[center][h3]Cleaning up the Caves[/h3]

Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Nadia, Omori’s [@Majoras End]

[b]Word Count:[/b] 5615 (+6)[/center]

While Omori didn’t exactly need to get cleaned by Sectonia’s antlions, he did take a moment to rest before following the rest down the hatch. If this place had more spiders deeper in, he’d be in for a heart attack or two, so he had to mentally prepare himself for the worst. The Knight had cleared the dung filled room relatively unscathed. They took a moment to mend any wounds with the SOUL they had amassed, but they were also a bit…smellier than usual. The queen bee’s minions had to prioritize cleaning up the stink-bug a bit more thoroughly. The two were some of the last to hop down into the caves.

It smelled like a corpse in there. That might be an exaggeration, but at least the Basement had better lighting. The headlamp Omori wore shone its light around the room as he glanced from door to door, deciding on where to go first. Nadia went east, Ganondorf went west. He had already fought alongside Therion, so who else could he assist?

Hm… Maybe the queen bee lady would let him tag along for this floor.

Omori caught up with Sectonia just a moment after the wasp queen cornered Nadia in the shop on her way out. While the feral seemed ready to blow the big bug off again, the sight of three shiny pennies sparkling in Sectonia’s outstretched hand made the words catch in Nadia’s throat. She crossed one arm, rested her other elbow on it, and covered her mouth with her hand in a contemplative pose–all to make it look like she hadn’t immediately and shamelessly changed her mind about Sectonia for three one-hundredths of a dollar. “Hmm…” She flicked her tail back and forth for a couple seconds, then gave an exaggerated shrug. “Weeeell…that’s a fair trade, I guess.”

She took hold of the bizarre Symbol of Avarice, her nose scrunched up at the way its protruding tongue flopped around. Before putting it on she glanced up at Sectonia one last time as if to say [i]are you sure about this?[/i] but instead she raised her eyebrow. “Didja always have that heart tattoo on your forehead? I mean, it matches the big heart on your, uh…” she gestured at Sectonia’s middle. “Abdomen. But I swear that wasn’t there before.” Then again, maybe she just didn’t like looking at the head of a giant insect. Nadia went ahead and donned the Symbol of Avarice, then went through the fading spirits Sectonia collected like a bag of potato chips. [i]Crunch, crunch, crunch.[/i]

[hider=For Sectonia]You have acquired:

[b]Coin x2[/b]

[b]Full Heart[/b]

[b]Monster Fluid x3[/b]

[i]A liquid bugs suck from monsters. Mixes with insect fluids to form an adhesive. Used when crafting weapons and armor[/i]

[b]Vespoid Shell[/b] x2

[i]Material of a dangerous winged insect. Used for many purposes[/i]

[b]Bnahabra Stinger[/b]

[i]A Bnahabra stinger. It's actually a hollow tube that houses paralytic secretions[/i]

[/hider]

With the task complete, the cat burglar unceremoniously parted ways with the life-sucking headwear, clawing it off onto the floor. “Ugh!” she griped. “It feels like I lost blood without even usin’ it for anythin’!” Nadia claimed her reward and promptly crouched down to collect her new trinket. The moment she touched it, her money disappeared from her hand, and the item itself vanished too. Blinking, Nadia wondered what happened, only to feel a painful sensation building in her chest. “Nyuh? AAAGH!” In a burst of blood the prism emerged from beneath her skin. She clasped her hands over it and tried to pull it off, only to find it anchored into her upper sternum. “Owww!” she mewled, breathing heavily as the hurt subsided. Ultimately, she had suffered far worse than this, but the circumstances of its appearance left her more shocked and horrified than hurt. With a grunt she re-absorbed as much blood as she could, trying to come to grips with what happened. Smaller than a playing card, it rested against her skin below her belled choker. There seemed to be a pressure-sensitive area on the prism’s blue attachment, and when Nadia pressed it, the device produced a cone of white light directly in front of her. While not too obvious in the well-lit shop, she got the feeling it would really shine in the dark. “Damn,” she groaned as she switched it off. “It’s like it became a part of me.” She zipped her hoodie up to hide it, then unzipped her hoodie down to her navel to fully uncover the light, then shut it off. “Gives ‘flash light’ a whole new meanin’, heh…”

