Walking alone in the dark is pretty chilling but doing so while in a den of who knows many monsters that existed for however many years was probably one of the most terrifying things to imagine. Jae seemed to be lucky in the fact that Nico gave him a necklace that had a small chunk of red dust with a tint of orange; The helpful mix made for a faint but helpful light in the dark that felt warm to touch. He had a number of things on his mind while he trudged over loose dirt and cautiously watching every corner for would-be attackers in the shadows.
"Kid, you holding up okay in there?" Lady's voice piped in on the earpiece that she practically had to jam in his ear; "Dealing with Grimm in the dark isn't exactly ideal but this is probably the best time to show what you have learned to yourself…"
"I gotta admit, I would've said that a normal person would be insane to do this…Then again, I'm not exactly normal." Jae remarked with a slight joke to try easing his admittedly heightened anxiety. "Honestly, it's not really the first time I was dropped somewhere dark with things that really wanna kill me…" Jae thought the last part since he recalled Blake's Mindscape dungeon as well as a grim reminder of how he got Fenrir at the age of 6.
"Try to keep the cute talk to a minimum." Lady grumbled as she kept the talk up; "Nico said she explored the ground level and said there are Fire Dust lanterns set up that are weak enough to illuminate around the immediate area but try taking a torch as you go deeper in….Or see if there's any Dust Deposits, I'm pretty sure the weak stuff makes a pretty light but just keep it careful or you'll get a cave in."
"So, no pressure then? Glad to hear I'll be doing mining duty on a literal gas canister." Jae snarked as he heard a skittering behind some of the rock; "Guess it's a good thing I fear tight spaces and not something like the dark and what hides in it…" He muttered sarcastically as he heard a faint crack of rock shifting in the distance.
"Look at it this way, at least you've got that Grimm Weapon making Semblance of your's…If what Trish said is true and this place is full of Grimm older than sin, this place becomes a literal gold mine for you!" Nico pointed out with a very audible joy, Jae wasn't able to see her but he could tell that this woman had the biggest grin on her face at the prospect.
"Still doesn't answer the fact as to how I'm gonna kill Grimm, carry mining equipment AND lug all that ore out of here in one…" Jae mentioned offhandedly as he finally saw the first wave of Grimm that lay in the walls of the cave. "I'm gonna have to hold that thought…" He remarked before turning to face the skittering mass.
Crawling out of the figurative woodwork were Centinels, centipede Grimm that were the size of cats and hissed when they saw Jae glaring them down. They each started to scramble with their chittering mandibles and began to spiral together in a tag team effort to mow him down.
Jae held his hand out to summon up Behemoth, However his mind quickly changed as he noticed that the space didn't allow for it and decided to try using his saber Titan Fang to start dicing them up as he rushed forward.
The only problem with Centinels however was that they never seemed to stop at just one or two as more and more of the shrieking bug Grimm burrowed out of the rock and attacked their new invader, something that was starting to annoy Jae as he separated a Centinel's head from the rest of it's body before utilising a multitude of sword thrusts to skewer the oncoming horde.
"Okay…Pest control done for this part…Let's move on…" Jae thought to himself before rushing in deeper; unaware that one Centinel still survived its attack before burying itself underground for its chance to come back when he wasn't looking.
The place was a puzzle that would make even the smartest student at Beacon's head spin; With how old the Mountain was and the severity of the Grimm that inhabited it made the distinction between natural forming paths and burrows almost nonexistent. When Jae found himself going on what he thought was downwards; he ended up on a cliffside towards Mountain Glenn in the distance, it would've been a very nice view with a good shot of the starry night sky.
But the real problem was that he was currently and face to face with a rather cantankerous looking Alpha Nevermore; This particular bird had a more pronounced beak and almost looked like a crow was wearing a plague doctor's mask though it still let loose a warning hiss.
"Oh…Shit…" Was all Jae could think as he drew his gun and started firing Fire Dust rounds at the rising Bird Grimm's head when it took notice of the sudden stinging from his gun.
With a howling caw; The Nevermore jabbed it's head forward in a quick salvo of pecks to snap Jae up like he was an overgrown worm before getting to it's feet. "How. Dare. You…Intrude upon my nest and foul the very air with your unwanted stagnancy!" The Nevermore cried out in a coarse voice that fit it's namesake well.
Jae's simple retort was to blast the Nevermore directly at it's open mouth with a Gravity Dust shot; knocking it under the chin and forcing the beak shut. "Alright, birdy…I think it's time that we turn that nasty squawk into a quiet little tweet." He joked as he aimed again; "I'm kind of in a hurry so you mind redirecting me to the ground floor?"
"SILENCE! YOU ARROGANT, LITTLE WORM! I have reigned the wide expanse of this open sky and I refuse to be talked down to by some vile little human who stinks of my kind and bravado!" The Alpha snarled before flapping it's wings outward in it's attempt to skewer Jae on it's numerous sharp feathers.
With some quick sidesteps and a pull of his gun's firing hammer, he loaded up the "Cannon" Variant on his gun and started shuffling Dust rounds into the chamber. "Better not risk it with the Charge Shots…I'm thinking…We bring it down." Jae mentally came up with a plan as he rolled under the last swipe of the Bird Grimm's wings and watched it take to the night sky.
