Chapter 143 - Triple Threat

The glistening underground chamber swarmed with countless skittering bodies, mineral ants, and rock spiders alike clashing in desperation. Despite the far superior strength of a single mineral ant warrior on an individual basis, the sheer number of the rock spiders crushed that advantage to smithereens by throwing wave after wave at the crystal outcrop. Battle lines became fluid as skirmishes erupted all across the stockpiles of metallic ore and fallen brethren.

A squad of a dozen rock spiders scurried forward from burrowed holes in the walls, buoyed by the charge of its brethren towards the dazzling crystals that dominated the center. Their tentacle-like mouths that extended beyond their rock-hard shell drool with hunger as they gunned for the juicy crystals. Sharp snaps could be heard as their legs treaded over the corpses of other rock spiders, though it hardly matter to them. They headed straight over to the nearest hoard of metal, providing a vantage point over the battlefield.

Unfortunately, their path to the tip of the hoard was blocked by two mineral ants, who were already encircled and jostling with another squad of rock spiders. The larger mineral ants reared up on their hind four legs, using the deadly claws on their front two legs as arms to stave off the surrounding rock spiders. A single claw swipe gashed right through the comparatively weak shell of a rock spider, gutting it from within as a sickening belch of trash and refuse poured out from the wound.

Before the mineral ant could dislodge his claw from the dying rock spider, the rock spider's allies jumped into action, latching onto the body and repeatedly pummeling it with their stone legs. Despite the obvious lack of penetrative power of their stubby stone legs to crack the carapace of the ant, the impact was still enough to send blunt trauma into the squishy organs beneath. The mineral ant screeched as it flailed its body, trying to shake off the swarming rock spiders off its body. In a fit of desperation, it twisted its abdomen and rolled on the ground, crushing the hapless rock spiders who couldn't react in time.

More and more rock spiders attacked the two mineral ants, outnumbering them by the dozens and killing them through a thousand blows. Such a sacrifice would be unthinkable to the common animal, but the sight of the crystal outcrop was enough to galvanize the hordes of rock spiders forward. The cacophony of dying shrieks and triumphant screeches surged through the chamber, echoing off the hills of hoarded metallic ores. However, just as they began to crest over the top, a strange unnatural gust of wind rushed through them from above, the sudden force felt even under their granite shell.

Half of the rock spiders barely stood a chance as the source of the gust swooped down in a furious dive, mandibles and claws swinging wildly. The clean, polished edge of the claws cut through the outer shell of the rock spiders like it was merely paper, and the innards of the rock spiders gashed with terrifying wounds. The other half flailed their legs in an attempt to stave off the attacker, but despite their momentary bravery, they began to scatter back off the top of the hill again the moment they felt the gust approaching once more.

One of the more courageous rock spiders stood its ground firmly until it saw the source of the gust dive straight toward it. It raised its front two sturdy limbs, the limbs having served it well in fending off foes and other competitors in the underground over the last two months of its short life. Still, the rock spider's trust was shattered as the attacker slammed with full impunity into it, the blow causing a rippling wave through the muscles in the limbs and sending the rock spider flying.

It whizzed through the air in an uncontrolled tumble, far away from the hilltop it was on and its brethren. Instead, it landed with a rolling crash amidst rusted metal, dirt, and grimy fungi that inhabited the floor, only coming to a stop near the edge of the chamber. The concussion shook its senses to its very core, disoriented while it struggled to stand up. As its legs wobbled unsteadily, its vision slowly came back into place, noticing a strange little vine nearby along the wall that had extended from a hole far above. It did not recognize the hole - the distinct scent and cut were unlike their invading tunnels but were instead part of the gigantic root of the luminescent tree.

It peered a little closer at the strange vine, its curiosity taking a front seat beyond the war. The vine was hardly green nor black in nature unlike most of the vines it was used to, instead being a weird shade of brown along with regular curved stripes that extended its entire length. However, what was even stranger was the presence of four-legged creatures clambering down, their skin glistening in the light with sharp reflection much like that of the mineral ants carapace.

