Chapter 18 - Queen_Soulforge Legacy

The group’s pace quickened now that Patric had returned. A large set of double doors stood at the end of the hallway. Unlike the rest of the wood in the place, these were made of something a bit darker and looked to be covered in some sort of shiny material. The material looked like it was applied by someone in a hurry because it wasn’t applied evenly. Like someone had simply slapped a few strokes on with a paintbrush and let it run.

Actually, now that I looked at it, the entire scene reminded me of something out of other video games I had played. If not for how realistic the place felt, from the scents to the ability to move freely, I would have thought this was any other role-playing game. One where the main characters were about to encounter some big bad ugly.

Michael moved to the front of the group as it came to a stop. Cautiously looking through the cracked door to confirm what Patric had said. “That is, not ideal.” He sighed as he pulled his head back. “But it is what it is. Ready?” Everyone around me nodded in his direction. I grabbed my sword from my inventory before doing the same. Michael and Patric opened the two doors slowly, likely in an effort to keep quiet. The bottoms of both still ground against the dirt.

Hands clammy and palms sweaty, I readjusted my grip on the sword. I half expected something to come scurrying in our direction to get a look at what had made the soft noise. Nothing did. When the doors were far enough open, I saw why.

In the middle of the room, on top of a large pile of quarter-cut logs, sat a massive beetle. The thing was as large as Michael’s chest. Its cold black beady eyes were larger than the length of my thumb. Everything around it was reflected in those eyes, including the piles of stark white stones scattered around the room. Each of which had a dozen or more beetles standing sentinel.

An ominous clicking sound started the moment Michael’s foot crossed the threshold. It grew louder as the two trailing him entered. As the noise echoed around the room, it became distorted and amplified itself until I could no longer make out the sound of my own fast shallow breaths.

Michael was the first to strike out. With a swift move, his sword slashed down as it bisected two of the creatures at once. The weapon didn’t stop there. Its momentum carried it through the pile and into the ground. Each of the flat stones popped like balloons as they were cut.

As they popped, soaking the ground around them, the room exploded into action. Most of the beetles on this side charged Michael. They moved as if they held little regard for their own life as they swarmed him. As if he had expected this, Michael raised his shield in time to block the leading edge of attackers. While I didn’t hear it, I saw some parts fly off as they drove their bodies into the shield with as much force as they could generate over such a short distance.

Surprisingly enough, Michael started to slide backward. His feet dug furrows into the ground as he tried to stand his ground. Patric and Lance chose that moment to pop out around him. Each slashed at the flying creatures imitating pile drivers.

Waves of darkness flowed off Patric’s blade. Each wave left tiny cuts and damage over everything it touched. That might not seem like much but each strike hit dozens of the creatures at once and there was more than one coming off his blade. While the beetle's carapace seemed strong enough to take the damage without worry, their thin wings simply fell apart. Beetles dug furrows of their own into the ground as they lost the ability to fly.

Lance took advantage of the downed creatures. Blazing red claws sliced through the growing swarm. Every time his claws touched a carapace, putrid black smoke poured out and up. It smelled as if someone was burning plastic. Reminding me of the subways back on Earth.

Something flickered past my head. Before I could turn my head to look, a small explosion of air blasted apart a group of beetles who looked to be waiting for something. Not even a moment later, the pile of stones they were guarding exploded in a fireball. The fire was nearly instantly doused as the liquid inside the stones turned to steam.

An arrow sat embedded in the ground at the center of the now destroyed and hissing pile. Dull yellow flames flickered along its shaft before finally vanishing. Most of the rest of the beetles took to the air. Only the largest of the beetles stayed where they were. Prepared to protect their queen if we managed to survive the onslaught.

Michael did something. Screamed something to the world. I couldn’t make it out as the chittering of the beetles and the various sounds of battle drowned him out. Still, whatever he screamed did something. Activated some skill. A slightly opaque wave of something surged out of him. Flowing across the room in a faintly visible red haze.

Every beetle it splashed against stopped targeting everyone else. Stopping in place as their bodies pivoted toward Michael. The clicking intensified until the very air felt like it vibrated. As one, they charged his shield. Their wings vibrated so much that they became invisible as they pushed against the air to go ever faster. The kicked up dust and smoke swirled around their bodies, making it harder to track each of the creatures. Not that it did them any good.

As one, the rest of the group fired off spell after spell. Attack after attack. Smoking husks, sliced carapaces, and even some withered husks fell to the ground in droves. Only a small fraction of the army made it to Michael. Where they promptly slammed into his shield. While a few managed to somehow grab onto it with their legs, most bounced off.

They tried to move around the shield to get at their target but the two party members on either side took them out. Killing all of them before they could get around the edge. Within moments, the room went silent. Beetle carcasses were piled around the room. While some still smoked, no more fires were spewing thick streams of the stuff.

