Everything went to hell as the two men on top of the cliff banged a metal gong to warn the camp that something fucky was going on. Zane swore and darted towards them, with Dumpling holding onto his shoulder for dear life. He had gone with the black robes instead of his regular red, figuring that it might cause more trouble for his friends at the Rock Mountain Mollusk sect.

Zane closed the distance quickly. Thankfully his core had mostly stabilized since the battle with General Badi. Apparently turning things on and off again worked for people too. He summoned a cleaver and threw it at the nearest guard. The plan had been to leave most of the killing for the members of his group that needed to level up. But he figured sentry removal was a priority.

An arrow thunked into the head of the guard Zane had been aiming for. He dismissed his weapon and summoned another, just in time to have his kill stolen again as Dumpling triggered the landslide. “Oh come on!” the young man shouted as he watched a section of the cliff break off in front of him, “I had that guy!”

Dumpling didn’t reply as she jumped into the air, using her gravity powers to maximize the damage from the landslide. The tumbling chunks of rock accelerated and tumbled into the camp below, kicking up clouds of dust. A chorus of surprised shouts went out from those that were lucky enough not to be buried alive.

Zane looked down at the destruction his pet had unleashed. Some of the bigger rocks had kept rolling for hundreds of yards, flattening everything in their wake. The surviving guards were trying to prepare a counter attack and pointing at him, but none seemed eager to run across the unstable ground. The young man laughed as he spotted Pinky sprinting towards the camp, trying to catch up to Daisy.

Chuck, the man who had been standing guard duty at the mouth of the valley, was currently being chased by an irate killbot. Groucho wasn’t happy the plan had gone to shit and was attempting to vent his frustrations out on the unfortunate sentry. Zane tore his gaze away and tried to focus on what was happening in the camp.

He counted four remaining guards and over two dozen of the rich lowlanders. It was easy to tell them apart. The guards were dressed in muted browns and greens while their employers stuck out like brightly colored pinatas. As he watched the chaos unfold, the rogue cultivator found himself conflicted. He wanted to join in on the fun, but that wasn’t the plan.

Zane was there to help his companions level up. His job was to observe, and bail them out if they got in over their heads. Kill stealing would take away from their experience gain. But what if he didn’t actually kill anyone? Zane wondered.

The rogue cultivator dismissed his cleaver and summoned a teapot. It was time to get creative.

***

“My father will hear of this!” Trus Fun screamed at the remaining guards, not caring that he was getting in their way, “Zero stars! Very bad customer service! You have ruined my vacation!”

The rich young lowlander was halfway through a rant about the lackluster wine list when Zane’s teapot smashed into his face. Dino, the guard in charge, gave a nod to the man up on the cliff that had just knocked out Trus Fun. It was hard to mount a counter-attack when people kept interrupting to demand refunds.

Dino was about five seconds away from packing up and leaving. It felt like an insult to evolution to stand in the way of these idiots and their inevitable demise. He nocked an arrow and took aim, just in time for another spoiled brat to step in front of him. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” the guard called out, “I’m trying to save you idiots!”

“There’s no need to insult me!” huffed the man, “I was just coming over to inform you that my tent is missing.”

The guard lowered his bow as he saw the figure in black ready another teapot. “That’s probably because of the landslide,” he said, “Everyone’s tent is missing.”

“Well, what are you going to do about it?” demanded the man, “I can’t sleep on the ground.”

Dino shook his head as another flying teapot removed the problem in front of him. It was time to make a decision. Apparently the attackers were so confident in the outcome of the battle that they had started throwing kitchenware. He watched a spatula impale one of his guests. The man in black had apparently moved onto the next course.

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“Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Dino called out to his men as a flying pot lid decapitated another rich brat trying to get his attention, “I’m done trying to keep these fuckers alive!”

***

Away from the camp, Chuck was having a very confusing and horrible experience. The man attacking him kept calling out a mix of threats and complements.

“Give me your skin! I want to peel it off!” shouted Groucho as he chased after his quarry, “I like your freckles! They’re very flattering! Give them to me!”