It started forward until it heard a sharp, short chirp from behind, unique to its burrow. It turned to see two of its fellow brethren urging it with legs to return to the fight. However, one of the two brethren spotted the four-legged creatures, letting out a panicked shriek before scampering away on its own. Metal monkeys!

The sudden abandonment left the rock spider utterly confused, but the sight of its burrow fleeing was a clear a warning sign, spurring it on to escape as well. It did not know what was a metal monkey, but it wasn't about to stay around to find out. Unfortunately, its front two limbs' muscles had liquefied, causing it to stumble, losing its chance to escape while it heard the metal monkeys approaching faster than ever.

It turned one last time, only to see a sharp metal tip on a shaft drive right through its shell like water, piercing into its innards before its wielder flicked the shaft upwards in a crescent stroke, the force enough to cause the metal tip to burst out vertically and kill the rock spider on the spot. The ghastly fluid within it splattered across the area, staining the humongous armor of the metal monkey.

[System Message | You killed Rock Spider | +10 EXP]

Kyle gave the Spear of Defiance a strong swing, and the lingering fluid flicked off in a scattering arc. "Four of you hold this area till the other squads enter. Sasha and you two, you're with me." He ordered the Ghosts, pushing forward into the battlefield without hesitation.

Even though they had successfully entered the ground floor of the chamber without spooking many of the combatants, it was still going to be difficult to reach the crystal outcrop. The mineral ants were still standing strong despite being outnumbered by the rock spiders, skirmishes erupting all over the chamber for every possible advantageous point. Kyle clambered up a hoard of metallic ore, peering over the top to see a vast conflict extending before his eyes.

[Sir, we might not have enough ammunition to kill every mineral ant in here.]

"We're not the only ones killing them." Kyle motioned towards the hoard of rock spiders heading towards the crystal outcrop, like water flowing through the paths of least resistance. "We just have to make sure they can distract long enough."

He strapped his Spear on his back and retrieved a railgun from another Ghost, taking aim at a mineral ant holding a chokepoint with others. Squeezing the trigger, a bunker-buster projectile roared forward through the barrel, lunging forward with devastating speed. The mineral ant had no chance to avoid the projectile, only being slammed to the side by the impact before it suddenly exploded from within, throwing the defending line of mineral ants into disarray. Sasha got the hint, quickly wielding her own railgun and preparing to fire as well. Unfortunately, the same strange gust began to push down from above them, alerting the squad.

"Above!" Kyle urged as the squad instinctively leaped out of the way, avoiding the airborne attacker who swiped at their previous location. The claws shrieked through the metallic hoard, the friction sending sparks and melting the edges of iron and copper ores alike while the Ghosts tumbled down the hill. Sasha lifted her railgun as she slid down, firing a shot at the attacker and nailing it right in the abdomen.

The bunker-buster drilled into its dark, slivery carapace before causing its entire lower body to be blasted to smithereens, its fluttering wings shredding itself apart as it collapsed onto the ground. Kyle instantly got back up and rushed over, Spear in hand once more, to finish off the attacker. He drove the spearhead right between its bulbous eyes, killing it with a single jab. The entire flying ant squirmed a little, the malicious claws flopping onto the ground as it gave up the ghost.

[System Message | You killed Metal Clawfly | +250 EXP]

Metal Clawfly? The structure and metal armor that the clawfly featured were clearly different from the regular mineral ant, but Kyle didn't have time to figure out why. Already, more of them were flying towards them, clearly attracted by the fighting. Even the rock spiders were now aware of their presence, and the news of the prior fleeing rock spiders was already spreading through the ranks.

"Shit!" A Ghost cursed as he fired his railgun, missing the clawfly entirely. Instead, the projectile whizzed through the air, landing on the ceiling and shattering a part of the luminescent crystal-like blobs that made up the tree. The falling glittering pieces now alerted the rest of the battlefield to Kyle's new position, the two forces suddenly rearranging their battlelines to accommodate.

