Chapter 1064: One Sour Note...

’Ya know...I was originally thinking my powers was broken and cheating...but if my opponents are gonna be like her from here on out, I don’t mind cheating.’

[I’m...not entirely sure if that’s a healthy mindset to have, Executor.]

’It’s either that or I start doing some questionable ass stuff to cultivate faster...or something like that.’

[Speaking of fast, the Fallen Matriarch just dodged our tricky attack.]

’Wait, really? Damn, she flexible’

...Now back to the actual fight...

SWISH

Like a cobra ready to strike, Zhen Liu’s bone spear had lunged at Gao Shen Yuan’s neck. In an ideal situation, this would’ve been the moment her neck would get pierced through and the spear would deliver a lethal amount of aether flames, ending the fight in an instant.

Unfortunately, the opposite of the ideal happened.

At the very last minute, Gao Shen Yuan managed to jerk head away from the spear’s path and narrowly avoid receiving a tracheotomy.

[Twisting Boa Kick!]

Not even bothering to throw in a retort or a jab at Zhen Liu’s failed sneak attack, Gao Shen Yuan simply used the opportunity to throw a kick-based Corporeal aether art at Zhen Liu’s head.

Surprisingly, it actually worked.

Mostly.

A booming echo occurred as Gao Shen Yuan’s foot impacted the side of Zhen Liu’s, temporarily stunning the latter but failing to do any lasting damage. It was still enough to force the latter to release the engagement though.

"Gah! Scaly bitch!," Zhen Liu growled as he stepped back with one hand still on his spear while the other was holding the side of his face. He had actually wanted to complain about the pain in that moment, but that would’ve injured the credibility of his current intimidating appearance.

Lords that can control demonic don’t say "ow.

Regardless, once the two combatants had separated from one another, Gao Shen Yuan used that chance to quietly converse with Buzza using her aether. Coincidentally, Zhen Liu was doing the same but with the kaijin in his brain.

...

"Are you quite done gathering data yet?! This Kaijin Lord is significantly tougher than I anticipated."

[Patience, my dear. Patience. I zzztill need him to throw a few more attackzzz your way. Of the ranged variety, if you can make it happen.]

"I’ll see what I can do."

________________________

’Okay, I think this bitch learned how to use a little bit of [Chaos] because that kicked to the head actually hurt. I think I have tinnitus again.’

[Again?,]

’Past life.’

[Ah. In that case, may I suggest we just blast her with fireballs from a distance? I have the firepower to make that happen.]

’Not a bad idea, but there’s a non-zero chance she got energy specific shields or anti-fire charms on her ass or something...oh! I got it!’

...

Understanding that getting in close range with one another was a bad idea, especially for Gao Shen Yuan, the two warriors began preparations for turning this into a running ranged battle.

From a spatial storage treasure on her hip, Gao Shen Yuan summoned forth several dozen or so throwing knives made of blackened metal. An outside observer would recognize these knives as a speciality product of the Fallen known as [Black Star Knives]. They were made of ordinary iron ore, but cooled with the [Shadow Water] of the Abyssal Lands, imparting them with a small bit of their power and turning them into deadly weapons that inexplicably flew faster and harder in dark environments.

Many a target fell to these knives in previous Fallen raids on the surface.

Meanwhile, Zhen Liu had gone with a rather strange approach and used his [Hammer of the Dearly Departed] to convert his bone spear into a bone repeating crossbow. On top of that, he had Blazejudicator load it with literal bolts of fire while he extracted some animal fangs from the pouches on his hip.

Zhen Liu had initially planned to use these fangs as zako material, but using them as makeshift physical crossbow bolts worked just as well.

Once both sides had made their preparations, they stared each other down in preparation for the ensuing fire fight.

"[Go!]"

[Swarming Viper Barrage]

Gao Shen Yuan took the first move, throwing a fan of knives that were infused with her aether, alongside several more knives that weren’t.

As the knives flew through the air, they transformed into shadowy vipers that swam through the air like it was water and beared their fangs for the slaughter.

With their erratic patterns and nearly invisible bodies, the knives turned vipers would be nearly impossible to dodge or block without at least several of them making contact and dealing lasting damage.

