Chapter 536: Seeking out the Bloodtail

Flying over Krysal to hunt monsters, with only Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena along with him, gave Kai a jumbled sense of nostalgia. Every element of it felt so familiar - the hunt, his wives, the shores of Krysal - and yet this wasn't a real era of his past. Omilaena had been an uncomfortable ally at the time, they hadn't been honest about their relationships back then, and this Krysal was nothing like the one where he'd hunted monsters years ago.

Still, it felt good. Kai settled back in his seat and just relaxed as they scanned the coastline.

"Is there really a monstrous threat?" Omilaena asked. "Or did you just want a vacation?"

"If Kai had planned this," Zae Zin Nim said from the front seat, "he would have had us camping in a tent."

"Oh my, did you just join in the teasing? What's gotten into you? Other than the obvious."

"Hey now." Kai waved vaguely at the two of them. "We got our break in Cloudspire, everything is about the incursion from now until it's resolved. We can only take a break when it's contributing toward a legitimate objective."

Omilaena wiggled her eyebrows in an exaggerated fashion. "You mean like dual cultivation? Oh my, is that the real reason for taking us out here?"

"You used 'oh my' already," Zae Zin Nim put in neutrally.

"Betrayal! Undermined by my own wife!"

"I admit that I'm skeptical about how dangerous our targets will be." Zae Zin Nim had taken Omilaena's shenanigans in stride, but it seemed she was done with joking. "It seems more likely that the elites simply did not have time to deal with this than that the monsters represent a true threat."

"So you share my skepticism." Omilaena embraced their wife from behind, but she had shifted as well, no longer truly teasing. "Then why go along with it?"

"Because, if the monsters are worthwhile at all, then our husband can consume them. This is also an important part of preparation."

As stiffly as Zae Zin Nim spoke, Kai found himself smiling warmly. She didn't usually throw around "our husband" unless she was in a good mood, and she remained relaxed even with Omilaena wrapped around her. These casual, intimate interactions didn't exist in any false nostalgia, yet he already felt attached to them in a way he struggled to articulate.

Of course they hadn't flown off on their own, since that would have been a poor use of their time. Instead they'd focused on training, both his own students and Krysali trainees, until an elite stopped by and took them to the shore. From there, it took little time to confirm reports of monster attacks, which had led them to this coast and hopefully the monsters before too long.

The information from the local reports had been basically useless, since the monsters were too strong for the locals to even get a decent sense for them. Krainuun's paper reports had actually been better, stating that the monsters were vaguely crustacean in form, with unusually high defenses and dangerous tails.

So far they'd had no luck whatsoever - and the instant he had that thought, Kai finally spotted what he was sure was their target.

Something dark red was leaping from a nearby ridge toward their vessel, but Kai was on high alert after returning to the elite phase training, so he attained a speed phase instantly. The monster was fast, but not so fast that he didn't have time to examine it.

Contrary to the reports, it looked less like a crustacean than a lizard that had grown out of a boulder. The core body was entirely encased in a rounded shell, while armored arms and legs emerged from the sides, along with a squat head filled with needle-like teeth. All of those looked less dangerous than the tail, which was twice the length of the rest of the monster's body and shaded increasingly red until it reached a wicked point.

<

Monster: Bloodtail

Threat: XV (omicron)

>

His spiritual senses called it a Bloodtail and judged it as a omicron-ranked threat. Kai felt as though he was seeing something more fundamental and found himself leaning forward, trying to examine the monster on a deeper level, but he was out of time.

"Hmph." Zae Zin Nim stood up and thrust out one hand, unleashing a body-sized Coldfire Palm against the leaping beast.

The impact sent it flying backward instantly, but Kai was surprised that it hadn't been annihilated. In fact, it looked like the head and one arm had been burned while the central armor had resisted entirely. That suggested that the rumors of its defenses weren't just over-estimations; Zae Zin Nim frowned while Omilaena nodded in appreciation.

And a second Bloodtail struck the ship from the side, shattering the crystals.

