Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?
Chapter 1320 1320: A Fox and a Bo...peep

'Well, crap.'

Moments before he had split off from Alefa and Joseph, Zhen Xing had determined with the two of them that they would be in charge of determining whether or not the rest of the slaves could be rallied and finding an exit, respectively. Meanwhile, he would go and find his cousin's "puppets," since he was the only one who could recognize them at a glance.

Things were going just as planned until several unforeseen incidents happened one after the other.

Firstly, both Joseph and Alefa had stumbled upon the only caverns in this entire fucking mine that were filled with people that they both had issues with.

The former was a native to Umbral Spider, more specifically from the Twilight Lands, and he had accidentally stumbled into a cavern that was filled with people from Radiant Feather, who were also from the Twilight Lands. Needless to say, fists and fireballs started flying on sight.

As for the latter, Alefa had not actually stumbled upon any particular faction that he had bad blood with, but he had the unfortunate luck to meet a bunch of bastards that were rather prejudice against people from Soaring Gryphon. Alefa had no choice but to defend his honor, even if it meant blood had to be shed.

On top of these violent interruptions though, Zhen Xing had overestimated the time it took for the false lord to organize his Kaijin and was now about to deal with a whole bunch of them returning to their original work posts.

Work posts that just so happen to be involved with open conflicts.

It didn't take Zhen Xing long to realize that he was about to get caught up in some bullshit that might end with death.

'If I do nothing, I'm going to get caught up by these weird Kaijin and probably get beaten to death or worse,' Zhen Xing thought to himself. 'And if I accidentally pick the wrong cave to hide in, I may end up getting involved a needless battle that will snowball into being something worse. What the fuck do I do now?'

Luckily for Zhen Xing, he wasn't going to have worry about this problem for long.

...Huh?...

'Well, well, well! Looks like the kit is in a bit of a bind,' Snatcher snickered at the sight of the panicking Zhen Xing. 'Well, I can't have a fellow fox get caught so easily. So I might as well giving a guiding hand...well, tail, in this case.'

...Oh, an ominous ass fox...

'Where do I go, what do I—!'

"Yip!"

"Huh?"

Before Zhen Xing could become completely overwhelmed by choice paralysis, a strange-looking fox had suddenly manifested from above and landed directly in front of him.

Initially, Zhen Xing thought the fox was an enemy Kaijin, given that the only fox-like kaijin that Zhen Liu had was Hurricroak, and she was only partially a fox. However, once he scanned the fox with his senses, he realized it was...something else.

Not quite aether.

Not quite [Chaos].

Not quite anima, either.

It was just...something else.

And it was this "something else" that allowed Zhen Xing to feel like he could trust this fox. Especially after it started running off after making sure that Zhen Xing was focusing on it.

'Fuck it, following the weird fox is better than doing fuck all.'

Maintain his stealth art, Zhen Xing proceeded to follow after the strange-looking fox.

The fox's trail had been proving itself to be good, as Zhen Xing noticed that their route seemed to avoid places with high concentrations of either kaijin or people. That stated, he would also notice that the path behind him would soon be unreturnable moments after he had already passed them.

'Damn, how the hell does this guy know where to go?' Zhen Xing thought to himself as he continued to follow the fox. 'There's no way I'd be able to find this path on my own.'

Eventually though, the fox went down a path that Zhen Xing could no longer follow.

Not because it had led Zhen Xing to a dead end, rather, because it had entered into a small alcove that had a small tunnel only big enough for a fox to enter.

'Ah hell...wait...'

On the positive side, this cavern was so out of the way of the kaijin and slaves that he could release his stealth technique and not attract any unwanted attention.

'Hmmm. Maybe I should wait a couple more minutes for everything to settle down before I—'

Clatter.

'Who's there?!'

________Rewinding a bit...________________

'Well now, looks like those other Kaijin managed to secure their Shaper friend and humming Aetherii...I should probably give them a guiding hand. Especially since they got another passenger in tow...'

...

[Alright, why am I the only one holding....what's your name again?]

