NOVPUBBeing the one who caused the hole, Luna landed with grace in the first floor, though the same couldn't be said of Nika who could barely adjust to the fall due to Luna grabbing her hand.
"I'm alright." Nika said after jumping on her feet and casually dusting her clothes with her free hand. For some strange reason Nika couldn't understand, Luna remained silent and started tightening the grip on her hand while softly tugging on her arm. "What? are you alright?" The more Nika spoke, the more antsy Luna became and it took Nika a while to figure out the reason.
In front of them stood Medusa pointing her flashlight directly at them and despite not showing her eyes due to the blindfold it was easy to read the fear in her face. Right behind her stood a shadowy creature made wood and countless vines, yet it seemed to be unaware of Medusa's presence despite their short distance.
"Luna, Nika?" Medusa asked completely unaware of the horror behind her.
"Yes, it's us." Luna replied after confirming that the cryptid didn't react to the sound of their voices.
"I'm so glad it's you, I was so scared." Medusa replied as she attempted to find her way towards Luna and Nika who watched in utter horror as the cryptid moved along with Medusa.
"Stay there!" Nika shouted, causing Medusa to flinch.
"I'm not a skinwalker, look." Medusa had foreseen that something like that could happen and prepared by taking the silver crucifix from her deep cleavage were it usually nested.
"It's not that, there's a hole in the ground." Luna lied.
"I'll just..."
"I said, stay there." Nika muttered in a tone that finally brought Medusa to realize something was going on.
"Okay..." She reluctantly replied while fighting the impulse to look behind her, not that it would do much good since she was unable to actually see, especially now that her friends were nearby.
"What should we do?" Nika asked the only person who could figure out the answer, but she was already fumbling unintelligible words.
"Erlkönig, Kapre, Flatwoods, Lufferlang..." It seemed like Luna was chanting a spell, though she was actually listing all the possible cryptids that could even remotely resemble the thing in front of her while examining its body. From what she observed the cryptid possessed a thorax and limb-like vines and she could have sworn she briefly saw a face in the midst of the shadows.
The first obvious hint of what cryptid it could be was its wooden composition, but the shadows made it difficult to spot any features that could help her rule out some cryptids or identify it. For all she knew it could be any woodlands creature from anywhere in the world and the only way to proceed was to get a clear view of the crytpid.
"Stay still." Luna said as she took a couple steps forward pointing the flashlight at the cryptid. Her intention was only to study the creature, but it flinched as soon as the light licked its surface prompting it to violently wave its wooden tendrils in the air.
At the same time the light coming out from the flashlights was suddenly turned off making it clear that a field of disruption had taken effect on them.
With Medusa's life on the line, Nika was incapable of staying idle and jumped in to protect her. She used one hand to block an incoming vine while keeping the Colt at the ready in the other, though as soon as the vine made contact with her arm it swiftly wrapped around it like a whip.
"I said stay still!" A deep growl came out from Luna's throat one second too late. Although Luna was able to see better than most people if she turned into a werewolf, not even then would she be able to see in complete darkness. To solve that, Luna backed all the way to the wall and grabbed a tier 2 battery pack from her hoodie's deep pockets and activated it to recharge her flashlight.
"Don't worry, I can still use my trait." Nika said with a smirk illuminated by the sparks of light that came from Luna's position, though it lasted only until she realized she actually couldn't blink in the shadows.
"What's going on!?" Medusa cried after feeling the vibrations coming from the multiple vines waving in the air all around her. Contrary to Nika, Medusa did exactly as Luna asked and remained frozen still, though being numb with fear also helped with that.
"You can't use your trait. That cryptid is not made just of wood, there's also shadows merged with its body. Most likely, its true body is made of shadows and the wood is just a means to take physical form." Luna explained the theory that came up as soon as she noticed the cryptid reaction to light.
"Alright, what should I do?" Nika asked with a serious face while she struggled to be released from the steely vine that not only didn't budge, but increased its grip and was joined by a few more vines.
"Stay... still." Luna said in her most robotic monotone while glaring at the unruly huntress that kept making things worse.
"Fine." Nika sighed and relaxed her muscles, causing the firm clasp of the vines to turn into a soft hold. Then, some more vines probed her body slithering slowly all over her starting from her slender legs and climbing up to her torso. Although it wasn't painful, Nika couldn't help but cringe in silence at the touch of the hard wooden vines inwardly thanking that Medusa couldn't see it.
"Perhaps we should see where this is going." Luna muttered in reply to Nika's begging gaze set upon her.
"I don't want to find out how does this end, do something!" Nika's teary eyes would have sparked pity inside anybody's heart, but it wasn't enough to win against Luna's scientific curiosity.
Staying still while being poked at by vines that slowly wrapped around her legs and arms was difficult, but the task became impossible once they neared all the wrong spots in her body and she instinctively tried to fight it causing the vine-like tendrils to tighten the grip once more, only now with so much force that Nika couldn't move even if she wanted to.
Aside from the discomfort caused by the steely grip of the wooden creature Nika was relieved when she noticed they stopped creeping up on her body, though her relief lasted only until a vine wrapped around her neck and started choking it.
Nika didn't take her eyes from Luna the entire time this happened finding only a cold distant expression, the same she held whenever she studied cryptids and it made Nika wonder why had she not transformed into a werewolf yet and why didn't she use her orichalcum claws like before.
She loved Luna like a little sister, maybe even like a daughter, but she couldn't keep herself from thinking that she might actually let her die just to sate her curiosity about cryptids.
Had Nika been able to shake her head or at least let out a sigh she would have done so once she found the answer. It didn't matter if Luna was gambling her life to find out the cryptid's weak spot as long as that meant that her friends would survive. Nika closed her eyes, not because she gave up but because she gave in which caused the vines to release her neck allowing her to breathe again.
"Medusa, recharge your flashlight and turn it on." Luna saying that and Medusa doing it was an instant, though her flashlight turned off shortly after. This gave Luna an idea and she started experimenting with her own flashlight by walking closer and to the sides to measure the range of effect of the cryptid's field of disruption which she confirmed as a radius of just over five meters.
Having the possibility to study the FOD thanks to the cryptid remaining still would have been immensely satisfying for Luna if not for Nika being in danger right in front of her.
"I think it's weak to light, but our flashlights are too weak." Luna pointed out.
"If Uriel was here..." Medusa let out thinking on how easy would it be for him to summon a powerful spotlight.
"He is not and our engineer bought crappy flashlights. There is... uhm... no choice," Luna muttered as she lowered her gaze in a very unusual way. It wasn't disappointment in her face nor was it sadness, it was embarrassment. "I want you to know that what's going to happen next is your fault.
Nika, close your eyes."
After speaking those words Luna started channeling her flux energy all throughout her body, from the tip of her toes to the crown of her head where her silvery hair began shimmering. Soon, Luna's eyes turned of the same color and brightness of her hair until finally light spread all over her body and burst out like an explosion.
"No way! Your trait is to shine!?" Nika chuckled in a raspy voice after falling on the ground.
