Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1534: Silence doesn’t mean safety

[Alright, place your bets,] Hurricroak asked her fellow Kaijin. [You think we're about walk into a massacre or the start of one?]

[I'm not hearing any screaming, so I'm going with the aftermath of a slaughter,] Nepherage answered first.

[I'm going with a sleeping curse,] Screamira suggested. [I'm not sensing the dead behind that door.]

[Wait...aren't we in a catacomb?] Razorstella asked.

[Yes.]

[Oh...that might be a problem.]

...

[As you command, Ringmaster.]

Once he was removed from Zhen Liu's body, Springerdermain immediately switched from being a spring-like armband to the form of a small magician-like figure that rolled through a crack of the door and into the larger chamber where the Redoxa Family should've been hiding

Emphasis on the word "should."

The moment Springdermain entered the room, he found the place to be...empty.

Completely empty.

Which was...worrying.

...

[Uh...Ringmaster. We have a problem. Nobody's here and there are no bodies here. ]

'I can see that...alright, I'll inform the others. Springerdermain, find someplace high to hide and get ready to possibly drop in like a spring-loaded spike.'

[Aye, aye, Ringmaster.]

...

"Okay, good news and bad news," Zhen Liu announced to his allies and captured enemies. "Good news, we're not going to be attacked when we open this door. Bad news: nobody is behind these doors."

"I—wait, what? Why is that a bad thing?" Antonio asked.

"Because Zhen Liu's zakos had watched the Redoxa Family enter this place en masse," Jinju Ren answered. "And is it safe to assume that this is the only way in or out of that room?"

"Yes, yes it is," Zhen Liu confirmed as he drew his hammer and bone club. "And weirder still, Springerdermain isn't finding any corpses in there either."

"Oh…that's not good."

"MMMPH?!"

"Oh joy, the last of our now pointless hostages are conscious. Great," Zhen Xing grumbled at the sight of the wriggling and gagged, once-proud Aether Lord. "Not going to lie, these [Chaos]-infused bindings are a little broken."

At this point, the last of the captive Redoxa warriors had finally regained consciousness. Oddly, they had regained consciousness in ascending cultivation level, so Zhen Liu and company didn't have to deal with Convad until just this moment.

There had been worries about them breaking free and causing havoc, but that issue was resolved with the judicious application of [Chaos]-infused bindings. It was a trick that Zhen Liu had learned from the deceased Dante's stuff. Didn't do anything to mute the chained warriors, though.

Regardless, once these captivated warriors heard that their base of operations was bereft of people, that not even the corpses of their friends and allies were present, they couldn't help but bemoan their current predicament and vocalize their discontent.

Well, they made a lot of angry grunting noise that was somewhat similar to the sounds a tied-up pig would make.

"Wait, should we even bring these guys in there?" Olstenna asked. "I mean, the zakos will be the ones in charge of guarding them, but they're still somewhat of a liability…"

"No, we're just going to leave them out here," Zhen Liu answered as he gestured for Rianna to position herself in the back with an arrow notched and ready while he placed himself at the very front of the group. "Follow my lead in one, two, three!"

With a roar and a burst of [Chaos], Zhen Liu smashed through the door in front of him and cleared a path for the rest of his party to follow.

"Looks like he hasn't been blasted by a trap aether array…let's go!"

"Weapons drawn!"

Olstenna, Antonio, Lythero, Zhen Xing, Zhen Tai, and Jinju Ren followed after Zhen Liu with their aether treasures and weapons drawn, while Rianna remained where she was with her bow and arrow at the ready.

Her role was to provide covering fire if it was necessary. That, and her other job, was making sure that the hostages behaved. Otherwise, she would have free rein to nail them in the dome with an arrow that could rival a cannon blast.

But from what they could all see, this measure was mildly unwarranted.

The moment they all entered the chamber where the Redoxa Family should've been hiding out and planning their next move, they found…nothing.

They heard nothing.

They sensed nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Combining this silence with the fact that there was an empty-looking underground fortress nearby still littered with goods that were clearly neatly stacked into stockpiles lends credence to the fact that something had gone terribly wrong.

"Oh…nobody's actually in here…that's…cool…I think," Antonio commented, despite the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end and his claws extended in a defensive manner.