[Arbalest.]

[Why am I the only one holding Arbalest while you cut down the others?] Nepeherage asked while holding the aforementioned kaijin like a cat, her arms under his shoulders.

[Because of the two of us, I'm the only one with naturally amorphous body that allows me to not only cut them free, but also carry them both without worrying about having occupied hands,] Blazejudicator answered. [Now hush, I need to concentrate on not burning them as I cut them free.]

[Yeah, yeah....]

With a pair of fire-emitting fingers, Blazejudicator finished cutting Lythero and Olstenna free from their cocooned bonds and proceeded to catch them both with a transformed arm made of fire.

Once they were secured, Nepherage and Blazejudicator had a brand new problem to deal with: how the fuck they were going to get out of this cavern without alerting the authorities.

[Okay, we can't just exit out the front gate while carrying all these guys with us,] Nepeherage concluded as she readjusted her grip on Arbalest.[Unless your legs stop walking on their own.]

[Yeah, no,] Arbalest shook his head. [These puppies won't stop until the boss dismisses everyone. And when that happens, we lose our escape route.]

[And we can't just stash these guys after going through so much bullshit in...wait a minute, you guys hear that?]

[Hear what?]

"Baaaa."

[Huh?]*3

The sound of a crying sheep in a place like the [Mines of Malevolence] was weird but not necessarily out of place.

Several of the Kaijin running around were originally sheep and goat-type aether beasts, so hearing them bleat out of rage or protest was normal.

The source of this particular bleating though was anything but normal in the eyes of the kaijin.

After all...boxes shouldn't be able to bleat.

[Wait...no...it's sheep?]

Standing a couple dozen feet away from their position in the cave, the kaijin found themselves staring at what appeared to be a wooden box with legs that was decorated to vaguely resemble a sheep.

Adding in to the absurdity of this sight, the words, "Bo Peep's Shipping" was emblazoned on the side of this box...sheep...thing.

[What the fuck are we looking at?]

[I don't know,] Arbalest answered. [But I'm not sensing any Chaos that resembles your guy or my creator.]

[Where did it come from?]

Confused by the sight, the Kaijin couldn't help but to stare...until the box-sheep started making gestures for the them to follow it.

"Baaa. Baa!"

[Is...is that sheep asking us to follow it?]

[Do we trust it?]

[I'm going to go with...fuck it, let's go. I ain't sensing any ill intentions or killing intent coming from this guy.]

[Fair enough.]

Without any better plans in mind, especially since their Lord was busy maintaining radio silence, the Kaijin decided to follow the weird box-sheep.

Surprisingly, this turned out to be a great idea.

After they started following the box-sheep, the false Kaijin Lord finally decided to disband the gathering of his horde and let them all loose.

The box-sheep, though, had led the trio of Kaijin through a hidden back path that gave them a clear view of their enemies while keeping them completely hidden.

In other words, Arbalest, Blazejudicator, and Nepherage would have definitely get caught up in the horde of enemy kaijin had they not decided to follow this strange box-sheep.

Eventually, the box-sheep would lead them to a cavern that was far and out of the way from the rest of the horde, but it wouldn't enter the cave.

Instead, once they had reached this cavern, the box-sheep suddenly transformed into...a box.

It retracted its legs, and proceeded to resemble an inert, regular box.

[I...I guess we enter this cave,] Blazejudicator concluded.

[Okay, are we sure that's a good idea?] Arbalest asked

[The fact that we're dragging you along already condemns our ability to make good decisions,] Nepeherage retorted.

[Fair enough.]

The Kaijin entered the cavern in an orderly manner, but they ended up causing a bit more noise than necessary when they kicked some rocks while entering.

________Now back to the present...________

"Who's there?!"

[I FUCKING KNEW-wait a minute...Master Zhen Xing, is that you?]

"Oh thank the ancestors!"

Both mortal and Kaijin released massive sighs of relief as they finally managed to reunite after an entire day of bullshit.

"Hey, wait, where's Zhen Liu?"