Molting the Mortal Coil

With a target in mind, Sage pushed the Centipede to higher ground. The vines covered the walls quite deeply, but it was still less to deal with than the heavy bushes and undergrowth by the ground. The Centipede merely had to pave its path instead of building a tunnel. Skittering along the upper rim of the Solarium, they skirted around the perimeter until they were looking straight down at their target. It was entirely possible it was a trap and the real Demonic Plant was somewhere else, but Sage was only here on a whim anyway. As he’d always heard people say in this world ‘Birds die for food, people die for wealth.’ and there was no reward without a bit of risk.

Sage had the Centipede focus on clearing a good escape route for them, sealing down all the vines and plants all over the wall in a twenty foot area. If something happened he wanted to make sure they’d have a quick path out. To that end he even had the Centipede climb out of the Solarium from the top edge and clear the way down. With an escape route secured, Sage put into play some contingencies. Surprise was the best weapons, and surprise was best accomplished by the unknown. After a year of training, he’d embraced his new nature and every move he made should be unexpected. In order to create more surprises he needed more weapons. To that end, he would never settle on just riding the Steel Silk Centipede in for a head on conflict.

Sage took out eight of the Formation Plates he’d crafted. Each of them was actually a pair of Formation Plates. In his time of experimentation he’d realized his goal of creating layered Formation Plates. A plate the size of a saucer was fit into another the size of a dinner plate. The metal composition was merely a rank 2 alloy, essentially Steel mixed together with ground up spirit stones. Its name was just as simple and explanatory, Spirit Steel. It was the main metal used for things related to Cultivators given it’s simple creation, strength, and abundance. In this world, mundane metals and alloys were known as rank 1, while rank 2 referred to enhanced versions of those normal alloys. The following ranks would usually include materials or special processes that created weapons suitable for use for those of the corresponding rank. The distinction was based around how much energy such pieces of metal could channel. For example, the amount of Qi a Core Formation, rank 5, Cultivator could channel would instantly transform a normal steel sword into ashes. At the same time a Spirit Steel sword might be able to handle that much energy for a half-dozen strikes before shattering apart.

The Formation Plates he’d crafted were not meant to be an ultimate weapon that could handle all situations. Instead, Sage had created hundreds of different plates which meant he had to choose an economical material to build them. If he had tried to inscribe rank 5 Array Formations upon the Formation Plates they would be consumables with only a few uses, at the same time the plates would have to be ten feet in diameter at least. The size of an Array Formation was very reliant on the ability of the Formation Master. They became more and more complicated and intricate as they increased in rank. In order to inscribe such formations at smaller sizes the Formation Master would need to be more powerful both in Qi and Spirit Power. Sage was a 5 star Formation Master, but the smallest he could place them down was within a five foot radius. Even this was amazing, as most Formation Masters could only exhibit their highest rank Formations within a hundred foot diameter area. While Sage was untalented with his Qi Cultivation, he had an advantage over others because of his greater Spirit Power and the formulas he’d derived to create Formations. It was also the reason he could be a 5 star Formation Master while only being rank 3 himself.

The outer plates were for targeting and triggering while the inner plates were the array to trigger. Sage laid them out in groups of four. Three were aligned along the top of the wall in a straight line like a barrier while the fourth was placed in front of the line of three and attached to the inner rim of the wall. He then repeated the formation of four plates on the ground outside of the Solarium away from the base of the wall, just where the silken escape route ended. The Steel Silk Centipede climbed back up to the top of the wall and waited there a moment. Time to give this a try!

The huge brown Centipede skittered down the web covered slope on the inner wall of the Solarium. Sage’s target was the largest most brilliant white flower blossom. He wasn’t sure how to get a Demonic Plant to produce a Demon Seed, nor was he sure how to handle it, but he knew that most plants had seeds in their fruits or flowers. The Centipede moved at full speed now, no longer slowly webbing and binding up the vines. He’d already had it create a clear path to within twenty feet of the huge flower, stopping away from where he could trace the vines of that huge flower too. Given the lack of response from the Demonic Plant so far he felt it either wasn’t threatened in the least, was in some sort of hibernation, or perhaps was too inexperienced to realize what he was up to. He had read that when a Spirit Plant becomes a Demonic Plant it was like a child being born. While they were intelligent it took time and experience for them to learn and mature.

The Centipede charged the last twenty feet through the untouched vines and bushes, stampeding towards the large snowy white blossom. The nearby vines seemed to sense its approach and started to twist and curl towards the huge bug. In response the Centipede slashed down the ones in front of it and ignored the ones to the side, barreling towards the central flower and rapidly circling around it like a wagon train. Every other set of legs reached out and started to bind up the surrounding vines while the head and forward arms attacked the Flower Blossom near where it met the stem. Spitting its corrosive acid and slashing away at the thick vine, the Demonic Plant had no time to react before suddenly the huge bloom was sliced off and fell to the ground.

It was at this point that things started to turn around. To an outside observer it might have looked like the Demonic Plant’s head was just cut off, but in reality the main vitality of a plant was within the roots. The Centipede had only served to infuriate the Plant and the vines that surrounded it suddenly multiplied in an instant. Before it was like a dense Jungle had grown eyes, the vines and foliage twisting and undulating towards the Centipede. Now it was like the vines were the limbs of a great and powerful beast, striking rapidly like snakes. Moving so quickly the web spinning arms had no chance to catch up. Within moments all but the forward section of the Centipede was covered in thick vines and getting pulled towards the ground. The head of the Centipede was spitting out large amounts of its acid saliva, melting the vines nearest it. At the same time the six forward limbs were slashing and cutting, giving the head a clear view to keep spitting acid.

After slicing off the head of the flower, the Centipede started to pace in a circle again, slashing vines and spraying out the acid to try and clear a larger circle. After only pacing around three times the Centipedes legs had all been locked down. The six blade arms kept cutting, but it could no longer keep mobile. The vines continued to multiply and before long the Centipede looked similar to the path that the Centipede had cleared. A huge mass of thick vines slowly wrapped around and entwined about that three foot thick brown carapace. Soon, they worked their way to the base of the six bladed arms and bound them up inch by inch. In less than a minute the whole Centipede was completely encased in vines like a mummy.

Crack!

The carapace of the Steel Silk Centipede started to shatter as the Vines began to constrict tighter and tighter. Clear blood began to leak out and drip down. The Centipede was about to become fertilizer for the Demonic Plant.