H×H: 108 Stars of Destiny [IC]

[Andx]

There were moments in Xiu's life where everything seemed to blur together. While aware of the situations she couldn't seem to distinguish them very well afterwards. Her mind had wandered while in the van as it often did. Images of others fighting wolves and a rather fast old man now flashed across her mind. It was strange, almost frightening at times, how these things could escape her so easily. The world felt so false during these periods, as though it could all simply fade away in an instant. Only certain things held on, and these more just thoughts and impressions, usually of the past at that. Many would have been troubled by this state of mental affairs and perhaps Xiu herself was too. But she had so long been accustomed to it that it almost didn't bother her at this point.

 

She had run with the others and the man to another location. And she was handed a badge of sorts. It was a curious thing to her. A simple number and it represented her chance at becoming a hunter. After looking it over she had quickly grasped it firmly. Later she would reflect on the fortunate timing of this act as several contestants had their badges stolen and were informed they would be disqualified as a result.

 

"[glow=green]There's no mercy to be found here.[/glow]" She thought to herself as the next leg of the exam was explained. It was to be a thrilling chase through the woods. The would be hunters were to be the chased and several ninjas the chasers. These ninjas captivated Xiu's mind and despite the fact that they would disqualify her in a heartbeat, she desired to observe them a little longer. But with a mere ten seconds to be had before they began their hunt there wasn't much to be done about things.

 

Despite knowing it was a foolish thing to do, Xiu hung toward the back of the group as the chase began. Speed was one thing she excelled in and could easily have left the bulk of the group behind. But it wasn't every day one encountered real live ninjas and she so longed to see them in action. She had her desire fulfilled rather quickly and narrowly avoided encounters with them herself. Each time was a signal that sooner or later got around to making her run faster to put more people between herself and the ninjas. They were really good at their job too. She didn't often get to see much of them when they captured someone's badge. She clung tightly to her own however, always making sure of it's safety in her hand.

 

Eventually Xiu's path brought her to a wide chasm that needed to be crossed. And it appeared that two different methods of crossing had been attempted and sabotaged as remnants of a flame were still burning. "[glow=green]That certainly complicates matters[/glow]" she said aloud though not to anyone in particular. By this point she had moved herself ahead of the majority of the crowd or at the very least hadn't been caught by ninja's yet. That got her wondering how many were left in the group but that was a distraction and had to move past it quickly. She had a gorge to cross and no readily available bridges.

 

"[glow=green]I think it should be a wonderful time for a sprint![/glow]" She said excitedly. Though really what she had in mind was more of a pole vault involving her trusty staff. Concentrating nen into arms and legs, Xiu took off at an extraordinary pace and at the edge of cliff planted her staff into the ground and attempted to convert as much of that kinetic energy from the sprint as possible into thrust for the jump. It crossed her mind while about halfway across that she didn't know if she was good enough to make this kind of jump but it was far too late at that point. After a rather rough and ungraceful landing and a minute to reflect on the wonderful excitement of it all, Xiu was on her feet on the other side, now a fair bit more tired from the exertion.

 

Another quaint little cabin came into view. The scenery was great for an exam or so Xiu thought. She may well have been the only one concerned with such a thing given the circumstances. She could see what looked like a few other people already ahead of her and didn't see too many others following behind. Everyone was likely taking their own unique twist on the path and Xiu had decided to run rather quickly after crossing the gorge. She saw the man with the long name and title and his wolf ahead. With a new excitement she ran up to the seats prepared and sat down near Alastar and Rexxus. She quickly got to petting the large wolf.

 

"[glow=green]I was hoping you would make it through all of that![/glow]" She said happily to Rexxus, perhaps the only girl to ever be pounced on by a large wolf to still be friendly with it afterward. Looking around Xiu noticed others she'd seen before and even travelled to the first cabin with. Things were certainly underway and she was impressed to have met with such capable examinees before all of this began.

[Raine]

Ozymandius had little warning to his assault. The searing pain of his flesh had left the immediate urgency to find pain but instead left his body feeling the resonating stinging pain from his wounded locations and the numbing effect it was having on his concentration and mind. He had little resistance as the masked crusaders ambushed him and were about to make quick work of Oz and his pity party. Lady Fortune, as kind as she has always been to Oz and both in life and his riveting tales of sexual exploits, remained loyal.

 

Majestically, a hero emerged from the brush much as the moonlight piercing through shroud of sky. He moved graceful and elegantly to intercepted the ne'er-do-wells with promise and redemption in spear. Although, this classic tale of the cavalier riding in would be lacking without a trusting stead and indeed, the mystery gentleman failed to disappoint once more. A beast of razor fangs and eyes that become daggers in the hearts of evildoers found the ninjas wanting and made shift victory with his jaw of steel under the command of his hero in fores-

 

Wait- Back up. Oz took a moment after danger immediately left, and focused on his savior. “No,” whispered Oz, “No. no. no. No, God, please, no!” Oz gestured his disbelief and panic towards the man he now identified as Alaster and his slobbery labradoodle. How could this happen, he thought, what the hell, this is a worse fate than death! “You can’t save me! I can’t owe you my life! Did I disturb an ancient burial ground in a past life!?”

 

His words were unheard. Just as mysteriously as he arrived, Alaster was gone. “At least buy me dinner first!” Oz screamed into the jungle after him. Goddamn it! Now he owed the fourth worst person he wanted to be in debt to. Fortunately, it wasn’t a gambling debt so he might be able to wiggle out to something reasonable. Oz resumed his path towards the cabin, thinking about how he’d get Alaster a Starbucks or something and hope that goes over well and definitely not thinking about how his dog would be a great chick magnet. He was NOT thinking about, he assured himself. On a side note, Oz was more careful of ambushes for the remainder of the walk.

 

The cabin was a rather odd place. However, Oz supposed that many places or events that take place after death and hurt of any level or severity would always carry an odd tint. The specific tint could be seen already; particularly the rose-colored tint on the eyes of his humble hero, Alaster, who was in the midst of celebrating the victors’ antics like they placed gold. Oz motioned his way through the crowds, making sure he patted Alaster’s shoulder at least once and gave a serious, “Thanks.” He cringed for every moment of the .5 second gesture but it felt he had to because, well, he liked having his life saved.

 

Sniper-freak was here too, but he was consumed with flirting with some red-head. “Not terrible taste, Turban,” he whispered to himself before immediately realizing that the red-head was male. Oz didn’t know he was gay, “good for you, Turnip”, he whispered again to himself. Leafeon and Molestation Victim #1 were having their own private time exchanging gifts, something something trident, he guessed. Shit! He did that. Oz tried to slip away from their sights unnoticed and fade back into the crowds of victors. He sat next to a napping girl; he finally found someone here wouldn’t yell at him for handing around… because she was unconscious. Sweet! Oz began some primitive treatment of his wounds as he leaned against the wall and observed the cabin as the remainder trickled in. It was as an unusual lot as the first back at base camp; a cat came in… he thinks, honestly after the fire horse Oz stopped caring. Someone was petting Rexasaurus without concern for rabies, Oz made mental note of the brave soul, and another groupie from sky tower wandered in. It’s like, out of all 500, everyone from sky tower and their grandmothers passed this test with flying colors, something weird was going on!!!