Kai was thrown into the air and instinctively began using Thunderbird's Wings, stabilizing his position. Even in that time, the second monster struck Zae Zin Nim and drove her down to the ground, pinning her there. He reversed course to shoot down after her, but the beast was fast and he realized he'd be too late.

With one arm pinning Zae Zin Nim's shoulder, the Bloodtail opened its maw toward her face while its tail arched over its shoulder toward her neck.

It shouldn't have gotten close: Zae Zin Nim headbutted it right in its jaw, shattering several of its teeth as it staggered back. Kai arrived a second later, swiping one hand in a Tyrant's Claw that sent the Bloodtail flying backward, crashing over the rocky shoreline.

As he kept an eye on the monster, Kai offered Zae Zin Nim a hand even though she didn't need it, and it was a mark of how far they'd come that she accepted. Her fingers gripped his as she flipped back to her feet, and they lingered as they both examined the Bloodtail. Kai's claw technique had severed one arm, but where it struck the main armor it left only a line of fading energy.

"Pretty tough." Omilaena landed beside them, arms flying as she manifested and hurled new needles. Some bounced off the shell, as expected, but others broke the monster's unarmored skin and she got one in the beast's eye, making it roar in anger. "Hmm, not doing much."

"You mean it's immune to poison?" Kai asked.

"Not immune, just tough enough to resist. It's not just armor, though that is its notable trait."

That and the tail, which the monster used to slap the ground and launch itself forward in another assault. Zae Zin Nim charged to meet it, ducking under the stabbing point.

With startling speed, the Bloodtail twisted its tail around, first trying to sweep her feet out from under her, then finishing its twist with a second stab from below. But Zae Zin Nim stepped over the first and leapt to evade the second, putting her in range: her palm struck the Bloodtail's armor and it flew backward with the sound of a ringing bell.

Another solid hit, but though the Bloodtail got up more slowly, its shell hadn't broken.

"The palm strike didn't make it through," Zae Zin Nim said with a scowl. "I thought I could liquefy its insides, but the armor is more than purely physical."

"Don't feel bad," Omilaena said, raising goggles that Kai hadn't noticed that she had manifested. "Looking at this thing closer, I think it's from the Blood Current, so it's well above anything you'd expect to face here."

"Curious. I thought monsters from the Blood Current didn't leave."

"They certainly don't drift out, but I suppose it isn't impossible for them to reach other continents on rare occasions."

While they spoke, the Bloodtail advanced on them again, and this time Kai tried an experiment. He launched a Manticore's Spine at it, aiming to pierce the skull. Unfortunately the Bloodtail lowered its head just in time, and the back of its neck was armored almost as toughly as the main body, so it continued rushing toward them.

But that wasn't the real threat: Kai hadn't forgotten about the original Bloodtail that Zae Zin Nim had knocked away. When it came speeding from their flank, utterly silently, Kai was ready.

This time he didn't hold back: he unleashed Baleful Breath directly on the attacking Bloodtail, intending to annihilate it immediately. To his shock, he saw the shell sailing through the flame and darkness toward him - the monster had pulled its arms and legs in close, and wrapped its tail around its head like a helm - and though its armor looked damaged, it survived.

Kai's aggressive tactic worked against him then, because he'd closed the distance. He caught the claw slashing at him but felt the tail punch through his side and grunted in pain. It hadn't stabbed deep, but it got through his defenses, and it fucking hurt.

Omilaena was there the next moment, stabbing an injection into the Bloodtail's neck, and Zae Zin Nim knocked away the first one. The injection didn't seem to have enough effect, because the Bloodtail retracted its tail to slap against Omilaena.

It didn't get there: Kai lunged out and grabbed part of the coiling tail in both hands. That gave Zae Zin Nim an opening to approach and strike it... but they were all taken off guard when an attack swept in from above, forcing them to retreat in three separate directions.

There was a Bloodtail standing in front of them - a new one. As it let out a cry from its needle-like jaws, the other two answered, and then all three closed in.