The vast emptiness that stretched in every direction from the cliff face did not, predictably, deter Panoptos. The emerald-eyed Watcher drifted out into the air, moving parallel to one of the steely strands and running a black, hooked claw along it as he did. However, its shriek was lost in the constant wind against which the Hanging Jungle offered no shelter. As they danced through the tangle, the gusts whistled oddly along the vine-like structures' contours. An observant eye might find with little difficulty that, here and there, the strands sported various damages, differing in style and extent. Some of them appeared crushed, a few cut into, and a couple, contorted bizarrely, even exhibited signs of melting. Against them, the wind practically sang. There existed no shortage of strands hanging straight down, obviously freed from a former purchase higher above. His eyes fixated upon one such draped cable, Uhelei took a running start and leaped from the cliff. Like clamps his hands snagged the vine, and his momentum carried him across the void. The next instant, he let go, and slammed into a thick strange torso-first. Before there could be any doubt of his safety, however, he clambered up. A certain gleam shone in his eyes as he turned back, arms crossed, to face the group.

A question sailed from the cliff to meet him, surviving the rushing air. For a moment the guide stood silent, but he replied soon enough. “I can divide them into three that I know of. First are the climbing things. Vicious, armored, and armed with various natural weapons. Very agile. Some big, some small. Second are the evil spirits. Shapeshifters of shadow. Some control the climbing things. Some attack on their own.” A momentary silence filled the air. When Uhelei spoke again, his voice contained tones of trepidation, as one might use when confessing to have seen a local legend. “Last are the old things. Giant, dangerous nightmares. I pray that we do not see them.”

Panoptos, floating somewhere in the middle of the conversation, waved his arms. ”Yes, yes, yes. Big scary monsters. I'm sure the peons are up for whatever. We've got a schedule to keep, remember?” Eight brilliant eyes aligned themselves into an octagon to stare at the Charred Council's agents. ”Enough dithering. Time to play on the jungle gym!”

He began to move, but before Uhelei could join him, he heard Wrath's question. “It was easy when we had flying beasts to ride. Though still hard. Aside from that, we climb, or ride aerofoils.” He did not offer anything else; after all, even were he in a chatting mood, bringing up the conveniences of the past would not do anything to ensure their future.

On Wrath's left side, Souta lashed out with one of his Trawlers, having already replaced his Escre with them. Despite his visions of Tarzan, he could not help but resort to a less flashy method: the smith, unable to puncture one of the strands with his hooks, had to wind both around a target and snare them together just so he wouldn't lose his grip. Following that, the chains would retract, pulling him toward the strand so that he could heave himself up. Luckily, larger and more horizontal strands could be walked on -albeit carefully- and very small ones could be latched onto with a Trawler, but regardless Souta's heart beat wildly in his throat the whole time. He gave a good account of himself in this perilous situation, but a single momentary slip-up could send him hurtling into the infinite sky below. Some small hope comforted him that, with all of the strands below as well, he could save himself by grabbing another one as he fell, but he had no intent to test that theory.

About five minutes passed, though they could hardly be said to have been uneventful. Navigation alone provided enough stress without thinking of fighting monsters as well. As luck would have it, the agents would not have to wonder for long.

”Say...hear that?” Everyone drew still. For the entire trip thus far, every movement sent vibrations down the vines grabbed, pulled, or stepped on, creating melodic twanging sounds. Now, though, even as everyone was still, the resonance could still be heard—something was vibrating back. Among the strands, movement aside from the regular ripples in the wind could be seen. Souta watched expectantly, knowing that any second now the fight would begin. He strained his ears to hear, but he picked up no sound aside from a steady click-click-click. Closing his eyes, he attempted to determine the direction only to come to a startling realization. Every direction.

As one, the unknown assailants abandoned subtlety. A cacophony of clicking and skittering filled the air; from every direction vile spiders with bodies the size of cars swarmed towards the agents of the Charred Council. Individually they did not hold a candle to the size of Fenn, but they came in droves. “Mygaloth!” came the cry of Uhelei. Souta, standing on a junction between several nearly-horizontal strands that provided reasonably firm footing, intertwined his Trawlers' chains to make a heavy flail with which to batter the bugs into the abyss. Quite unexpectedly, the arachnid he had his eyes on vanished in a greenish flutter, only to reappear mere feet await right in front of him. Souta yelled in surprise, and his power responded. A forceful blast of water exploded out of his hoodie, throwing the monstrous creature back and stunning it long enough for Souta to swing. The power behind his double chain threw the disoriented spider off into space, but to the smith's dismay it warped into another vine farther down. ”They teleport!?” Forgoing his original plan, he banished his Trawlers and resummoned Escre. Two more spiders materialized next to him. On instinct, he manifested a skeleton to body-block for him, and the other received a wild overhead swing before it could bite him. Realizing that this new prey had a bite of its own, the spider moved back a step and raised its sickles to attack. Unable to pause for even a moment, Souta whirled his hammer into the head of the spider grappling with his ghostly skeleton. This time, the monster disappeared, reappearing and staying at a respectable distance away. Souta refocused his attention on his original target, teeth gritted and ready to make paste.

Wrath had been following a little ways before Souta, still hanging from one of the vines behind him, when the Watcher pointed out the sound. Wrath, being he'd been more concerned with not falling, did his best to split his attention between maintaining his grip and listening to the extra noise that shouldn't have been there. However, he was not so preoccupied that he missed the sound of clicking mere seconds before the spider appeared and took a bite at him. Letting go of his vine, and hoping he didn't just doom himself, he dropped below the strike, catching himself lower down and swinging his bladed gauntlet at it's leg. About the same time Souta exclaims ”They teleport!?” after his own opponent does it, Wrath learns the same lesson.

Not wasting the opportunity, He swings the vine and sends himself into the air once more, landing on the same horizontal set of vines that Souta is on, looking for his opponent as he draws his sword. In retrospect, he should have asked if there was away to go by the villages without entering them, but it was too late now.

@Kafka Komedy

The Port Portal was as expected, swarming with smaller demons, the best part was that it was quite funneled down the tunnel leading into the port, so it was easy to control. However her job was to close the portal beyond the swarm, so cutting through them quickly was the better idea, and then she can destroy the demon gate beyond. There seemed to be a side path that wasn't as thick with demons, leading through an abandoned facility wedged on top of the tunnel too. It seemed like it might be quite a detour, on the other hand if she went through the tunnel she would be dealing with almost literally a swarm, but she can see the portal just beyond that swarm, meaning it was in distance-terms, quite a short trip.

@rivaan@BCTheEntity

It seems the two... Or three, had decided not to engage in combat. As soon as the two made that abundantly clear, more demons began to crop up from the nooks and crannies of the area around them, they were all still the lesser demons, just Scarecrows and Marionettes. The lizard-like Blades and Assault that seeped in from the nearby forest were on the prowl, and in the distance, a clap of thunder could be heard... There were some rather powerful demons in the city right now. Still, it looks like these three were going to have to deal with a small swarm before they can break through and move to their objectives. They are free to join up after the short skirmish, or go their separate ways.

