Hao leapt into the room first. He had a better understanding of the creatures, inside and out, now than most ever could. He stalked along the mountain wall they had dug through. Nearly round tunnels with claw marks along their outer edges and what seemed to be pointed finger prints all the way through. A cold blast of foul wind touched his back and wrapped around him, but he kept his eyes steady and focused.

  The pangolin-type beasts, which Yao called them, had a good sense of smell, but wrapped in their own musk, it was hard to notice anything around them. Their hearing was good too, which is why Hao went first this time. The quietest on his feet, if not the lightest. More than anything, with this approach, they would struggle to turn. The oversized body wrapped in a heavily armored hide limited their mobility. They practically had to drag their feet unless they launched up on their back legs for an attack, but that meant nothing if Hao was behind them.

  His job was simply, distract two of the three while the other three, Yao, Lang, and Bao, launched a sneak attack on the third. The third would die quickly if they got the attack right. Then Hao could hand off a second, which they would still have an advantage against while its back was turned. As for the third, it would be an easy fight by the end. The last was the largest, but with the four of them, it should have been simple. If everything went well.

  He had to get around them first. Pull their attention and survive any errors made along the way.

  It was Hao’s plan; he had to suggest it and teach them what he learned while butchering it, or they would have to go with Lang’s plan, which was more likely Bao’s plan from Lang’s mouth. Or Yao’s plan, which was worse than even theirs.

  Lang and Bao were of the, let’s go forward and see what happens, kind of think. They had each other to rely on their whole journey, and who knew how long beforehand. At least they thought to fight together to bait them over and fight them while moving back. Outside of the falling risk, if one of them goes to the ground to get trampled and eaten alive, it would have been a fine idea if there were only one path. The further they went through the tunnels, the more tunnels there were. It was like a mud ant colony now, every turn showed two more until you reached an eventual dead end.

  Hao wasn’t sure if Yao was serious about her idea. Lang and Hao would stall the largest one, while the two ladies fought and killed the other two, then they would come to help. Of course, the just charge and split up method was instantly rejected. However, she didn’t seem bothered by the rejection. It wouldn’t have been surprising if she said it just to point out that the two men in the group lacked striking power.

  Hao didn’t fully accept the idea that he was injured. But knew if he could generate his normal amount of striking power, he could obliterate the organs of the beasts without breaking their skin. More than once on the day, he was tempted to take out the saber and drop it on the Pangolin Beast just to quiet the woman. It was too late to expose that he was carrying weapons, and each card hidden was an advantage on his end.

  Worse, Hao knew if he did, Yao would wear that infuriating smile. Hao gritted his teeth quietly so as not to make any noise. His tongue was placed subtly on the roof of his mouth, and he shut out his sense of smell. It was unusual to find an animal that smells worse outside than in. He was about to pass the last of the tunnels, he looked out, to his left, the way he came from, to check if the others were still there and ready.

  Yao winked, he curved the sword, as long as her torso, in the air. The light blue shawl on her shoulders acted like a flag as the direction of the wind changed. Lang and Bao were close, standing side by side. Bao had her spike of sword point at the closest beast.

  I could leave, turn around, and continue walking, leave, leave them behind, and never see them again. Hao felt his heart squeeze, blood rushed to his head. A deep breath through his nose made World Energy fill him, and his fingers and toes tingled. For a moment in the cave, it was bright in the dark. Everything was clear, but both he and the sightless beasts could see just as far.

  Hao went wide of the last Pangolin-Beast in the line of three, curving towards it. He walked towards its head. Cold wind brushed his back, carrying the scent of the freshly dug tunnels and anything the beast left behind in them. The Seven Colored Steps carried him forward, but he moved slowly. Hao felt like a ghost, looking down at the beast as he stood a step from its head. It's breathing is clear in his ears. A coo of an ocean bird, but from deep within the giant beast’s chest, a deep rumble, like a mountain crying.

  He felt eyes on his neck. That familiar feeling of a necklace of bugs running around him dug into his skin. Do it, do it now, kill it, the lavender leaves are poison.

  Hao stared at the giant beast’s head. It was thin, as long as his arm, beady, obsolete eyes, its long nose tapping and suctioning to the ground while it was lying still. Saber, he could take out the giant blade, let it fall, and its head would fall free. Spear, simply plunge the end into the skull, its body would shake, but in time fall still. Use your fingers like claws, tear it apart. Find all three pieces, take the seed. Hao tried to push the image out of his head, but he shivered, warm blood splattered, steaming in the cold. The lavender leaves are a purple heaven. The eyes on his neck faded, taking the feeling of bugs around him with it.

  It was getting harder to tell if his thoughts were his own the further down these paths he went. Most held only things he would know, but there were times his head argued with itself, and no one else realized or said anything. So neither did he. Perhaps it’s just me, and not the other three. Rarely did it happen since the first day he touched the pillars and entered the mountain.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The wind changed again, Hao felt it blow softly on the back of his neck. He regained his focus as the beast shook, its nose twitching. Its head came up fast, and it tried to look in Hao’s direction. It grabbed his scent. That was ideal if he looked at it in one way. The other two pangolin-beasts would take his scent as well, and the plan could start.

  Hao didn’t let the beast’s head come up too far, he threw a palm strike as the soft, worm-like nose touched his wrist, wrapping and tapping his hand. He leapt back after, moving to its front leg and throwing another strike. A loud pop burst out. Using a metal stance, earth for earth breaking, he felt bones shift but not break.

