Splash!

Seven Moss Worms carried away their quarry, still warm inside the frigid shallows. Glowing moss illuminated the scene of murder, bright red in colour. Leeches and small critters exploited this bounty, gorging themselves with suffused blood. Husan wasn’t here to witness, taken to heavens knew where.

Siu, siu, siu!

However, there was no free lunch in this world; each droplet of blood, each bit of torn flesh, each fragment of bones had stopped in their tracks. The suffused blood condensed into tiny strings, pulling on everything that had consumed them. Leeches, fishes, flies and others, all dragged into seven points.

Sou!

These seven points were the worms, unable to travel far as they too had succumbed to the bloody strings. Each one exploded from inside out, accumulating and agglomerating whatever the strings had tugged at. They morphed and twisted, as balls of pale white flesh, violetish ichor and bright red blood.

It ended as soon as it began; these objects transformed back to their original appearance, Moss Worms. What was different was azure-coloured flashes on them, pulsating like a human’s heart. This scene made some Azure Centipedes that happened to come back at this very moment to be perplexed.

Neither Husan or Ava was here to be seen and this place was suspiciously clean save the seven Moss Worms. Fearing the worst, the centipedes rapidly assumed battle stances respectively. They still remembered on how these vicious worms had killed their kin, torn apart into nine pieces while alive.

Ksh, ksh, ksh, ksh, ksh…

They opened their mandibles wide and clear, swaying their tails side to side. One of these strange Moss Worms dared to come close! Was it a friend or foe? The centipedes were stuck in a dilemma; Ava told them to not kill any of said worms yet it looked like it will attack them at any moment now.

Thump!

The centipedes found themselves backed into a corner as other six worms also joined the charge, moving even closer. Should they fight or flight? As they hesitated, the worms had stopped moving and instead stared at them. One of the centipedes decided to take the risk and approached the worms.

It stayed a quarter zhang from the lead worm, still unsure what the worms were up to. Said lead worm extended two of its tentacles forward, causing the other centipedes to sway their tails in anger. The forward centipede raised its tail, telling its brethren to not fight and be prepared to run straight away.

Bonk!

The two hooked tentacles touched the upper carapace of the brave Azure Centipede. Contrary to its initial expectations, the lead worm didn’t do anything else. This worm was definitely different but the centipede cannot tell what was it. It waited in silence until a familiar voice came directly to its mind.

Ava! This worm and the six others were her! The centipede swayed its feelers up and down, still puzzled; why did she turned into one of their hated enemies? The worm backed off and extended four of its eleven tentacles to the side, adding even more confusion to the rest of the Azure Centipedes.

Crack, clank, clank, clank!

A cylindrical object rapidly assembled itself from thin air and on its receptacle, an Aqua Green Lily flower. There was no doubt about it, the worms were definitely her. Through the hovering cylinder, all vicious centipedes here were able to hear her voice. They then bowed, waiting her next commands.

All seven Moss Worms with her presence extended their tentacles and touched the floating cylinder, causing it to light up. It sent out a faint azure wave outward, triggering similar objects distributed elsewhere in the Wadi to emit the same wave. All of them relayed a simple message; evacuate now.

If recent clashes with Black Yellow Centipedes were to signify anything, they were too smart, too coordinated for their own kind. It was as if someone or something was directing them, just like what Ava did with the Azure Centipedes. She exercised prudence, calling for strategic retreat in all fronts.

Another great exodus began, this time bolstered by the rest of Moss Worms broods. Azure Centipedes ran on the walls and ceilings while the worms swam through the waters. Each vicious creature took different routes but in highly coordinated fashion, to migrate to a new location deeper in the Wadi.

In front of them was a desolate cavern; bubbling gasses choked, rising fumes corroded and boiling waters scalded. Life however, was tenacious; there were lifeforms that thrived in this noxious place. It was both a blessing and a curse; there were no predators around but the environment was hostile.

Surviving Azure Centipedes raised their antennas out of fright; there was no way they can last even a second in there! Therein Ava finally recognized the problem, neither centipedes or worms were adapted to such harsh cave. Through her seven worm avatars, she instructed them to camp outside.

Clank, clank, clank!

Ava’s hovering cylinder disassembled and sent away as even if it was around, the Post Human cannot use it anyway. The earlier summoning call had costed almost all of available quanta. Only a little of it was left now, making adaptations intended for her subjects to be harder than scaling the heavens.

The Post Human was left with little choice but to face the problem head-on, to slowly alter her followers on the genetic level. It was a tedious and complicated process; countless Moss Worms never survived to the second generation. There was always a price for everything, and they paid it in full.

Their sacrifices weren’t in vain; later generations of Moss Worms were like carps that leaped over dragon’s gate, thriving in these poisonous depths! Through Ava, they formed unions with existing life around the vents. Hydrogen sulphide and its ilk were no longer poisons but instead sources of food!

The rest of her followers had also benefited, able to eat these brimstone fluids without any harm. Other creatures would die if exposed to such deadly liquids, if not cooked alive by the treacherous waters first. A silver lining in a looming cloud; Ava had learnt to make best use of her limited powers.

