This has been one heck of a journey up to this point. It should be interesting to see how well the two of them manage to do in their new home away from home. Not to much else to say for now, so go and see just how unfriendly Atlas' environment is in the frontier.

Beta reader: Poliamida

Weiss felt something pressing down on her while she slept, and it was radiating heat like a fire. Slowly opening one of her eyes, she saw the source of the heat. Yang had fallen asleep atop of Weiss. The sound of wind whipping against the building could be heard, even in the basement they were camped in. Waking up had been a comfort after receiving punishment from the Bloodkin for endangering their vessel. She could still feel the injuries she sustained in the dream. A dull throbbing that would likely bother her through the day. As Weiss was about to rest her eyes until Yang awoke, she felt something cold running down her face. Bringing her free hand up, she felt the wet substance and realized Yang drooled in her sleep.

Any semblance of calm was broken as Weiss screamed out in distress and thrashed about beneath her teammate. Yang weighing a bit more than the Heiress thanks to the muscles she had. Using her hand to grasp at the ground, Weiss slowly began dragging herself free. It was slow going, but eventually Weiss managed to pull herself free. Weiss looked down and saw most of her winter gear had been stripped off of her. Turning around at the likely source of her problems, she brought her leg back and delivered a boot to Yang's side. The blonde barely budging from Weiss' attack. Seeing no immediate effect, she decided to try again. She shot her foot forward again and was met with a sudden stop due to Yang gripping the appendage. With a quick jerk, Weiss was brought to the ground.

"You know, it isn't very nice to kick people in their sleep." Yang gave a yawn after waking up.

"You drooled on me!" Weiss could barely keep her anger in check at the thought of what had happened.

Yang brought her hand up to her mouth to wipe away some of the liquid. "Sorry about that. I try to sleep with my mouth closed, but sometimes my nose gets stuffy during the night."

"I should have brought a second sleeping bag."

"Sorry, Ice Queen, but someone had to warm up your frigid body." Yang gave a smirk as Weiss turned red. "Calm down Weiss. I just had to stop you from dying of hypothermia."

"I knew that. I just wasn't sure if you were being crass or sincere."

"Bit tough to tell at times, but I have faith you'll eventually reach Ruby's level of interpreting my very nuanced language."

"I'm already starting to regret you saving me."

"That's the spirit, now I'm going to make breakfast. See if you can find anything useful in here and by the way, you might want to get dressed."

Weiss looked down and realized she was still in her sleepwear. She rushed over to her clothing and began putting most of her gear back on. Having a roof over their head eliminated the need for their heavy winter jackets, but without a proper source of heat they still needed to wear most of their gear. Going from desk to desk, Weiss pried open the drawers in search of anything of use. Most held papers from when the town was still operational. Nothing too significant besides possible kindling should they need it. The sealed metal door probably led to the town's emergency shelter. From the appears she had read, funding was cut before they could complete the entire shelter.

"Hope you like oatmeal and dried fruit. Cause that's what we got." Yang pulled out a metal cup and filled it to the brim.

"What I wouldn't do for a real breakfast," Weiss mumbled while eating her meal.

"What I wouldn't do for some bacon," Yang said in response.

"Do you even know how to butcher an animal?"

"Don't have to, I brought a book."

Weiss gave a chuckle at the thought of Yang standing over an animal and quickly looking between it and a book. The blonde struggling to bring a knife to the creature before passing out. Though Weiss was glad she wouldn't have to deal with it should they manage to hunt an animal in the future.

"Do we have a plan or are we just going to hold up for the winter in here?" Yang asked. She was already fishing through their packs to count up the remaining supplies. "Because I don't think we have enough to last us for two weeks, let alone a month."

"We might be fine if we ration what is left, but that might leave us compromised if Grimm attack us. Fighting while half-starved is only going to lead to accidents." Weiss looked back over to the sealed door. Even after all these years, it still seemed to be completely intact.

Most of Atlas' native animals had gone into hibernation for the grueling winter. Game would be nearly impossible to come across and any edible vegetation wouldn't be ready to harvest until late spring. If they were lucky, the blizzard could end a week or two early and they might find something left in the town. Until then though, they would be stuck inside due to the buildup of snow. Weiss wouldn't have been surprised if they already had 3 feet of snow built up outside. If the cities drainage system was no longer functional, then they'd have an entirely different problem come spring.

