59 Night Fight
4 hours into the watch and nothing. Lucas felt sleepy, but used some of his mana to keep his drowsiness away. He kept nodding off every so often in the night, but forced himself to stay awake. This was his first real mission and didn't want others to think he was weak. He was already feeling like he was the weakest link because of his cultivation realm.
How wrong he was. The rest of the group felt like they were nothing compared to Lucas. They were all geniuses cultivators in their own right, but compared to Lucas they were like toddlers. He could not only punch above his weight class but triple his weight class!
That night as they all slept their last thought were that they would train harder and catch up to Lucas's skills. Although they were thankful he had no knowledge of the outside universe and they could guide him. For a time.
Lucas watched the darkness and with an hour left he was just about ready to switch placed with Zyra. He stretched his arms and yawned. Even if it was only 6 hours he was still slightly worn out from the previous fight.
"I can't wait to sleep" he said while yawning again. "I can't wait to finish this watch and hit the hay. It's been a long day." Just as he uttered those words he could hear movement further down the tunnel. Lucas rolled his eyes frustrated that he had jinxed himself. That was rule number one. Never say 'things can't get any worse' or 'I'm only a day from retiring' or something along those lines. Other wise the universe interviews and makes life harder.
Hearing movement Lucas ducked behind one of the man-made earth walls and watched. Thankfully he could see in the darkness, but still couldn't make out anything. He could hear skittering down the tunnel, but no shapes visible. Seeing as he didn't want to start a fight just yet he slowly backed up, while keeping his eyes down the tunnel, to Zyra to wake her up.
He quickly nudged awake and placed a hand over her mouth before she could speak. He shushed her and whispered "there's something down the tunnel. What's the game plan?"
Zyra slowly leaned up, closed her eyes and focused her hearing down the tunnel. She too could hear movement, but wasn't entirely sure what Xeomorph it would be. She used [Shadow Sense] to feel the shape of the Xeomorph that was further down the tunnel. After a few moments her eyes opened wide in a slight panic.
"Lucas" she said in a whisper. "They are Kompies. A type of Xeomorph drone. They are more or less the cleaners of the Hive. They are tiny creatures that, similar to the Spiker, are nothing but round bodies with a mouth as large as their body and two legs. They are reverse jointed for jumping. They hunt in swarms."
"How are they the cleaners of the Hive?"
"They eat any and everything. Waste from other Xeomorphs to intruders hiding. Even if they are only in the Solidifying realm they hunt in swarms in the hundreds. Very deadly to anyone below the Nascent realm."
Lucas sighed "that's just great. What's the game plan then?"
Zyra thought for a moment and decided to wake up the other two. They were filled in on the situation. Both had grimace expressions on their face. Well not Xylon, but if he had a face they would be able to see the expression. The group could hear the swarm of Kompies slowly getting closer and the group decided to make a battle plan.
Since they would be fighting a swarm of hundreds of Kompies they would have to focus on AOE type attacks and restricting attacks. Kaelon quickly grabbed a multicolored flesh sack from his Spatial bag and ate it. He informed everyone it was the poison gland of a Spotted Frugus and it would allow him to spew a poisonous liquid that would dissolve that touched it.
The issue was it had a particular smell that would draw in more Kompies. Luckily Xylon said he could morph parts of his body into a type of acid that would allow him to eat dirt. He could make a tunnel for them to sneak away while the rest fought off the Kompies. Zyra also stated she had some Psionic techniques that could disorient the Kompies and even have them attack each other. Lucas was going to state what techniques he could use, but the group stopped him.
They assumed Gravity and Fire were his only techniques and told him to not do anything. Let them handle it. Lucas counted saying he would help if they got too close and the two reluctantly agreed. With the battle plan made they moved to action!
Xylon was the first to move and began to 'eat' the dirt creating a thin tunnel that would be barely large enough for everyone to pass through. Zyra used [Psionic Dissonance] into the darkness where the Kompies were.
"SSSSSQQQQQQUUUUUEEEEEEEE!"
Tens if not hundreds of Kompies where disoriented. Some began to run around in circles, others began to attack one another, while others began to run towards the group. This was what they wanted. To divide and conquer. Kaelon dug both his feet and arms into the ground. His throat began to balloon like a frogs vocal sack. When the first wave of Kompies got into his range, range being 40ft away from them, he opened his mouth and spewed a viscous bright yellow sludge.
