Quoted By:
Without hesitation, you snagged the Storage Vial from Iara’s belt and used it to open a portal to your pocket dimension.
<span class="mu-r">“Flint! Build me a sandcastle! Make it a big one, and take these two with you.”</span>
To his credit, Flint didn’t ask any questions, and instead dove straight for the portal, grabbing both Araña and Benga as he did so. Both girls weakly protested, but it was mostly out of shock rather than an actual unwillingness to leave the battlefield. You closed the portal behind them, not wanting these bugs to follow them in. You had a feeling that it’d be hell to try and get rid of them once they built a nest.
<span class="mu-r">“Try to hold them off!”</span>
Everyone heard your earlier proclamation, so they likely knew what you were planning. Either way, they didn’t fight any less fiercely. Ana, Glass and the Deep One had already killed a few of these things. But you suspected that a big part of the reason for your resident shark girl’s high kill count was the sheer amount of attention that she was receiving.
They were swarming her, biting and lashing out at her with their whip-like arms. Iara was a whirlwind of flashing steel, chopping and stabbing as if she were born to do nothing else in life. An absolute blender of a mutant.
Every now and again, the Brood would get in a lucky bite or two, attempting to rip whole entire chunks out of her limbs. A few times, Ana and Glass would lend a hand by shooting them off of her. Other times, Iara would simply bite their heads off or tear throats out with her bare teeth. All the while, the giant brown bugs cackled and chittered with what you could only describe as malicious glee. They seemed to relish in your friend’s pain, even at the cost of their own lives. It made you wonder how intelligent they really were.
Without having to be told, W relegated herself to playing defense, and used her strength and agility to protect her friends. She wasn’t doing nearly as much damage as the others, but her superb reflexes and uncanny agility made her almost untouchable, even while surrounded on all sides.
Not wanting to be the only one standing around, you ignited your arms and extended a pair of flaming web whips to lash out at your attackers. The first thing you noticed upon hitting one was how oddly durable they were. These insects had both an exoskeleton <span class="mu-i">and</span> an endoskeleton. Because of that, they weren’t very easy to squash. So, you stuck to immolating them for the time being, counting down the seconds in your head for the right moment to reopen the portal.
(Cont.)