[center][hider=For Nadia]Obtained:

[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/C7E6u3A.png]Night Light[/url][/b]

[i]When activated, a cone of light shines outward in the direction Nadia’s torso is facing. It slows enemies (but not bosses) and shots caught in the beam by 25% for as long as they remain in the beam. However, since Nadia habitually fights in a side-facing stance and changes directions constantly while attacking, it’s tough to make proper use of this item while fighting[/i][/hider][/center]

At the mention of the tattoo on Sectonia’s head, the bee queen tapped the area absently, unable to see it herself without a mirror. No, she didn’t have a tattoo that was like her breastplate, but she did pick up a heart shaped item that granted power. And after Nadia had shown quite a bit of pain as she had picked up the prism, which embedded itself in her chest. Sectonia hadn’t had pain like that when she picked up her item… but that was concerning. [color=92278f]”Hm… I wasn’t expecting any of that. Not the items, nor… what that object did to you. I will need a mirror to see what this ‘heart’ tattoo you mention is…”[/color] Sectonia said, tapping her forehead in an attempt to try to feel how big it was and how it looked on her, before saying. [color=92278f]”At least you confirmed something for me, the Symbol doesn’t do much at all for faded spirits. You can keep all those items, that cartoonish red heart should rejuvenate your health.”[/color] still, Nadia had shown Sectonia, Omori, and anyone else watching the potential downsides of these items. Much like Sectonia had said earlier, it seemed whoever designed this place hated beauty, or at the very least punished anyone trying to obtain it.

 Omori had to agree. He couldn’t have helped the dumbfounded look that crossed his face as he stood at the door. Luckily for him he was given a headlamp that rested quietly under his hood, but to get a light source embedded into your [i]skin and bones[/i] in such a gruesome manner? Okay then, now he was slightly concerned about picking up anything from down here. [b][color=dcdcdc]”Uh, Mister Ganondorf’s clearing some rooms to the west, if either of you want to follow up behind him.”[/color][/b] He finally spoke up, pointing a thumb behind himself.

[color=92278f]”I suppose. I would like to see what else is here. Perhaps my magic can at least let us know if an item is worthwhile or not. Although we will have to be careful about the side effects…”[/color] Sectonia said, gesturing at Nadia. Both of them could see concern on Sectonia’s face, although it would be up to them to decide what she was concerned about. She did make quite a few glances at Nadia however.

As the others spoke, Nadia remained crouched where she’d fallen, letting things sink in. After a couple moments though, she slammed her hand into the ground. “Damn it! I spent all my hard-earned money on that thing, puttin’ me all the way back at square one, and what do I get for it!? Disfigured! As if I wasn’t enough of a freak show already!” She stood and channeled her pent-up blood pressure into a jet-propelled punch that flew across the room and struck the petrified shopkeeper. Unfortunately, Nadia’s fists weren’t nearly strong enough to break stone, and the remains limply fell over as she retracted her bruised knuckles across the floor in a smear of blue blood. “Ugh. What a hellhole.” 

Sectonia, taking a little of the blame for the disfigurement comment, tossed the feral 15 Geo to make up for the money she had lost. It was the least she could do. [color=92278f]”If you want to buy another item, this will work as well as the coins. The spell that permeates these shops seems to only care about ‘currency’ regardless of form.”[/color] Sectonia then gave a sideways glance at Nadia. The catgirl would need a beauty session with the Queen after all of this if that was the way she saw herself.

In an instant, Nadia’s ears perked up. “Really!? Well, hey.” Her hands darted around, and in flash all the spilled Geo got scooped into her pockets. “If ya insist.” She took the coins and the heart from the itemizations as well, the latter of which gave her a measure of relief as fresh blood pumped through her system. “At least it sorta…looks like a brooch or somethin’, right? Could be worse.” [i]And I could always crack it off later if I need to,[/i] she thought. [i]But until we’re outta the dark, I guess I’m stuck with it.[/i]

[color=92278f]”Well, its light does seem to slow whatever enemy is in it if I’m reading the magic properly. And you can use that light to see in the dark like I can.”[/color] Sectonia said, stating what she could figure out from the item in an attempt to at least make it seem like it wasn’t such a bad thing. It was still crystal after all. Or maybe plastic, but saying that aloud wouldn’t help anyone.