Glug, glug, glug…

An evolved Moss Worm swam next to some of her worm avatars. It chewed through yellow rocks near a white smoker, giving rise to yellow dust among the whitish plumes from said vent. Others tended to pale fibrous mats on other hydrothermal vents. Some dragged bucket-sized purple crystals around.

She ordered the worm to stop, re-examining the curious object. Whatever it was, it was able to survive in these harsh conditions too. She didn’t know much of it apart it was a good conduit of energies and pretty durable. If it was to be graded, perhaps it was two ranks higher than Red Scorpion’s dao core?

What was more curious was some life were able to incorporate it in their bodies. Moss Worms had shown an example before, a ‘living’ sphere. On the ‘black rock’ she was originally searching; she still didn’t manage to find it. With legions of evolved Moss Worms however, it was just a matter of time.

In grander scheme of things, such black rock may prove inconsequential; through Akeila, Ava heard of Sulaymun Formations where great metallic riches existed, where they can be even mined out of the walls and floors! Alkharm Wadi on other hand seemed bit poor in comparison save the purple crystals.

Ava cannot remain as a frog in a well, she needed to go and exploit the Formations for her cause. She checked her mental map; she was roughly one thousand lis southwest of Kazar. Sulaymun Formation was on cardinal west from the City. Getting there might sound easy but reality may prove otherwise.

A week had passed after Husan was kidnapped. There was no doubt whoever Ava’s pursuers were, they were quite capable. She didn’t worry about the old man as these kidnappers would know her implied connections to the City Lord. Unfortunately, their work would be harder now as she had ‘died’.

The Post Human didn’t let her guard down as even an elephant will die if bitten by countless ants. She was out of quanta, had little information and subordinates not worth mentioning. Resuming her original form will attract too much attention. Reforming a new humanoid body would be too costly.

Anyway, she shouldn’t stay cooped up down here and instead further blend with the natives. To conquer the enemy is to conquer their minds and hearts. Perhaps she could unravel what was constantly interfering with her connection as well. It wasn’t like any transcendent being she knew of.

She put the matter aside and focused on tasks at hand. Her seven worm avatars bulged and twisted before converging into a single point to produce a metallic sphere. This shiny sphere then split into two smaller ones; one floated up to be picked by an Azure Centipede, the other sunk to the bottom.

The picked-up sphere melted into a different centipede, giving it a pulsating azure glow. The sunk one dropped on a hydrothermal vent, morphing it into a humming metallic monolith. Ava had merged and split her consciousness; one to go out and explore, another to expand her dominion in the caverns.

Gudong!

This centipede host was novel; she was three times faster versus her young girl avatar. Flanking her was two Azure Centipedes that also ran as fast as the wind. Rocky obstacles? Bore through! Pesky critters? Tear through! Time was the essence, to avoid getting tangled by other vicious creatures here.

The trio stopped as they spotted two yellow-striped black centipedes far in front. Why were they here? This wasn’t anywhere close their battle lines. It looked like sneaking past them was impossible. She needed to kill both simultaneously so they can’t call for backup. Ava signaled her escorts to be ready.

Crack!

Ava tapped the ground, conjuring multiple rock needles. Said needles flew and pinned her enemies in position. Before they could even react, she and her minions leaped forward and killed them in one hit. Their grey brain matter didn’t have the chance to spill as Ava immediately stored their corpses away.

The Post Human and her companions encountered such pairs in increasing frequency. It didn’t look like the typical Black-Yellow Centipede advance groupings but instead as if they were trying to seal an area. Numerous questions played in her followers’ minds but they kept silent and followed her lead.

At some point of time, she abandoned killing the vicious centipedes altogether as their patrol pairs became more frequent. One wrong move and all of them would converge on her current position. She must’ve got closer to what these Black-Yellow Centipedes were guarding against. What could it be?

Kacha!

The answer revealed itself; an unfortunate Black-Yellow Centipede was hit by a bolt of thunder! Turns out these centipedes were trying to hunt a group of Thunder Vipers. Each vicious viper was black jade in colour and had sparks radiating away from their bodies. Currently, the vipers had the upper hand.

Either opponent was out of her league; Black-Yellow Centipedes had endless numbers while the vipers spat lightning non-stop. Ava instructed her minions to stay back and watch the situation unfold. As the saying goes, while the clam and sandpiper fight, the fisherman lurks near to swoop both of them!

The conflict between the centipedes and vipers were getting intense over time. Black-Yellow Centipedes lost more than forty members, causing them to switch tactics; instead of engaging the vipers directly, they baited the vipers to go to area where stalactites and stalagmites were aplenty.

Gudong! Boom!

Multiple rock pillars fell, from Thunder Vipers’ wanton attacks and the centipedes’ missed poison shots. Within the dust clouds and rubbles Ava saw tens of bluish spheres, each contained a Thunder Viper. They were like incarnates of furious thunder gods, smiting those who dared to blaspheme them.

Kacha and gudong noises continued to ring as the fight was to the death. Either party wished nothing more than to rip and tear! Devour their flesh! Kill their nine generations! It was getting even dangerous for the Post Human as they spared no expense in the conflict, not caring about the surroundings at all.