Grabbing her scroll from their backpack, Weiss walked up to the sealed door. She looked at the panel for a moment before drawing her rapier and hitting it's top with the pommel of the weapon. Several hits later and the front of the panel was busted off. The inside had several cords running between the screen, control board, and back into the wall. adding a cable to her scroll, Weiss plugged her device into the panel. The panel lit up green with the door clicking as it unlocked. Weiss unplugged her scroll and put it back on her waist. She turned around to see Yang awestruck by the result.

"Never took you for being tech savvy, Weiss. Where did you learn to do that?"

"My older sister actually taught me a few things she learned in the military. The fact that nearly all of Atlas' security is contracted through SDC does have some advantages. Backdoors for anything that goes through the company and the keys held within every Schnee's scroll."

"Isn't that incredibly dangerous? Like, kingdom security level of trouble if someone took it?" Yang looked at the device at Weiss' hip with slight worry.

"Biometrics will keep it from anyone who is not a Schnee. It won't work on anything that has been built since I went to Beacon. Unless I can get back to the manor and sneak into the family vault, this will have to do." Weiss felt some slight disappointment in only being able to deal with what would be considered antiquated technology.

"This is amazing Weiss," Yang exclaimed. "You have the equivalent of a master key to all of Atlas."

"For now, let's focus on seeing if this shelter has any food left in storage. Ration packs might not be the tastiest, but they can last for decades." Weiss held her rapier up at the ready and began entering deeper into the shelter.

Yang following behind with a flashlight to help illuminate the dark. The walls appeared much more modern than the rest of the structure and seemed to have been mostly composed of steel. A shelter that should have been able to keep the citizens safe until military aid could arrive to evacuate them. Weiss hoped that the town was evacuated and the shelter was unused, but its age suggested it was one of the several abandoned projects after Atlas put a hold on expansion efforts. Military support was slowly pulled from the outer edges after the Mountain Glenn expansion in Vale collapsed. People lost faith in the possibility of new cities and those in power felt the resources could be better spent on other projects.

No news coverage or anything on any of the many towns that went dark. Just another skeleton that was quietly swept into Atlas' growing closet. No classes covered the expansions and those involved were either dead or paid off. All thanks to a little money changing hands. Weiss was broken from her thoughts when Yang shined the light on what looked like a gun of some kind. Yang recognized the barrel as that of a shotgun's. The light shined up the barrel until it stopped at the skeletal hand gripping the trigger. Yang froze at the sight and turned the light away from the gun and skeleton. Weiss covered her mouth with her hand, as she felt some bile beginning to rise in her throat. Neither having the stomach to turn back around immediately. Both stood in the darkness staring at the wall Yang was illuminating.

"I don't think this place is empty Weiss," Yang nearly heaved.

"I hate to say this, but we have to examine the body."

"No way am I getting near that thing."

"Just shine a light on it. I need to know if any Grimm got in here."

"I hate this," Yang mumbled as she turned the flashlight back towards the dead body. She turned her head the moment the light got close to the remains.

Weiss could see that the body was just the skeletal remains with clothing holding the body together. Most of the bones seemed intact until Weiss looked down at the legs. Both had been shattered and bent at awkward angles. If the lights were working, the dead person would have a view of the entry hall and enough time to react to anything coming through. The uniform suggested either a town guard or militia member thanks to the faded emblem on the front of the jacket.

"Looks like this person was left here with their gun. They were probably retreating from something and sealed the door after getting inside. If we're lucky, the body was left here due to an emergency rescue not having time to collect the dead," Weiss said. She stood back up having seen all she needed to.

"And if we're unlucky?" Yang asked.

"All the food in storage has been eaten and there are more bodies just laying around this place."

Yang turned the light towards a hall leading deeper into the facility. They reached another sealed door that Weiss managed to unlock. She wondered just how large something like this would have to be to house a large town's growing population. The shared sleeping quarters would have to be massive and they would need enough supplies to feed the residents for several weeks. The place should have been loaded, but most of the facility appeared empty. Most of what they had come across were bare rooms connected by hallway after hallway.

Eventually, they found a door labeled 'Storage'. Weiss connected her scroll to the locked door and it came to life. A red light flickered for a moment and turned green, signifying clearance. Weiss held her breath as the door slid open. Yang shined a light into the room and saw several dozens of shelves bare of anything. Not a single crumb was left in the vacant room. There wasn't even any trash from the missing food. No empty cans or wraps littered the floor of the room.

