Molting the Mortal Coil

The attack was sudden and fierce. The first few minutes went flawlessly, and many slavers were cut down before they knew what was going on. Then, Sage suddenly called for a rapid retreat. The Jade Horde reacted quickly, but they weren’t fast enough to avoid the calamity that came next. The starfield in Sage’s eyes seemed to twinkle, but there was little else he could do to prevent a landslide. The buildings the compound were all constructed of wooden planks, quite a luxury in the wilderness, but the enemy didn’t hesitate to sacrifice them. There was a loud crash and the ground seemed to give way.

Those large study buildings toppled over first, blocking the pathways in the compound that was the size of a small village. As the buildings fell, the ground started to sink at the same time. Sage could only watch, helpless, as the first century, as well as most of the second, were swallowed up by the ground. It first sunk a few feet when the buildings fell, and then a few seconds later there was a loud rumble and everything within the compound sunk into the ground. Somehow the devastation stopped just before reaching the walls, but even those tilted inwards in some places, the ground growing very unstable.

Having already ordered a retreat, the Jade Horde pulled back in a very organized and orderly fashion. They didn’t have time to think about those that had been lost. A huge cloud of dust rose up into the air from the remains of the compound. From afar the area within the walls had dropped down over a dozen feet, creating a giant crater, with not a soul to be seen. A few birds slowly circled in the air above the crater, controlled by War Falcons, they acted as surveillance for the Jade Horde. Sage had lost the Refinery Worm he was linked to in that attack. He kept the Twin Soul with him as a backup, so he waited for information like the rest of the Jade Horde.

Almost immediately, there were reports of a thick black liquid oozing up from the ground and filling the hole where the compound had been. Sage hopped onto a Vulture Gecko and rode it into the air for better view of the situation. There was still the void of space in his right eye and he couldn’t help but frown before calling out, “Defensive formation! Form the Million Scales at the gate!”

The main gate to the compound had already been destroyed, but the rest of the compound was surrounded by a tall wall. Probably because of its purpose, there was only one gate in or out, at least from a cursory look. He was sure there were many hidden entrances on the wall, or underground. He set the War Falcons to look out for them again while the rest of the main legion arrayed themselves in front of the compound. The first and second century had been devastated by the surprise attack so their remaining members had pulled back to the backup legion and were being treated for injuries. They would need time to reorganize and regroup.

The next danger showed itself at that time. Within the compound the ground was covered in a thick layer of a black liquid that looked to Sage like oil or tar. It certainly wasn’t a conducive terrain to conduct a battle on. From that dark pool, many round objects started to form and rise upwards. Up they went till another pair of mounds followed each of them up, looking like a head and shoulders covered in black tar. The mounds continued to grow larger and took on a rough look similar to a human standing in a knee high pool of tar.

These unknown beings started to walk out from the compound, shambling towards the gate. The Jade Horde was waiting for them and when the first few of the ‘tar people’ walked into the gateway, a volley of arrows slammed against them. The many arrows tore the tar apart and the first few ranks of them stumbled backwards. More of the tar creatures continued forward past their fallen comrades and flooded the gate.

At that point, one of the human soldiers among the Jade Horde yelled and pointed, “That’s Yimu!”

After the first one was recognized, more and more of the human cultivators began to call out the names of other tar people that they recognized. The volleys of arrows stopped. The humans in the Jade Horde made up the majority of its commanding officers. Ten man squad leaders, the hundred man leaders, Centurions, and even the thousand man leaders, Legionnaires were all humans. They all hesitated to attack these tar people that seemed to be the fallen men of the first and second century. One of them gave the order to capture them, but a few seconds later Sage spoke up.

“Cancel that order. These are not our men. It’s just a trick of the enemy. Destroy them!”

They were still a bit hesitant, so Sage pulled out a Harpoon Cannon and shot it into the tar people. It passed right through three of them, and then he ordered the nearby Hoplites to pull them over. With a bit of work they corralled the three of them. The Hoplites obeyed him without question and chopped them up into bits. The bits then splashed and formed into pools of tar.

They had already been firing waves of arrows into the tar people exiting the gate, but after Sage demonstrated the truth to them, they fought with more vigor. Of course, Sage wasn’t sure what they really were. He had just seen a more tragic version of his capture attempt by peeking at the future. In that version some of the Jade Horde commanders had died when they got close to the tar people. He hadn’t been sure what would be inside, but they found no flesh or bone inside the tar. With that result, Sage had an inkling of an idea as to their source.

The Jade Horde continued to rain down arrows upon the tar people as they flooded out of the gate. On the other side, the tar people continued to form inside the compound. Some of the men even called out recognizing the same face among the tar people for a second time. There were far more of these tar people than there were men lost in the earlier surprise attack. Worst yet, their numbers continued to increase. Getting annoyed, Sage brought out a tent and went inside. Not wanting to get seen while he linked to another insect. For the sake of breaking the stalemate he broke a rule and brought out a Warp Worm. The Refinery Worm was just too slow, weak, and small. It would waste too much time.

The chances of anyone here being related to the Fu Clan are small, right?

The Warp Worm was grown and matured from an egg in just a couple minutes for the cost of a few Spirit Stones. Then it dove into the ground and started burrowing towards the compound. The battle continued to rage on for another half an hour before Sage finally found what he was looking for. He exited his tent and checked on the battle. The Jade Horde had run low on crossbow bolts so they were already engaging the tar people with Halberds. A Million Scale Shell Formation had been put up in front of the gate and they were using their Halberds to good effect.

It was a simple tactic he called ‘Chop Wall’. The Halberd was extended to full length at a diagonal angle. The base of it could even be braced on the ground for better leverage. Then when it was at full extension, the weight reduction feature was deactivated and it fell down like a guillotine. Once it hit the ground, or an enemy, the weight reduction was turned back on and the halberd retracted. It worked even better when three or more rows of Hoplites were involved, though they had to reduce the max reach a little bit to make all the axe heads fall at the same place.

Seeing the front holding up well, Sage got an update from a War Falcon and went to meet the Legionnaire.

“Zhang Tu. Did you get the report?”

A man in the armor of the Jade Horde turned to greet Sage with a bow, “I did, Sir. Two centuries are already moving into position to either side where the tar is forming into a ramp.”

The man’s armor had detailed trim just like Sage’s did, and the pattern marked him as a Legionnaire. Sage nodded to the man’s preparations. The War Falcons had sent word that the tar had been rising into a sort of ramp and the tar people were climbing up it to make it over the wall. Inside the compound there were now so many of them they were stacking up. The choke point at the gate had been far too efficient at stopping them, and they were being formed faster than they were being destroyed.

“Good. Give me the 9th and 10th Century. You just have to hold out here for an hour at most. I’m going to put an end to it.”