There was no more time for subtlety, not that Kyle was expecting to go undetected at all. The squad fought against the airborne clawflies, who continued to do swiping runs at them but were all fended off by Kyle. A swopping clawfly managed to land a hit onto Kyle, it only scratched the surface of the enhanced Version 0 exosuit armor, barely making a dent. Instead, the clawfly found its wings grabbed by the metallic armored fist of Kyle before being slammed into the ground, its head crushed under the weight of the boots. "We're pushing in hard. With me!" Kyle ordered, rushing straight into the fray towards the crystal outcrop. They charged headlong through the narrow valleys formed by the metallic hoards, killing clawflys and mineral ants by the dozens.

Despite their numbers, both the mineral ants and the rock spiders were hardly a threat, subdued by the sheer firepower wielded by Kyle and the Ghosts. They carved a path through the deadly battlefield, Kyle easily slaughtering anything that tried to block his way toward the crystal outcrop. "Hah, with this railgun and our empowered repeaters, its like shooting a Tusken Rabbit in a cage!" A Ghost joked as he fired his repeater at the rock spiders, massacring them in a withering barrage of pellets. "Let's grab the crystal and get ou-" His words barely finished as a sudden concentrated beam of energy burst across the chamber from behind, searing into the composite Aspis MK1 armor. The intense heat melted the honeycomb structure beneath, the usually resistant plates unable to hold their own while the beam pierced into the ribs of the Ghost. His body was sent sprawling to the ground in a tumble, Kyle and Sasha unable to react to the beam in time.

Laser Cannon?! Kyle grabbed Sasha and tugged her out of the way, another concentrated beam narrowly missing her by a whisker as they took cover behind a hoard of metal, dragging the bleeding Ghost with them. However, they were far from out of danger, their forward momentum now crawling to a halt as they hunkered down, easily being encircled by mineral ants all around. As the second Ghost desperately tried to stuff the contents of a health potion down his squadmate's cauterized wound, Sasha and Kyle held their ground, fending off the endless hoards coming in.

Five mineral ants immediately enveloped Kyle and Sasha from all angles, threatening to finish off the fallen Ghost. "Take right," Kyle spoke with surprising calmness to Sasha, breaking off to the left and sending jabs at three mineral ants. The Spear of Defiance easily pierced the carapace, explosions rocking the area as the mineral ants were blown to smithereens. He ignored the deluge of System messages, focusing on the battle at hand as more mineral ants came to reinforce the attack.

On the other side, Sasha too handled the other two mineral ants, though her falchion fashioned from their carapace could not slice through easily as they were the same material, the serrated blade stuck halfway in the first mineral ant. Alarm bells rang in her head as she instinctively rolled out of the way, letting go of the falchion's handle as a deadly claw swiped where she once stood. Her roll took her under the belly of the injured first ant, allowing her to recover to a fighting posture on its flank. Runic lines glowed on her right arm as she punched forward, slamming her empowered fist against the mineral ant's abdomen. The force caused the metallic carapace to dent inwards, the interior layer shattering into a million fragments and cutting up the innards of the ant.

Before the second ant could scramble around its dying brethren, Sasha was already dashing toward the front, aiming to retrieve her embedded falchion. Unfortunately, a sudden burst of energy blasted the ant unexpectedly, causing the dying ant's body to slam into Sasha, the two tumbling off a few meters. Sasha found herself pinned under the heavy weight of the mineral ant, her back pressing against her sturdy railgun slung behind while she struggled to lift the ant off her body. As her hands found purchase on the grooves of the carapace, her eyes finally spotted the source of the energy beams. [Sir, I don't remember seeing a rock spider that big!]

"Where?"

[It's right behind this pile, aiming straight at me!]

Damn it! Kyle slammed the tip of the Spear into the ground and planted a delayed explosion deep beneath before retrieving the spear. With three strides, he covered the distance toward Sasha, spotting the same rock spider she was talking about. Kyle fought back the urge to curse out loud at the sight, instead focusing on freeing Sasha from the weight. He hurriedly kicked the dead mineral ant out of the way, but his body screamed of danger stemming from the new rock spider.

