Z-News Live: The Phoenix Butcher Block ANCHOR: 'DANGEROUS DAVE' HENDERSON LOCATION: Z-NEWS CHOPPER 7, ABOVE DOWNTOWN BEAST ZONE
"Welcome back to Z-News, folks.
We are live above Phoenix, where what I can only described as a force of nature has been unleashed! The tiger striped girl commander, mounted on 'Atlas'—have just anchored a colossal, kilometer-wide Beast Zone right in the heart of the L-Worm infestation! Hundreds of these huge, segmented Lunar Worms have been forcibly expelled from the ground, frozen in fear by another massive psychic attack from the commander."
Dave Henderson leaned closer to the camera, his eyes wide. "And now... they're disembarking! Folks I have to say the sheer confidence of this group is terrifying."
They just wiped out at least a thousand or more enemies, and now they're rushing directly into a mob of hundreds of immobilized, high-defense creatures. This is live, unedited combat."
The colossal hand, Atlas, flattened out on the ruined street like a silver landing pad. I didn't need to shout, only project the 'Beast command' with a sharp, psychic impulse: "Divide and conquer, we got this!" I ran down the massive bow finger of Atlas, using the sheer size of the Hand as a ramp.
I gathered and focused my orgone force and executed a full somersault twist, landing lightly on the pulsating ground of the Beast Zone near the closest cluster of petrified L-Worms. The Beast zone was actively pulling in lunar worms closest to itself and ones that had surfaced within it. With every L-worm consumed the Beast zone split, grew and expanded.
"Look at her go! She's not using the cannon anymore! and folks do my eyes deceive me or is that beast zone expanding!"
My immediate priority wasn't glory; it was the essence. I rushed up to the nearest immobilized Lunar Worm, a creature nearly the size of a small car. Its spiked body was shuddering slightly, but the fear locked its body solid. I rushed up to it and slammed my Dhakra Rod into its chest plate—right into the core, there was very little struggle put up by the L-worm due to my stunning 250 accuracy and my new intelligence stat. I seized control of the L-worms orgone, then with a quick twist of my Dhakra rod extracted all of it. A sharp, grating sound of bio-chitin shattering met the air. A surge of clean, blue energy—the Lunar Worm Essence—sucked into the crystalline rod.
Dave from Z-news chopper 7 continued his live report; "The tiger-striped girl is moving with frightening speed, she has closed the distance in remarkable time! It appears that the rest of the monster unit is splitting up and fanning out! Oh my look! The tiger stripped girl is rushing right up to the paralyzed worms!"
The chopper 7 news camera zoomed in, lens tracking Ash. She moved like a shadow, her dark crystal Dhakra Rod flashing.
"The worms... they're completely motionless due to that initial attack that we saw ripple off of the 'commander.' But dear viewers tunning in, look at that technique! This girl isn't fighting, she's harvesting!"
"Now, the rest of the squad is engaging! The chopper cam panned wide, "They've left the safety of the Hand, turning this into a terrifying, close quarters mopping operation. Remember, these are 650 worms, and most are still trapped, but a small contingent are beginning to thrash and resist! The creature with the massive, Bettle-like build, is providing heavy support. He's using massive, stomping attacks, crushing the worms that the commander misses. Every blow is landing with the force of a wrecking ball! He's using raw power to keep the paralyzed mass from collapsing and breaking free. This is not a battle, folks; this is an extermination in three dimensions.
And there's the armored wheeled man! He's focusing on the perimeter! He's using his speed to race around the edge of the mob, keeping the panicked worms contained. He's not using big hits; he's applying a continuous, sharp energy to the thrashing enemies, debilitating their movement and ensuring they can't escape the zone! He's running interference and acting as a herd dog—an unbelievably fast, lethal herd dog!"
My HUD flashed and Herja delivered a system message "Dahkra Rod Tier 2: Essence Acquired (5/16) 5 SP Acquired. Physical Attack Power up +5%."
The camera caught the macabre process: as the tiger striped girl twisted the rod, a fleeting, bright blue energy coalesces from the dying L-Worm and was instantly absorbed into the Rod. "She's repeating the process! Hundreds of thousands of viewers at home watched the girl as she moved to the next worm, and the next!
Dave piped in, "It's like she's feeding that weapon with their life force! she's barely spending a calorie! The tiger stripped girl has paralyzed the entire enemy army, and now her team is executing a flawless, methodical sweep, optimizing their kills for personal gain. They are farming the very core of this infestation! The sheer strategic brilliance—and ruthlessness—is unlike anything we've ever covered. We're going to keep these live feeds rolling, but I want to remind everyone watching: this is a complete paradigm shift in the lunar conflict..."