"How is this even possible?" Weiss asked aloud in shock.

"Let's check out the rest of the rooms. Some people might have a secret stash of food. Ruby used to hide candy all over the dorm so I couldn't stop her from eating it."

"Let's just focus on the generator for now. If I'm going to die, I'm going to die in a comfortable and heated room." Weiss declared.

"Good to see you have your priorities set. I'm just glad that most the doors have their own power source. Not that I'd mind busting down a few doors, but these things look like they could take a beating." Yang smiled as she tapped the steel door with her fist.

"If this doesn't work out, we might be able to hit the mayor's house. Second most likely place to have some canned goods and emergency supplies."

"Think we could actually get through the city in the middle of this storm?"

"Nope, but trying to survive is what matters right now. Try to think about the next move and never stop moving towards your objective."

It didn't take long to find the generator room. Most of the halls seemed to be labeled with directional arrows painted onto the walls. Each room they passed was just as bare as the last and their hope was slowly dwindling. When they found the room, they saw that the door was already wedged open. The automated system failing to reseal the door due to it being bent out of shape.

Weiss already realized the likely answer and didn't bother to look inside the room. Yang peaked into the room to see that the only remaining object in the room was the shell of the generator. All the internal components were missing and all the spare parts that should have been lining the shelves were gone. Everything they saw pointed towards the facility being stripped of any valuables. The town was roughly 30 years old, giving plenty of time for anyone to come in and salvage some items. Up till the generator room, there had been no signs of forced entry making their current problem even more confusing.

"Think there's anything on the next floor?" Yang asked.

"It was under construction when funding was pulled, so I doubt it would have anything of value. Even if it did, I doubt anything would still be down there."

"Might as well give it a shot before we risk going back outside." Yang gave a solid point that Weiss had trouble refuting immediately.

"Okay," Weiss stated before turning sarcastic in tone. "Maybe we can eat the excavated rocks and live off the moss." She led Yang through the corridors towards the stairs.

"Moss has plenty of uses Weiss. I just wouldn't advise eating it since it has no nutritional value and could be poisonous." It was most useful in constructing sealants and adhesives, but neither had any immediate value to the pair.

"Let's get this over with then." Weiss rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks.

Where a staircase should have been, instead sat a scrap elevator with a crank to raise and lower the device. Two pullies were anchored to the ceiling and fed into the crank that was haphazardly bolted to the floor. Most of the contraption appeared fine, save for some rust beginning to take hold of the elevator. Yang walked up beside the Heiress to marvel at the first sign of something living down there. Yang had a grin on her face, as she stepped onto the device. Weiss reached out to stop her teammate, only to watch the brawler jump up and down to prove the stability of the platform.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Weiss exclaimed in anger.

Yang merely laughed in response to Weiss' worry. "Don't worry so much Weiss. We're two Huntresses. I'm sure we can handle a little fall."

"Huntresses in Training, Yang."

"Gotta fake it till you make it. The way I see it, we are more than qualified at this point."

"We barely finished our first year."

"We technically never finished out first-year thanks to Vale falling to pieces during the Hunt. If we can survive out here for a few months, we might as well be a pair of Huntresses." Yang held out a hand for Weiss.

Weiss placed her hand atop Yang's and was pulled over to the platform. The rigging shook from the added momentum for a moment. Once it settled back down, Yang handed Weiss the flashlight and began slowly turning the crank. The platform began to lower itself into the depths. Weiss watched as the steel walls transitioned into stone. A loud creak came from above causing Yang to pause for a moment. The noise intensified until a snap was heard and the entire lift began to plummet.

Both girls let out a scream as the elevator fell for about one second before hitting the ground with a thud. Weiss coughed into her hand and quickly stepped off the platform. They were in a rather large cavern. Cables and lights were hanged from the ceiling but lacked any power. There were even a few rotting crates placed around the elevator. The entire room seemed to have been active at some point in the past. Tools were left out along with a table with four ceramic plates atop it.

"Doesn't look like anyone is home, Weiss. We might find something to eat down here."

"Guess we know what happened to everything upstairs. They continued construction down here and expanded the shelter. This is amazing Yang!" Weiss nearly yelled with excitement. "This place should have a supply of water and maybe a means of producing food or at least some stores."

"Things are actually looking up for once. Knew our luck would have to turn eventually."

