Chapter 942: Improvised Test-Conclusion
[How in the nine hells did that guy just manage to sense us?]
[Because we did it on purpose?]
[Right…keep forgetting it takes awhile for my brain to heat up too…anyways, do we know who this guy is exactly, or…]
[Still not sure. I’m pretty sure he’ll tell us when we engage in combat with him.]
[Fair.]
…
‘Something’s not right,” the warrior dressed like a plague doctor commented aloud,hoping to catch his would-be opponents off guard. In his experience, acknowledging the presence of ambushers before they could do anything, has a tendency to break whatever momentum they had built up beforehand.
That said, it appeared that this little trick was ineffective this time around.
“Pity.”
Approaching his position was a very weird, strong energy signatures that definitely didn’t feel like anything he ever senses.
Well…that statement wasn’t entirely true, but he could barely remember the when or the who in regards to the last time he sensed an energy like this.
Regardless, sensing that the energy wasn’t exactly hostile yet, gave him time to think up a plan of some kind.
Or at least, he thought he had time to think.
‘First things first, I-‘
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
‘Immediatrly dodge.’
[Tsk! Missed.]
Moment after he sidestepped away, a strange warrior woman that appeared to be made of [Crimson Jade] popped out of the ground with her fists raised above her. Whomever or whatever this thing was, it appeared they were aiming to try and take his head in one go.
How efficient.
Unfortunately, he could not appreciate this efficiency for long, as literal seconds after that surprise rising uppercut had failed to hit it’s mark, that weird energy he sensed earlier was finally upon him.
Paoooo!
“Missed!”
A sphere of cold energy flew pass him and impacted the ground, causing an explosion of ice that would’ve encased him had he not moved out for the way or impale him if he had not moved fast enough.
Feeling oddly smug about being able to survive not just one, but two different sneak attacks at the same time, the plague doctor warrior ended up gloating, just a wee bit.
“Reckless fools! You have the displeasure of facing Varian von Pestkrieg! Your ambush has failed, so surrender now or face my wrath!”
…
[That’s his name?]
[Makes sense. Logos and Pathos did say the Plague Birds were at the border of both Roaring Tide and Umbral Spider.]
[Oh yeah…this guy is also clearly concealing his abilities, right?]
[Oh, most definitely.]
[Drag it out?]
[Drag it out.]
…
“Now as I said, Varian yelled in accented Tide Tongue. “Are you going to surrender or-whoa, what the fuck…”
Now that his life wasn’t in immediate danger and he had a chance to see who his would-be attackers were, Varian was a little stunned.
“What the…”
Standing before him was a pair of weird looking warriors, which was a bit hypocritical given his own outfit.
‘Wait, maybe that’s actually their [Regalias]?,’ Varian thought to himself as he tried to rationalize the weird looks of these two warriors that had assaulted him out of nowhere.
To his immediate right in front of him was humanoid being that looked feminine, but had a horned head, solid green eyes, red stone-likenskin and what appeared to be feathers growing from her shoulders. Varian had the vague notion to compare the woman to the “Valkyries” he had heard about from people who visited the lands between Umbral Spider and Radiant Feather, but dismissed that idea. This woman was too monstrous looking compared to those rumored beauties. Plus, it didn’t help that he could feel this intense heat radiating from her person, like staring into the mouth of an active volcano.
As for the warrior on his left, the one that had attempted to blast him with a burst of cold energy, they appeared to be decidedly more masculine.
With a large muscular build, a long beard, tusks justting from both sides of his mouth and what appeared to be furred armor atop blue skin, the man looked like a giant of old. Additionally, he could see that cold air was radiating off of his body constantly, to the point that the very ground he was standing on had started to freeze over.
“Fire and Ice…huh.”
These two warriors definitely didn’t look like they belonged to the Zhen Clan and were definitely not tattooed enough to be that hateful banshee’s disciples.