@Lmpkio

Gideon's rampage of blood left the last of the gang members shaken inside the warehouse, but the leader whilst still out of Gideon's sight, already began preparations to run and turn tail. From outside as he was entering, Gideon could hear conversations that went down and told him as much... The leader was in full self-preservation mode, as he prepared his escape, and honestly he'd probably be gone by the time Gideon entered.

The watercraft was not going to be that form of escape, as Gideon was on the waterside of the warehouse facing the small pier. As soon as he entered, he saw a jeep start crashing off through the front door as what little was left of the gang charged him with futility. The roads were not favorable right now, swarmed with demons and debris, but it would be best if he didn't let him get far.

---

It seems Akoni, and the angel Kushiel had made their choice, although that only left young Silas. Would he try and cover more ground going through the hospital? Or play it safe and run in a larger crowd with the other two? In any case, they had started off for the crypt, while Fiametta stood watch over the courtyard like a keeper.

@Lmpkio@ProPro

Entrance to the crypt was rather straightforward, a switch that opened the back of a tomb, with stairs leading down. As they entered the darkness, with what light they could create to show the way, they realized that this crypt was quite spacious. Likely it connected into some kind of cavern network, in the distance and darkness they could hear the sounds of monsters, and the sound of bare footsteps, likely from whatever lurked in the catacombs themselves, but otherwise it was mostly darkness. With what little light they had, they could see a kind of chandelier up above... It seemed to be a magical construct that responded to energies, including fire. They could probably light these to make their trip through here easier. They can see tiny sources of light on the horizon of the darkness too, suggesting this place is quite active right now.

@I-Am-X

As Blair began to make her way through the garden she would come upon the cathedral proper, although the door was locked... Try as she might, the door seemed to have some kind of magical barrier around it, on top of that, it was probably too sturdy without magic anyways. After a few moments of looking around, the sound of crashing wood would grab her attention as three blood-covered men climbed out of what looked like a cellar door. They had a maddening look about them, and as soon as one of them properly stood up, he began to scream with intense agony as what looked like a bloody monster with eyes for a body, and bleeding fleshy arms without skin, coming out of his head. It stumbled and fell to the ground, but the arms picked it back up, and acted like it was the main body as it moved unpredictably. The metamorphosis was taking place for the other two as well, these didn't seem to be particularly sturdy enemies, but the way they moved could make it tricky to choose an attack route. The other two didn't seem to be able to do anything while they were transforming however.

With their guide delving into the vines, the party had little choice but to follow. Fenn waited for the Imp to move into the jungle of wires before he himself ventured in.

As he had predicted, progress was tortuous. The entrance to the Hanging Jungle had faded from view almost instantly upon their entry, and the mess of cables entwining wherever the eye could see gave little clue as to their current location. Contrary to his charge’s observations and barring initial hesitation over finding which cables were strong enough to hold his weight, Fenn’s long arms and strength left him uniquely suited for moving from one handhold to another, even if it was only by hanging from the vines, but his girth often forced him to pause and push at meshes of wires to squeeze through openings too small for him to go through otherwise.

In the end, the slow group marked the pace, while the talking armor that led them set their bearing.

It was an irritating thought, that if their guide so chose, it could slip away from the group and leave them to find their way to their destination on their own. The hound could only hope it had no reasons to do that, and if it did, that scent of the metallic being would still hang vividly enough in this jungle, so that he may hunt it down and tear it open in repayment.

Nonetheless, the guide did not seem intent on straying from its assigned role, and the group continued its slow progress.

Fenn’s ears swiveled as something reached them. Lithe, clicking sounds, like claws tapping stone added itself to the scraping and grinding noises of metal cables rubbing against each other, either moved by wind currents or their own clumsy passage. They came from a single direction at first, but quickly began spreading, multiple sources of sound spreading to every direction until the group was surrounded.

The hound paused, holding onto one thick, vertically hanging wire and glanced into the impenetrable jungle around him, a growl building in his throat. A moment later, the magpie voiced his question, words carrying with them a sneaking suspicion.

“Aye,” he confirmed, “They come.”

Shadows moved between the meshes of wires, spider-like monstrosities suddenly emerging in sudden lunges towards the members of their party.

As the monsters moved towards them, the Hellhound belched out a tongue of flame into the cables, fire washing over the web of wires and forcing the beasts to move away from the scorching heat. For a moment, the stream of fire seemed to be enough to guard their flank. Then, one of the beasts Fenn had been keeping track off from the corner of his eye vanished, and a weight suddenly attached itself to his back with the sound of chitin clicking against scales.

Fenn’s free arm immediately reached behind him, grasping one of the spider’s appendages, and pulled at it. The sudden force wrenched the monster off its perch and nearly tore the limb from its owner, leaving the spider to hang from Fenn’s grip, its pain obvious in the writhing of its remaining legs. Seeing another spider lunge at him from the side, Fenn swung the agonizing monster like a club. The two arachnids crashed against each other, and the force dislodged the damaged limb Fenn was holding onto, leaving the entangled beasts to crash through the vines.

Fenn barely had time to discard the severed leg before another arachnid jumped at him from the web. The thing crashed against a raised arm, legs skittering against his scales, sickle-like fangs scratching at the surface. There was a prickling sensation on the base of his wrist before another torrent of flame emerged from his throat, engulfing the monster.

Suddenly, the weight disappeared from his arm, and the monster materialized on empty air a few paces away. Fenn barely had time to see the creature’s wrinkled, charred eyes before it plummeted into the abyss.

He grunted, clenching his fist. A slight numbness spread from the spider’s bite, stealing some sensation from his fingers. The feeling brought to mind memories of another encounter, long ago, where such a toxin had been used on him. The effects of the spider’s bite were comparatively mild, though he could not tell if that was a result of his size, or his body’s make-up being too different from these predators' usual prey.

Fenn rocked back and swung onto another vine, letting the chains around his arms unwind with the motion. As another spider jumped out at him, metal links stiffened and snapped upwards, smashing against the thing’s side and sending it hurtling away.

The chains rattled and danced like snakes behind the demon, protecting his back and sides. He detested using his bonds in such an overt manner, but with the spider’s paralyzing venom and their ability to seemingly materialize from thin-air, he would need more than a single free arm and his kind’s affinity with fire to turn the monsters away. And it seemed to him turning them away was the only recourse the group had, lest they came up with a plan that allowed them to outrun the swarm of arachnids.

Lily had spent the time travelling jumping from vine to vine. Sometimes hanging in her arms, other times pouncing from one to the other like a cat was wont to do. All in all, she kept up with the others easily enough, seeing no reason to simply walk with the others. Too boring.

She was crouched on a particularly thick vine a ways ahead of the others when the first echoes of sound came to them. Her feline ears stood erect, swivelling—turning—to where the sound had come from. She tensed momentarily, glancing down at Fenn to see that he had picked up on it, too. The others hadn't. Not quite yet anyway.

