The meal provided by the locals was absolutely horrendous. The Wushi couldn’t help but groan and grimace as she swallowed the bit of meat in her mouth. She gagged as the flesh went down her throat, the awful taste of blood and gritty meat still lingering in her mouth.
She couldn’t help but feel absolutely cheated. She had expected something decent, something with some flavor at the least. But no, that darn butcher didn’t add any salt, pepper, soy sauce, anything! Nothing to help provide something to assist in swallowing down that hunk of flesh. To make matters worse, the people that were sent out earlier hadn’t even bothered to search for vegetables or fruits! No, all they did was gather a bunch of that black wood and stones to create weapons.
That was understandable to a certain extent. She could see why they would focus on securing defenses. After all, they didn’t have any good weapons to fend off monsters efficiently, seeing as how the group didn’t seem to have any bows and arrows for ranged attacks. Not only that, but the spears they had weren’t exactly fully stable, seeing as she had noticed the previous group didn’t seem that confident in their weapons anymore.
Yes, their focus on making sure their survival was possible was outright admirable to a certain extent. And yet… and yet!
Why would they neglect one of the main reasons to live?! Her master always talked about the necessities to living well: food, drink, and shelter. The fact that these people seemed to not believe in the concept of good food appalled her to no end!
Edible, sure, but not satisfying! Why, she wouldn’t have been willing to eat such junk if it weren’t for the fact these people didn’t have anything else available. However, that wasn’t the most egregious mistake these people had made. No, they were guilty of so much worse, something absolutely unforgivable.
They didn’t have any liquor. No rice wine, no spirits, nothing. She couldn’t fathom anyone living without something to help uplift the spirits and provide a way for everyone and anyone to have a moment of peace to talk and discuss freely. No, more than that, the fact these people didn’t have any spirits was insane!
She couldn’t understand why they would neglect such a thing. She made her displeasure quite clear and blatant to everyone present and more specifically, the capped man from earlier. His face seemed to take on more of a sour look as he heard more of her critiques.
Once she finished, the man seemed relieved, at least until she ordered him to go and collect the necessary components to brew the drinks. That set him off quite a bit.
“Miss, I’m not going to have my men go out and search for goods to appease your pride.” He started, his face tinted red and nearly ready to spit in her face, “Unless you have a particularly grand reason for me to do so, I will not risk the lives of my people for some amenities.”
“Minor? Do you not understand that life needs excitement to warrant survival? Without any kind of joy, there is no point in moving forward.”
The capped man stared at him for a short while. His face started to get darker as his frown intensified even more. He shook and quivered in his place, before finally exploding in pure anger.
“You think we can find any joy in this place?!” He roared, gesturing towards the landscape. “Look around! What part of this world sparks happiness? What about these dead lands seem beneficial for us to live in? What do you think we can do to fix things? If you want excitement, then go wear yourself out fighting the beasts that swarm around these lands!”
Then, as if on cue, a woman’s scream echoed throughout the land. Both of them stopped in their quarreling, before turning towards the source of that noise.
The capped man squinted and leaned in, before rushing in closer to figure out what was going on. The Wushi did not need to do such a thing, she merely stood there and stared.
Her eyes tracked the young woman dashing through the plains while being chased by a horde of eighteen monsters. She seemed to have a plain dress on over her, with what appeared to be a bow and arrow along with a dagger by her hip. The most interesting point was the way she was covered with markings, the green and red drawings clearly meant for the mystic arts of some type.
Though, one thing was for certain.This girl wasn’t going to be able to fight her way through the horde. She was too scared, too full of fear to be able to turn around and strike. She had bruises and a few scratches all over her body, along with what seemed to be a few bite marks on her shoulders. That was why she was running with tears flowing down her terrified face. There was no way she would be able to defend herself, not with that much panic in her system.
No, she needed to be saved. Thankfully, this was something the Wushi was quite proficient in. Though, she did need one thing before she rushed in.
“Hey!” The capped man flinched at her shout and turned around, only to look at her smirking. “Go and have your men collect all the different plants in this area. I’ll go help the girl, you and your men go and collect as many unique plants for us to have a better meal tonight.”
He opened his mouth to retort, but she wasn’t going to waste time waiting for him to respond. No, the important thing right at this minute was to save the troubled maiden and do her job as the protector of the people.
Whatever he was going to say was lost to the wind as she sped forward. The world seemed to become still as she dashed through the plains, the wind flowing through her ears and the earth itself guiding her to the first strike.
The woman running spotted her coming in. Her eyes bulged as she realized how quickly the Wushi had covered the distance. That was when she tripped and tumbled to the ground, just in time for one of the beasts to pounce onto her.
That monster seemed eager to bite down onto the fallen woman. It was just a shame it would not get to enjoy a meal before its untimely death.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
With a single jump, the Wushi introduced the monster’s face to a flying knee.
Impact. A loud and sickening crack that caused the beast to slam into one of its compatriots, before turning into nothing more than dust and bones.
The entire horde halted in their tracks and the fallen woman stammered as she started to crawl away. The Wushi simply smirked as she found her footing, before parting her legs and stomping onto the ground.
