Athena let out a wild whoop of laughter as she finished off an enemy, her eyes alight. "No way! Did you just... rodeo a kill-drone into impaling itself? That's easily the most ridiculous and efficient thing I've seen all day!" She glanced from the impaled machine to Hadrian, a wide grin spreading across her dust-smudged face. "And I thought I was good at 'strategic destruction'."
Nyx's ethereal blue light pulsed calmly now, her earlier tension melting into a soft amusement. "Its energy signature is completely nullified. A remarkably... creative solution, Hadrian. You certainly have a knack for turning a dire situation into an opportune one."
"Seriously, Guide, what are you?" Artemis rumbled, his powerful frame now relaxed, having witnessed the improbable sight. "You just lead things right where you want 'em to die. My fists feel redundant."
Mason strode over, his emerald eyes scanning the now silent mechanical wreckage. A faint trace of a smile played on his lips. "Never seen a guided demolition quite like that. Effective, if a little unorthodox." He looked pointedly at Hadrian. "Any more 'lucky guesses' you want to share with the class, Guide? We could use a few more convenient wall collapses or drone impalements as we head deeper."
Hadrian shakes his head slightly before giving a teasing smirk. "Nah, I can't have all the fun, I can't make everything easy for ya.." he jokes before focusing forward through a gaping wall that leads directly where they needed to go. "That wall collapse was really convenient, don't ya think?" He says with a laugh and wink before letting the group take the lead.
Mason shook his head, a wry grin easing the usual stern set of his jaw. "Convenient is an understatement, Hadrian," he remarked, nudging a chunk of fallen rebar with his boot. "That's three times now you've pulled a rabbit out of a hat—or, rather, collapsed a wall onto our targets and into a new route."
"Indeed," Nyx affirmed, her baby blue eyes shining with a serene amusement. "Your methods are certainly... unexpected. But undeniably efficient. It's almost as if you have a blueprint of the entire facility in your mind."
Artemis guffawed, clapping Hadrian lightly on the shoulder. "Forget the map, Nyx. Our Guide here just 'feels' where the walls are weak! Good to know, in case we run into any more oversized tin cans wanting a fight."
"Speaking of which," Athena chimed in, dusting off her sleeves. "That 'gaping wall' as you so eloquently put it, looks like it leads directly where the schematics say we need to go now. Even better than the route I had planned." She gestured toward the newly formed opening. "Less crawling, more walking. You spoil us, Guide."
Leo Harten whistled softly, gazing at the new passage. "Another direct hit, quite literally. You have a knack for getting us to our destination with a minimal amount of faffing about. What's the secret? A crystal ball or just an uncanny sense of demolition?"
Hadrian chuckled, pleased that his strategy had been so well received. "Just adapting to the terrain, you know. Finding the most direct path to victory." He stepped aside, letting Mason take the lead, the newly formed breach ahead beckoning them deeper into the facility. "After you, boss."
Mason nodded, his emerald eyes acknowledging Hadrian's casual deference before sweeping the dark tunnel ahead. "Alright team, stick close. We've got a clear path to the core, thanks to our unexpected demolitions expert. Let's not waste the gift." He stepped through the jagged opening, his silhouette framed briefly against the dim light before disappearing into the gloom.
Mason led the team through the jagged opening Hadrian's actions had created, his boots echoing with confident rhythm on the unexpectedly clear floor. The passage was remarkably free of debris, cleaner and wider than any they had yet encountered, though the scent of ozone now faintly permeated the recycled air.
"This is a direct shot," Athena confirmed, her voice holding a note of pleasant surprise as she pulled up internal schematics on her wrist. "Almost feels designed for high-speed travel. Your 'air currents' really guided us, Hadrian. I was expecting more broken pipes."
Nyx's crystalline device, held aloft, shimmered with a growing intensity. "The core's energy is immense here," she murmured, her baby blue eyes wide with a focused awe. "It's not just powerful; it pulses with a complex array of frequencies, as if communicating. The previous turbulence has given way to a profound... presence."
"Communicate, you say?" Leo Harten mused, floating beside her, his illusions of shimmering motes dancing around them. "Perhaps it just wants to tell us its favorite color. Mine's still glowing grey."
Mason clapped his hand firmly on Artemis's shoulder. "Stay vigilant, team. An unguarded path usually means something big at the end of it. Artemis, point. Leo, keep us covered visually. Athena, what's the architecture look like further in?"
"Looks like we're emerging into a massive cavernous chamber," Athena reported, her voice low with discovery. "Multiple energy conduits converge there, feeding directly into a central, spherical structure. It's got to be the core itself." As they rounded a final corner, the ventilation shaft broadened dramatically, opening into a gargantuan, circular chamber.