Chapter 975: Eel feeling
When most people submerge themselves in [Shadow Water], it usually ends in one of two ways.
The first is that the [Shadow Water] saps away the submerged victim’s…everything…until they’re nothing more than a husk that will be rendered into dust through sheer water pressure as their lifeless body sinks to the bottom of the drink.
The second way was simply getting eaten by the creatures that have managed to evolve and thrive in such harsh conditions.
Life had a habit of finding a way to exist even in places where the dead call home, and an underground ocean was no different.
However, amongst these casualties of nature, there were still few that could traverse the [Abyssal Lands] waters with no consequences.
Two such individuals happened to be swimming with each other at this moment.
Several meters below the surface, main clan Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian and branch clan Patriarch Zhen Shi, were swimming together while donned in full [Regalia].
Their mission, to find a native aether beast big enough to use as a means of transport down here…or to use as materials for a vehicle, whichever came first to be honest.
As the duo continued to swim, Zhen Xun Tian couldn’t help but to notice that Zhen Shi was able to swim in the shadow water with significantly more grace and ease than herself. In fact, it honestly appeared as if Zhen Shi was being surrounded by a bubble of what appeared to be just…plain old water. Which was a bit surprising due to Zhen Xun Tian being at minimum, two whole cultivation ranks above him. That stated, she had her suspicions as to why this was the case.
“Huh…real quick, dear nephew of mine,” Zhen Xun Tian asked while using aether to help transmit her voice through the water. “Did you know that your formula of yours enabled you to swim down here like that or were you running on instinct?”
“Going to be honest, I was kind of running on instinct,” Zhen Shi freely admitted, partially aware that his brash actions could’ve been easily chalked up to his auntie’s aura of [Chaos].”Although, I had an inkling that it was possible given, ya know…the name.”
“Huh…makes sense to me.”
“Yeah…wait a minute, auntie Xun Tian, how the heck are you swimming down here so easily? I get that there’s a power gap, but even I know a lethal poison can still cause issues for those who are immune to it,” Zhen Shi asked, while painfully aware he was essentially swimming in a lethal poison.
“That’s because of this.”
As the duo continued to swim, Zhen Xun Tian repositioned her body so that she could show Zhen Shi the elaborate tattoo on her back that vaguely resembled that of a giant squid.
Zhen Shi’s eyes widened for a second as he sensed a faint energy coming from it that he had been becoming more and more familiar with as of late.
Especially since a certain snake spirit embedded in his formula started to become a little more chatty.
…
‘Is…is that what I think it is?’
[MaRkiNgs…mAdE OF…Chaos…and…BlOoD.]
‘That…explains some shit.’
…
“Huh…I can sense weird power flowing out of it…but familiar as well.”
“Oh ho, so you do know…well then,I guess I can show off a little more than usual then,” Zhen Xun Tian said with an amused tone of voice as she summoned her [Astra], the [Aura Dusters]. “Because we got company!”
Seeing the direction that his auntie was directing her bloodlust towards, Zhen Shi quickly reoriented himself while preparing his harpoon.
He couldn’t use his [Astra] at this moment, as he was using it as a makeshift lifeline to the fishing vessel.
“Oh, shit!”
The moment he turned around to see what was coming, he was greeted by several rows of giant jagged teeth belonging to a bioluminescent eel the size of three caravan wagons, front to back.
However, this wasn’t the first time Zhen Shi had almost got eaten by giant animals, and it wouldn’t be the last.
Harpoon in hand and running on years and years of experience, Zhen Shi thrusted it forward and aimed directly at the roof of the eel’s mouth.
If this had been a standard hunt, Zhen Shi would’ve held nothing back and try to blow the eel’s brain out with an aether art that made use of the harpoon. That or try to snap it’s neck using his [Astra].
However, since this expedition’s parameters included the option to capture, Zhen Shi made sure to coat his harpoon with a layer of aether so that the normally lethal piercing damage was replaced with slightly less lethal blunt force trauma.
