Into the Depths: Investigating the Shimmering Shore Tunnels (Group 3)
The adults didn't even make a dent. It just oozed and the petals just shielded the inner... whatever that was. Xina's pupils had started to widen as the ineffectual adults were rammed and thwarted. Xina could almost see herself standing stalk still watching the others around her, a statue of observation, inaction, a pathetic child watching the horrors unfold before her unmoved and numb.
She watched as the doe dropped her flare, picked it up, and then launched herself valiantly at the monstrosity. The doe's shouts reverberating over the sandstone walls woke something up in the young Praetor-Inferos. Her paws were moving and her jaws opening. With a snarl and glazed look, she launched into the fray, digging at the place where the worm met the soil. Her claws dug and scraped to find purchase through the slippery guck. She was attempting to peel away the carapace of the shielded sticky gooey worm and dig and dig and dig into its flesh with a numb madness. If these stupid adults had just done their job instead of playing fucking hero they could have come up with a plan! Her claws would scrape at the soil and slip in the goo as she made to ravage the worm one frantic thrashing bite and digging paws at a time.
"speech"
.: Rated M Character :.
She was a hunter. If even prey could fight back, so could she. Fable's eyes glittered as Lumi launched herself at the worm, and she followed after shortly. Gripping the torch, Fable pressed the burning end of it into the worm's soft underbelly until the flames guttered and hissed. Hopefully that viscous liquid wouldn't snuff it out immediately and allow the torch to do some kind of real damage.
At least now the others were putting a bit more gumption into their attempts to help. Except the deer, Levi would have thought her efforts were noble if he wasn't such…a dick.
"Bit fucking late for that!" Cause even if he let go, he doubted he'd be able to trot off scot-free.
He dug his claws in deeper, attempting to reach up for the flowering shelf of what he assumed to the worm's head. But once he got there, he had no idea what he really ought to do, if he could even do anything.
Gilgamesh's launching attack is only met with thick, protective tendrils that cover up the worm's now revealed mouth. Bouncing off that shield and back onto the dirt floor, he skids back a foot or so. Shoulders hunched, paws splayed, ears flat, eyes glaring upward at the monstrosity that looms over them. Enraged spittle flies through the air, covering his face and back in a shower that felt warm and sticky. Absolutely disgusting. Truly gross, but as he stared, he felt no fear. Even with the others yelling and continuing to try and pummel the beast, Gilgamesh wasn't afraid.
Maybe it was the rock that had collided with the back of his head. Or maybe it was the fact that he was growing older. He wasn't really sure. Possibly it was a combination of things. But standing there, facing the thing of nightmares, all he felt was a fierce protectiveness. If he could kill this thing, it wouldn't be able to go after his family. They could be safe. It had nothing to do with the wolves around him. They could sacrifice themselves all they wanted, but he had to be sure that he did everything to keep those he loved safe. Every moment this fucking thing was alive was another moment they weren't.
He watches for a moment as the doe head butts the worm's exposed belly. The pup clambers away at the dirt at the base of the worm. Fable even presses her fire stick into the soft underbelly of the worm, but he can't see what damage it does in the now even dimmer light. Even the little guy was digging his long talons even deeper into the worm's skin, but that still left one part. Its mouth. That flowery ugly head that still zoned in straight for him. There had to be a weak spot. What if he... pulled a Hercules?
You know. The part in the Disney movie Hercules? Where he fights the hydra, gets swallowed, and then slices the neck open to finally slay it and save the day? Yeah, what if Gilgamesh did that? There would be only one way to find out.
Inhaling deeply, letting it rush out in a whoosh, Gilgamesh surges forward. His heart thunders in his chest, his mouth goes try, his stomach tightens. Everything in him is tensing for what happens next. He would either live or die, there was no turning back. Gil barely registers what's happening around him as he leaps through the air. As he's airborne, he brings up a memory of Modesty. Of the day they met when she fell from the tree atop of him. Seeing her perfect, beautiful, smiling face for the fist time and knowing that she had to be his. The day they had their first litter. How happy and then how torn they had been to lose Jett. The day he was crowned Raid King and formed the Raiders. And every other day since that has led him to this moment. It was safe to say, he would die happy.
I'll always love you. He thinks to himself with tears brimming his eyes. This was it. His front paws land upon the worm's sticky tendrils that are even more frightening up close. Gil aims to be eaten intentionally. If the worm will swallow him whole, he would have a chance to use his fangs to slice through the interior of the worms neck toward the outside and lop off its head. It could work, right?
"speech"
gilgamesh is aggressive, don't trust him
The chaos of the scene only grew with each passing moment, the cavern trembling with the worm's fury. Luminosa skittered forward, adrenaline numbing the trembling of her limbs. The torch she sends flying forward misses its mark, falling and extinguishing as it slides down and into the sticky fluids that pool around the monstrous thing.
Luminosa hopes and prays that her bravery might help save the others.
But she didn't quite make it.
The worm's spiky tendrils lash out at her, faster than she can react, striking Luminosa across the chest with brutal force. The impact knocks her backwards, sending her sprawling. Blood trickles down the right side of her chest where the tendril had struck, sending searing pain across her body.
Even worse, though, was the sense of helplessness that suddenly flooded her.
Gilgamesh surges forward, his movements purposeful. His massive form cuts through the dim light of the cave, charging straight into the worm's twitching maw.
For a moment, everything is frozen and still- the worm's grotesque petals fold inward, and Gilgamesh disappears suddenly inside the parting mouth. Abruptly the slit clamps shut, the worm's body convulsing with the effort required to consume him, its body bulging and writhing against the pressure of his attacks from within.
Gilgamesh is gone.
With a lurch back to give her some extra momentum, Fable holds the breath she'd just taken and attempts to rip a hole straight through the body of the worm. She's frenzied and thoughtless now in the face of the violence she had just witnessed. Survive, survive, survive. Her hunter's instincts had taken over, every analytical part of her brain scattered like helpless prey in the face of an apex predator. Fable snarled, and gnawed, and chewed, and wrenched her head back and forth like a rabid dog as she tried to rip straight through the worm's body.
Still, it wasn't like he wanted anyone to die. No one deserved to be worm food.
Losing his grip, instead of jumping off as was probably the wise thing to do, Levi hooked in his talons and dragged down to slow the descent, hoping to rip up sharp, gaping divots on his way down. He leapt off once he was low enough, his gaze flitting to the others. Oh- it was the Raider, no sight of him.