I moved fast and pulled the man who felt the burn on his skin back, only for a gigantic wind cutter swung right in front of us.
The wind blow was merely the aftermath of a gigantic claw that swung from the shadows. Looking at the owner of the dark-clawed arm, a vile and creepy snickering sound echoed from between the shades of the trees.
The arm slowly and creepily retreated, after having fully exposed itself, it just casually withdrew.
I snapped my fingers summoning a small flame and threw it forward, only to reveal the face of a beast of nightmares looking at us.
It looked like a rat at first, with the snout of one too. Yet it had ears that looked like that of a rabbit, loosely drooping around its patchy fur head. Blood and viscera were leaking from between the creature's jaws as it snickered and giggled like a kid would.
Was it mimicking sound?
"Help me!" it said as it rattled its throat. Then it began giggling as it hid behind the shade of a tree only to disappear and divine sense.
"Help me! Daddy!" we heard around us.
Then a sound of giggles echoed after that.
"Daddy, it hurts! Where are you?" once again.
"What the f.u.c.k is going on?" one of the soldiers said, "What the h.e.l.l was that thing?"
No one had an answer for him since it was our first time seeing something like that anyway.
"I'm coming, darling! Just hold on tight!" the beast spoke once again.
"I see…" I muttered.
Old Fu seemed to have realized that I understood what was going on to an extent.
"Dead?" he questioned.
"Their bones are probably what was stuck between that rat-like thing's teeth…"
"Here! Come follow me!" a voice echoed in the distance.
"That sounded like master Shen Mo's voice…" one of the soldiers said.
"It seems that he understands some of the words and their meaning, but it cannot understand them completely. It was probably trying to lure one of us away. Keep close and follow Shen Mo."
"It burns!" said one of the cultivators.
He immediately realized that the beast was close to him, and instantly dove forward, and rolled on the ground.
Gigantic claws extended by an elongated arm crushed the position he was in. Another wave of eerie giggles and laughter followed after as the arm slowly withdrew.
The soldier gasped as he stood up and backed away into a tree, panic-stricken but thankful he survived.
I gulped air, and spat forward a blob of poison that splashed against the creature's claws.
"Lethal poison?" asked Old Fu.
"For the most part, it is lethal, but I noticed that the beast has some sort of scales on his hands. Perhaps the poison won't penetrate deep enough, but still, it's enough for me to track it."
"Why does it keep coming for me!" said the same person from before who felt the heat on him due to the talisman as he lunged once again.
Another claw ripped right through the tree he was leaning on a second ago.
"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" I said.
"I thought you marked it," said Old Fu.
"I did, the mark is pointing that way! And it's moving still…"
"Decoy?" asked Old Fu.
"No, it's a different one, there isn't just one of these things here," I said.
"How are you sure?" asked the captain.
"Because both the arms that were swung at him were left arms… we're surrounded. By at least two of these things if not more…"
Suddenly the entire area seemed to rattle as more and more giggles and snickering sounds echoed around us.
The eyes of these creatures were all you could see from under the shadowy canopy of the trees. Several dozens of them emerged from around us and they all laughed and giggled.
The atmosphere was enough to send one's back into a frenzied s.h.i.+ver. Especially as the loud sound of laughter was getting closer and closer.
"Throw the talismans around us in a circle!" I shouted.
It took the soldiers a few seconds to register my command. And only when they saw the captain and old Fu do so, did they throw the rest of the talismans around us.
I clapped my palms together and sent a surging wave of Poison Qi into the talismans. The ten talismans created a small barrier that erected itself around us.
This barrier was powered by nothing but my own Poison Qi, I had to constantly upkeep the funneling of Qi to the barrier and thankfully I acted fast.
One of the creatures swung their claw into the barrier, which was immediately reflected away, however, to repair the damage I needed to replenish the barrier with a good bit of my poison Qi.
Everyone around me understood the gravity of the situation and soon came to realize that we're not safe in this Dark Garden.
One's cultivation is irrelevant as long as they're afflicted by the atmosphere of the Dark Garden.
"How long can you stay like this?" asked old Fu.
"With the pills I have on me… a couple of years," I grinned.
Several more rats slammed their claws into the barrier and I had to draw more Qi to reinforce the barrier.
"But with them attacking like this, I won't make it past the week even if I go through every pill I own."
Old Fu's jaws were clenched, and he realized that we weren't in the best spot. Most of the trouble was piled on me, and the responsibility to take care of everyone in this group also fell on me since I was the only one with access to Qi.
"Huh?" one of the soldiers audibly muttered.
Seeing that his talking was distracting me he put his hand on his mouth as if to close it and not to speak again.
"Speak your mind, why did you exclaim like that?" old Fu said.
"Uh… I was born with a high sensitivity to Qi…"
"And?" replied old Fu.
"I believe that some of my Qi had returned albite minuscule, but I'm sure of it," he said.
Old Fu looked at me and then closed his eyes. He then smiled.
"A blessing in disguise," old Fu said.
"What's going on?" I asked since I couldn't afford to use my focus on anything but upkeeping the barrier due to how many of these f.u.c.kers were taking swings at it.
"The barrier you made, it somehow disallowed the atmosphere or whatever that was preventing us from generating Qi to continue doing so. What this soldier felt wasn't his Qi returning, but more like a small bit of it releasing itself from the seal of the Sea of Demons."
"Will that help us in any way?" asked the captain, "because whatever amount he recovered it is minuscule, and wouldn't it dissipate the moment the barrier goes out," he added.
"Not really, that's good news," I said.
"Any of you have spirit stones?" I asked "Or Saint Stones?"
"I have some in my holding bag," said one of the soldiers.
"Pull it out, I need to verify something," I said.
The soldier pulled one of his Saint Qi stones and it instantly radiated a powerful Qi wave that felt like a refres.h.i.+ng breeze in the heart of the desert… but not for me.
Every soldier seemed to want to grasp at the stone to absorb some of the Qi and release their cultivation.
"Don't waste it," I said.
"But shouldn't we use it to regain our Qi?" said a soldier.
"Then what, the moment the barrier goes down, the Qi you absorbed from the stone will also be sealed."
"Then what do you suppose we should do?" asked Old Fu.
"I just needed to verify that Qi works inside this makes.h.i.+ft barrier. I then pulled out my holding bag, "X! Come out!"
Instantly the white knight showed up, guns ready, guns that weren't affected by the sealing atmosphere.
It's gonna be lit.