The humans noticed Vala coming their way when the scouts in front of them waved hello to the flying demon. Afraid of being overlooked, they both began frantically waving their arms as if she alone represented their last hope of survival and calling out to her for help.
Seeing how pathetic and desperate they looked, Vala couldn't resist messing with them for at least a little while before leading them back to the city.
"Halt. State your business in Port Nefheim." Vala demanded, landing in front of them with her sword drawn.
"Please, Miss um, winged lady. Our group was attacked the moment we passed through the portal, and they couldn't use their cultivation, and there were monsters. Please save us; we will do whatever you want. Just let us live through this nightmare." The younger of the two human men begged.
"You said that they couldn't use their cultivation. What about you two?" Vala asked, ignoring their desperate search of the area for threats.
"We are internal cultivators; our energy comes from within. It isn't as flashy, but it was enough to get away after our weapons broke." The older one, a dark-haired human man in his mid-twenties, replied.
[They're cultivators.] Vala notified the other Companions.
[The barrier around the planet must be broken, it has been letting just anyone who has tried moving between worlds come in.] The Watchers sighed.
This state of affairs might please the Laughing God, but Vala was confident that the humans didn't find it nearly as funny to be dropped into a world with no Cultivation type energy.
"How many were in your group?" Vala asked just as a juvenile Tiger growled in the trees near them.
Vala turned to stare it down, and the Big cat looked from her to the cultivators, weighing the odds of escaping with a snack, then changed its mind and retreated. Vala had left quite the impression on the local wildlife earlier, and even as cubs, Mythic Beasts had a good memory for threats.
"Did she stare that thing down? What sort of monster is she?" The younger man whispered.
"Not a monster. I am a Wrath Demon. My name is Vala, and I am one of the defenders of Port Nefheim." She explained.
"Is that far from here? We saw some others, beast people, I think. We wanted to follow them and ask for directions, but they ran away." The one man replied.
"Who wouldn't run away from a pair of crazies screaming in a forest full of monsters? That's just common sense. But if you could fly, you would see the city from here. I came over because I was keeping watch and saw you coming." Vala told him, pointing back at the city.
"Could we rest there? Is it safe? There was a giant lizard that knocked a Boulder over our portal, and we couldn't move it without getting attacked."
Vala shook her head at their idiocy. Who goes through a portal to another world after seeing a giant lizard and doesn't defend their only escape route? That's way past confidence and into hubris.
"Alright, follow me, but stop shouting; it upsets the cats." Vala finally relented.
She folded her wings against her back and walked in front of them, waiting for the beasts to attack, but the defense forces seemed to have everything well in hand for the moment.
The Watchers were usually pretty laid back, letting everyone else build experience instead of going all out, but today they seemed like they had something to prove. She would have to ask about it later and see if anyone had heard anything about a contest. If the Watchers were doing something unusual it was almost always because of a contest with their peers.
"Are there humans in this city of yours, or is everyone like you?" The older of the pair asked.
"There is only one other like me. But there aren't many humans, either. Cid is a Vampire, though, and that looks a lot like a human. But I seem to have missed how many more of your people the group you came with originally contained." Vala asked, pulling the conversation back on topic.
"There were ten. Only one more might be alive; the rest are gone. That creature was hungry." The older cultivator replied with a full-body shudder at the memory.
"The dinos look a bit scary, and they're pretty much everywhere on this Continent, but rest assured, none of the other monsters are any less bloodthirsty," Vala informed him happily, and the man began to look relieved before he realized that what she told him wasn't a good thing.
"There it is. As you can see, we are in the middle of a battle, but there is a ladder by the beach you can use to get over the wall and into the city. If you want to rejoin the fight, ask the Ancient, and he will find you some swords."
Vala was about to fly away when the humans called one last question. "How do we find the Ancient?"
"It is twenty meters tall with wings and Tentacles; it is impossible not to find him. Tell him about your situation, and he will find you a spot to camp inside the wall and whatever basic supplies you need."
The two humans looked like they might take their chances with the monsters outside the wall for a few seconds, but the growl of the young Tiger that had been following them was enough motivation to get them running toward the wall and its promise of safety.
They made it to the wall at a dead run, with the tiger right behind them. The defenders were cheering them on, but as far as the two cultivators could tell, none of them intended to leave their post to come to help them.
Or maybe they were waiting for them to get maimed before they intervened. That was common among the cultivation sects; they would only step in to save a life. Everything before that was up to the cultivator and seen as a necessary learning experience.
So, they just kept running. The guards certainly wouldn't let the monster into the city where there would be children.
At the top of the stairs, a small girl with fluffy white cat ears and horns was waiting for them. As far as they could tell, she couldn't be more than ten years old, but she showed no fear as she watched the monstrous tiger approach.
There were guards on either side of the strange-looking girl, and the two men had to dodge them as they jumped off the ladder, narrowly avoiding the tiger's claws.
"Watch out, little one." The younger cultivator called, scooping up Neffie in his arms and jumping off the wall into the city.
"That still counts as moving your feet." The guard on top of the wall laughed while Neffie scowled at him from the spot on the grass where she landed.
The other guard had killed the tiger in a single strike, and both of them openly laughed about the situation, making the cultivators wonder if this whole world was insane.
"Damn you fools, it was a level 150 Lemon Tiger; why were you so scared? You cost me two full bags of caramels because I lost the bet." Neffie complained. She didn't often wager her precious candies from the Demon Kingdom, and only offered them up when she viewed the bet as a sure win for her.
"Um, sorry? We thought you were just a kid, and that tiger nearly ate us." The older cultivator tried to console her, but the younger one had a better method.
"These are salt toffee from our sect. Please accept our apology."
Neffie looked over the bag of toffee after she tossed the caramels to the winning guards and nodded her head in agreement. She had never tried these before, but they smelled pretty good.
"Welcome to Port Nefheim. I am Neffie, the Guardian of the city, and leader of the city Guard."