[Aix]

"Ah! Thank you!" said Anemone, taking the trident. She paused. "I'm glad it was of use to you... Lettess." She looked at him, and looked around, realizing that all of the people she had met at the Skytower had made it, even that one mushroom-haired guy who now seemed to be trying to avoid her for some reason. "Everyone passed... oh, well there seems to be two hundred or so less people." From what she had overheard on her way here, usually less than 5 people make it each year, and she wondered what sort of things lay ahead.
[divider1]
"Ah! Good of you to keep me company!" exclaimed Jack, smiling appreciatively at the boy who dared approach him. He always used Zetsu so none of bloodthirst leaked out, so he wondered if this boy sat here unaware of the danger. Then, he realized it was the exact opposite, this boy seemed to be here exactly because Jack was dangerous. Turning his gaze to the sniper rifle Torben carried, his smile turned considerably colder. "It seems you and I have something in common."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"Ah! Good of you to keep me company!" Torben nodded amicably. It seemed that this man didn't see past Torben's friendly exterior. That should make things easier.

Except...After glancing at Torben's rifle the man's demeanor changed. "It seems you and I have something in common."

Torben felt cold. In part because he realized that his act had failed horribly. But also because this ruthless killer had just put Torben on the same level as him. It was even worse, however, since Torben could feel the similarities himself.

 

"What me? Nah not at all!" Torben exclaimed, deigning to keep the friendly face for now. Though inside he struggled to keep his disgust in check. "I'm not like you in the slightest. Just a simple man with a big gun. I'm not the type to be able to kill as...er, blatantly as you. That was some impressive skills you showed off to everyone earlier." Torben leaned in "Tell you the truth I don't think I could kill like that. Probably could manage it if it was someone really, really, bad though. But don't mind me just trying some small talk. I'm sure you know what you're doing much better than I."

Torben outwardly relaxed back into his seat. "It's funny, was able to make it up here without having to kill a single person. I'm sure your trip was a lot more bloody. Boy I wish I could have been there to see it, through this scope of course."  Torben patted his sniper rifle. "No need to get too close after all."

Torben wasn't sure the not-so-subtle threat was a good idea. But this man pissed him off more than anything and he was having troubles not trying to put a bullet in him right there.

[Love of Ghibli]

Lettess was enthused that he actually got the trident back to its original owner. He felt like he did good work there. Lettess looked around and noticed how many people actually made it through the first round of the Hunter's Exam. What he didn't know was that there were actually multiple rounds. Something the person training him in Nen conveniently forgot to actually mention. Therefore he just stood around looking foolish wondering what to do? Clearly the ninjas were probably mopping up the stragglers on the outside. So it wasn't likely that the people who were left were going to be making it. As he looked around he noticed that Alaster and Rexxus made it into the cabin. Actually everyone from the Skytower's summit made it. He waved a childish wave towards Alister and his pet from across the cabin not really sure if they could see him, but still Lettess was happy. In fact Lettess made the assumption that he actually contributed a small portion to everyone's victory. While some of the people he fought outside were strong he just didn't feel they were the same level of Hunter material as his friends. Fun fact he doesn't even no what it means to have hunter material.

[Aix]

The sides of Jack's mouth started to twitch, they curled up and Jack broke into an all out laugh. This guy was funny, wasn't he? The red-haired assassin wasn't sure if he was laughing at the little man's unwarranted bluster or his brutal naivety. The kid said he could shoot them if they were bad! Was he so pretentious to think that he could decide who was "good" or "bad" and who did or didn't deserve to die? Or was he just another little boy in a big world, wishing to play Hero? Jack had seen quite a few of these people, and they made excellent toys. He put up another friendly smile and patted Torben on the back. "I see, I will be sure to keep an eye on you as well," he said, lifting his Zetsu for a moment to give everyone nearby another taste of his unbridled bloodthirst. "Your name, boy? I am known as Jack Whitechapel."

[divider1]
Anemone froze at the catgirl's words and panic spread across her face. However, she quickly fixed her expression and turned casually to face the speaker. "Ah, yes, I'm a good ways from home. I'm from a fishing village in the country of Nozama. It's a small island nation," Anemone said, raising her trident. "Quite perceptive aren't you? This trident is native to that area. It's used for fishing, but of course, it can be quite a deadly weapon against people as well." She got quite a bit more talkative than usual in an attempt to smooth things over, and she felt herself sweating a bit. It then struck her that she may have come off as suspiciously open, or maybe, as a cat, this girl could detect Anemone's true origins. This wasn't good. Fortunately, before anything would ensue, the examiner for the next phase of the Hunter Exam stepped forwards.

[divider1]
"Now, if all examinees would follow me!" A white-haired man stood up, dropping his cigarette onto the ground and quashing it. The tight fit of his turtle-neck sweater belayed his powerfully muscular form, and he released an suffocating aura of intimidation by habit, as when he faced off various man-eating beasts. "Our destination is only a hundred meters away."

Two hundred odd people followed him out again, and down until they reached a cave opening only about five meters wide and three meters high. "Pardon me for not introducing myself," said the man. "I am Lyval, a Beast Hunter, and your examiner for Phase 2 of the Hunter Exam. Naturally, my exam will involve a very close encounter with nature."

He stepped aside and put a hand towards the cave. "This area has a large cave complex that has an entirely different set of flora and fauna to that above ground," he said. "The second most dangerous animal in this area is the Manticore Spider, a rather grotesque creature that leaves the caves at night to hunt, but is not disinclined to eating any unfortunate Hunters who wander into its lair. Quite easily identifiable due to it having a legspan of up to three meters and bearing a human-like face as well as primitive speech capabilities hindered by its large teeth. Due to the separation from above-ground climates, it can lay eggs year-round. Your objective is to return to the cabin with an egg within a twelve hour period. I will take your egg there, and declare your pass. There are no other rules."

He paused, and proceeded almost as an afterthought. "Oh, and female spiders tend to lay eggs within two hours of eating a meal. Be sure not to get lost... and if you do, make sure to hold onto your exam badge, it contains a tracking device which we can use to retrieve you after twelve hours have passed."

A small truck rolled in, driven by a female Hunter, dressed in a similar fashion to the man. "I have flashlights in the trunk, if anyone needs them," she said, coming out of the vehicle. "Please only grab one, we have limited supply, after all."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The crazy man was laughing. Torben of course knew he was out of his league here but he didn't care. He would find some way of bringing this monster down if he continued on the path he was going. Torben was perfectly fine being seen as the underdog.

"I see, I will be sure to keep an eye on you as well," Of course, that was just how Torben preferred it. Keep his eyes off anyone else and maybe he could prevent a few more unneeded deaths.

Torben shuddered as he felt the man's blood-thirst full on. Torben was right about this one...and just how right was soon revealed. "Your name, boy? I am known as Jack Whitechapel."

The knowledge struck Torben to the bone. That was who this was? Of all people, him? Torben had heard many names of many killers during his time as an assassin and this was one of the worst. Too late to back out now, this knowledge only strenghtened his resolve.

Trying to hide the fact he recognized the name Torben grinned. "Torben Orbus is the name, good to make your acquaintance Jack. It's alright if I call you Jack right? Jack's a nice name, easy to say too." He doubted Jack would recognize Torben's name, however if it did it might just make it easier to keep the killer's focus on him.

Torben didn't have a death wish of course. He would do his hardest to live through the exams, and Jack, and go on to be a hunter. But he couldn't bring himself to just sit by when someone like that was around. Not after the death that he's seen.

 

[divider1]

 

Some time later a man came to address everyone and told them to follow. He seemed a powerful man, it was reassuring knowing someone like him was around.

