Thank you to my new Patrons: Kathryn Michaelis, Spares, Bluejay32, Avi Nardia, Kunta
AN: I think this is the setup for one of the best chapters I've written for this story.
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"Should we join in?" Hashimi whispered quietly as they watched the trio of cultivators reach the oasis and engage the bats who fluttered angrily at the intruders.
Each one of the bats was half the size of a human in body, with their wingspan extending even further than that.
Jin narrowed his eyes.
"Something's wrong," Xiao said as the two sword-wielding cultivators engaged the eleven bats who'd remained at the oasis while the others left on patrol. The sickle-wielding cultivator was providing support from behind.
The noise of the battle reached them through the dune. The cutting of air and flesh by the bone weapons of the cultivators, the screeching of the bats and the flapping of their wings.
The desert was starting to heat up again.
"The sickle wielder…" Xiao continued but trailed off, seemingly not knowing what to say.
At that moment, while the sword-wielding duo were surrounded on all sides, the double-sickle wielder suddenly threw out a third sickle. The man gripped the three ropes, two in each hand, one in his mouth, and then he spun violently, expelling bright red qi as he did so.
For a moment the scene became a blur of red, bone white and dark brown.
A second later the twister ended revealing that through the wild dance, three bats had been pierced through, hanging limply on the sickles of the cultivator.
The cultivator had already started running away, dragging the ropes, and thus the corpses behind him.
"Three pairs of wings," Jin commented idly as he watched the sickle-wielder's two teammates be left behind. The two sword-wielders exchanged a frazzled look as the bats became more agitated at the loss of three of their own and attacked more fiercely.
The two outer disciples didn't seem to have any interesting techniques beyond simply sharpening and extending the reach of their swords with qi. They couldn't disengage the eight remaining bats who were beating them with their wings and occasionally swooping in for a bite.
They tried to break through several times to escape, but they couldn't manage.
Everytime they made some space and attempted the retreat the bats would simply fly over them and block their path from anew.
The newly formed team could only watch as the duo eventually flagged, succumbed and fell.
They'd only managed to take down two bats, even if they wounded several others.
"Fodder," Biri snorted quietly.
Jin idly turned towards Hashimi, or what little he could see of her, just two eyes and a quarter of a face looking out from the sand.
She seemed apathetic, mostly, for all that she'd suggested they help.
"There's only six bats left now. Six left on patrol, sickle guy took three, the dead duo took two. That's basically two for each of us while one extracts," Jin commented idly.
Just as he said this, more screeches suddenly came from behind them, and wisely the group decided to shut up.
Three dark silhouettes suddenly flew over the dune they were hiding in and rejoined their comrades at the oasis.
A minute later, another three silhouettes joined from the other side as well.
"Back to twelve," Jin said quietly.
"They'll huddle up today, afraid of further attacks. Then tomorrow they'll send out patrols again," Biri analysed.
His thought process proved correct. The bats remained within the oasis, choosing to feast on the mammals they'd captured and the cultivators they'd killed instead of going out to acquire new victims.
No other attack occurred during the night.
Peace and quiet tinged through by a general sense of unease and mistrust.
After all, they'd just seen how any collaborative effort could end when convenience struck.
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The scorching day was unbearable. Jin didn't know how the others were faring, but buried completely in the hot sand, the only thing he could focus on was his breathing and his qi circulation.
Every hour was a torture, but he knew that patience was of the utmost importance.
For all that you could fault cultivators, one thing they knew very well was how to remain in one position for a very long time without complaining.
They had to wait, so they did.
There was only one notable event during the second day of the exam, and that was a cultivator trying to sneak up on the bats while they were sleeping. Unfortunately, the individual seemed to not be aware of the minefield that were the snakes hidden underneath the ground around the oasis.
The pink-robed cultivator was promptly bitten by several desert-horned snakes and dragged underground as if falling into a sand pit. He died, his only resistance consisting of a few hastily thrown wind spells which barely even kicked up the sand once he'd been buried beneath it.
None of the four waiting cultivators gave the incident any thought, although Jin was sure that they all felt a bit queasy.
He cursed Elder Flower in his mind. The only disciples he'd seen survive the exam were the traitorous sickle wielder and the Blazing Fire disciples who'd hidden the materials in the sands beforehand.
Other than those eight successful people, he'd now seen six deaths. Three in the village, and three in this accursed oasis.
The only other thing that happened was that the scorching wingbats threw the corpses of their comrades killed the previous night to the snakes. The remains were eagerly devoured. No wings for the group.
Night quickly approached, and as the sun started dipping beneath the horizon, a decision had to be struck. After all, now they officially only had 24 hours left in the exam.