On top of that, the more mundane knives were actually thrown at weird angles so that they could bounce around and hit in unexpected ways, or at least serve as a distraction from the vipers.

However, there were still ways of dealing with such an attack.

[Blazing Bolt Barrage!]

Such as blindfiring like an idiot with a magic automatic crossbow.

With Blazejudicator’s assistance, Zhen Liu fired off multiple bolts of multicolored flames that intercepted all of the projectiles heading his way, while also firing off several physical bolts made from reformed animal fangs that were almost as lethal due to the mild infusion of [Chaos].

The shadow vipers exploded upon contact with the bolts of fire, while the mundane knives were knocked out of the air when they came in contact with the bone bolts. As for all the projectiles that managed to sneak pass this barrage, both sides were forced to dodge or block.

"Shit!"

[Fuck!]

Due to having only to throw her projectiles, Gao Shen Yuan still had enough time to knock away a couple of the projectiles using her bident shaped [Astra]. There were a few times where the [Chaos] infused bolts bypassed it entirely, but there was enough force to knock them away entirely.

As for Zhen Liu, due to his hands being occupied by the crossbow, he was forced to mostly dodge or rely on Blazejudicator for the defense.

Whenever a knife got too close for comfort, Blazejudicator would manifest a burning hand and knock the offending implement away. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it worked.

[These knives feel nasty.]

’Just roll with it, we can go see the curators latter.’

Unfortunately for them, this moment of easiness was about to come a rather painful end.

...

"Are you done gathering data, now?!"

[One more zzzecond...yezzz. I am now done.]

"Perfect! Now how do we beat this-"

[Dizzzengage.]

"What?"

[Juzzzt do it.]

...

’We locked and loaded?’

[New round of fire bolts are ready, Executor.]

’Cool. Let’s blast these bastards-huh?’

Zhen Liu had just finished preparing for a second round of fire bolts, when out of nowhere, Gao Shen Yuan withdrew from the fight.

The opponents taking her place was none other than that weird looking bug kaijin that came with her.

At this sudden change in opponents, Zhen Liu couldn’t help but be on edge. Then again, that could be due to the [Chaos] being directed towards was oddly...clinical.

[A pleazzzure to finally make your acquaintance, Kaijin Lord of the current era. My name is Buzza,] this new opponent said as he performed a bow that rubbed Zhen Liu the wrong way. [I must zzzay, I was not expecting your exizzztence for another hundred or zzzo years. It appearzzz I need to readjuzzzt my modelzzzz.]

[Uh...huh...,] Zhen Liu cautiously nodded, unsure how he was supposed to respond to such a weird statement. Even Blazejudicator was thrown for a loop.

[Executor, why does this guy feel...off? Even by our standards, this Buzza guy feels weird.]

’I don’t know...’

Unaware or uncaring of Zhen Liu’s and Blazejudicator’s comments, Buzza kept talking.

[I muzzzzt zzzay, learning how you managed to take care of my experiment in Zzzzpider’s Hell was both fruzzztrating and enlightening. I never knew that it was possible to reawaken a soul in zzzuch a manner.]

"Wait a minute, you’re the guy who made that Grub guy?!" Zhen Liu interjected.

[Indeed, he wazzz, my doing. Although, he wazzz meant to be unzzzealed, but alas, I now know how mortals react to breakdownzzz, zzzo I have to thank you for that.]

"..."

[Izzz zzzomething wrong?]

"I’m going to rip your head off."

[Oh?]

FWOOSH!

[Ah.]

In the blink of an eye, Zhen Liu was upon Buzza like a tiger on a deer.

Zhen Liu was not fond of the bullshit he had to deal in the bottom of Insect Hell. And now, knowing that he could directly blame someone for all of that, he couldn’t help but want to rip that person’s head off, kaijin or not.

Unfortunately, this was the worst decision he could’ve made.

As Zhen Liu essentially became a massive ball of rage and fury, Buzza simply stood there with a calm expression.

[I wazzz going to try and negotiate, but...oh well. Hell’s Hum.]

But then, just as Zhen Liu was about to be in punching distance, Buzza unfolded his wings.

"What the-GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

[EXECUTOR! IT HURTS!]

And released a sound so hellish that it stopped both Zhen Liu and Blazejudicator in their path.