A knock to the head was easier to recover from than having one’s brain matter removed from one’s skull, after all.
However, that turned out to be a pointless action on Zhen Shi’s part.
Pow
“Oops..”
The moment Zhen Shi’s harpoon made contact with the roof of the eel’s mouth, the back of it’s exploded and sent the whole thing upward. The only proof left in the water that something has almost eaten him, were several loose teeth and little bits of eel flesh.
“My bad, auntie. I guess I didn’t hold back enough…”
“Huh? Don’t sweat it,” Zhen Xun Tian dismissed with a wave of her hand and expression looking like, (=3=). “That was just a 3rd tier juvenile. Wouldn’t be helpful for our plans at all.”
“I…hold up, 3rd tier? Juvenile?”
“Yeah, that was a…wait, you mean to tell me that my big aether beast nerd of a nephew had no idea what he had just sent flying… floating…back up to the surface?”
“No…I haven’t had a chance to study any literature in regards to [Abyssal Lands] sea life…should probably fix that,” Zhen Shi said while making a mental note to see if there were any books about this place in the [Hall of Nowhere]’s possessions.
‘Huh…as the elder, should I really be relying on my grandkids like this?,’ Zhen Shi thought to himself. ‘Wait…why am I worrying about stuff like this now? Damn [Chaos]…’
Unaware of her nephew’s mental musings though, Zhen Xun Tian latched on to that moment of ignorance to show off her own knowledge.
“Well listen up, sonny! What you just knocked upward is a beast known as a [Luminescent Wolf Eel]. Well, I think that one is technically a [Luminescent Cub Elver], but semantics are a bitch.”
“Okay…”
“Anyways, [Luminescent Wolf Eels] are natives to the [Abyssal Lands] and the deepest parts of the ocean, and are able to reach a maximum of seventh tier in terms of rare strength, assuming they live that long.”
“Wait a minute, are you trying to build up to something for a dramatic reveal?”
“They’re known for their strong bites, their innate Luxarii and Aquarii aether combination and the older ones are able to use weaponized beams of light to hit prey and enemies above and below the water’s surface. But that’s not the important part.”
“Oh dear gods and ancestors, you are building up to something for dramatic effect.”
“I am! And the most important thing about these eels are…”
Before Zhen Xun Tian finished her short lesson on aether beasts, she started swimming to a spot in front of Zhen Shi. All the whole, she was building up [Chaos] into the squid shaped tattoo on her back.
As Zhen Shi followed his aunt’s actions, he started to notice the presence of multiple glowing dots in the distance…that were growing bigger and bigger by the second. It took him all of two seconds to realize those lights were attached to multiple somethings getting closer and closer.
“…they hunt and swim in schools. Meaning, we can take our pick from the whole fucking litter!”
“Oh…fuck.”
At the exact moment Zhen Xun Tian made this knowledge known, dozens of [Luminescent Wolf Eels] appeared one after the other like bandits and thieves performing an ambush.
From what Zhen Shi could sense most of these [Luminescent Wolf Eels] had powers ranging from 3rd to 4th tier, which if Zhen Xun Tian’s words were anything to go off of, meant that most of them were juveniles and possibly adolescents.
This fact, however, did not comfort Zhen Shi in the slightest though.
Instead, it got him thinking a very crucial question for a situation like this: where’s the leader?
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be getting that answer until…later.
“Now then, nephew of mine,” Zhen Xun Tian began to say as tentacles made of ink began to manifest around her and transforming her visage into that of a sea monster. “Shall we see how many each of us can take down on a contest?”
…Meanwhile, at the water’s surface…
As the leaders of the main and branch portions of the Zhen Clan continued to swim, the elders of both decided to simply relax and continue fishing…
“So…you think they’ll-”
KA-POOM!
“HOLY SHIT!”
…up until a giant eel corpse suddenly shot out of the water.
