A giant shelled beast rose from the ground, its giant frosted and transparent cone shell covered its backside. As if made of glass, it was gripping onto the shell with what looked like its tail. Claw emerged from the opening at one end of the spiral and two large eyes peered out.
With three strange claws at its front and many legs, the group thought it looked just like a crab. Any child near a body of water could tell you what a crab was but this crab was in the snow, there was no close by lake or water source. The Group had flown into the area, they could not find any reason for a crab to be present. Its massive stature did nothing to frighten them, instead they showed enthusiasm.
The Twins smacked their lips in anticipation, Crab meat was excellent no matter the time of year. When the Twins saw the size of the Crab they looked at each other then back at the enormous house sized Crab in front of them.
Food was the reason they left and the Ice Emperor Hermit Crab was going to be Dinner. Making sure not to get pinched by its oversized hammer shaped claws, the Twins flew in circles around the crab. They fired a few bolts of water and earth but the crab was especially resistant to mud, the only advantage that the mud gave the Twins was that the Crab was knee deep and its footing was horrible.
The Crab tried rolling over to escape the mud puddle.
Wu Hai watched for a moment while the twins kept the large armored beast busy, studying it.
"HA..Ha-ha, Haha! Yu, Mu! Pull back, let me give it try." Wu Hai called out when he was rushing toward the action. He had yet to even flex his power during the hunt and was itching to test things out.
Noticing the Twin's hasty retreat, he discarded hesitation and energy flared around him in a violent torrent. Wu Hai was forcing his powers out. A burst of flame eight meters in height rose above him when he stomped his foot into the mud. Taking another step forward, the ground around him started to boil, dry and melt to slag.
Crab were slow beasts no matter where they lived. The Emperor Crab knew what danger looked like, it felt like it was about to die, pulling itself into its shell and retreated from the heat. The Crab tried defending itself periodically with its claws. It would strike fast but the Claws were enormous making them very easy to see coming, the crab could only try its hardest when it tried to hit a fast moving target.
Inching closer to the Ice Emperor Crab, Wu Hai could see the armored shell shaking. The Crab was cowering and reluctant to die, that, or it was convulsing.
The Group was hungry and worried even less about the danger, the Twins were still watching Wu Hai batter the shell with fireballs but they had little effect. The ground around the two of them became like a hotplate and the snow melted into steam.
Wu Hai was getting annoyed at the Crab's reluctance to face them but he couldn't break the shell's defenses with blasts of energy. Crab Meat was always better fresh, his stomach rumbled thinking about it.
The Crystalline Conch was at the rear of the Crab, Wu Hai decided to grab it with his bare hands and heat it up.
The Twins saw what he was doing and jumped out in front to block the Crab's escape. Mu conjured a crude metal cage around the crab and Yu started flooding the area with additional Water. It didn't take long for the crab to flee its shell while hissing. With its massive body now free of the intense heat from the conch, it had exposed itself while lurching to get away.
Wu Hai let a small smile form on the corner of his lips while he approached the caged crab. The metal wouldn't withstand the heat for long, so he had to act quick. Striking with his hands at the water, an explosive steam erupted.
Yu did his best to keep feeding the water to flames and steam was all they needed. The steam alone was enough to cook the Emperor Hermit Crab to deep shade of red. Its meat was likely cooked to perfection. Since there were no breaks in the Crab's shell, its flavor was gently sealed into every morsel.
The Shell had turned a beautiful mottled scarlet and when the hissing ended, the smell wafted out.
Breaking a large Claw free to check, it was more durable than the Crab originally seemed. The Shell of the oversized Hermit Crab was very light and very thick but apparently it offered almost no protection from heat.
The Twins used their abilities to make a few large prying bars for the group. Mu and Yu each took a leg and split the shell.
More of the Rich Aroma, the smell of steamed Crab Meat filled the Air.
Even Khan Ni could smell it, she had witnessed the fight and wanted to keep some of the Shell for armor. As an Elf, she had almost no protection from the cold.