Nadia tapped her new heartlight. “Huh.” Her eyes landed on Omori, still situated by the shop’s entrance. “Er, sorry ya had to see that, kid. I mean, me bleedin’ everywhere ain’t anythin’ new, but at least ya know not to touch stuff, right?” And end up going through something like that? Omori quickly nodded his head. His new friend waltzed out of the shop while speaking, and patted the boy on the headlamp when she passed him. “Whaddya say we go kill some creeps then, eh?”

With that, the three made their way back to the start. By now, Ganondorf’s warpath had turned the first room to the west into a mess of blood, ash, and bone dust, and he seemed intent on pushing further in that direction. Nadia consulted her map, but it did not reveal anything beyond the existence of rooms adjacent to ones already explored, so where to go was anyone’s guess. She decided to hang a left toward the chamber to the south, motioning for Omori to jump in and Sectonia to blink in alongside her. “C’mon! On three: one, two…three!”

The new trio burst into the room to find it nearly cut in half by a pool of water, with another couple repellent turds blocking the narrow routes on either side. Opposite them quivered a gruesome gallery of enemies. Three sagging, misshapen [url=https://i.imgur.com/TbrGSNv.png]Hives[/url] tried to distance themselves as flies crawled from their sores to attack one at a time. Three weeping, pustule-ridden [url=https://i.imgur.com/OEbVoAZ.png]Nests[/url] did the same with small spiders. And three [url=https://i.imgur.com/7WOqNbM.png]Ulcers[/url] poked up from the earth at random spots to expel yellow, dart-shaped flies or parabolic blood tears. An audible [color=92278f]”Gck, more wretched…”[/color] could be heard from Sectonia when they got a scope of the room.

More spiders too. Ugh. The boy faintly shuddered, but remained composed. [b][color=dcdcdc]”I can probably get them from here.”[/color][/b] Omori pulled out his pistol again. [b][color=dcdcdc]”But I’m starting to run low on ammo. Think you can keep the bugs off me?”[/color][/b] He asked, sidestepping one of the blood tears before firing at the Nests first.

Omori didn’t even have to ask, Sectonia looking at these creatures and their hideousness was quite enraged, summoning a couple antlions to act as distractions as she threw her light rings at the boil creatures as they were the most hideous thing in the room. [color=92278f]”Things get worse and worse as we go down.”[/color] Sectonia said as the room soon filled with small light rings fired by the Queen, their unpredictable paths leaving something to be said for accuracy, but the sheer amount of them would hit something. Her antlions meanwhile, of the green variety, began to show their new strength as they smashed at whatever came nearby, taking out any flies or spiders that decided to come their way in a single strike. Still, the boil filled creatures spitting out flies were tough, and as a light ring hit them, they coughed up more and more flies. At least her rings seemed to plow through whatever didn’t resist them.

On death, the Hive ruptured into a handful of flies, some larger and able to split projectiles. Nadia bristled; she didn’t want to wade into water that might as well be toxic with literal crap in the vicinity and airdashing over into the thick of it seemed like a worse idea than usual. “I’m bad with small stuff,” she admitted as she drew out a chain anchor. “But just standin’ here won’t fly.” Rather than try to fight normally, she activated her Night Light at the edge of the water. Its range just reached the other side, and the bugs caught in its glow lost some speed. Nadia could take her time aiming, although it still took focus given the volume of light rings Sectonia kept spitting out. “Mrow!” She hurled her anchor forward, ripping across the surface of the water with enough force to leave a wake behind it. It lodged into one of the Nests, and with a yank on the chain Nadia pulled the monster into the water, where it sank and drowned.

As she reeled in her chain, however, a Dart Fly jabbed into her upper arm. “Hey!” She turned, froze the bug, and took an extra second to get the right angle before splitting it in half with her anchor. Behind her, the Ulcer responsible for the spawn receded into the ground. “Watch it guys, these assholes are poppin’ up on this side, too!”