Of the veritable army, only seventeen beetles were left. The queen and her guard. Each stared at our group with hatred. Still, they did not attack. It was as if they were waiting for us to make the first move. “Linda,” Michael called, “curse them as quickly as you can.”

“Got it,” Linda’s voice caused me to turn enough to see her as she gestured at each of the beetles. The creatures noticed. Their bodies and gaze swiveled and locked onto her.

Michael didn’t give them a chance to attack her though. He cried out and shield charged the nearest one. The hit caught the beetle by surprise. It was thrown into the one behind it. Neither chittered in outrage or pain. Instead, they screamed. The sound reminded me of a piece of metal being tortured. It was a sound that had my eyes reflexively looking around for an emergency stop button.

I had to stop myself from moving as I remembered I was in a game and not at work running a CNC machine. I took a second to close my eyes and take a deep breath. As I opened them, I found that three of the beetles were charging our group.

Jeremiah and Victor targeted one each, firing spells and arrows at them. They looked like they were doing a ton of damage but it wasn’t enough. The creatures managed to cross the distance. One of them focused on me as its mandibles opened up wide enough to grab onto me. Not willing to freeze up this time, I bit my lip. I used the pain to keep myself grounded and present.

As it got close enough to bite me, it came within range of my sword. I didn’t waste any time. With every bit of force I could muster, I swung down on the creature. Praying that I managed to land a hit and that said hit would do enough damage to kill the thing. When the tip of my sword hit the top of its head, it bounced to the side. It didn’t even look like my attack had so much as left a scratch on the hard shell.

Fortunately, I had thrown my body weight into that attack. While it wasn’t much, it was enough momentum to keep my sword moving. While the damned thing did no damage as it skittered across the carapace, it continued to move down its back and toward the ground. As the blade skipped off its head, it caught the joint of one of the mandibles. The lucky strike cut through it with little resistance.

Suddenly free to travel downwards, my blade raced toward the ground. The force of which forced me to crouch as the blade tinged off the stone. Whatever it used for blood pulsed out of the wound. Some of which splattered across my back as the creature continued over my lowered body. Bolstered by my lucky strike, I turned as quickly as I could. My sword up and ready to deliver another strike.

Linda, staff pointed at the ground, stood behind me. The beetle lay at her feet, twitching as its body refused to die. It looked like it wanted to keep going even if its head was crushed to the consistency of a paste. Before I could ask, another scream filled the room. It was a mix of the earlier chittering and metal tearing, but now it had the added element of the scream of a wounded animal.

As I spun around, I found that the queen was the only beetle left — and it looked pissed. Unlike the rest of its kin, it didn’t wait for us to make the first move. The two front legs lifted to its mouth. From the orifice, it pulled out a pair of balls made of a sticky green tar-like material. The arms pitched back and threw them in the direction of Michael and his group.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As Michael’s shield caught both on the front, a sizzling sound filled the space. “Fucking hell, acid, really?” He cursed as Lance and Patric hid behind him. Given the fact that bright yellow-green steam rose from the front of the shield, I doubted any of us could take a hit without suffering major damage.

The creature reloaded as it continued to pelt the shield with ball after ball of acidic slime. Effectively pinning the three of them in place. Next to me, a clear arrow appeared in Victor’s hand. It slowly turned red as he knocked it and aimed. “Ready?” He asked.

I thought he was talking to me at first. Before I could make a fool of myself, Jeremiah answered. “Ready. On three?”

Victor gave a single sharp nod. “One.” They spoke at the same time as Victor pulled the arrow back as far as he could. The red light grew brighter. Bathing our surroundings in an ominous color.

“Two.” The red color deepened. It went from the bright red to that of dried blood.

“Three.” As soon as the word was out, the arrow vanished and the world around me bucked. A wall of heat washed out of the room. The force of it knocked me off my feet. Eyes wide at the amount of force the attack had generated, I looked for the queen.

The spot she had been attacking from was a blackened crater. Any remaining stone piles in the room were gone. Blasted apart and destroyed by the blast. Michael, Patric, and Lance picked themselves off the wall that had served to catch them. Each of them looked relaxed as they started to go over their weapons and armor. Likely trying to get an estimate of the damage and cost to repair.

Linda, having nothing to go over, came up to me and offered me a hand. “Good j…” she started when a raspy chittering sound filled the room. As one, we all looked in the direction the sound originated from. From behind a nearly demolished wood pile, the queen was dragging her carapace up the short incline. A massive hole was cut into her body. It exposed the creature’s organs as semi-translucent green liquid streamed out of the wound.

