[u][b]Team [s]ROCK YOUR WINTER SOCKS[/s] Juliet Cool-lab[/b][/u] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iq9W3PGaU8]Hive Raid Part 1: Wall Haxx[/url] Once Varren gave a last testament of good luck, he watched as the Eagles circled around to gain collective lift, then parted off from the landing zone. With their rides waning in size, it meant that the teams were truly on their own. The first year pivoted to face the rest of his team, rifle in hand. He raised the firearm over his shoulder and cocked his head, [b][i]"Alright, let's go! Jojo, lead us to swaggin victory! Onwards!"[/i][/b] Varren shouted, throwing his free fist high into the air. --- "Dagny says that shit one fucking time and everyone knows it already..." If this swaggin JoJo crap spread he was going to beat the shit out of everyone who dared mutter such sacrilege. "I know they chose you to coordinate this mission, but say JoJo one more time and there's going to be a serious case of friendly fire." It was bad enough he was on a team of plebian first years. "If one of you scrubs get caught in some kind of trouble, I ain't helping you out. Experience is the best teacher, after all." --- Shen watched uneasily as the air-based mechanical transport, the so-called 'Eagles', departed from the designated landing zone. It was a feeling of foreboding, like a bad omen for a grim future to come. Perhaps he was just nervous for the mission. He'd staked a lot on proving the Thorn-of-Shield wrong about his opinion on organically-based organisms. Still... Perhaps it was something else? The Asian geomancer shook his head. It was not a good time to be thinking thoughts such as that. He had to keep his eye on the metaphorical ball if he was to bring his team to victory and succeed on both of his missions. "Yes sir!" he said, giving their chaperone, Conrad 'Jojo' Joseph, a salute. ...Perhaps the interaction with a certain Strike Witch had influenced Shen more than he'd thought... "However, if I may, I would like to guide the team through the area for the duration of this mission. I feel that my skillset is well suited for the purpose." --- [i]"Mate, bugger the fuck off and GPS your fucking ass out of this one." Joseph threw Shen into a nearby Sand pit. "We don't need no guide, lets just run in a straight line and shoot everything we fucking see mate." And so it went.[/i] ...IN JOSEPH'S MIND! Sadly, he could not kill off the plebian first years as he pleased. Coming back with a few missing would probably be bad on his record anyway. "Very well. I suppose I won't have to do everything by myself. But if you guide yourself off a cliff, I ain't saving ya." --- Taking the chance to speak up, Varren grinned as he leaped towards Shen, [b][i]"Don't worry, Fai! If that happens I'll leap after you! Like a bird diving through the sky!"[/i][/b] The student made a horrible attempt at a bird's cawing, making a beak out of his hands as the noise eminated from his mouth. [b][i]"And then Lilith can summon something to break our fall~! Or catch us! Anyways, Mr. Swaggin Navigator, lead us ahead!"[/i][/b] Like a general waving his flag, motioning for his comrades to advance towards their common goal, he seemed to hyped for venturing into unknown territory. --- "...Indeed..." Shen replied, a single eyebrow rising. Did they take him for an idiot, willing to jump down a cliff with nary a second thought? It was practically insulting! He was no two-bit scout, mapping out as he moved? Bah! The geomancer approached the mouth of the cavern, the stench of corpses and feces filling his nose. It was absolutely disgusting, especially since his nasal passages weren't dulled by such things as modern-day pollution. He crouched low, placing a hand upon the ground. [i]"Open the gates of all directions. Let the fire from the shore be our guide."[/i] Mana flowed from Shen's fingertips like a web, expanding in all directions along the ground. Of course, to the untrained eye, it appeared as nothing more than a young man touching the disgusting, sandy floor before the entrance of the cavern. To those more familiar with the magical arts - well, just Lilith - it was... still a lot like that. Except it made more-ish sense to do. Information began flooding into Shen's mind as his mana moved through the environment. Landmarks, measurements, structural compositions... It was like a blueprint of the area had downloaded itself into the mind of the Chinese geomancer. The cavern was approximately 523.702 meters cubed - not nearly large enough to encompass his maximum range - composed of a mixture of sand, various bodily wastes and secretions, and remains of the dead. It was laid out like a labyrinthine catacomb, with various chambers dotted throughout it, and at the deepest edge of the cavern, was the largest of these. Even without the entity positions in his brain, he could tell that that was where their group would find the queen. More information. Positions of drones, workers, the queen - located exactly where he'd expected - and a strange fourth kind seemingly guarding the queen's chamber. Then the appearance of aforementioned drones, workers, queen, and royal guard of sorts. And they looked [i]incredibly[/i] offputting. [url=http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs40/f/2009/046/7/8/786b4b3f47768c890f82eb8fc8e1536e.jpg]Those[/url] are [url=http://th05.