They arrived at a cave, and were told their next exam. And egg hunt. A very deadly and dangerous egg hunt. Torben glanced at his rifle and sighed. This could be tricky. A single shot could bring the entire spider swarm on him. He'd have to be extra careful. He hadn't had time to grab all his equipment when he left and the silencer still lay under his bed. And even that would make some noise in a confined space like a cave.

 

He accepted the flashlight from the female Hunter, though he wasn't sure he'd use it. His eyes adjusted well to the dark and he didn't want to give his position away so easily.

 

Torben headed into the dark cave. There were many passages to choose and not much of an indication of which would be right. Keeping track of every step he took he proceeded forward.

While he did he debated. Should he try to take an egg directly from a spider? Or wait for someone to get one and take that for himself? The only thing holding him back from the latter was the thought that neutralizing another exam taker would likely lead them to becoming a meal for the spiders.

 

Things were so much easier when he could forget his morals...Looks like he'd be doing this the hard way.

[Maeriberii Haan]

Celia's nen had washed her fatigue away from her fast enough for her to return to her usual prime condition after a short sleep, just in time for the examiner to arrive and talk about the next part of the exam, even. The mission, taking eggs from the giant spider that roamed the area, didn't sound as bad as what she expected, though there's also that fact that complete darkness would be a pain in the ass to handle.

 

Oh right, she still had the bird meat from yesterday. That would definitely really help her.

 

Picking up one of the flashlights from the female hunter's truck, Celia then rushed into the pitch black cavern without thinking more about it, hoping that she could get an egg as fast as she could.

 

Then again, knowing her luck, she would probably get sabotaged or screwed over later, then eaten or worse, she could even get....

 

"Let's not think about that."

[Astolfo]

A little while back…
Malnova and her younger sister were one of the first at the cabin, just a short while after the red-haired slaughterer, who seemed to have simply materialized here. Staying concealed in the shadows though so others wouldn't notice, the two of them watched as people filed in, sitting on various benches. When a white-haired man seemed to be the next guide, they blended into the crowd as they followed the mass to the caves. Upon hearing of the next trial, she considered how to best solve it, looking to her younger sister, wordlessly conversing and nodding for a few moments. “Legspan of three meters means the creature is probably at least between one to two meters tall, given the legs almost certainly wouldn't be fully extended, because that would make it hard to travel. Similarly, having legs that long means the body is most likely proportional to the rest of its size, meaning the creature is fairly massive. Thoughts, sis?” In a heartbeat, Iom offered up two detailed plans that showcased just how much she cared for humans. "We could capture some humans or other once we're inside the caves and then throw them to the Manticore Spider. If it goes for the treat, we can try to sneak past it, if not, I can go ahead and shatter the ground and try breaking a few of its legs. If I get snatched up by some web or other, you'll be there to help me out. Once we manage to get to the eggs, I'll go and crush as many as I can before we take one and get out of the spider's nest. Or for the second plan, we can follow people along and then hunt down those who manage to collect an egg and then cut them up or something so that the spiders can have a compensation treat. After all, I heard that those critters lay eggs two hours after a meal. They can make a new egg if we do this for them." Judging from the expression on her face though, Iom could care less about the spider and whatever "compensation" it may or may not get.

A ruthless smile snuck across Malnova's face when she heard of the vicious plan. Flashing a thumbs up, she ruffled Iom's hair slightly. When the man continued, she listened attentively. “If we have time, we could try feeding people and then catching the egg two hours later, but this is going to take a while, so we should try our first plan. It's a good plan, little sis'. Filthy useless humans could at least help doing something, even if it's just becoming food. We're not going to need the retrieval either, because we're here to win.”

When a woman came in a van holding flashlights, Iom slid through the crowd along with her older sister. While the younger sister created a diversion by seemingly tripping and pushing several people away, Malnova used sleight of hand to grab a handful of said flashlights, tucking them away inside various pouches and pockets, and then crushing any that would simply restrict their progress to bits. With a hand signal, the two sisters rejoined as one, before gliding into the cave.
[divider1]Inside the caves…
Of course, it would be a completely foolish decision to give away their positions with something as obvious as a beam of light. It would make whichever idiot who decided to do that both a target for the spider and for their fellow Hunters - not all of them being as moral as a certain Torben. As Iom stood on guard with her senses heightened to prepare for anything, Malnova calmly breathed. [glow=#B00072]“En.”[/glow] Without the slightest disturbance, her aura flew outwards, reaching around 45m. Malnova was skilled at battle, certainly. However, her strongest suit was subterfuge, camouflage, detection, sabotage, and all the other wonderfully dark things that involved manipulation from behind the scenes. As such, En was one of her strongest techniques as of current.

Malnova felt the multiple presences around her, including her sister, as well as a [acronym="Torben, Celia, NPCs, and a few of whoever else comes first within the general entrance region."]few others[/acronym] Besides the humans, she felt various small critters and plants. Most importantly however, she could detect two important things. First of all, the general surroundings around her and how the cave's insides were shaped, with various tunnels and the like. Second of all, she could also tell that there was nothing like a spider here, at least none of the kind that was important. After getting the basic image, Malnova cut off her usage of En, as not to waste her aura needlessly. Taking Iom's hand, the two sisters followed deeper into the cave via [acronym="At least one or two other people going down this tunnel could be nice, so there's at least some possible chance of interaction."]one of the tunnels[/acronym].

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Both wolf and man were happy to see the green-haired girl safe again, though Rexxus was the one to make it the most apparent.  As she began petting him, the wolf set his head nicely on her lap and began wagging his tail as he just enjoyed the sensation.  Alaster decided to let his friend enjoy himself for a little while, and looked about the room to properly examine everyone.  In response to Oz's thanks, he simply nodded.  Right now, he decided since no one seemed interested in properly celebrating, he might as well just take a moment to relax.

 

"Well, since no one wants to celebrate, I guess we'll just have to go even harder on that once we're all done here."  He chuckled to himself, before looking back over at Xiu.  Rexxus, in the mean time, had shifted about so he was now laying across the girl's lap.  "It's good to see you safe as well, Xiu."  The young nobleman shot her a smile, and decided to ignore the discussion going on between the Sniper and the red-haired fellow.  No real sense in getting in on that now, especially since it seemed that the next phase of the exam was beginning.  The nobleman collected his spear, stood up, and was quickly followed by Rexxus who leaped off the girl's lap with care taken not to harm her.  Even though the pup didn't always know his own strength, he managed more often than not to be careful enough not to hurt a friend.

 

As the examinees were lead to the cave and their task explained, Alaster's excitement became quite obvious.  This was what he'd wanted to become a hunter to do!  Go off to interesting places and hunt down all manner of strange and wondrous creatures!  He practically ran to the head of the group to grab a flashlight when they were presented, checked to make sure it was working, and practically ran into the cave.  Of course he only ran the first little ways in, followed closely behind by Rexxus, to make sure he got far enough ahead that he could vanish into the darkness and avoid too much early conflict with the other examinees.  Instead of immediately activating his Flashlight, he tried something different.  First, both he and Rexxus used Zetsu to trap their auras within their bodies and make their discovery by that method more difficult.  Furthermore, it also made them more sensitive to the auras of other living creatures and thus would allow them to zero in on the spiders relatively easily.  Of course, as he well knew, finding the spiders was likely the easy part of the this trial.  All the same, the two did their best to move carefully and quietly through the cavern.