Instead of the rock spider being the usual size of a wild boar, it was a towering juggernaut the size of a three-story building comparable to an adult salamander. Basic arcia crystals had been integrated into the surface of its shell, complex and dense arcia traces linking them together while normal rock spiders scurried about its humongous legs that were as large as a pillar. At its base was an abhorrent scene: five tentacle worm-like mouths extended from below, each of them the diameter of a mineral ant. The mouths slid along the battlefield and slurped on the remains of rock spiders and mineral ants alike, consuming them whole. Kyle could see in real-time as more blue patches of mineral ant carapace surfaced on the juggernaut's shell, as if it was reconfiguring and building itself with every new material it digested.

One of the worm-like mouths was looking right at Kyle and Sasha, the rows and rows of gnashing molars visible as it let out a screech. From within its core surged forward arcia energy, illuminating part of the shell and concentrating on a single arcia crystal. Kyle wasn't about to wait around for the result, grabbing Sasha once more and jumping out of the way as a terrifying beam shot forward from the crystal once more, arcing forward in a lancing strike. The heat was intense enough to melt iron and weld the stray metallic ore and plates scattered across the battlefield, slag red hot and swirling in a molten sludge.

Sasha gasped for breath as she rapidly recovered into a fighting posture once more, looking down at her falchion that she had managed to retrieve from the dead mineral ant. Unfortunately, the blade had been warped by the weight as well as the incidental heat, turning it into a useless blunt weapon incapable of slicing anything. Thankfully, her railgun was still intact and operational. She ditched the falchion without hesitation, grabbing her railgun to immediately fire a bunker buster projectile back at the juggernaut.

The projectile burst through the air, but the juggernaut was already prepared, using two of its frontal armored legs to block the incoming shot, its legs much denser than its main body. The bunker buster deflected haplessly, spiraling off into a nearby pile before exploding and killing a few smaller rock spiders. Sasha was dismayed by the result, but she did not linger long, continuously moving and regrouping with Kyle who impaled another opportunistic rock spider. The two ducked in a little ditch, recovering their stamina a little. [My falchion is useless, and the railgun is ineffective against that spider!]

Before the juggernaut could charge up another shot at their cover, Kyle and Sasha spotted a contingent of clawflies swooping in at the juggernaut, harassing it from the air. Kyle's keen vision spotted one of the clawflies perform a divebomb, its claws gouging into the main body of the juggernaut effectively. Seems like their claws are better than the ones we had above ground. "Take my spear. Give me the railgun." Kyle thrust the shaft of the spear into Sasha's hands.

[Sir, but the railgun doesn't work against it!]

"I'm about to find a better one. Keep the Ghosts alive until we get our reinforcements!" Kyle ordered as he slung the railgun behind his back before sprinting out of the ditch, his Version 0 exosuit sending tremors through the ground that easily alerted the nearby combatants. Greedy rock spiders and mineral ants were both equally attracted by his metal armor, many turning to face him.

Penchant for Violence! A familiar surge of energy entered his veins, the adrenaline pumping through his entire body. His muscles enlarged and tightened, while it felt like he had an infinite reservoir of energy to sprint. There was hardly an ache in his thighs or calves as he pushed forward, putting foot after foot and charging at the chaos head-on without fear. The world around him slowed down a little, his eyes darting around as he mentally marked combatants, his brain laying out a combat plan as he tackled the first rock spider with both hands.

His right grabbed the worm-like mouth and his left the shell, ripping them apart with sheer brutality before launching the shell at a group of rock spiders, knocking them over like bowling bowls. He drove his left foot forward, the grooves of his metal sole digging into the dirt and the mushy fluids that coated the ground, summoning all his strength to throw a right punch at an attacking mineral ant. The metal knuckles hit the ant right on its head, sending a terrible rupture through its entire carapace as the sudden force caused each individual carapace plate to snap, the sharp edges jutting into the ant's innards.