She turned to face the sound, one hand extended to her side as if to grasp an invisible weapon. Below her she saw the rest of them react to the sound that was now louder, and soon after vibrations in the net-like vines. And just then, the one sound she had heard multiplied, surrounding them.

Everywhere. They were everywhere.

Spiders, big as cars, and far more vicious looking. One thing, however, stood out. They were organic, not metallic. What kind of world has metallic and organic creatures running about? It wasn't just that the beasts they had fought earlier were machines, as their guide was also a sentient metal construct. Sapient, even, were she to be kind.

That wasn't of much consequence at the moment, however. What was important was the incoming enemies. From her vantage point she was mostly outside of line of sight of any of their adversaries, but evidently not quite enough. There was a sudden blow of air from behind her, as if a lot of air had been displaced in an instant. She turned around just as it lunged at her, its two massive fangs far too close for comfort. She grabbed them, holding them off of her. But even if she had wanted to, she could not simply hold it off indefinitely. She was quick in this form, but she sacrificed a lot of physical strength in return.

That being said, she was by no means weak. She shoved the fangs aside and jumped back, using its face as a springboard, her claws leaving several cuts in its face and puncturing at least one eye. She vaulted back, landing on a some distance away. When she looked up again, the spider was gone. Just scuttering away, but gone. As if teleporting. That explains the displaced air. When she didn't immediately see it try to assault her again, she turned her attention to those farther away.

Fenn was already in the thick of it with two already, but there was one that was approaching from behind while he roasted the one currently in his grasp. Even with his chains out, it might get a strike in, and Lily would be damned if anyone harmed her dog.

She crouched, then, her entire body tensing. The air around her grew tense, and as it did a a long spear with a broad head materialised in her hands. She angled it forward, towards the spider approaching Fenn from behind.

And then she moved.

An earsplitting, thunderous boom like a thunderclap tore the air asunder as Lily sped away. The spider never even had a chance to hear her come, the spear and her momentum carrying her forward, into, and through the Spider's abdomen, its heart pierced. It stopped for a moment, staggered, then fell to the side, sliding off of the abyss.

Lily rose from where she had all but dented the metallic vines from her impact, covered in blood from the Spider.

"Fenn," she said, walking up beside his head, "though they may be relatively easy to kill, we can't get complacent. One misstep and it will be you falling to your doom." She flicked the spear, its straight head curving into the shape of something resembling a mix of a guan dao and naginata. "Don't hold back for pride."

Mary looked over both the paths laid before her. The safe but long path, or the short but dangerous path. Considering every second she wasted another demon could be hurting someone it was a fairly obvious choice, but she admitted that she couldn't close the portal if she was dead. Even so, the demons there were quite weak. She should be able to take them all on, with enough effort.

With resolve, Mary charged on ahead, determined to stem the demon horde. As all the little hellions noticed her approach, they too charged at her, funneling at her in an easy to manage line. Armed with her two weapons, the blood of demons began to flow. Though to a regular bystander Mary's strike may have looked almost berserk in nature, each one was quickly and precisely executed to dissect a vital part of the demon in front of her. A piercing blow through the heart with the Jitte, a lopping off of the head with her scimitar. Still, there were many, many, many enemies. Mary had to truly push her speed, even with two weapons to handle the hellspawn with. Eventually, they began to overrun her, grouping together too tightly knit to be killed swiftly, so Mary tried a new technique.

Extending both of her weapons outwards, she used the vibrational force of The Entertainer to spin herself, becoming a tornado of death, chopping all the demons that came near her to bits with little effort besides keeping herself steady and holding on too both the weapons. Eventually, Mary reached the other side, though not without a few cuts and bruises. All she had to do now was close the portal.

'...mutt, you say?' the red-armoured angel asked, a newfound tone of aggression in her voice, only to be cut off by her blue-plated partner pointedly clearing his throat. 'Who's talking about being a mutt, halfbreed?' he asked in his turn, notably unannoyed by the jab, though somewhat calmer anyway for knowing that the girl at least seemed to intend against violence toward the two, even if she was still prepared to respond to violence with violence. 'In any case, I do my best to avoid civilian casualties regardless, for it wouldn't be in Paradiso's best interests to slay its potential soldiers; I'm sure my partner is just as willing to avert that sort of needless loss too.'

Iscah was notably hesitant to confirm or deny that sentiment. In the end, she didn't get an opportunity to respond either way, as yet more Scarecrows found themselves charging out of the woodwork, alongside a number of Marionettes - which, she noted, would be just as weak to flame as their bug- and straw-filled counterparts. Eventually, she simply decided to tell the half-demon Kosara to 'Stay out of my way, demonspawn,' before leaping into the midst of the swarm, this time choosing not to directly utilise her flamethrowers, but rather to simply engage in melee combat with the horde as a sort of challenge to herself, taking advantage of their rather close packing to dole out Wide Swings where she could, blocking their scythes with her bucklers as necessary and dodging when she could not block, and when enough empty space opened up around her, to initiate a Tornado Strike, not only striking and slaying more of the demons, but setting them alight and often starting up a chain reaction of demon igniting demon until the crowd dispersed to avoid it.

Iacobos took a somewhat different approach. With a larger horde than before presenting itself, he imagined there would be no harm in, say, bringing forth a small army of his own. Not the angelic entities in reserve, mind, for they may be of more use in a bit, but his own acquired minions. With three consecutive cries of 'Affinities!', three portals edged and crackling with electricity opened, and three separate groups of the minor Angels poured forth before they closed - two groups of five A classes, one of five D classes, and each group led by a single E class. Eighteen in total, and whilst not strictly stronger than their foes, the E classes would at least be fairly resistant to harm, as any Scarecrow or Marionette trying to get in range would have to contend with the angelic flames that threatened to sear and burn anything evil that moved into close quarters. With his minions summoned, Iacobos doled out orders to them as follows, executed as they came: 'Destroy the Scarecrows and Marionettes! D classes, initiate with a skyward attack on your charge! Leave the half-demon alone unless she attacks an angel!'

As anticipated, the initial charge was successful enough, with the D classes sending the foes unfortunate enough to be struck by their flails into the air and the E classes setting ablaze the few fiends who dared stand their ground. After that, they found themselves up against the odds, for whilst both groups were certainly cannon fodder, the demons had rather more bodies to throw at the angels than vice versa. If Iacobos' calculations were correct, he figured the Affinities ought to hold out just long enough for the horde to disperse or be destroyed once again, since Iscah seemed to be holding her own very well; even so, he readied his blades for a close-range fight, just in case his assistance was needed.

