoming invincible sounded nice on paper, it was actually incredibly…boring, to Olstenna at least.
Olstenna was the type of warrior who liked the sensation of almost dying, of being on the knife’s edge when it came down to victory or defeat. However, that feeling became much harder to chase once he had fully acclimated to the [Violet Berserker Spring Flame] and developed his nigh invulnerable physique.
After winning a number of battles that he eventually got bored of counting, Olstenna had thought he had reached his limit…until he heard a bard tell a very old story.
‘A strange power that can sap all life, defy death and break the bonds that make us mortal, it is real!’
The bard had told the story of a strange tribe of warriors known as the kaijin, beings that seemed to defy the laws of reality and aether for the sake of their own desires and vices…at least, that’s what Olstenna thinks he remembered hearing, he honestly stopped listening after hearing the words, “strange tribe of warriors”.
Compelled by this take, Olstenna proceeded to travel across and beyond Dozing Salamander for the sake of learning more about the kaijin, regardless of how sketchy the source was.
It was based on this sketchiness that Olstenna eventually heard rumors of “weird warriors” appearing in the frontier regions of Stampeding Bison, and proceeded to go there to see if there was any truth behind the rumors. Needless to say, he wasn’t disappointed.
For the first time in years, he felt the shivering fear of death down his neck.
For the first time in years, he could hear his heart pounding in his ears again.
And for the first time in years, he could finally see the shadow of something greater than himself looming over him and about to…wait a minute…
‘What the fuck?’
While in the midst of exchanging blows with the Kaijin Lord, Olstenna noticed that something was off about their surroundings. Namely, there were three distinctly hostile types of aether being pointed in his direction at this very moment. However, he could sense these attacks were independent of each other.
In other words, he was dead to rights and he had no idea who would take the first shot.
‘Rumbling from above, splashing to my right and humming to my left…damn! It’s like a game of roulette!’
Of course, just like a real game of roulette, Olstenna had no idea what going to happen something landed. The only question was then which attack was was going to make an impact, first?
________________________________________
[Wait a minute, why do I not feel as much resistance from you than I antici-did you make a fucking path and ramp?!]
[I did,] Frosttusk readily agreed as he felt the ice beneath his feet sliding away. [Now, please allow me to try and readjust myself so I can fly through the air and land in a more controlled manner.]
[Don’t think we have time for that. We’re about to make contact with your ice ramp in a couple of seconds.]
[Dammit!]
Frosttusk’s original plan was to create a ramp and road out of ice in order to lessen his friction as much as possible. This would, in theory, make it so that Spring Brawler would be able to launch him without exerting more force than necessary. As well, the ramp was made in such a way that it should’ve been able to give him just enough air time that he would land directly into the main arena floor and not land into the stands or the Zhen Clan’s skybox.
However, these calculations were made with the precedent that Frosttusk had enough time to tuck himself into a fetal position and make himself into what was essentially a living cannonball. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
When Spring Brawler made impact with Frosttusk, Frosttusk was forced into taking up an easier to perform and more aerodynamic “ski pose” instead of his calculated cannonball pose.
*SWOOSH!*
[Good luck, Frosttusk!]
[Aye!]
By the time Frosttusk was sent flying off his makeshift ski ramp, he was already significantly more airborne than he had originally anticipated.
‘Shit! I need to somehow readjust my angle and use enough force to change my direction into a downward momentum! But how the hell am I going to do that without attracting…wait a fucking minute, what am I sensing?’
Just as Frosttusk was wondering how he was going to “sneakily” readjust his angle with a burst of aether, he could sense three distinct sources of aether building up in the arena below. Two of which he recognized belonging to some very loud compatriots of his.
‘Huh…I guess that’s my window of opportunity…but who’s the third guy? I don’t recognize this aether at all…’
All Frosttusk could say for certain about this mysterious third signature of aether though, was that it reminded him of a storm over the ocean.
________________________________________
‘Godsdamn! I definitely should’ve practiced this technique more, holy shit!’
Several dozen meters away from the battle between Olstenna and the warrior who might’ve been Zhen Liu in disguise, Zhen Hai was doing his absolute damnedest to perform an aether art that had come with his [Shark Fang of the Berserker], called [Storm Surge].
The idea behind this aether art was that by condensing a mix of Aquarii and lightning aether into the treasure, Zhen Hai would be able to call forth a giant storm cloud that came in the shape of a Great White Shark. Unfortunately, that proved too be significantly harder than anticipated.
Not only was Zhen Hai still relatively new when it came to using this particular aether art, but the [Shark Fang of the Berserker] itself seemed to have a mind of its own!
*BZZZZZZ!*
‘Godsdamnit! Not yet, not yet!’
It desperately shook and hummed in Zhen Hai’s hands as it wanted to do nothing more than get involved in the fight happening right now and fire off the aether art was stored inside it. It didn’t care if it bit through friend or foe, it just wanted to bite something.
Hard.
The longer Zhen Hai tried to suppress the [Shark Fang of the Berserker] from cutting loose and ripping someone into pieces, the harder he found to keep it under control.
A part of Zhen Hai couldn’t help but think that he wasn’t actually as compatible with this aether treasure as his cousins said he was, but then he remembered that he tended to act in the same way.
Which is why he knew, exactly how to tame this wild treasure…probably.
‘Alright big guy, I need you to calm down for a just a little bit longer. I know you want to tear into that Olstenna guy like a piece of ham in the water, but we need to wait for the right time and opportunity to…wait…what the fuck am I sensing?’
Zhen Hai wasn’t entirely sure how he knew this, but he swore he could hear an electric humming in the air.
Something about this hum felt incredibly familiar to him…and that was all the encouragement he needed.
He has found his opportunity.
‘Never mind, looks like we’re going to get our chance sooner than anticipated!’
Excited by the prospect of violence, the [Shark Fang of the Berserker] suddenly became a lot more obedient.
‘This is gonna be good…’
