Avuri

I took a deep breath and jumped to follow Emery. I didn't want to be anywhere near the giant insects, but there we were, jumping between them like stepping stones.

"Watch their fur. It's sharp."

"Right."

Thankfully, avoiding stepping on their manes of sharp quills was pretty easy. While it was present in most of their joints - presumably for protection against being torn open by predators - the armored carapace took up a lot more of their body size, giving us plenty of space to step on and leap off from.

The entire horde seemed to be so incensed by something in the demons' camp that the antlions barely reacted to us stepping on them. Admittedly, I was doing everything in my power to keep the steps short and light to avoid bothering them, but only a few reacted at all. I wasn't sure if it was the scent of food or one of the antlions commanding them to attack, but they were very focused.

It didn't take us too long to traverse the sea of insects. The press of their bodies as they flooded the camp kept them coming in something resembling a controlled stream, which also helped us move over them. As soon as we saw the entrance to the camp, which was already overrun, we prepared for combat.

Making the turn into the entrance was less dangerous than I had expected. We had been able to feel it through our Qi, but seeing the siege in person had more impact by far. The Cultivators in the camp must have had a plan in place for this exact scenario, because they had clearly acted very quickly.

Tents near the entrance had been torn down purposefully to create makeshift barriers and walls to fight behind. It controlled some of the incoming flood of antlions, keeping them in one area to allow the Cultivators some semblance of control over the fight. It was also beginning to fail.

The line of people, however, was holding much better. It seemed like the Cultivators that excelled in ranged offensive techniques were the ones positioned near the barriers, launching attacks to cull the encroaching antlions and thin the horde. The more physically inclined Cultivators were positioned just behind them, ready to jump forward if their walls failed.

The rest of the camp behind the front lines was in chaos. What I could only guess were the weaker members of the splinter sect were running around, trying to secure valuables and things they wanted to remain as undamaged as possible. On the other hand, there were a number of people who were gathering as much of the food the camp had made and throwing it into a massive pile near the middle of the camp.

That was a solid plan. If the antlions were actually after the food, it was possible they would gather around it and leave the rest of the camp alone. It seemed unlikely, but perhaps possible.

Emery and I leapt off to the side of the cavern as soon as we passed the entrance. The barriers were far enough away from the entrance to give the Cultivators a solid killing field to work with, but the distance was also enough for us to sneak by without drawing too many eyes. And the chaos of Qi being unleashed helped us hide spiritually as well.

I quickly slipped behind and under a section of destroyed tent that had collapsed in a way that left a convenient little alcove. Emery moved in right behind me and we quickly got to work with our Qi, exploring the rest of the cavern. We needed to be careful on the far side of the camp where the fighting wasn't as intense as there wasn't the same roil of Qi there to hide us.

Thankfully, we didn't need to look all that far to find the tent that held the metal cages with the camp's prisoners. I felt Emery's anger spike as our Qi ghosted over the tent. Five children and two adults were in the cages. It seemed like the ones that had been in the center of the camp earlier had been moved as well.

Without getting too close, it was hard to get a handle on their physical state. But it strangely felt like they were all in decent shape. I couldn't feel any physical wounds on them, but I found that difficult to believe. They were also actively railing against their cages, not slumped and whimpering as I might have expected.

If anything, their state made me more concerned, not less.

"Where are the demons?"

I could feel Emery's Qi blanketing the room, searching for the spikes of demonic energy. Unfortunately, the churning of Qi around the combat was making it difficult to sense things with precision. I could tell there was plenty of demonic Qi being thrown around by the camp's entrance, but not who it originated from. It seemed even Emery, who had honed her ability to track demonic Qi was having trouble with the chaotic jumble of techniques.

"I only heard the voices of the ones in the tent with me. I didn't risk taking a peek at them." I said, trying to get a feel for who was leading the demons.

Emery shook her head, giving up. "It's not worth the time to get it right. What do you think? Do we sneak the prisoners out, or do we make the enemies fight on two fronts?"

The idea of striking the enemy Cultivators from behind their fortifications had potential, but if we weren't careful it could turn against us too quickly. Similarly, even in the tumult of combat, if we tried to lead the prisoners away, if even one enemy was keeping an eye on them we could be caught. And then we'd have the prisoners to defend in addition to ourselves.

"I don't think attacking them from behind would give us that much of an edge. We need to turn the fight in the antlions' favor before we move, instead. And I think I can do that." I said.

"Oh yeah?" Emery offered me a little grin. "Do your worst, then."

Despite the situation, I let out a little giggle before focusing. The Cultivators were clearly making good use of their barriers to keep the antlions contained - and we needed more chaos.

I focused my Qi on the joints and connections on the metal and wooden frames that made up their walls. The materials were solid, but weren't designed to resist Qi, only natural weather. With a quick burst of power, I was able to deeply freeze the material. I didn't have the required techniques to then break the structures, but thankfully, there was an entire horde of antlions bearing down on the makeshift walls.

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It wasn't immediate, but the power behind the antlions began to overcome the walls. They fractured and broke as more of the insects flooded the space, viciously slamming into the structure. It wasn't long before the Cultivators needed their close range fighters to step in and fight to maintain the line - and that was exactly the distraction we needed. Everyone involved in fighting off the antlions were now actively engaged in combat, not only half of their number.

"That's a start." I said. And then a big flash of demonic Qi immediately drew our attention. Apparently, the big bad leader of the troupe was one of the melee specialists that had been waiting in the wings to step in. And there was no mistaking him now.