@rivaan@Sho Minazuki

The more substantial weight of Wrath on the happenstance platform of vines caused the entire tangle to bounce perilously, but Souta was grateful for the help. Even a direct blow to the head, mitigated by the lack of resistance it found when the victim teleported away, did not discourage the car-sized creeps for long. Initially Souta's fighting instincts served him well enough, but as it quickly became clear that the fight would not be decided at a rate even resembling fast, he transitioned into a more restrained, defensive style. He kept his warhammer constantly in motion to avoid leaving any openings, making sure that his means of survival did not stray too far from him at any time. With a Nephilim beside him, he could take some focus off protecting his back, but he could not afford to relent for even one second lest the combined pressure of both squadrons of spiders take him down. Two or even three at a time, the creatures would warp forward to attack, but even as they vanished and reappeared the predictability of their fighting style meant that Souta never found cause to panic. All the same, and though his training with his favorite weapon maximized the efficiency of his movement, he felt himself growing fatigued. An intense trip through the Hanging Jungle prior to the fight didn't exactly leave him topped off in terms of energy.

The next moment, he both felt and heard something that set his hairs on end, and he could not help but look up. Several meters straight above his battleground, two spiders had teleported into empty air and slammed together. A smirk attempted to emerge on Souta's face out of contempt for the stupid things, but in the space of two seconds a dozen more spiders converged on the exact same spot, locking legs to effectively create a living wrecking ball that now plummeted his way—death from above.

Souta released a yell that he hoped would draw Wrath's attention to this little problem as two skeletons manifested beside him. They caught him as he made himself into a sitting position and worked together to bodily hurl him away from the vine intersection, just in time to escape the enormous, vile clump. He, hearing the clacking mandibles and horrific hissing noises of spiders leaping out to follow him, made no bones about calling on his Walking Armory style to summon a Trawler hook in his off hand. Its length wrapped around a vine nearby, and the man's inertia allowed him to swing out of harm's way for now. Unfortunately, the extreme slant of the vine to which he had adhered did not permit the chain loop to hold for long, and the grip began to slide. The sensation of losing his purchase scared Souta badly, eliciting a panicked bellow, and a skeleton popped into existence hanging from the slanted vine. With blood pounding in his heart and head like the many impacts of a hammer on metal, Souta stretched out his hammer toward the ghostly apparition, which grabbed it just in time and yanked weapon and smith alike toward safety. Using the Trawler, Souta managed to pull himself onto the vines top to slide down it rather than suspended from it. At the first opportunity, he pushed off from the surface to tumble onto a net of fibrous, steely plant matter stretching between vines. Not a second after the smith determined that this place provided very poor footing, a half-dozen spiders showed themselves in his field of vision, dutifully warping between vines to land not twenty feet away from their prey. Souta looked around; the others might have been several hundred feet above him, give or take.

One intrepid spider made its move, teleporting into melee range. Calling upon his weapon's charge technique, Souta slid across the net, his warhammer's spike extended to penetrate the monster's tiny head. When it came, the voice of Panoptos almost threw off his aim. ”Having trouble, human?” he asked cheerfully, watching the weapon slide through the spider's tender carapace and reduce its head to mush. The knowledge that these spiders couldn't shrug off slicing or stabbing attacks as easily as blunt-force strikes interested Souta deeply. The distraction provided by the Watcher did not.

”Can't you see I'm busy here?” Even as the one arachnid's corpse slipped away, two more appeared to take its place, one on either side of Souta. With speed powered by fire he whirled to strike at each one, knowing that if he telegraphed a move or overswung even a little, his life could be squandered.

Gliding around, Panoptos clasped his spindly fingers together. The spiders appeared to shy away from him. ”I always find that interviews under pressure are the most fascinating. So, by the looks of it, you've realized that using crushing attacks isn't working. That's a decent start. Basic of basics against agile foes, of course, but who's keeping score, am I right?” So saying, the watcher whipped out a pad of note paper from his ethereal body and scrawled upon it with an inky forefinger. ”Anyway, it looks like you haven't picked up on the trick yet,” he idly mentioned, not looking up from his project with the majority of his eyes. In response, Souta lashed out with his Trawler, not at a spider, but straight up. Not a moment to soon, he zipped toward a higher area, and the remaining spiders converged on the location he'd been just a second before all at once. Tsking, Panoptos whooshed after him, and found Souta clinging to a thick vine. ”Do I have to spell it out for you?” he asked, pointing a ghostly wisp up to the general area where the others were fighting, from which a steady rain of bug and bug parts were falling. ”The little girl didn't figure it out either. Sadly she wasn't as resourceful as you, but there's hopes of weeding you out yet!”

Souta glared at him as he pulled himself up. ”Shut the f*** up! Thinking's pretty hard when you've got a prick babbling on in your ear!” With a wounded look, Panoptos vanished, quite unwilling to render any more of his generous aid to the ungrateful brat. Somehow, the spiders had yet to find him here, so he stared up at the higher battlefield. He couldn't really see anyone aside from Fenn, whose distinctive size and near-constant accompanying blaze of fire made him easy to see, but he could see the vines rippling vigorously from all the action. How can these wackos keep fighting when the whole place is so wobbly? All of the vines are so tangled up, I can feel the vibrations from here. He glanced at the vine he stood on, silently glad that the mottled surface of the thing provided enough friction to make the chances of randomly slipping off pretty slim. From the looks of it, all of the really thick vines had such a texture; only the slimmer ones could be slid on as he did earlier. The undulations in the great web of vines got him thinking, though. The spiders still haven't found me, but they're making a beeline for the others. Now that I think about it, spiders in real life- he caught himself. Spiders on earth come out of hiding when they feel something struggling in their web. He snapped his fingers. ”That's it! Except, it's useless. I got lucky getting away, but no way all the spiders attacking the others will just give up if they somehow stop moving. There's gotta be something I can do...” His mind drifted to the 'horrors' mentioned by Panoptos earlier that also resided in the Hanging Jungle. How awful would be be if one of those happened along? Then again, Souta mused, the presence of a big fish would probably scare off all the little fish. Perhaps fighting with one large monster would be preferable, after all!

Gears turned, slowly at first. Souta came to realize that a big enough vibration, one suggesting of an absolutely huge creature, might be for the spiders a warning alarm rather than a dinner bell. With his weapons, though, he couldn't come near to generating enough force. Then again...

Souta directed his gaze at a vine several hundred feet away, which he estimated to be the largest one he'd seen yet. About as wide as an average two-way, two-lane avenue, it would have been great to walk across if it didn't hang at a 70-degree angle. Still, countless thousands of vines branched off of it. Wondering whether he might be able to stir something up after all, Souta banished Escre and called on Maelstrom. He barely had to take aim, but take aim he did, and one after another he unleashed a fusillade of fused fire spikes at the huge vine. As he predicted, the usually volatile spikes stuck into the flexible, fibrous surface of the vine rather than instantly detonating, and the smith took full advantage of the potentially infinite ammunition that characterized his gun to go wild. Souta made sure to adjust his aim slightly after each shot to ensure that the spikes didn't land too close, and over the course of about sixty seconds he plugged about as many of the suckers into the surface. Meanwhile, the weapon's recoil didn't provide enough force to vibrate his own line any more than the wind did, and despite the noise no spiders came his way. Genius, he thought, grinning, as he fired. I'm a genius! So when the spiders teleported away, they weren't just preventing damage, but relocating so as to confirm their prey's location via vibrations. When Souta felt his weapon starting to give out, he held his hands steady and prepared to fire two final shots in quick succession, with the goal being to start a chain reaction and really rock the boat.

