The Roll n' Rocker [AfriCatastrophe Act IV]

While many of the hollows which blighted the earth in this push had crawled from the massive pit itself, one in particular did not. Far to the rear, where few defenders would likely have been stationed, the ground below shook, buckling upward after a moment as a blood-red maw pierced the ground. Molten stone dripped from the hollow's body as it clawed its way to the surface, and it seemed to scan the surrounding environment for only a moment, before it sat strangely still.

From the holes around its head that one might easily have mistaken for eyes, small, sphere-like creatures poured out, no bigger than a beachball but rolling across the ground with impressive speed. There were only a dozen or so, but it didn't seem as if the hollow that had spawned them was intent on stopping any time soon.

Marching across the wartorn plains of Africa, Natasha idly wondered what threat would present itself this time around. Learning from her experience the last time, the hazel-eyed sharpshooter opted to act from an observational position, using her otherworldly focus to pinpoint any disrepancy that threatened to attack.

Be it in close proximity or further away, she wanted to leave no stone unturned. After all, an ambush is what did most of their forces in the last time. Vigilance was key. There, a few meters in the distance, something seemed to catch her eye. Small, sphere-like entities seem to roll about the ground, though Natasha didn't immediately discern the source from which they spawned, at least not instantaneously so.

Manifesting her spirit weapon adopting the form of a desert eagle, Natasha fired off a sudden wave of compressed reishi bullets, curiously shooting at each sphere that rolled along the ground. Coincidentally, she landed on the ground. Whatever the hell this was, it was better to keep her wits about her and feel this odd source out.

As Natasha's bullets struck each of the rolling orbs, they quickly burst, weak hierro bursting like little more than tin foil when faced with the firepower of a quincy at her level. The forms within made it all too clear what they had in fact been; small, almost juvenile-looking hollows, rolled into a form meant for travel and defense.

However, no sooner had she fired upon them than a far larger wave came into view. In the distance, Rollingragged's eyeless gaze turned toward where it had felt those shots echo through the ground, through the corpses of its spawn. With a shrill whine, it plunged one arm into the dirt below, superheated stone pouring from its arm and creating a ball of melted sludge. As easily as flipping a table, it flung the freshly made projectile toward the two interlopers with high speed. Distance wasn't a factor; it didn't need to see, after all.

More of the small hollows poured from the holes in it skull, their number larger now as Rollingragged went unopposed. This was going well for it.

"Fine by me, sweetheart. Here's to hopin' our cooperation leads to victory. Keep your wits about ya, alright? Stay by my side at all times."

Running point was an ideal approach, truth be told. With several techniques and weapons in her arsenal, she felt herself wholly equipped to handle the anomaly sitting in the distance. Even so, Junko's presence here was far from negligible.

There was a benefit to having a second pair of eyes, after all. The brief communication shared was promptly cut short by the presence of a considerable wave of sphere-like creatures roaring into existence again. Hazel irises locked in on Rolling's with unmatched accuracy, alerting her to the presence of the Ragged's oncoming attack.

Evading the molten stone in a faultless burst of speed accompanied by a trail of reishi, Natasha brought her prowess in the art of steigen to bear as she instinctively tore Junko from her current position, reappearing a few meters ahead of their prior domain.

These spherelike creatures weren't inherently difficult to deal with considering their aimless nature. On the other hand, it probably wasn't a great idea to let them roam freely, either.

Moving forward, instructing her partner to operate at her back, Natasha's spirit weapon morphed from desert eagle to assault rifle, its chamber quickly filling with and releasing another gale of bullets. Compared to the first time, Natasha purposely lessened the numbers in this instance, carefully forming platforms of reishi beneath her feet to stride further along the air, approaching ever closer.

"Jun, I need you to keep your eyes peeled and eliminate any of the creatures I allow to drift by. I don't think these spheres are inherently dangerous, but I ain't no bettin' woman, so be careful. Let's see if we can track any of these back to that bastard over there, shall we?"

Eliminating all of them wouldn't lead her any closer to the true enemy, she reasoned, and she believed Junko was at least marginally equipped to handle a few of them. Pinpointing the source was crucial. They needed a compass that would lead them to the source without compromise.

With larger numbers, the small hollows were able to more properly establish themselves, unfurling from their balled-up form and revealing themselves as small, insectoid creatures, with claws and fangs both at the ready. Even so, however, they were small, a their only power obviously in their numbers. Even a shinigami such as Junko would find no trouble cleaving through them.

Rollingragged itself, however, had taken a more full notice of the two causing a ruckus with its spawn, and turned to properly drag itself in their direction. The earth below it buckled, melting into fluid as its fingers dug into the earth and a black trench was dug behind it. A horrid subterranean creature which was not meant to fight on the surface, it simply made a path where there was not one.

With a yelp that seemed almost small for such an immense beast, it opened its mouth wide, the pour of spawn from its skull only stopping momentarily as a cero burst forward from the back of its throat, barrelling toward Natasha. It was not inclined toward direct action, but no Hollow was willing to simply lose.

Natasha's speculation had proven correct. From a glance alone, she had instantaneously deduced that Junko could hold her own against these diminutive creatures. It was a calculated risk, of course, but a true soldier wholeheartedly knew no battle was won without taking chances. Determination filled her frame as she strode forward, prepared to eliminate the ever-spawning source in the distance.

Natasha discerned another phenomenon unfolding in the distance. Whatever this creature was that sought to remain dormant seemed to guide its grotesque form in their direction. Recognizing that she was its target the moment that ray of light tore through the air, Natasha set into action. Reishi flowed into her blood vessels nigh-instantaneously, her body marked by several lines of azure. If this bastard wanted a direct engagement, Natasha could deal just fine with that.

"There you are. Come out to play, have ya? Put em' up, cowboy!"

Trailing along a bright stream of reishi, Natasha shot forth like a peerless shooting star. Shifting the form of her spirit weapon from a rifle to a large cannon above her shoulder, she took the beam of light head-on, testing the extent of her Blut. The gunslinger's charge hardly ended there, however. No, she simply tore through it like a murderous cyclone, positioning her artillery-grade-styled weapon from above. A torrent of reishi roared forward like a deathly typhoon, seeking nothing less than absolute destruction.

Rollingragged's eyeless gaze seemed to follow Natasha remarkably well for its form, multiple more cero bursting from its mouth that flew toward the woamn. Some of them crashed against the assault she put forward, but others failed to connect, flying toward her at the expense of the shots plowing into Rollingragged's own body. A shriek of pain echoed through the air, a sure sign it had been injured.

Such injury was not without use, however, as molten rock the beast had eaten burst from several wounds, shooting up toward Natasha like volcanic geysers and raining ash down onto the battlefield.

As the smaller hollow spawn surrounded Junko, and were cut down just as quickly, their attacks grew only more savage. They lacked any meaningful way to attack from range like their progenitor did, but that mattered little, for creatures formed solely for attack could fully commit themselves to striking violently. One aimed for Junko's leg, and the other for her back, neither remotely concerned with their life as they did so.