The situation was looking worse and worse, with the enemy slowly regaining ground.
Going from hiding place to hiding place, invisible in her movements, Xicackna had circled the protected area. Her senses on the lookout, she relied heavily on her “Sixth Sense” skill to warn her in the event of the presence of other killers in ambush. From the thoughts she picked up, some of the monsters didn't seem to take much time to think. This could be due to the life and death situations they found themselves in, which left no room for reflection but for action, or it could be an indication that they belonged to a lower class.
However, it was disturbing to note that the thoughts of their workers were much more complex than those of the Zcarbbs commoners. Perhaps the princess had misjudged their role in monstrous society? Were they in fact nobles and not workers? So why were they wearing workers' clothes? How can they understand such strange creatures?
Large movements attracted her attention. A group of humans clad in metallic armor or strange robes had just broken through the Zcarbbs lines. Gradually joined by more and more reinforcements, they forced the soldiers to increasingly tighten the security perimeter. Their thoughts indicated that they considered themselves “Adventurers” or “Hunters”. The System called them "Human Hunters". Those leading the assault were high level.
Fortunately, the portal had spewed out a new stream of soldiers containing the elite of their troops. The confrontation returned to the status quo…
Suddenly, a corpse crashed a few meters from Xicackna's hiding place, startling her. It was a tunnel guard: a massive soldier with heavy armor and gigantic mandibles. It was the type of shock troop that was put on the front line to stop an enemy assault in an underground war... What could have thrown such a powerful and heavy fighter like this?
From the monsters’ side, roars of victory could be heard. Even from here she could perceive streaks of victorious thoughts, all directed towards the same point: the one from which the unfortunate guard must have taken off.
Also focusing her attention in this direction, she saw that a new human had arrived. It was probably a male, with a large blond mane blowing in the wind and showing his white teeth in what appeared to be a smile or a display of ferocity. Extremely muscular, he was dressed in a strange, tight-fitting outfit. The colors of his outfit were a strange choice of blue and red with a sort of ball with five spikes sticking out of it, probably the representation of an explosion. He carried a large round shield on which the same symbol and colors appeared. Strangely, his other hand did not carry weapons and given the Zcarbb blood dripping from it, he did not need it to fight.
A wave of admiring thoughts, sometimes disturbed by jealousy, burst forth from the crowd of monsters. It was “The Puncher, greatest hero of the United States of America”, “the first Hunter in the world ranking”, “the one who soloed a rank A dungeon”. And amidst these thoughts and cries of victory, the great monstrous warrior struck a victorious pose that enraged the Zcarbbs soldiers nearby. He also thought:
“Hope my wig holds… If only my intensive training hadn’t made me bald…”
Shouting with rage, the soldiers present charged, aiming exclusively at the new arrival. His smile deepened and he too rushed forward, followed by the other hunters. The Zcarbbs ranks gave way, their soldiers cut into pieces by the irresistible enemy push.
Under cover of invisibility, Xicackna began her retreat towards the gate and then froze, stunned: the gate shook and undulated strangely as columns of elite soldiers suddenly burst out of it. In the air, flashes of red light, similar to lightning, scattered in all directions without seeming to cause any damage.
Suddenly, a gigantic form burst out. With amazement, Xicackna recognized Xubu-Lemonay. The great princess had doubled in size and radiated rage and power. Mysterious “magic” symbols danced in the air around her as she prepared devastating powers.
All the Zcarbbs present could see her name and level. Humans, with the exception of the most powerful, only seemed capable of reading her name, the level replaced by a strange "??". A gigantic window of the System appeared in front of everyone, giving this information:
Raid Boss
Xubu-Lemonay the Arcane Seeker [Rank B] Level 56
Level 56? Her passage through the door, as a boss, had therefore given her such an amount of energy that her XP had... Xicackna quickly calculated: if current theories of calculating levels were correct, Xubu-Lemonay's experience had … tripled! She had gone from rank D to B and had even surpassed Xom-Telba in power. If this one had led the assault, she would perhaps be level 86, and if it was the queen, she would have leveled up... She would have exceeded level 100 but nobody knows if it was really feasible.
Of course, all these theories worked when the number of XP was tripled. If it were a gain of a fixed quantity, that would be a different matter.
A wave of well-being ran through the ranks of the Zcarbbs as their leader unleashed one of her powers.
You have been targeted by the temporary buff “Power of the Swarm”.
All Stats increased by 1 for 1 hour.
The confidence of the Zcarbbs increased and the troops organized for the counterattack. The monsters would perish and a powerful outpost would be built here to protect the hive from their incursions.
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But, on the Human side, reactions were mixed. “We’ve waited too long!”, “Their boss has appeared!", "Well, it's only a rank B monster: with the Puncher at our side, we will win!".
For his part, the human hero seemed disappointed:
“Oh… I was hoping for an S-rank boss for a bit of challenge… Well, let’s look on the bright side: lives will be spared.”
The two camps rushed against each other. The clash of blades and skills echoed in the ruins of the glass termite mounds and on the roads of molten stones. Charging forward, the monster champion decimated the soldiers who stood in his way, dangerously approaching Xubu-Lemonay.
Aware of the threat, she made strange gestures as she activated the functions of the System she controlled. Immediately, bursting out from the mysterious luminous symbols that floated in the air, various projectiles devastated the terrain where the enemy was located.