As soon as the yellow sludge landed on the the carapace of the Kompies they screeched even louder as they quickly and violently dissolved into a slimy pile of goo. As more began to come back to their senses they charged the group only to pass back through the goo piles that were once part of their swarm. Kaelon smiled as he watched the next events that transpired.
As soon as the second wave of Kompies touched the goo piles they stopped in place. The goo was extremely sticky and held the Kompies in place. "My turn" Zyra said with a hint of excitement in her voice. "[Mind Bomb]" she cried out!
A wave of psionic energy erupted out of her and towards the Kompies. As soon as the energy wave touched one of the Kompies mind it shattered into pieces. Their brains were blown up inside their bodies leaving nothing behind but Kompie corpses. Zyra nodded in satisfaction.
As more and more Kompies began to show up Zyra and Kaelon got into the swing of things. Zyra would continue to use [Psionic Dissonance] to confuse the swarm and separate them. Kaelon would spew more and more acid.
Lucas just watched while leaning against the wall. He was amazed by the synergy and cooperation Zyra and Kaelon showed. It was like they had spent years fighting together training to this level. Over the 10+ minutes had passed as the two fought off the enormous of the Kompies. They were fighting they were showing no signs of fatigue. While they were fighting Lucas would traverse the slime made tunnel to check on Xylon.
"How's it coming along?"
"Tunnel. Almost. Finished" Xylon bubbled.
As soon as the bubbled words popped the two felt a slight tremor. Xylon placed his head and part of his body against the tunnels wall to feel for any more vibrations. Further away he could feel the vibrations of something tunneling through the ground towards him and Lucas.
A very large bubble floated out of his body and popped. "TUNNELER!" The voice that came out was extremely loud. Thankfully Kaelon and Zyra were able to hear his voice. Upon hearing this Kaelon and Zyra cursed. They both knew that Tunneler's should be asleep right now!
When Lucas heard what Xylon had said he got into a readied stance, but it was already too late. A Tunneler had surprised the group and attacked Lucas from behind! Many events transpired all at the same time.
Zyra and Kaelon tried to move closer towards Lucas and Xylon, but the Kompie swarm surged forward causing them to shift their attention back to the front to defend. Lucas was attacked from behind by a second Tunneler that had snuck up on him. Just as Xylon turned to help Lucas the first Tunneler breached the wall and attacked Xylon!
It was utter chaos.
Zyra and Kaelon did their best to hold off the Kompie Swarm while Lucas and Xylon fought the Tunneler's.
Xylon split his body in half to dodge the power behind the razor sharp claws of the Tunneler. He quickly reformed himself and created a water bubble around him as another claw was inches away.
"[Bubble Shield]!" Xylon created a durable water bubble around him that as it formed around him the claw of the Tunneler was inside. It was cut off as the water bubble closed. The Tunneler screeched in pain as one of its many limbs was sliced off by the bubble shield. Luckily for it little more than half it's body was still hidden under the earth. Once the bubble shield fully closed and he could tell he was safe, for now. Xylon placed a limb on the edge of the bubble and cast another technique.
"[Water Blade]!" A thin 4ft long water blade shot out from the bubble shield with great speed. It sliced through another 2 limbs on the Tunneler's left side and even cut into the earth behind it. The Tunneler began to lash out in a fit of rage. Throwing its body against the bubble shield, gnawing and clawing. I was attacking with all its might to reach its target.
Xylon didn't remain idle. He comminuted to repeatedly cast his [Water Blade] technique in a myriad of ways. Horizontal, vertical and angled blade flew out of the bubble shield slicing the Tunneler repeatedly. After a few seconds it was nothing more than cubed meat and flesh. Blood splattered against the tunnel walls. Once he was finished with his enemy he lowered his bubble shield to help out the rest of the group.
While Xylon was fighting one of the Tunneler's, Lucas was dealing with his own enemy. The Tunneler that had surprised him had attacked him from behind. When he noticed the elongated canine mouth trying to bite him from behind he had dropped his staff and used both hands to grab a tooth to keep the jaw from snapping.
Thankfully with his abnormal strength, thanks to his runes, he was able to not only hold the alien at bay, but also also push it back. Yet as soon as he did the Tunneler curled itself like a spring and shot back at Lucas. It finally managed to bite his back, but something was off. It didn't taste any flesh or blood. Its powerful bite could pierce through all, but the strongest of armors that the CIA had. Yet, for some reason it couldn't pierce through the cloak Lucas had on.
Lucas mentally thanked the System for gifting him this cloak. It really saved his ass when it mattered. With some room to breath, more or less, Lucas went on the offensive!
"[Shadow Maw]!"
