It was like a waterfall.
"Get ready!" Ji-Min yelled out to everyone.
Ji-Min could feel her body tense from fear. Pushing herself, she concentrated on relaxing her body and fighting against her natural instincts. Though she wasn't a soldier, Ji-Min reminded herself of the skills she'd developed as a WABAL player.
"Venessa! Support Liz! Keep them from getting past her!" Ji-Min directed her teammate.
Keeping her eyes on the monsters dropping to the ground, Venessa quickly answered, "Understood, Ji-Min!"
Ji-Min quickly looked over at where Han and Jackie were standing, "Make sure to stick together! Don't try to fight them alone! You'll be swarmed otherwise! Protect those who from Abigail's group!" Being the senior in their group, Ji-Min felt a responsibility to make sure everyone survived. "Even if we'll just respawn from the beginning, we can't afford to lose anyone!" Shaking her head, she couldn't help but think how much harder their job will be if they lose even a single person. She tried to fight the thought that this place was meticulously testing their strength.
Katya rushed over to where Ji-Min was standing. "We'll need to slowly maneuver our way towards the others." The woman looked to where her group was standing, concern in her voice.
"Agreed. Even though we're close, rushing over to them will destroy our formation and chance at reaching them." Ji-Min stared at a monster that dropped near her.
The thing had an elongated head, eyes covering the top of its head, bulging out like a frog's eyes. Its skin glittered from the torchlight likely some type of mucus, perfect for the environment.
Staring at the long tail, which ended in a long spike, Ji-Min was concerned whether it was merely for piercing or if it delivered some type of poison. Instead of typical arms and legs, it had several thick tentacles with suction cups on them.
"It's likely what allowed them to sleep on the ceiling. Seeing the ribbing on its main body, it's likely protected by some type of skeletal system." Feeling a sensation of nausea bubbling up inside of her, Ji-Min fought it.
Immediately, the tail launched towards Ji-Min.
Effortlessly, she turned her body to barely evade the attack. Ji-Min lifted one of her blades and sliced at the tail. Instead of having the satisfying feel of chopping off the tail, the blade showered sparks and bounced off of the armored skin.
"Damn it!" Ji-Min cursed after her ineffective attack. Keeping her attention on the monster as it retracted its tail, she yelled, "Watch out for the tail! It's insanely durable!"
"Got it!" Jackie responded in addition to the others.
The hallway exploded in heat and light.
With the drastic change of lighting and temperature, the monster flinched and turned towards the source. It made the same nails on the chalkboard screech, the surface of its skin rippling, and twitching.
"God damn it!" Ji-Min knew what had caused the hallway to light up. "Han! Tell your sister to watch that ability of her! I'll kill you if that battle maniac ends up killing all of us!"
Grinding her teeth, Ji-Min was reminded of how Jennifer went all out against the monsters on the floors above them. "Unfortunately, that boy won't reign in his sister, and Jessica is equally as useless," Ji-Min thought as she rushed forward while activating her own stones.
The blade glowed white, making the temperature drop around its immediate surroundings. Ji-Min sliced the main body with her weapon. As it struck the slimy flesh, instead of being blocked by the strong protective skeleton, the area immediately froze.
Having its flesh frozen, it screeched in pain, countering the attack with its tail.
Ducking under the attack, Ji-Min grinned viciously, "You think that'll work a second time?!"
The diamond on both blades glowed brighter, corresponding to the amount of light being emitted by the weapons. Swinging both weapons at the same time at the tail, instead of bouncing off like the previous time, the section of the tail struck by the weapons shattered.
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Not wanting to let up on the attack, she immediately followed up by piercing the creature with both of her blades. "Shatter," Ji-Min put in more strength, and moments passed before the thing was split in half. The exposed flesh covered in icy crystals.
Though she wanted to enjoy her victory, Ji-Min jumped back to where the others were. As soon as the monster was killed, the area was filled with three more of the creatures.
Apathetic towards the death of their comrade. They used their tails and tried to pierce Ji-Min.
Due to the overwhelming numbers attacking their small group, isolated from the others, Ji-Min wasn't able to receive any assistance from either Venessa or Liz. Using her blades, she deflected two of the tails and dodging the other. With how many there were, she was only able to get a small satisfaction of freezing the tips as the spikes touched her weapons.
"Until I find out whether those things are poisonous, it's better to try and disable them." Using the power of the stone, Ji-Min made the crystalized tips shatter. "It may not be as impressive as the senior teams in The Facility, but I can still inflict some serious damage when I want to," She grinned at the screams made by the monsters.
"It seems those things primarily attack with their tails," Katya's speculated upon seeing Ji-Min detonate her prior attacks.
Ji-Min nodded, "I suspect that the case, too."
Compared to Ji-Min, Katya had one of her blades morph into a small shield. Blocking one of the attacks with the shield, the blade on her arm was able to slice through the tough exterior of the creature's hide. "Once again, I'm thankful that my employers are never cheap with their toys."
Clicking her tongue, Ji-Min thought back to the shop inside of The Facility, "I'm going to need to change my weapon again. This time to something with more substance." As she tilted her head to dodge a tail and use her weapon to freeze the appendage, "I should have enough gathered from this dive to afford a better weapon." Jealousy blossomed inside towards the weapon used by Katya.
A brief flash of light and streaks of lightning scattered through the air.
Ji-Min turned to see Venessa impaling one of the monsters in its side and flood it with her stone's power, pumping the thing with electricity from the electrical properties of her stone. Her weapon glowed with a golden light.
With practiced ease, Venessa made sure to retreat before she was swarmed.
"Good job, Venessa!" Ji-Min encouraged the woman.
Liz had more of an advantage with her weapon. It glowed with a purple light, keeping her stationary even after having a couple of the monsters try to push past her weapon.
Making the situation better was how the monsters moved slower after crashing into the shield. The slower movement allowed Venessa to impale and shock the things, leaving behind a charred corpse.
The two weapons formed a powerful duo and allowed Ji-Min to focus on her own situation, instead of having to worry about whether the two women were able to handle the countless enemies.
"Can't get too overconfident!" Ji-Min berated herself. "The worse thing I can do is try and think we have a handle on this!"
Seeing a tail speed towards the back of Katya, Ji-Min rushed over and cut through it.
"You going to be able to handle this?" Ji-Min teased her new companion.
Weaving between the attacks directed at her, occasionally lopping off a tail. "I'm concerned we'll run out of energy fighting these things before we're able to make a dent in their numbers" Katya's ragged breath was heard over the communication device.
Though she wanted to make fun of the woman's concern, Ji-Min had a similar thought beginning to grow inside her mind.