Unbeknownst to him, not every spider had lost track of him. A particularly astute specimen, tracking small irregularities in vine vibrations, was closing in on the oblivious man's position.

@EnterTheHero@Lmpkio

Pleased that the angel agreed with him, Akoni made for the crypt at once. He volunteered to take point for the group, manifesting magical light from his hand and keeping watch around curves and corners using his gates. Before any turn, he was manifest a gate directly in front of himself, then one facing the turn so as to get an idea of what lay ahead. There were no precautions too paranoid or safe, after all. It was a good idea, too. Even without making use of his spacial bending magic the group could see lights off in the distance and hear the sounds of... Something actively moving around. Whatever the reality of the situation, the old mage instantly felt that no good could come of it. Before scouting ahead to see what exactly they were dealing with, however, there was their immediate surroundings to contend with.

Taking notice of the chandelier above, Akoni noticed that it reacted to energies. One question remained now, which he posited to whatever companions accompanied while he made an attempt to magically scan the chandelier and identify its properties with the deposit of knowledge he possessed. "I could easily light it, but I am wary to attract undue attention from further down the crypt. What are your thoughts?" The question itself was largely unimportant, for he would make his own decision on the matter based on his identification magic. He merely thought the others deserved to participate in some capacity, and it served to buy him some small amount of time to complete the spell.

As Souta dealt with his opponents, Wrath focused on his, looking specifically for the spider he'd avoided earlier. His reward was the sound of a spider teleporting to his left, forcing him to sidestep away as he turns, slicing. The blade nicks the spider's leg as it leaps back and takes off about a third of it. Chittering in anger, it teleports away again, only this time with in Wrath's line of sight. Whole lot of good that does me, teleporting prick.

As if on cue the spider disappears again and Wrath brings up his blade, only for Souta to suddenly shout something from behind him. Turning and seeing him bail from the vines, Wrath wastes no time doing like wise, finding a relatively easy to climb vine across from him and latching on to it as the ball of spiders obliterates the platform the pair had just been on. However, Wrath once more found himself at the mercy of the spider as it appeared again to try and strike. "Some how, I'm going to smash you flat!" He swings Rage Bringer haphazardly, making the spider retreat once more.

Using the breather, the Nephilim starts climbing and manages to find another platform a few feet above where he started. Pulling himself up, he watches for the insistent spider, who now stuck out with part of it's front right leg missing. As he turns, he spots Souta and smiles, realizing what the boy was up to. As he went to congratulate him, however, one of the spiders came into sight for Wrath and his shout of good job changed to a warning. "Lad, behind ya!" Whether or not the human heard him he didn't get a chance to learn, as his eight legged opponent reappeared and struck at Wrath with it's good leg, which he sides steps.

Though Fenn’s attention was focused on the enemy, his chains snapping out to catch the teleporting spiders, she could tell that her hound had heard her by the way his ears tilted her way even as he swayed on the trembling wires. However, the dog did not see fit to give her a verbal answer.

Rather, the lengths of chain wrapped around his latest captive pressed inwards with a creaking sound. The monster seemed to bloat around the metal, too quick for it to disappear, and then burst, sending a spray of insect guts out of both its ends.

One of them happened to be conveniently positioned to shower the waiting demoness with innards.

Lily, already covered in blood and gore, felt even more of the gooey substance cover every part of her body anew; hair plastering to her face and neck. Using her one free hand she wiped as much of its blood from her face as she could, glowering at the hound as balefully as she could given the circumstances.

“Really?” She asked, spitting out a glob of something suspiciously tangy.

“Should I have held back?” came the sardonic reply.

The demoness said nothing, instead taking off back to the fighting, making certain that her trajectory lead her above Fenn, and thus dropped more than a little of the blood and gore on Fenn’s snout and head. A small revenge.

Now back into the fray, Lily dispatched another of the spiders by spearing its skull as it attempted to drop on her from above, and only narrowly rolling out of the way of another spider coming at her from the side in mid-air. She avoided its venomous bite, but it still collided with her hard enough to send her crashing into a small cluster of vines. She was bruiser and annoyed, but not truly wounded. Not yet.

Her weapon had dropped from her hands when she was hit, and so she climbed up on the swaying vine empty handed, gazing out over the battlefield. She found the human—Soda, was it?—struggling with something. Whatever this something was, she wasn’t quite sure. One thing, however, was for certain: He was about to become spider food, unless somebody did something. Fenn, she knew, cared more about his fleas than he did their companions, the angry Nephilim was somewhere else fighting, and she could see no sign of the girl, dead or alive.

That left Lily, and though she didn’t actually care whether the human lived or died, it was in their best interest to help each other, as doing so increased the chances of mission success, and then going back to more comfortable quarters.

And a bath. Definitely a bath.

She arachnid was almost upon him, and she couldn’t reach him using conventional means. Luckily, she had means of travelling quickly. Once more she tensed in her entire body for all of a second, coiling together like a spring, before unleashing it all and speeding towards Soda and the spider with a thunderous boom and a shockwave of compressed air following in her wake.

Like the one before, the spider had no chance of avoiding her, and so she took it with her as she crashed into it in a full body tackle, using its body to cushion the impact on the nearby vines. The result was a shower of blood and ichor, but this time she wasn’t alone, at least.

“Rule number one on the battlefield, Kid,” Lily said as she jumped down to Souta’s position, brushing as much goo off of her as she could, “stay aware of your surroundings, or you’re dead.” She looked over at the massive vine he was shooting at, a puzzled look washing over her face. “What’re you even doing, Sopa?”

Through the substantial ambient noise of skittering and twanging cables, Souta distinctly heard someone throw off his focus just as he fixed to pull the trigger of the miniature cannon he called Maelstrom. He cast a withering look at the distant figure of Wrath, having not at all been listening to what he he said, but it seemed the Nephilim had already received his comeuppance in the form of a sudden spider assault. His attention soon drifted to another one of his comrades, however, surrounded as she was in a screaming jetstream as she zoomed straight for him faster than he could finish the sentence, ”What the shi...!”