[b][color=dcdcdc]”Well that just makes things easier.”[/color][/b] Omori waited until another Ulcer appeared from under them and plunged his knife into its center mass as quickly as he could. Though not without tanking a bloody tear to the chest. With a pained hiss, he continued firing at the larger enemies before having to reload.

Sectonia’s antlions were a decent distraction. As the Hives spat out flies, the antlions took a large amount of their aggro and cleaned up whatever went towards them. One even shot out a bolt of electricity at one, which arced and destroyed a few more, killing a husk that Sectonia had weakened with her barrage of light rings. Omori managed to injure one of the burrowing things but took a bit of an injury in the process. Speaking of these burrowing things, another one appeared behind Sectonia, or rather, under her, and tagged her with a blood shot and retreated before she could strike it with lightning. She was a tough bug and while she did get damaged, the others wouldn't see her even react to the injury short of striking where the creature was with lightning. Seeing these things would be an issue, Sectonia swapped out her light rings for dark globules, having her lightning staff in her other hand to strike at these burrowing things if they ever came near. Her dark globules didn’t pierce like her light rings did, but any defense these creatures had was ignored as the dark energy bolts hit them as the other husks shrunk enough to explode as they spit out the last of their flies.

All of Sectonia’s magic accomplished something else, as well. It destroyed the odious blockage to clear up one of the side-paths, allowing Nadia to wall-run over using her claws and into the spot where the last couple holdouts cowered. One Nest escaped by crossing under her, fleeing in the direction of Omori while spewing spiders, but she carved through the last Nest with an axe kick into Flying Screen Door. On death a handful of spiders squeezed out from its tumorous flesh, and with a look of abject disgust the feral used her fishtail bat the corpse into the water. “Yuck!” That left just one Hive in her corner, and to prevent more spawns she used her anchor to give it a dip, too. [i]Splash![/i]

 Omori snapped his head around, waiting for the last Ulcer to come out of hiding. Once he saw the slightest bit of movement in the dirt, he hurried over to stab it down before it could hit him with anything else. Though with his focus elsewhere, he hadn’t noticed the Nest and its spiders barreling towards him. The boy visibly recoiled, stumbling backwards away from the concerning amount of arachnids that had appeared from another’s demise. His grip on his weapons trembled. [i]Too many. Way too many. Way too many to fight off![/i]

Sectonia, being nearby Omori, covered the boy with her dark lightning, destroying the spiders that ran towards him with a sweep of dark electricity. A trivial matter for her, but she did notice that the boy was outright terrified of spiders. Oh boy did Sectonia have some stories for him with her second in command Taranza being a big spider... But that wasn’t here nor there.

All that hard work went to waste when absolutely nothing appeared as a reward for beating the room. Without any more doors branching from here either, the three could do nothing but head back to the start for the second time. With a few rooms on the west side cleared by Ganondorf and the northern one still in progress, Nadia led the way left, then left again, partially to check and see how the heavy hitter was doing. She found him in the middle of a bunch of pulpy smears, and as she expected, he seemed fine. In fact, he looked more annoyed than anything. Maybe he didn’t find all this dungeoneering very rewarding. Some encouragement seemed to be in order. “Good work, champ!” After giving Ganondorf a thumbs-up and her sunniest smile, Nadia left him to his own devices. To the north lay a golden-rimmed door, locked tight, which made the feral bemoan her decision to use her only key on the shop. Normal rooms lay to the west and south, meanwhile. “Any purreference…?”

[color=92278f]”Might as well clear both.”[/color] Sectonia said, a bit annoyed that they couldn’t open up the golden room. One of those rooms should have something to open up that door, right?

Luckily for them, Nadia wasn’t the only one who had a key. Having followed the three down the emptied rooms, the knight quietly walked past Nadia and up to the locked door. They pulled out the key they’ve been holding onto and tried inserting it into the lock. Sectonia noticed this, and almost laughed to herself as the small bug creature that had joined them did just what she was thinking. Still, that didn’t stop her opinion, there was something else she was interested in…

[color=92278f]”... Well that settles that issue. Now the issue of the ‘hidden’ room I found on the previous floor. It was an isolated room that required a bomb to destroy the wall leading to it. With those rooms clean I can have my antlions look for the hollow wall.”[/color] Sectonia said. That being said, she was interested in what was in the golden room and suggested they check that out first.