Whatever the case may be, now that he had a good look at them, he could sense that their cultivation was…weird.
Varian could sense that they had aether similar to that of a Grandmasters, they even had the [Regalia’s] to prove it, but there was something…more.
It wasn’t anima, it wasn’t dragon force and definitely wasn’t like the curses or poisons he was used to working with.
The only way he could possibly describe this weird energy coming off of them was that it felt like nothing and everything all at once.
#Interesting,# Varian muttered in his mother tongue of Shadowspeak.
On the one hand, he should be retreating and reassessing the situation, given the presence of these strange interlopers. There was a high possibility that these two weren’t the only Interlopers. If they found him, it was possible that others might’ve found his subordinates.
On the other hand…he really,really wanted to tear them apart and see what them tick like this.
In fact, he was so enamored with this idea, he decided to do something really, fucking stupid.
#Well, I get the distinctive feeling that I’ll need to show you two why facing a Lord such as myself will usually end in tragedy,# Varian said as he pulled out from his clothes an array scroll. #Now, I was going to save this for when we managed to poison and cripple that wicked inked bitch, but i think it’s appropriate to use it here instead.#
With a quick injection of aether, the scroll proceeded to ignite with a black flame before disintegrating into particles of light that reformed into a large array the surrounded both Varian and the (kaijin) warriors. Moments later, literal pillars of darkness began to fall from the array one by one until the three of them were locked in a cage of dark aether.
Once the array was set, Varian began to circulate his aether like crazy as he summoned both his [Regalia] and his [Astra].
And monologue.
#Now, I’m sure you two are more muscles than brain, so allow me to explain. This array is known as the [Isolating Dark Cage], it’s used as a means to prevent heavy hitters and elites from interfering during battles. Or in our case, allow us to assassinate someone with less subtle and more brutal methods. Meaning no matter how much you scream, nobody will be able to come to help you.#
Moments after making this declaration, Varian’s [Regalia] and [Astra] finished forming.
The former incorporated Varian’s outfit and made him look like a Gothic horror knight, while the latter took on the form of a giant medical saw that had a massive syringe tank attached to it.
In essence, the man looked like he was from the critically acclaimed game, BoneBorne.
(Beep. The writer of this work knows the real name, he just wants to avoid lawyers and shit. Beep.)
#Now then,my [Knochen Aufreißer] desires wants to know what makes you tick and we both want to see you two writhe in pain as both poison and pathogen rip you apart from the inside out. I do apologize if things get…messy.#
Nepherage and Frosttusk looked at each other as soon as Varian stopped his show boating, because they had some thoughts on his words. But the most salient ones were as followed.
…
[Wait…did this dumbass just initiate a cage match?]
[Yup.]
[A cage that won’t release any sound, make it so that our energy won’t leak and will essentially make all our actions hidden from any outside observers?]
[Yup.]
[And he said, his main method of fighting was poisons and diseases, both of which we’re kind of immune to because…]
[We’re not flesh.]
[…huh.]
…
[HA!]
[PAAAOOOO!]
Sounds of a massive mistake powering up.
#What the fuck?!#
Understanding full well the situation they were in, both Nepherage and Frosttusk proceeded to circulate their aether and [Chaos] until they both reached peak Aether Lord power levels.
A look of horror and realization dawned on Varian as a single thought came across his mind.
…
________________________________________
“And it was in these moments, they realized that they had fucked up,” Zhen Liu said with a hint of smug satisfaction as he saw, and felt, the kaijin claiming their victories almost simultaneously.
Thanks to his abilities, he could always feel and see what the kaijin were doing, but it was still nice to see what they do from an outside perspective.
From his great grandaunt’s perspective, the kaijin worked like clockwork and took out their targets with the effectiveness of horror movie monsters.
Seeing all of this go down, Zhen Xun Tian only had a single comment to make.
“Well, I’ll be damned. No wonder the previous lords were considered natural disasters.”
“Right?”