Keeping the momentum, he put his right foot forward and performed a spinning rear kick, the end of his heel crushing a rock spider head-on, the rocky shell cracking apart effortlessly. Another two rock spiders tried to ambush him from behind, but a perfect twist of his body allowed him to loosen the strap of the railgun, the holster of its stock hitting the rock spiders away like a blunt staff. He launched into three strides, continuously throwing punches and kicks in a one-man army, rushing straight ahead for the juggernaut. Dozens of clawflies swooped in and out of the field, trying to wear out the juggernaut while deadly beams lanced across the underground chamber, burning a path along the ceiling indiscriminately.

Kyle watched carefully as one of the metal clawflies was hit head-on by the beam, its slivery claws trying to block the brunt of the damage. While the claws remained intact, the severe heat damaged the clawfly's innards, causing them to lose their sense of balance and tumble to the ground. Kyle didn't wait, sensing his opportunity. Now!

He retrieved his railgun, sprinting as fast as he could before dropping into a slide, narrowly dodging the slice of a nearby mineral ant's claw. With precision, he fired a shot at the tumbling clawfly, the bunker buster easily tearing through the clawfly's body and ripping it in half. Instead of using the railgun to fire at the other clawflies, he instead continued charging to the estimated location where the clawfly would fall.

Mineral ants and rock spiders alike blocked his path, with a mineral ant's mandibles aimed right at his head. He deftly blocked with the center of his railgun using both hands, the jagged mandibles snapping the barrel off the railgun and rendering it useless. Kyle swung his right hand, using the broken lower half of the railgun to smack the mineral ant into the ground, while his left held a glorified metal barrel. Still, he did not relent, letting go of the railgun's lower half and closing the distance to the fallen clawfly, closer and closer to the base of the juggernaut.

Instead of the juggernaut's attention being focused on the swarming clawflies, its worm-like mouths locked onto Kyle, its central body pivoting on its eight legs to charge a beam at Kyle. Kyle didn't change his course, pushing as hard as he could. The very moment he reached the clawfly, he saw the familiar charging of arcia energy, sparks arcing across the juggernaut's shell as the flow concentrated on a basic arcia crystal aimed right at his head.

Kyle hurriedly stomped on the limb of the fallen clawfly, the metal sole easily breaking off the right slivery claw, which somehow managed to withstand the energy beam with nothing more than a scorch mark. Sasha spotted him from her vantage point, realizing Kyle was far too late to dodge the incoming beam. [Sir, watch out!]

The juggernaut unleashed a beam right at Kyle, engulfing him in the brilliant bright light that incinerated everything in its path. Sasha's heart dropped for a brief moment, until she realized part of the beam was being deflected elsewhere, dissipating in the air as it travelled aimlessly. As the beam began to die down, only a smoldering armor suit was left standing in defiance of the overwhelming force, a strange weapon held in both of its armored hands that Sasha didn't recognize. He doesn't have a weapon like that...?

It looked just like a crescent blade, except the head of the meter-long blade was clearly that of the metal clawfly, while a molten red hot barrel was fused and welded to its bottom, rapidly cooling down from the rushing air around. Smoke trails lingered from the pauldrons and creases of Kyle's armor while he swapped his grip to the barrel, wielding it as a proper weapon close to two meters long. His amber eyes glowered through the blackened surface of the exosuit, defiant.

"My turn."

He leaped from side to side as the juggernaut let out an ungodly roar, the growling rumbling through the chamber while it tried to crush Kyle beneath its humongous pillar-like legs. The slow movement of the juggernaut was no match for Kyle's speed, Kyle dodging the converging legs effortlessly. As he ducked out of the way of the juggernaut's stomping attempt, he landed behind the leg where the armor was far weaker than its front, veins, and muscles visible beneath a thin layer of granite.

Planting his feet firmly on the ground, he pulled both his arms back before releasing a catastrophic horizontal swing, the weight of the crescent blade nearly tipping him over. Still, his enhanced exosuit arms boosted his strength beyond what the metal clawfly could achieve, allowing his makeshift weapon to cleave through the thinly armored back of the leg. It effortlessly fractured the leg from behind, causing the entire structure of the legs to crumble into rubble as the juggernaut failed to reallocate the weight in time.