Mothman's turn meter instantly filled. I caught Mothman running interference on the perimeter and sent a psychic command—"Shred their defense!"—the Xun'dral armored Mothman aborted his perimeter sweep and executed his opening move as he shouted " Heavenly wheel shift!" I felt the quickening as my turn meter got boosted! Mothman then proceeded into his second technique granted by the extra turn, "Tarnishing Aura!" Waves of pressure proceeded out of the silver orb in the Xun'dral units chest!
A pervasive, corrosive wave of energy washed over the massive, frozen mob. Over the heads of the L-Worms, a 15% Defense Down debuff icon flared into existence. The Lunar Worms, already exposed, were now critically softened, their high physical defenses slashed by 15%. The entire team's subsequent physical attacks would now hit far harder.
"It's getting worse, folks, but worse for the aliens!" Dave shouted, shielding his eyes as the light intensified below. But now—now the winged woman, she's ascending!" The Camera zoomed in on Medusa Marla.
Marla, sensing the critical moment—the split-second before the Fear debuff would wear off—launched herself into the air above the trapped mass of L-Worms. "She's a blur! She's airborne! Her hair... those metal snakes on her head are glowing! It's that green energy again—'Orgone,' they call it—but it's twice as intense as before! Wait, twelve vipers!" But Dave's voice was lost in the sound of the developing assault. Marla, suspended over the mass, unleashed her full power.
"Serpent Flash!"
A blinding, cataclysmic storm of twenty-four seething, jagged green arcs of destructive Orgone slammed down from Marla's vipers. This was her signature Nuke, amplified by the recent level-up and targeting a mob now paralyzed by Fear and severely weakened by the 15% Defense Down from Mothman.
Dave was shocked by the sight, "FIRE! It's a green firestorm!" Dave yelled, instinctively ducking. "The light... it's completely saturating the screen! Everything is turning bright green below us!"A sound wave hit the Z-News chopper that was more than just noise: it was a physical shockwave.
KRA-BOOM!
"A thunderclap!" Dave shouted, holding the side of the helicopter. "It wasn't just energy; it was an explosive detonation! The shockwave just rocked us! We have multiple secondary explosions below!"
When the green light faded, the view was absolute and final. My HUD flashed; 400 L-worms destroyed.
"Unbelievable! Unbelievable!" Dave Henderson's voice was high-pitched, vibrating with shock and adrenaline. He was no longer just reporting the fight; he was narrating a cataclysm.
"Folks, if you just tuned in, you missed a green explosion of Orgone energy that just vaporized four hundred of those Lunar Worms! But the fight didn't end! This team—this... monster cavalry—they're executing a tactical sweep that defies all logic! They are still on the ground, inside that pulsating Beast Zone!"
On the other side of the battlefield it was Felicitys turn. Her meter filled in the flash of a second, and she did not need direction. Felicity slapped her hands together, a mischievous grin cutting through her fierce expression. "Fierce Felicity Chibi, Engage!" With a bright, energetic pop, a miniature, stylized clone of Felicity materialized instantly. The Fierce Felicity Chibi was a small, high-speed copy, a buzzing ball of hyper-aggressive energy. The instant the Chibi deployed, it unleashed the Bloodlust Aura and a 15% Crit Damage Buff icon snapped into existence above the entire team's heads, feeding an aggressive fervor into our subsequent attacks, two debuff icons appeared over the remaining 250 L-worms heads, a 25% Accuracy down debuff and a 25% defense down debuff. Fierce Felicity chibi remained deployed, ready to provide follow-up buffs or tactical fire.
The 'Aura of Submission' triggered sending out a mass fear debuff that landed on all 250 L-worms! It was my turn again and the mob was primed, the remaining 250 L-Worms had their defense and accuracy lowered by 25% from the Blood lust Aura and now they were fear locked again!
The Fear would last one more turn, and I intended to use every second of it, it was time for a full-scale assault. I slammed my Brood mother Palm onto the pulverized earth.
"Get them, children!" I hissed, channeling the full force of my Orgone pool into the massive summoning skill!
"Blaze Sting Scorponok!" I screamed.