"Let's see if they brought the generator down here. Something had to have powered these lights at some point." Weiss pointed up with the flashlight, showing the cable that ran across the ceiling with lights hanging off it.

Weiss kept the light on the cable as they followed it back through the cavern. The cables running through a tunnel and joining others along the wall. Metal staples kept them hoisted off the ground and continuing down the tunnel. Each step echoed through the empty and quite cavern. Nothing, besides the two Huntresses, was making any form of noise. The light showed the cables take a turn into another tunnel with several other cables hanging from the ceiling, and another at the end of the hall.

A generator sat in the center of the room and was in fairly decent shape. A good amount of the generator was covered in a scrap casing to shield its components. Weiss knew the large generator was old, but most of the components seemed to be in working condition. She hesitantly put her hand against the starter and pressed it. The device sputtered for a moment before coming to life. The hanging lights turning on, now that they had power running through them all.

The once dark tunnels were shining brightly as both girls covered their eyes from the sudden blast of light. Once their eyes had readjusted, they went to work on finding whatever food might remain. The likelihood of rations or canned goods seemed bad, but if so many people were living down in the caves there was bound to be a secondary source of food. Weiss relaxed for a moment now that they had a proper shelter to work with. The two exploring more of the now illuminated cave system.

"Hey, Weiss. I think this is a computer." Yang called out to the Heiress. Weiss entered the room to find a physical monitor stood atop a table. Wires ran from the monitor into a metal box that sat beneath it.

Weiss ran her hand across the screen to clear up the accumulated dust. The old analog device even used an actual keyboard to help navigate. Hard light projections hadn't been as readily used in technology at the time. The tech was first introduced as barriers and walls to separate freeways and work as guard rails. It was hard for either girl to imagine what the world was like 30 years ago, without so much of their current technology. A password was all that was needed to access the device. Weiss merely looked back at Yang with a grin before pulling out her scroll and connecting the two objects.

The screen turned to a standard Schnee tech issue background. A number of shortcuts were strewn across the screen. Each linking to a file of some kind. After a minute of scanning the screen, Weiss found a logbook that would hopefully explain what happened. Opening the file, she saw several dozen documents appear in the window. Each one dated a week apart from the last. All the information could prove useful at some point, but Weiss had to focus on their current problem and questions. Opening the latest file dated at 26 years ago, she began to read. Most of the information pertained to the daily operations and supply usage, but the ending message was what piqued Weiss interest.

'We've been receiving noise complaints again from those in the eastern living quarters. I told them that we had begun excavating again to help expand the shelter, but I'm still worried about the possibility of subterranean Grimm. Atlas has never had too much problem with the Grimm this deep into the ground. All types of recorded Grimm in Atlas at most will lie just below the surface. If it is Grimm, then it's nothing Atlas has seen before. I'm going to gather up some people to investigate and see if there is a way to deal with this if it is Grimm.'

Both girls stepped away from the screen and cautiously turned around towards the entryway. They had their weapons drawn. Yang used her head to motion Weiss to look back at the computer while she kept watching. Weiss lowered her weapon and went back to the computer to try and find more on the apparent deathtrap they walked into.

A map appeared on the screen of what was the underground portion of the shelter. Irregularly shaped rooms that were carved out from the stone. There was even a floor beneath the one they were on which would have housed the survivors. What caught Weiss' eye, was the oddly mapped addition to the living quarters. Red circles were placed around the corners of the room. It was clear that the map wasn't completed for that section of the drawing since it tapered off into a blank space. An attachment file was linked to the image listed as 'seal procedures'.

Opening the file, Weiss saw plans to plant explosives in a new cave opening and seal it away under the rubble. The plan seemed sound, but the number of people involved suggested there was something more in the cave and the tunnels connecting it. There was even a section on expected losses and multiple detonators handed out between three people. The attack almost seemed suicidal with everyone having explosives on their body in case only a few made it. What worried Weiss, was that there was no one in the shelter and that the plan was dated only a few days after the last log.

The elevator was destroyed and the only means of sealing off their first camp was unlocked. A shotgun blast going off shook Weiss from her thoughts. She turned around to see Yang firing shot after shot into the tunnel. Yang rushed back to Weiss and took her hand, dragging her away from the terminal. Weiss could see the dissolving remains of a multi-legged Grimm. They ran through the tunnels with the sound of a stampede rushing just behind them. A clicking noise could be heard, causing Weiss to look back.