Within the golden room lay a thick crescent array of rocks, and in the middle stood a plinth with the Knight’s reward: a [url=https://i.imgur.com/i2vzTyN.png]six-sided block of ice[/url]. Getting closer made it possible to see a small, bulbous shape enclosed within, marked as deceased by its big X-shaped eyes. It could only be a frozen baby, so early in its development that it seemed to be little more than a fetus. Nadia wrinkled her nose at it and refused to approach. “I don’t even wanna know.” With a flippant salute she left the others to make of the ‘loot’ what they would, and made for the room to the west. Sectonia had the same sensibilities as Nadia, taking a look at the ‘item’ then leaving the room with a look of confusion on her face. It didn’t seem all that powerful anyway. Omori himself didn’t feel comfortable taking a dead fetus with him, frozen or not, so that left the Knight to take it for themself.

Once the others joined her, she counted down once more and the three began their next challenge. This chamber turned out to be quadruple-sized, but rather than a big pit it featured a bunch of mushrooms. Yet these were no ordinary fungi; Nadia realized as much the moment she pounced into the room and breathed in its air. These [url=https://i.imgur.com/R2qn97K.png]necrotic mushrooms[/url] absolutely reeked with the the rank smell of death, and the moment that granular musk filled Nadia’s nostrils, their corrupting spores entered her system, nullifying her passive regeneration. Sectonia’s own methods of healing turned out similarly, which lent a new edge to the danger posed by this place’s enemies. Floating above the infestation as if presiding over it, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/qcCvA95.png]Swarmer[/url] hearkened back to the Duke of Flies in all the worst ways, starting with the attack flies that left behind their brethren to hunt the newcomers down. Meanwhile, a squadron of eight [url=https://i.imgur.com/TouEc9C.png]Knights[/url] patrolled amongst the mushrooms, their calcified visages completely invulnerable from the front to protect the vulnerable brain matter that poked out behind.

Sectonia grumbled in this room as well. At least they knew where the smell was coming from but this place was still horrid. She began the fight by slowing the Knights with her slow spell before summoning some ice antlions to attack and be a distraction. Thanks to those mushrooms, Sectonia figured that Nadia might have issues with how willy-nilly she shot her own body parts around. [color=92278f]”I can handle these… walking brain golems for the most part. You two focus on what you can.”[/color] Sectonia said, throwing out dark globules that she knew bypassed defenses. At this point she knew that mobility was key when fighting these monsters, hence why she slowed the ones that seemed to only charge at them to make dodging them easier.

Omori attempted a few test shots at the [s]less friendly[/s] Knights, only to click his tongue in disdain when their frontal lobes seemed to [i]deflect[/i] his bullets. He sliced through the attack flies and casted Sad Poem on the Swarmer (assuming it can even feel anything, could’ve sworn it’s face was just a flesh mask at this point.) to slow it down in turn. The boy moved to cover Nadia, shooting at the larger creature.

With the flies’ attention elsewhere, Nadia moved in. Sectonia’s antlions proved ineffective against the Knights, their attacks useless against the little juggernauts’ stony faces while the Knights quickly racked up hits with their relentless advance. Luckily, the queen’s void attacks fared better, able to pierce the creatures’ otherwise invincible defense to exploit their sole vulnerability. When a Knight drew near Nadia switched on her Night Light, then stood ready to face it in a fighting stance. It charged and she jumped over, crossing it up in order to come down with a kick into its squishy bits from behind. “Keep this in mind!” She used [url=https://i.imgur.com/39cCzb6.png]Cat Spike[/url] to launch her head into the Knight’s brain, her hair hardened like a wheel of blades to cut through like a circular saw. Her enemy fell, but more came hot on its heels, and Nadia’s head rose atop a conjured Copycat body, and together the two of them taunted them. “C’mon, let’s put our heads together!”

