Chapter 818: Multi-Front Conflict…
=You’re still crazy, I am sensing that too, but I am busy right now so I can’t address the fact that another old kaijin of ours appears to have shown up like some kind of necromantic tardigrade!=
=I…I’m sorry, what?=
=Wait, what explains what? I can’t focus on any of the displays right now because I’m trying to rescue our-=
[Oh, it appears minn jarl’s mother is able to use Chaos too.]
=I’m sorry what?=
…
‘Of course my mother is actually somehow related to the kaijin…or at least she knows how to use [Chaos]…actually, that sort of explain some things…’
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Jin Fang, Jinju Ren and Rianna couldn’t help but to continue to watch on in shock as they watched someone other than Zhen Liu, or the kaijin, leveraging [Chaos] with the same amount of ease…almost
Then again, their shock could’ve also been attributed to the fact that the person performing this task was none other than Zhen Liu’s mother…or the fact that there was strange manifestation made of [Chaos] forming behind her in the shape of giant armored warrior with a rhinoceros motif going on.
Daria for her part though, didn’t really care that that she was being stared at in such a shocked manner, since she was too busy focusing on performing a [Chaos Art]. More specifically, one that she was taught to use only if she ever found the location of the [Demon’s Archive] and she needed to get in regardless of the circumstances.
As she continued to prepare this [Chaos Art], the manifested image of the rhinoceros knight began to become more and more solid by the minute.
‘I sincerely hope that this art doesn’t make too much of a mess inside of the library…,’ Daria’s mind wondered for a split second before focusing on preparing the [Chaos Art] once more.
Evidently, her interference might’ve been just the thing that the library and its current occupants needed at the moment.
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[Hey…did you guys sense that too, or am I going crazy?,] Hurricroak asked.
[I sensed it too…probably doesn’t matter to us too much right now, it felt really far away,] Lacerage replied. [Besides we got bigger fish to fry.]
[Fair point…damn though, I did not expect Archanidame to be this brutal when it came to sparring of all things.]
[Yeah…she gets like this when she’s bloodhungry or bored….or feel like being a bitch.]
…
“Hiss!”
“Shit!”
*Clang!*
“There ya go, Zhen Hai! That’s the way to do it!”
At this moment in time, in the depths of a labyrinthian library and surrounded by a veritable horde of mad and dangerous beasts, the Zhen Clan scions found themselves in a rather strange situation.
“Hiss!”
*Clang!*
“Hah!”
During their attempt to escape the labyrinth, the Zhen Clan scions had stumbled upon a room that they could only describe as being a cursed menagerie, with all of the beasts being kept in strange looking pits that kept the animals uncovered and exposed to the elements.
During their navigation through this room, however, an accident occurred that caused every single beast in that room to freak out and reveal that the pits they were sitting in weren’t real pits in the first place, they were elevator platforms.
“Zhen Hai, behind you!”
“I sense it! Hah!”
*Clang!*
“Hiss.”
Before the Zhen Clan scions could even attempt to escape the incoming horde of beasts, their way was blocked by the webbing of a giant spider aether beast, the same one that Zhen Hai was fighting no less.
‘Alright you eight-legged bastard. Show me where’s your hid-‘
“HISS HISS!”
‘HOLY SHIT!’
When the horde of aether beasts managed to capture the Zhen Clan scions, the latter had come to the conclusion that they were going to get eaten…only for that to not happen.
Instead, they found themselves being challenged by the “alphas” of this horde, which came in the form of a giant purple toad radiating lighting, a giant spider that seemed to know where everyone and everything was at Anya given moment and a strangely delicate looking lacewing that seemed to carry a razor sharp edge to it, to a bunch of one-on-one duels.
Granted, the only way they realized that these were one-on-one duels was when they attempted to go in all together, prompting the horde to step forward as well. Once five of the scions backed away to allow Zhen Hai to take the lead, that’s when they figured this was a one-on-one challenge situation.
Which is why, for the past five minutes or so, Zhen Hai was locked into a duel against that aforementioned giant spider.
The battle itself was actually surprisingly straightforward, as the spider simply used it’s giant legs like spears to try and impale Zhen Hai, while Zhen Hai did his best to knock away and slash at the spider with his large shark-toothed club.
This battle appeared to be even on the surface, but the reality was actually a touch more dire. Because every time the spider thrusted one of her legs forward, a small thread of aether enhanced spider silk was left behind.
This little trick wasn’t noticable at first…but then Zhen Hai noticed his movements were slowing and realized what was going on in that same instance.
Little by little, the spider was actually trying to cocoon Zhen Hai in her webs, and unfortunately, it was working.
‘Shit, shit, shit!,’ Zhen Hai cursed in his head as he realized the inevitable.
‘How the hell am I supposed to break out of this?!’
It has often been said that desperation breeds innovation, but does that saying still apply when that desperation is manufactured?
Well…at least one kaijin believed that to be the case.
…
[Come on, little shark, come on. I’m not even in your head and I already know you have at least several ways of breaking out of this jam. You just gotta dig deep…]
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Meanwhile in a certain indoor statue garden…
[Ignition Burst!]
*BOOM!*
“GROOoaaa…”
For the past few minutes, Olstenna had to fight an entire coordinated squad of statue warriors that were, surprisingly, much tougher to deal with than he had anticipated.
While none of them had managed to inflict any mortal wounds against him, their coordinated offenses did make his life hell…for a little while.
Despite having a numbers advantage, Olstenna was still several levels stronger than the group of statues on average and was able to defeat them after using a couple of well-timed moves and occasionally throwing the statues into each other.
Once the last of the animated statues were defeated, Olstenna released a heavy sigh that was accompanied by a literal plume of smoke.
While a part of him had found it novel that a coordinated squad of living statues was able to drive him into a corner for a couple of moments, he was disappointed in none of them being able to inflict anything heavier.
He figured at least one of them would get in a “lucky” hit.
…
[And that’s the last of the Stone zakos.]
[Shame.]
[Looks like we’re gonna have to get involved now.]
[Yeah.]
[…]
[…]
[Rock, paper, scissors, winner gets first go?]
[I say we just kick his ass together alongside our own zakos.]
[Bet.]
…
‘Alright, whatever,’ Olstenna eventually told himself after assuaging his own disappointment. ‘I’ll just grab that key and get out of-‘
*FWOOM!*
“OH HELLO THERE!”
Just as Olstenna was about to leave the statue garden in disappointment, he felt two incredibly powerful auras appear out of nowhere, accompanied by three slightly less powerful ones.
While he had no idea who this power belonged to or what could create such a force, Olstenna could at least feel it in his soul that these auras could give him the fight he was looking for.
As he turned to see the source of this power, a wide smile began to form on his face.
“Oh this is going to be good…”
Walking towards Olstenna was another group of statues that appeared completely different in terms of aura and look. One was a red jade statue of a warrior woman that radiated a fiery aura that matched his own, while the other appeared to be a bronze dancer statue that gave him the feeling that he was staring into a night sky.
Accompanying the duo was a large copper giant and a pair of marble statues that gave off the feeling that they were twins.
Prompted by the approaching group of animated combatants, Olstenna stepped forward as well, circulating his aether all the while.
‘This aura…it’s exactly what I’m looking for! Now! Now I can get the fight I’ve been wanting for all of these years!’
