Chapter 1731: Change of Plans - Frosttusk

"What the hell happened to them?"

"We…we don't know."

[I know…what happened,] I rumbled. [But it's…not my…place to tell.]

"Oh…"

Being attacked by those strange Grafted had rattled Nepherage and Hurricroak.

Neither of them were mortally injured, thank the gods, but their wounds were much deeper than we had anticipated.

Thankfully, as beings made of [Chaos], we recovered fast...physically at least.

Mentally and spiritually, though, it was a bit harder to recover.

Especially when said attacks came wrapped in a personalized and targeted package.

[How did they...they couldn't possibly have...]

[It's okay, Hurricroak. They were just messing with your head. They shouldn't be able to, but…it's fine. I know you wouldn't be able to do that.l]

[How can you know….]

"What the fuck..."

This was also, however, the first time that any of the Zhen Clan warriors had ever seen any of us rattled like this before. Hell, this was the first time I had ever seen any of my fellow kaijin rattled in such a manner.

After their attack, Hurricroak and Nepherage had retreated to the tent where the Zhen Clan were living with the Storm Singers, as opposed to the central one where the rest of the tribesmen were hanging around.

We still had a reputation to maintain, and appearing in such a vulnerable state would be considered less than ideal.

That stated, the Zhen Clan warriors looked understandably worried over the current states of Hurricroak and Nepherage.

"I have never seen either of them act this shaken before," Zhen Hai commented as he looked at how Hurricroak was legitimately shivering.

As the mortal who had been possessed by Hurricroak multiple times before, he was quite familiar with her habits, thoughts, and most importantly, the secrets that she kept close to her [Core].

[I didn't mean…I can't…]

Which is why, unlike the other mortals in the room, he could understand why Hurricroak was repeating herself.

"Uh…I don't want to be rude, but shouldn't we be looking deeper into these weird Grafted warriors?" Zhen Long asked. "From the sound of it, these new ones aren't like any of the other Grafted we seen before."

Back in the Abyssal Lands, Zhen Long had been there when some weird Grafted warriors that vaguely had sea creature parts suddenly showed up to try and salvage the mechanical monster that Zhen Liu and Jin Fang had turned into scrap metal.

That situation was resolved rather quickly, but it didn't change the fact that the Grafted guy was fucking creepy.

And now, a weird new form of that kind of creepy had become our enemy.

Thankfully, I had similar thoughts.

[I sent…out my…zakos…to investigate…] I told the others. [And it…appears… they have… contact…]

"Already? But it's only been an hour since these two got back," Zhen Xun Tian noted.

[Kaijin…connection,] I answered. [I felt…their pain…I sent…scouts…immediately after.]

"Ah…so what did they find?" Zhen Shi asked.

[Nothing…good.] I said as I focused on my connection to my shield maiden. [Nothing good…]

…POV change…

[Bad…very bad…]my shieldmaiden zako muttered to herself from her hiding spot.

Since Nepherage and Hurricroak left those two weird Grafted warriors alive, I could easily send a zako to trail after them.

These Grafted, whoever they were, weren't used to using [Chaos] to check their surroundings, so my apprentice was able to catch up and spy on them with relative ease.

Once she started to detect several dozen similar auras ahead of her, though, she started to slow down and began to actively shield herself in case there was someone or something that could detect her presence.

That turned out to be quite warranted.

[So many…people…]

The Storm Singers had once described the Collectrix's fortress as a palace of tribal opulence, with glittering golden walls decorated with jewels, the skulls of giant monsters and treasures stolen from a thousand different tribes.

Adding on to the savagery, there were hundreds of different tribes surrounding the place like a great war horde.

That might've been the case not too long ago, but that wasn't the case now…sort of.

[Stone…shouldn't be floating…like that…]

What was once a regular fortress made of ostentatious treasures had undergone a transformation to become what I could only describe as a giant floating ball of debris, rubble, and treasure that was still surrounded by several hundred tribes all camped out for war.

[Why are they...hanging around something that nasty...?]