Chuck didn’t know what to say to that, so he did the sensible thing and screamed incoherently while running for his life. He didn’t know what was going on, or why, but he liked his skin right where it was and had zero intention of parting with it. They continued to run around in circles until Groucho’s knee went out, ending the chase.

The killbot cursed as his prey escaped out into the forest. “I’ll get you next time, you freckle fuck!” he called out after Chuck. Then Groucho got up and started limping over towards the main battle. He just hoped the fun wouldn’t be over by the time he got there.

***

Daisy was having the time of her life chasing down and squishing any of the rich idiots who tried to escape. Some of them even ran towards her, thinking they could ride away to safety. The sounds of surprise and outrage they made as she trampled them were something Daisy would treasure for as long as she lived. It was too good, seeing their smug expressions turn to panic as they realized fate had not decided to spare them.

Dumpling was also enjoying herself. The void stalker was taking things slow as she waited for Pinky to catch up. She passed the time by flattening her prey one at a time. Some tried to defend themselves, but as luck would have it, most of their weapons had been in the tents. And it didn’t help that the remaining guards had hightailed it towards the forest.

“Sorry I’m late!” Pinky called out to Daisy as she ran towards the chaos. The kitsune felt a bit embarrassed that her friends had done all this so she could level up, only for things to pop off while she was so far away. Pinky set her sights on the main group of survivors and began to draw on her lower core.

The kitsune ran into the group of entitled idiots as Black Widow’s Kiss triggered, mixing with her Life Drain ability to create a lethal combo. The white mist spread out from her, knocking out anyone nearby. She had chosen a non-lethal poison, just in case Daisy got carried away and ate the wrong corpse.

As Pinky watched them fall, she couldn’t help but smile from behind her mask. It felt good to get even with the people that had hunted her kind for sport. The kitsune knew that these probably weren’t the same ones that had killed her sisters, but they were the same kind of people.

They came to the mountains to level up, gather essence, and collect a few trophies. They treated their safaris like vacations. Now, none of them would ever return home. They would disappear, a warning to others who thought they could buy their way up the mountain safely.

The kitsune could feel her disguise slipping as she took her revenge. The more she gave in to her urges, the harder it was to maintain her human form. That was the reason she had given up hunting humans in the first place. Embracing the beast made it more difficult for her to hide, but right now she didn’t care. Right now, she was having fun.

Pinky giggled as the hunters continued to fall unconscious around her. They were all so focused on the other attackers that they didn’t pay any attention to the person poisoning them. Before long, only a few stragglers remained. They stood back to back as Zane and the others advanced on them. She took up a position somewhere near the middle of the group and triggered her abilities.

“What do you want?” demanded a man in torn yellow robes as he swayed back and forth, nearly dead on his feet, “Why are you doing this?”

Zane threw his head back and laughed. “Guys, I’m here for the same reason you are. We actually aren’t all that different, when you get right down to it.”

The man in yellow frowned, a puzzled expression crossing his plump face as he tried to remain standing. “What do you mean by that?”

The rogue cultivator continued to buy time for Pinky’s poisons to work their magic. “I’m here to level up, and help my friends climb the mountain,” Zane explained, “It’s nothing personal. You’re just worth a lot of experience.”

Pinky never got to hear the man’s response, because he and his friends keeled over shortly after that. But she figured it wouldn’t have been anything worth listening to. The kitsune looked around at the sleeping hunters. She couldn’t decide if killing them in their sleep was cruel, or more mercy than they deserved.

The rogue cultivator walked over and gave Pinky a peck on the cheek, then handed her a shimmering cleaver. “Chop, chop!” he said, “I want to get out of here before sundown.”

“Yes, Chef!” Pinky replied with a mock salute.

Zane burst out laughing. He hadn’t been expecting that. “You’re adorable. You know that, right?” he asked.

“Of course I’m adorable,” the kitsune said as she dismissed the enchantment hiding her true form, “Just look at these ears!”