Still, the juggernaut managed to rebalance itself, while its five worm-like mouths targeted Kyle and lunged forward in a bid to strangle him. Kyle had trained with nearly every form of melee weapon during his former life to an intermediate level - while he was not an expert, the crescent blade was no less deadly to the juggernaut in his hands. He swung it around like it was a light pole, chopping off the mouths one by one in a fluid combo from start to finish, causing the juggernaut to lose its senses right beneath it.

The smaller rock spiders now had him pegged as enemy number one, swarming him from all directions. However, none of them could get close to the whirlwind movement of the crescent blade, each swing taking out three to five rock spiders in a single instant. Kyle mowed them down as if they were nothing but weeds to be trimmed, easily sending them flying back and approaching the very center base of the juggernaut just centimeters above his head.

With a single lunge, he stabbed the crescent blade upwards through the thick shell, even piercing past the juggernaut's effort to concentrate its strongest alloys on the location. Kyle grabbed the barrel of the makeshift weapon, straining his muscles with all his might, pushing as hard as he could to drag the blade across its bottom. The arcia engravings along the entire surface of his exosuit surged with alarming brilliance, blinding even the rock spiders nearby while he put every ounce of his strength into swinging the blade back down.

Kyle didn't let go even as other smaller rock spiders charged towards him, letting out a fearsome battlecry before the blade finally won out, cutting through the lower innards in a downward swing. The crescent blade burst out from its arc, slamming into the ground with such ferocity that the nearby rock spiders temporarily lost their footing. The impact cleaved into the ground, splitting the ground apart for its length, while cracks began to appear along the base of the juggernaut in a single line.

The juggernaut began to squirm, but as its legs moved forward, the crack expanded, the main shell splitting itself in half from the sheer force of itself. Kyle dashed out from under the base of the juggernaut, getting clear of the collapsing juggernaut whose innards were now pouring out from the lethal wound. It fell with a thunderous crash that resounded through the chamber, the rock spiders faltering in their advance as they watched their largest brethren succumb to death.

[System Message | You killed Giant Crystal Spider | +5000 EXP]

[Sir, the reinforcements are here!] Sasha's relieved voice came in over through the telepathic channel. Sure enough, the other squads of Ghosts were now entering the fray, carving out a section of the underground chamber and fending off confused rock spiders and desperate mineral ants.

Kyle flicked the ghastly sludge off his makeshift crescent blade, knowing that the fight was not over. "We still need to get to the crystal outcrop. Now's our chance, while the rock spiders are distracted!" He regrouped with Sasha and a few reinforcing Ghosts, pushing again hard into the rocky outcrop. By now, the mineral ants' forces were heavily depleted, and the nest's guards were weakened from the long and bloody battle with the rock spiders.

"Here, your new weapon." Kyle swapped his crescent blade with the Spear of Defiance, using the acceleration engravings on it to take the lead, piercing straight through the ranks of defending mineral ants, who fell one by one to the onslaught of the Ghosts. It was only a matter of minutes before they finally entered the very center of the chamber, where the arcia crystal outcrop was.

It was a staggering sight. Kyle already knew how large it was when he saw it from afar, but seeing it up close from its base was a whole other experience. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that the crystal outcrop extended all the way to the top of the chamber, melding with the crystal globules on the ceiling. All around the crystal outcrop were fledgling mineral ants, scampering away under the protection of mineral ant commanders and their entourage. Kyle was intimately familiar with the hives of insects, knowing that they grew from eggs, but strangely enough he didn't see any eggs around. Is this not their main nest?

The defense of the mineral ants was far more desperate, each mineral and willing to use their own body as an obstacle to prevent Kyle from getting close to the crystal outcrop. Unfortunately, he and Sasha slashed their way through, leaving behind a trail of carnage as they finally reached it proper. Just as Sasha was preparing to climb up the outcrop to reach the top crystal, Kyle suddenly tugged her back. "Something's wrong. All of you, spread out, now!"

The Ghosts weren't in the mood to disagree with orders, not when they just saw him take down a juggernaut by himself. [Sir, what's wrong?] Sasha asked even as she complied, encircling the crystal outcrop.