 

The next thing done was for Alaster to bring some of that trapped aura up into his eyes to enhance their capabilities, letting him make it so that the little light in that cave system was enough for him to use while it was available.  Following that, Rexxus set about putting that powerful nose of his to work.  Normally it might require something that already had the Spiders' scent to find them that way, but given how much of the cave floor was covered in scent trails it was not especially difficult to work out which smells were the spiders and which ones weren't.  Using those scent trails as a guide, the wolf took the lead in the situation as they made their way deeper into the cavern.

[Tesability Black]

(That Beast Hunter looks a little too much like the white-haired version of...)

 

The large beast did not know what a 'flashlight' was, and therefore did not grab one before pawing its way into the caverns, placing its badge into the double-backpack over its sides for the time-being to free its mouth.

 

Letting out a yawn, it snapped the very-tip of its whip-arm to create a minor flame, allowing it to create a fair bit of light around itself to see with. He knew he would be helping others see as well, but he did not have issues with this as long as others did not try to interfere with his own test in a negative way. Twitching his ears as he moved forward into the cave, the beast kept its ears and eyes open, as well as its nose, in order to keep on guard for any sudden strikes towards himself as it scurried into one of the caverns at a brisk jog, the area around him heated slightly as he did.

 

(Incoming FireFox! *dodges brick*)

[Love of Ghibli]

It appeared that Alaster and Rexxus did not notice his wave as they proceeded about on their own when the the next exam proctor came forth. Lettess was a little intrigued at the news that there was more exams to actually participate in. Well I guess it wouldn't be that exclusive if more than 200 people were able to pass and make it through the exam each year. However Lettess was a little slow to actually grab one of the flashlights and enter the cave. Caves were never good and they gave him a series of bad memories. His older brothers and sisters used to always play pranks on each other during their food honor training. Those weren't the best of times.

Neverthless he had a goal that he needed to accomplish and as such he made way into the darkness. He wasn't using any Nen techniques as to conserve energy. He had been a little liberal with his use of Nen techniques lately. As he was encroached by darkness he felt the odd chill of murderous intent. This wasn't an uncommon sensation to feel from animals who were hunting their prey. However, at this particular time it reminded him of that red haired person from earlier. He was certainly a dark individual...but then again he couldn't be a total monster. Everyone has some redeeming qualities.

As he delved deeper into the caves he noticed a very bright light which was clearly to bright to be a flash light. As he got closer he noticed it was a different kind of animal. This one had a flaming tail. COOOOOLLL!! Lettess shouted purely by incident as he quickly put his hands over his mouth hopefully not to startle the creature.

[Aix]

Anemone grabbed a flashlight since everyone else seemed to be grabbing one, and looked at the girl who seemed to be insisting on being with her. Hopefully, she would be able to swear this girl into secrecy if they became friends, or something like that. And friends were nice, or something. "The spider probably lays more than one egg, so teaming up shouldn't be a problem," she said, with a hand on her chin in cogitation. Then she glanced back at the girl. "Even so, you better pull your weight." She wasn't sure why she had the urge to be arrogant like that. Maybe from the primal fear deep inside of becoming food.
 
Anemone turned and was about to dash into the cave when she realized something. She turned back to the catgirl and held up the flashlight, slightly abashed. "Uh, how do I use this?"
 
[divider1]
Jack pondered the contents of the exam for a moment and asked the examiner. "Is this the only way out of the cave?"

The muscular, white-haired man glanced at him and turned his attention back to the cigarette he had just lit. "I have no reason to answer that."

"Man, don't be so cold," said Jack, walking over to him. At that moment, the air seemed to drop ten degrees as a chilly aura seeped through the air. He stretched his arm over and put it around the examiner's shoulders. The two of them faced off for a moment in that awkward position when suddenly the examiner smacked Jack's hand away and leaped back. Jack held up his hand and smiled. The veins in his fingers were bulging, the muscles had swelled, and the nails and become elongated and sharp as knives. Suddenly, they reverted to normal. "You would make an excellent prey."

"Touch me again, and you're disqualified," Lyval said coolly.

"Killjoy," Jack whined, before sitting down where he was. "I don't care for crawling around in caves so I was just going to sit here and wait. I was just hoping for a little diversion to pass the time."

[divider1]
A scream broke the air as the most eager of examinees came upon the first spider's nest. Met with a two meter wide arachnid, with a grotesque nightmarish face, he nearly wet his pants as he turned tail and ran. There was a disgusting sound as the spider suddenly shot a glob of web at the poor man. Leaping forwards with its incredibly powerful legs, it landed before his immobilized figure and bit into him, sending paralyzing venom through his body before it began to drag him back.

Someone was about to help him, but realized it was too late. At that moment he remembered the examiner's words, of how a spider tended to lay eggs after it had eaten and begun to digest its food. He crept over and began to wait.

[divider1]
With the rumble of two hundred footsteps clamoring deeper and deeper into the cave, something in the deepest recesses of the cave awoke. Notably, Lyval on the surface narrowed his eyes for a moment, a gesture which Jack no doubt caught. As a top-class Beast Hunter, his instincts and ability to sense the Nen of creatures was unparalleled. There was something special about this cave system. All of the tunnels were relatively uniform in size, very unnatural for a natural rock formation. With only the slightest sound, the beast began to move. It was very deep underground, but its prey was coming towards it, and it was going up to meet them.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The boy and the wolf were among the first to know that others had reached the spiders, thanks to Rexxus' enhanced sense of hearing and their increased sensitivity to Nen.  Good, that gave them an idea of where the nest was located.  Moving about as softly and quietly as they could, they crept along through the tunnel to reach their goal.  This of course slowed their progress, but would also make them less obvious targets for the spiders.  That was the hope at least.  A hope which was soon to be proven false, as Rexxus gave a frantic bark and shared his thoughts with Alaster at such speed they were almost indecipherable.

 

"Rexxus that's impo-" if it weren't for his friend knocking his legs out from under him at that exact moment, the young nobleman would have found himself struck by a spray of silk from the creature into whose nest they had gone.  Swearing, and realizing that Zetsu was useless to avoid detection from these creatures at this point, the two of them allowed their auras to flow around their bodies once more.  Alaster himself put special emphasis on his eyes by flooding them with Nen, and essentially granted himself the ability to use the exceptionally faint amount of light there was in the cavern that deep to see.

 

It wasn't a pretty sight either, before him was a creature straight out of his nightmares.  A giant spider, easily as large as a full-grown dire wolf, covered in what seemed to be an impossible amount of hair and patterns that hurt the eyes simply to look at.  Worst of all was the distorted human face, which could have passed for a beautiful woman were it not for the fact that it had far too many eyes and its mouth was filled with a disgusting amount of razor-sharp teeth.  The creature stared at the two of them with a hunger in its eyes that told them both it thought of them as prey.  Alaster reached to grab the spear that had been knocked from his hands when Rexxus had saved him.

 

The two barely had time to move out of the way as the beast rushed them, letting out a guttural cry that almost sounded like a human word.  Unfortunately, the Nobleman could not make out any meaning in it.  The two leaped to either side of the tunnel, smacking against the walls as they made way for the beast to pass them in the cramped quarters.  Unfortunately as it rushed past it shook its abdomen at them and showered them in its hairs which were, unfortunately, akin to Porcupine Quills in form.  Though both managed to avoid getting any in their eyes, thank the maker, they still found them sticking into a few places.  Rexxus was slightly worse off than his companion, his hide hadn't quite reached the thickness and strength of Alaster's leather armor like it would when he was older.  All the same, the two managed to recollect themselves as the beast rounded on them in preparation for another attack.