"It's too late to go explore any other possibilities, so I imagine we'll simply have to push through," Jin commented.
"Some of the bats are dead, some are wounded. We know where the snakes are, and we know the general behaviour of both groups. Our best chance is to complete the mission," Biri's voice resounded from where he was hiding.
"I suggest we strike an hour before the sun comes up. The desert won't warm up too fast, so that gives us a two-hour window without the snakes," Jin said. "Also, this gives other disciples the possibility to attack first, an attack we can join."
"We need someone to sneak in while the rest serve as a distraction, take the two female captives. One of them will be the target," Biri muttered.
Jin wondered for a moment if he should volunteer, after all, the sneaking part was probably the safest. But that would leave Hashimi to fight, and he couldn't do that to his friend-
"I should do the sneaking," the girl's voice suddenly resounded, interrupting Jin's train of thought. He turned to glare at her.
"Why?" Biri asked in a bored voice.
Hashimi hesitated for a second before sighing. "I'm the weakest one here. Jin has trained for longer, Xiao is from a combat-focused sect, and Biri, you're certainly better at swinging around that hammer than I am at a sword." She paused. "Also, it has to be either Jin or me. That way, the two of you don't have to be worried that someone will try to just abscond with the target and collect all the rewards. An easy way to exterminate competition, sabotaging the quest."
"How do we know you didn't already agree on a meeting point after the betrayal, or that you're not communicating telepathically?" Xiao asked suspiciously.
"You don't," Jin interrupted harshly. "Just like how I don't know that you won't stab me in the back, metaphorically, since violence is prohibited."
"Betrayal is the risk of collaboration," Biri said. "Individual failure is the risk of doing the whole thing alone. I prefer my chances in a group. I agree that Hashimi can do the sneaking. I'm quite confident in my combat abilities. The bats are fearsome, but we have three foundation establishment cultivators, albeit from non-combat-oriented sects."
"Alright," Xiao eventually agreed. "Let's wait for the patrols to be sent out and to see if anyone else will come help."
But they waited in vain. Both for the patrols to leave and for anybody else to come and help out.
The night passed serenely, almost insultingly so. The bats played around while nipping blood from their victims. Some were even mating, that's how relaxed they were, completing complex aerial manoeuvres in the sky against the backdrop of the moon.
If Jin knew how to set up formations, he could have used the time they spent waiting for something to happen to prepare some sort of trap, but he didn't, so he could only let the time pass.
Eventually, it was time.
"I'll attack from the front, cause a big mess," Biri muttered as Hashimi quietly set off, slowly digging her way through the dunes so that she could lay in wait on the opposite side of the oasis.
"Good, me and Xiao can follow up on that. I think we'll mostly be fending off attacks, not really going for the kill," Jin said.
"We have to make them feel threatened enough that they defend themselves rather than their prey. No beast will protect its food when it thinks its life is in danger," Biri countered. "If you have an opening to kill one, do it. It makes it an easier battle if you do."
"But they'll get frenzied from losing one of their own," Jin argued. "Eleven frenzied opponents are tougher than twelve normal ones."
"Xiao?" Biri asked.
"Let's aim to injure; it puts them out of the fight just as much. Clip the wings. A grounded bat isn't a threat," the monk said simply.
"You're right," Biri suddenly agreed, seemingly changing his mind instantly. "It's easier to injure than to kill. Everyone defends their head more than any other extremity.
"Pull out at Hashimi's run, I have a technique to disengage," Xiao added.
"Seems we have a plan," Jin said. "Let's not draw this out too much, eh?"
"Getting cold feet?" Biri asked.
"Yeah," Jin said unashamedly.
Admitting weakness was not a thing that cultivators generally did, so this stunned his teammates somewhat.
Jin didn't feel like explaining to them the stupid reasons why he was even here, and he had to do his best while Elder Flower watched from above like some unfortunately still alive ancestor judging from the heavens.
"Let's go," Biri said, having decided not to pursue the topic further. He sprang up from the dune in which they'd been hiding for more than a day now and ran forward. Xiao and Jin followed closely behind.
Cultivators were fast, arriving at the oasis took less than a minute, the wingbats noticed them less than thirty seconds in and started flapping their wings, which generated what started as a pleasant hot breeze in the direction of their approaching group.
The intimidation tactic didn't work. On the outside of the oasis, Biri suddenly slid to a stop, hefting his hammer. All the kinetic energy his body had built up during the run was promptly transferred into his hammer, which transferred it into one of the palm trees.
The tree shattered violently and loudly. An ungodly amount of splinters pelted the incoming dozen bats. Jin saw some of them lose an eye. One of them even got its wing perforated.