"There's something wrong with the formation." Kyle had never seen the natural formation of arcia crystals before, only ever having harvested them from the bodies of creatures. The crystal outcrop looked rocky from afar, but upon further inspection, it almost looked like it was part of a living creature. Maybe it's a coral, or maybe it's a...

A Ghost shot a railgun at a mineral ant, the projectile piercing through the body and hitting the crystal outcrop head-on, penetrating into the base of the outcrop. Kyle was about to reprimand the Ghost for compromising the arcia crystals on the outcrop when, instead of a chain explosion of arcia crystals, a dull thud followed by a strange low rumbling occurred, the ground shaking violently beneath their feet. "Retreat, now!" Kyle urged, himself dashing away from the crystal outcrop as the sand and dirt below began to give way.

[Sir, there's another big one!] As he dived for safety, another similar beam shot towards him, this time his vision clearly spotting another juggernaut entering the chamber through a large hole. He twisted his body mid-air, rolling out of the way as the beam burnt through a hoard of metal with impunity.

I need to kill the juggernaut before it finishes off my Ghosts! "Form up!" Kyle barked orders to the surrounding Ghosts. "One squad kills anything that moves around here and secures the perimeter. Sasha and I will hunt that -"

Before he could finish his words, a sudden rushing wind burst out from the sinking pit around the crystal outcrop, the force nearly tipping him over. Kyle could only watch as a gelatinous tentacle extended through the battlefield right at the juggernaut, who fired three energy beams at the tentacle. However, the tentacle seemed impervious to the juggernaut's attack. Instead, it grabbed the juggernaut by wrapping it around its front three legs before dragging it along the ground towards the sunken pit. The juggernaut haplessly flailed in protest, trying to claw its way back, but the tentacle's grip was too strong, suction cups forming along its length.

"What the hell is that?!" A Ghost exclaimed as they witnessed the gelatinous tentacle hoist the juggernaut up into the air, slamming it down repeatedly onto the ground as if it were a kid trying to crack open a clam. Each pummel sent shockwaves, causing the Ghosts to lose their footing while Kyle struggled to figure out what he was up against. While the gelatinous tentacle was occupied with crushing the juggernaut, Kyle rushed to the edge of the sinking pit, trying to get a glimpse as his eyes widened in understanding.

"Now's our chance! Fire everything you have into the pit!" Kyle urged the rest of his Ghosts. They hurriedly aimed their railgun, their aim slightly unsteady from the repeated tremors but competent enough to launch a storm of bunker busters into the depths of the sunken pit around the crystal outcrop. The projectiles drilled into the particulate sand, before a series of explosions ensued deep beneath the earth, eliciting a pained growl from the owner of the tentacle.

The crystal outcrop suddenly shifted upwards, moving unsteadily as what Kyle could only determine as a translucent snail emerged from the depths, one more spare tentacle on its head coiled up and aimed right at them. The bulk of its body was hidden in the crystal outcrop, which Kyle now understood to actually be its shell.

This is My Turf! Kyle braced himself, the coiled tentacle springing out and slamming into his defensive barrier with the force of a volcano. His feet drew lines in the ground as he was forced back before the tentacle swerved in a sweeping attack, sending Ghosts, mineral ants, and surviving rock spiders flying in all directions.

Kyle grimaced as he struggled to withstand the sweeping tentacle force, his exosuit heavy enough to keep his balance. As he examined his new enemy, who was still smashing the juggernaut with the other tentacle, he spotted something unique in what looked to be the center of the translucent snail. Three advanced arcia crystals were conjoined together to form a core of sorts, the capillaries and cells of the snail formed in the shape of arcia engravings. Is that it's brain?

[Sir, we got to retreat, that thing is too big for us!] Sasha shouted telepathically as she swung the crescent blade down on the stopped tentacle, managing to hurt it a little as bulbous gelatin burst out from the tense skin. The translucent snail reeled back its tentacle in pain, Kyle already knowing what his next step was.

"No. If it can feel pain, we can kill it. Attack from the left, now!"