 

This time when it sprayed its silken web, Alaster was ready for it.  He leaped to the side of it, avoiding being stuck to the wall but unfortunately ending up directly in the path of the creature's lunge.  Thankfully, Rexxus managed to grab hold of one of its legs in his powerful jaws.  Chitin cracked and crunched, and the appendage was torn away in the company of a pained cry from the beast while Alaster thrust his spear into the beast's thorax.  Its cry grew in volume after that, but even though it was quite wounded at this stage it was hardly down for the count.

[Maeriberii Haan]

[hr]

 

“…Ugh, this place smells horrid.”

 

Complaining, Celia walked through the dark cavern alone, with only the not-even-bright flashlight she got from the examiner as her guide during her walk through the tunnel. At times, she could sense the movement of what might be the spiders, the other creatures, or maybe the other participants of the exams, but she couldn’t really discern about what exactly were those things that she sensed, though she quite hoped that it was just the spiders.

 

Celia realized quite earlier when she started entered the tunnels that it would be almost impossible for her to sneak behind a spider, since she heard that they can sense Nen, and her overwhelmingly overflowing Nen would make it impossible for them not to detect her presence. For now, her plan was simple to draw the spiders to the lump of eagle meat she was carrying and hope they would get satisfied enough to start laying eggs. Well, that would apply if she met a female spider, of course. With her not understanding giant spider’s anatomy well, there’s no way she could determine whether a spider was male or female. Giving the lump of meat to a male would completely be a waste.

 

Celia picked up her smartphone from her pocket. Well, not so surprising for her, there’s no signal inside of the cave, but she was not going to use it for something like that anyway right now. There’s just, something else that she wanted to do.

 

Stopping for a bit and finding a clean place to sit down, Celia then dug through her backpack, and withdrew a simple headset from it. It’s…pretty unwise to block her hearing with music during this exam, but Celia needed something to liven up things when she’s still alone in the tunnel.  She plugged in the headset’s jack into her smartphone, and then, she chose the music that she wanted to hear from it while she placed the headset on her ears.

 

“Alright, now it’s time to keep pushing forward!”

 

With a lively music on her ears, Celia rose from her position, packed her belongings, and went on and rushed deeper and deeper into the dark cavern enthusiastically.

She was completely unaware that several sets of eyes were watching her closely from the darkness.

 

[divider1]

 

“Dammit, am I really lost inside of this place now?”

 

Had it been one hour? Two? Celia wasn’t really sure. The darkness kind of made her lose track of time. She had pulled back her smartphone and headset back into her pocket, as it was apparent to her that she’s running out of battery for it. With her now being able to hear her surrounding properly again, she realized something was moving not really far from her. It was definitely not a sound a human would made, and her mind immediately went back to what the examiner had said earlier.

 

“He said that the second most dangerous beast here is the Manticore Spider, right? The one that we need to steal an egg from?

 

I wonder what the first actually is.” She said that a bit thoughtlessly, not really worrying much about the things that she had just said, or the thing that followed her. She was quite sure that if it’s really just a Manticore Spider that was following her, she could simply fry it from the inside if necessary. Giant spiders shouldn’t really be a problem to her, physically at least. That was what she thought. With that in her mind, she continued her walk, expecting the spider to attack anytime-

 

“W-wait, what?”

 

Without her expecting it, she suddenly felt a soft sting on her legs, and in the next second, she couldn’t even feel her legs as she fell to the ground, hitting it face-first. Paralyzing venom was the first thing in her mind, but she had no idea that the spider could do that from afar. Releasing the load from her back, she then turned around with great effort to check her legs’ condition, but before she could even do that, a smiling, human-like face became apparent on her sight.

 

[divider1]

 

Celia was completely dirty and ragged, she smelled completely gross, and she still felt immense pain coming from the lower parts of her body. It could’ve been an hour since her completely unfortunate encounter with the manticore spider that was now lying dead in front of her; a hole existed in where its face should have been, and Celia was still sitting there in a fetal position, as she stared emptily to the corpse in front of her, not looking like she had any intent to continue moving forward at the moment. She was still shaken from what had just happened between her and the manticore spider, especially as she had no idea that the giant spider could have that kind of behavior.

 

Her Nen had helped her recover faster from the paralyzing venom thankfully, ejecting it and all other questionable substances out of her body from her wounds. Right now, she should really be able to move forward again, if she was willing to. Though…

 

“Though what? Why do you think of that Celia? Dammit me, I shouldn’t let things like this stop me!

As long as my mind’s not broken, I’ll push this body forward!

 

Move! I still have an exam to pass!”

 

Quickly shifting from her shaken expression into a more determined one, Celia walked towards where she had dropped her backpack and pile of meat earlier. She definitely would continue to go deeper into the cavern, and no matter how many stupid spiders stood in her way, she wouldn’t let it stop her to take an egg and return to the surface.

 

“Well, at least now I know the difference between male and female Manticore Spiders.

 

Though I guess before I continue, I need to change my clothes first.

 

No way in hell I’m going to the surface with me looking as messy as this.”

 

[divider1]

 

“What’s with all these male spiders coming after me anyway? Can I get some of the female ones too?”

 

Celia pushed away another spider’s cooked husk away from her. It was the fourth so far, and the tendency for her to attract male spiders to her instead of female ones that she needed to finish the mission really annoyed her. The incident from earlier had been all but forgotten by her, and after that unfortunate event, she had been multiplying her effort in dispatching the incoming spiders before they could gain the initiative in assaulting her. One time of her being caught off-guard was enough. No way in hell she would let another spider get ahold of her again.

 

Saying that, Celia still had no idea on how she’d grab an egg from the mother spiders without screwing herself over. It was clear at that point that the eagle meat she brought didn’t attract the spiders at all, and they’re more drawn to a moving target like her for one or more reasons. According to her barely-alive smartphone, it had been a bit more than four hours since she went inside the cave complex. According to her simple-ish math, she would only have two hours left to find the egg, otherwise she wouldn’t have enough time to get outside in time.

 

Well, that was if she didn’t get lost on her way out.

 

Still, there’s no reason for her to be skeptical about that right now, and with her thinking that she sensed presences of what might be spiders not really too far from her, she could feel that she was closer and closer towards an egg. It also helped that her body stopped aching right now (despite the wounds from earlier had not really healed well), which improved her overall mood at that moment as she marched on forward merrily.

 

Though, as it was already a given for the completely unlucky girl, what waited her beyond the darkness of the cave was something far more than what she expected.

 

[hr]

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The young boy from before had stumbled upon Torben. He seemed to be stressed, and muttering something into a phone. When he spotted Torben he came over and asked to join him. He looked extremely nervous about it, and Torben had a weird feeling by the way he acted that someone put him up to it.

Torben wasn't about to turn him down even so however. "Sure, the more the merrier after all!" He said, laying the cheerfulness on extra thick to try and calm the poor boy, whose name Torben discovered was Valentine.

"Okay so here's the plan." From what he could tell, this boy was nimble and seemed fairly athletic. Torben didn't want to put him in unnecessary danger but there was no helping it. "When we find one of these beasties, I'll lay into her with my rifle and you get in and grab us a couple eggs while it's hurt." The boy agreed readily. He certainly seemed the type used to taking orders.

Torben handed Valentine some ear plugs, mentioning to put them in before he started to fire. The noise, especially in a cave like this, would be nearly deafening without the ear plugs.

And so the two set out to find themselves a mother spider.

 

[divider1]

 

It took a couple hours searching, but the pair managed to find their way towards a spider. By following the screams. It seemed that some of the other examinees had went ahead without any plan and were surprised to find this led them to a painful end.

