Dave Henderson, still reeling from the bow finger salute, watched as "Atlas" veered sharply eastward, its colossal form thundering toward Sky Harbor Airport.
"Folks, it seems we've been... advised to maintain a respectful distance. But our long-range optics are still tracking 'The Hand' as it approaches the abandoned Sky Harbor Airport. Intelligence suggests a massive infestation of Lunar Locusts there—over a thousand of them. What that tiger-striped girl is planning now is anyone's guess, but I tell you, this team does not repeat strategies."
The colossal Hand lurched forward, immediately accelerating to maximum speed, its massive shadow stretching across the cityscape as it tore toward the abandoned airfield. Herja: "Course set for Sky Harbor Airport. Target Mob: 1,200 Lunar Locusts. Enemy Profile: Highly mobile, airborne, high numbers, moderate physical defense, low psychic resistance."
The Lunar Locusts were a high-mobility, aerial threat—the complete opposite of the burrowing L-Worms. They covered a massive, open area and needed to be grounded and contained. atop the Hand I saw the massive tarmac of the old airport ahead of us with dozens of smoking wrecked planes and a huge flying crimson swarm of locusts above. I needed a plan to ground and bunch up the 1,200 Locusts before the team could execute another coordinated strike.
The vast expanse of Sky Harbor Airport stretched before us—a graveyard of abandoned planes and derelict terminals, all dusted with the tell-tale white-blue film of lunar corruption. The air above buzzed faintly, a high-pitched, chittering sound that signified the 1,200 Lunar Locusts swarming the skies.
They were big, chitinous insects, each roughly the size of a sports bike, their wings beating with unnatural speed. This wouldn't be a ground war. My brain raced, processing the optimal strategy. "Herja, confirm perimeter. Locusts are airborne; we need to ground them or bunch them up."
Herja answered back just a moment later, "Affirmative Ash, Lunar Locusts possess high mobility and dispersion tactics. Recommend enclosed space for engagement."
I sent wisps of psychic intent into Atlas. The colossal hand understood instantly. It didn't pause. Instead, it accelerated, its three-digit gait churning up asphalt and dust as it carved a direct path toward a massive, dilapidated hangar. The hangar doors, rusted open, provided a perfect, dark maw. The Hand, with us atop it, hurried into an empty, open hangar.
The interior was cavernous, filled with the ghosts of forgotten aircraft. The air inside was still and stale, a stark contrast to the open expanse outside. "Alright, everyone, prep for engagement," I said, my voice low. "Felicity, get that Chibi ready for buffs. Mothman, perimeter lockdown. Marla, Koba, be ready for close quarters. These things fly fast."I disembarked from Atlas, landing in the center of the vast hangar floor. The Sex Pistol was still cooling down, its internal biomass reserves depleted from the last Rhizomorphic Spear launch. We couldn't rely on it for an opening.
This required a different kind of lure. A bigger, more enticing one.I slammed my newly evolved Tier 1 Brood mother palm onto the concrete floor of the hangar. My 20,300-point Orgone Pool surged, and I channeled a colossal amount of energy into a new, terrifying summon. "Umbral Scythe Dragon!" I screamed, my voice echoing off the metal walls of the hangar. The ground shuddered. A massive, shadowy form tore its way out of the concrete, shedding fragments of rock and rebar. It was a dragon, but unlike any earthly creature. Its scales were like polished obsidian, rippling with a dim, internal purple light. Its wings, vast and leathery, unfurled to scrape against the high ceiling of the hangar. Its head was a nightmare of sharp angles, and instead of claws, its forelimbs ended in razor-sharp, crescent-shaped scythes that gleamed with cold, unholy light.
The Umbral Scythe Dragon was a formidable, terrifying entity, designed not just to fight, but to act as a lure. It let out a guttural roar—a sound that shook the very foundations of the airport. The roar wasn't just noise; it was a potent, focused provoke debuff! The roar radiated out from the hangar. Outside, a 'Provoke' debuff status icon shimmered above the swarming mob of 1,200 Lunar Locusts. The mob immediately responded. Their chittering escalated to a panicked frenzy. The provoke debuff, acting like an irresistible magnet, began to draw them. One by one, then in clusters, then in torrents, the Lunar Locusts began to careen toward the open maw of the hangar, pulled in by the undeniable force of the Umbral Scythe Dragon.
We had provoked them in. Now, we just had to eradicate them.
