The first serpent's head struck Jin's location with a headbutt and the Astral Panda Cultivator was able to dodge it easily even without the use of his Maqi. It did, however, stop him from acc.u.mulating even more Maqi on a stationary spot and that was adequate for Orochi to follow up with the attack.
The head of the first serpent did not stop upon crashing into the ground and retracting itself back to its original position. Instead, it continued to chase after Jin and its speed increased dramatically like a homing missile set to kill its target.
"Don't these serpents have a limit on how much they stretch?" Jin queried as he now used qing gong to jump from one icy cliff to another and yet the serpent continued to chase after it. He also managed to pull off some accidental slips, allowing his Astral Double to appear in an attempt to slow the serpent down. In the meantime, he continued to move towards a second serpent head, hoping to entangle the two heads together but he can't seem to reach the rest of the seven heads at all no matter how fast he moved.
"You think I know what it is capable of?! Get on me!" Byakko shouted as he managed to catch up with Jin and the Astral Panda Cultivator did not hesitate to mount on the White Tiger to gain even more speed.
"I thought you knew everything about your old pal?!" Jin said and the Tiger shook his head.
"When we fought, he was the only one casting spells and hardly used the serpents on his back to do the fighting for him," Byakko replied. "Besides, our petty feuds ended quite quickly with one devastating blow to the other. We did not exactly drag and prolong each other's misery."
"Then why don't you do that with him now?" Jin asked and Byakko used his tail to smack him from the back
"I am not the one fighting in this round! I am merely helping you, don't expect me to go full force just for you even though Ming had made me swear to protect you!" Byakko said as he jumped and climbed further back to the centre of the mountain.
At that point, several other serpent heads began spewing elemental projectile shots toward the white tiger in order to slow it down for the first serpent to catch up with them.
Fortunately, Byakko was a nimble predator and he was able to evade most. For the rest, he tried to counter the near miss with magical bolts of thunder. Sadly, Genbu's magical presence was stronger than his and the thunderbolts dispersed mid way since they were not as powerful as Byakko hoped for a full counter attack. Nevertheless, it did block the serpents' elemental attacks but the current stalemate would be skewed towards the serpents given the pressure they had been exerting against the White Tiger and his Astral Panda Master.
But, as Byakko and Jin evaded the constant chase, they did not know that they were being boxed in by the serpents. With the eight of them systematically pushing and diverting their shots of magic breath towards Byakko, they indirectly influenced the pair to move to the centre of the mountain.
"Hey, Genbu! Aren't those serpents hurting you with their missed shots?!" Jin's pathetic attempt to split and divide the enemies from within was unsuccessful
"If they were a nuisance, I would have admonished them from my shell. Besides, those shots are quite comforting, giving me the opportunity to regrow and strengthen my shell even further." Genbu explained that it was not a big deal to him
"And just how big is his shell?!" Jin thought about it momentarily before deflecting one of the fire shots from the serpent
"Big enough. So, stop complaining and start working." Byakko said as he finally reached the top of the mountain again, the spot where their faithful old bench was. There, Jin was able to see that despite the serpents coming out of Genbu's shell like the arcade game 'whack a mole', they were able to move unhindered.
There were no holes or crevices left from the movement and it was as if Yamata no Orochi was metaphysical in nature, able to move without damaging the shell in any way. And yet, the damage caused by the first serpent when chasing after Jin defied all of that. The Astral Panda Cultivator stumbled, having no idea how the serpents were moving and to make things worse, Byakko and him have yet to do any damage to the serpents.
"No wonder they were able to move away so quickly despite me trying to catch them," Jin said the serpents continued to encircle the duo. Byakko was already charging his electric Maqi ready to detonate when Jin made his move.
"Release that Maqi on my mark instead, Byakko. You disrupt Genbu's magical barrier and I go all out against each and every serpent head on." Jin telepathically said to the Tiger of the West.
"You sure? Your attacks might not be successful against them. When I fought with Genbu previously, my electric Maqi could only hold them temporarily." Although Byakko presented his doubts, he continued to acc.u.mulate his Maqi as per Jin's orders.
"Don't worry, let me handle this. Judging from the serpents, all of them were shooting a particular element when they were trying to box us in. I managed to memorise who was firing which element so I got this correctly, we might have a short and quick battle instead." Jin said as he continued to gather his chi and started to visualise the elements needed to fight simultaneously against the eight serpents.
"I could help you if you want. Even if Genbu had unlocked your supply of Maqi, dividing your chi into eight portions would be detrimental to your spirit body. Especially so when your body suddenly receives a large influx of chi and mana from your dantian." Byakko advised Jin to overstrain himself.
"Heh, I know without you telling me. That is why I wanted this fight to end as soon as possible. Very well, I will take up on your offer. This way, I should be able to produce more strength for the remaining seven portions." Jin nodded his head and began to redivert his strength.
Eight Targets, One Shot. Can the duo scratch the itch of Genbu by simultaneously defeating the heads of Yamata no Orochi?
