The false daylight spread evenly through the trees, pale and directionless.
Deep within the forest, the Antler King had already settled down. its massive frame resting low between the trunks.
The mother lowered her head toward the offspring, and the smaller creature pressed its muzzle against her in return. The two of them remained still and quiet.
At once, Chen Wu gestured, and half the group split off toward the trees behind the Antler King.
They climbed into the canopy, their steps were careful and slow.
As they reached the upper branches, the height was enough to step directly onto the Antler King's back without jumping.
The first disciple set foot on the body carefully and froze for a breath before moving again.
The others followed.
The crystalline growths across the Antler King's back were dense and irregular, clustered most thickly along the ridge of the spine and spreading outward toward the shoulders in formations.
The pieces were not loose. Each one required both hands and real force to break free.
"Hehe, this was too easy." A disciple said quietly, and the others had small smiles on their faces, though the color of their skin was telling a different story.
They worked steadily, passing pieces down to the disciples waiting at the base of the nearest trunk, filling the bag between them.
Because they needed more than fifty pieces they worked at a fast pace, and the one bag filled slowly.
The Antler King didn't even bother with what was happening. It kept its attention on the offspring.
Without warning, as if it had noticed something, it lifted its head.
Not toward the disciples on its back, but away from them entirely, toward the deeper part of the woods where the trees grew thicker and the undergrowth closed off the view.
Its head held at that angle. While the disciples stood frozen in place. Cold sweat slowly ran down their backs.
"Did it find us?"A disciple whispered.
But the next rumbling sound came from farther inside the forest. It was low and continuous, and the trees at the far side of the clearing vibrated faintly.
Birds burst into the air all at once, dozens of them scattering overhead before disappearing into the distance.
The disciples looked at each other.
"No. Its attention is somewhere else," Hou Zi said, his voice unsteady. "Let's continue. Faster..now."
The group hesitated for a moment before starting again.
The Antler King stayed fixed on whatever it had sensed in the distance. Its massive body had gone completely rigid beneath them.
A small amount of time passed.
"I'm telling you, we should retreat for now," Wei Peng urged quietly.
"Can you stop talking?" a disciple snapped under her breath. "We still need more than twenty crystals. We can't just leave. This is the best opportunity."
Several others nodded in agreement.
"You don't understand," Wei Peng whispered harshly. "Who are we competing against now? That demonic bastard is probably already dead. We should take what we have and leave."
Silence followed.
"What if he isn't?" Su Ling asked as another small piece of crystal broke free beneath her hand.
Wei Peng opened his mouth but no words came out.
Hou Zi spoke from beside him instead. "Even if he's alive, how would he find this place? Don't forget, if Chen Wu hadn't figured it out first, none of us would have found these crystals on our own."
"Mm." A low murmur passed through all of them.
Suddenly, the Antler King shifted once more, cutting off their small argument. A loud roar erupted from it which carried more than sound.
Invisible waves spread outward with it, passing through the trunks, and the bodies of the disciples at the same time.
"Ah, my head."
"It hurts — ehh?"
Every disciple grabbed their head at the same moment. The pressure came without warning and vanished just as quickly, and the forest around them went entirely silent in the wake of it.
The rumbling from the far trees had stopped too.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the disciples on the Antler King's back were already climbing down.
"See, I told you… I told you."
They found the trunks they had used to climb earlier and descended without discussion, dropping the last distance to the ground and quickly retreating from the creature's position.
The bag containing the Soul Binding Crystals came with them as the group pulled back into the undergrowth and went completely still.
The Antler King straightened from its resting position, and the offspring pressed itself against the back of its mother's front legs, hiding beneath the space her body had created.
The ground around them began to tremble. The vibration built rapidly, reaching the soles of their feet within two breaths.
And…
SCREEE!
The Dark Shelled Centipede burst through the treeline.
It crossed the space between without slowing, its legs driving against the ground in that rapid wrong rhythm.
At that moment, the crystalline growths across the antler king's body began to glow crimson.
They spread along its spine and shoulders, climbing upward in sharp, uneven growth. The crystals extended and curved, forming two towering antlers above its head!
ROAR!
"This….." The disciples were stunned by the Antler King's transformation.
It was a sight none of them had ever imagined. The trait that had been hidden until now had finally revealed itself.
The Antler King swung its head and met the Dark Shelled Centipede head-on with the full width of its antlers.
The impact drove the centipede sideways and down, its body striking the ground hard enough to shift the roots beneath the nearest trees.
However, It rose again, repositioning with the same fluid coordination and came back in low.
Slipping under the Antler King's guard, its body cut across the short legs in a fast diagonal line before beginning to wrap.
The segments crossed and settled over the wide body of the Antler King in the same constricting pattern, the legs finding grip in the thick hide, the body coiling upward from below.
Then the mandibles drove down, probing for a weak point in the skin.
But the Antler King's hide turned them aside. The points scraped and slid across the surface without finding purchase, the hide simply absorbing the impact.
The centipede shifted its angle and tried again, while its body continued to tighten.
That said, how could the Antler King allow that?
It opened its mouth. The teeth inside were flat, made for grinding rather than tearing. It caught the centipede's body between them and pressed.
The dark shell held.
The teeth slid along the surface just as the mandibles had, finding no grip.
Instead, the Antler King pulled, dragging the centipede's body sideways with the full strength of its neck.
The grip did not break, but the angle shifted, and several of the centipede's legs were crushed between the pull and the resistance of the coil.
SCREEE!
The centipede let out a sharp cry as it broke free from the Antler King's jaws. It surged upward toward its face and attacked the eye.
ROAAAR!
The Antler King's head snapped back, shaking once, then again, but the centipede had already adjusted. Its legs locked into new anchor points across its upper body, holding firm as it clung to the movement.
Gu poison had reached the eye socket and was spreading inward through the torn tissue..
The two of them fought through the clearing, each impact between them sending splinters across the ground.
Chen Wu's group watched from the undergrowth with expressions that had moved past fear into something quieter.
Chen Wu shifted his eyes away from the fight and looked at a disciple. "How many did we get?"
"Only twenty-eight. We need more."
Chen Wu exhaled and turned his gaze to the ground where chunks of crystal had fallen during the fight. "At least we don't need to go back up."
No one disagreed with him
The two creatures occupied the center of the clearing entirely, the terrain between them buckled with each exchange.