The Grimm were large spiders, about the size of a large dog. Each one having eight legs tipped with bone and more eyes than any creature needed. Razor-edged mandibles clacking together as they followed behind the pair. They scurried over the wall and ceiling to fit as many as possible down the tunnel in unison. The swarm was only slowed down from Yang taking shots into the moving mass and forcing them to climb over some of the dissolving bodies. They managed to make it back to the main room and ran towards the elevator.

Yang pulled Weiss onto the destroyed elevator and looked up the empty shaft, towards the entrance. "We need to go up!" Yang looked around frantically for something to use to help them climb.

Weiss pulled out her rapier and projected a glyph beneath the platform. She pumped a fair amount of her aura into the glyph as it turned black. With a pulse of light, the platform was launched back up the shaft. Both Huntresses leaped off the elevator as it reached the top. A crash was heard from the scrap contraption slamming into the ceiling. The metal device was barely hanging onto the edge thanks to it being too off center to fit through the opening.

"It just had to be Grimm. We couldn't have a well-lit and supplied shelter without there being some catch." Weiss complained to the universe.

"As long as they stay down there, we should be fine." Yang barely finished her sentence when a noise could be heard rising through the shaft.

"You just had to say something." Weiss rushed up to the platform and began pushing it. "Don't just stand there. Help me push this thing back into place"

Yang rushed over to Weiss and helped her push the scrap elevator back into place. When it was realigned. It plummeted back down the shaft making a crunching noise every time it hit one of the Grimm on the way down. A loud splat was heard once it fell to the very bottom.

"What's the plan, Weiss?"

"We need to seal up whatever hole they're using to get in. If we can seal it, then we should be able to scavenge some supplies from downstairs." Weiss couldn't risk losing the only resource they had.

"Why can't we just seal up the shaft? Seems a lot safer than going back down into the fray."

"Because we won't survive the winter without some more supplies. This shelter would be our best bet if we could get rid of the Grimm."

"How do we do that then? I don't know about you, but I didn't pack military grade explosives when leaving Beacon. All I got are a few Dust grenades from Nora."

"That shouldn't be a problem. The people who used to live here had a plan on taking care of the Grimm problem. We just have to collect the explosives off their bodies and plant them, if they didn't manage to."

"Alright then. Let's see what we can do." Yang reloaded her gauntlets in preparation.

"We're going to beeline for the tunnel that leads to their cave entrance. Attach the explosives to the columns in the room and the four corners. After that, we just have to detonate them and be outside of the blast radius."

Yang was the first to step forward and fall down the shaft. She brought both her arms back and began firing to slow her descent. Each blast nailing the bottom of the chute and hitting the Grimm that had piled up beneath. The spiny limbs being shredded from each shot. Yang landed atop one of the Grimm and began tearing into them. Weaving around their attempts to stab her and using the crippled ones as shields.

Weiss landed delicately thanks to her use of Glyph platforms. She stepped onto the ground and rushed forward towards her first target. A precise stab through one of their eyes was all Weiss needed to end the creature. The same result was difficult to accomplish now that the Grimm had begun to erratically move their bodies to avoid fatal blows. Forcing Weiss to use more slashing strikes to account for their movement. Each one killed was just as easily replaced with another. It would only be a matter of time before they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents.

With their options limited, Weiss leaped back to Yang. With someone to watch her back, she went to work on evening the odds. She stabbed her rapier into the ground causing a dark red glyph to begin taking shape. The symbol rapidly beginning to rotate. From the center glyph, 8 more formed around its edge. All the glyphs began to pick up speed to match the center piece. Figures cloaked in armor began to rise from the glyphs. Most were lightly armored with silver scales covering their vitals. An intricate helmet that lacked eye slits was worn over their heads. Out of the eight knights summoned, two wore regal attires with a silver wig.

The new competent walked forward and drew their weapons. The regal due with a rapier in one hand and a pistol in the other. Each armored knight unsheathed their own swords. The tide finally turned thanks to there being enough people to trim the numbers of Grimm. With the ability to push back against the Grimm, Weiss and Yang began moving towards the tunnel leading downwards. Confined spaces being where Yang thrived in combat. She unloaded her weapon down the tunnel to thin more of the Grimm. Any that got within her reach being pulverized by a swift blow.

