The Two of them wandered through the forest. After a while they came to a  big tree. It looked like it stood there for hundreds of years. The bark looked old  and there were innumerable little scratches on it. The branches of the trees around here were mostly straight with only one or two twists here and there. In contrast to them the one in front of him had practically no straight branches at all. They looked like the wool of a sheep, twisted and curled. 

 

After Leo walked once around the tree he continued his way into the forest. A few minutes away from the tree, the bird on his shoulder perked its head up and looked around. It gave him a quiet chirp and looked to his left. When Leo looked in the same direction he could see nothing but since the birds reaction was a little tense he remained vigilant. And like it was invited he began to hear footsteps, fast footsteps that came closer. 

  

What came into view was a around 4 meter big, brown centipede with two claw like legs below its head. It ran at him and Leo readied his tentacles equipped with rabbit horns. When it was about to reach him, it lifted the front part of its body to the height of his thighs. When it was close enough Leo stabbed forward with both arms, trying to pierce it a little behind its head. To Leo's surprise his attacks just bounced off its carapace. Uncaring for his attacks it reached him and the momentum knocked Leo off his feet. As he panicked slightly Leo noticed that the centipede didn't actually care about him but the bird that was now flying circles above them.

 

He regained his calm and thought about how to kill the centipede. Since he couldn't pierce its scales he had to aim at the places where they connected with each other. 

As he stood up, the centipede still ignored him like he wasn't even there. 

  

Leo created two new tentacles from his body and then waved the bird in his direction.

As it chased the bird it came close to Leo again and when it was in reach he jumped on its back. Since he was still ignored by a centipede even though it was slower because of his weight, he steadied himself and aimed for the two closest joints. 

 

*Screeeeeehhhhh*

 

As he stabbed them once and then a second time with all his might the centipede let loose a screech. This time though it was Leo who ignored the centipede as he kept stabbing all the joints in his reach. 

This centipede's speed decreased gradually and after a lot of stabs Leo took one of the tentacles he used to hold himself on the centipede's back and wrapped it around the joint that took the most damage. He then used Material manipulation to shift more mass from his body to the tentacle to make it thicker so he could use more force with it. 

Leo stopped stabbing and focused solely on squeezing the joint with his tentacle. When he started the centipede stopped running and started to throw itself from left to right in an attempt to get Leo of his back. Loud screeching could be heard and he took some damage when he was slammed against the ground and a tree, but he had infused his body with mana to enhance the physical resistance skill, so it was limited to just losing a few units of dirt from his body.

 

*Crecrack*