Almost dead center in the Cultivator's formation was a man standing head and shoulders above the press of bodies. He had blood red skin and was oozing with channeled demonic Qi. It looked like it was a fairly simple physical reinforcement technique at first, but then when he made contact with an antlion the creature almost melted. It looked like it was being devoured by something from the inside out, with the body collapsing inward after a moment.

It was absolutely disturbing to see.

"Well, I think we found Wenzu." I said lightly, as if the technique wasn't terrifyingly effective.

"And the other leader, too. There." Emery said, pointing out another fighter to me with her Qi. The ranged fighters had made some space around a tall, thin man who was launching spears of an unmistakable roiling red Qi. When they made contact with something, it had the same effect as Wenzu's physical attacks. "I've seen similar demonic techniques before, thankfully. It's a fairly simple technique that uses demonic Qi to overrun the target's body and cause a deviation to destroy the body."

"And that's the result?" I said, watching another antlion all but melt.

"On a spirit beast with weaker Qi, yes. They can't fight the Qi deviation, and it happens very quickly. It's less powerful against Cultivators or more Qi-focused spirit beasts."

"I guess that's good to know." I said, watching the fight. "There's really no shortage of Sky Realm fighters here."

"There's not." Emery agreed. "At least the antlions are causing some real damage through sheer numbers. We need to make our move before the fight is over. We can't sit here and not act."

"We should get the prisoners, then. We can't fight all of the Cultivators here. There are just too many, even with the antlions. They're just as likely to attack us, too."

Emery took a breath and nodded. "Right. Let's move, then."

We locked our Domains together soundly before we moved, doing our best to slide around the edges of camp. Or at least in areas where we could go unnoticed. We snuck through tents to keep hidden, or around the backs of ones that had people mulling about. Thankfully, it seemed like most of the camp was diligently doing whatever they felt their tasks were during the attack. They were remarkably well organized for a demonic sect, but I supposed that was due to being a splinter of a major sect.

It also seemed like the antlion attack was enough of a problem that all of the enemy sect members were doing something, leaving no one to guard their prisoners. To be fair to them, I figured, they would see no reason to guard prisoners in cages while there was imminent danger at their door.

When Emery and I slid under the tent's walls, the attention of almost every prisoner turned straight to us. As we had sensed earlier, there were seven total people in the cages; five children and two adults. Now that we were in the room with them, it was also easy to see that what we had sensed before was correct as well - they were physically in good shape. I had expected injured, emaciated bodies and people near death, but all seven people were in at least decent health.

Emery and I both immediately motioned for them to be quiet. The five children all clapped their hands over their mouths in response, which was cute. They looked surprised, but otherwise more or less alright. The adults eyed us warily, clearly not trusting the sudden appearance of two people clothed for subterfuge appearing in the midst of a big battle outside.

"Locks?" Emery asked.

"Looks like it. They seem mundane, though. Should be easy to -" I didn't even finish the thought before a small push of Qi froze the locks on each cage. A solid shove, even from the mortals in the cages, should have been enough to break the locks on each cage, but Emery simply sliced them open with a thought. All of the locks fell to the ground in pieces as the cage doors came loose.

The adults stared, dumbfounded, while the kids quickly pushed the doors open but didn't step outside the doors. With sudden access to the outside of their cages, they looked more hesitant than anything else.

I offered them the most welcoming smile I could muster. "You need to stay quiet, but we're here to get you all out of here."

One of the adults stepped gingerly from her cage. She looked to be middle-aged, and carried herself with the air of at least a well-to-do family - perhaps a merchant - despite her clothes being fairly worn. She nodded to us quietly, still looking distrustful, but crept to the main tent flap to peek outside. I saw the moment she comprehended the chaos outside as she grew pale.

The other adult, a young man perhaps in his twenties, stepped forward toward the middle of the tent and motioned for the children to gather so he could briefly check them over. He didn't look at Emery or I as he spoke. "What's the situation out there? It sounds like hell."

Something in his intonation sounded very much like a guard or mercenary. It was definitely possible that he was one taken with one of the caravans. I wasn't sure why he would be left alive with the other prisoners, though.

"We angered a hive of antlions and led them to this camp." Emery said honestly. "The two of us simply can't handle an entire demonic sect on our own, so we needed reinforcements."

"You call those things reinforcements?" The woman hissed, stepping back from the tent flap.

"Unfortunately." I whispered. "We took what we could get. And they seem to be a good match for the demons here."

"This is a demonic sect, then," the man said, as if only now confirming that fact.

"I told you that already." The woman said, sounding clearly annoyed.

"It makes sense, given the cages, but…well, they didn't hurt me. Or the boy." He said, ruffling the hair on the smallest of the children arrayed near him. "Even you look healthy."

"I don't exactly understand what it is they do, but I've overheard them say that they need to keep us in good form to do it. There's some kind of Array they use, I think. But it's also only with the children." The woman began to trail off before she shook her head. "It doesn't matter right now. There's literally a horde of giant bugs outside."

Emery stepped forward to try to take control of the situation. "I imagine being kept in here means you haven't gotten a good look around the cave?"

"I was out cold and woke up in the tent, so no." The man said.

"I've seen parts of it, but not much." The woman said.

"Any secondary ways out?"

"Not that I've seen."

"Great, then we need to fight our way out." Emery sighed.

"It could work." I said hesitantly. "The demons are trying to fight the antlions back, not to get through them. And we already ran across their backs once to get in here to begin with."

"I'm not concerned about us, Ri."

"I know that." I said flatly, my gaze roaming over our newly expanded party. "We need a plan."

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