A grotesque sight erupted from the ground. Massive, red and orange scorpions, the Blaze Sting Scorponoks, boiled out of the fresh dirt, their tails arcing, tipped with pulsing venom sacs. They surged into the immobilized L-Worms, instantly recognizing the paralyzed, debuffed creatures as fresh prey. The Scorponoks attacked with savage efficiency, their fiery claws tore into the worms shells. Upon shattering a segment, the Scorponok would drive its venomous stinger into the worm's core, achieving an instant kill.
With every kill performed by a Scorponok, essence spiraled through the air and into the compound eye of my Brood Mother palm! The red-purple essence of the utility core was forcibly extracted. The essence didn't fly to me directly; instead, it sped over to the back of my hand, where the large, multifaceted compound eye of the Brood mother palm absorbed the energy with a sickening slurp. My HUD began flashing rapid-fire confirmations: L-Worm Utility Essence Acquired (2/5).
L-Worm Utility Essence Acquired (3/5).L-Worm Utility Essence Acquired (4/5).The swarm was tearing through the paralyzed mob, and the compound eye on my hand glowed brighter and brighter as its power scaled. I was rapidly farming the material needed to fully upgrade the Brood mother Palm's next level of utility. The combined attacks of the Blaze Sting Scorponoks and my team's melee strikes where now rapidly dwindling the L-Worm count.
Above in the Z-news chopper 7 Dave reported the new turn of events feverishly
"She's slamming her strange, armor-plated hand onto the ground now! It's the second phase!
The chopper camera zoomed in on Ash, the glowing compound eye on her Brood mother Palm fixed on the viewer. "Oh, my God! Scorpions! Massive, red-and-orange scorpions are boiling out of the ground! They're the size of mini-vans! They're tearing into the paralyzed, defenseless Lunar Worms! They're like fiery, summoned predators! They're cutting through the worms like paper! "Dave paused, watching the grisly, efficient slaughter. "Look at the energy! Every time a Scorponok makes a kill, a pulse of red-purple energy flies straight to the commander's hand and gets sucked into the eye, She is not stopping to pick anything up; she is automatically absorbing the essence of the fallen enemies! She is growing stronger in real-time! This is not just a battle; this is a factory of power!"
The Scorponoks worked with horrifying speed, their kills compounding the loss. The mob of L-Worms was dropping so fast it was impossible for the chopper crew to keep up. "It is pure, tactical butchery! The commander locks them down, the team buffs and debuffs them, and then the summon does the extermination work while she harvests the resources! We are witnessing the birth of a new apex predator on this planet, folks. And she's not here to save Phoenix; she's here to consume the lunar threat."
The remaining 250 L-Worms, already weakened, and Fear locked were nearing total annihilation. The Brood mother Palm was humming with the final, necessary essence to level up to tier 1.
My HUD flashed the final Essence tally for the Brood mother palm: L-Worm Utility Essence Acquired (5/5). The compound eye pulsed with satisfaction, as a golden wave shimmered over my right hand, my Brood mothers palm was now Tier 1!
The Scorponok swarm dissolved back into Orgone motes, their task complete. The last of the 250 L-Worms had been processed, and the Beast Zone was thriving and expanding at an alarming rate.
Herja chimed in with a system message; "Battle Encounter Cleared. Extreme Overkill achieved. Total Enemies Destroyed: 650 Lunar Worms. Group Level Up Confirmed."
I took a deep breath as I felt a sudden rush as five levels worth of power flooded into my body, I looked at my skills tab, I had 5AP 16SP!
The feeling of reaching Level 24 was settling in, making me feel light and lethally effective. I turned and jumped back onto Atlas, the colossal Hand immediately moving to gather the rest of the team. "Herja, give me the map. I want the next biggest target. My voice was calm, projecting my absolute control over the scene. Herja immediately brought up the map, " Next Target Identified: The abandoned Sky Harbor Airport a major nest of 1,200 Lunar Locusts, approximately 5 miles East."
I looked up at the Z-News Chopper 7, a small, irritating gnat buzzing in the sky. "Atlas," I commanded, projecting the intent: Move us to the airport. But first, give that chopper a very personal warning. The Hand didn't accelerate for the airport immediately. Instead, Atlas raised its middle finger—the one equipped with the X-buster straight up into the air, its tip pointing directly at the Z-News chopper. The action was unmistakable, clear, and universally understood.
"Dave," I could hear the anchor's voice crackle through the residual comms bleed, "I... I think that metal hand is flipping us off! This is live, folks! They're warning us off!"
I let the message sink in. We were not to be followed. "Alright, Atlas. Full speed. Sky Harbor Airport is next. Let' break through to level 30 easy."