  The bending bone made the beast teeter, it fell back down on its other legs. And with a shout from the first, the other two woke and turned to Hao. The largest got to its feet fast with help, next to another beast, pushed it aside as its cumbersome body began spinning to match the position of its head. It only got half a step when it heard a scream behind it, which made it turn its head back. But it could only go halfway, its bulky body blocking it.

  Hao could see the beast farthest from him trying to run. The only place it went was down; it rolled to its side, kicking its feet and jolting its head. Bao was behind it, her spike of sword in the back of its head. She struck perfectly, the exact spot Hao told them about. He found it while butchering the first one. It was usually a waste of time to process much of the head. Those who wanted it, for food or display, wanted it whole, according to Li Tuzai. But Hao got curious after noticing a cavity above its massive neck vertebrae. The ideal place to find the brain and end the battle quickly with a weapon like Bao’s.

  The second part of the plan was done. Now, they had two more beasts to deal with.

  Jumping back further, Hao let the last thing he saw of his teammates be Yao and Lang moving forward onto the second beast, no longer needing to back up Bao. Yao’s blade aimed low. Going for a leg, once it couldn’t move, Bao could finish it if given the chance. Lang had his blade high. All of his strikes were good at drawing attention, aiming for places that caused pain.

  At the hind leg on the same side of the largest beast, Hao threw another strike. The hind legs were larger, thick, like a hundred-year-old tree’s trunk with the same thick bark texture. He felt the bone, but it didn’t bend. It made another shout, a grunting roll as it turned as fast as it could towards Hao. Its front legs went up one and a time. Then one came back down to strike him.

  Hao couldn’t go around to the back of it. It would bring the front of the thing to the rest of the group, if they could focus on the one they had to deal with already, they could get to this one faster.

  He had to go back instead, crossing under the arm that was aimed at him. He turned, hearing the sound the claw made on stone. A shearing of stone like a hot knife through tallow. The three longest nails, like blades for fingers, drew across the stone until it hit one of the tunnels it had dug itself. Ripping down into the tunnel, it tore away a chunk of the mountain, making a small collapse in the cave.

  As it lowered back down, its chest was open to Hao, falling forward onto him. Hao closed his hand into a fist, turning from the sight of falling rubble. Two hits in wood style, Water Breaking Fist, in stance, his execution was perfect. His force was like roots spreading beneath the beast’s skin, pushing and eating everything in its way. One more, his hand opened, a palm strike moving the Five Mortal Elements in reverse. Earth Style, Fire Breaking Fist, he thought of the beast heart, a campfire, his hand, the dirt to smother it.

  The Pangolin-Beast seemed to lose its breath, Hao kept his hand there steady as he tried to press through. He slid on the ground as the beast fell forward, its weight pushing him back on the slick, wet, frictionless ground. He noticed its chest was wet too, dust and dirt were turned to mud in the sparse fur of the beast’s chest, and sticking between his fingers. He didn’t think much of it for the moment. Jumping back when its stomach hit the ground. Its chest was quick to follow.

  Hao was five steps away by the time the beast’s head hit the ground. He was getting ready to jump in again, but saw Yao climbing onto its back. She had her sword aimed at the back of its head, near the top of its spine. She was trying to drive her curved blade beneath the armored plates to find that weak point.

  “Little Brother, you’re more impressive than I thought, to knock down the beast by itself.”

  Hao stopped himself from going forward. All she had to do was find the right spot and drive it in. It would be awkward with the curved blade, but possible. Then all would be done. Bao and Lang were coming up as well. Lang was leisurely in his walk, looking at the back leg of the beast while shaking blood from his open hand. The other one, Bao, came up close. She was almost to its head. And foolishly, her guard was down, but it was still alive.

  He was trying to shake the mud from his hands when he saw the leg of the beast twitch and the struggle on Yao’s face as her blade looked like it was shrinking. Red dripped from her sword as it pressed into a cavity from an open channel in the skull, leading to the beast’s brain. Bao was still there, looking up, Bao with her spider-like fingers and blank expression.

  “Get back,” Hao called. He said it fast, not loud, but it was enough. The creature pulled its right leg back underneath itself. Bao stood in its path.

  Bao jumped back, surprised by the wet stone, her feet failed to create enough friction with the ground. The claw drew a line across her abdomen. A blood-curdling scream came from her mouth, but it stopped short as her back hit the stone. The wind was stolen from her as she began to gasp. Still alive for now.

  Hao ran forward, Lang was coming in the same direction too. The face of the potentially dead woman’s husband looked like it had been struck by a red-hot pan, flat and burning. His hand was on his sword, his hand jittering, as always. But now was not the time for it.

  Hao’s eye flicked between the couple, currently separated, and Yao, who was still driving that curved blade into a straight hole. “Senior Brother, Help HER! I will take Senior Sister back to a safe distance.”

  Lang was clearly confused; the words looked like they took a minute to reach him, but his feet slowed down. Hao was already ten steps ahead of him, and the beast needed to die. He wasn’t a fool, but it was hard for a man to turn from his injured wife. Fair enough, Hao nodded his head as reassurance and tapped his shoulder, the one Bao helped stitch.

  Yao caught her breath before Lang turned, and Hao got to her. A dozen cries loud enough to attract every beast in the mountain came rolling from her throat.