Mating season struck with the subtlety of a rampaging karkinokhora. Several, in fact, and quite literally. The sharpened legs of dozens of karkinokhora tore through the shallows with reckless abandon, crushing coral and scattering hiding animals to be quickly caught in needle-like claws.
No living guneikhthus was brave or stupid enough to be outside and with the lull in action following the first waves of mature karkinokhora passing the dwelling by, Hanqui’ll was taking the opportunity to find a good spot for her to spend the time she would normally be exploring the reef.
Thankfully, the dwelling complex was enormous, interconnected tunnels that led to hundreds of rooms, some so far under the reef that Hanqui’ll doubted they had ever seen daylight. Glowing lichens and phaosphuton were the only forms of light that the various animals living there had. The rooms were too small to support any predators that would be a threat to even a young guneikhthus, so they were as good as safe.
Most of the time.
She had told some of the guards what she was doing, so no one would be surprised by her periodic vanishings into the tunnels. Disappearing without telling anyone where you were going was not a good idea when so many predators were roaming freely.
Hanqui’ll hummed quietly to herself as she entered a chamber slightly larger than average. Dozens of tiny animals fled at her approach, burying themselves into holes in the rock walls. The largest of them, a slender eel-like creature barely longer than one of Hanqui’ll’s turning fins, took the opportunity granted by her arrival to snatch one of the smaller animals in its jaws and drag it into a shadowed crack.
She placed a phaosphuton fruit in the center of the room and rested on a raised stone slab, pulling a piece of driftwood out of her bag.
With nothing else to do, she might as well learn how to carve.
The enormous crab’s pincers cut through the shell with an awful sound. It was almost beautiful to watch despite the noise.
Using the opportunity to get a better look at the composition of the armor, Krika determined it to be at least three layers of durable, thick material separated by a dense semi-solid substance. It was difficult to tell, but upon close inspection, the substance appeared to be rapidly hardening, likely being able to reach strength similar to the undamaged armor in just a few minutes.
Minutes that this particular karkinokhora would not experience, as the opposing claw finally dug into its brain, granting it a relatively quick death.
Some other karkinokhora on the other hand bore numerous scars from battles won in the past. A particularly old one was even missing a leg alongside one of its claws. Several younger and stupider crabs had attempted to show strength by fighting it only to be crushed, killed, and eaten, in no particular order. Elder though it may have been, it was still a towering behemoth almost twice the size of any of its peers.
Krika turned his attention to the small cave nearby, where he could glimpse shadowed movement. Balta was already poking her head through the stone to get a closer look, half-phased and hovering at an almost comical downward angle.
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The creatures inside were undoubtedly the sapient natives. Although there was only a handful that Krika could see, they came in vibrant colors and fascinating patterns, no two exactly alike. The woven clothing they wore, although scarce compared to some other races Krika had observed, was highly efficient, and extremely practical. Pockets and attached bags covered almost every available space, while the clothing itself was not so large or bulky to reduce the wearer’s full speed and range of movement.
At the bottom of the cave was a dark tunnel, which Krika suspected led to a safer spot. Likely the cave was just an entrance to a larger settlement, where the majority of the species’ local population was. The speculation was reinforced when another member of the species emerged from the tunnel. It looked over the cave’s occupants carefully, and said something in their native language, drawing their attention.
One by one they descended into the hole.
The tunnels were tight and winding. If they hadn’t been incorporeal, Krika and Balta would’ve been trapped or shredded, if not both.
If they wanted to attack the tunnels with lesser demons, they would either need to use smaller and more flexible demons, use demons that could dig tunnels of their own, trap the natives inside and starve them, or excavate the entire tunnel system. The third option was not something that either wanted to do as sieges were not particularly entertaining, but it was still an option if nothing else worked.
Given that the majority of the tunnels lacked any light, demons that could operate without vision would also be highly valuable.
It was going to be a while before the invasion actually took place. Krika and Balta’s presence was just to get a better basic understanding of the planet. They would get another survey shortly before the attack began, just in case anything significant changed.
Eventually, the tunnel opened into a large chamber, where dozens of natives waited. Even more could be seen in other tunnels branching away from the cavern, likely leading to additional rooms and entrances.
Krika could not smile in a way recognizable to most creatures.
Balta could.
Hanqui’ll startled up from the half-finished carving. “It’s time to come back,” called a guard from the tunnel. “Rations are being distributed.”
She followed the guard back. She wasn’t about to give up her daily rations just because she wanted to spend a little time alone.
They arrived back around halfway through the distribution and joined the queue.
Outside, the sound of karkinokhora and other predators rumbled in a constant noise. Some braver guneikhthus floated near the dwelling entrance watching them, but most stayed far back. Shrapnel from attacks wasn’t common, but it wasn’t unheard of either.
Hanqui’ll mourned the coral that would be destoryed. It grew back fairly quickly, reaching the same state it had been in before mating season by the time the second moon rose from the other horizon, but for a long while the shallows would be dull-colored and mostly desolate.
Idly, she wondered about the possible uses for living coral as a sort of regenerating wall. It wasn’t as strong as stone, but it would regrow after being damaged. Maybe if coral was arranged in thick, close-together rows, the durability wouldn’t be as much of an issue? It wouldn’t be much help against karkinokhora, since adults would be tall enough to walk over most walls, and strong enough to break through them if they weren’t, but it would still be a boon.
The space they would take up would also be an issue, as would getting the coral to grow into a wall-like shape. Coral didn’t tend to do such things naturally.
Hanqui’ll took her rations and thanked the guneikhthus distributing them. Maybe using coral as a wall wasn’t useful. But what about weapons?
Coral was durable enough to withstand a few strikes and sharp enough to pierce the skin of most predators without much trouble. Shaping the coral would once again be a problem, but space wouldn’t be. Living coral weapons would regenerate damage done to them, and would be lighter than stone.
It wasn’t out of possibility, but it would take some work to figure out.
Well, there wasn’t much else to do.
guneikhthus model slightly to improve performance.
Happy