Breaking through into a large cavern, Weiss was shocked by how inhuman the entire place looked compared to the rest of the shelter. Webbing covered the corners of the cave and covered the ceiling. Weiss could even see the remains of the past inhabitants hanging from some of the webs. Their remains held together by the webbing. The cavern they were in had been cleared out by the spiders tunneling through the ground. A number of tunnels emptied out into the room from every possible angle. Weiss couldn't set the room ablaze for fear of detonating any explosives that might be on some of the cocooned remains.

Both Huntresses couldn't blindly fire into the webbing. They began looking at the remains to try and find someone who looked important enough to give a detonator. With a number of bodies hanging around the cavern, the initial placement of explosives might not matter. A large amount detonating near the ceiling could easily collapse the entire room. Their searching proved difficult thanks to the continued influx of Grimm. They cut their way deeper into the nest and saw a line of corpses strung up against the wall. Some appeared to have been armed with pistols or rifles at one point. Most had empty holsters, but one kept a weapon clenched in their death grip.

Yang could see a belt on the armed skeleton with a few devices strapped to it. Among them was a cylinder with a trigger and button built into it. Weiss noticed Yang's gaze and followed it to the detonator. Weiss looked around for any sign of a trap and finally turned her head up. Above the bodies, towards the ceiling, was a large opening in the sea of webs. The darkness that seeped from within the abyss made Weiss uneasy. From size alone, it could have housed several dozen more Grimm. Each ready to pounce once someone walked underneath. Reaching out, Weiss put her hand on Yang's shoulder and pointed to the large hole in the ceiling.

Weiss looked to the four knights that came with her to clear the cave. The other four keeping their exit clear of any Grimm. They'd have a plan of retreat should the entire plan fall apart. Seeing as they couldn't fire into the darkness for fear of setting off an explosive, they decided to trigger the trap on their own terms. The group walked towards the bodies, each person spaced a fair distance from the other. As they were about halfway to their objective, the ground began to shake. Everyone had their weapons drawn and was ready to move at a moment's notice.

A set of legs began to crawl over the webbing above them. Each leg was about the size of a bus and covered in jagged bone. Weiss stood frozen at the giant Grimm that had walked out of the hole. It was about three stories tall and effortlessly moved about the web. They could feel the eyes on the monster watching them with hunger. A Grimm mask encasing its skull, as four pincer-like mandibles extended from under its eyes.

Yang made the first move towards the detonator, causing the Grimm to let out a screech in anger. It dropped from the ceiling and landed with a thunderous crack, as the stone beneath its legs was shattered. The group avoided it's opening move and dispersed even further from each other. A decently sized grouping would be too tantalizing for any Grimm. Each decided to attack the giant's legs. Steel clashing against hardened bone. Each strike would cause a reverberation to shake up through the weapons.

The extremities seemed too hard to cut conventionally, leaving the main body which stood about 16 feet above them the only valid target. Two Black Glyphs appeared on the battlefield. One near Yang and another near one of the knights. Both ran at each glyph and were catapulted upwards. The knight stabbing his blade into the Grimm to maintain his grip, while Yang ran along it's back. She began firing shells into it to help launch herself towards the head of the Grimm. Yang stopped her charge when she saw spiders begin to crawl out from within the giant Grimm. Flesh being forced apart to make an exit point, then hastily covered with some webbing.

They were hardly making a dent in the giant Grimm and with more spiders entering the battlefield, time wasn't on their side. Yang ran between the new arrivals and headed towards the neck of the Grimm. A small patrol of spiders following behind her. Reaching the connecting point for the head and body, she began firing at the joint. The skin was tough, but repeatedly firing at the same spot did manage to blast open a decent sized hole into its body. Black ichor spilled from the wounds of the Giant. Once of the smaller spiders tried to impale Yang with its leg while her back was turned. The brawler leaped into the air and threw two cylinder-like devices into the wound, as she fell back towards the ground.

An explosion erupted from the wound, throwing several spiders from the giants back. The Giant itself screamed in pain and ran into the wall to scrape off any interlopers. The Grimm seemed to be in pain only. It retained all its agility with a new-found anger for the attacking group. It began to furiously stomp about in an attempt to squash the group. Weiss and the others easily leap out of the way as spiders rained down from above. Weiss was quick to kill a few of the spiders with a flourish of blows that flowed from one to the next. Dashing around the battlefield and swiftly killing any Grimm that failed to see her approach.

