Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)

Chapter 105 The Arak

She found herself standing in front of ten of the humanoid bird creatures Jie had seen at the dungeon entrance. The ones Pan Tian had called arak. Each had two legs and a pair of feathered wings that doubled as arms, which they used to point red crystal spears at Jie.

Blood elementals, like those that had destroyed the path earlier, rose up out of the blood lake on either side of Jie. Some had four legs, powerful jaws, and tentacles. Others looked like deformed monsters with misshapen limbs and far too many teeth. The way they coordinated with the arak gave Jie the feeling they served the bird creatures.

Behind the guards were watchtowers and what looked like a town. With piers, boats, and a massive column of stone that rose from an island of rock all the way to the ceiling high above. Countless glimmering lights and wooden platforms extended out of the central column and innumerable arak of various strengths walked or flew around it, going about their business. There were four other similar islands with columns that reached the ceiling in the distance.

Thanks to lightning step, everything seemed to move in slow motion around her. Most of the guards were in the middle of the Adept rank, but one radiated the aura of a seventh star Expert ranked cultivator.

They wouldn't have worried her, except that the watchtowers had ballistae covered in runes with shimmering red bolts that gave off the aura of the third star of the Elementalist rank. And they were aimed directly at Jie and her friends behind her. Jie had little faith that she could protect herself let alone her friends should they choose to fire the weapons.

The Expert ranked arak squawked something in a language Jie didn't understand and one of the guards with more colorful feathers took off running the other way, then flapped his winged arms and flew off.

Jie started backing away.

"You will not leave," said the Expert ranked arak, "remain where you are."

Jie narrowed her electric blue eyes at the dull-feathered bird.

"We meant no harm. We didn't even know you were here," Jie said.

"So you say," said the arak, "this is a matter for the elders. Move and we'll fire. Someone is coming to escort you before the elders. They will decide your fate, human."

Despite the arak's words, some of her guards' spears were shaking.

"Call your flock to you," said the arak.

"Your field cancels sound," Jie said.

"It will allow you to call to them," said the Expert ranked arak, "which you will do. Now."

"While you have weapons aimed at me and them? No," Jie said, "I could kill you and all your guards before your friends on the towers pull the trigger on your ballistae, but I haven't. So back off. They'll run shortly and you'll let them leave. If you so much as adjust your aim toward them, I'll see how many of you I can kill before I'm stopped."

The arak's feathers fluffed up as several of her guards took a collective step backward.

"There's no need for threats," said the arak.

"That was my point. We didn't mean to intrude. But, if you threaten my friends, I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do. If you treat us with respect, we'll show you the same consideration," Jie said.

Another arak flew over toward them. She had dull feathers, wicked scars on her body, and chunks of feathers missing. She also had the aura of a second star Elementalist.

"I like your style, human," she said as she landed easily on the boardwalk. She towered over Jie and her dark eyes bored into her, but Jie returned the level look without twitching.