Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1533: Revisiting the Plan

When Zhen Liu first learned about Axer’s problem with the Redoxa family, his initial plan was to simply throw kaijin and zakos at them until they inevitably exploded.

Aside from some special cases, most aether warriors had no idea what to do when confronted with the power of [Chaos], and Zhen Liu figured that a group of thugs would be easy pickings for even the most basic of zakos. Hell, he honestly thought that sending the apprentice zakos of the Ragnarockers was even a touch overkill.

Alas, Zhen Liu was unable to put this plan into action due to all of the bullshit that occurred literally at the same time.

Being rendered unconscious, enemies at the gate, and a massive explosion of [Law] and [Chaos] causing a giant hole in the ground to manifest did wonders in fucking up delicate operations.

On the plus side, the colossal cascade of explosive cock-ups occurring one after the other had spooked the Redoxa family to move underground in a very literal manner. Well, that and the sudden appearance of Saint Devourer.

Just because they were technically "too small" to be under the radar of an aether saint didn’t mean that they wanted to be present on there anyways.

Regardless, now that the Redoxa Family was hiding out in Rainbowden’s catacombs and Smoking Mirror was nowhere to be found in the city, Zhen Liu figured that now would be a good time to go knocking on the doors of the Redoxa Family.

Metaphorically speaking.

Especially since Zhen Liu and his friends had quite a few hostages to exchange for.

...

"I can’t tell if I find it sad or funny that the Redoxa Family left these guys to fend for themselves," Zhen Tai commented as he stared at the angry, gagged form of the Mizander being carried like a sack of potatoes by one of Zhen Liu’s zakos. "Back when we beefed with the Wolfe Family, we at least made sure to grab our injured, unconscious, and dead."

"Yes, but we aren’t a crime family," Zhen Liu pointed out.

"True."

When Zhen Liu and his allies returned to Rainbowden, Zhen Liu had initially planned to just turn in the Calamity Triplets for their bounty and be done with them. However, that idea changed when he saw the people who were apparently left behind after the conflict between Smoking Mirror and Alain had ended.

Zhen Liu was unconscious for this part, but during that time, the Redoxa Family had apparently sent a group of "cleaners" to try and rescue the Calamity Triplets and some fourth guy who was the reason why everything had gone to shit.

Lythero had managed to deal with the cleaners long enough for the Anton-possessed Zhen Liu to come in and finish them off, but they hadn’t done anything special in regard to permanently dealing with them after defeating them. In other words, they just left them there to wake up on their own or get secured by their allies. Surprisingly, neither of these happened.

The bastards were rendered unconscious long enough for Zhen Liu and his friends to fuck off, do other things, and then come back. Honestly, it was kind of sad.

Regardless, once Zhen Liu had found them, he figured the best course of action was to use them as hostages for the Redoxa. As for what he was going to exchange them for...he had a couple of ideas on what he could ask for and an idea of what to do if shit went sideways instead.

Which is why, after he had wished Alice, Alicia, Bellona, and Harriet well on their journey back to school, he and the rest of his group proceeded to grab the Redoxa warriors and go into the catacombs. Thankfully, they didn’t have to rely on luck and tracking, thanks to the zakos that Zhen Liu had left behind.

The zakos had watched as the Redoxa Family ran into the catacombs, watched where their particular entrance was located, and made notes on where this clandestine base was located.

And now, with allies, kaijin, and hostages in tow, Zhen Liu was about to knock on their front door.

Granted, it was going to be after trudging through the creepiest catacombs he’s been through so far.

"Why the fuck do so many people with wealth and power maintain creepy underground lairs?" Zhen Liu complained after he had passed by what appeared to be a mass burial area dedicated to a local religious sect. "Maybe I’m speaking from a place of privilege and luck, but can’t these guys have a subspace area that at least has a level of sunshine to it? This place is creepy as fuck."

"I wouldn’t say it was that creepy," Rianna replied to Zhen Liu’s comment. "I would say this place is only slight creepy as fuck."

"Fair enough."

"To be fair, darlings, I do believe these catacombs are technically a subspace," Jinju Ren observed as she took out her [Dragon Taming Saber] and tapped the walls with the blade. "I wouldn’t have noticed it before hooking up with you, but this place feels like a lower-tiered version of the library. The [Chaos] quality and quantity are worse, but it’s been designed in a rather clever way."

"Really?" Zhen asked incredulously as he placed his own hand on the wall and tried to see what he could sense using the same trick. Zhen Liu wasn’t the greatest at sensing layouts, but he could borrow the power of someone who definitely could.

’Nepherage?’

[Understood.]

Channeling his [Chaos] into the jade bangle on his arm, Zhen Liu tapped into Nepherage’s innate connection with the earth before using it to detect what was so clever about the catacombs layout.

"Let’s see here...ah. The design is kind of clever. And...a touch more disturbing

Hmmm."

Nepherage’s earth sensing abilities allowed Zhen Liu to see that the entire catacombs wasn’t totally random in its layout, despite feeling that way, but was actually a spiralling design with a varying amount of chambers per layer. Not only that, but Zhen Liu could sense that the certain parts of the catacombs had high concentrations of [Chaos] in them than others.

...

’Logos, Pathos...did the Rainbowsmith design this place to be a giant array? Is the entire city a trap?’

<Yes and no, respectively,> Pathos answered first. <You’re right about the catacombs being an array, you’re wrong in thinking this entire place is actually a giant trap.>

’Then what the fuck is this array?’

=Let me see...ah, right. This is an inspiration array. Literally, this array just encourages creative thinking for anyone pursuing a creative endeavor.=

’I...what? Then why make it a catacomb?!’

<=Creativity comes from the spirit.=>

’I...do not like the implications of that.’

...

"Wait, why did you say this place was built in disturbing manner?" Lythero asked. "Oh gods, are we about to get refined into human pills?!"

"No," Zhen Liu answered in a calm tone of voice. "The catacombs here are just structured in an array meant to encourage creative thinking. That’s it."

"What the fuck? Why?" Antonio asked.

To this question, Zhen Liu could only shrug.

"I don’t know, but let’s just focus on finding the Redoxa Family."

"Alright..."

After the brief discussion, the group continued to make their way down the catacomb tunnels, occasionally coming across places that led off into chambers that were much larger than they appeared. Briefly peeking inside, they could see signs that people used to live in them...before being violently removed.

Zhen Liu and the others could still smell the scorch marks, the lingering scent of old blood and spot the occasional rotted out corpse that seemed a bit too fresh to be a proper occupant of the catacombs.

"Do you guys think these poor bastards were victims of Smoking Mirror or simply victims of underworld turf wars?"

"Probably both."

Eventually though, the group arrived to their destination.

"Huh...this looks like the place the zakos had marked but something feels...off."

Zhen Liu and his friends had arrived to a door marked with the Redoxa Family emblem, which was a stylized bull’s head mixed with a flower. However, something about this door seemed off.

To be more precise, all of their instincts as warriors told them that something was going behind that door that caused them to raise their guards.

"So you guys are detecting that heavy bloodlust too, right?"

"Yup."

"Should we just bust through, or should I send in a Kaijin first?"

"The latter," Jinju Ren answered for the group as she prepared her blade. "I would rather catch them with their pants down then us."

"Got it."

Zhen Liu briefly discussed with the kaijin about who was going to have the task of checking what was going on behind the door, before settling on Springerdermain. Out of all the kaijin, he had the best ability to escape.

’Alright, Springerdermain. You’re up,’ Zhen Liu informed the spring-limbed magician as he removed the spring-like accessory from his person.