Torben watched the creature finishing its meal with disgust. These things seemed...wrong. It wasn't just the human-like faces, though that was a factor, but something else Torben couldn't quite put his finger on.

No matter, they had been lucky enough to find a female, if the eggs were any indication. Torben looked at Valentine and nodded. The two examinees placed the ear plugs in, and Valentine got ready to run.

Torben took careful aim. He wasn't sure a shot would kill one of these things outright, but he had to at least make it hurt enough to distract it from Valentine.

One shot. Valentine took off towards the eggs. The beast shrieked in pain and reared back.

Two shots. Valentine reached the eggs, as the creature tried to locate the source of the agony.

Three shots. Valentine had the eggs in his hand, and headed back towards Torben. The spider still was standing, though it looked like it wouldn't last much longer.

Four shots. Torben reached out and took and egg from Valentine, and they both ran off, leaving the spider to whatever fate had in store for it.

 

Torben gestured to Valentine to follow him, he had memorized the path they took. It might not be the fastest way out but he knew it was A way out and that's all that mattered. They had the eggs, and would hopefully reach the exit before anything intercepted them.

[Love of Ghibli]

It seemed that the fire beast didn't actually notice Lettess which was probably a good thing. Nevertheless he was slightly disappointed. So he took another turn down some random cave to see if he could have some better kind of adventure. He wasn't really uncomfortable in the dark, but more like he didn't really like the whole having to fight giant evil spiders part of this phase of the exam. Hopefully he would simply be able to walk up to one of the beast and simply run away with an egg. He was pretty proud of his speed. 

After some random searching he could he the massive non-human violent screams echo down the location that he had came down. That means a spider is going down. PERFECT he shouted. Hopefully whoever took it down wouldn't mind sharing in the spoils of their victory. It took him a minute to actually make it to the scene. Unfortunately he didn't arrive on the scene of a defeated beast, it was an injured beast. As he peered down the cave he noticed that the massive spider was being dealt with by Alaster and Rexxus. So far it seemed that they managed to actually do some severe damage to the creature, but the creature wasn't down for the count. Lettess immediately went into battle mode. He had pulled out his two butcher knives as he knew cooking this beast wasn't going to be a gentle and painless process at all. 

As the spider readied itself for another assault Lettess quickly ran and jumped off the side of the wall and launched himself at the spider. He proceeded to bounce around the cave like a ball slicing the spider in rapid succession. As it screamed once again trying to deal with the vast assortment of cuts that were mysteriously appearing all over the creature. Lettess kept this up as a way to by time for Alaster to help out his dog friend from being stuck.

[Tesability Black]

Being referred to as 'cool' was indeed noticed, indicated by a flick of an ear behind himself at the odd choice of word. It was a bad thing to be cold, so why was he being referred to as such?

As he place paw after paw in front of each other, moving forward through the cavern system as he did with the lit tip of the whiparm lighting the way, he kept his ears and nose open for anything that may try to suddenly show up on him. Most would try to block their appearance from view and occasionally also block out what sounds they make, but most don't think to block out or mask their scent.

The beast found one of the spiders that he was supposed to 'steal' an egg from, though the thought of theft disturbed the creature. Instead, he was more-hoping to barter with it, maybe come to an arrangement that could benefit them both.

"Stay away from my children or become my dinner, firebeast," he heard hissed at him, though only the hound would have understood the spider's hissed words.

"I only need one egg, then you would hopefully never have to see me again," it barked in response, creating a counterpoint post-haste. The mother spider cautiously approached the hound, who did not move back, but did move the flame behind him as to not burn her by mistake.

"Why should I give you even one of my children, creature," she growled in her native tongue, watching the oddly-calm fox with her multiple eyes.

"I wish not to fight or harm you or any of your children, both born and not. But if you interfere with my task, I will be forced to." With narrowed eyes did the mother spider study the creature, thoughts running through her head for a moment before she reopened her maw to speak.

"If you wish for one of my eggs, you must do something for me."

"That is, ma'am?"

"Bring me one of the others in the caves so I can feed my children when they hatch. Then, you can have one of my precious eggs." He found himself in heavy thought about this, the prospect of having to possibly end one of the others early didn't appeal to him, but he did not wish to make hostilities where he could in as many places as possible...

A sigh leaving his muzzle, the red creature trotted off to search for a prime target to knock out and present to this particular spider...

(He's going for an NPC prospect, don't worry about the Armagnis taking out one of you guys.)

[Maeriberii Haan]

[hr]

 

"Damn, of all time the battery chose to die...

 

Why now?"

 

As if her current condition could get any worse, Celia's flashlight went off at the worst timing, when she was struggling to find the nests of the spiders on the cave. Celia sighed as the darkness crept on and on around her, until she could pretty much see nothing aside from pure blackness. The only upside was that she's currently completely alone in the sea of nothingness that surrounded her, no spiders or other creatures or contestants were around at the moment.

 

After stumbling blindly for a while, Celia managed to find a wide enough place where she could rest and try finding a way to get some light back so she could actually function in the middle of the deep darkness. She struggled to open her backpack, and tried to find a battery or a spare flashlight or a candle inside of the bag, but much to her chagrin, she could only find a lighter.

 

"Uh, I think I do have a candle here.

 

Where the hell did I put it?"

 

She went deeper and deeper on her search for the candle or battery, but she didn't really find anything worth a damn inside, and now the stuffs on her bag were messed up and scattered, and with the darkness, there's no hope for her to tidy them up.

 

"Guess I just try hoping for someone to come and hitch a ride with them?

 

Ugh, this is a pain."

 

It was then she could feel the presence of a source of...light? Whatever it was, it was moving slowly towards her direction. Celia believed that it could be another participant of the exam, and if that's the case, she'd be saved. Though, she couldn't be so sure about it, and she packed her lighter and picked up a kitchen knife from her bag, and prepared herself to contact the incoming individual.

 

[hr]

[Tesability Black]

(Permissions were offered for this snatch.)

The first the beast found was an apparently-lost lady in the darkness, spotting a lighter and a knife in her hands.

"A lighter would not help you," it softly barked as it approached, doing its best not to appear hostile. In all honesty, he wasn't hostile, but his task would required a possible amount of future aggression, which he hoped to keep to a minimum. The tip of the whip-arm still lit with flame, the beast brought it forward in front of itself, both to create more light and to bring about a point. The flames did directly touch the leathery skin after all.

As soon as he was close enough, however, the flame instantly vanished and the girl could feel leather across parts of her center and arms as something wrapped around her before she could even think.

"I'm sorry," she would hear in the strange barked-out speech within the darkness before new sources of light emerged, one around each of the four paws of this beast. She had been wrapped up and lifted from the ground by the strange extra limb the fox-like creature had, whom started heading toward the direction he had originally come from...

[Astolfo]

Hunting...
As the two sisters slithered down the dark tunnel silently, both sisters concentrated Nen around their eyes and noses for heightened awareness of any possible surprise assailants, whether or not they're human being irrelevant. As such, they could detect someone coming up behind them and had already been on guard to potentially fight back and take care of the body, when the figure ended up simply walking right into them. A bit taken back for a moment, Malnova scrutinized the other girl's face, wondering if a mistake this innocuous really could've happened. Something was unusual about the girl, but without clear lighting, she only had hazy guesses. Keeping her voice mellow yet quiet to avoid detection, she skimmed across the ground soundlessly, before bending down so her mouth was right at the other girl's ear level.
"It's fine, just be careful of the other inhabitants inside this dwelling. There are many others who would be eager to harm you, and only one of them will be the Manticore Spider. Sorry to disappoint you, but we must be on our way now."
Without another sound, the two girls vanished into the caves with a single powerful leap.

