Nextgen Kids: Legend of the Nine Newborn

Operation: AINCRAD, Level 10: Phantom Bullet

I decided to give Level 62 a more fitting name, so slight edit for the previous chapter. For now, play "Approaching the Ruins" from Ori and the Will of Wisps!

Sector SA's group ventured to the desert on the outskirts of Gun Gale. It wasn't frigid under the night sky, just a muggy kind of hot, though they could see the embers amongst the giant bones of Dead Man Valley. "It's not as pretty as Secco." Morgiana said, burying her toes in the sand. "But I do feel right at home here."

"I've never been to a desert," Fie said as she brushed her own feet along the sand, "but it doesn't feel much different than a battlefield on a summer night."

"Between Fie and I, both our races are faster at night." Killua said. "And since Nagisa is trained in the ways of the Sheikah, he can apply that boost, too."

"Lucky you!" Millium shouted, squinting her eyes in the blowing sand. "I can barely see anything. Carry me, Nagisa." She climbed on his shoulders without asking.

"Well, Fie, ready to show these boys who the real night masters are?" Morg asked with a smirk.

"You bet." Fie shared a knuckle bump with her.

"Aww, our girls are getting along." Nagisa grinned.

"They're gonna team up against us, you know."

"Then it's another incentive to get stronger!" Killua rolled his eyes at him.

Stage 7: Dead Man Valley

Mission: Search for and eliminate Death Gun!

The team crossed a narrow pathway over a chasm. Green birds called Hrok flapped overhead and barfed boulders down. Fie used Morg as a spring to jump up and slice two of their necks, while Killua roped one's neck with his yo-yo, tugged down, and slammed it against the side of the path. The path led into a trench where they had to jump giant bones jutting out of the wall. They leapt the bones in a ninja style, but one of them was bent up against the cliff. Morgiana bellowed a soundwave to shake the bone and make it fall and hang, allowing them to jump it. Afterwards, they had to jump the tops of some bones standing from the abyss, but they threatened to lean and fall, so the group followed each other quickly.

They could rest on a stable path and follow it out of the trench. A giant worm emerged from an open area of sand, its mouth opening to a minigun. The team scattered as it let fire, confusing the beast. It had to stop to reload its bullets, so Nagisa rushed up and allowed Millium to shoot ink into its mouth. As it coughed and gagged on the ink, Fie and Killua combined their Tempest Kicks to slice the worm and derez it. The following area was covered in black ink. By squirting it with blue ink, Millium was able to patch up a pathway, but each blue puddle would only last a few seconds. She and Nagisa led the way as she squirted a path across the blackness. "Bad time to be barefoot, huh, girls?" Killua smirked. Morg groaned in anger.

The group could rest on a platform, but sadly found that Millium was low on ink. "That's a shame. If I was still an Inkling, I could..." Millium squirted some ink on the platform and sunk in. "Hey, I can still swim in ink!" She was able to refill her pistols and proceeded to squirt out the next trail. Smaller Gunworms rose from the ink to squirt them, but by shooting them, Millium could make them explode into larger puddles of blue ink. They could rest on another safe platform and would have to jump other, ascending platforms. "Watch out!" Killua yelled as a black cannonball dropped on a platform. It was actually a black inkball, bouncing once before bursting and drenching the platform. They rushed up the other platforms as other inkballs bounced on them. The group jumped to a thin ledge along a cliffside, having to sidle along. The cannon responsible for the inkballs tried to shoot them, so the assassins sent Tempests to intercept and pop the balls.