Chapter 1721: Hero’s axe - Hurricroak

From inside of Zhen Hai’s dome, I could still hear the sound of fighting happening above our collective heads.

The three chiefs of the Star Vipers tribe, Red Weavers tribe, and the Rot Feathers tribe were doing their absolute best to keep up with Zhen Xun Tian, but the matriarch was the superior warrior in practically every aspect.

She had yet to summon her [Avatar], and I was fairly certain that she wasn’t going to until she got bored of the trio...or we had gotten ourselves into deep shit.

And to be very honest of ourselves, I think we were rapidly approaching the latter.

[So...are we about to do some rockstar arrogance, or do we want to take a few moments to warm up before we decide to rock out with our cocks out?] I asked Zhen Hai, my current host.

The Maestro’s first cousin was the first person I ever possessed when I first came into existence, and the man had proven himself quite adept at handling the [Determination] I suffuse in the people I hop into.

"I think it’s going to be a case of the latter," Zhen Hai answered me. "The fact that there are so many corpses in the roots is freaking me out...but the fact that the guy from earlier was ejected in a boulder of ice makes me think that it’s not the roots we should be worrying about. It’s driving me nuts."

[It is rather suspicious, isn’t it...]

In my spare time at the library, I’ve been reading a lot of mystery books and learning that the most obvious solution or culprit isn’t always the right one. But alas, this wasn’t our call to make.

This performance could only be directed by two people, and one was already more than willing to give up center stage.

"Alright, fuck it," Zhen Shi declared. "Hakon, we’ll cover you while you try and pull the axe out of that skull. I don’t know how long it’s going to take but I get the feeling it’s not going to be pretty and it’s probably going to attract some unwanted attention. Are you ready?"

"Yes," Hakon immediately answered with a determined gaze and a heroic voice.

I remember reading somewhere once that it was always the young that embodied the recklessness of heroism better than any other demographic, and this right here was a perfect example.

[Do you think he’ll be able to pull out the axe?] I asked my host.

"I think so," Zhen Hai answered. "Since I got you in my head, my senses have gotten much sharper, and I can’t help but to notice that Hakon and the axe have very similar wavelengths."

[Ah yes, the young hero pulls the sword from the stone and becomes the king of Britain. How classic.]

"What’s Britain?"

[From my understanding, the birthplace of punk rock and the accents of some of the kaijin. Anyways, we should probably focus on running defense.]

"Right."

With the plan for our set all laid out, we immediately set ourselves up to get ready for what was probably going to be a hell of a fight.

[Regalia, manifest!]

One by one each of the defending Zhen Clan warriors called forth the armor that was a manifestation of their [Conviction].

Normally, these armors were perfectly tailored and were a reflection of their owners. And, as members of the Zhen Clan, all of the manifested armors had a clear animal theming to them.

However, thanks to the presence of us kaijin, their [Regalia] were enhanced with the touch of [Stigma]. Or in the case of the one man in the room with an [Astra], they also got empowered by [Taboo].

"Whoa! Why is armor my blue?! Also, what’s with the stripes?"

The most noticeable change happened to Zhen Long, aka, one of the members of the Zhen Clan who had yet to feel the power of [Possession] and [Bestowal].

His formula had something to do with wolves, ergo, Zhen Long’s grey [Regalia] made him look a bit like a werewolf. However, thanks to Slug-at-Arms’ influence the appearance had changed rather dramatically.

His [Regalia] had developed highlights of blue and white that made him look rather dashing, and there were small dark blue spikes on the contours of his body that were radiating a venomous power.

A [Taboo] laced with poison.

"Hey, I think we color-coordinate now," Zhen Hai commented. "Actually...I think we’re all some shade of blue."

Zhen Hai’s [Regalia] made him look like a knight dressed in shark-themed armor. Which, if what the Neo Storm Knights were telling me was true, was actually a surprising point of contention for the people of the Abyssal Lands.

More than once, he had been confused as being a Storm Knight kaijin because of his armor, and that led to a whole slew of weird interactions.

But thanks to my influence, he didn’t run that risk now.

I tried to not distort the overall look too much, but the man’s regular pauldrons now resembled crab claws, his gauntlets had a bear motif, his back had engravings resembling a wasp, his greaves had tiger stripes, his wait armor had a fox-fur lining, and I made sure that his chest plate had a subtle frog face on it.

To really bring out the color and power, though, his armor was now glowing a soft neon blue like yours truly.

The most visually striking transformation award, though, did not go to me and the shark warrior. Instead, that honor went to Zhen Shi and Frosttusk.

Zhen Shi’s [Regalia] had a sea serpent-like motif due to his formula and the [Lesser World Serpent] beast spirit inside of his body. As such, he already had this regal, ancient presence to him that made the man look and feel like someone strong enough to flip over a mountain with a wave of his hand.

When Frosttusk got involved, though, that aura shot up exponentially. ℯℯ𝘭.

Frosttusk’s [Stigma] made Zhen Shi noticeably larger but didn’t visually distort the man’s [Regalia] as much as me or Slug-at-arms. Instead, it simply added some more details.

Ivory inlaining here and there, strategic tufts of fur, and Zhen Shi looked like an ancient viking warrior god.

The only thing I knew to be more visually striking than the armor though was the man’s [Astra] combined with Frosttusk’s [Taboo]. But now wasn’t the time for it to make an appearance.

The last among us to don a [Regalia] was Terra, and since she didn’t have a kaijin in her head, hers was the most "typical".

Granted, it was still enhanced by her innate [Chaos].

"You know, I can’t help but feel a little jealous at all of you being able to use [Bestowal]," Terra observed. "Does it feel weird, though?"

"Kind of?" Zhen Long admitted. "Feels like the first time I donned my [Regalia]."

"Huh. Makes sense."

The only one amongst us who hadn’t donned a [Regalia] yet was Hakon, despite Nepherage’s power making it possible.

The young warrior refused to do so, though, saying that he felt it was necessary to lay himself bare before his ancestor’s treasure.

"Alright then," Zhen Shi nodded in understanding. "Let’s get to it."

Now that we were ready for the big show, we moved to cover various points of the cavern while Hakon approached the axe.

His approach was... surprisingly quiet.

Neither the roots nor the ice around the axe seemed to lash out in any noticeable way as Hakon and Nepherage slowly floated towards it until they were right next to it and positioned in the best place to pull it out of the skull.

[And here comes the bass drop in three, two, one,] I said inside of Zhen Hai’s head as soon as Hakon began to reach towards the axe.

"Wait, what?"

The moment Hakon touched the axe, Zhen Hai’s expression went from questioning to understanding in a single second.

"Oh, I get it."

[Told you that would—NYEEEH! WHAT THE FUCK?!]

A powerful wave of aether surged out of the axe as soon as Hakon made contact, a surge powerful enough that it actually overwhelmed all of our [Chaos] defenses and actually shocked the souls of our hosts.

As for us kaijin, we felt like we had just been tasered in the junk.

[How the fuck and why?!]

[I don’t know...]

[Wait is Nepherage okay?!]

The other kaijin and I had wanted to immediately fly over and check, but before we could exit our hosts, we felt several hundred or so aggressive auras come flowing out of the tunnels that we had all stood guard at.

That aether surge had flowed through and out of the tunnels, meaning that every single enemy warrior in the encampment knew what we were doing.

If this was normal circumstances, than the Zhen Clan warriors we were possessing would’ve eventually been wiped out due to attrition.

But now they had us, and none of these mother fuckers had any [Chaos], dragon force, or musical aether arts in hand.

"[This is going to be fun.]"