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/090/4/9/beetle_by_yuchenghong-d5zwg6c.jpg]what[/url] they were to fight against? And that [url=http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/082/8/b/monster_no__043_by_onehundred_monsters-d3cbawj.jpg]queen[/url]. Truly they were doing good work here, destroying this location. [i]"—Boundary set. All are equal under heaven."[/i] Shen cut of his mana, preventing his Surveillance Field from expanding further. stood up and wiped his hands off on his pants. Now that he knew what exactly he had been touching... Well, it wasn't very pleasant. He walked back to the group, looking behind himself and pulling the collar of his AotAA-issued coat over his nose. "I have made the necessary preparations and have determined that there is no good path straight to the queen, but..." Shen looked over to Ier-Briar Thorn-of-Shield, "...Ier-Briar Thorn-of-Shield, if I may have a word with you over there?" He pointed to the mouth of the cavern and walked towards it. --- All these swaggin fleshbags with their incessantly flapping lips, spewing out things that Ier-Briar really couldn't care about. He was careful not to allow his displeasure to show on his face though, being the ever tactful Gemstone he was. Decked in his full armor, with enough weight that the fuel effeciency and speed of the aircraft had been noticeably decreased during their transit to the hive of the Queen, he watched the others bicker while leaning his spear against his shoulder, standing at the vanguard. It would have been nice if he could just march in and smash apart anything in his way, but he was well aware of his own strength. Sometimes, even trucks couldn't bulldoze through everything. He watched as his useless fleshbag of a 'partner' did whatever fancy weakling magic thing those meatsacks were accustom to doing, before shrugging at his wish for communication. Without any particular care, the Gemstone strode boldly over to the mouth of the cavern, exceeding Shen's own walking pace until the six year old was once again in front of the geomancer. "Well, what is it?" --- "Mmm... Recall how I said I would guide our team to victory? Well I have a... tactic I wish to utilize," Shen said cryptically, hands intertwined behind his back, "I merely need to ask you one thing. Are you prepared to do what it takes to succeed in this mission?" --- "Cut out that mysterious crap, fleshbag, and tell me what you have planned." --- "Have you ever heard of a drill?" he asked, "Well, I plan to use the principles surrounding it to create a path of our own." Despite the gemstone's command, he was still vague as ever, if slightly less. --- "Yes, I have." And with that, he grabbed Shen, brought him parallel to the ground, and rammed that meatsack's head into the cavern wall. --- EWW. EWW EWW EWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! The sandy, paper-mache-esque wall had met the face of the Asian. The sand, the feces, the decomposing bits of corpses... All of it, all up in his 'grill', as modern vernacular stated. He disengaged from the wall as soon as humanly possible and looked up to Ier with a rather ominous look upon his face and the most slasher of smiles. "...I shall take that as a 'Yes'..." Shen thrust his hand out and clenched his fist. The magical system of Shen's family revolved around being one with the earth. Whether this be the interference of its natural flows, or the control of local terrain. In the latter case, local terrain would be the sandy, insect hive or perhaps the solid ground under it. Or, for example, a piece of shit gemstone who decided to make him touch [i]that[/i]. It was like something out of a Star Wars movie. Shen raised his fist, and with it rose Ier and with his other hand he pulled back. And then he punched forward, sending the gemstone into the wall with astounding force. He then rotated his hand to and fro, turning the flaxen haired youth in circles. Like the aforementioned drill. Of course, Ier-Briar Thorn-of-Shield had never let go, but if that was the price to be paid, so be it. Shen had already been corrupted by this... filth. And so, the gemstone and his 'passenger/driver' were sent spinning through the walls of the hive. It's a good thing Shen knew where he was going. --- Lilith would’ve found the geomancy pair of the team to be quite amusing, if she wasn’t busy fighting off the feeling of dread at her throat. The stinking cavern was a metropolis of the dead, filled to the brim in every last corner. Under their feet was likely the most unceremonious mass burial, of deceased dwellers and whatever poor things that found their way in here. Without even needing to extend her senses did she already feel the teeming number of souls swarming about, parting like water around the only few living beings in the labyrinth that had sentience. Well, at least the [i]majority[/i] of the team was considering ‘living.’ [i]And it’d maybe none of us would be by the end of the day…[/i] A slight shiver went down her spine. Whilst the geomancy based duo were having their... [i]moment[/i], the remaining three members were standing around idly. Varren glanced over to his fellow first year, who didn't appear to be in the best state of mind at the moment. A necromancer could only feel uneasy within what was basically a giant tomb, trapping hundreds of thousands of souls. He chose to let the girl be, and looked up at the taller figure, holding his railgun over his shoulder. [b][i]"Wonder how the other teams are fairing, hm? Stinks that we can't contact them from down here."