"Yeah…no. If there's one thing I've learned as a warrior, it's that absolute nothingness like this is a prelude to something worse," Olstenna commented. "Keep your guard up."

…Meanwhile, in Zhen Liu's head…

'Are you guys sensing anything in here or am I just letting my imagination take the reins?'

[I'm not sensing anything…] Nepherage answered first. [No aether. No Chaos. Nothing.]

[No…heat…] Frosttusk rumbled.

[I'm not hearing anything ei…wait a minute…I hear something over there…]

'Dare I ask what you're haring?'

[It sounds like…shuffling?]

'Oh come on…'

[Wait, no…it's more like…scraping and shuffling?]

'Okay…what the fuck?'

…Uh-oh…

Whether it was due to legitimate paranoia from this place being creepy as all hell or because Zhen Liu had finally rubbed off on them, it was collectively decided that the best course of action was to get into a circular formation in order to cover everyone's backs. However, Zhen Liu was the only one who hadn't joined in on this turtle-shell formation.

Instead, the man kept his hammers at the ready and his eyes towards the fortress.

"Xiao Liu, I know it's rich coming from me, but what the fuck are you doing?" Jinju Ren asked. "Why aren't you a part of this defensive huddle? That seems like something you should be doing."

As she made this observation, Jinju Ren noticed that Zhen Liu's body seemed tense and that his gaze was focused towards the darkened entrance of this small fortress. When the dragon-blooded princess tried to see what Zhen Liu was looking at, using aether to enhance her vision, she realized she couldn't see through the entrance at all.

"Uh oh…"

This was yet more evidence that something foul was afoot in this fortress, and it was just about to reveal itself in a manner most…unnerving.

Shuffle. Clank! Shuffle. Clank!

"What the fuck is that sound?"

"And why can't I sense anything?"

"..."

From the darkened entrance to the fortress, an armored figure slowly made their way towards the group whilst moving in a rhythmic pattern that seemed entirely deliberate.

"Is that guy okay?"

"Why is he moving like that?"

"Again, why am I not sensing anything?"

At first, the group thought this shambling mess of an armored man was simply injured or perhaps wearing a suit that was much too heavy for them. However, the longer they looked at the man, the more they realized that this fellow wasn't moving like this willingly.

^Gah…stupid…armor…let me…go!^

"Oh…that can't be good."

It was in this exact moment, after those obligatory words of foreshadowing were said, that Zhen Liu sprang into action.

^Why…am…I—huh?! No! Wait!^

Before the armored man could speak, Zhen Liu had already closed the gap between himself and the armored man and swung his [[Hammer of the Dearly Departed] directly into the armored man's abdomen.

A brilliant blast of green flames suddenly engulfed the man, originating from where Zhen Liu slammed his hammer, causing a most unusual scene to play out.

SKREEE

"What the fuck?!"

The armor the man was wearing suddenly peeled itself off of the Redoxa warrior's body like a bat flying off of a cow's backside and began to release a high-pitched screeching noise that caused the people behind Zhen Liu to cringe from discomfort. The green ghost flame that Zhen Liu had used had clung itself to just the armor, allowing the formerly controlled man to flop onto the ground in a harmless manner. Evidently, the man was paralyzed.

The flying armor thing, whatever it was, attempted to escape once it had released its former wearer. Unfortunately, it was too late for it.

"Oh no you don't!"

Understanding that this thing was bad news, Zhen Liu immediately followed up with a swing from his [Veteran's Bone Club], his instincts telling him to not use [Chaos] for this next attack.

The weird flying armor thing immediately crumbled from the heavy blow, flopping to the ground and twitching like an electrocuted mosquito.

…

[How the fuck did you know you were supposed to do that?] Blazejudicator asked. [Actually, how did you know that Ghost Flame was going to work there?]

[Better question, why didn't you use any Chaos?] Hurricroak added.

'I don't know, it just felt right!' Zhen Liu answered.

[I…okay???]

'Also, I'm pretty sure we're about to get attacked by more these guys,' Zhen Liu added.

'Enough about that though; I need answers. Logos, Pathos, what the fuck am I staring at?'

<=We know exactly what this is, and you're not going to like the answer. =>

'When the fuck do I ever like the answer?'

<=Good point. =>