Out of the sudden, multiple purple flashes entered the game. The vipers responded by spitting even more lightning but their attacks actually failed! Each purple flash no, purple crystal quickly absorbed the bolts like whales sucking in water. More purple crystals flew, thrown by Black-Yellow Centipedes.

The vipers were startled for a second but they rapidly adapted to the situation, using their powerful tails to kick back the crystals. A few Black-Yellow Centipedes got their mandibles and heads smashed through but being centipedes, they still wriggled even in death. This only made their living kin furious.

To Ava’s surprise, the centipedes didn’t charge in despite suffering mounting casualties. They only intensified their throwing, as if they were waiting for something. At the moment, Black-Yellow Centipedes got the Thunder Vipers cornered. For every one that died, ten more centipedes appeared.

Crash!

One of the vicious vipers got its head smashed by a purple crystal. A few more got injured as well. Ava focused her vision, to see what had happened. Most Thunder Vipers had their scales cracked there and there, and were slow to react. She gazed longer; poison! The crystals were laced with poisons!

The result was obvious; the vipers no longer spat lightning and wobbled as if they were drunk. Their opponents saw this chance and swooped in for the kill. However, despite being poisoned, most vipers were still able to fight back. As the tale went, an old tiger is still a tiger, ferocious even at its deathbed!

Both insects and cold-blooded reptiles tangled. Fangs and mandibles flew, red blood and yellow ichor spilled. A few Thunder Vipers ran, only to be boxed in. What came next was another surprise; said vipers exploded into balls of bluish plasma, vapourising themselves and their pursuers at once!

This opened a hole in Black-Yellow Centipedes’ cordon albeit Thunder Vipers lost more than half of their members now. Remaining ones glowed like rods of lightning, ridding themselves from poisons and caused blackish fumes to rise up. Nevertheless, their enemies had largely exhausted themselves.

The vipers quickly scattered in all directions, knowing this was a losing war. Their enemies however, shown no mercy, hunting each viper with ruthless efficiency. Ava was glad she called a strategic retreat previously, avoiding those Black-Yellow Centipedes entirely. They were truly the scourges of the Wadi.

Psht! Crack!

Oh no! The rock in front of Ava was dissolved by a stray poison shot, revealing her and her minions to the belligerents! This stunned all parties but the chased viper was first to react, jumping toward Ava! Its pursuers followed suit, making loud ksh, ksh sounds! It seemed that a fight was inevitable after all.

Ava reacted next, using her host to spit some brimstone fluid to one of the vicious centipedes. Her followers did the same, causing Black-Yellow Centipedes to be coated with the stuff. The escaping viper was puzzled at first but then it turned its head back; its enemies immediately burst into flames!

Ksh, ksh, ksh, ksh!!!

It was like killing a chicken to scare the monkeys. The rest of Black-Yellow Centipedes nervously backed off, brandishing their mandibles and tails in retaliation. They knew that if they got hit by any of those yellowish blobs of liquids shot by Ava’s host and her minions, they will catch on fire and quickly die.

Some were undeterred, throwing purple crystals at her. Ava effortlessly dodged and shot more fluids in return, causing her opponents to ignite. They roll and roll but to no avail; even if they dunked into the water, they were still burning! Black-Yellow Centipedes gradually seen her as their natural bane.

This strange circumstance was broken with a loud hiss; multiple Black-Yellow Centipedes jumped on the viper from its blind spot! It trashed around, lashing its powerful tail to fling most centipedes away. But how can a tired soldier fight a thousand barbarians? The viper gradually ceased its last struggle.

It wanted to self-detonate but the poison had weakened the snake. The viper maintained its gaze on Ava and her minions as its enemies ripped its flesh, as if to plead her to end its suffering from being eaten alive. Ava decided to comply, by engaging and burning most of Black-Yellow Centipedes here.

The rest of the vicious insects rapidly made themselves scarce as they had recognized Mount Tai. After the dust had cleared, the Post Human and her entourages inspected the area. She peered at the collected corpses and for some unknown reason, chewed one through her host. It was poisonous!

Her host quickly puked it out along with some brimstone fluids, setting the corpse on fire. Evidently, Black-Yellow Centipedes didn’t taste good and completely unpalatable. Ava moved to a dead Thunder Viper and ate it. While it was also didn’t taste good, she could feel some power surging in her host.

Knowing and feeling it in practice was two different things; she knew that these monsters became stronger by consuming each other but it was a surreal experience. Ava decapitated another dead Thunder Viper and found a blackish sphere in it. It was different than her quanta but certainly curious.

It collaborated on her observation that capable monsters would have such spheres in their bodies. Perhaps it was more apt to call them as dao cores which also served as the core of dao weapons. As dao weapons were fantastical by their own, their source namely vicious monsters would be as well.

The Post Human ruminated the new information; if her host and minions under her command managed to kill and eat higher monsters, they too would grow in power. An alternate path to technological might of her original world. Nevertheless, her priority right now was to get out of here.