The Nevermore flapped it's wings with heavy sweeps to get higher and higher before readying it's deathly volley of spiked quills. "PREPARE TO FALL, YOU WRETCHED LITTLE NOBODY!" It roared out as it let loose a final sweep of it's wings and ready to dislodge what would have been a rain of needle quills but a bright yellow bullet shot from Jae's gun hit the Grimm square in the chest followed by the sound of crackling electricity.
Jae watched as the giant bird began it's descent to the ground and decided to test out what that Alpha Beringel granted him what looked like a pair of black fingerless gloves and his boots suddenly turned a deeper black in colour; "Alright, Grendel…Let's see what you can do!" With the activation of his new Grimm Weapon; Those gloves quickly shifted into a pair of elbow length black gloves with a white bone plating on his outer forearms with a faint engraving of what looked like the and formed ridges along his knuckles, while those black boots suddenly shifted and formed a bone white guard that protected the tops of his boots all the way towards his knees like shinguards. "Clothes? Probably not the worst thing I could get but let's see."
As the Nevermore reared it's head up with an echoing screech of unbridled frustration at it's prompt zapping; it began to thrust it's beak and forth like it did before, but with the Lightning Dust jarring it's system and the ever growing irritation of Jae getting the better of the Alpha; it was little more than frantic pecking against the armored plating on his arms as he blocked each jab. "Fall! FALL! DAMN YOU, FALL!" The Nevermore screamed viciously as it floundered it's attacks with more fury.
Jae winced and grit his teeth as he tried his hardest to deflect the salvo with his RoyalGuard; unaware that with each new stopped attack against the plates, the faint silver engravings on his arm guards started to glow and become more red by the second. "Keep it coming Featherface! Because once you tire out then you're gonna get it!" Jae yelled up at the Nevermore as the red markings now made the white gauntlets and boots look like the Grimm they were based on; With a push off of the last strike before ducking under the next lunge, Jae rushed forward and then swung a powerful haymaker into the Nevermore's chest…Though those red marking quickly dimmed back down to silver when he made contact.
The red markings on the Gauntlets burned brightly as they reached the halfway point was a brief moment of contact and then the Nevermore vanished into a puff of smoke that shot out towards the treeline like a jet of air. Leaving only the last remnants of the Bird Grimm's lower half and a glowing orb still standing but then vanishing just as quickly as Jae absorbed the orb and pocketed his latest find for later.
"Guessing with a nest of Grimm, I'm gonna be dealing with more than just bugs….But if Alphas like that were down here then I'm not walking out of here until I got a whole damn armory." Jae mentally challenged himself as he dashed back into the cave and started to rush.
But with a more reckless approach meant that Grimm poured out of the woodwork to assault the intruder, though it wasn't going to be in their favour.
The small mob of Creeps that lunged for Jae in the long corridor? Smashed in by Behemoth's small hammer form!
That Taijutu with a cobra's hood that broke through a wall to strike what it thought was an unsuspecting Demon? Ora Ora'd into a fine powder by Grendel and it's essence taken!
Even the surviving Centinel that evolved into an Alpha Cenitaur was bludgeoned up by Hydra, Jae's brand new Taijitu nunchuks that moved faster than even Jae could blink.
—Meanwhile Outside—
"Nico…You should take a look at this…." Lady remarked as she had her eye on a monitor; Since one part of monitoring Jae was an earpiece, she took the extra step to attach a tracker/Proximity Grimm Detector on Jae's jacket. The monitor had shown the layout of the mountain but it looked like it was covered in a purple haze when Jae went in.
"Kinda busy here, hun!" Nico yelled back to her as she was tinkering with what looked to be a revolver; "I know you're nervous for the kid but you don't gotta worry ab-"
"Just shut up and look!" Lady barked as she was shocked at what she was seeing.
"What?! What, What….What?" Nico yelled as she was annoyed at Lady distracting her with her yelling but then felt that anger fade away when she saw the readings; When Jae went in, the mountain looked like a giant purple cloud covered all but the outline of the mountain. Now it was very quickly clearing up and the purple haze was fading fast which meant one thing; it was either a glitch in the system or…. "The Grimm's presences are disappearing…."
"Not just disappearing…destroyed…You saw that yellow bolt in the sky at one of the upper parts of the mountain…I think Jae's training with Trish is making more progress than I'm probably too worried to admit." Lady explained as another purple haze dot vanished from the lower part of the mountain; "Though it looks like he's getting deeper in…."
"Shit on a biscuit, you're worried about him?! If this is all him, then shouldn't this sight be great news?! He was pretty amazing when he got here but now we've got ourselves a bona-fide powerhouse here if he's makin' Grimm drop like flies!" Nico squealed in excitement and rushed back to work on the gun at a faster pace.
"Yeah but I thought that he reached his peak when he was sent here, Ozpin said that he had shown promise and needed training." Lady said with a confused and admittedly surprised tone.