[/i][/b] The boy's inquiries were all but wistful thinking, lingering over contemplating the well-being of his classmates. "YOU BROUGHT THIS UPON YOURSELF, FLESHBAG." "THIS WOULD HAVE GONE MUCH MORE SMOOTHLY HAD YOU BEEN LESS INTELLIGENT." "I'M A SIX YEAR OLD THAT'S MORE RATIONAL THAN YOUR HORMONE-INFECTED TEENAGE BRAIN. YOU DARE DOUBT MY INTELLIGENCE!?" "EXCUSE ME! [i]I[/i] AM THE ONE WHO THOUGHT OF REDUCING OUR TRAVEL TIME EXPONENTIALLY WHILST YOU STOOD AROUND IDLY! HOW DARE [i]YOU[/i] DOUBT [i]ME[/i]?!" But before he could dawdle over how the other teams were doing, his attention returned to his own situation. The other teams were full of experienced students, and would make it through, no matter what. As for Varren's survival rates, they weren't looking to high as the scene unfolded before them. The boy pulled back on the charging bolt and cocked his rifle, with a flip of his combat shades, he was prepped for battle. And a battle did indeed ensue, a horde of roughly forty dwellers came crawling towards them at a disturbing rate. They were clearing ground on multiple angles of the cavern, transversing the foul surface from above and below. He oriented the rifle upwards, and squeezed tightly on the trigger, unleashing a three-round burst of grenades. With that, eight adversaries dropped from the ceiling. About twenty more still charged them on the floor, and the remainders continued their upside-down assault. [b][i]"Jojo! Lilith! Let's cover these two lovebirds~!"[/i][/b] --- The previous thought still lingered in Lilith’s mind as the accursed creatures began advance on the group. Feeling adrenaline kicking in, the girl decided to make the best of the situation. Although there hadn't been many situations in her lifetime that ever required it, save for this one; reanimating corpses was thankfully less taxing on the mind than roping in things from the astral plane. Pointing a finger at one of the dwellers that were just freshly killed at the hands of Varren’s artillery, a thin black wisp shot from the tip. The strand of energy from her magic reserves looked to be absorbed by the body. After a few seconds, the battered and bleeding mass stirred. It was not long until seven faintly-glowing dwellers stood, and with a twirl of a hand, the reawakened beasts obediently turned on their own hive-members. Although slightly sluggish from their previous injuries, they tore at the offenders savagely. Three that still had the physical capability to climb took the chance, and sent three of the ceiling dwellers dropping. The other four remained on ground level and began to assault those on the floor. From the corner of her vision, she took notice of one of the enemy dwellers charging toward a figure dangerously fast. Lilith had no time to look to see who it was, only focused on intercepting it as fast as possible. She concentrated and took direct control of one of the undead minions on the ceiling, having it drop down directly front of the offender in an attempt to stop it in its track. The deceased dweller landed, lifted a limb that had a jagged bone jutting from its hide, and sliced at its living brethren. --- And so the geo duo turned and turned, bickering every little bit of the way. Truly a match made in the rocky crust of the earth. The sounds of their comrades' battle against the insectoid threat could be heard even in their body-sized tunnel. The metaphorical minimap in Shen's mind relayed their position to him. "Oi. Thorn-of-Shield." the geomancer said, "Watch out for the dr-" Nobody watched out for the drop. And thus, the geomancer and the geological being fell from roof of the queen's chamber on top of a very pissy hive leader. "...Hello. Just dropping by," Shen quipped. And then the elite guard burst into the chamber, out for first year blood and stone fragments. It was almost as if some higher power, some metaphorical 'game master', had decided to delay their efforts to defeat this queen. "What was the term again.. Eff-Em-Ell?" Shen stated flatly. --- Varren glanced back once he heard a faint yelp to his behind. Whilst his teammates dealt with the remaining minions, he turned around to face a gaping hole. One, which had consumed the two other members of their group. He cautiously approached the opening and leaned over the edge, placing his palms against the grotesque rim. The student peered down the whole, his eyes widened as they set upon the humongous shape of the queen. Though, even more surprising was the rodeo ride being given by a knight, to the absent duo. Once the last of the wave was killed off, Lilith and Chris both jogged over to Varren, and took in the same appalling sight. [b][i]"Yeah, I know. I'm surprised Fai can keep such a tight grip around Ier.[/i][/b] [i]CRACK[/i] And with the faint cracking of the surface below them, a chill when up Varren's spine as the flooring gave way, leaving them to tumble aimlessly into the chamber. The student held back a scream and braced himself for combat, landing on one of the knights. [b][i]"Hi~. Don't mind me, just dropping i-"[/i][/b] "Varren, that was my puUUUUN!." As Shen and Ier were not-so magically whisked away by their makeshift mount, Varren's insect swung back a claw, the boy was barely dodged the serrated edge as the limb flew past him. He quickly cocked his rifle and pulled down on the trigger, yet the rounds ricocheted off the armor. [b][i]"Let's hold them off until the other teams arrive! Be careful, they're heavily armore-"[/i][/b] Another swing, and an almost landed hit.