Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 149: The Beast

The time came for a twittering bird call to come from the front, one of the men on watch having caught sight of their quarry. One of them kept the Beast in their sight while the other six men moved into position, each of them assuming their place in their plan, concealing themselves among the rocks and trees of the narrow valley.

Sweat started to drip down backs, hands started to shake, and breathing began to quicken. The moments right before an attack were the times that tested nerves to the greatest degree. The tension of the coming confrontation continued to build, growing greater and greater by the second. Knowing that danger was walking towards them, feeling the approaching uncertainty, the chance of life ending.

Thankfully, nobody broke, nobody ran, nobody made a sound, they were all experienced mercenaries and each had their own way to cope. Mental games or songs, focusing mnemonics, prayers, thoughts of loved ones, repetitive motions, and all sorts of other tricks were used to keep each man focused and steady, ready to spring their trap. The sound of twigs snapping, rocks tumbling and dirt rustling came from ahead of them. Announcing the arrival of their prey far before they ever saw it. Three of them had been on watch earlier, but they were each at different locations so none of them were truly prepared for the appearance of this beast.

It was about three feet wide and nearly forty feet long, writhing side to side and slithering towards them like a massive snake. It had thick and segmented armored plating and was colored a dark reddish brown like dried blood. Where the armored plates seemed to overlap there were large spikes the size of knitting needles jutting outwards. These details were already pretty unusual, but the front of it was what caught the most attention. It had a head that looked like a cross between a dragon and an insect. A serpentine snout covered in horns and filled with fangs that pointed in every direction, each of them seeming mounted on a tiny arm like a monstrous woodchipper. Its eyes were weirder, mounted on top of its head, with vertical slits and with pivoting eye lids that covered the eyes as they rotated from straight ahead to straight backwards. Each of them had an arch over them formed by layers of sharp spines like deadly eyebrows. The back of the head and the neck had even more of those sharp spines, many times larger than the others a dense covering that appeared almost like a mane. Just down from the head was a half dozen long and spindly legs. The forearm of each leg was covered in blade like barbs and ended in a set of finger like pincers.

The Black Skull Squad suddenly understood why so many other mercenaries werent successful and why the reward for this assignment was so high. From the appearance of the beast it was bound to be troublesome. As the creature neared their nerves were taut, the pressure building till it finally broke. The beast had entered the first trap.

An array formation lit up on the cliff walls to either side of the beasts path, a sudden intense whistling of wind kicked up. The dirt and dust in the surrounding area seemed to multiply, kicking into a huge twister. A massive cloud of dust building out of nothing in mere moments, obscuring the beasts vision and whipping it with fast moving debris like an impromptu sand blaster. The distraction gave the team the chance to reveal their weapons and charge their next steps, buying them time to catch the beast unaware. Unfortunately it didnt hold the beast as long as they hoped. Barely a second passed before the sand twisters were broken, the whistling wind dying down and causing the collected dirt and sand to pile onto the ground.

It wasnt ideal, but the next step of the trap was triggered. Dozens of trees lining the path through the valley suddenly began to glow. Rectangular paper talisman had been pasted to the trees and just now they were all activated simultaneously. The talisman disintegrated themselves and released the energy they contained. Qi techniques were contained within them and now released instantly as spell. Each of them letting loose a torrent of water, hundreds of gallons launched at high speed, focused and concentrated to smash against the beast like a thousand waves breaking against a rocky shore. The beast let out a loud hiss, chittering at its new foes. Many water arrows smashed against its armored body, but far more of them were sliced apart by its bladed arms. The slashed water arrows had their force dispersed, but they still splashed water everywhere, soaking the valley and the beast.

The next man of the squad held a huge bow, the arrows easily the size of small javelins, such a weapon would be impossible to wield if not for the extraordinary strength of cultivators. The arrows in his hands came to life, arcs of electricity breaking out upon them. The bow was pulled and the string released. The mans hands moving in a blur, firing arrow after arrow in a continuous stream. The arrows sparking as they flew, appearing like miniature lightning bolts, descending upon the beast from on high. Each of them aimed for a gap in the beasts armor plating. Arcs of electricity dispersing into the water that soaked the beasts whole body, multiplying the power of those falling arrows. Half of them bounced off the armor plates, delivering a shock before falling away. The other half struck the gaps of the writhing beast and sunk into its flesh. A surprisingly red blood mixing in with the water soaking it, each strike of an arrow adding to the electrical charge and creating a paralyzing effect to allow even more arrows to strike home.

With the beast seeming on the ropes, the attack didnt slow down, instead pushing harder. The water that had been dousing the beast had been mixing with the huge amounts of dirt and sand that had been used in the first attack. The fourth member of the Black Skull Squad took action, sinking his hands into the ground and using his Qi to take control of the earth beneath the beast. Speeding the combination of dirt and water, transforming the now muddy ground into a swampy quagmire. Further softening the ground and turning it into a massive pool of quicksand. Letting the beasts massive size and weight drag it down into the sand. At first it seemed to be working quite well, but eventually the archer had to stop his assault, most of his Qi having been used up to fire dozens of lightning coated arrows. When he did it took only a few seconds for the paralyzing effect to wear off and the beast began to struggle, starting to swim through the loose sand. Not one to be outdone, the massive pool of quicksand fought back, beginning to spin. The sinkhole turning into a whirlpool, not just passively taking the beast under, there was now an active suction pulling it in.

The three Black Skull Squad members who hadnt acted yet all shook their heads at the next sight and prepared to act. The beast stopped struggling against the swirling sand and extended its arms. Each of them tossing out a line of webbing, hooking onto trees and rocks, tying the lines together and throwing out even more. In only a few moments it had created a rough net above the whirlpool of sand and started to slide itself on top of it. Acting before their trap was broken, the fifth man started to make some hand seals, his whole body glowing with a fiery aura. In the next instant he thrust his hands forward and a torrent of flames was unleashed. A stream of fire ten feet wide poured towards the beast, bathing it in fire while it was still trapped in the sand and unable to avoid it. The sixth man immediately jumped in, releasing a river of wind. The gusting wind swirled around the sand pit, a similar action to the original array, creating a cylindrical cyclone around the raging flames. Containing while also stoking the fire into a huge column around the beast.

Was it finally dead?