Lily jetted straight past him, the wind and noise shocking the smith so thoroughly that he froze up for several seconds, not even breaking out of the stupor when a deluge of bug gunk splattered him. After a moment, fortunately, he seemed to recovered his wits. With his off hand he wiped the slime from his face, then put it to his ear in an exaggerated 'can't hear you' gesture. Her appearance caught him off guard both in terms of unexpectedness and in looks, since he hadn't been aware of her shapeshifting capabilities. Nevertheless, he received her question loud and clear. The realization that her dynamic entry had saved his neck did not escape him, and he opted to go for a less confrontational response than he'd initially planned. ”Right. I'll remember it for the quiz.” He watched her glance at his array of gleaming blue shards stuck in the colossal vine. Admittedly, the scene wasn't perfect for showing off, since he could feel vibrations through the vine that meant more spiders were on the way, but there existed a few moments still in which he could make a good account of himself. The goop on his hand washed away in a swirl of water as he swung his arm, lodging the newly-formed Silverbeast claws into the vine. Its metal fingers pierced the surface, sticking tight. Closing one eye, Souta resumed his firing stance, saying, ”Clearing the area.” With that, he fired twice in quick succession. Like little comets the two blue bolts flew through the area. The first hit the vine directly, jamming into its surface. A split second later the second bolt collided with it, detonating it.

The next thing Souta knew, the entire vine was up in a massive blue explosion, giving off plumes of black smoke and violently shaking this entire region of the Hanging Jungle. Thanks to his claw, Souta remained where he was, though the vibrations flung him around severely, battering his joints and bruising his skin. At least twenty seconds passed before the vibrations stopped and Souta, his entire body one big ache, was able to pull himself up. Teeth gritted, he looked around, training his eyes and ears for any skittering foes, but he found nothing. Just as he'd predicted, the massive tremor had coerced the spiders hordes into leaving, believing something greater to be afoot.

Souta was surprised again, then, when a shape dropped down not far away. He whirled to face it head-on, but found it to be only Uhelei, the group's biomechanical guide. On second glance he appeared to be covered in scratches and dents from head to toe, even in his mask, but judging by his free, trained movements the paralytic venom of the spiders did not affect him at all. “You are crazy,” he told Souta. “Almost killed me. And then where would have you been? Yet I am ashamed to say that crazy worked.”

”What's more amazing is that it took that long to figure it out, and that out of everyone, it was the human that did it!” The familiar and nausea-inducing voice of Panoptos heralded his arrival, drifting up from below like an underwater fart in a bathtub.
“Well, maybe it's not so surprising. With everyone else being at least mildly competent at fighting, they probably thought they could hold the creepy crawlies off indefinitely. Only reasonable that you had to weasel your way out of the situation, really.”

Wearily, Souta opened his mouth to sternly rebuke the watcher, but Panoptos bulldozed straight through him. ”As much as I'd love to hear your comeback, we are on a schedule here. While you lot were crushing bugs, I zipped back in the direction of the portal. Just as I thought, we're not alone in the Undersky any longer. So let's pick up the pace. Which way, my little tin can?” He clasped his long claws together, stooping plaintively toward Uhelei.

The exiled tribesman, though clearly aggravated, restrained his tone as he responded. “We are about two thirds through. We must forge on, reunite with your other allies, and reach the end. Then there is the winding path, and after that, we will arrive at Wit's End.”



In the distance, beyond the great tangle, a dark mass loomed that could only be another immense stalactite. The agents of the Charred Council encountered no more spiders, but as they grew closer to there came to be a change in the vines. These new, huge strands lay intermixed and sometimes wrapped around the vines to which the agents had by now become accustomed, appearing with greater frequency. Alongside them, Souta also spotted chunks of rock ensnared in the vast web seemingly at random, similar asteroids floating in space. Coming near one, he veered slightly off path to try to navigate its surface instead, and found the flat surface on its top to be far more manageable.

At the far end of the large slab only the new vines were in range. Hundreds of repetitions of the same technique made his motions mechanical as he slung a Trawler toward the nearest one, pulled himself up, and assessed his surroundings. He decided immediately that he did not like this new vine. It was somewhat softer than the old variety and much more rubbery, with a ribbed surface rather like an earthworm's. Though dry, it was unpleasantly warm to the touch.

Of course, Souta was bringing up the rear of the group when this happened. Farther up, the other agents, by now all also using the new vines, had come into range of a particularly massive, circular chunk of stone situated right in the way to the other stalactite. The scene brought to mind, perhaps, images of the great railroads of the United States or other big countries. Whenever the railroad companies, in the course of laying their tracks, came to a mountain, a decision had to be made. Would they try and build over? Or would they go around? Or try to blast a path straight through the obstacle? No route was without its cost.

Panoptos, leading the group, pondered it. But he found his ruminations distracted by the obstacle itself. The entire thing, gargantuan and very round, appeared to have a smooth surface laced with uncommonly straight cracks. Copious amounts of very large vines fed into it from all angles except the one directly ahead of the group -where there was a clearing-, vanishing into yawning black holes. As he stared at it with his wandering eyes, the principal watcher began to snicker. His chortling intensified into a churlish guffaw, but it did not last very long, for he composed himself to say, ”Even in all my travels I haven't encountered something like this before. I'll have to keep a close eye on this...or two, or three, or nine. Say, underlings? Do endeavor to make this interesting for me. Let's see...how long, do you think? I'm betting three.”

Uhelei's icy stare affixed him. “Three what?”

Pure silence surrounded Panoptos for about a second. Then he clarified, ”Two. One.”

Dead ahead, roughly a hundred meters out, the rock mass moved. In front of the Charred Council's agents, there opened a monstrous eye.

The slaughter Gideon commenced was quite brutal, with the freeing demons ravaging the gang members in their wake. It was a satisfying sight for the general as he impales another leader with one of his blades, falling limp as it mutters its last sigh. But as the action began to die down, there seemed to be no sign of the leader. He could be down in the lower halls, but alas he must've been alerted to his presence by now. And the conversations he overheard told him as much... The leader was in full self-preservation mode, and is probably he preparing his escape. At this point he'll be gone by the time Gideon finds where he last was.

The demon general slowly enters the entrance, on the waterside of the warehouse facing the small pier. But as soon as he entered, he glimpses a jeep crashing off through the front door as it tries to make it's escape. The gang leader must be inside, as perhaps the last remenants of them. For a regular human mortal, the mission would be a failure without a vehicle. But in Gideon's case, he can still get them. Aiming Lucifer's Wings he aims at the jeep's back wheels and fires upon them with stunning accuracy. Regardless if he had hit them, using his enhanced speed he makes a quick dash towards the fleeing vehicle mercilessly. He won't let them get away!



With Akoni, both Kushiel and his partner entered the crypt that laid beyond them. Using his spear, the archangel casted upon a spell that would make the whole twin-blades glow a warm yellow, casting a light down the dark stairs. There was an ominous feel in here, but incredibly spacious. It was a surprisingly large crypt to say the least. Likely this place connected into some kind of cavern network, as the sound of ravenous monstrocities can be heard from nearby, as well as the bare footsteps to whatever was stalking the area. Even if it would attack them, they would most certainly wipe the creature out in a single strike or so. It was of little threat.

As he continues walking, he slowly looks above him. He can see a kind of chandelier up above. What's more, Kushiel can feel its magical construct that responded to energies, including fire. Perhaps he can light it up with his spear? Alas that's what he did, illuminating all the little candles that connected to one another. But it wasn't the only form of light here. Already the archangel can see tiny sources of light on the horizon of the darkness too. Whatever was causing such light does indeed suggest this place is already waking to their presence.