The earth shook. Every single pebble, stone, and dirt began to change to her orders. The world itself came down to allow her domain over its existence, letting her change and warp anything to her will. She could feel this power drifting between her fingers, the potential of all the options waiting to be gripped and steered.
No. Not yet. She wasn’t going to indulge the world now.
So, without further ado, she smirked and lifted her right hand. Then, she gestured for these vile beasts to come forward.
The reaction was instantaneous. Loud roars of rage erupted from the provocation. They surged forward to attack.
The four in front only managed to take a step before she moved. Quick as lightning, she slammed a fist right into the first one, causing the beast to slam right into the second at a breakneck speed. The force that had been slammed into it had turned the unfortunate creature into nothing more than a projectile, resulting in it ripping apart the other in a glorious shower of blood and bone.
The third still did not have the time to process everything that happened. That gave her more than enough time to swing her right arm and slam right into its neck, snapping its spine in a single go. That was when she grabbed the left arm of that creature and used it as a hammer, slamming it directly onto the head of the fourth beast in her way.
That creature didn’t even get the chance to react before it got slammed right into the dirt, with loud cracks erupting from the impact. With that, she back-stepped away, before taking her combat stance.
The rest of the monsters stopped in their tracks. They all seemed utterly shocked that she was able to take down four of them within a few seconds and without a bit of sweat on her face. But that hesitation didn’t last for long, as she sped forward again.
However, that didn’t mean these beasts were going to stand there and let themselves be murdered without fanfare. At that moment, all of them moved backwards away from the incoming Wushi, as though they were trying to make distance to avoid her strikes.
But they weren’t good enough. Not even close.
One beast got its jaw shattered with a single punch. Two of them got their heads blown apart with a single strike from the elbow. Another two were taken down by the Wushi’s roundhouse kick, both of them getting their necks snapped in the process.
The remaining eight tried. They really did. But in the face of such overwhelming strength, they could not achieve anything, not a single scratch on the Wushi’s skin.
A flurry of fists, kicks, and strikes were more than enough to dispatch the remaining beasts. All without a bit of concern or even exhaustion on her side.
Once they were all dead and gone did she relax. She stretched her back and did a few stances, before staring at the scene in front of her. All the beasts that had been chasing the young woman were nothing more than piles of dust and bone now, leaving her with nothing more to do.
With that, she smiled and turned towards the woman on the ground.
The marked girl seemed scared of her as she seemed to back up even more, her mouth opening and closing constantly. The Wushi couldn’t help but sigh as she raised her hands, letting the young girl know that there were no plans to continue fighting.
“Hey. It’s alright, you’re safe now.” She smiled as she took a single step forward, “The beasts are all dead and gone. You don’t have to be scared anymore.”
“I–No!” The young girl exclaimed, “They’re not all dead! There’s still some left!”
The Wushi raised an eyebrow at that statement, before turning back. She didn’t find any other beasts present, only the piles of dust and bones as previously noted. There weren’t any other monsters nearby either, from what she could see. With that, she took a breath and turned back, ready to ease the worries of the young one and bring peace.
That was when the earth itself spoke to her. Shivers ran through her spine.
Something was coming. Something much more than those mindless beasts, something strong enough that the world itself seemed to be acknowledging this mysterious existence.
She turned towards this strange aura, before taking a single step in shock. The girl merely cried out in horror and fear as she seemed to back up even more.
Something with the shape of a human was walking towards them. However, the Wushi could already tell that this thing in front of her was not a person. No, something about this thing was wrong, inherently so.
This thing used to be human. However, whatever had mutated this monster had removed its head and forced it to grow bone scales all over its body. Several parts of its body had become nothing more than rotten flesh, deteriorating so much that their bones were visible through and through. Last but not least, the neck kept twitching and shivering without end, never ending and constantly moving around.
The Wushi felt chills go down her spine. However, what caused her worry was not the disgusting physical form of this beast. No, that would be the giant club that the yaoguai was holding in its right hand. No, calling that thing a club was a mistake, that was nothing more than a giant log that had been slightly repurposed to become a weapon.
The Wushi could feel some sweat come down her neck as she got back into a combat stance once more. The yaoguai in front of her stopped. Its neck seemed to twitch once more, before it opened up and–
She gagged.
A flesh stalk with several eyes and ears attached came out, all of them searching around for some time. Then, all of the ears went still and the eyes all turned towards her almost instantly, making her shudder at the sight.
Then, she felt it. Something ingrained itself into her body, a concept, a thought that wormed into her head and refused to leave no matter what.
She wasn’t allowed to run away.
That was the only thing in her head. The Wushi couldn’t help but watch as the stalk retreated back into the thing’s body, before it hefted its weapon to strike.
This was it. She was going to have to fight. One way or the other, she would need to face down this yaoguai and win this life or death situation. Right here, right now, she was going to fight something that had a good chance to inflict some serious damage.
She couldn’t fight the grin growing on her face.
Finally, a worthy opponent. That was all she could’ve asked for.
And with that, she rushed forward to meet her adversary.