Lightning, rays of light, flaming balls… Xicackna had never before seen such a display of “magic”. The ground itself was disturbed and the strange stone became a sticky mud. When the smoke cleared, all that remained were the corpses of the soldiers who had not been able to take shelter in time and those of a few humans. The majority of enemies had survived, protected by large luminous domes produced by their own magicians. Their champion did not have this protection but had simply survived receiving the full force of the magical assault. His clothes were barely soiled.
"Oh!” he said to himself. “I underestimated this boss a little: magicians are always a little more dangerous than their level... Come on: I shouldn't let this confrontation drag on.”
And with these thoughts, he leapt, reaching an unimaginable height. The curve of his trajectory ended on the powerful princess. She united her powers and generated a series of luminous domes, much more powerful than those of Humans, while new rays burst out to crash on the living projectile which plunged in her direction.
In vain.
The enemy's fist slammed into the domes which burst into a multitude of luminous fragments which dissipated in the air. Letting out a cry of terror, Xubu-Lemonay threw herself back. There was a violent shock and a cloud of dust hid the view for a moment. Connected by the hive mind, Xicackna did not miss a detail of what was happening.
Only the sacrifice of a handful of guards, who had thrown themselves into the enemy's path, had prevented the blow from reaching its goal. Rising among the dislocated bodies of his adversaries, the monster advanced towards the leader of the assault.
Xubu-Lemonay's eight eyes were wide open and her body shook in terror. She had the Analysis skill at rank B and it told her that her enemy was at least rank S, i.e. level 90 or higher, because she could not read his level.
The entire army felt terror in the face of the insane power of the enemy. All the troops immediately converged in his direction, throwing themselves one after the other towards certain death, neglecting the other humans. Only the thought of saving their princess now guided the soldiers and even a direct order could not dissuade them.
While his allies finished off many of the Zcarbbs who had their backs turned to them, the monstrous Puncher advanced calmly, occasionally raising his fist or shield to annihilate an attacker who lunged at him.
The multiple powers that Xubu-Lemonay unleashed against him were countered with a vague hand gesture, or they simply seemed to have no effect. Paralyzed with terror, the arcanist observed the advance of her enemy. Walking backwards, she tried to go through the red door, but it wouldn't let the raid boss leave.
In front of her, the super-powerful monster was growling something. Reading his thoughts, Xicackna understood:
"I always wondered if a monster could feel fear… It seems so…"
And he jumped towards her head. Xubu-Lemonay then tried everything, channeling her powers in her mouth into a powerful destructive ray. The beam hit the enemy head-on and split, continuing its path to two human buildings whose tops were literally annihilated by the destructive power. But the monster's clothes barely smoked as he landed on the princess's head, fist thrust forward.
There was an explosion, a spray of blood, as the head literally disappeared.
« Bridge-Head »
Quest failed
Total failure: The Boss of your assault has been eliminated. Closing the door…
The fear that Xicackna felt when she saw the red portal dissipate managed to exceed in intensity that which she felt in the face of the brutal death of Xubu-Lemonay.
Deprived of direction and a way out, the soldiers began to wander, attacking anything that moved, becoming easy prey for coordinated packs of human hunters. The little princess did not feel able to reorganize them, fearing that this would betray her position in one way or another.
Tears were falling from her eyes, even from the slits of her secondary eyes. But the time to mourn the dead had not arrived: she had to survive. Without hope of returning home... She would think about it later.
Using her observations of the battlefield, she climbed up one of the ruined glass hives which was located in an area where the presence of monsters was less significant. She went back down the other side, passing through a grim area of corpses, ruins and broken weapons. Humans of different castes came and went, some making sure the Zcarbbs were dead, others checking the condition of their comrades on the ground. There were workers already cutting up the bodies of the Zcarbbs, probably to take them to their colony's pantries.
Invisible, Xicackna was careful with each step not to bump into anything, not to leave too visible traces of her passage. Every time she saw monsters passing by, she trembled, fearing that it might have 'Detection' or a similar skill.
Fortunately, she managed to reach a shelter far from the battlefield before her time of invisibility was entirely used up. It was a small, dark alley where humans seemed to be piling various resources into containers.
Catching her breath, she curled up on herself, hoping to stop her nervous tremors. She knew well that she would never be a warrior roaming the battlefields without fear: that was not the role of a princess. However, she hoped that one day, perhaps when she will be of a higher level, she would be able to stand fearlessly against her enemies before sending swarms of fierce warriors in their faces.
She grimaced as she remembered that such a scenario could only happen if she survived and found a way to return to the hive. Exhausted, she was about to fall asleep when a message from the System disturbed her.
Due to its frequent use and related circumstances, your skill has improved:
Invisibility (A) [Natural power] > Invisibility (A) [Supernatural power]
Xicackna furrowed her chitinous eyebrows. So, her natural ability seemed upgraded to a System ability? She looked at the details.
Invisibility (A) [Supernatural power, consumes 10 vigor per minute]
She quickly did the calculation then she groaned. Her stamina was 6, she could even increase it to 7 if she used her unallocated ability point. Her vigor was 42, seemingly equivalent to multiplying her level with her stamina. This therefore meant that instead of 6 minutes of invisibility, she would only have 4! Talk about an improvement!
Certainly, beyond level 10, her power would become more powerful than its natural version, but she was barely approaching level 8...
Grinding her teeth, she tried to fall asleep. She knew it was paranoia, but she couldn't help but think that the System wanted her dead.