Chapter 490: Thunder Falling...

[...and that’s his plan.]

’...’

[What’s wrong, director?]

’Nothing, just...realizing recklessness is indeed baked into my blood...and sincerely didn’t know my uncle could do that.’

[Yeah, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my several weeks of...sapience? Sentience? One of those, is that y’all humans are a weird bunch who like to hide stuff from each other, especially family, when it comes to things like talent and abilities. Like you, director.]

’That’s...fair enough... Frosttusk, you got all that?’

[Drop...the...shield...steady...rate.. use...uncle...snake...as...targeted...bait...]

’Good lad....Sixth Uncle, I hope to whatever deities exist here that you know what the fuck you’re doing...’

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"Huh...is my relationship with you guys so bad that I wasn’t even aware Zhen Ye could dance like that?"

"No no, father. This is new to us too," Zhen Long assured him, "the last time I’ve seen Zhen Ye move like that was...actually not even when we drink together. Last time I saw him dance like that was when we were children."

"I definitely do not recall him being able to move like that," Zhen Lao added.

When Zhen Ye did his incredibly loud snake call, he didn’t only capture the attention of all of the Ravager Otters that were still being a nuisance in the water, it had actually grabbed the attention of his brothers, father and the Thunderscale Dragon Otter that were all still airborne.

Therefore, all of them had a clear view as Zhen Ye proceeded to perform a strange dance that seemed to entrance the Ravager Otters, and then absolutely steal their attention as he created the illusion of a feathered serpent to encase himself with.

From a distance, it looked as if a giant feathered serpent was dancing in and out of the river, luring in and entrancing those foolish enough to stare at it for too long. Which in this case, was the pack of Ravager Otters.

Then again, another point of view would believe that the Ravager Otters were in the middle of hunting a foolish feathered serpent that had wandered into territory it shouldn’t have.

Either way, Zhen Ye was doing a very good job in distracting and attracting the Ravager Otters.

As to where exactly, none of the would know up until Zhen Ye made a rather loud request.

One that absolutely none of them were expecting.

"Xiao Liu! Have your puppet drop the ice shield, now!"

"Wait, what?!"

What made this request even more absurd was that Zhen Liu actually agreed!

While there was no verbal reply from Zhen Liu’s end, all the group had to do was watch as the ice shield, that his mammoth puppet was maintaining, began to fall apart and disappear at a steady rate to know that Zhen Liu definitely heard him and agreed to this request for some unknown reason.

To say they were aghast at this turn of events would be a bit of an understatement.

"Godsdammit! What is he thinking?!"

"I don’t know, but we gotta get in there before the shield breaks completely, now!"

Among the four fighters, Zhen Lao and Zhen Yan were the first to step forward and try to make moves to prevent what would surely be a tragedy of mass casualties.

They were still under the impression that their weaker clansmen and fellow caravanners were busy fighting off the Ravager Otters, unaware of any drastic changes that might have occurred during or before Zhen Ye’s impromptu dance number.

"Hey! Wait a minute, look!"

That is until, before any of them could do anything remotely drastic, Zhen Shi himself ended up pulling them both back.

"Huh?!"

"Father, what are you doing?!"

"I’m telling you two to stop for a second and look. The only people down there in the water are either Ravager Otters or your brother!"

"What?"

Both Zhen Yan and Zhen Lao did a quick scan of the surroundings beneath them to confirm their father’s statement, only to be surprised to find he was indeed telling the truth.

All of the people that were either evacuating or fighting otters had now relocated themselves to be hiding in the local treeline.

However, it didn’t stop the two of them from wanting to rush in and at least get their brother out of there.

"Zhen Ye is still down there though, and if we don’t get to him in time, we won’t be able to rescue from the incoming lightning ball," Zhen Yan argued.

"No, you won’t," Zhen Long agreed, " but she will."

"She?"

"ROOAAARRR!"

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

Much to everyone’s surprise, the Thunderscale Dragon Otter had decided to forget fighting the four of them and began to rush forward towards the lightning ball.