She didn’t bother to hold up her body as she lay on top of the pile. Each leg looked damaged and mangled. Still, her eyes were full of fury and defiance. Challenging us to finish her. A moment later, a shadow rose from the ground behind her. It took on the shape of Patric as he thrust a knife deep into her wound.

Her legs and mandibles fluttered around for a second before finally seizing. This time, we watched as her eyes turned glassy with death. None of us said a word as we started to collect every piece of beetle we could find, including the shells of what had to be eggs.

While I didn’t know why the rest of the group was quiet, I was reeling from what I had just watched. The power that the group as a whole, and individually demonstrated. Whatever attack Jeremiah and Victor had launched together, it was strong enough to send even the team's tank flying. Yet the queen had survived it, albeit barely. Something that I doubted I would be able to do even if I leveled up.

I wasn’t much help during either of these fights. Hell, I was probably a hindrance. But still, the entire event gave me a better perspective on what was possible.

As we finished collecting the last of the shells, Lance and Patric took off down the hall. I saw one vanish into a store room as the other continued to the next. “Where are they going?” I asked Michael out of curiosity.

Michael’s voice sounded a bit tired as he answered my question. “We need to see how much damage the beetles managed to do to the stored seeds so we can let the farmer and the city know. The city will offer to sell seeds to replace those lost at a discounted price.”

That was quite generous of the city. Then again, if this nation was anything like how medieval society was, the local farms fed the population and made up a decent chunk of what the place exported. Letting the farms struggle would only serve to hurt the region as a whole.

As soon as we had gathered together, we started toward the exit. Patric and Lance rejoined the group as we walked. Patric gestured at the first door we passed, “The place is clear. The only damaged seals and crops were in the closest room. All of the seeds are gone.”

“Any idea what seeds were in the room?” Michael asked.

“Bags were too torn up.”

“Okay,” Michael shrugged, seemingly not bothered by the lack of information. “Go talk to the farmer. See if he knows what he stored in that room. The rest of us will start for the forest. Catch up when you are done.”

“Will do,” Patric said, his voice fading. As I looked around, I found that he had vanished, again.

Bumping into my shoulder, Linda whispered, “So, how many levels did you get from the two fights?” Curious myself, I pulled up my status sheet.

Name:

Kyren Vulpier

Race:

Human

Level:

Class:

XP:

3353/3600

HP:

120/145

HP Regen:

16.5% (23.9) per hour*

MP:

140

MP Regen:

15% (21) per hour*

Current Ailments:

Current Buffs:

Newbie Protection*

What in the fuck. Where in the hell did all that experience come from? It took me a single thought to pull up my experience log.

{Level 2 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x351

{Level 3 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x432

{Level 4 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x79

{Level 5 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x184

{Level 6 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. A minor Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 5 levels greater you’re your own. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x177

{Level 7 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. A minor Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 5 levels greater you’re your own. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x217

{Level 8 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. A minor Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 5 levels greater you’re your own. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x5

{Level 9 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. A minor Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 5 levels greater you’re your own. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x24

Short Sword Skill (Passive) Level 1 Unlocked. XP awarded.

Healing Skill (Passive) Level 1 Unlocked. XP awarded.

Survival Skill (Passive) Level 1 Unlocked. XP awarded.

{Level 1 Verdant Shelled Beetle Egg destroyed. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x1000

{Level 5 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x21

{Level 10 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. A minor Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 5 levels greater you’re your own. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x26

{Level 11 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. A minor Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 5 levels greater you’re your own. Almost all the XP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in the battle.} x11

{Level 12 Verdant Shelled Beetle defeated. A minor Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 5 levels greater you’re your own. A large amount of XP has been extracted as a penalty for your small contribution to the battle.} x5

{Level 24 Verdant Queen defeated. A small Bonus has been awarded for killing a creature 20 levels greater you’re your own. A large amount of XP has been extracted as a penalty for your small contribution to the battle.} x1

Three, seven, eight, nine, ten, thirteen, twenty-three, twenty-four hundred or so beetles and one queen. Holy hell, that was a lot. Not that I got much experience from each. The system made it clear what it thought of my contribution to the battles. Then again, any experience was better than nothing.

As I relayed what I found to Linda, she smiled. “Figured. Even if you didn’t get much of the experience, you did try to participate in both fights. That coupled with your getting hurt in both allowed the system to give you some of it.”

“This seems…easily abused,” I said as a few ideas popped into my head.

“You forget the AIs running in the background.” Jeremiah oh so helpfully pointed out. “They take intent into account when doing any calculation.”

“So don’t expect anyone to power-level you,” Victor called from the back of the group. While that was a bit annoying, it made sense. While I wouldn’t be able to catch up with the higher-level players, this meant that I had some chance to catch up to the majority of the players. My mind wandered as Michael led us off in a random direction. The dirt quickly gave way to snow as we followed a series of valleys.

Chapter 18 - Queen

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