"This isn't working!" Yang yelled over to Weiss.

"Go for the detonator. We'll bring this cavern down atop it."

Weiss ran underneath the Grimm's head and began conjuring ghostly bolts of energy. After several had taken shape around her, she slashed her blade across the air and unleashed the volley. The red bolts arcing through the air and exploding on contact. The smoke cleared to reveal that she had barely managed to dirty the Grimm's mask. She prepared another volley to try and garner the monster's attention. Pulling out a red vial of Dust, Weiss poured the substance into the air. The particles being drawn into each bolt of energy and causing them to crackle with new potential. She waved her hand to unleash the new hail of projectiles. The orbs flew out past the head before turning mid-air and crashing into the Grimm's face.

Yang was sprinting towards the line of bodies on the wall. Ducking between the Grimm without slowing her stride. She could hear the explosions going off behind her as Weiss distracted the giant. Reaching the body, Yang tore the detonator from the old leather belt. Holding down the button, she saw one of the lights atop the device flash red. Yang gave a sigh of relief, seeing the detonator still worked. Running through the mob of Grimm, Yang fought her way back towards Weiss.

"Got the detonator. What now?" Yang killed a spider that was leaping through the air at Weiss.

Weiss turned to the tunnel they used to enter the cave. "We get out of here and trigger the detonator."

Wasting no time, they made a break for the entrance. The giant taking a moment to notice its prey had left. The smaller Grimm gave chase as Weiss' knights formed an escort circle around the pair. Nothing seemed to slow the group as they pierced through the swarm of Grimm. The giant spider took notice after its smaller companions began to screech in fury. The cave shook as the giant spider pursued the group. Its stride making each step worth dozens of theirs. Yang could see the entrance in the distance with four knights positioned around it.

The four knights drew their pistols and opened fire on the approaching Grimm. Wiess and Yang dashed into the tunnel with the other summons guarding their rear. A loud crunching noise could be heard behind them as the tunnel shook. The large Grimm was trying to dig its way to the group, while the smaller Grimm pursued through the tunnel.

Coming out on the other side of the tunnel, Weiss projected a glyph over the entrance. The knights pressed their hands to the projection to offer their own strength to the barrier. "Use the detonator."

Yang took Weiss' advice and held down the button to prime the charges. Taking a gulp in worry, Yang pulled the trigger. The entire cave complex shook from the shock wave. Yang could barely maintain her balance while the ground shook. Weiss could feel the wave of pressure slam up against her glyph. The impact shaking her soul as it took the brunt of the blast. Five of the eight knights immediately dissipated as the shockwave hit the glyph they were supporting. She fell to her knees, but kept the barrier up as the tunnel collapsed in front of her. The other summons vanished along with the glyph Weiss was projecting.

"I can't believe we survived that," Yang said, trying to catch her breath between each word.

"That makes two of us," Weiss replied weakly. "I don't think I have enough aura to take us back up top."

"Let's find a place down here to rest up then. Not the biggest fan, but neither of us can make that climb right now." Yang offered Weiss a hand. The heiress grabbed Yang's hand and was lifted up onto her feet.

"The room we crash in needs to have a door we can close," Weiss said while leaning on Yang's shoulder.

"Will do, Weiss."

The pair began their slow walk through the now cleared shelter. Both passing room after room in search for a door of some kind. Any form of protection was preferred over sleeping out in the open after dealing with subterranean spider Grimm. They managed to find a wooden wall and door built over a cave entrance. Both Huntresses drew their weapon as the door was opened. Weiss dropped her weapon in surprise. Cans, jars, and packets of rations lined up on the shelves. UV lights that sat above rows of soil and seeds stored in glass jars. A water pump was in the corner of the room with rotted barrels sat beside it. They managed to strike gold in the middle of a wasteland. Weiss collapsed onto the ground in joy as tears fell from her eyes. Yang couldn't help but smile at the sight and catch some of Weiss' enthusiasm. The night would be spent in comfort, knowing that the beginnings of something greater had taken root.

Well, that was fun. Haven't gotten a chance to write write about a colossus esque enemy in ages. People climbing all over it while trying to chip away at it and find any vulnerabilities. I can say definitively that we've wrapped up this part of Weiss and Yang's journey. At this point, any attept to write about an underground partially destroyed shelter turns into a Vault. Time to move on to the next and see how they are fairing in the world.