[divider1]
As the sisters drew near the entrance of another large opening, a quick scan revealed that there were several forms beyond, including but not limited to, a monstrous figure undoubtedly the Manticore Spider. The eggs which were kept close in its reach confirmed it was most likely a female. Dashing into grab an egg was perhaps possible, but not worth it iat the moment. After looking around, they noticed a crevice still within the safety of the tunnel itself but close enough to the entrance they could put their trap further back. The two of them drew back and began to lay the groundwork of an elaborate web of their own, except this one would be created of a dull, colorless, razor-sharp, strong thin wire. Pulling out a jar of a dull black odorless adhesive created specially for this purpose, they began to apply it in small amounts to the nearby walls, before fastening the lengths of razor wire across the opening to the nest. The lines of death were positioned strategically at neck height, ankle height, average chest heights, and then various other seemingly randomly placed strands, intended to make any sort of passage through difficult. [acronym="Note, the trap is a rectangular/oval-like section rising up about seven feet from the floor, reaching to either side"][note][/acronym] Taking a step back to admire the finished work, the two sisters slid into the crevice to wait for the unfortunate victims that would inevitably come.

And come, they did. And lucky for the sisters - although not so lucky for their victims - the first to come was not an individual, but rather a group of idiots who seemed to have teamed up together. Well today, they would get to live together, and die together too. As they sprinted down the musty tunnel, their fates were sealed. Running into the wire at full speed, blood sprayed across the ground as bodies were torn apart in pristine cuts, disassembling the newfound band into a collection of parts. Unable to even scream, they were nothing more than a pile of bloody hunks of meat by now, unrecognizable as anything.

Just as the siblings were about to bait over the spider to the remains, Iom noticed a flash out of her eye maybe thirty feet away from her. Deciding not to do away with the trap just yet, she simply sprinted up and across the wall of the cave itself, before landing down softly on the other side. It was remarkably hard and took a high level of momentum to make sure she didn't fall back down, but the younger Nyx considered it well worth it when she captured the squirming member of the crew, who seemed to have been lagging behind. When the young girl that had been captured began to wail, Iom punched her across the face to shut her up. Taking care to make sure this girl was kept more or less as a whole body, she hurtled the body over the trap wires entirely, which was caught soundlessly by her elder sister. Repeating the same wallrun from before to meet back up with her sister, the mutually shared sinister look made them realize they both were thinking of the same plan.

[divider1]
By now, the smell of the blood from before had already drawn the attention of the mother Manticore Spider, and as it scuttled towards the source, licking its fanged mouth in appreciation of the lethal trap some kind person had set up, it noticed something hanging above the bodies. Gagged and strung up by all limbs across the tunnel entrance like some sort of human starfish, there was a young girl attempting to scream, but only muffled sounds coming out.

Oh, the scent of raw terror from a young maiden was so delicious. Just the thing to soothe its nerves. Silly humans had been coming in for the past hour or so trying to raid the nest of it and its sisters. She had done away with every single one, but as time drew on, the Manticore's Spiders were at a raw edge. Whichever gloriously cruel person set up this delicious treat for her, she was mentally grateful to them, although if she could eat them too, that would've been preferred - unless they could nab more tasty treats for her.

As the spider licked at the girl, shivering and crying out in unadulterated fear, an almost human-like expression of kindness came across it, causing the girl to relax for a moment. At that very second, the spider lunged forward, driving a sharpened talon through the maiden's chest. As the human began to choke on its own blood, unable to even register what had just happened, the Manticore Spider lifted the rapidly dying figure from its binds, as well as retrieving the various snack-sized portions of people that the knife-string had sliced them up into.

As it began to carry its treats back to its nest, with a cry of fury, it realized at least one egg was missing and every single other one had been crushed by a mighty fell blow. Letting out a guttural scream of anger, it skittered around angrily. Spraying down the trap from before with a thick silky web so it wouldn't cut itself, it completely smashed its way through it, before barreling down the tunnel that the trap had been covering the exit of. It would utterly pulverize and devour any human it found without mercy. Its oh-so beautiful children had been destroyed while she had been lured away by the temptation of food, and someone would pay.

[divider1]
After recognizing the spider had scuttled away a long distance, Iom couldn't help but resist busting out in laughter. "That idiotic spider couldn't even go the right direction! And on top of that, we got away with two eggs, AND managed to crush the rest! We completely got jackpot here, sis', nyahaha~!" Malnova let out a sigh she didn't realize she had been holding, and then realized in all honesty, the plan they just undertook was a high risk one, but the rush from getting away with it was wonderful. Careful not to let it get to her head though, she ruffled her little sister's hair affectionately, before motioning to quiet once more.

Focusing once more, Malnova took several breaths, before attempting to do something she hadn't quite managed yet, or to be more specific, something she could do, but to a greater extent. [glow=#B00072]“En.”[/glow] Pushing out her aura to the maximum possible distance, Malnova shaped the technique into a swarm of tentacles instead, aiming it towards the direction she had come from. The En-detection arms flew through the cave, wandering around and absorbing information about the surroundings. Having gained enough knowledge to make a generally safe passage back, Malnova shut off her usage at which point a wave of nausea swept over her, vomiting and coughing up blood. After recovering, she grimaced at the unsightly display she had just shown. Making an apologetic gesture to her sister, Iom giggled teasingly but quieted down quickly, her mind back on the task at hand.

The two sisters began to take an alternate path back towards the original entrance they had come from. Although Malnova hadn't managed to see all the way back in any means, she had seen a lot farther than she originally did, and managed to see a long enough distance they could go decently far before just simply using the ability once more. Victory was within their grasp, but all too aware of the trap they themselves had set up before, they didn't let the concept get to their heads just quite yet. That could wait until they cleared the Hunter Exam. Silently skimming across the cave floor, the two sisters passed through the tunnels like shadows, never remaining in one place for more than a fraction of a second.
And if a poor soul wanders across the wrong path, woe betide upon him, for light will shine upon him nevermore...

[Maeriberii Haan]

[hr]

 

It all happened way too quickly.

 

What seemed to be the fire beast that was going on the group that she was with earlier was there, and on the next second, the next thing she noticed was the fact that she’s been completely bound and tied by a leathery rope, and she could feel that it’s getting really damn hot around her. She tried using her knife to cut the rope loose, but she was somewhat in an awkward position at the moment to attempt doing so. Not left with many choices, Celia loosened herself as the fire beast lifted and carried her into somewhere.

 

Hey, at least she might see a spider nest sooner or later. Thinking positive at a time like this would be quite nice, especially if you’ve been struck by a chain of ridiculous coincidences and horrible luck so far.

 

[divider1]

 

Nova was laughing as much as she could when she noticed that the group she’s been directing towards a nest was brutally slaughtered by something. While she had been eye-ing for the nest since earlier, there were no eggs to take from there when she arrived, and thus, at first she decided to just point out others to the nest so she could reap the bountiful result from their idiocy. Still, it was sadly clear that there was someone else or two that took advantage out of the situation, and from the sound of it, it seemed that whoever that two were, they managed to take the eggs and smashed the rest. Nova decided that checking whether there were any eggs left after the smashing, but a loud screech stopped her.

 

She forgot that the mother would still be around. After all, she didn’t hear its death cries before.

And from the sound of it right now, she was –pissed-.