The first Knight went for her real body, which gave her Copycat free reign to slash its backside into oblivion with El Gato. She and her double high-fived and reunited into one whole. When two more tried to take revenge with a pincer maneuver, Nadia jumped up and sank her claws into the root-ridden first of the ceiling. The Knights bonked together beneath her, then turned about to part ways, and once the feral dropped down between them she took a bow with [url=https://i.imgur.com/Dcji6cW.png]Hand in Hand[/url] to pierce both opponents from behind. “Get back here!” When her arms retracted she dragged the Knights in, which meant the whirligig slashes of [url=https://i.imgur.com/R5flmeI.png]Wheel of Fortune[/url] could finish them both off. She flipped back onto her feet with a grin. “That’s some foot for thought!”

As she punned, a fourth Knight ran into her from behind, first stepping on her tail and then barging into her shoulder. “YOWCH!” Teeth gritted, she hopped up to cross it over, but the Knight turned around beneath her and her attack bounced off its face. She took another blow and tumbled into a mushroom, which left her momentarily dazed. Just getting too close to it had her seeing stars, but she could see the monster headed her way for strike number three. “Alright, bonehead” she snarled, getting to her feet. “Let’s see ya block this wack-ass mixup.” When it got close enough she jumped over it, and just as before it turned around. But by that time Nadia already airdashed backward to come down on the same side she started with an X-slash. Her claws cut deep, and with [url=https://i.imgur.com/64wWmy5.png]Ear Piercing[/url] she finished it off. “I’m always one step a-head,” she boasted.

Sectonia meanwhile kept herself at range, much like before. She didn’t want any of these vile things to touch her, keeping her slow spell up on whatever knight she was focusing down. At least her dark globules could pass through the masks that reflected most other attacks and damage the flesh beneath. Still, with her antlions being nothing more than a distraction for these things, it was up to her slow spell, dark globules, and mobility to deal with these things. At least Nadia was dealing with those on her end. There was one thing that annoyed Sectonia, while this magic item she picked up in Al Mamoon was tripling her spell count, the fact she couldn’t reliably aim her spells anymore was a bit annoying in this case, as even if slow, the Knight’s small size compared to Sectonia made her use far more dark globules than she would like. But a few did hit stuff the others were attacking so that was helpful at least..

Her large size did mean though that there were a few close calls that forced her to fly near the mushrooms, which much like Nadia, caused Sectonia to cough and get a bit dazed when she was near them. She’d have to burn these things when everyone wasn’t in the room. This led to a hit from an attack fly herself, which she easily batted away but still, even the smallest creatures here hit as hard as everything else and that was a concern. But eventually thanks to Nadia and Sectonia working on them, the knights were all dispatched.


 That only left the Swarmer and Omori at each other's mercy. With no Knights in the way, the boy went in to stab it in the “skull”, cleaving through attack flies and the occasional pooter until he was close enough for a critical strike. Whatever remained of the swarm’s body dispersed, leaving behind a single Boom Fly, as if it was one last attempt to drag him down with it. He simply moved out of its flightpath and shot it from a reasonable distance, causing it to detonate.

With the enemies dispatched, a gold-rimmed chest hit the ground. Nadia tried to pry it open, but like the locked doors it seemed able to withstand superfluous force. It would probably need a key to be opened as well, but with those in short supply the trio would more than likely be going empty-handed once more, much to the cat burglar’s chagrin. “Dang it!” she griped as she uselessly bludgeoned the chest with her anchor. “Maybe when this is all over, I should actually learn how to pick locks.”

She soon gave up, not wanting to spend any more time among the spores than she had to. Once back in the four-way room where Ganondorf finished his fight, Nadia felt her pulse quicken once more. “Whew, thank goodness. I’m healing again.” She glared back into the fungus-infested chamber. “Whatever those rotten mushrooms were, they blocked my regeneration! If I went down in a place like that…” she shivered. Though a little banged up and out of breath, the trio had more than enough fight in them for one more encounter, and took a southward turn to finish off what looked like the last room on this side of the floor.