To decisively remove that particular bat from the situation, Jin slid forward and extended his wooden lance, letting it enlarge to normal size in his hand. The sharp point of the lance cut through the other wing of the already hurt bat, and it went down to the floor.
The other wingbats, black creatures that looked like they'd crawled straight out of hell, didn't like that one bit. But there was nothing they could do about it, and they promptly lost another member to Xiao's extending staff, which crushed the joint attaching the wing to the body of another bat.
The staff retracted before attacking again. This time it was dodged.
Just like what had happened to the duo of sword-wielders last night, the trio promptly got surrounded by the bats, angrily flapping their wings.
More aware, the creatures weaved around Jin's swings of the lance and tried to attack him with the spikes on top of their wings, their fanged maws, or their claws.
However, just like how the creatures could dodge, so could Jin. He stepped into openings, spun his lance to gain space and managed to wound a wingbat's stomach.
Feeling the hiss of a weapon, eerily familiar to what he'd experienced all those months ago when an avatar of Sect Leader Shen of the Mad Monks Sect had taught him how to wield the staff, he stepped to the side.
Xiao's wooden staff extended violently past just where Jin's spine had been nary a second ago and crippled another wing before retracting.
"Good assist!" Jin shouted, starting to pant.
They were called scorching Wingbats for a reason, it seemed. It was starting to get just as hot as it was during the day under the effect of the beasts, just that now Jin was using all his qi to strengthen his body and couldn't waste it on cooling down.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Hashimi running down a dune and approaching the human victims, none of whom had enough energy to turn in their direction and even follow the process of their rescue.
As the fight continued, Jin started to appreciate his newfound ability to bend and control his body into unlikely shapes through external manipulation as he collaborated with Xiao, who seemed to trust him implicitly to dodge his attacks and serve as a cover for the occasional crippling of the wings.
Jin spun, jumped and ducked past the strikes of the bats and his ally, who was using him as cover while fighting his own battle.
A glance to the side confirmed that Biri was doing relatively well, too, although his sluggishness and heavy weapon weren't doing him any favours in the fight against such an agile opponent.
Regardless of the original twelve bats, the trio had managed to down four, leaving them facing eight, a very manageable number.
The only issue was that the heat was starting to become unbearable, making it difficult to breathe.
Thankfully, barely a second after that thought had passed Jin's mind, he heard Hashimi's whistle signalling that her part of the mission had been successful.
"Extract!" he shouted in case anyone else hadn't heard it.
He jumped back towards Xiao along with Biri and ducked to the ground, avoiding one last spin of the monk's staff.
Then he felt a strong surge of qi go through his comrade, who raised his staff in the air and spun it. Violently. Like the wings of a helicopter, the staff spun and extended to dozens of meters in length in a second. This created an oppressive wind funnel which grounded, for just a second, all of the bats and allowed the team to extradite themselves from their midst.
But, when they turned towards their escape and started running, they suddenly saw another group of disciples, counting about five in number running towards them, swords drawn.
Jin immediately realised that while he and his group had hidden themselves in the dunes to wait their time, someone else had been doing the same thing. The praying mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Well, the approaching disciples could have the wingbats. Hashimi had already carried away the two female captives, so that was that. Maybe they could go back and save the rest as well if these five disciples managed to kill the heavily damaged group of bats.
Just as this thought flitted through his head, the approaching group of five, all clad in dark grey robes, stepped onto the snakefield.
The snakefield that was supposed to be inert.
But it wasn't.
The desert-horned snakes erupted out of the ground in force, striking down the disciples who hadn't expected the sudden attack from underneath.
Jin could only watch helplessly as their escape path was cut off by a desert of writhing light brown and highly venomous bodies, while the bats were once again chasing them from behind, flapping their wings and creating hot gusts of wind.
"They're scorching wingbats," he realised out loud as he watched the last of the defeated disciples get swallowed whole by the snakes. "Their wings release hot air. They activate the otherwise sleeping snakes whenever they fight."
"Not good," Biri grunted. Snakes from the front, bats from the back.
It was indeed not good.
Very, very bad.
Of course, that was the moment the wyvern violently crashed into the oasis.
Then it exploded.
A human figure on its back screamed. "Fucking die already! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" The blazing fire disciple, it couldn't be anyone but, screamed in rage as she sent a literal inferno down onto the already charred wyvern beneath her and into the oasis, releasing a great gust of steam that immediately set the visibility of the oasis to zero.
And if the snakes hadn't been fully awake yet, the impromptu sauna probably finished the job.
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AN: Really liked this chapter as set-up, next chapter ties it up nicely. Just finished writing the last development chapter of Skyrim for Patreon. I'll write few reactions next and then finish up that arc.