"We are maintaining our distance, as... requested," Dave muttered, the lingering indignation of the V-finger visible on his face. "But, folks, that Commander and her team have just pulled off another unthinkable move. The 'Hand,' Atlas, just drove straight into one of the massive abandoned maintenance hangars at Sky Harbor. They've gone inside—they're sealing themselves in with over 1,200 Lunar Locusts swarming the airfield. "The camera was zoomed in on the gaping hangar entrance. The chittering swarm of locusts, previously dispersed over the runways, was now visibly concentrating, like iron filings drawn to a magnet. "And now, we're detecting a massive Orgone spike from inside that metal building! A sound wave just hit us, even at this distance! A roar, unlike anything we've heard! It's guttural, terrifying, and it's making the very ground shake!"
Dave watched his monitor, his eyes glued to the heat signatures and energy spikes coming from the hangar. "Whatever that girl just summoned... it's big. Massively big. The roofline of the hangar is warping! And look at the Locusts! They are no longer scattered! They are charging the hangar! They are being drawn in, not as an orderly attack, but as a stampede! The commander has used a colossal summon to Provoke the entire swarm and funnel them into a confined space! It's an aerial trap!"The crimson swarm, each Locust the size of a sports bike, began pouring into the hangar entrance. The noise of their collective wings and chittering instantly amplified. It was almost to much for my enhanced hearing.
The roar of the Umbral Scythe Dragon was a physical sensation, an irresistible pull that locked the 1,200 Lunar Locusts onto the Umbral Scythe Dragon as their primary target. My 20,300 Orgone Pool felt the drain of maintaining such a colossal creature, but my 27 intelligence was focused only on the chaotic efficiency of the trap. The Locusts were rushing in, bouncing off the metal walls, disoriented by the abrupt confinement, but locked onto the Dragon. They were being bundled together, forced into a single, dense mass of 1,200 targets—exactly what we needed. I watched the first wave of Locusts slam against the Dragon's obsidian scales. They bounced off harmlessly, their chitinous forms instantly damaged by the sheer density of the summon.
Just then Hereja's melodic husky voice chimed in " Battle encounter! Battle Start!"
"The Initiative is ours!" I shouted over the din, my voice cutting through the noise with a projected psychic beast command. "Don't let them stabilize! Mothman, start the rotation!"
"Heavenly Wheel Shift!" Mothmans single wheels spun fire as all of us felt the 25% Speed boost slam into our turn meter's. Mothman proceeded to his next technique, "Tarnishing Aura!" he shouted as undulating waves rippled from the silver orb in the Xun'dral unit. The familiar 15% defense down debuff flashed into existence over the swarm.
The chaotic roar of 1,200 Lunar Locusts filling the confined hangar was deafening, amplified tenfold by the surrounding metal.
The massive swarms defense was cut by 15% and totally provoked on the Umbral Scythe Dragon, but there was still 1,200 active targets. They needed to be immobilized now. It was Marla's turn. Her meter, freshly boosted by Mothman's Quickening, instantly filled. My original thought was the Serpent Flash, but the confined space was too dangerous. That kind of massive, explosive AoE could damage the team, my newly summoned dragon, and risk bringing the entire dilapidated hangar down on us. I suppressed the urge to Nuke and projected a sharp, specific psychic Beast Command to Marla: "Marla, use the Stone Torch Stare! "Marla understood immediately. She coiled her body, planted her feet firmly, and channeled her seething green Orgone inward, focusing the immense power of her vipers' eyes not into an arc of destruction, but into a pulse of absolute stillness. Her eyes—her true eyes,—flared with a cold, pale green light. A focused wave of Orgone, denser and more controlling than my own fear debuff, lashed out at the compressed mass of 1,200 Locusts!
The front of the swarm instantly turned to stone mid-air and hit the ground- shattering into pieces!
Herjas smokey voice chimed in with an update, "300 Lunar Locusts down Ash, 900 remaining."
It was Felicity's turn. She was perched on the edge of Atlas, her eyes narrowed with aggressive focus. She moved instantly. Since feirce felicity was already out she instantly activated her blood lust aura The 15% Crit Damage Buff instantly flared over the team. Crucially, two simultaneous debuffs slammed into the disoriented swarm. The 25% Accuracy Down debuff appeared, cutting the Locusts' high mobility and speed, they were instantly hampered, making their targeting scattered and ineffective. And the superior 25% Defense Down debuff landed. Their moderate physical defenses were slashed, turning them into vulnerable targets for our physical-focused team.
A wave of fear debuffs triggered over the swarm as my passive skill "Aura of Submission' triggered pre-turn. One by one hundreds upon hundreds of fear icons appeared over the swarm.
The air in the hangar was eerily still, thick with the smell of dust, ancient oil, and fear. The enormous Umbral Scythe Dragon loomed over the scene, the provoke debuff still active, its scythe-tipped limbs twitching with umbral energy. It was now my turn, and the execution window was wide open. I looked through the skills of the massive summon. Dark Breath: A concentrated, area-wide DoT (Damage over Time) that could easily incinerate the Locusts, but also potentially melt the hangar structure. Too risky. I read the next skill Umbral Flare: An explosive Orgone blast designed for extreme single-target damage. Massive overkill and risk of collateral damage. The choice was clear: a precise, close-quarters annihilation that would minimize structural damage while maximizing body count. I projected the command, sharp and forceful: "Umbral Dragon, Scythe Dance!"
