Chapter 905: Recklessness is a feature, not a flaw
[Smoke Breath]!
Heeding Nepherage’s words, Jinju Ren opted to disengage with the Dragon Thief Monk by blasting him in the face with a puff of black, aether infused smoke.
“Ookie?”
[Smoke Breath] was a minor Ethereal aether art that basically did zero damage, but had the lovely ability to mess with someone’s senses.
Not just the obvious things such as sight and smell, but also one’s ability to detect changes in aether.
Which is why, after getting blasted in the face with a surge of smoke, the Dragon Thief Monkey failed to notice that not only had Jinju Ren used the opportunity to disengage completely, but that the ground beneath had taken on a significantly more…energetic hue as Nepherage had just about finished activating her aether art. Additionally, she was looking a lot better since she had her personal zako, Sieg, help to seal up and disinfect her wounds.
[Obsidian Grasp of the Volcanic Mother!]
CRACK!
“Ookie?!”
The ground immediately below the Dragon Thief Monkey suddenly exploded as a giant, feminine hand made of burning lava and cooling obsidian, bursted outward and proceeded to grab the Dragon Thief Monkey like they were a mistreated ragdoll.
“Whoa…”
The sight of a giant volcanic hand grabbing a dragonic monkey was visually impressive to Jinju Ren, but she could tell that this wasn’t a permanent end to the battle.
She could sense that the Dragon Thief Monkey was already circulating aether and dragon force throughout it’s body to not just stave off the burning and kinetic damage caused by being squeezed by a literal hand of magma, but to also prepare itself for a counter attack.
However, despite recognizing this, Jinju Ren opted to do nothing. After all, she was rather curious as to what Zhen Liu had in mind that required the Dragon Thief Monkey to be still like this.
‘Alright, darling. Show me what you have in…why do I hear screaming?’
_______Several moments ago…___________
The sudden explosion of light and energy originating from the [Tempering Spirit Pond] had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the Zhen Clan warriors.
In fact, it served as a bit of a starting signal for the lot of them to secure whatever gains they had managed to earn and get their assess over there as soon as possible.
Of course, each of the groups had their own little circumstances that made things a bit…tricky for them to immediately get there.
Or at least, they were going to be arriving with some unintended consequences.
…
Rain Talisman and unexpected allies.
“Xiao Hai?”
“Yes, father.”
“Why is there a squad of aether primates following us?”
“Ah, well…”
Shortly after Zhen Hai, Zhen Long, Zhen Jin and Zhen Feng had secured the [Talisman Monument of Curing Rain], the four of them had to basically bail as that explosion of light and sound from the [Tempering Spirit Pond] caught their attention.
However, during the process of this, Zhen Hai had essentially spared the life of the Long Armed Mist Gibbon, leading to…well…this moment.
“Apparently, after I defeated their champion and spared their life, they all decided that I was to be their next, and this is a loose translation, Fist Boss, and have swore their fealty to me.”
“Uh…huh…”
“Should I tell them to disband or…”
“No, no. Could be useful having them around…plus, we had been looking into expanding our services to guard beasts lately…”
“Guard primates are a thing?”
“They will be once we’re done.”
…
Like every good rockstar…
‘Looks like they managed to secure the tree,’ Zhen Yue commented as she kept rocking and seeing that her father, uncle and cousin had managed to sneak away from the crowd of drunken primates.
[Yup.]
‘Meaning we should probably get out of here.’
[Seems so.]
‘Please tell me you have an exit strategy.’
[Something that would make Jimi Hendrix proud.]
‘Who?’
[Tell you about him later.]
What followed after this statement could not be transcribed due to the sheer amount of flashing lights and loud noises used to disorient already drunk monkeys.
If you need a mental image as to how bad it could’ve been, just look up the P0kem0n, P0ryg0n and learn why he is banned from ever appearing in the anime ever again.
Regardless, the Drunken Frenzy Ape and it’s cohorts were more or less satisfied about the performance they had witnessed…they were just confused about what had happened to one of the Copper Furred Howler Monkeys.
Meh, nature was cruel.
…
Out of the boiler, into the woods.
“Huh…why didn’t we use this feature when we were travelling to Roaring Tide?”