"Yeah but he also said that he had doubts about him bein' a Demon and all…You remember when Trish showed you the ropes? She said that "The best way to reach your peak as a Demon is to ACCEPT your demon heritage." and I think he has now that we had our little talks." Nico explained as she reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a revolver's chamber but the openings for bullets were instead replaced with what looked like lenses made out of a red crystal. "That coupled with getting pounded into the dirt by Trish must've really put a boot up his ass about it…We're seein' progress from someone who started this at a younger age than we did." She pointed out to Lady as she fitted the chamber on the gun and gave it a spin, smiling in satisfaction when she heard the fluid clicks of the revolver as the chamber spun.
—Back inside—
Jae was currently scraping up the pieces of the Cenitaur that he had smashed with Hydra and was wincing as he tried to heal himself from the acid that it sprayed on him. "That…Could've gone better…But I gotta admit this place is a lot more fun than doing drills with Trish." Jae admitted as he scooped up the Essence that came from it. "You rang?" He asked as he heard his earpiece beep.
"Kid, I want a status report…Now!" Lady demanded as she checked in; "You've been at this for near enough a half hour now and you're getting into the lower parts of the mountain."
"Lower parts? Man, I must've gotten lost because I have to admit this place is hard to navigate." Jae admitted as he looked around; Where he had ended up was a large cavern like area but as he held up the necklace that Nico gave him to light the path, he could see something amazing: There was that same ore that Nico showed him but this batch looked a lot more grand: He was no expert but the ore looked a lot better down here and the Dust that melded into it was a lot more fluid and shone with a brighter purity.
"If you're able to talk like that then I can assume you're in no real danger? We've seen the Grimm activity plummet as they drop like flies, we've only seen that in the territory spats that come about when Trish checks for any escapees there." Lady mentioned as she smiled a little when she realised that most of her worries were for nothing. "So what's it like down there, you see any of that special ore that Nico was talking my ear off about?"
"I think I do but this stuff is way better looking, I think she was on to something when she said that the better grade stuff was deeper in." Jae mentioned as he looked around; "Fire, Lightning, I can even see different Dust congealed together in one vein."
"Careful, Nico told me that mixing Dust was a tricky thing; something about Explosive Dust and the like…You've cleared up enough down there so why not come o-" Lady suggested but pulled the receiver away as a giant sound reverbrated through the earpiece. "Kid? Kid, if that's you messin' around down there, I'm gonna get pissed!" Lady yelled as she realised that the only thing that was responding was the sound of static.
Jae groaned as he got to his feet and looked around; From what he could recall, there was some loose ground underneath him as he went to check on the Orange Dust ore but before he could confirm what it was.
"…d….Kid, You there?!"
"Uh…We might have trouble…."
"What exactly is the problem? The fact that we fell several feet from what we thought was the bottom and ended up here?" Jae asked himself rhetorically as the had landed in what looked like an underground cavity; The sound of a river could be heard nearby from an opening, the expanse of this new cavern was a lot bigger and allowed for even the Atlas Paladins to move around in easily.
"That's not the only thing…Something else is down here…A lot bigger than anything else here…" The Voice mentioned in his head grimly as Jae looked around as he tread water, though in the distance; there was a giant mound of black and some speckles of white in the furthest corner of the cavern along with the sounds of slow, rhythmic rumbling.
"That…Doesn't look good…." Jae thought as he pulled Rebuttal out of his holster and readied the Cannon variant with a round of Ice Dust.
—Outside—
"Damn it! He's not responding!" Lady growled as she went to go grab Kalina Ann; "Screw what Trish'll say when she finds out, I'm going in after him before that little bonehead gets himself killed!"
"Hey, hold on!" Nico looked up when she heard the cocking of Lady's favourite rocket launcher. "Weren't you just saying that you saw improvements on him?
"I said SOME improvements, I told him! You told him and Trish certainly told him that we do not know what is going on down in the deepest part of that literal hornets nest…I'm not going to let a kid try to solo what could be down there! It could have Deathstalkers, Goliaths…Hell, it might even have Apathy in that cave!"
"Lady, you're gonna make yourself crazy doing this…I knew he was ready from the get-go, you saw him break YOUR records on the training simulations that I made up…For gods's sake, he took consecutive hits from Trish in a bare knuckled fight and got back up again after that! ON TOP of continuing to go back to keep training with her, most people who sparred with Trish either cried uncle after the first time or just gave up after they got floored." Nico pointed out as she turned to face Lady. "If you really had a problem with him going in there despite knowing all the risks and the possibilities, I know damn well that you would have dropped the hammer on that before he left the town's gate."
Lady hesitated and then let out an exasperated sigh as she put down her gun; "Well…I can't exactly argue with that…Wait…The feeds are coming back online!" She mentioned as she then rushed to the screen; After the static melted away, she saw the giant open cave and the light of the moon shining through one of the open holes in the ceiling. However her stomach dropped when she saw that giant pile of black and white unfurl its giant wings when it noticed that it had a guest in its midst with an echoing roar. "Is…Is that a…" She struggled to find the words but Nico seemed to be able to finish it for her.
"A Sea Feilong…"