NOVPUB*Bing-Bong*
We interrupt this chapter to inform readers that we will now be switching to the perspective of the Zhen Clan members that were still in Stampeding Bison during the entirety of the [Abyssal Lands] campaign.
The reason it hasn’t been in focus up until now though was due to it being incredibly boring.
One can only describe: train, build, repeat so many times until monotony sets in.
But now, that situation was reversed.
Zhen Liu’s return to Blessed Willow was incredibly uneventful, with the only conversations of interest being this.
...
[I just realized something,] Springerdermain brought up with his fellow kaijin. [Why didn’t we just set up a teleporation array to connect Undertow to Stampeding Bison too? Or at the very least, to Blessed Willow City? Either one would make the commute easier.]
=Well, for starters, we don’t have the right materials to undergo such an array at this point in time. We really need to get our lord to go travelling abroad at some point.=
[That’s on the to-do list,] Hurricroak chimed in for some ominous reason. [I have a bucket list.]
[But we can’t die...]
[Doesn’t matter.]
=On top of that though,= Logos continued. =The [Abyssal Lands] are located so deep underground that any of the arrays we do have won’t work in the slightest. We’re more than likely to end up teleporting people into a random cave than the [Abyssal Lands].=
[Wait, is that why the Storm Queen and the Storm Knights needed to use a fuckton of tunnel systems to get in and out?]
<=Yup.=>
[Huh.]
<Not to mention, there are a things living in those waters that love the smell of teleportation energy...>
...
And this...
...
"Uh...grandaunt? Are you okay?"
"Welp, Xiao Liu, I was supposed to die in battle yesterday...but now I’m alive here."
"I’m...sorry?"
"Oh, I never told you this. I received a prophecy awhile back that I was supposed to die in the [Abyssal Lands] while surrounded by family and standing in front of a giant ancient monsters. So...I’m a little surprised all of that happened but I’m still here."
"That...wait...was that soothsayer talking about you, or your tattoo. Because we did just kind of learn that it was sentient yesterday..."
"Oh...FUCK!"
...
Anyways, with all that in mind, we now return to your regularly scheduled chapter.
Apologies for the interruption.
Thank you.
...
What happened to just skipping these?
|I got antsy.|
Right...
*Bing-Bong*
________________________________________
Beast Tides.
A "natural" disaster that consists of a huge amount of aether beasts suddenly rallying around a key aether beast leader, and going on a destructive rampage that tends to change the ecosystem in a rather drastic manner.
Nobody knew the exact conditions necessary for this Beast Tide convergence to occur, but there are some details that had been recorded throughout history and had been marked so that future generations would be prepared the next time such a traumatic event occurs once more.
It was from these records that a few particular details made themselves known.
First, the leader of the Beast Tide will always be the strongest of the horde, regardless of species. Once this leader is taken down, the horde will usually either disband or be so disorganized that they’ll be wiped out shortly after.
Second, the horde will usually consist of species native to the region with very few external breeds mixed in. That said, regions rich in a variety of aether tend to produce hordes that are equally rich in variety.
Third, and most importantly, the Beast Tide will always prioritize permanent mortal settlements before anywhere else.
As if to represent the unbridled fury of mother nature, or to remind mortals that they are merely a single link in the food chain, the Beast Tide will always wipe out villages and weak towns before aiming for the larger and better protected cities. Evidently, this last trait led to a rather... predictable reaction.
Mortals living in these aforementioned villages and towns will either die or migrate to the larger settlements, thereby strengthen the latter. However, this mass migration tended to have a negative effect on the people who live in these settlements.
Because eventually, the number of migrants and refugees will dwindle from caravan size to a a handful. And once that last handful of people make it through the gates, the Beast Tide would more than likely be on their heels.
And all the tension that had built up becuse of this encroaching doom would finally disappear.
But whether or not that disappearance would be due to the Beast Tide being stopped or the mortals being wiped out was up to the combatants.
Well...mostly.
...
[Do you have think we’ll have to get involved in the actual fighting against the Beast Tide’s leader?]
[Possibly, although, the young master’s family have been improving leaps and bounds in their cultivation and martial practices.]
[Especially after we helped to establish those cultivation arrays.]
[Indeed.]
[...has the stress of all the mortals been affecting you too?]
[Probably, why?]
[This is the third time we managed to hold conversation with each other without actively insulting one another or calling the other names.]
[Oh...shit, you’re right.]
[...]
[...]
[Should we fix that or-]
[Wait until we bury the beasts before we go back to calling bitches.]
[Fair.]
...
At this point in time, Stone Claw City had changed from the biggest city on the frontier, to being the only and most defended city in the frontier.
Thanks to a coordinated efforts led by the Zhen Clan, massive stone walls covered in defensive aether arrays were constructed one after the other and encircled the city as to prevent any attempts to circumvent the defenses.
Evacuation shelters were established in the underground caverns of Stone Claw, as a means for the civilian populace to not only hide away from the fighting, but possibly escape if things went south.
Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case though.
Soldiers from the major powers, medium powers and minor powers were drilled in all manner of formations, attack patterns, defensive measures and skills for all the sole purpose of fighting off the Beast Tide.
As for the champions of these powers, the elders and leaders, they made sure not to slack off either.
They knew that they were the only ones that could take out the leader of the Beast Tide and end this crisis in one fell swoop. However, that was easier said than done.
Because the leader of the Tide this time around was a seventh tier Whirling Dust Devil Tyrant while the leader of the mortal forces was only an Aether Lord.
This was an uphill fight of at most three tiers.
Of course, this observation was made under the assumption that the people of Stone Claw were fighting by themselves.
And Patriarch Zhen Shi was hoping on some good news in that regard.
...
"Father...why are you laying on Tiny’s back while petting Mini?"
"Because, first son of mine," Zhen Shi answered while not bothering to lift his head up at this moment. "I have discovered that an unintended side effect of me being suddenly younger again, physically at least, is that I am now more prone to anxiety than before. That and drinking during an ongoing crisis is probably a bad idea."
"Kuu!"
"Grunt!"
"And they agree."
"Fair enough."
One would assume that being a local hegemon was all debauchery and hedonism, but that only applied to people who didn’t understand the burden of leadership and were corrupt as hell.
Zhen Shi, unfortunately(?), was a true blue leader who had been through the wringer and then some.
As such, he was arguably the most stressed individual when it came to the Beast Tide. Which was why he was hiding out in the Zhen Clan’s stables while laying on the back of a now fifth tier Tiny, and a 2nd tier baby Mini.
A fifth tier Raijin Hippo would be a devasting force of nature under any other circumstances, but in a situation like this...it would help alleviate the pressure but not by much.
"Anyways, Xiao Long, I assume you have a reason why you’re coming to bother me while I’m in the middle of attempting to relax?"
"Well...I have good, bad and mixed news."
"Start with the bad news," Zhen Shi requested while unmoving from his position in Tiny’s back. "Then the good, then the mixed."
"Scouts are reporting that the Beast Tide horde has grown by at least forty percent, and it’s been joined by three additional fifth tier Aether Beasts."
"Great..."
"The rest of the elders, my brothers, have managed to breakthrough to the Aether Grandmaster stage."
"That is actually great news," Zhen Shi honestly stated while laying back. "We’ve been stagnant for so long that movement like this is good...too bad it’s at the precipice of something awful."
"Indeed," Zhen Long agreed.
"So what’s the mixed news?"
"Well... there’s a chance that the matriarch and our scions will be able to assist us in the upcoming Beast Tide."
"Huh...what’s the point estimate?"
"Couple days."
"Hmmm..."