Leaking from this mass, the shield maiden sensed an absurdly strong [Desire] mixed with incredibly dense [Chaos].

It was like...a combination between a true kaijin and a Grafted warrior at the same time.

And things only got weirder from there.

As my shield maiden watched, she eventually sensed the energy in the area starting to twist and distort. Not only that, but the distortion seemed to prompt the surrounding tribal warriors to get closer and closer to the ball.

[I need to...get closer....too...]

It only took a scant few seconds to get close enough to hear the tribal warriors talking with each other. Their topic of discussion though, was... unusual.

•Her majesty stirs once more!•

•More shall become Blessed! More shall wield the great power!•

•I hope my old man gets chosen...•

[Blessed...?]

My shield maiden eventually found a spot where she could see that the tribal warriors were surrounding the floating ball of rubble like it was a bonfire and they were shivering victims hiding from a blizzard.

From their mouths, a single phrase was repeated.

•Bless us...Bless us...Bless us… •

As these words echoed, my shield maiden could feel a shiver crawl up her non-existent spine. Especially since the constant chanting seemed to cause the ball of floating rubble to stir even further than before.

[What are they…]

Before my shield maiden could finish her questioning thought, several glowing pieces of junk suddenly shot out of the floating ball of rubble at breakneck speeds and slammed into several of the chanting tribesmen in a random manner. At least, I think it was random.

Shortly after the treasures made contact with flesh, a violent mutation occurred that caused them to fuse with the mortal warriors.

The auras of these auras began to change from being traditional aether warriors to being something akin to the Grafted but mixed with the aura of the psuedo-kaijin from the battle with Dante.

The mutation eventually came to an end, and the newly transformed warriors released bellows of delirious joy.

•I am chosen! I am chosen!•

•I have never felt this much before!•

•Kneel you dogs! Kneel!•

Then again, anyone would be this deliriously joyful if they sudden jumped from being slowly Aether Acolyte to have the power equivalent to an Aether Grandmaster or greater.

And right now...I could sense several dozen of these auras.

[Fuck...]

...POV switch...

"So...to sum up: the Collectrix somehow learned how to use [Chaos], and she's now using it to create an army of...Blessed?"Zhen Hai asked as he tried to wrap his head around the report my shield maiden sent to me.

[Yes,] I answered solemnly and firmly.

Minn Jarl's family looked understandably perturbed by the news.

Well, minn Jarl's immediate family looked perturbed.

Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian looked positively giddy at the news that the Collectrix was apparently making Grafted warriors of her own flavor.

"Xiao Shi, have I ever mentioned how thankful I am for having you and your family come back into my life?" Zhen Xun Tian said with a sincere smile.

"No, but...why?" Zhen Shi asked, understandably confused by the statement.

"Ever since you and yours came into my life, it has been one interesting opponent after another! Fighting the wars at the Pearl Scale border is fun and all, but being able to fight monstrous opponents that look and sound like monsters in a folktale? That right there is fucking legendary!"

"Ah.

"Which is also why I am declaring we change our plan," Zhen Xun Tian said as she demanded the attention of her technical descendants. "Instead of pussyfooting around for a perfect opportunity where we can rescue the captive Storm Singers while they have their pants down, I say we just go in and pull their pants off ourselves before choking them with it."

"That's...not a bad idea... hmmm."

Slowly and surely, the Collectrix was upgrading her current army into becoming the warriors that even the Kaijin had troubl n fighting

Unless they acted now, with the element of surprise at their side, they would very much be defeated in a future conflict.

They at least had a small chance of being able to defeat the bitch if they attacked now.

"Wait, did anyone tell the Storm Singers about this development?" Zhen Hai asked. "Because this kind of situation isn't something we can keep the Storm Singer's in the dark about. I don't oikentb be surprised if they are the first ones to get wiped out if she succeeds in building this army of..."

"Grafted?"

"I was going to say that, but they're too different from Grafted despite the aura...bah, worry about it later! For now, we got a war to win."