The Umbral Scythe Dragon responded instantly. It let out a low, resonant growl, and its massive body launched into a terrifying, confined whirlwind. The provoke debuff holding the paralyzed Locusts even tighter in a dense column. Its razor-sharp, crescent-shaped scythe-limbs became a blur, executing a rapid, cyclical sweep through the tightly packed swarm.
It was brute dragon force with a 15% crit damage buff; it was kinetic poetry. The paralyzing effect of being fear locked held the Locusts perfectly still as the scythes sliced through their soft, debuffed cores. The sheer density of the mob meant that a single sweep of the Scythe Dragon's limb could instantly process hundreds of targets.
Herja chimed in "Scythe Dance Initiated. Critical Damage Threshold Met. Beginning Rapid Elimination."
The Locusts began to dissolve into streaks of red and purple essence that came spiraling over to the compound eye in my right hand. The scythes moved so fast and with such control that the Locusts were splattered across the hanger walls and floor! The hangar vibrated with the continuous, high-speed thrum of the Dragon's attack. My HUD went into a continuous resource confirmation loop: 5,000 EXP GAINED 5,000 EXP GAINED Biomass Acquired:+120...and so on, the numbers flashing by too quickly to count individually. The Scythe Dance was a focused, sustained AoE attack, capable of maintaining damage over the duration of the paralysis.
We were not just killing them; we were shredding them down to the last chitinous fragment. The total mass of the remaining 900 Lunar Locusts was being decimated by the Dragon's sustained attack, and the team's turn meters were still cycling rapidly due to the Quickening buff.
DANGEROUS DAVE HENDERSON Z-News Chopper 7: "The hangar! The hangar is shaking violently, folks! But... there's no explosion! We're reading extreme kinetic force inside! The sheer speed of whatever that dragon is doing is unbelievable! The entire air space inside that hangar is being scoured! The Locust swarm is just... vanishing! They're disintegrating into dust! This is total, calculated destruction! They didn't even give the 1,200 Locusts a chance to move!"
The air inside the hangar screamed with the high-frequency thrum of the Umbral Scythe Dragon's Scythe Dance.
Hundreds of Lunar Locusts were being scythed into ribbons, dissolving into streams of energy and entrails. The fear paralysis was holding, but Mothman, sensing the window of opportunity and driven by his superior speed, wasn't waiting for the Dragon to finish the job. It was his turn, and he moved to maximize the damage output against the crippled swarm. Mothman let out a sharp, resonant frequency that cut through the hangar's din. His armored, wheeled form became the epicenter of a localized windstorm. "Sonic Blade Storm!" he shouted. Mothman unleashed a torrent of razor-sharp, invisible kinetic energy blades, spinning on his wheels and body at supersonic speeds. This AoE storm slammed into the bunched-up Locusts, complementing the Dragon's attack with a wave of concentrated, 'slash' type physical damage. The Locusts, already stripped of 25% of their defense, were instantly shredded by the supersonic blades. The high-speed impact turned the remaining mob into fine mist and shattered chitin. The simultaneous attacks of the Umbral Scythe Dragon and Mothman guaranteed a clean sweep, pushing the total damage far into Overkill territory. The collective HP of the remaining Lunar Locusts hit zero. The Umbral Scythe Dragon's attack faded, and the paralyzing fear effects ended, but there was nothing left to take a turn.
Herja announced in my ear, "Battle Encounter: Cleared. Extreme Overkill Achieved. Biomass Extraction Complete."
Dangerous Dave Henderson in the Z-News Chopper 7 was screaming, "That's a new noise, folks! The armored, wheeled creature——he just unleashed some kind of supersonic attack! The sound… it's a high-pitched, tearing noise inside that hangar! It's like the air itself is attacking the bugs! The Locusts... they are entirely gone! There's nothing left! The sheer, tactical brutality of this team is without equal! They lured 1,200 flying monsters into a box, froze them, stripped their defenses, and then shredded them with a dragon and a sonic speedster! The tiger-striped girl forces have just secured Sky Harbor Airport! They're untouchable!"
The hangar fell silent again, save for the hum of Atlas and the team's steady breathing. The Umbral Scythe Dragon had done its job and now began to dissolve, the massive Orgone cost no longer necessary. Herja: "EXP Allocation Complete. All units have gained significant progress toward the next Level.
I felt another rush as I rocketed through 6 levels of advancement! I was now level 30! But it was still too soon to celebrate