Ragnar held a Quaraxi by its thorax, pinned against the cave wall.

This one being smaller than a Soldier, with brown exoskeleton. A Worker. Its legs had already been dislodged and its stinger pulled out.

Ragnar used his remaining hand and kept it on the underbelly of the Worker, sending out a billow of waves. A boom was heard followed by the pattering of debris. A cloud of dust rose up.

Only the head, still attached to the thorax, remained in Ragnar’s grip. A giant hole was formed in the wall behind the rest of the body of the Quaraxi. Ragnar threw the head into the hole as well, reuniting it with the rest of its body.

Countless similar holes could be found etched across the Network. All of them in close vicinity of the Dome. Basically, all around it.

As if Ragnar wanted her to sense the death of every member of her Army, while being completely helpless to change their fate.

Well, at least she had tried.

It had been two weeks ever since that fateful day. The day when the Queen might have made the worst possible mistake in her life.

That mistake being, of course, letting him live.

Not like she had any choice in that matter. Ragnar wouldn’t have died even If she came herself, let alone at the hands of her minions. No matter how many she sent.

And she had sent a lot.

After recognising that sending out individually strong fighters didn’t pose a challenge to him, she had turned to the strength in numbers.

Hordes of Worker Quaraxis came out at once, led by a few Soldiers or Drones. But it had been a piece of cake for Ragnar. After dealing with the Drones and Soldiers, the rest were like headless chickens, waiting to be slaughtered.

There was nothing they could do; they did not have strong enough abilities to capture him like their Queen. So, they just used their abilities and tried to get lucky.

But they did not get lucky.

Ragnar had just decimated another horde, consisting of over 50 Quaraxis. So, it took quite a while to finish them off.

They served as an endless source of saturation for him. He had killed more than a thousand Quaraxis in the past two weeks. The Queen’s army was swiftly dwindling, at least 1/3rd of them had already fallen at Ragnar’s hands.

He looked at his Status.

Name: Ragnar Drakorian

Species: Human

Rank: Mutant

Lineage: Drakorian

Lineage Ability: ???

Lineage Perk: Shifted Transformation

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ability: Wave Surge (S Tier)

Wave Surge: The enigmatic manipulation of waves that ripple through existence.

Core Saturation: 2452/5000

‘Almost halfway there’

His face still carried the wild grin, hinting at a devious undercurrent.

The Queen had tried different tactics, but Ragnar had been able to shut down every single one. From killing a group of 20 Drones, to dealing with an army of over 100 workers. Ragnar had proven to be a threat that her puny intelligence was incapable of dealing with.

The Queen was forced to deal with her resources with caution.

She was still in control of the situation at the start. She thought that by sending out different batches through different paths would allow at least a few of them to return with the nutrients required to run the Nest. But it didn’t work out. Ragnar had been able to hunt almost every batch. The few that passed were dealt with on their way back.

The Queen started to get restless as the Nest started running out of resources. She took reckless actions by sending out her most powerful Drones in a group to deal with the hateful creature once and for all. However, they met with the same fate as their predecessors.

The Queen was forced to change tactics again so she tried to rely on the strength in numbers. She sent out huge batches of Workers that were led by Drones. But they only served as endless Saturation for Ragnar.

After finishing off the Drones in these hordes, the Workers lost all coordination. Only following the command to hunt the target without any cohesion. Ragnar could go all out with his Wave Surge ability in this large pool of mindless pursuers. Mastering his abilities to his heart’s content, and at the same time, blasting apart this Network.

***

The batch Ragnar just dealt with might be the final one she sends out. Her current strategy had also been crushed by Ragnar. Now she will have to come up with a new one.

But she won’t get the chance to execute anymore strategies. Ragnar won’t allow her. He had already given her more than enough opportunities. Now her time was coming to an end.

The stage had been set. Ragnar was ready for his climax with the Queen.

According to his rough calculations, he should have already cleared out 1/3rd of her army. She still had more than two thousand Quaraxis under her. But that shouldn’t be a problem. They will have to die with her.

Ragnar started moving through the caves. He was already not far from the Dome, so the viridescent glow from the crystals was quite bright here. They lit up the cave walls that were potted with countless holes, left behind from Ragnar’s battles.

All the caves surrounding the Dome were in such a state. Many of them collapsed, blocking off most tunnels out of the Dome.

Ragnar was getting closer and closer to the Dome. While running through the dimly lit cave, his body started to lean forward as his arms reached the floor, increasing his speed. His skin gave way to pitch black fur that absorbed all the light, making the already dim cave, even darker. His arms and legs turned into claws and a tail came out from his back. His streamlined body ran so fast that it was hard to see it with naked eyes.

Once he reached one turn away from the entrance to the Dome, he disappeared. Still going at his fastest possible speed he turned along with the cave and saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

He increased his speed even more. He will be needing it. Ragnar was going for the main course directly. He had had enough of the side dishes.

He reached the end of the tunnel and gazed at the scene inside.

The walls of the Dome had cracks and holes in several places. Pieces of debris scattered near the walls in all directions.

The boundless horde of Quaraxis still marched around the Queen in a defensive encirclement, albeit a bit smaller than last time. The Queen, looked just as Majestic with her Purple Exoskeleton that gave off the viridescent glow of the essence. Giving her a regal aura.

Her expression however, looked very different. Unlike the haughty and domineering expression from last time, she looked tired. Her eyes seemed exhausted. The inability to do anything while seeing her children die was really taking a toll on her. Even if they numbered in thousands, they were still her subordinates, her children. But now they were falling like flies.

She had tried everything she could think of, but her enemy seemed to be invincible. If only she could take action herself. But it wasn’t meant to be.

Seeing the look in the Queen’s eyes widened Ragnar’s grin even more. But no one would be able to witness it.

He didn’t slow down in the slightest as he headed directly towards the centre of the Dome. Straight for the Queen.

Ragnar had to do this, if he were to deal with her.