It didn’t take the group long to figure out that she was rushing forward in an attempt to stop her own attack from making landfall and devastating her own pack.

"Wait..I thought those who could use dragon force could just cancel out their attacks from wherever and whenever…why is she rushing forward and trying to stop her attack manually?"

"I don’t know…"

"Maybe it’s a particularly untalented dragon otter?"

As they watched the dragon otter do its damndest to stop her own folly from playing out, swapping ideas as to why the beast didn’t cancel out her attack from afar, Zhen Long was hit with a sudden piece of inspiration.

"Hold up…father, I know you have mastered [Echoing Frost]. Zhen Lao, Zhen Yan…have you two also managed to wrap your heads around that particular art?"

"Mostly."

"Barely."

"Okay, cool, so I have a plan…"

_____________________________________________

*Bing-Bong*

Note that the following scene takes place at the same time as the previous one, but ends right when the dragon otter comes flying in.

Thank you.

*Bing-Bong*

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’Come on, come on…,’ Zhen Ye muttered to himself as he kept dancing and weaving, keeping his eyes squarely on the ice shield and the dragonforce lightning ball.

[You do realize that what you’re attempting requires incredible timing and a shit load of luck, right?]

’I am aware, repressed me, so quiet down and let me do my thing!’

[Aight, aight. Good to know you’re becoming more assertive though.]

While Zhen Ye might have initially started his strange attention-grabbing dance as a means of taking the heat off of his family, that idea quickly evolved into something a touch more devious.

’Okay, it looks like the ice shield is breaking apart just as planned, now I just need to wait for the right moment to jump…’

Having spent years being "quiet" and "unassuming", and flinching at loud noises, Zhen Ye ended up developing a knack for observing his surroundings in detail. More specifically, he was a touch better at predicting whether or not something was going to be "loud" or "violent".

If you can’t stop something from setting you off mentally, at least you could prepare for it mentally…at least, that was Zhen Ye’s thoughts on the matter.

Regardless, realizing that the lightning ball the Thunderscale Dragon Otter had fired was still present, being held back by a giant wall of ice, Zhen Ye quickly thought up a plan to end this skirmish once for all.

Namely, luring in all of the Ravager Otters into one spot, have Zhen Liu drop the ice shield, and then get the fuck out of there with an old art he learned years ago as the Ravager Otters get burnt into a crisp by their own leader’s attack.

Worst case scenario, the Thunderscale Dragon Otter cancels her attack from a distance and it give his father and brothers an opportunity to attack.

It was fool-proof!

’Okay, by estimation, the shield will fall any second and I can-’

"ROAARRRR!"

[Incoming dragon otter!]

’ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!’

Evidently, he didn’t expect the Thunderscale Dragon Otter to be the one to make a move first.

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’STUPID. HAIRLESS. BASTARDS!,’ the Thunderscale Dragon Otter mentally roared as she flew towards her own attack, her claws circulating with aether.

She had fired off that lighting attack with the sole purpose of cooking everyone else, and maybe some members of her own pack, namely the reckless ones that didn’t have any proper danger sense, but she didn’t aim to destroy her entire fucking pack!

’STUPID. DRAGON. BLOOD. NOT WORKING. RIGHT!’

Supposedly, those who had the ability to use dragon force could manipulate any attacks made with the stuff to a degree not unlike how a master puppeteer could control their puppets.

However, this only applied to those who either naturally had access to dragon force from the get-go, or those who had over two centuries of practice.

This is a piece of information that’s never really shared, because a warrior or beasts that randomly develops it happens so rarely that not everyone knows about it.

As such, the Thunderscale Dragon Otter had neither of these qualifications.

The otter had only gained access to these abilities some hundred or so years ago, after having consumed the flesh of a strange crocodile-like being that had been slain by the elders of her first pack.

Strangely, all of the otters at the time who had consumed the flesh of this being had died shortly after doing so.

Only she was the one to survive and become what she was today.

’DIDN’T. DIE. THEN. WON’T. DIE. NOW.’

Inflamed by her own survival history, the dragon otter flew even faster.

This would not be her last hunt, merely one that took longer than average...or so she thought.