This one confronted the team with someone new, as well. Like the last it featured four times the space of a typical room, but this time it seemed to be mostly an abyss, with a mazelike pathway that ran across it in a large zigzag with sheer drops on either side. Nine things with the look of enemies could be found along that route, six of them no more than [url=https://i.imgur.com/nMuaJSi.png]skulls atop red mush[/url]. Three red, pure-meat variants stood out from the rest. All the Hosts lay stationary, the gray ones invulnerable to standard attacks, for someone to get close enough for them to pop up and release a conical blast of blood tears, exposing their tender innards for a brief moment in the process.

Sectonia, ever being the one to get into the fight first, decided to scope out these rock and blood like creatures by summoning her antlions to attack one. A red one; without its protective top went down without too much of an issue from the sustained ice blasts of her blue antlions, although the fact that it was being fired upon didn’t daunt it from shooting a shotgun spread of blood globules that caused an antlion to poof in a cloud of smoke as it was defeated. Sectonia then moved them to try to attack the ones with protective caps. These ones were a bit different, and no matter how much damage the antlions put into them, the creature seemed to take no damage, nor rise up to attack them. When they were commanded to stop attacking, it took a bit, but the creature rose up and fired at them before going back to its defensive position, only revealing its red vulnerable side when attacking.

[color=92278f]”Hmph. This room seems like it’ll be easy as long as you are prepared to dodge and attack at a moment’s notice. Although it may take some time to get through it in its entirety.”[/color] Sectonia said to the other two, deciding to send her antlions after the other red hosts and giving haste to Nadia and Omori. She was going to sit back for this one, as while she was fast, her size would make her fairly easy to hit.

Before charging ahead Nadia peered down into the darkness of what appeared to be another deadly bottomless pit. Not even her Night Light could penetrate the gloom. “Wait, didn’t those black blobs ya cast earlier take down those freaks with hard shells? Just do that again!” Then again, Sectonia’s magic seemed pretty random at times, and with the royal’s mind made up Nadia might as well be talking to a brick wall. She jogged along the path to the closest Host, which popped up to shoot at her when she drew near. The combination of Sectonia’s haste and her new item’s slow rendered it a sitting duck, and the feral barely needed to exert any effort to weave around its projectiles and snip through its neck before it plopped back down.

[color=92278f]”I suppose I could throw those about. I’m not expecting too many to hit though.”[/color] Sectonia said as she shrugged and threw black globules at the various hosts. Some hit, some veered randomly, but Sectonia’s accuracy on stationary targets wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it would be since most of the projectile path effects hit a stationary target without issue. If Sectonia had a way to control these effects, that would be super useful, but for now all she could do was fill the room with globes of darkness. Unfortunately, they did not seem able to strike down the Hosts in defense mode, meaning a different tact would be necessary. [color=92278f]”Well… it seems those don’t work. I will keep you two hasted and keep my antlions out, but I feel like these things are better left to you two.”[/color]

With the extra dose of speed plus her natural agility, however, Nadia left Omori in the ground. While he lagged behind, tagged by a few Host shots, she went into overdrive. The feral raced down the zig-zag path, fearlessly leaping over the abyss whenever possible to take shortcuts around the tricky corners. The Hosts opened fire again and again, but compared to some of the zoning she’d been through, this was nothing. She [url=https://i.imgur.com/rl1pw2Q.png]slid beneath[/url] a bloody spread shot to drill through a Host’s base with legs like corkscrews, then rose and airdashed over a chasm to land in front of another monster just as it hunkered down. It might be immune to damage, but Nadia had just the ticket when it came to cowards who turtled up behind their defenses. “Upsy-daisy!” She hooked her claws into its eyeholes from behind and rocked back, using her legs to help hoist the Host off the ground.

Its momentum sent it up and over and into the depths behind her, and Nadia snickered at the sight of it plummeting into the darkness. “Skull issue.” She jumped to her feet just in time to block another set of shots. As the last Host shielded itself again, the feral unwound her anchor to spin it like a lasso, and with the help of her Night Light she sent it flying the next time the monster popped up. It wound around the Host’s body like a grappling hook before it plopped down again, but with the anchor beneath its shell, all Nadia needed to do was wrench the chain with all her strength to explode the pesky zoner in a shower of blood. “And that’s curtains!” the cat burglar declared. A few feet away, a shiny nickel appeared to herald the Seekers’ third consecutive victory.