Chapter 962: Meeting My (very) distant relatives
=Wait a minute…haven’t Lady Bellona and Lady Alicia been actively cultivating with those…things you gave them not too long ago? Little over two or so months?=
=Regardless, they’re also at the peak Aether Master stage?=
=Thought so, so how did they captured by that Scale guy? They could’ve trounced him!
=That…makes a lot of sense.=
….Back to the aformentioned cute scene…
For the better part of three minutes, Zhen Liu continued to hold Alicia, Bellona and Mini in a manner that suggested that he was comforting them after a traumatic situation…which was mildly weird, due to Alicia’s history of being kidnapped multiple times.
‘I should probably keep that comment to my-‘
“You know…it’s good to know that whenever I’m in trouble, that you always seem to come to my rescue,” Alicia said in a tone of voice that was a touch sweeter than anticipated.
‘Or she brings it up, that’s cool too.’
Eventually though, Zhen Liu had to stop hugging and comforting Alicia, Bellona and Mini since there were more pressing things going on right now.
…
[Executor…you do know those two were just acting way more sweet and vulnerable than how they actually are, right?]
‘I did. I also know that everyone wants to feel vulnerable and safe now and again. So who am I to judge?’
[Fair enough…]
…
For example, during the aforementioned hug, Zhen Liu had sent some of the kaijin to go and bring their new/old ship over to their location.
It didn’t take the kaijin too long, but they had similar questions about the wreck in the same manner that Zhen Liu did.
“Milord…what the fuck is this thing?”
“That is, supposedly, the [Galleon of the Storm Queen].”
“Okay…but why does it feel jank?”
“No idea, that’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
The fact that the other kaijin could detect something was wrong with this ship, made it clear that it wasn’t just Zhen Liu going crazy.
This would normally be the part where Zhen Liu would open a gate to the library and have Logos and Pathos go about analyzing the thing from top to bottom…there was just one problem.
“Alright, push the ship onto shore and we can-”
Weird barrier noise
“-of course there was some kind curse thing involved.”
“What the fuck…,” Frosttusk trailed off as he saw why he failed to bring the aforementioned ship to shore.
In a moment that could only be described with the sentence, cartoony as fuck, the ship refused to go onto shore. The literal moment the prow touched the edge of the ice island that Frosttusk had made, the damn thing stood straight up, before turning around and floating in the opposite direction.
Zhen Liu wasn’t entirely sure why, but he had the feeling he was dealing with a cat.
‘Oh shit, now that I think about it, I still have that core from that weird Schrodinger Bloodliner…whatever happened to them? Meh, think about it later.’
RIght now, Zhen Liu needed answers and since he couldn’t make contact with his usual sources, he had to deal with the next best thing. Namely, a tribe of warriors that seemed to carry kaijin blood, if the [Chaos] abilities and the weird shape shifting was anything to go off of.
“Hurricroak, are those guys you knocked out, the…Strange Bloods?”
“Yes, director. They called themselves the Strange Bloods.”
“Cool, are they conscious yet?”
“Not yet, but I think I can just give them a quick jolt and they’ll perk right up and then some,” Hurricroak said with an amused tone as electricity arced between her fingers.
“Alright, if I had to guess on which one that is probably safe to do that on, go with that one that Nepherage knocked out.”
“You sure? Because the one you punched out appears to have recovered from his broken jaw.”
“The fuck?”
“Take a look.”
“How is that…huh.”
Much to Zhen Liu’s surprise, Hurricroak was right.
After Zhen Liu had initially punched the everliving shit out of the guy holding his girls hostage, he saw that his jaw was split open like something out of a splatterfest movie. Not much time had passed between then and now, but Zhen Liu could see that the man’s jaw was actively healing at a pace much faster than most other people heal.
“Huh…[Chaos] infused flesh heals faster. Who knew? Alright, if they’re all healing up just wake them all up. Also, feel free to keep up the kaijin forms this time guys. I get the feeling that they might be more cooperative when they see that as opposed to humans.”
“Aye, aye.”*5
“Alright, Hurricroak. Shock them up.”
“Ehehe! Ladies, kaijin and maestro! I present to you, for one night only, Hurricroak’s Chorus of Shocks…rapid fire edition.”
With that preamble out of the way, Hurricroak proceeded to electrify her hands, rubbing them together for exaggerated showmanship.
“And…BABABABABA!”
“Ah!”
“Eep!”
“Ooh!”
“Ack!”
“Mommy!”
One after the other, Hurricroak proceeded to bonk all of the Strange Bloods one after the other like she was playing the scales of a xylophone.
Needless to say, this action would be considered a slap in the proverbial face as much as it was a physical one, but the kaijin didn’t care about such things.
“Well, that was amusing. Good job, Hurricroak.”
“Thank you, thank you, I’m here until the end of time,” Hurricroak said with a bow while mentally adding, ‘mortality is a foreign concept to me now.’
[Ugh…where the hell…wait, we’re alive?!]
[Oh, cool. You guys speak the language of Chaos. That’s fun.]
Due to being awaken in such brutally swift manner after being rendered unconscious, the Strange Blood warriors were more or less disoriented as fuck. Thankfully though, the leader of the bunch, who Zhen Liu learned was named Chief Tusk of all things, had managed to regain his cognizance faster than the others.
[How are we-oh, by the ancestors…]
Meaning he was the first to see the ship that he and his ancestors had been guarding for centuries had been removed from its resting place.
[Hey! That vessel doesn’t belong to…to…oh.]
And he was also the first to see the kaijin gathering around a crouching Zhen Liu, with a condescending look on the latter’s face.
For added intimidation, Zhen Liu had opted to use his [Hammer of the Dearly Departed] as a means of propping himself up a bit. Granted, he looked like the antagonist of an 80s movie, but nobody in this world knew anything about that…hopefully.
[Hello there, Chief Tusk. Pleased to make your acquaintance,] Zhen Liu said in a tone of voice that made it seem like he was talking to a polite business partner and not someone he was about to interrogate the everliving-
[GUYS, FOCUS! THE STORM QUEEN’S INHERITOR IS FINALLY HERE!]
[What?]
[No way!]
[Bullshit!]
[I thought they’d be a girl]
“Huh?”
In a complete 180 of tone and expectations, the Strange Blood warriors all brought their attention to Zhen Liu with weirdly expectant looks on their faces. More specifically, they were directing their attention towards Zhen Liu’s left hand.
It took him all of a second to understand what they wanted to see, so he did just that.
[He has the mark.]
[He has the mark!]
Sound of multiple people flopping over in a servile fashion.
[Why was that so coordinated?,] Spring Brawler asked with a twinge of fear in his voice.
The moment the Strange Bloods saw the [Chaos Body Forge Seal] on Zhen Liu’s left palm, all seven of them proceeded to fall over in order to bow towards Zhen Liu and the kaijin in a manner that made the former a little uncomfortable.
[All hail the Kaijin Lord! Long have we awaited your return!]
“I…what the flaming fuck on a duck and a half?”
…
<=Powerful desire has been detected from multiple sources of-=>
|ERROR! ERROR! Core Consolidation cannot proceed. Core Consolidation cannot proceed. The source of the desire belongs to those who carry the blood of Kaijin. Desire Core must be condensed in the source of the desire, I repeat, the Desire Core must be condensed in the source of the desire.|
<=Huh…that's…new.=>
…
‘Logos, Pathos. What the fuck is up with these guys and why am I learning about them now?’
‘I did?’
=Remember that slave girl that you and Zhen Hai gave an impromptu surgery to?’
‘Oh yeah…wait, what?’