"Those lights..." mummers Kushiel aloud as he squints to make a reading of them, "Looks like whoever was sleeping here are finally waking up. I'll guide the way."

As he finished speaking, he raises his spear in a defensive stance as he walks slowly towards the balls of light from beyond, expecting a pack of ravenous monsters or worse...

“What…? What’s wrong with calling a rose a rose then?” Kosara asked, tilting her head with a smirk on her face. The female sounding angel creature seemed to be kept in check by it’s male counterpart. Well that was a little bit of a bummer on her teasing and provocation, but hey it was fine either way really.” Well I tend to reply in kind to the way I’m spoken to, nothing personal really.” She added with a shrug of her shoulders.

It was at that moment when demon mobs seemed to appear once more, ready to fight. Kosara was just about to jump into the fray when the easy to anger angel told her to stay out of the way. Kosara stopped mid turning as she relaxed her shoulders, and simply turned this way, waiting to see what would happen.

‘This is a good chance to evaluate paradiso’s mutts.’ She thought to herself as she walked a few steps to the side and leaned on a building. By the sounds and feel of it, there were powerful enemies gathering in this city.

The demon hunter sighed as she evaluated the heaven’s fighters. She had seen better, but she had also seen worse. She gave those two a passing grade… but had a feeling as a pair they would be quite dangerous.

Finally she gave another sigh as she broke off her relaxed position by the wall. The pair of angelic creatures were dealing with the mobs well enough, but Kosara didn’t really have the time to waste.

She took a step and pulled her sword, slashing to the side as a lone marionette made it’s way to her probably when it was thrown to the side in the scuffle with the other mobby fools. This was the thing she disliked about both heaven and Hell forces. They used a variety of these weak units which was more of an annoyance than anything.

With a swing of her sword she send the marionette to the side, before walking over, stepping on it’s head and swinging her sword once more to cut of his head. She actually realized the mutts would be of help!

“Good to have had your two around. Still let me help you two so we can get to the next group of enemies and preferably something stronger.” She suddenly said as she also pulled her crossbow and aimed at the nearest hell minion before she shot it’s head, causing it to fly backwards due the force of the impact.” Ahh fun times… if there is something these trashy minions are good for it’s target practice.”

With the pests repelled, the group was once again freed to traverse the Hanging Jungle. Slowly but surely, they seemed to be approaching a milestone in their journey, with the surrounding environment changing to reflect this.

The first change was not so obvious. Rather, it was something the dog noticed as he realized he could see things further ahead, and the fact that the path slowly grew more accommodating of his large frame. The cables around them were thinning.

The second change was the appearance of a different kind of webbing, rapidly taking the place of the wires he had become accustomed to as they progressed. Unlike the almost metallic strands the group had used up until that point, there was something unmistakably alive about this new terrain, in a manner that reminded him of a tree’s roots. There was a sudden certainty in his mind that they would not find any spiders here. This shift in terrain marked the territory of a different kind of predator.

Even as their guide moved forward, seemingly unconcerned by the change, Fenn’s pace slowed momentarily, taking the time to test their new handhold’s strength. He quickly gained confidence as the webbing effortlessly held his weight. The occasional platforms entrapped by the roots, likely the remnants of stalactites eroded by time or the growth of the vines around them, were a welcome respite from the previous complete lack of solid footing.

Soon enough, however, they came within sight of a new obstacle.

Fenn pulled himself up to one to a platform large enough for him to stand with, following after the Imp. As she stood, facing forwards towards their destination, the dog took the chance to shake off some of the muck that still covered him from the fight against the spiders. Little came off. The guts and goop had long since dried, leaving him caked in foul smelling mud. He ignored the self-satisfied smirk his charge tried and failed to hide as she stood besides him, instead choosing to focus on the obstacle before them.

It seemed to be little more than a humongous rock on first inspection, but some of its features struck doubt in Fenn’s mind. Its shape was odd in and of itself. Spherical, unlike the trapped platforms they had climbed so far, and rather than being entangled within the vines, the odd webbing seemed to be flowing out of openings within it. There was a certain sense to it, he decided. If the vines were to be roots, this odd rock formation could be the tree.

The dog grunted. “It seems we must go around.”

“Or through,” Lily added. “Although that might take a lot of time.” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, inspecting the thing from afar. “Something is off about it.”

As if on cue, the Watcher’s laughter rang out from nearby. Something that escaped Fenn’s attention must have caught the specter’s own, for his words carried a knowing tone to them as he addressed his escorts. And then, no sooner had it finished speaking, the thing within the rock shell awoke.

Clarity drew a single bark of laughter from the hound’s throat as the giant eye fixed on them. Just this once he would share in the Watcher’s twisted humor.

He had been wrong on two accounts. Not a tree and its roots, but a heart and its vessels, nor the territory of a new predator, but a new beast in and of itself. If that was true, they seemed to have wandered deep into a monster’s innards without a care in the world. Idly, he began to wonder how this monster fed, and if there were other, smaller creatures such as this hidden among the platforms they had climbed on their way there. He quickly stopped himself. He did not know, as was ever the problem. Speculation was not something he had time to indulge in.

What was more surprising, perhaps, was that his train of thought had not been interrupted this time.

“Still here, Imp?” he asked through bared fangs. “To where did your eagerness vanish?”

She looked up at him sideways, still keeping an eye on the, well, eye. “I am not suicidal enough to simply go up against something I have only seen a fraction of. I know nothing of this beast aside from its one eye. Better be watchful this time, and observe before we advance.”

Alas, his charge was not completely devoid of sense. A true shame.

Keeping eyes and ears on the vines around them, with a newfound appreciation of the danger they might be in, he glanced at the armor off the corner of his eye. “Well, guide? What have you led us to?”

Having made it through the garden, she arrived at her destination, the Backwoods Cathedral. However, the door was locked. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, given her strength and all, but the door was protected by a strong magical barrier that simply didn't budge. Though, upon further inspection, even without magic the door would cause her further irritation in attempts to open it. There's no telling the amount of time it might take to open the door.

Deciding to give up on that door, she started looking around for another way in when the sound of crashing wood caught her attention. Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw 3 blood-covered men coming out of what looks to be a cellar door. Well, looks like I've found my way in...but... Like before, Blair would have to go through another disgusting creature. Just my luck...another pointless battle.

However, unlike the last battle, it seems like she'll have to fight this one to the end, much to her annoyance. Just like the creature from the last time, these ones also held a maddening look. Hmm... One of monsters went through a strange metamorphosis that made him even more hideous. After careful inspection, it didn't look all that durable but she assumes what it lacks in durability, it might make up for in speed. In short, it's going to be a pain.

