I'm really not the Saviour! (我唔係救主囖!) [danmei/BL xuanhuan]

36 - Don't split up, the monsters will get you

A/N: I'm still trying to get back into regularly writing and posting. Life still hasn't gotten completely back on an even keel.

I'm also going back and updating the transliterations of names, so if you've been reading through and the names seem to jump about a bit... I'm sorry. I'm working to standardise them.

CW: Gore

***

The next day after Gaam Yuk Ying was medically evacuated, the cultivator camp was attacked.

It was simply a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gou Dzing was sitting alone on the edge of the camp, distracted by his thoughts, when he caught sight of a faint dust cloud on the eastern horizon. He squinted at the dust, testing the abilities of his Dragon Eyes. A glitter of gold skittered through his dark eyes, and then he could see them, a horde of demons rushing towards the mountain.

Gou Dzing turned and raced back into camp. "Lady Gong!"

"What's up, Little Gou?" Gong Lau Yan was seated in the dining tent, a cup of tea in one hand and a draft plan of the region around the mountain in the other. Her hair was untied, and she looked like she had only recently rolled out of bed.

"There are demons headed this way from the east. They're armed."

She leapt up, tying her hair as she exited the tent and calling to the loong soldiers to prepare for potential combat. Gou Dzing rounded up disciples, and they all watched as the small demon army approached at speed.

There was no calling of orders or gesturing; these warriors had setup their plan beforehand and were now simply carrying it out. A lightning raid. Strike fast and hard.

The information they relied on to plan this attack, however, was clearly out of date. They had not expected to come across a platoon of human cultivators and loong soldiers.

The demons struck at everyone and anyone. The disciples, at first uncertain as to whether they should join the melee, now found they had no choice. They had to fight or die, or at least be seriously injured.

"Mountain disciples, earth barriers!" Gou Dzing ordered. "Everyone gather!"

Within moments, mounds of earth rose, forming a shield around the camp behind which they could shelter and retaliate. Those with long-distance skills began to fire out on the attacking demons.

"Si-hing, do we protect our demons as well?"

What our demons? Gou Dzing glanced around, eyes catching everything. Somehow he couldn't avoid seeing - the jutting ribs of attackers and defenders alike, a demon bleeding out on the ground with a mouthful of torn flesh from the demon attempting to stab them with a sharpened rock, figures bludgeoning and scratching and punching each other...

His vision seemed to be tinged a little pink, but he blinked to clear his eyes. Do they protect the demons, or not?

"No. We defend our camp, no more."

Awful screams of anger and pain from demons on both sides rent the air. Even if they did intervene, Gou Dzing couldn't tell the difference between one side and the other.

"Soldiers, these demons are unskilled in combat," Gong Lau Yan called. "Respond with non-lethal defence."

"Mountain disciples, staggered earth barriers and pits." The Grandmaster rallied the students.

"Reflective Arts, mirrored surfaces in between."

Within moments, obstacles were springing up between the attaching force and their target, and the lightning raid was in shambles. One of the attackers, evidently some kind of leader, gave a great rasping cry, and suddenly the attackers abandoned the fight, streaming away from the mountain as quickly as they had come.