Rareth quickly moved her fusion cannon to her back as the creatures emerged from the cloud of plasma. Visual scans showed their shells were melting, but not quickly. Its composition appeared to be closer to that of rock than chitin, hence the heat resistance. It would not be immune, but another approach might be more effective, not that there were too many choices for Rareth. By the time her weapon was away, the first creature was already close upon her. 

Rather than run or dodge, Rareth elected to meet her foe head-on. She modulated her shields to their normal state before rushing forward herself at one of the creatures. When the pair met, the sound was like a clash of titans. Metal struck stone, and they both stopped one another in their tracks. To avoid being pushed back, Rareth had to dig her feet into the ground, cracking the stone underneath her and pushing her feet into the cavern floor itself. The stone insect was massive, but so too was Rareth’s strength. 

As they pushed against one another, Rareth gripped the beast’s mandibles from the inside as it tried to close them around Rareth’s head, while she pushed outward to stop them…then start prying them apart. Far from her usual military professionalism, Rareth let out her own bestial roar as she pushed back, then steadily lifted up the insect. It took considerable exertion even for her, but while still gripping its mandibles as handholds, she turned and pushed all of her strength at once into throwing the creature. She sent it through the air and slammed its full weight into a second creature that had tried rushing past her towards the Agent.