As that one finished, the other two seemed to be under-going the same process and from the looks of it, they didn't seem like they were able to do anything until finished. Which means, she's going to have to attack them now. Though, she'll need to keep the other one occupied enough for her to strike them and to do so, she'll need to hit a chain of successive hits if this is going to work. In her usual Blood Oath Style, she calls forth her Bloody Sunday spell to start things off.

Like in similar cases, the main focus of her use of this spell in this battle would be not only to cut off her opponents visibility with the debris and tear up the ground to impede their movement but also use the moment to cast another spell in the confusion to slow down the fully metamorphed monster. Her follow up spell would then be to cast her Blood Golem Creation to make one Tank Golem, choosing quality over quantity.

While that one holds him back, her next move would be to move in, cast Blood Blast on Zalmonah and detonate the two. Well, thats the plan anyways. Going forward with her plan, she casts Bloody Sunday followed by the creation of her blood golem, she readies her demonic spear and moves in to strike.

The general movement through the jungle after Souta had scared off the spiders, of which Wrath had only managed to kill one of and it hadn't even been the one he'd initially engaged, was simply boring. Of course, it had left plenty of time for Wrath to decide that his arsenal of weapons was now also lacking in something with a big boom, but that was more bias towards enjoying a good explosion than actually needing it. With his thoughts elsewhere, he was likely the last to notice that the vines had changed and it still didn't phase him. Might be us nearing the other side. He was near the back of the pack and had just set down on a platform when he noticed the others all staring at something ahead.

Approaching, he might have been a slight bit surprised when the giant eye ball opened to stare at the small group of intruders. Of all the worlds that Wrath had visited during his time wandering the various realms under the Council's charge, he'd thought he'd seen all the strange and dangerous creatures there were to see. In the time he'd been here, he'd already seen two creatures that he wanted dead and now here is a third one, and it was by far the one that needed to die most. And so he wasted no time in suggesting a course of action. "So, who wants to poke it?"

Silas considered his options briefly before turning and nodding in the direction of the Crypt.

"If we can reach the bishop's office from the crypt, then going through there seems like the logical course of action. There may be some information there about what's been done, specifically. Perhaps we might even be able to figure out a way to reverse this nightmare."

The others seemed to agree with them, and the three of them headed down to the crypt- five if you counted Kazfiel and Sraosha, walking alongside the Sage within Purgatorio. They entered the space rather easily, and Silas looked around, trying to see everything he could in the dark. Lucky for him, he had his hounds, whose senses were much sharper than his own. He would be able to navigate down here without much trouble. Unfortunately, it seemed his companions lacked the same abilities- both of them engaged their own sources of illumination to either side of him, which Silas worried would make them more conspicuous to whatever things dwelled down here in the dark.

"Try and keep light to a minimum," he said quietly, glancing at the pinpricks of light on the edges of the darkness. "We want to remain as inconspicuous as possible, until that's no longer an option. My hounds can sense their way through without light, so you can follow me. It'll be slow going, but it's better than alerting every wretch in here to our presence..."

@Kafka Komedy

The route she had chosen was high risk, as the danger lay not in the enemies themselves, but that her back would be exposed to the ones she would inevitably miss, there were just that many of them, and if she took her time to be thorough, the long way may as well have been a better option. Though a difficult situation was not impossible, as she reached the gate, she was essentially surrounded, but all that was left was to destroy the gate and turn on these weaker lesser demons, but as she arrived, The Fallen did too. Three angelic-appearing demons emerged from the gate, and attacked her immediately with spears of light. The problem with this situation was she needed a chance to destroy the gate, otherwise more demons would join the party. To be sure this would test her limits in sheer numbers alone, and these Fallen demons were for the most part, much better at surviving than the others.

@Lmpkio

Though the gang leader was a coward, was not unskilled, and did a sharp spin in the vehicle, managing to avoid most of Gideon's attacks, except one, which struck the exhaust. The jeep was now absolutely smoking, and was visibly slowing down as it disappeared behind the streets with a huge smoke trail marking its location. Following it now should be a simple task. Although, it seemed like he might be running for quite awhile, and this was a big city... Just how long can they keep up a chase? Not to mention the leader himself didn't seem to be inept, just a coward, based on his instincts. A careful and efficient approach might work, but getting the jump on him might do the trick too, or just planning the chase in advance to corner him... Either way, the target was not too far off from where Gideon is right now, and the big smoke trail tells him where.

---

@Lmpkio@ProPro@EnterTheHero

Despite the advice, even if the light were dimmed, it would not stop the bones from forming around them, as skeletons began to emerge, armed with rusted blades and wooden shields, and some even carried some very old model of firearms. The skeletons themselves were not a threat, it was after some moments when movement can be seen in the distance among the lights that they realized this entire crypt was crawling with essentially an army of them. In the darkness and the clacking of bones on old ancient pavement, they can hear the ringing of bells. Regardless this swarm wasn't going to stop, they needed to do something. Kushiel's light showed that there was a bridge they could take, although a swarm of skeletons were already coming down that, on the other hand a hallway that led to a chamber was also present. Defeating this swarm of skeletons would be a simple task, easy in fact, but how many were there? And how long would it take?

@I-Am-X

Blair's rush for the two that were still transforming paid off as they were slain quite handily, though unfortunately the other one already transformed is quite nimble, and so was able to use this opening to strike at her. Ironically, the monster failed to properly notice the blood golem she had made, and was interrupted before its blow could land clean, giving Blair time to turn on it. Once she dispatches it how she pleases, she was free to proceed into the cellar door these monsters had erupted from.

@EnterTheHero@Lmpkio@Sho Minazuki

Akoni felt himself completely overcome with irritation to the point of complete saturation, and for once with was not the Sage Silas that was the cause. No, Silas actually agreed with Akoni's own thoughts and feelings. The angel in their presence, Kushiel, had completely ignored the old mage's words and sense of caution to instead light the chandelier without a care in the world. In response the area immediately illuminated, a boon and a curse for while visibility no longer hampered the group, it had alarmed their foes. Akoni had half a mind to grab Kushiel by the collar and wring his neck, but that wouldn't help their situation at all. Damn damn damn. That angel had better prove himself to be a force of pure divine retribution, or he might not survive this.

That's when the creatures began to form and attack in vast numbers. Calcium phosphates and collagens collected together in vaguely humanoid forms ready to go on the offense, and Akoni felt his mood shift considerably. "Oh," he utterly in a bored, matter of fact tone. "Skeletons." Well that wouldn't be any sort of a problem, save for the sheer number of the things. Skeletons were infamous for being so low on the totem pole of threats that, frankly, they could be all but ignored in most circumstances. Now there was a different matter, that of the forces spawning the skeletons, for bone could never walk on its own. With a heavy sigh, Akoni moved forward toward their goal, summoning four gates around him in his Tortoise Shell technique. These small fries could be handled by the others. He could literally walk through this army to get where they needed to be.

"I'll find the necromancers responsible," he shot back for Kushiel and Silas. "Come join me or have fun in the bone pit, I don't rightly care either way. Maybe your dogs can have some fun here?"