Wu Hai had already taken the Conch into the weapon for safe keeping, when he saw Khan Ni eyeballing the shelled carapace, he nodded to her and passed more of the bits over. The Shell of the Emperor Crab was extremely dense and she was crafty enough to use it for something else. Rather than disposing of it, as he had originally planned.
Feasting, they took the remainder of the Emperor Hermit Crab and all of its meat into Wu Hai's weapon right after it was finished cooking. The heat would carry on for an unknown period of time and it would be ready the moment it came out of storage.
The mounts had heard the crashes and hissing noises for the better part of a few minutes. They were unable to see the fight through all of the trees but the noises made them all very anxious. The Tolo's were bleating and wanted to flee. Darkwing laid down in the grasses to stay safe, he knew that he stood a better chance of defending himself after his transformation but as a Duck, he was still considered prey.
The Twins kept eating the crab, they even handed some to the Tolo. Darkwing couldn't hold himself back and thanked Wu Hai for the massive pile of crab meat. Wu Hai had taken apart one of the Claws but even if he was at his hungriest, he wouldn't have been able to finish it.
Taking a large portion of the Claw meat, Darkwing sucked it down in heaving motions.
The Leopard Jiao was the biggest eater, It widened its mouth and simply ate the entire head and remaining torso. The meat and shell were shredded it between its teeth, the wingless river dragon had a ferocious appetite.
After finishing the kill, Wu Hai noticed a new spec of Blue in a corner of the Crusher. It wasn't big, but it was there, satisfied and stretching they returned as a group to the cave. The Brothers opened the hidden doorway and warm air inside billowed out, the temperature was perfect for a nap.
Plopping down beside their mounts, the Twins passed out quickly. It had been some time, even after meeting Wu Hai that they were so full their felt ready to burst. Neither of them had anything to drink either, it made the others laugh before they went off to their own areas in the Cave.
Khan Ni went back to her reading and Wu Hai went back to the transformation room to train his powers in peace. With more of Winter ahead, they decided not to test the limits of the cold and remained inside the cavern until spring finally hit.
Realizing that he had so many more options to go through, Wu Hai experimented frequently. He threw the Dice many times and stopped only when he got a combat form. He wanted to become familiar with all the varieties of combat forms. The fight had made it easy for him to understand that he was lacking in hand to hand combat skills. He had relied on the magic to do much of the work. A Combat form had the potential to bring his attack range in close proximity to his person, forcing him to learn fighting during the encounters.
He had thrown more than sixty rolls but none of them were what he was looking for. When Wu Hai finally stopped he read them off in his head. 'Lightning, Healing, Demon, Combat, Small' Wu Hai was thankful, if not for his masters sword training, he would have been completely useless, likely disarmed, dead and robbed by now.
Pulling the wooden weapons from the rack, he tapped Yu on the head to wake him up and passed a few of the clubs to the Cheng Twins, he wanted them to practice with him but needed it to be weapons training.
His Demon body already regenerated at a visible rate. With the power of lightning he was very fast and with healing, they could go as long as they wanted.
Pumping a torrent of energy into his movement techniques, he was fast but he did not have the agility of the Qilinkin bodies. There were many times that they cracked his head with Clubs. They were so much bigger than he was. Having the Healing ability just made the pain resolve quicker after he would regenerate. Losing a horn once to a combination attack from Mu's swings, he took a break and watched the duo battle each other for a bit.
'Fuck that hurt!' Wu Hai rubbed his head and circulated his energy, after a few rounds of their sparring, his horn finally regrew.
The Brothers were already capable warriors before they were given new strength. The addition boost in power that the cavern provided also boosted their desire to fight. They'd go outside of the cave and battle it out. The inside of the Cave didn't offer them a place to spread their wings but the Winter weather wasn't easy on them.
Watching them fight Wu Hai saw how Mu would occasionally use the soil underneath his brother to toss him into the air. They both had wings, so it was mostly pointless. Every time either would make it into the air, they would dive back down at the other. Sometimes with a Club, sometimes with their clawed feet. As Qilinkin, their bodies were already weapons, Talons and sharp beaks could tear an opponent apart.
Standing as the round's victor, Yu had frozen his Mu's claws to the floor, he yelled out in celebration, "I win Brother!"