[It’s draining.]
“Causes too much strain on Xiao Liu.”
“Ah.”
Shortly after securing the [Grand Oasis Teapot], Zhen Xing, Zhen Jin, Zhen Tai and Zhen Ye, had to get the hell out of the hot springs battlefield before they got caught up in the crossfire.
Luckily, they had been assigned the one “aether puppet” that could technically turn into a vehicle.
More specifically, Frosttusk had turned into his rarely used centaur form and acted as a a getaway vehicle.
Well, he allowed them to ride on his back while he used a road of ice as a means to accelerate his movements.
Either way, the group was on their way to the [Tempering Spirit Pond].
‘Hang on father, we’re coming.’
…
Slingshots are timeless.
“Shit, we gotta move!,” Zhen Yan shouted to his son and his future daughters-in-law as soon as he saw the burst of bright light and sensed the power surging from it.
From what he could remember, his position in relation to his brothers was closest to the [Tempering Spirit Pond], meaning that for all intense and purposes, his group was the first response team if anything went wrong.
Which is why he was so eager to get a move on and rush towards the light. However, he appeared to be the only one who was preparing to rush over.
“Alright, why am I the only who…what the fuck?”
Rianna and Jin Fang were more or less just standing there, recovering their energies as the former had fought off a horde of mantis goblin thingies while the latter had to expend a lot of energy in order to activate a spatial array that was now holding a magic fountain of all things.
As for his son…he wasn’t sure how else to describe it, other than doing something weird.
To be more specific, his son had dismissed Razorstella into being a bracelet on his wrists, while having Spring Brawler grab onto two different trees that had a lot of space in between them.
Zhen Yan wasn’t entirely sure why, but a strange feeling of dread began to bubble in his stomach.
“Alright, I’m going to go on ahead. I’ll see ya at the fight!”
A feeling that became justified as he saw his son suddenly run and tackle into Spring Brawler, causing the spring-limbed puppet to stretch in a manner similar to a tightening bow string or a sling shot.
Due to the lack of bending bow body, it was more like the latter than the former.
“Xiao Liu, wait a minute,” Zhen Yan was about to shout in disbelief and worry, “what are you-”
“BANZAI!”
But Zhen Yan’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Zhen Liu proceeded to slingshot himself in the direction of the [Tempering Spirit Pond].
Needless to say, Zhen Yan was stunned silent at the sheer insanity of his son’s actions.
However, he couldn’t allow himself to stew in this particular feeling for long because there was still no ongoing situation. Hence why he double checked on Rianna and Jin Fang before leaving.
“Will you two be okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Xiao Liu left one of his puppets here, so we’ll catch up shortly.”
“Okay…well then.”
Once he got the go ahead, Zhen Yan proceeded to circulate his aether towards his feet and back, causing flames to flare up around them.
“Time to play catch up.”
________________________________________
‘Nepherage, is the target set up?’
[More or less. The Dragon Thief Monkey is proving to be a bit more resilient than anticipated, but he should be inert long enough for your plans.]
‘Excellent. Razorstella?’
[Yes, director?]
‘Do the thing.’
[Which thing?]
‘The [Regalia] en-‘
<=Wait! We changed the name.=>
‘Say what? To what?’
<=[Taboo]=>
‘I…fuck it. Razorstella do the [Taboo] thing.’
[Got-ooh, that felt…different.]
…
“EAT SWORD LEG, MOTHERFUCKER!”
SWISH!
“Ookie?!”
[That’s why you heard screaming.]
Like a bolt from the blue, Zhen Liu came flying in while fully donned in a Razorstella enhanced [Regalia], enabling him to land a long slashing wound across the monkey’s chest.
Star aligned aether and [Chaos] began to fester in the Dragon Thief Monkey’s wound, as a look of shock appeared on his face.
Other than the [Dragon Dominating Saber] occasionally nicking him, this was the first real wound that the Dragon Thief Monkey had sustained.
Not that Zhen Liu could really notice or care, since he was focusing on landing.
…
‘DAMMIT! I MEANT TO IMPALE HIM WITH BOTH LEGS!’
[Please don’t dirty my blades like that.]
