Elder Mu frowned at the smoke trail. “Black… smoke?”

Elder Jing murmured “Green for all clear, red for intruder alert, but… black?”

As though he knew what they were thinking, Lord Gao shouted “Now you’re in for it! The black smoke signal means exterminate the entire village! Except for me and my family! Now give me back my grandson. I can still call them off!”

Everyone looked at Gao Lang on the stage, either dead or on his last breath. Naturally, Lord Gao’s gaze followed everyone else’s. Seeing the state Gao Lang was in, with so many crossbow bolts sticking out of him that he looked like a bloodied pincushion, Lord Gao paled and his eyes bulged outwards.

“Nooooooo!” he howled, tearing at his hair.

“You’re all dead! All dead!” howled Lord Gao. “I’ll see y-”

BOOM!

Lord Gao collapsed to the ground, a hole in his head.

Trip stared at Lord Gao’s dead body for a moment, sighed, then calmly reloaded her revolver. “Where will the army approach from?” she asked.

Even Elder Mu needed a bit more time to recover from the suddenness of Lord Gao’s elimination. For possibly the first time that he could recall, he stammered. Just a tiny bit.

“Er… the, ah, the army… yes, they will approach from the front. The battalion is at least 300 demons strong, they have no reason to fear us. They’ll just charge through our gates. ”

“They can try! Whatever happens, we’ll make sure they don’t have an easy time of it!” declared Gao Shu. “Son, it’s time!”

Elder Mu grinned wolfishly. “Yes, Mother!”

He nodded at Gao Cai, who took out a ram’s horn, and blew out three ear-shattering blasts from it.

Trip looked surprised. “You… had a plan for this?”

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“It’s not much, but all the villagers are ready to defend themselves. We’ve trained ourselves however we could, under the guise of preparing for wild animal or stray demon attacks.” said Elder Mu.

“That’s some preparation.” Trip nodded approvingly. “Any defensive formations?”

Gao Cai shrugged. “We figured we’d station our fighters at the front, everyone else with crossbows at the back, fight it out to the last man. Children and elderly would escape out the back to hide.”

“Are you… thinking of helping us? I thought you’d be leaving by now. This isn’t your village, after all.” said Elder Jing.

Trip shrugged. “I had a hand in causing all this. Least I can do is help you survive. Now, please, let me make a few suggestions…”

***

A rowdy band of hybrids, mostly lions, tigers and bears, made their way eagerly across a desolate landscape towards Gao Village. They walked in no discernible formation, forming little groups here and there as they chatted and joked around.

“Finally! After nothing but rice and dried meat, we get to have some delicious humans!”

“I want some tender, juicy, young human meat, none from the old ones!”

“Hey, wouldn’t eating straight away be a waste? We should have some fun with them first!”

“Wow, you’re drooling all over your armour! Better wipe it before Scale-tooth nags you to death!”

The Scale-tooth mentioned was a large crocodile hybrid in a red robe, walking at the front of the group. Beside him was a huge Liger hybrid, towering head and shoulders over the rest. He had an impressive mane around his head, and his fur was golden-brown, with black stripes across the outside of his arms, legs, and back.

Scale-tooth frowned at the relaxed attitude of the battalion. “Shi Hu, shouldn’t we be in proper formation?”

Shi Hu, the Liger hybrid grinned. “Whatever for? We’re already being cautious, bringing our armour and weapons along. The villagers are only a herd of fatted calves, just waiting for us. Whoever heard of going to a feast in full military formation?”

Shi Hu said all that loud enough for his men to hear, prompting loud guffaws from them.

“Naw, c’mon Shi Hu, Scale-tooth’s got a point!”

“Yah, what if they lined up their pigs and sheep in armour to attack us?”

“Oh no! Battle pigs, attack sheep! My legs are shaking!”

“We’d be doomed, for sure!”

“AHAHAHAHAHA!”

Scale-tooth said nothing in return. The only sign of his agitation was his wildly lashing tail, and the click-clack of his large uneven teeth as he clenched and unclenched his jaw repeatedly.

-- Chapter 36, End --