 

Deciding that it’s not worth risking her life, Nova ran as fast as she could away from the vicinity of the nest, as she tried to get as far away as possible from the angry mother spider. Hopefully, she would be able to locate another nest sooner or later.

 

[hr]

[Aix]

"I've been through underwater caves before," said Anemone. She got over her initial nervousness with the catgirl and now spoke comfortably as if she didn't care whether the cat was there was not. The two had headed through an untrod crack in the caves which only their small frames could fit through, casting off the others in case they decided to interfere. It would have been difficult to keep eggs intact if they came under attack from fellow examinees.
 
After a pause, Anemone continued to speak. "But I've never seen tunnels that were so uniform in size," she said. She was really just speaking her mind. It had been a point of curiosity to her, and she thought no more of it.
 
"We've gone quite deep, haven't we," said Anemone, suddenly.
 
And there was a rumble. A light tremor, but very noticeable at their level. The source of it was getting closer. Suddenly a large blackness was closing in and Anemone quickly pushed Emui into a crevice, dropping the flashlight, as a long dark form almost the width of the tunnel passed them.
 
"Well, shit," quietly remarked Anemone. She actually didn't hold much adversity towards coarser language, but realized that others didn't tend to like it. Nevertheless, it seemed an apt moment to say "Well, shit." because, well, shit, they barely managed to avoid death by some snake creature and were now left without a light source.
 
[divider1]
"We've woken the wurms, it seems," said Lyval. "Didn't think it was a good idea to have this as the second exam. Two hundred people entering the cave is just too noisy. Well, if anything, it should thin down the numbers a bit. They came to this exam fully prepared to die, I hope."
 
Putting his cigarette back into his mouth for a puff, he pulled it out and spoke again, as an afterthought. "A bit might be an understatement. I'd assume a good deal of them are a good way underground now... they better run for their lives on the way out."
 
[divider1]
Wurms. Up to around twenty meters long and two meters in diameter, with teeth reinforced with Nen, strong enough to bite through solid rock, they were the creators of this cave system. Or at least they expanded it. An underground barrier had been erected in the city nearby, but they had just stepped outside of that. Worst of all, they were in this confined space where it was very difficult to dodge the fast moving beast.

About two had found just their way up, but more were coming.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The spider had managed to shake itself free of Rexxus' hold and pull away from Alaster's spear, in the process throwing more of its quill like hairs at the hunter and his companion.  The two were just preparing to take another charge from it, when an unexpected ally entered the fray.  Really, it was surprising to see the chef move like a damned bouncy ball made of knives, cutting into the spider with every pass. Of course the two realized what this meant, and took advantage of the distraction provided.

 

"Leetess!  Move!"  The nobleman shouted, hopefully getting the one he hoped to make his friend out of the way in the process.  Whatever the case, that was all the warning he received before the giant wolf pounced upon the creature's back.  He ignored the pain of those hairs sticking into him, opened his mouths wide, and bit down HARD on where the creature's abdomen met its thorax.  Amidst the sounds of screaming and chitin cracking, the young dire wolf threw his strength behind the move and tore the rear end of the spider's body off with a great spurt of blood and organs.  Shortly following this, the beast was permanently silenced as it found a spear rammed through its head and a little ways down its neck.  Several moments of the creature violently twitching followed, before it finally curled up dead upon the floor of the cave.  With a cry of triumph, Alaster tore is spear free of the corpse and made his way over to Lettess.  "Thanks for the help.  You certainly made that easier on us."  He patted the young man on the back, and then turned to the corpse.  The nest was a little ways away, and the sooner they could get out of here the better.  So, he did the first thing that came to mind.

 

Shooing Rexxus away from the corpse so he didn't accidentally eat what he was looking for, the young man began digging about the brutalized body for what they had been sent down to acquire.  Thankfully, it seemed that this beast was female.  A few minutes of looking about revealed what he had sought: a pair of eggs that were thankfully intact.  Standing up from the corpse, he presented one to the chef.

 

"Consider this repayment for your assistance.  Now, let's make our way back to the surface.  I would-" as if on cue the ground began to rumble and shake about them.  Something big was coming, and it was coming fast.  Alaster barely had time to move before the ground burst open beneath the Spider's corpse and a giant worm-like creature burst out of the ground to consume it.  The nobleman laughed aloud when he saw it, and stowed the egg away safely as he readied his spear.  "Wurms!  Crassus taught me about these.  This will make for excellent prey!"  That was all he said before he and Rexxus charged forward.  His canine friend reinforced his own teeth with nen, and bit down into its hide to tear open a wound.  Alaster didn't quite get the chance to strike at it, as the beast retreated back down before he could strike it.  The wolf was fortunate enough to tear out a chunk of flesh before the wurm's retreat could smash him into the ground.  Unfortunately, they now had to go on the defensive with this creature on its own turf.

[Raine]

“Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished, dearest companion,” whispered a shadowy figure rested a body scarred with wear and weary against cold moist stone. The figure made faint by ill presence of light help high a spherical object that creaked and made inanimate moans to the motion. The man grasped firm the human skull in his palm and continued, “To die, to sleep… to sleep perchance the dream…” The bone remained silent and unwavered by the words of the figure. The figure found no solace. His hand collapsed back to the stone and the skull cratered into ruin from the fall. Oz’s tear stained his cheek as the last of his resistance fled his will. Locked within a prison of earth without the warmth of bright sun and light of blue sky, this would be his grave… a fit punishment. Supporting his head on the various cutting edges of the stonework wielded by the cave walls, his eyes now dim with last light, spied a spot of darkness on the opposite wall. SHIT!

 

He got carried away. He was preoccupying himself while he couldn’t’ find another way forward through the cavern and decided a theatrical rendition of his death would be fun enough until someone else stumbled along. Oz threw himself on his feet and dusted the accumulated dirt and debris from his clothing, for fashion reason it’s important to keep oneself presentable in the case of fortunate unlikely encounters. After a few arm and leg stretches, Oz felt like a million bucks again… aside from previous injuries and a predisposition to heart problems at a young age but that was a matter to address with a doctor and low-doses of aspirin when he had time.

 

Oz squeezed his body through the crack his had just now noticed; however, he noticed why he hadn’t noticed it. Fitting his body through was much like a tube of toothpaste, in contract with the fairly regular tunneling that crafted most of the tunnels. He assumed this one to be the result of erosion rather than the denizens of darkness that occupied it now. Emerging from the opposite side, Oz felt a sense of triumph; he was back on the road.

 

That sense was immediately overwhelmed, beaten, wrapped in burlap sack, and dropped in a river when his eyes dawned on a creature from the hellscape only the game designers could conjure on their worst days. It was a worm. Well, the term worm carries negative connotations like being tiny or skinny or eating dirt. This was more like a worm monster, but that too has the same problem. Think of it like a snake as wide as a person’s arm span but instead of being a snake it’s got a teeth drill for a mouth and then you’re somewhere close to what Oz saw.

 

Oz sprinted in the opposite direction as the worm charted its way towards him down the circular pathway at impressive speeds. (Impressive Speed > Oz’s 40-yard Dash (9.7 seconds, he’s not proud)). Oz in full panic reacted the only way he knew how, to run and throw rocks. “DIE YOU SON OF BITCH DEMON WORM THING, SIR! I TASTE LIKE GARLIC DUE TO RICH DIET YOU’D HATE IT!,” he said sporadically out of breath and throwing small stones over his shoulder in attempted to hurt the worm. This chase continued for a bit.